[quote name=Aisle424]Cubs have won 7 in a row and the Pirates are on their way to their 9th straight loss and the Cubs will still be 6 games behind them.[/quote]Maybe this is what Ricketts means by “in contention.” Remember, no one’s been specific about what they’re in contention for.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Maybe this is what Ricketts means by “in contention.” Remember, no one’s been specific about what they’re in contention for.[/quote] Miss Congeniality
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Maybe this is what Ricketts means by “in contention.” Remember, no one’s been specific about what they’re in contention for.[/quote](dying laughing)
[quote name=mb21]The Cubs knocked the Pirates out of contention and are now doing the same the Reds. I kind of like playing spoiler. Who do we get to knock off next?[/quote] Next week they’re playing the Nationals at home. After that it’s the Braves and Astros before they get another series against the Cardinals. I don’t mind playing the spoiler as I guess the Cubs would just fuck up their top 5 pick anyway.
[quote name=mb21]The Cubs knocked the Pirates out of contention and are now doing the same the Reds. I kind of like playing spoiler. Who do we get to knock off next?[/quote]Luca Brasi.
[quote name=ACT]The Pirates are officially done now. It was a wild trip while it lasted, though.[/quote]I have a feeling that the Cubs will do in the second half what the Pirates have done in the first half and that the Cubs will respond to this in an equally rash manner.
[quote name=mb21]The Cubs knocked the Pirates out of contention and are now doing the same the Reds. I kind of like playing spoiler. Who do we get to knock off next?[/quote]I find myself rooting for the Brewers for just that reason (to make the Cubs’ victories even more devastating to their opponents).
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I have a feeling that the Cubs will do in the second half what the Pirates have done in the first half and that the Cubs will respond to this in an equally rash manner.[/quote] The Pirates weren’t exactly rash though as they picked up Lee and Ludwick in exchange for scraps. I actually liked that.
[quote name=Rice Cube]The Pirates weren’t exactly rash though as they picked up Lee and Ludwick in exchange for scraps. I actually liked that.[/quote]Meh. They exchanged scraps for scraps. And the Cubs will choose to just hold on to their scraps.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Meh. They exchanged scraps for scraps. And the Cubs will choose to just hold on to their scraps.[/quote] Would be interesting to see how many Cubs besides Zambrano were put on waivers…what I liked was that the Pirates didn’t do anything too crazy to hurt their future development. As for the Cubs, still don’t really know what their plan is so who knows why they held on to everyone.
[quote name=Rice Cube]Would be interesting to see how many Cubs besides Zambrano were put on waivers…what I liked was that the Pirates didn’t do anything too crazy to hurt their future development. As for the Cubs, still don’t really know what their plan is so who knows why they held on to everyone.[/quote]I bet the Cubs put almost everyone on waivers. Most teams do. If anyone claims Soriano, I bet the Cubs just let them have him, too.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I bet the Cubs put almost everyone on waivers. Most teams do. If anyone claims Soriano, I bet the Cubs just let them have him, too.[/quote] That’s a really big if.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Indeed. But someone claimed Rios off waivers, so I guess anything is possible.[/quote] Maybe they should try to trade Soriano to the Angels for nothing.
I’m not sure what damage the Cubs could do against the Braves, except if they played well against them, they might allow another team to catch up in the wild card. A sweep of the Cards might send them into a freefall. I do enjoy seeing that.
The Braves currently have an 80% chance of making the playoffs (before today, anyway). The Cardinals are about 30%. The Cubs should have a much better chance of knocking the Cards out.
Jeebus. Al is a menace when it comes to unnecessary punctuation and tortured syntax:
Whatever this extended winning streak — the team’s longest since August 2008 — ultimately means, and whenever it finally ends — because winning streaks, as long as they get, always do — I think we can all agree that it’s really nice to see the Cubs getting hits in RISP situations, playing good defense and getting good pitching that can get out of jams instead of letting the other team pile up runs.
He also notes this game went SRO. Fucking Cub fans can’t even stay home when they want to.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Jeebus. Al is a menace when it comes to unnecessary punctuation and tortured syntax: [/quote]That’s, just horrible writing, – even by Yellon, standards -.
As far as the SRO crowd, it was a beautiful day in Chicago. I didn’t go to the game but watching baseball on a nice summer day isn’t a bad thing to do. I’m not a big Ricketts fan but I like to see them drawing well mainly for the sake of next year’s budget.
[quote name=cwolf]That’s, just horrible, – even by Yellon, standards -.
As far as the SRO crowd, it was a beautiful day in Chicago. I didn’t go to the game but watching baseball on a nice summer day isn’t a bad thing to do. I’m not a big Ricketts fan but I like to see them drawing well mainly for the sake of next year’s budget.[/quote]Ricketts is just going to feel vindicated by all of this. The winning streak, the packed house…the cash infusion won’t mean shit. I fear it will just mean more of the same.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Ricketts is just going to feel vindicated by all of this. The winning streak, the packed house…the cash infusion won’t mean shit. I fear it will just mean more of the same.[/quote]Yeah, I fear that too but maybe there is more savvy in this organization than what we can see from the public pronouncements to date. I’d like to think so but I also realize that it will most likely be more of the same old same old.
[quote name=Doogolas]God he’s an idiot. The Cubs are league average with RISP. When will people understand that fact and quit bitching?[/quote]Never. Because they want to believe this is a problem of skill and not a problem of talent. People like Yellon want to believe that if the current group of players did the “right” things the “right” way, then they’d be the Yankees. Because admitting otherwise would force Al to accept that he spilled several thousand dollars on a terribly mediocre roster that the current FO sees no need to improve. So the problem gets articulated as “they just aren’t performing skill x at a level commensurate to their talent level” instead of “these players are painfully average and if we expect above-average performance, we should expect the team to acquire above-average players.” I’m beginning to think that a large part of the frustration displayed at Wrigley on most days is simply the vocalization of people who have been expecting above-average play out of average players for decades.
[quote name=cwolf]Yeah, I fear that too but maybe there is more savvy in this organization than what we can see from the public pronouncements to date. I’d like to think so but I also realize that it will most likely be more of the same old same old.[/quote] I have no faith in the Ricketts at all. None. Nothing I have seen makes me think they had any fucking clue what they were getting into, and then when they saw all hell breaking loose around them, they have no fucking clue how to get out of it. Pair that with what seems to be a historical trend of Tommy boy being extreeeeeemely sloooooooooow toooooo maaaaaaaaake deciiiiiiiisioooooooons of any importance.
Any success in the next 3-4 years will be complete luck and happenstance.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Never. Because they want to believe this is a problem of skill and not a problem of talent. People like Yellon want to believe that if the current group of players did the “right” things the “right” way, then they’d be the Yankees. Because admitting otherwise would force Al to accept that he spilled several thousand dollars on a terribly mediocre roster that the current FO sees no need to improve.[/quote]Pff. Darwin Barney is just as good as Robinson Cano. Cano is just lucky.
[quote name=cwolf]Yeah, I fear that too but maybe there is more savvy in this organization than what we can see from the public pronouncements to date. I’d like to think so but I also realize that it will most likely be more of the same old same old.[/quote]I hope you’re right and I’m wrong. I really, really do.
That’s not true at all. Until we see what decisions are actually made this offseason there is no possible way to know what is the driving force behind any success we have.
Furthermore, for all the failings at the MLB level, Ricketts is dropping a SHITLOAD of money into the draft. From the reports out there we’re pretty much going to sign everybody that we could possibly want except maybe Maples, but he’s not because of the money, he just is very strongly committed to going to school.
Just because the MLB team hasn’t been good doesn’t mean everything the Rickett’s have done has been stupid. They are also building a huge state of the art facility somewhere, I believe the DR and have spent a metric crapton on amateur signees both in Asia and Latin America.
Rickett’s definitely has his faults. But by the end of this year we very well may outspend everyone when you combine undrafted amateurs and the draft. Cause we’re spending out the ass in those areas.
[quote name=josh]Pff. Darwin Barney is just as good as Robinson Cano. Cano is just lucky.[/quote]I honestly think this is what a large portion of your average fanbase thinks (it’s not unique to the Cubs, anyway).
[quote name=Doogolas]That’s not true at all. Until we see what decisions are actually made this offseason there is no possible way to know what is the driving force behind any success we have.
Furthermore, for all the failings at the MLB level, Ricketts is dropping a SHITLOAD of money into the draft. From the reports out there we’re pretty much going to sign everybody that we could possibly want except maybe Maples, but he’s not because of the money, he just is very strongly committed to going to school.
Just because the MLB team hasn’t been good doesn’t mean everything the Rickett’s have done has been stupid. They are also building a huge state of the art facility somewhere, I believe the DR and have spent a metric crapton on amateur signees both in Asia and Latin America.
Rickett’s definitely has his faults. But by the end of this year we very well may outspend everyone when you combine undrafted amateurs and the draft. Cause we’re spending out the ass in those areas.[/quote]But the personnel moves at the MLB level since July of 2009 (when Ricketts is supposed to have assumed de facto control of the org) have been stultifying, to say the least.
There are good signs at the minor league level, for sure, though, and I’m happy to see Ricketts following through on that promise.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]But the personnel moves at the MLB level since July of 2009 (when Ricketts is supposed to have assumed de facto control of the org) have been stultifying, to say the least.
There are good signs at the minor league level, for sure, though, and I’m happy to see Ricketts following through on that promise.
That facility is in the DR, BTW.[/quote]Maybe he’s getting his ducks in a row there before he tackles the MLB team, figuring it won’t matter right away? I think most people want to see some more immediate results, but, on the other hand, if he made a bunch of changes just to make them, with no net change in results, people might accuse him of micromanaging.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]But the personnel moves at the MLB level since July of 2009 (when Ricketts is supposed to have assumed de facto control of the org) have been stultifying, to say the least.
There are good signs at the minor league level, for sure, though, and I’m happy to see Ricketts following through on that promise.
That facility is in the DR, BTW.[/quote]
What personnel moves have been that stupifying? We moved Lee and Lilly last year for some value. That was pretty smart since they weren’t gonna get us any kind of compensation. And, honestly, I don’t think Rickett’s can be expected to have really had anything to do with anything that happened when he immediately took over in 2009. He was probably just gonna let Hendry/Maddux do whatever they wanted.
We moved Fukudome this year, who is absolutely not gonna get us comp and we got a pretty nice high upside guy out of it.
Is it not moving Pena? Who could net us a Type-B this year (likely will actually) while there was almost no chance we were going to get close to a sandwich pick type of talent back in a trade?
Is it not moving Baker or Johnson? Both of them are nice, cheap bench bats. We have to get them somewhere, and honestly, they weren’t going to net us anything at all on the open market realistically. Everybody is always saying that Cub fans overvalue their prospects, yet people honestly expected any kind of return on either of those two, or for that matter Darwin Barney?
Ramirez didn’t want to be moved and had a no trade clause. Not much we could do there.
Byrd, if he plays even close to the level he’s been playing at the last 5 years will be a lock for Type-B and if he plays as well as he has this year (not super likely but not impossible) he could even sneak into Type-A status. So you have to get a huge return for him and his outrageously amazing contract.
Zambrano was going to require sending away Marmol with him. Nobody was willing to touch Soriano.
I just don’t get what people wanted the team to do. Really they moved the only completely logical player to move.
I know people want to see some changes, I do too. But making moves just to make them is a terrible, terrible way to accomplish anything.
[quote name=Doogolas]That’s not true at all. Until we see what decisions are actually made this offseason there is no possible way to know what is the driving force behind any success we have.
Furthermore, for all the failings at the MLB level, Ricketts is dropping a SHITLOAD of money into the draft. From the reports out there we’re pretty much going to sign everybody that we could possibly want except maybe Maples, but he’s not because of the money, he just is very strongly committed to going to school.
Just because the MLB team hasn’t been good doesn’t mean everything the Rickett’s have done has been stupid. They are also building a huge state of the art facility somewhere, I believe the DR and have spent a metric crapton on amateur signees both in Asia and Latin America.
Rickett’s definitely has his faults. But by the end of this year we very well may outspend everyone when you combine undrafted amateurs and the draft. Cause we’re spending out the ass in those areas.[/quote] That is the one positive sign, but seeing as Wilken has completely underwhelmed me with his choices so far in his tenure and we still can’t seem to develop talent to save our lives, I’ll belive it when some of this talent we are signing for above slot actually starts turning into something that could conceivably help the Cubs in reality.
The Cubs could have had their cake and eaten it too as they have been trying to do, but they spent too much money on their new toy and that has handcuffed them more than any no trade clause has. When someone who is supposedly a businessman fucks up a transaction as badly as this has been fucked up from the start, then I have a hard time seeing anything turning out well.
[quote name=Doogolas]What personnel moves have been that stupifying? We moved Lee and Lilly last year for some value. That was pretty smart since they weren’t gonna get us any kind of compensation. And, honestly, I don’t think Rickett’s can be expected to have really had anything to do with anything that happened when he immediately took over in 2009. He was probably just gonna let Hendry/Maddux do whatever they wanted.
We moved Fukudome this year, who is absolutely not gonna get us comp and we got a pretty nice high upside guy out of it.
Is it not moving Pena? Who could net us a Type-B this year (likely will actually) while there was almost no chance we were going to get close to a sandwich pick type of talent back in a trade?
Is it not moving Baker or Johnson? Both of them are nice, cheap bench bats. We have to get them somewhere, and honestly, they weren’t going to net us anything at all on the open market realistically. Everybody is always saying that Cub fans overvalue their prospects, yet people honestly expected any kind of return on either of those two, or for that matter Darwin Barney?
Ramirez didn’t want to be moved and had a no trade clause. Not much we could do there.
Byrd, if he plays even close to the level he’s been playing at the last 5 years will be a lock for Type-B and if he plays as well as he has this year (not super likely but not impossible) he could even sneak into Type-A status. So you have to get a huge return for him and his outrageously amazing contract.
Zambrano was going to require sending away Marmol with him. Nobody was willing to touch Soriano.
I just don’t get what people wanted the team to do. Really they moved the only completely logical player to move.
I know people want to see some changes, I do too. But making moves just to make them is a terrible, terrible way to accomplish anything.[/quote]What the fuck is this “we”? Do you have a fucking mouse in your pocket?
The handling of Gregg and Harden was foolish. Sure, it panned out, but hindsight is always 20-20.
The handling of the whole Bradley affair was fucking amateur hour, on all sides.
Sending Z to the pen was inexcusable.
Last year’s draft was a traveshamockery.
Yes, Hendry was able to move Lee, Bradley and Fukudome, and perhaps Ricketts is letting Hendry do whatever he wants, and Hendry is the true author of this rudderless mess. I’m not sure.
What I do know is this looks like an org with no direction, or at least it did until a few weeks ago, when the Cubs had a good draft and then unveiled the new facility in the DR and started splashing cash on Carribean talent. That’s literally the only thing that Ricketts has done that’s given me a glimmer of hope. The rest of it has been 3 hamfisted attempts at public funds for Wrigley, one embarrassing statue ceremony, and a lot palavering about troughs and the glory of the crumbling Wrigley Field. So pardon me if I’m not inspired by the baseball acumen of this person:
BTW, I don’t advocate making moves for the hell of it, so before you keep punching at that strawperson, let’s get that straight.
I’m largely fine with not swapping Ramirez or PEna for some A-ball waster. Fine. But then Hendry starts making noise about bringing Pena back, and it makes think there’s just no plan for rectifying this roster. And that frustrates me.
The Cubs are a large market team that play with the mindset of a small market team.
[quote name=Aisle424]That is the one positive sign, but seeing as Wilken has completely underwhelmed me with his choices so far in his tenure and we still can’t seem to develop talent to save our lives, I’ll belive it when some of this talent we are signing for above slot actually starts turning into something that could conceivably help the Cubs in reality.
The Cubs could have had their cake and eaten it too as they have been trying to do, but they spent too much money on their new toy and that has handcuffed them more than any no trade clause has. When someone who is supposedly a businessman fucks up a transaction as badly as this has been fucked up from the start, then I have a hard time seeing anything turning out well.[/quote] I think you’re a bit too hard on our prospects really though too. I mean, Simpson lost a shitload of weight and has only had his good stuff a couple times all season. This year was basically lost when he had that completely insane bout of Mono.
Szczur is moving along really well. He’s struggling a tad at A+ ball right now, but he can turn that around with a couple decent games and just came back from a finger injury.
B-Jax also suffered a finger injury a while back. He was destroying AA before then, came back, sucked for a while, and seems to have gotten his mojo back lately after struggling early in AAA.
McNutt has had blister issues all year and also hasn’t had his good stuff very often. On top of that there have been at least four games where his starts were interrupted from rain and suspended, so that’s a large part of the reason for his tiny amount of innings. He struck out 7.5/9 in AA last year. There’s no reason to think that fully healthy he’s only gonna strikeout the 5.7 he has so far this year.
Vitters has been 21 all year in AA and is more than holding his own. His OPS is chilling at a solid .776, obviously there will be a lot riding on if he can expand on the power he’s shown so far and do a bit better with walking, but he really hasn’t been that bad. People just expect an insane amount of him because of where he was drafted. He’s far from a bust right now, not everyone can be Starlin Castro. I mean, hell, B-Jax is a full year older than Vitters.
Junior Lake had a really nice year down in Daytona and has struggled in AA but it’s still a pretty small sample and he’s still only 21 years, he’s a baby.
I mean, no, none of them may be superstars. But at the same time any of them could put it together and be a great player too. There’s no reason to be so horribly pessimistic about the years people have had.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]BTW, I don’t advocate making moves for the hell of it, so before you keep punching at that strawperson, let’s get that straight.
I’m largely fine with not swapping Ramirez or PEna for some A-ball waster. Fine. But then Hendry starts making noise about bringing Pena back, and it makes think there’s just no plan for rectifying this roster. And that frustrates me.
The Cubs are a large market team that play with the mindset of a small market team.[/quote] Small market teams develop players that can play and then lose them because they can’t afford to pay them. I wish the Cubs had a small market mindset sometimes.
[quote name=Aisle424]Small market teams develop players that can play and then lose them because they can’t afford to pay them. I wish the Cubs had a small market mindset sometimes.[/quote]I’ll fix it myself:
The Cubs could spend like the Yankees, but instead they spend like the Orioles.
Exactly. Why the fuck not? This is a major market team and we still have to go back to Mark Fucking Grace for a prospect that had any longevity as a productive player and Grace wasn’t even that great. He was very good.
Hell, the last starter the Cubs turned out was Zambrano. That was 8 years ago. Nothing in the minors makes me think any of those streaks are going to be broken any time soon. It’s a fucking embarassment and Hendry is signing a useless closer to a three year deal for public relations purposes.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]What the fuck is this “we”? Do you have a fucking mouse in your pocket?
The handling of Gregg and Harden was foolish. Sure, it panned out, but hindsight is always 20-20.
The handling of the whole Bradley affair was fucking amateur hour, on all sides.
Sending Z to the pen was inexcusable.
Last year’s draft was a traveshamockery.
Yes, Hendry was able to move Lee, Bradley and Fukudome, and perhaps Ricketts is letting Hendry do whatever he wants, and Hendry is the true author of this rudderless mess. I’m not sure.
What I do know is this looks like an org with no direction, or at least it did until a few weeks ago, when the Cubs had a good draft and then unveiled the new facility in the DR and started splashing cash on Carribean talent. That’s literally the only thing that Ricketts has done that’s given me a glimmer of hope. The rest of it has been 3 hamfisted attempts at public funds for Wrigley, one embarrassing statue ceremony, and a lot palavering about troughs and the glory of the crumbling Wrigley Field. So pardon me if I’m not inspired by the baseball acumen of this person.[/quote] We is me referring tot he Cubs. Can I not use that terminology now? I feel like I can talk about my favorite team in the form of “we” and not be treated like I’m a retarded person. And, actually, I am sitting with a cat on my lap. So it works out anyways.
As I said, I don’t particularly blame Rickett’s for any of the crap that happened in 2009. He was brand new to the organization. Hard to fault him for what happened in my mind.
And as far as that picture goes, does this make Mark Cuban an awful owner who knows nothing?
I like to think that somebody goofing off doesn’t mean they’re mentally retarded.
I wasn’t strawpersoning anything. I was making a generalization about he retarded Cubs fanbase not actually about you.
I am also aware that I’m quite optimistic. It’s frustrating seeing people so bothered over things that we have no idea what was behind them. I mean, how do we know that hindsight was 20-20 there, the Cubs easily could have known stuff about Harden and Gregg we didn’t.
[quote name=Doogolas]I think you’re a bit too hard on our prospects really though too. I mean, Simpson lost a shitload of weight and has only had his good stuff a couple times all season. This year was basically lost when he had that completely insane bout of Mono.
Szczur is moving along really well. He’s struggling a tad at A+ ball right now, but he can turn that around with a couple decent games and just came back from a finger injury.
B-Jax also suffered a finger injury a while back. He was destroying AA before then, came back, sucked for a while, and seems to have gotten his mojo back lately after struggling early in AAA.
McNutt has had blister issues all year and also hasn’t had his good stuff very often. On top of that there have been at least four games where his starts were interrupted from rain and suspended, so that’s a large part of the reason for his tiny amount of innings. He struck out 7.5/9 in AA last year. There’s no reason to think that fully healthy he’s only gonna strikeout the 5.7 he has so far this year.
Vitters has been 21 all year in AA and is more than holding his own. His OPS is chilling at a solid .776, obviously there will be a lot riding on if he can expand on the power he’s shown so far and do a bit better with walking, but he really hasn’t been that bad. People just expect an insane amount of him because of where he was drafted. He’s far from a bust right now, not everyone can be Starlin Castro. I mean, hell, B-Jax is a full year older than Vitters.
Junior Lake had a really nice year down in Daytona and has struggled in AA but it’s still a pretty small sample and he’s still only 21 years, he’s a baby.
I mean, no, none of them may be superstars. But at the same time any of them could put it together and be a great player too. There’s no reason to be so horribly pessimistic about the years people have had.[/quote]Man! What are you doing!?! I don’t come here for optimism! I come here to remember that other people are hurting on the inside too. If I wanted optimism I’d listen to Dave Kaplan tell me the Cubs are trading Z and bringing in Girardi as the manager.
[quote name=Aisle424]Exactly. Why the fuck not? This is a major market team and we still have to go back to Mark Fucking Grace for a prospect that had any longevity as a productive player and Grace wasn’t even that great. He was very good.
Hell, the last starter the Cubs turned out was Zambrano. That was 8 years ago. Nothing in the minors makes me think any of those streaks are going to be broken any time soon. It’s a fucking embarassment and Hendry is signing a useless closer to a three year deal for public relations purposes.[/quote] Castro has come up. B-Jax could very well be awesome. So could any of those other guys I even listed. There is always luck involved with prospects.
And while none of them MAY end up superstars. Any single one of them could.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Jackson’s going to have find a way to cut down on the K’s to be anything more than a good-very good player.[/quote] Depends on what you consider a good player. He could be Colby Rasmus with better defense. Which would be a very, very good player.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Jackson’s going to have find a way to cut down on the K’s to be anything more than a good-very good player.[/quote] Depends on what you consider a good player. He could be Colby Rasmus with better defense. Which would be a very, very good player. Jackson I don’t think is going to be a superstar. But I think he’s gonna be pretty damn good. The guys who have the ability to be 5+WAR players are Vitters and Lake. Szczur has a chance at being really, really, really good too. Just depends on how much power he really has in him. If he can put out 10HR per season, then he could possibly do it Gardner-style.
If we go lower, there’s Golden and DeVoss could be pretty damn awesome as well. Baez when he’s signed, Vogelbach could possibly be fantastic someday too.
Obviously all of these are huge ifs. But it only takes one guy putting it together. All you can do is get as many of them as you possibly can in one place, and in the last couple years, especially after this draft, we’re moving in the right direction.
I’m also very curious who the big Cuban signing we made is that will be announced on the 8th. I dunno if you guys know about that, but apparently it’s pretty big, they can’t say who until the 8th for whatever reason though. I’m really hoping it’s Speck.
[quote name=Doogolas]Depends on what you consider a good player. He could be Colby Rasmus with better defense. Which would be a very, very good player.[/quote]In 1776 MiLB PA, Rasmus K’d in 20% of his PA. Jackson has K’d in 23% of his 1221 PA. That’s a higher K% than Colvin, and Colvin’s jumped ~7% in the majors My closest comp to Jackson is Curtis Granderson, and even he only K’d in 18% of his MiLB PA, and that jumped to 27% at the ML level. I don’t think it will torpedo Jackson’s shot. He’s certainly got excellent contact skills. But his K-Rate is going to be a problem at the MLB level.
DeVoss is a slapp-hitting MIF-CF type who was signed overslot. His scouting reports read “poor man’s Juan PIerre.” Cub fans would do well to cool on his early successes.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]In 1776 MiLB PA, Rasmus K’d in 20% of his PA. Jackson has K’d in 23% of his 1221 PA. That’s a higher K% than Colvin, and Colvin’s jumped ~7% in the majors My closest comp to Jackson is Curtis Granderson, and even he only K’d in 18% of his MiLB PA, and that jumped to 27% at the ML level. I don’t think it will torpedo Jackson’s shot. He’s certainly got excellent contact skills. But his K-Rate is going to be a problem at the MLB level.[/quote] I read on fangraphs the other day that as a general rule K-rate jumps about 3% on average. I figure Jackson will K around 25% to 26%. I mean, look at Rasmus this year, down to 20% on that K-Rate. Which is much more what you expect out of a guy with that sort of K-Rate in the MiLB.
I think he can hit something like .260/.355/.450 or so.
I don’t think he’ll do that kind of power next year. But I think in a few years he will. I figure next year he’ll be something closer to .260/.350/.420 or so with average to + defense in CF. Which is probably near a 2WAR player? I don’t really know, mostly just guessing.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]DeVoss is a slapp-hitting MIF-CF type who was signed overslot. His scouting reports read “poor man’s Juan (dying laughing).” Cub fans would do well to cool on his early successes.[/quote]*shrug* I think DeVoss is really interesting. All he has to do is show the ability to ISO around .100 and he can be a really good player. He may never do that, but he’s still very interesting. Putting him in that list was probably pretty silly, I’ll grant you that, but honesty I think he has a pretty decent shot at being a good player if he can show even passable power.
Anyhoo, I gotta get to bed. Good talking to you guys.
[quote name=Doogolas]I read on fangraphs the other day that as a general rule K-rate jumps about 3% on average. I figure Jackson will K around 25% to 26%. I mean, look at Rasmus this year, down to 20% on that K-Rate. Which is much more what you expect out of a guy with that sort of K-Rate in the MiLB.
I think he can hit something like .260/.355/.450 or so.
I don’t think he’ll do that kind of power next year. But I think in a few years he will. I figure next year he’ll be something closer to .260/.350/.420 or so with average to + defense in CF. Which is probably near a 2WAR player? I don’t really know, mostly just guessing.[/quote]As a general rule, yes. But players with similar skill sets and MiLB rates to Jackson’s have seen larger jumps, and even 25% would be pretty bad. I think he could put up a line similar to the one you’ve posted, but I think with a reduction in his K’s, he could put up some really, really good numbers. He’s got very good contact skills, decent pop, and good speed. If he can cut down the Ks and keep walking at the rate at which he has, the Cubs have a really nice player there.
[quote name=Doogolas]*shrug* I think DeVoss is really interesting. All he has to do is show the ability to ISO around .100 and he can be a really good player. He may never do that, but he’s still very interesting. Putting him in that list was probably pretty silly, I’ll grant you that, but honesty I think he has a pretty decent shot at being a good player if he can show even passable power.
Anyhoo, I gotta get to bed. Good talking to you guys.[/quote]He has no power. At all. Or at elast that was the widespread opinion at draft time.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]He’s certainly got excellent contact skills. But his K-Rate is going to be a problem at the MLB level.[/quote]I don’t understand. Doesn’t “contact skills” mean “ability not to strike out”?
Doogolas is one optimistic person. Nothing wrong with that, but you’re not going to get people to jump on the bandwagon when everything is about this guy could be good, this guy could be really really good and this guy could be awesome.
The handling of Gregg and Harden was foolish. Sure, it panned out, but hindsight is always 20-20.
I initially agreed with this, but I think it’s clear that the Cubs knew neither player was going to get more than they’d have gotten in arbitration. The year before the Yankees didn’t bother offering Bobby Abreu arbitration and he was still just over 3 rWAR player. The Cubs didn’t offer arbitration to Kerry Wood either after his outstanding season.
Abreu would have made about $16 million (no less than $15 million) in arbitration. Wood would have made $7-8 million and maybe even more considering how dominant he was in 2008. Wood’s base salary in 2008 was $4.2 million, but he had all kind of incentives, many of which he met. I seem to recall a Tribune article writing that he made just under $7 million that year. Arbtration guarantees he makes that much and I could easily see him getting $10-15 million after the season he had.
There were other players who weren’t offered arbitration that offseason. Wood signed a 2-year deal for $20 million while Abreu signed a 1-year deal for $5 million.
There was plenty of reason to believe that the same thing would happen the following year and it did. Gregg got less than he’d have gotten in arbitration and the same is true for Harden. The same was true for many free agents those two off seasons and even the next one.
Considering the Cubs lack of resources, these decisions can only be seen as smart decisions. If we don’t view them that way we have to consider all similar decisions by all GMs to be stupid. So I guess it doesn’t matter. Either way, we see Jim Hendry made the same decisions and we couldn’t have expected, nor wanted different ones with a different GM.
[quote name=Berselius]A-Rod —-> no suspension over lame poker accusations[/quote]Good. Saves me from being pissed off. That whole thing was a joke. Like the MLB Lawyer said back in 2005, they have no right to tell him he can’t play in those poker games, he’s not doing anything illegal and he’s not violating the morals clause. in short, he literally did nothing wrong. Not in 2005 and not now. I think it’s the same thing as telling players they have to tuck their shirts in other than when they aren’t at bat.
[quote name=mb21]Good. Saves me from being pissed off. That whole thing was a joke. Like the MLB Lawyer said back in 2005, they have no right to tell him he can’t play in those poker games, he’s not doing anything illegal and he’s not violating the morals clause. in short, he literally did nothing wrong. Not in 2005 and not now. I think it’s the same thing as telling players they have to tuck their shirts in other than when they aren’t at bat.[/quote] If this were the NFL it would be a 4 game suspension (dying laughing). Too bad it looks like the NFLPA didn’t tamp down on that shit in the new CBA
[quote name=mb21]Doogolas is one optimistic person. Nothing wrong with that, but you’re not going to get people to jump on the bandwagon when everything is about this guy could be good, this guy could be really really good and this guy could be awesome.[/quote]I’m not always like that, for one thing, I love to discuss stuff, so I play Devil’s Advocate all the time. A lot of people here have what I consider to be a very pessimistic outlook on just about everybody. I’m not trying to get anybody on board, I appreciate the discussion, it’s fun and interesting. I don’t even necessarily think you guys are wrong when I’m making these arguments, I’m just kind of pointing out that there’s another side to the coin. Sure, if the approach of “All our prospects aren’t going to be more than mediocre” that’s going to be right 90% of the time, but that goes for all teams. Now, in the last 20 years or so, yeah, it’s been really bad for us, but I can see it turning around with one of our guys.
Also, about B-Jax, two things: 1) No, contact skill is not the ability to not strike out. Brett Jackson is very patient, he works counts deep and because of that it often will only take him one swing and miss for him to strike out.
2) Yeah, if he is able to lower his contact rate to say, 20%, he could be an absolutely outstanding player, like pre-injury Grady Sizemore good. But even more realistically I think he’ll be damn good, putting up between 4WAR and 5WAR in his prime years.
Even if jackson lowers his K-rate he’s not going to be a great player. He’s had some nice numbers in the minors, but things are more difficult at the big league level. Let’s not set him up for failure by expecting too much out of him. You don’t have to be a great player to be valuable. Starlin Castro isn’t a great player and likely never will be, but he’s a very valuable ballplayer. I think Jackson, if he reaches his ceiling, can be better than Castro, which is just a really good player. I think he can make a couple all-star games in his career, but let’s not go overboard.
Also, just because someone doesn’t see the brightest sides of everything doesn’t mean they’re pessimistic. Saying that Brett Jackson isn’t a great player and probably never will be isn’t pessimistic. It’s realism. Saying the same for Starlin Castro isn’t pessimistic. It’s only pessimistic if you think he has to be so good or he’s a failure. I don’t. I never have. I never will. He makes league minimum and is still a good ballplayer. rWAR doesn’t like him, but I think he’s somewhere in between rWAR and fWAR. About average. Let’s just go with that. He’s 21 and should improve, but players don’t typically improve by as much as you’re suggesting.
Pessimism is saying that Brett Jackson sucks and that Starlin Castro’s numbers are a fluke. Optimism is saying Brett Jackson can be worth 5 WAR later in his career. I don’t care what player you’re talking about. The odds of a player being that good years down the road is small. Albert Pujols is the best player in the game and I’m not confident enough to say he’ll be a 5 WAR player in 4 or 5 years. I think the smart money would be betting that he won’t be. That’s not pessimism.
[quote name=mb21]Even if jackson lowers his K-rate he’s not going to be a great player. He’s had some nice numbers in the minors, but things are more difficult at the big league level. Let’s not set him up for failure by expecting too much out of him. You don’t have to be a great player to be valuable. Starlin Castro isn’t a great player and likely never will be, but he’s a very valuable ballplayer. I think Jackson, if he reaches his ceiling, can be better than Castro, which is just a really good player. I think he can make a couple all-star games in his career, but let’s not go overboard.
Also, just because someone doesn’t see the brightest sides of everything doesn’t mean they’re pessimistic. Saying that Brett Jackson isn’t a great player and probably never will be isn’t pessimistic. It’s realism. Saying the same for Starlin Castro isn’t pessimistic. It’s only pessimistic if you think he has to be so good or he’s a failure. I don’t. I never have. I never will. He makes league minimum and is still a good ballplayer. rWAR doesn’t like him, but I think he’s somewhere in between rWAR and fWAR. About average. Let’s just go with that. He’s 21 and should improve, but players don’t typically improve by as much as you’re suggesting.[/quote]Well, first of all, you’re wrong that Castro likely never will be a great player. The fact that he’s already an above average player and is only 21 years old is a sign that he could easily be a superstar someday. Maybe he never will, but history tends to side with “if you’re good when you’re 20 you’re going to be a stud when you’re 27”
As for B-Jax, I don’t think he’s going to ever put up a K-Rate of 20%. But if he did, yes, he would be a superstar. We’re talking about him putting something like 5% more balls in play. In 700PA (what he’ll likely get per year) that’s 35 extra balls in play. With a .310BABIP that’s 11 extra hits in a year. Let’s say normally he’s got a K-rate of 20% (140) and a BB% of 11% (77) we’ll say he hits FB 40% of the time and hits a HR/FB of 10%.that’d give him 19HR.
So with that .310BABIP we’re talking about him having a .275 batting average. An ISO probably right around .200 and a BA/OBP differential of right about .100, that’s a .275/.375/.475 centerfielder with average to above average defense.
I’m roughly 99% certain that’d be a 6+WAR player. If you need an example of that type of season see: Sizemore, Grady: 2007. And that was in a much more high scoring run environment than the one Jackson will be coming into even if we go back up to last year’s. I do not think it will happen. In fact, Castro has a better chance at becoming a future MVP than that happening. I’m not setting Brett Jackson up to be anything other than a good player. I was talking about a hypothetical situation with MO, that’s about it. Jackson will likely come up and be an OK player for a couple years and then give us his prime years where he’s maybe a 4, 4.5WAR type guy. Good, but not spectacular.
EDIT: Even if we say Castro is merely average right now. History does, in fact, show that 20 year olds do improve by that much. You’re greatly underestimating how ridiculously young he is. It’s fine if you don’t agree with me on Castro. We’ll see what happens. But I wasn’t saying that stuff was going to actually happen with B-Jax. It was a hypothetical that MO brought up, as I recall.
Well, first of all, you’re wrong that Castro likely never will be a great player. The fact that he’s already an above average player and is only 21 years old is a sign that he could easily be a superstar someday. Maybe he never will, but history tends to side with “if you’re good when you’re 20 you’re going to be a stud when you’re 27”
fWAR sees him as above average. rWAR sees him as slightly above replacement.
Look, there’s no point in discussing this with you because you’re right, I’m wrong, everyone else is wrong. We’re pessimists and you’re a realist.
By the way, history does not, in fact, show that. Look it up. I’ve posted the numbers here before. History doesn’t even tell us Castro will improve defensively. I don’t know what you mean by historically, but I think you’re using the wrong definition.
[quote name=mb21]fWAR sees him as above average. rWAR sees him as slightly above replacement.
Look, there’s no point in discussing this with you because you’re right, I’m wrong, everyone else is wrong. We’re pessimists and you’re a realist.[/quote]I never said any of that. Why does this have to be taken so seriously? We can’t just talk about it and agree to disagree without getting pissy at each other? But you can look at what he’s done and look at the other people who have done the same and see that all of them are in the Hall of Fame. I mean, sorry if you misread my tone there, but you’re taking it way too seriously.
And when I say “what he’s done” I’m not speaking about strictly his WAR. There is more to baseball than comparing a guy’s WAR to other people’s. I’m referring to what he’s done at such a young age as a hitter.
The Q I have is…who are the comparable players to Starlin Castro so far?
By that I mean over all of baseball history, not just contemporaries. Then you can use that data to determine Castro’s predicted progress/aging curve/whatever.
[quote name=Doogolas]I never said any of that. Why does this have to be taken so seriously? We can’t just talk about it and agree to disagree without getting pissy at each other? But you can look at what he’s done and look at the other people who have done the same and see that all of them are in the Hall of Fame. I mean, sorry if you misread my tone there, but you’re taking it way too seriously.[/quote] it’s difficult to agree to disagree when you tell me I’m wrong. Tell me why you disagree without telling me I’m wrong. I may in fact be wrong, but so may you. Neither of us knows so why even say you’re wrong?
Doog, I agree what Castro has done is impressive and I’ve never said otherwise. I’ve only said he’s likely not going to be a superstar. He lacks necessary skills for that. He doesn’t hit for enough power and players his age don’t typically become power hitters who have little power at his age. He hits too many balls on the ground, too. He doesn’t take enough walks. His OBP is always going to remain near his average. He’s a poor fielder and even the scouts have always said he’ll have to move to a new position at some point.
None of this is taking away anything that he’s accomplished so far at his young age. I’m just saying that players who have displayed his skills, even at that age, do not typically turn into superstars.
[quote name=ACT]* if you combine the 2 years, I mean. And that’s with no preferential weighting to this year.[/quote]Probably about the half-way point. Average would be a little under 4. I guess the more important point I was trying to make is that fWAR sees him as already being above average while rWAR tells us another story.
[quote name=Rice Cube]The Q I have is…who are the comparable players to Starlin Castro so far?
By that I mean over all of baseball history, not just contemporaries. Then you can use that data to determine Castro’s predicted progress/aging curve/whatever.[/quote][quote name=Rice Cube]The Q I have is…who are the comparable players to Starlin Castro so far?
By that I mean over all of baseball history, not just contemporaries. Then you can use that data to determine Castro’s predicted progress/aging curve/whatever.[/quote]PECOTA uses comparables and I started writing something yesterday about Castro and I’m going to look at some comparables. Hopefully have it posted later today.
[quote name=mb21]PECOTA uses com parables and I started writing something yesterday about Castro and I’m going to look at some comparables. Hopefully have it posted later today.[/quote] Cool, looking forward to it. I figure that’s probably the better way to look at Castro’s career predictions based on “history” is to see what other above-average-speed/bad-defense/slap-hitting 21-year-old shortstops did as they aged (dying laughing)
PECOTA’s RoS projection sees him as going .297/.328/.397 (1.0 WARP) the rest of the year. As long as he finishes above .300, I’ll be happy (yeah, despite all the lessons I’ve heard to the contrary, I still find something “magical” about the .300 mark. Sue me.)
The thing that tends to make me “pessimistic” (for lack of a better term) is that baseball is inherently a game of failure. The best players in the entire history of the world failed more often as they succeeded at the plate. Ted Williams career OBP is .482. The best most of us have ever seen is Barry Bonds’ .444. So even those ridiculously talented guys failed in over 50% of their plate appearances.
So when We see holes in guys’ games, like a low OBP due to an inability to take walks, or a lack of power, or whatever other issues we have with any prospect is that the game itself is going to tend to exacerbate whatever weaknesses there are in someone’s game. Advance scouts know exactly what we do (and probably more) and will determine a game plan to get Castro out.
The truly amazing thing about guys like Pujols is that they adjust and learn what the opposition is doing and close whatever hole they have found. That usually creates another hole somewhere, and the chess match goes back and forth.
Maybe Castro can do that with regularity, and he’ll grow more muscular, and yadda yadda yadda, but the guys with that kind of ability + the ability to understand what the opposition is doing and likewise adjust + have very few holes in their game to begin with are very, very, very, very rare. So tempering my expectations of what Castro (or any Cubs prospect) can be is probably my way of dealing with the crushing disappointment that most of these guys are not going to be great players.
Then there is still the matter of the Cubs providing proper instruction and I’m not sold on their ability to help these young players along the way.
I have resigned myself to the fact that the Cubs are a horrible organization and any success its players have is in spite of the organization and not due to anything they do to help.
Well put, 424. I also think we as fans tend to get too optimistic about young guys. They do something we really like and then we think if they can fill all the other holes how good they could be. We do that enough and all of a sudden this guy has the potential to be a superstar. All the prospects have the potential to be a superstar. All of them. Poorly rated prospects have changed part of their game and become stars. It happens. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.
What we tend to ignore is that most prospects fail. Baseball is a cruel game to young players. It’s more cruel than any other professional league. We also ignore something with regards to the aging curve. We like to think a guy is just going to improve and improve. Well, that’s not necessarily true. The sample of players who reach the big leagues, continue to play for a few to several years continue to improve through age 26 to 28. But that doesn’t include the players who flamed out.
If we know Starlin Castro is going to be playing baseball as long as the group that continues to improve we should expect him to also improve, but we don’t know that. There have been a lot of players, even players his age, who started out with a promising career only to see it go away quickly.
All we really know about a guy like Castro and how he may age is that patience, power and defense are skills. They may improve, but they don’t typically improve significantly. You don’t see too many low-walk guys who become very patient and you don’t see too many low power guys who suddenly start cranking home runs left and right. It can happen. It’s happened before and it could happen to Castro, but it’s not at all likely.
You don’t see too many low-walk guys who become very patient and you don’t see too many low power guys who suddenly start cranking home runs left and right. It can happen. It’s happened before and it could happen to Castro, but it’s not at all likely.
I agree with you on Castro and walks MB but I think you’re discounting what the scouts have said about Castro’s power. He’s 21 and hits a lot of doubles. Some of them will turn into HRs when he fills out. I’m not saying he’s going to become an A-Rod like power-hitting SS but I think it’s more than fair to think that his power numbers will improve.
I’d like him to stick at SS, since good SS are hard to find, but I don’t care if his ss defense moves him to 2b or 3b or CF. As we’ve discussed before, unless we have some specific reason to believe that they’ll suck at another position defensive translations mean that Castro would have just as much value as a 2b as a SS.
Prospects are kind of like the backup QB on a team with a struggling starter. They are a potential Pro Bowler just wasting away on the bench in the fans’ eyes.
There is nothing wrong with being optimistic, but I think when it comes to baseball and the Cubs in particluar, you’re going to be disappointed far more often than pleased with the actual results.
[quote name=ACT]I don’t understand. Doesn’t “contact skills” mean “ability not to strike out”?[/quote]Not necessarily. As I take it, it means the ability to get the bat on the ball with some regularity. As Dooglas pointed out, guys that can do that tend to work deeper counts (fighting off pitches) and will usually strike more than most.
[quote name=ACT]Pirates look to lose yet another game in the standings today.[/quote]Let us hope this sends a big caveat emptor to Hendry, who was earlier touting the Pirates success as an example of what the Cubs could do next year.
[quote name=ACT]Fortunately, the same can be said for Bronson Arroyo.[/quote]Yes. The question then becomes which lineup is more capable of making the pitcher pay for it.
[quote name=Berselius]I agree with you on Castro and walks MB but I think you’re discounting what the scouts have said about Castro’s power. He’s 21 and hits a lot of doubles. Some of them will turn into HRs when he fills out. I’m not saying he’s going to become an A-Rod like power-hitting SS but I think it’s more than fair to think that his power numbers will improve.
I’d like him to stick at SS, since good SS are hard to find, but I don’t care if his ss defense moves him to 2b or 3b or CF. As we’ve discussed before, unless we have some specific reason to believe that they’ll suck at another position defensive translations mean that Castro would have just as much value as a 2b as a SS.[/quote]The power numbers will improve with age, but he’s never going to be hitting 30 home runs. 10 to 15 is probably where he’s going to be at in his prime.
[quote name=mb21]The power numbers will improve with age, but he’s never going to be hitting 30 home runs. 10 to 15 is probably where he’s going to be at in his prime.[/quote] 15 or so sounds about right to me.
[quote name=mb21]The power numbers will improve with age, but he’s never going to be hitting 30 home runs. 10 to 15 is probably where he’s going to be at in his prime.[/quote] Never say never…especially with better “nutrition” and “supplements” out there.
Of course he might just have a naturally fluky season where the wind magically blows out every time he gets a ball in the air.
[quote name=mb21]Yeah, b, I don’t care if he moves to a different position either. He’s not losing value with a position change.[/quote] It will be hilarious when Darwin Barney blocks him from moving to 2b (dying laughing)
[quote name=Berselius]15 or so sounds about right to me.[/quote]I envision something like an at-his-peak Orlando Cabrera when I think of what Castro can be.
[quote name=Rice Cube]Never say never…especially with better “nutrition” and “supplements” out there.
Of course he might just have a naturally fluky season where the wind magically blows out every time he gets a ball in the air.[/quote]I’d be OK with Castro taking some “supplements.” If it turned him into a 25 home run hitter in his prime I’d like it. (dying laughing)
[quote name=Rice Cube]Randy Wells seems to be getting owned.[/quote] I’m surprised he’s still in. When the rotting corpse of Edgar Renteria homers off of you you’re probably done for the day
[quote name=mb21]I’d be OK with Castro taking some “supplements.” If it turned him into a 25 home run hitter in his prime I’d like it. (dying laughing)[/quote] Agreed, as long as they’re not “illegal” according to the MLB banned substances list, which probably doesn’t know of certain “supplements”…
[quote name=Berselius]I’m surprised he’s still in. When the rotting corpse of Edgar Renteria homers off of you you’re probably done for the day[/quote] A slightly less decomposed corpse of Edgar Renteria did homer off Cliff Lee in the World Series, so we’ll just chalk that up to shitty variance.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I envision something like an at-his-peak Orlando Cabrera when I think of what Castro can be.[/quote]Edgar Renteria is the guy I think of. The two are about the same size and they both have had success at a young age.
[quote name=mb21]Edgar Renteria is the guy I think of. The two are about the same size and they both have had success at a young age.[/quote] Hopefully Castro matches Renteria in the World Series winning hits category. Sadly it probably won’t be with the Cubs (dying laughing)
I could also see Castro’s home run be more similar to Templeton than Renteria. Castro and Templeton have very similar numbers (minors and majors). Prior to last season Bryan Smith did a piece on Castro on Fangraphs and found he was most similar to Templeton. They were similar in the minors and at the majors through age 21 here is what they have done: .314/.331/.427 (106 OPS+) and .307/.344/.420 (104 OPS+).
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]For or against?[/quote] Bitching about the positional adjustments. He thinks there are too many 2B/SS/CF in the top WAR getters.
[quote name=Berselius]David Wright ———-> Apparently playing SS right now after a Reyes injury[/quote]Jose Reyes’s agent —————-> hoping injury isn’t serious. Mets ———————> hoping he’s out for one year (dying laughing)
[quote name=Berselius]Bitching about the positional adjustments. He thinks there are too many 2B/SS/CF in the top WAR getters.[/quote]So too many players who play the most important defensive positions are being ranked as among the more valuable players in the league. Brilliant stance for Buster to take. Really solid. About what I have come to expect from ESPN.
[quote name=Berselius]Paraphrasing Buster Olney:[/quote]Why would anyone ever have to make that choice? And that’s not what WAR is meant to convey, anyway!
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Why would anyone ever have to make that choice? And that’s not what WAR is meant to convey, anyway![/quote] But they have more WAR, so that means they’re better players both now and forever (dying laughing)
[quote name=Berselius]But they have more WAR, so that means they’re better players both now and forever (dying laughing)[/quote]Jeebus. Fucking Olney is an idiot. ESPN is a fucking wasteland.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder](dying laughing), DeWitt, of course. Man, Hendry is going to get sucked into thinking this roster isn’t bad, and next year is going to be ugly again.[/quote]I don’t know how that can happen, MO. They’re below average in runs scored per game, 3rd worst in runs allowed, terrible on defense and horrible at running the bases.
This isn’t last year’s team where there were some bright spots and reasons to think an improvement was possible even if unlikely.
[quote name=mb21]I don’t know how that can happen, MO. They’re below average in runs scored per game, 3rd worst in runs allowed, terrible on defense and horrible at running the bases.
This isn’t last year’s team where there were some bright spots and reasons to think an improvement was possible even if unlikely.[/quote]I suspect that what you and I consider bright spots and what Hendry considers bright spots are two different things. (dying laughing)
I see what you’re saying, though, and I hope it’s right because when you can put DeWitt, Colvin, and Campana in one lineup without any regular being injured, you have a roster that is seriously flawed.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Same. That show went way, way off the rails.[/quote]Yeah, I didn’t even like most of season 2. Sepinwall seemed to enjoy it, but it was too different from the first season. By the time Jax’s baby was kidnapped I was wondering why I even watched the show. I heard last year was about the same so I didn’t watch it. I’ll watch it this year to start the season anyway.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I suspect that what you and I consider bright spots and what Hendry considers bright spots are two different things. (dying laughing)
I see what you’re saying, though, and I hope it’s right because when you can put DeWitt, Colvin, and Campana in one lineup without any regular being injured, you have a roster that is seriously flawed.[/quote] I think the biggest difference is money. The Cubs haven’t had money for a few off seasons so there was little they could do. That’s not a problem this year. I was thinking the other day that I could see the Cubs acquiring a guy like Jose Bautista. He’s not exactly cheap, but his contract is still friendly. Those are the guys the Cubs need to go after and they have the money. The question is whether or not they have the talent to acquire him.
[quote name=mb21]I think the biggest difference is money. The Cubs haven’t had money for a few off seasons so there was little they could do. That’s not a problem this year. I was thinking the other day that I could see the Cubs acquiring a guy like Jose Bautista. He’s not exactly cheap, but his contract is still friendly. Those are the guys the Cubs need to go after and they have the money. The question is whether or not they have the talent to acquire him.[/quote]They’re still working with ~$25 mil offseason purse, right?
(dying laughing) @ the defensive setup in the Cub OF. The fastest guy in LF, the worst of the 3 defenders in the most difficult position (RF in Wrigley is a bitch), and the guy shaped like a beer keg in CF. Cubs baseball! Yippee!
[quote name=Berselius]Ugh, I hate that that play is considered clean[/quote]I take it Campana took the middle infielder out at 2nd base? Why do you guys hate that play? I’ve always liked it. As long as the player is within reach of the base, I think it’s a good play and I think the baserunner would be silly not to do it.
[quote name=Berselius]Take heart RC, the Cubs are only 16.5 back in the wild card[/quote]How many more in a row would the Cubs have to win to have a better than 0.5% chance of reaching the playoffs?
[quote name=mb21]I take it Campana took the middle infielder out at 2nd base? Why do you guys hate that play? I’ve always liked it. As long as the player is within reach of the base, I think it’s a good play and I think the baserunner would be silly not to do it.[/quote] He slid over the base sideways and wiped out Janish’s legs. He ended up 4-5 feet from the base
[quote name=mb21]I take it Campana took the middle infielder out at 2nd base? Why do you guys hate that play? I’ve always liked it. As long as the player is within reach of the base, I think it’s a good play and I think the baserunner would be silly not to do it.[/quote]They’re playing like a team that want to win. I say go for it. Let the umpire decide clean/dirty.
[quote name=Berselius]He slid over the base sideways and wiped out Janish’s legs. He ended up 4-5 feet from the base[/quote] From the way Pat and Keith described it on the radio it was Holliday-esque. Which according to Byrd’s blog is totally clean.
[quote name=writerjosh]They’re playing like a team that want to win. I say go for it. Let the umpire decide clean/dirty.[/quote]Yeah, I agree with that.
[quote name=Rice Cube]From the way Pat and Keith described it on the radio it was Holliday-esque. Which according to Byrd’s blog is totally clean.[/quote]I don’t have a problem with Holliday’s slide. He went in a little high, but other than that, I don’t care. I don’t think it was dirty and wonder if we’d have been saying the same thing if the Cubs were in a pennant race and did the same thing in a close game.
[quote name=writerjosh]They’re playing like a team that want to win. I say go for it. Let the umpire decide clean/dirty.[/quote]There has been no point at which these players did not want to win, nor have they ever played more to win or less to win. The only difference is that they are winning now and were losing then. Everything else is the hackneyed armchair psychoanalysis in which fans indulge to assuage their own frustrations and justify their own preconceptions.
But I agree on the umpire bit. That’s what they are there to do. No need to engage in silly beanball antics or the like.
[quote name=mb21]I don’t have a problem with Holliday’s slide. He went in a little high, but other than that, I don’t care. I don’t think it was dirty and wonder if we’d have been saying the same thing if the Cubs were in a pennant race and did the same thing in a close game.[/quote] Actually most of the interwebs and the announcers were cheering Campana on so obviously they thought it was clean too.
Speaking of Campana, I just saw the replay of Frazier’s RBI double and Campana missed Castro at the cutoff and fired to nobody in particular at 2B. Ball bounced off Frazier’s leg as he got into 2B standing and could’ve given him 3B if it bounced even farther away. WTF, Campana?
[quote name=Rice Cube]Actually most of the interwebs and the announcers were cheering Campana on so obviously they thought it was clean too.
Speaking of Campana, I just saw the replay of Frazier’s RBI double and Campana missed Castro at the cutoff and fired to nobody in particular at 2B. Ball bounced off Frazier’s leg as he got into 2B standing and could’ve given him 3B if it bounced even farther away. WTF, Campana?[/quote]Campana’s arm is awful, maybe worst I’ve ever seen on a ML OF. No accuracy or arm strength at all.
[quote name=mb21]I haven’t seen the Campana one. If you find a video let me know.[/quote] I haven’t either, maybe someone has TiVo but I imagine since nobody scored on the play, MLB.com might not upload it.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Baker in RF. (dying laughing) Quade loves the MIF in OF move.[/quote] Gotta save Soriano for extra innings, y’know. And it’d be too logical to put Campana in CF and move Byrd to RF.
[quote name=Rice Cube]Gotta save Soriano for extra innings, y’know. And it’d be too logical to put Campana in CF and move Byrd to RF.[/quote]Eh. I don’t know that Baker’s glove isn’t preferable to Soriano’s. But if he was going to take Colvin out, he might as well have left Reed in to play RF the previous inning.
Baker has only played 10 more innings in the outfield this year than he did last year.[/quote]It’s not a big deal to me. It just makes me laugh. Quade really has his favorite moves.
had the hardest time logging into the site from my wife’s computer. Weird. i was thinking that I wonder if the difference in the club house, in terms of Quade “alienating” the Latino players might just be a language barrier. Lou spoke a hilariously accented Spanish, but he actually knew quite a bit of the language.
[quote name=josh]had the hardest time logging into the site from my wife’s computer. Weird. i was thinking that I wonder if the difference in the club house, in terms of Quade “alienating” the Latino players might just be a language barrier. Lou spoke a hilariously accented Spanish, but he actually knew quite a bit of the language.[/quote]I think Starlin is the only Latino player that still struggles a bit with English, so that’s prob not an issue. Plus, the rumor was that Quade was alienating the veterans in the clubhouse, not the Latino players.
[quote name=Berselius]The feed isn’t loading on my laptop right now – I’ll try to grab some images of the slide later.[/quote]It’s no big deal, b. More than likely I’m not going to think it was a dirty play or should be considered dirty.
A dirty play to me is A-Rod swatting the glove away. It’s yelling “got it” when the ball is in the outfield. It’s throwing a bat at someone running down the line. It’s throwing at someone’s head. It’s pushing Don Zimmer down. It’s taking steroids. It’s spitting on baseballs. And you know how I feel about steroids and spitting on baseballs. If you can get away with it, you should do it. (dying laughing)
[quote name=josh]had the hardest time logging into the site from my wife’s computer. Weird. i was thinking that I wonder if the difference in the club house, in terms of Quade “alienating” the Latino players might just be a language barrier. Lou spoke a hilariously accented Spanish, but he actually knew quite a bit of the language.[/quote]What happened when you were trying to login?
Anyone else had this problem? The cache is off so it would have to be something else.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]It’s not a big deal to me. It just makes me laugh. Quade really has his favorite moves.[/quote]What makes me laugh about it is that playing Blake DeWitt in LF isn’t necessarily a bad decision. That’s funny. And sad. (dying laughing)
[quote name=mb21]It’s no big deal, b. More than likely I’m not going to think it was a dirty play or should be considered dirty.
A dirty play to me is A-Rod swatting the glove away. It’s yelling “got it” when the ball is in the outfield. It’s throwing a bat at someone running down the line. It’s throwing at someone’s head. It’s pushing Don Zimmer down. It’s taking steroids. It’s spitting on baseballs. And you know how I feel about steroids and spitting on baseballs. If you can get away with it, you should do it. (dying laughing)[/quote] (dying laughing), this is my personal crusade. I’ll need a new axe to grind after Soriano is out of baseball (dying laughing)
I usually login with my facebook account, but when I would try the button, it did nothing. It could be that her computer doesn’t have the latest javascript or something.
[quote name=mb21]What makes me laugh about it is that playing Blake DeWitt in LF isn’t necessarily a bad decision. That’s funny. And sad. (dying laughing)[/quote]Yeah, like I was saying earlier, when a manager can justifiably have Campana, Colvin, and DeWitt int he same lineup without any regulars being injured, there are serious roster problems.
Checking out the Cardinals game now. Pujols has 27 HR. Even after a crap season he will get yet another 30 HR season unless someone kills him with a wrecking ball. It’d be tougher for him to get to 100 RBI or .300 batting average. Right now he only has 69 RBI, it doesn’t help that TLR kept batting auto-outs in front of him.
[quote name=Berselius](dying laughing), this is my personal crusade. I’ll need a new axe to grind after Soriano is out of baseball (dying laughing)[/quote]I thought Carl Crawford was your new crusade. (dying laughing)
[quote name=josh]I usually login with my facebook account, but when I would try the button, it did nothing. It could be that her computer doesn’t have the latest javascript or something.[/quote]When was the last time you logged in using FB on a different computer?
[quote name=mb21]I thought Carl Crawford was your new crusade. (dying laughing)[/quote] They’re two separate but related windmills. The first is that Carl Crawford is stupidly overrated, the second is the Soriano contract itself (dying laughing)
[quote name=Rice Cube]Checking out the Cardinals game now. Pujols has 27 HR. Even after a crap season he will get yet another 30 HR season unless someone kills him with a wrecking ball. It’d be tougher for him to get to 100 RBI or .300 batting average. Right now he only has 69 RBI, it doesn’t help that TLR kept batting auto-outs in front of him.[/quote]It’s truly amazing to think about what Pujols has done over his career given the shit with which TLR has often surrounded him.
[quote name=mb21]When was the last time you logged in using FB on a different computer?[/quote]Didn’t work for me either. I know what the issue is and I’ll make the necessary changes a bit later. I disabled mootools.js and caption.js for non-registered users. That obviously disables the FB and Twitter login.
Earlier today. Then it would let me log in with twitter, but I guess it sort of gave me a different profile. Anyway, I tried to cancel that out and it didn’t like that, I couldn’t login any other way. I ended up clearing out my cache and breaking the connection on Twitter, and that solved that problem.
Vitters has a K-rate of just 10% this season, but his K:BB is still nearly 3:1. If he would just take a few more walks, I think he could really blossom.
Over his last 10 games, Vitters is 13-for-35 with 2 doubles, 2 homers, 9 RBI, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. His line over that span is .371/.425/.600. For the season, Vitters is at .284/.321/.455.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]It appears I may have been wrong about bolstering the rotation. Miles on Hendry’s offseason plans:[/quote]Who’s going to realistically be available? I’m assuming our trade prospects are virtually nil, but maybe I’m wrong.
[quote name=josh]Who’s going to realistically be available? I’m assuming our trade prospects are virtually nil, but maybe I’m wrong.[/quote]MLBTR’s list:
Mark Buehrle (33) Chris Capuano (33) Chris Carpenter (37) – $15MM club option with a $1MM buyout Bruce Chen (35) Bartolo Colon (39) Aaron Cook (33) – $11MM mutual option with a $500K buyout Kyle Davies (28) Doug Davis (36) Ryan Dempster (35) – $14MM player option, no buyout Zach Duke (29) – $5.5MM club option with a $750K buyout Jeff Francis (30) Freddy Garcia (36) Jon Garland (32) – $8MM club option with a $500K buyout; vests with 190 IP Aaron Harang (34) – $5MM mutual option with a $500K buyout Rich Harden (30) Livan Hernandez (37) Edwin Jackson (28) Kenshin Kawakami (37) Scott Kazmir (28) – $13.5MM club option with a $2.5MM buyout Hiroki Kuroda (37) Rodrigo Lopez (36) Paul Maholm (30) – $9.75MM club option with a $750K buyout John Maine (31) Jason Marquis (33) Kevin Millwood (37) Sergio Mitre (31) Scott Olsen (28) – $4MM club option with a $100K buyout Roy Oswalt (34) – $16MM mutual option with a $2MM buyout Brad Penny (34) Oliver Perez (30) Joel Pineiro (33) C.C. Sabathia (31) – may opt out of remaining four years, $92MM Javier Vazquez (35) Adam Wainwright (30) – $10MM vesting option for ’12, $12MM for ’13 Tim Wakefield (45) Chien-Ming Wang (32) Brandon Webb (33) Dontrelle Willis (30) C.J. Wilson (31) Chris Young (33)
Looking at that list, I’d say the likely Hendry targets are Jackson, Millwood, Maholm, and Vasquez.
[quote name=ACT]I just hope they don’t go after Wakefield or Livan.[/quote]Or MIllwood or Javi. But Hendry’s gone the the buy-low veteran innings eater route before.
They should get that Ryan Dempster fellow. He’s been solid. Any chance CC opts out, or is that like when there was a “chance” Jeter signed with someone else?
Seriously…who was he throwing to? On that play I think you concede the runner will get to 2B and fire to the cutoff man on a line to 3B to prevent the runner from getting to 3B.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Looking at that list, I’d say the likely Hendry targets are Jackson, Millwood, Maholm, and Vasquez.[/quote] Millwood just more or less hung em up today. Apparently he cleaned out his locker for the BoSox AAA team
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Looking at that list, I’d say the likely Hendry targets are Jackson, Millwood, Maholm, and Vasquez.[/quote] I can’t believe Buerhle is 33. He seems Moyer-esque (dying laughing).
They should get that Ryan Dempster fellow. He’s been solid. Any chance CC opts out, or is that like when there was a “chance” Jeter signed with someone else?[/quote]I’d be shocked if CC opted out. But you never know.
I could see Hendry working a waiver deal with BOS for Z or Demp, though if he wanted to max out value, he might offer Garza.
[quote name=Berselius]Millwood just more or less hung em up today. Apparently he cleaned out his locker for the BoSox AAA team[/quote]Well, that might just save Hendry from himself. (dying laughing)
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I’d be shocked if CC opted out. But you never know.
I could see Hendry working a waiver deal with BOS for Z or Demp, though if he wanted to max out value, he might offer Garza.[/quote] I’d be shocked if they moved Garza, even if Hendry is no longer the GM.
Seriously…who was he throwing to? On that play I think you concede the runner will get to 2B and fire to the cutoff man on a line to 3B to prevent the runner from getting to 3B.[/quote]His arm is terrible. Just awful. I’m surprised this never came up while he was in the minors.
[quote name=Berselius]I’d be shocked if they moved Garza, even if Hendry is no longer the GM.[/quote]Yeah, me, too. But he’s probably the second most-valuable chip they have.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]His arm is terrible. Just awful. I’m surprised this never came up while he was in the minors.[/quote]
Can’t really tell where Barney was on that play. I think Castro was set up to receive the cutoff near 3B to prevent an advance. Should Barney have been covering 2B, or is he backing up something else? Or was he scratching his ass in the outfield?
[quote name=Rice Cube]Can’t really tell where Barney was on that play. I think Castro was set up to receive the cutoff near 3B to prevent an advance. Should Barney have been covering 2B, or is he backing up something else? Or was he scratching his ass in the outfield?[/quote]I’m not sure. You would assume Barney should have been there (he’s gone missing a few times this season on plays at 2B), but it’s hard to get a sense of position sometimes, given TV camera angles. Bottom line is that it’s a wildass throw without a lot of zing. Get it to Castro and let the guy with the big league arm make a play if it’s there.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]His arm is terrible. Just awful. I’m surprised this never came up while he was in the minors.[/quote]Yeah, can he not hit the cutoff man, or was that what he was trying to do?
[quote name=josh]He’s like a little leaguer. He turns and launches the ball in the general direction of the infield with all his might.[/quote]If the Cubs plan on giving him real innings, someone needs to work with him on this.
I thought that throw should’ve been thrown towards 3B/cutoff in that direction. I was very surprised to see that it went to 2B when Castro was out of position because he was in the proper cutoff position and Barney was meditating in the outfield or something.
It ultimately doesn’t matter, but I think Frazier was in 2B safely within 8 seconds of making contact with the ball. Ball bounced off his ankle about half a second later, but he slowed down to not overrun the bag and was safe standing. I don’t know why the throw went to 2B, because the LF was not Soriano. Not that we’ll ever know, but Soriano probably takes longer to get to that ball than Campana, and while his throw is stronger, that delay in getting to the ball would mean Frazier is safe at 2B anyway whether the throw got there or not.
I think Barney was backing up Castro’s cutoff position. Oh well. Maybe Q will yell at them later.
[quote name=Berselius]On a related note, I often have problems logging in on my phone[/quote]Are you sure you aren’t logged in and it just doesn’t recognize it? I don’t know what’s up with the login on the mobile page, but I know I’ve had issues, but I’m actually logged in.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I’d be shocked if CC opted out. But you never know.
I could see Hendry working a waiver deal with BOS for Z or Demp, though if he wanted to max out value, he might offer Garza.[/quote]I’d be surprised if CC didn’t opt out. Most Yankees fans seem to think it’s a given. On the 3 or 4 Yankees blogs I visit they seem to think it’s all but official, which I agree with.
I think that’s who the Cubs target. I could see the Cubs going after him and sticking with Pena if he’ll take $5 million or less. Not a bad start to a team that could build and get better and be ready to contend in 2013.
[quote name=Berselius]I’d be shocked if they moved Garza, even if Hendry is no longer the GM.[/quote]I agree. Garza is pretty damn good. He’s probably the best starter the Cubs have had since Zambrano (2004-2005) and before that Prior. If the Cubs want to contend it’s unlikely any trade would benefit the Cubs. If the Giants call you up and offer you Tim Lincecum for Garza then you do it, but I don’t see that. (dying laughing)
So I can get the twitter login to work, but still having issues with FB. Probably won’t look into it until tomorrow. I’ll check out the mobile login tomorrow.
[quote name=mb21]I’d be surprised if CC didn’t opt out. Most Yankees fans seem to think it’s a given. On the 3 or 4 Yankees blogs I visit they seem to think it’s all but official, which I agree with.
I think that’s who the Cubs target. I could see the Cubs going after him and sticking with Pena if he’ll take $5 million or less. Not a bad start to a team that could build and get better and be ready to contend in 2013.[/quote]Hmmm. That’s interesting. What’s the better move: investing in a really good, fat pitcher, a really good, fat 1B, or an aging, all time great 1B?
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Hmmm. That’s interesting. What’s the better move: investing in a really good, fat pitcher, a really good, fat 1B, or an aging, all time great 1B?[/quote] I think they try to use the Giants method…try to ensure a good rotation and then hope that they outpitch the opposition while your shitty offense puts up just enough runs.
[quote name=Rice Cube]I think they try to use the Giants method…try to ensure a good rotation and then hope that they outpitch the opposition while your shitty offense puts up just enough runs.[/quote]I’d like just for ocne to see them behave like a large market team and try and do both at once.
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I’d like just for ocne to see them behave like a large market team and try and do both at once.[/quote] The Yankees tried, but they bought the wrong high-priced pitchers it seems. Other than CC. AJ Burnett has been meh even after Larry Rothschild sort of fixed him. I think they seem content just outslugging the opponent.
FWIW, I too have issues logging in on my iphone. It will automatically log me out once I leave the page. At the bottom it acts like I’m logged off, it has the “name, email, website, prompt” but I have to logoff at the top of the page. I then have to go to the home page. I login, after completing log in it says my session has expired so I have to login again. At that point it works fine. This is how it’s been consistently for me the last few weeks.
[quote name=mb21]Are you sure you aren’t logged in and it just doesn’t recognize it? I don’t know what’s up with the login on the mobile page, but I know I’ve had issues, but I’m actually logged in.[/quote] It’s possible. If the comment form doesn’t show me as logged in I go to the login on the top. After I login I get some sort of error page, but if I navigate back to OV I’m logged in.
[quote name=Berselius]It’s possible. If the comment form doesn’t show me as logged in I go to the login on the top. After I login I get some sort of error page, but if I navigate back to OV I’m logged in.[/quote]That sucks. I’m going to have to roll back several of the improvements I made. In other words, we have to make the site worse so people can login.
hey md, what do you make of Vitter’s this season? Its weird but for the last few levels he posts similar lines. They dont stand out (OPS in the .775 range) but he isn’t getting worse as the competition increases. He doesnt walk, he doesn’t strike out, he hits for average power and a decent average overall. IF he can stick at 3B he might be a prospect but if he has to move to 1B then forget about it
[quote name=dylanj]hey md, what do you make of Vitter’s this season? Its weird but for the last few levels he posts similar lines. They dont stand out (OPS in the .775 range) but he isn’t getting worse as the competition increases. He doesnt walk, he doesn’t strike out, he hits for average power and a decent average overall. IF he can stick at 3B he might be a prospect but if he has to move to 1B then forget about it[/quote]When I was doing the last prospects thread a few days ago, Vitters had played about 30% of his games at 1st base. There’s little doubt at this point that he’s a 1st baseman. If he’s there 30% of the time in AA, he’s a 1st baseman.
Even as a 3rd baseman, I think he has the type of skill set that is going to be exploited the higher he goes. I’m actually pleasantly surprised it hasn’t happened at AA yet, but eventually I think his swingtastic approach is going to kill his chances.
If he does have decent power or can hit lefties well enough, there’s always a chance he could be a platoon player. To be honest, I think that’s where his ceiling is at this point. I just think he has too many holes. He’s slow, He doesn’t hit for tremendous power, not a super high average, terrible on-base skills, poor defensively. If he can mash lefties there’s no reason he couldn’t be a platoon guy though.
Does anyone actually platoon at first base at the major league level? I think, almost always, the first baseman is a guy who hits so well, you have him in the lineup even without the platoon advantage.
Comments
(dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
The “seven in a row bitch” tag amuses me.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]The “seven in a row bitch” tag amuses me.[/quote]Because it’s the only time it will be used for a winning streak?
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]The “seven in a row bitch” tag amuses me.[/quote]Only 16 more to go before the magical .500 mark.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Only 16 more to go before the magical .500 mark.[/quote]
QaPla!
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Cubs have won 7 in a row and the Pirates are on their way to their 9th straight loss and the Cubs will still be 6 games behind them.
Aisle424Quote Reply
I think Votto is just worn out from crushing the ever-living shit out of Cubs pitching. .937 OPS vs. Cubs, .957 OPS at Wrigley.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]Cubs have won 7 in a row and the Pirates are on their way to their 9th straight loss and the Cubs will still be 6 games behind them.[/quote]Maybe this is what Ricketts means by “in contention.” Remember, no one’s been specific about what they’re in contention for.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Maybe this is what Ricketts means by “in contention.” Remember, no one’s been specific about what they’re in contention for.[/quote]
Miss Congeniality
Aisle424Quote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Maybe this is what Ricketts means by “in contention.” Remember, no one’s been specific about what they’re in contention for.[/quote](dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]Miss Congeniality[/quote]I don’t think Hendry can win that.
mb21Quote Reply
The Cubs knocked the Pirates out of contention and are now doing the same the Reds. I kind of like playing spoiler. Who do we get to knock off next?
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]The Cubs knocked the Pirates out of contention and are now doing the same the Reds. I kind of like playing spoiler. Who do we get to knock off next?[/quote]
Next week they’re playing the Nationals at home. After that it’s the Braves and Astros before they get another series against the Cardinals. I don’t mind playing the spoiler as I guess the Cubs would just fuck up their top 5 pick anyway.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]The Cubs knocked the Pirates out of contention and are now doing the same the Reds. I kind of like playing spoiler. Who do we get to knock off next?[/quote]Luca Brasi.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
The Pirates are officially done now. It was a wild trip while it lasted, though.
ACTQuote Reply
[quote name=ACT]The Pirates are officially done now. It was a wild trip while it lasted, though.[/quote]I have a feeling that the Cubs will do in the second half what the Pirates have done in the first half and that the Cubs will respond to this in an equally rash manner.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]The Cubs knocked the Pirates out of contention and are now doing the same the Reds. I kind of like playing spoiler. Who do we get to knock off next?[/quote]I find myself rooting for the Brewers for just that reason (to make the Cubs’ victories even more devastating to their opponents).
ACTQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I have a feeling that the Cubs will do in the second half what the Pirates have done in the first half and that the Cubs will respond to this in an equally rash manner.[/quote]
The Pirates weren’t exactly rash though as they picked up Lee and Ludwick in exchange for scraps. I actually liked that.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]The Pirates weren’t exactly rash though as they picked up Lee and Ludwick in exchange for scraps. I actually liked that.[/quote]Meh. They exchanged scraps for scraps. And the Cubs will choose to just hold on to their scraps.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Meh. They exchanged scraps for scraps. And the Cubs will choose to just hold on to their scraps.[/quote]
Would be interesting to see how many Cubs besides Zambrano were put on waivers…what I liked was that the Pirates didn’t do anything too crazy to hurt their future development. As for the Cubs, still don’t really know what their plan is so who knows why they held on to everyone.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Unless the Royals complete their comeback attempt, Cubs —> #4 pick
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]Would be interesting to see how many Cubs besides Zambrano were put on waivers…what I liked was that the Pirates didn’t do anything too crazy to hurt their future development. As for the Cubs, still don’t really know what their plan is so who knows why they held on to everyone.[/quote]I bet the Cubs put almost everyone on waivers. Most teams do. If anyone claims Soriano, I bet the Cubs just let them have him, too.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/pirates-acquire-lee-ludwick-to-bolster-2ndhalf-col,21073/
ACTQuote Reply
[quote name=ACT]http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/pirates-acquire-lee-ludwick-to-bolster-2ndhalf-col,21073/[/quote]Yes!
binkyQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I bet the Cubs put almost everyone on waivers. Most teams do. If anyone claims Soriano, I bet the Cubs just let them have him, too.[/quote]
That’s a really big if.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]That’s a really big if.[/quote]Indeed. But someone claimed Rios off waivers, so I guess anything is possible.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Indeed. But someone claimed Rios off waivers, so I guess anything is possible.[/quote]
Maybe they should try to trade Soriano to the Angels for nothing.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Indeed. But someone claimed Rios off waivers, so I guess anything is possible.[/quote]Yeah, but it was the White Sox.
binkyQuote Reply
[quote name=josh]Yeah, but it was the White Sox.[/quote]They do need a LF…
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]They do need a LF…[/quote]Adam Dunn can play left field!
binkyQuote Reply
[quote name=josh]Adam Dunn can stand in left field![/quote]
Correct.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]Correct.[/quote]Well, as long as he doesn’t hurt his back on the way out.
binkyQuote Reply
I’m not sure what damage the Cubs could do against the Braves, except if they played well against them, they might allow another team to catch up in the wild card. A sweep of the Cards might send them into a freefall. I do enjoy seeing that.
binkyQuote Reply
The Braves currently have an 80% chance of making the playoffs (before today, anyway). The Cardinals are about 30%. The Cubs should have a much better chance of knocking the Cards out.
ACTQuote Reply
I know, but the Cubs play 7 this month v. the Braves. That could really do some damage, suppose the extremely unlikely event that the Cubs took all 7.
binkyQuote Reply
I’m rooting for a sweep of the Cards either way.
binkyQuote Reply
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/6839415/colorado-rockies-pitcher-juan-nicasio-neck-surgery-hit
Whoa. Glad to see things are looking okay so far
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/6839415/colorado-rockies-pitcher-juan-nicasio-neck-surgery-hit
Whoa. Glad to see things are looking okay so far[/quote]Damn.
binkyQuote Reply
Jeebus. Al is a menace when it comes to unnecessary punctuation and tortured syntax:
He also notes this game went SRO. Fucking Cub fans can’t even stay home when they want to.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Jeebus. Al is a menace when it comes to unnecessary punctuation and tortured syntax:
[/quote]That’s, just horrible writing, – even by Yellon, standards -.
As far as the SRO crowd, it was a beautiful day in Chicago. I didn’t go to the game but watching baseball on a nice summer day isn’t a bad thing to do. I’m not a big Ricketts fan but I like to see them drawing well mainly for the sake of next year’s budget.
cwolfQuote Reply
[quote name=cwolf]That’s, just horrible, – even by Yellon, standards -.
As far as the SRO crowd, it was a beautiful day in Chicago. I didn’t go to the game but watching baseball on a nice summer day isn’t a bad thing to do. I’m not a big Ricketts fan but I like to see them drawing well mainly for the sake of next year’s budget.[/quote]Ricketts is just going to feel vindicated by all of this. The winning streak, the packed house…the cash infusion won’t mean shit. I fear it will just mean more of the same.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
God he’s an idiot. The Cubs are league average with RISP. When will people understand that fact and quit bitching?
DoogolasQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Ricketts is just going to feel vindicated by all of this. The winning streak, the packed house…the cash infusion won’t mean shit. I fear it will just mean more of the same.[/quote]Yeah, I fear that too but maybe there is more savvy in this organization than what we can see from the public pronouncements to date. I’d like to think so but I also realize that it will most likely be more of the same old same old.
cwolfQuote Reply
[quote name=Doogolas]God he’s an idiot. The Cubs are league average with RISP. When will people understand that fact and quit bitching?[/quote]Never. Because they want to believe this is a problem of skill and not a problem of talent. People like Yellon want to believe that if the current group of players did the “right” things the “right” way, then they’d be the Yankees. Because admitting otherwise would force Al to accept that he spilled several thousand dollars on a terribly mediocre roster that the current FO sees no need to improve. So the problem gets articulated as “they just aren’t performing skill x at a level commensurate to their talent level” instead of “these players are painfully average and if we expect above-average performance, we should expect the team to acquire above-average players.” I’m beginning to think that a large part of the frustration displayed at Wrigley on most days is simply the vocalization of people who have been expecting above-average play out of average players for decades.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=cwolf]Yeah, I fear that too but maybe there is more savvy in this organization than what we can see from the public pronouncements to date. I’d like to think so but I also realize that it will most likely be more of the same old same old.[/quote]
I have no faith in the Ricketts at all. None. Nothing I have seen makes me think they had any fucking clue what they were getting into, and then when they saw all hell breaking loose around them, they have no fucking clue how to get out of it. Pair that with what seems to be a historical trend of Tommy boy being extreeeeeemely sloooooooooow toooooo maaaaaaaaake deciiiiiiiisioooooooons of any importance.
Any success in the next 3-4 years will be complete luck and happenstance.
Aisle424Quote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Never. Because they want to believe this is a problem of skill and not a problem of talent. People like Yellon want to believe that if the current group of players did the “right” things the “right” way, then they’d be the Yankees. Because admitting otherwise would force Al to accept that he spilled several thousand dollars on a terribly mediocre roster that the current FO sees no need to improve.[/quote]Pff. Darwin Barney is just as good as Robinson Cano. Cano is just lucky.
binkyQuote Reply
[quote name=cwolf]Yeah, I fear that too but maybe there is more savvy in this organization than what we can see from the public pronouncements to date. I’d like to think so but I also realize that it will most likely be more of the same old same old.[/quote]I hope you’re right and I’m wrong. I really, really do.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
That’s not true at all. Until we see what decisions are actually made this offseason there is no possible way to know what is the driving force behind any success we have.
Furthermore, for all the failings at the MLB level, Ricketts is dropping a SHITLOAD of money into the draft. From the reports out there we’re pretty much going to sign everybody that we could possibly want except maybe Maples, but he’s not because of the money, he just is very strongly committed to going to school.
Just because the MLB team hasn’t been good doesn’t mean everything the Rickett’s have done has been stupid. They are also building a huge state of the art facility somewhere, I believe the DR and have spent a metric crapton on amateur signees both in Asia and Latin America.
Rickett’s definitely has his faults. But by the end of this year we very well may outspend everyone when you combine undrafted amateurs and the draft. Cause we’re spending out the ass in those areas.
DoogolasQuote Reply
[quote name=josh]Pff. Darwin Barney is just as good as Robinson Cano. Cano is just lucky.[/quote]I honestly think this is what a large portion of your average fanbase thinks (it’s not unique to the Cubs, anyway).
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Doogolas]That’s not true at all. Until we see what decisions are actually made this offseason there is no possible way to know what is the driving force behind any success we have.
Furthermore, for all the failings at the MLB level, Ricketts is dropping a SHITLOAD of money into the draft. From the reports out there we’re pretty much going to sign everybody that we could possibly want except maybe Maples, but he’s not because of the money, he just is very strongly committed to going to school.
Just because the MLB team hasn’t been good doesn’t mean everything the Rickett’s have done has been stupid. They are also building a huge state of the art facility somewhere, I believe the DR and have spent a metric crapton on amateur signees both in Asia and Latin America.
Rickett’s definitely has his faults. But by the end of this year we very well may outspend everyone when you combine undrafted amateurs and the draft. Cause we’re spending out the ass in those areas.[/quote]But the personnel moves at the MLB level since July of 2009 (when Ricketts is supposed to have assumed de facto control of the org) have been stultifying, to say the least.
There are good signs at the minor league level, for sure, though, and I’m happy to see Ricketts following through on that promise.
That facility is in the DR, BTW.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]But the personnel moves at the MLB level since July of 2009 (when Ricketts is supposed to have assumed de facto control of the org) have been stultifying, to say the least.
There are good signs at the minor league level, for sure, though, and I’m happy to see Ricketts following through on that promise.
That facility is in the DR, BTW.[/quote]Maybe he’s getting his ducks in a row there before he tackles the MLB team, figuring it won’t matter right away? I think most people want to see some more immediate results, but, on the other hand, if he made a bunch of changes just to make them, with no net change in results, people might accuse him of micromanaging.
binkyQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]But the personnel moves at the MLB level since July of 2009 (when Ricketts is supposed to have assumed de facto control of the org) have been stultifying, to say the least.
There are good signs at the minor league level, for sure, though, and I’m happy to see Ricketts following through on that promise.
That facility is in the DR, BTW.[/quote]
What personnel moves have been that stupifying? We moved Lee and Lilly last year for some value. That was pretty smart since they weren’t gonna get us any kind of compensation. And, honestly, I don’t think Rickett’s can be expected to have really had anything to do with anything that happened when he immediately took over in 2009. He was probably just gonna let Hendry/Maddux do whatever they wanted.
We moved Fukudome this year, who is absolutely not gonna get us comp and we got a pretty nice high upside guy out of it.
Is it not moving Pena? Who could net us a Type-B this year (likely will actually) while there was almost no chance we were going to get close to a sandwich pick type of talent back in a trade?
Is it not moving Baker or Johnson? Both of them are nice, cheap bench bats. We have to get them somewhere, and honestly, they weren’t going to net us anything at all on the open market realistically. Everybody is always saying that Cub fans overvalue their prospects, yet people honestly expected any kind of return on either of those two, or for that matter Darwin Barney?
Ramirez didn’t want to be moved and had a no trade clause. Not much we could do there.
Byrd, if he plays even close to the level he’s been playing at the last 5 years will be a lock for Type-B and if he plays as well as he has this year (not super likely but not impossible) he could even sneak into Type-A status. So you have to get a huge return for him and his outrageously amazing contract.
Zambrano was going to require sending away Marmol with him. Nobody was willing to touch Soriano.
I just don’t get what people wanted the team to do. Really they moved the only completely logical player to move.
I know people want to see some changes, I do too. But making moves just to make them is a terrible, terrible way to accomplish anything.
DoogolasQuote Reply
[quote name=Doogolas]That’s not true at all. Until we see what decisions are actually made this offseason there is no possible way to know what is the driving force behind any success we have.
Furthermore, for all the failings at the MLB level, Ricketts is dropping a SHITLOAD of money into the draft. From the reports out there we’re pretty much going to sign everybody that we could possibly want except maybe Maples, but he’s not because of the money, he just is very strongly committed to going to school.
Just because the MLB team hasn’t been good doesn’t mean everything the Rickett’s have done has been stupid. They are also building a huge state of the art facility somewhere, I believe the DR and have spent a metric crapton on amateur signees both in Asia and Latin America.
Rickett’s definitely has his faults. But by the end of this year we very well may outspend everyone when you combine undrafted amateurs and the draft. Cause we’re spending out the ass in those areas.[/quote]
That is the one positive sign, but seeing as Wilken has completely underwhelmed me with his choices so far in his tenure and we still can’t seem to develop talent to save our lives, I’ll belive it when some of this talent we are signing for above slot actually starts turning into something that could conceivably help the Cubs in reality.
The Cubs could have had their cake and eaten it too as they have been trying to do, but they spent too much money on their new toy and that has handcuffed them more than any no trade clause has. When someone who is supposedly a businessman fucks up a transaction as badly as this has been fucked up from the start, then I have a hard time seeing anything turning out well.
Aisle424Quote Reply
[quote name=Doogolas]What personnel moves have been that stupifying? We moved Lee and Lilly last year for some value. That was pretty smart since they weren’t gonna get us any kind of compensation. And, honestly, I don’t think Rickett’s can be expected to have really had anything to do with anything that happened when he immediately took over in 2009. He was probably just gonna let Hendry/Maddux do whatever they wanted.
We moved Fukudome this year, who is absolutely not gonna get us comp and we got a pretty nice high upside guy out of it.
Is it not moving Pena? Who could net us a Type-B this year (likely will actually) while there was almost no chance we were going to get close to a sandwich pick type of talent back in a trade?
Is it not moving Baker or Johnson? Both of them are nice, cheap bench bats. We have to get them somewhere, and honestly, they weren’t going to net us anything at all on the open market realistically. Everybody is always saying that Cub fans overvalue their prospects, yet people honestly expected any kind of return on either of those two, or for that matter Darwin Barney?
Ramirez didn’t want to be moved and had a no trade clause. Not much we could do there.
Byrd, if he plays even close to the level he’s been playing at the last 5 years will be a lock for Type-B and if he plays as well as he has this year (not super likely but not impossible) he could even sneak into Type-A status. So you have to get a huge return for him and his outrageously amazing contract.
Zambrano was going to require sending away Marmol with him. Nobody was willing to touch Soriano.
I just don’t get what people wanted the team to do. Really they moved the only completely logical player to move.
I know people want to see some changes, I do too. But making moves just to make them is a terrible, terrible way to accomplish anything.[/quote]What the fuck is this “we”? Do you have a fucking mouse in your pocket?
The handling of Gregg and Harden was foolish. Sure, it panned out, but hindsight is always 20-20.
The handling of the whole Bradley affair was fucking amateur hour, on all sides.
Sending Z to the pen was inexcusable.
Last year’s draft was a traveshamockery.
Yes, Hendry was able to move Lee, Bradley and Fukudome, and perhaps Ricketts is letting Hendry do whatever he wants, and Hendry is the true author of this rudderless mess. I’m not sure.
What I do know is this looks like an org with no direction, or at least it did until a few weeks ago, when the Cubs had a good draft and then unveiled the new facility in the DR and started splashing cash on Carribean talent. That’s literally the only thing that Ricketts has done that’s given me a glimmer of hope. The rest of it has been 3 hamfisted attempts at public funds for Wrigley, one embarrassing statue ceremony, and a lot palavering about troughs and the glory of the crumbling Wrigley Field. So pardon me if I’m not inspired by the baseball acumen of this person:
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
BTW, I don’t advocate making moves for the hell of it, so before you keep punching at that strawperson, let’s get that straight.
I’m largely fine with not swapping Ramirez or PEna for some A-ball waster. Fine. But then Hendry starts making noise about bringing Pena back, and it makes think there’s just no plan for rectifying this roster. And that frustrates me.
The Cubs are a large market team that play with the mindset of a small market team.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]That is the one positive sign, but seeing as Wilken has completely underwhelmed me with his choices so far in his tenure and we still can’t seem to develop talent to save our lives, I’ll belive it when some of this talent we are signing for above slot actually starts turning into something that could conceivably help the Cubs in reality.
The Cubs could have had their cake and eaten it too as they have been trying to do, but they spent too much money on their new toy and that has handcuffed them more than any no trade clause has. When someone who is supposedly a businessman fucks up a transaction as badly as this has been fucked up from the start, then I have a hard time seeing anything turning out well.[/quote]
I think you’re a bit too hard on our prospects really though too. I mean, Simpson lost a shitload of weight and has only had his good stuff a couple times all season. This year was basically lost when he had that completely insane bout of Mono.
Szczur is moving along really well. He’s struggling a tad at A+ ball right now, but he can turn that around with a couple decent games and just came back from a finger injury.
B-Jax also suffered a finger injury a while back. He was destroying AA before then, came back, sucked for a while, and seems to have gotten his mojo back lately after struggling early in AAA.
McNutt has had blister issues all year and also hasn’t had his good stuff very often. On top of that there have been at least four games where his starts were interrupted from rain and suspended, so that’s a large part of the reason for his tiny amount of innings. He struck out 7.5/9 in AA last year. There’s no reason to think that fully healthy he’s only gonna strikeout the 5.7 he has so far this year.
Vitters has been 21 all year in AA and is more than holding his own. His OPS is chilling at a solid .776, obviously there will be a lot riding on if he can expand on the power he’s shown so far and do a bit better with walking, but he really hasn’t been that bad. People just expect an insane amount of him because of where he was drafted. He’s far from a bust right now, not everyone can be Starlin Castro. I mean, hell, B-Jax is a full year older than Vitters.
Junior Lake had a really nice year down in Daytona and has struggled in AA but it’s still a pretty small sample and he’s still only 21 years, he’s a baby.
I mean, no, none of them may be superstars. But at the same time any of them could put it together and be a great player too. There’s no reason to be so horribly pessimistic about the years people have had.
DoogolasQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]BTW, I don’t advocate making moves for the hell of it, so before you keep punching at that strawperson, let’s get that straight.
I’m largely fine with not swapping Ramirez or PEna for some A-ball waster. Fine. But then Hendry starts making noise about bringing Pena back, and it makes think there’s just no plan for rectifying this roster. And that frustrates me.
The Cubs are a large market team that play with the mindset of a small market team.[/quote]
Small market teams develop players that can play and then lose them because they can’t afford to pay them. I wish the Cubs had a small market mindset sometimes.
Aisle424Quote Reply
Hayden Simpson must have had the worst case of mono in recorded human history.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]Small market teams develop players that can play and then lose them because they can’t afford to pay them. I wish the Cubs had a small market mindset sometimes.[/quote]I’ll fix it myself:
The Cubs could spend like the Yankees, but instead they spend like the Orioles.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Exactly. Why the fuck not? This is a major market team and we still have to go back to Mark Fucking Grace for a prospect that had any longevity as a productive player and Grace wasn’t even that great. He was very good.
Hell, the last starter the Cubs turned out was Zambrano. That was 8 years ago. Nothing in the minors makes me think any of those streaks are going to be broken any time soon. It’s a fucking embarassment and Hendry is signing a useless closer to a three year deal for public relations purposes.
Aisle424Quote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]What the fuck is this “we”? Do you have a fucking mouse in your pocket?
The handling of Gregg and Harden was foolish. Sure, it panned out, but hindsight is always 20-20.
The handling of the whole Bradley affair was fucking amateur hour, on all sides.
Sending Z to the pen was inexcusable.
Last year’s draft was a traveshamockery.
Yes, Hendry was able to move Lee, Bradley and Fukudome, and perhaps Ricketts is letting Hendry do whatever he wants, and Hendry is the true author of this rudderless mess. I’m not sure.
What I do know is this looks like an org with no direction, or at least it did until a few weeks ago, when the Cubs had a good draft and then unveiled the new facility in the DR and started splashing cash on Carribean talent. That’s literally the only thing that Ricketts has done that’s given me a glimmer of hope. The rest of it has been 3 hamfisted attempts at public funds for Wrigley, one embarrassing statue ceremony, and a lot palavering about troughs and the glory of the crumbling Wrigley Field. So pardon me if I’m not inspired by the baseball acumen of this person.[/quote]
We is me referring tot he Cubs. Can I not use that terminology now? I feel like I can talk about my favorite team in the form of “we” and not be treated like I’m a retarded person. And, actually, I am sitting with a cat on my lap. So it works out anyways.
As I said, I don’t particularly blame Rickett’s for any of the crap that happened in 2009. He was brand new to the organization. Hard to fault him for what happened in my mind.
And as far as that picture goes, does this make Mark Cuban an awful owner who knows nothing?
http://lebrondajameson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/markcuban.jpg
I like to think that somebody goofing off doesn’t mean they’re mentally retarded.
I wasn’t strawpersoning anything. I was making a generalization about he retarded Cubs fanbase not actually about you.
I am also aware that I’m quite optimistic. It’s frustrating seeing people so bothered over things that we have no idea what was behind them. I mean, how do we know that hindsight was 20-20 there, the Cubs easily could have known stuff about Harden and Gregg we didn’t.
DoogolasQuote Reply
BTW, Jackson has really started ripping at AAA in the alst 2 weeks. I can’t wait to see him called up.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Doogolas]I think you’re a bit too hard on our prospects really though too. I mean, Simpson lost a shitload of weight and has only had his good stuff a couple times all season. This year was basically lost when he had that completely insane bout of Mono.
Szczur is moving along really well. He’s struggling a tad at A+ ball right now, but he can turn that around with a couple decent games and just came back from a finger injury.
B-Jax also suffered a finger injury a while back. He was destroying AA before then, came back, sucked for a while, and seems to have gotten his mojo back lately after struggling early in AAA.
McNutt has had blister issues all year and also hasn’t had his good stuff very often. On top of that there have been at least four games where his starts were interrupted from rain and suspended, so that’s a large part of the reason for his tiny amount of innings. He struck out 7.5/9 in AA last year. There’s no reason to think that fully healthy he’s only gonna strikeout the 5.7 he has so far this year.
Vitters has been 21 all year in AA and is more than holding his own. His OPS is chilling at a solid .776, obviously there will be a lot riding on if he can expand on the power he’s shown so far and do a bit better with walking, but he really hasn’t been that bad. People just expect an insane amount of him because of where he was drafted. He’s far from a bust right now, not everyone can be Starlin Castro. I mean, hell, B-Jax is a full year older than Vitters.
Junior Lake had a really nice year down in Daytona and has struggled in AA but it’s still a pretty small sample and he’s still only 21 years, he’s a baby.
I mean, no, none of them may be superstars. But at the same time any of them could put it together and be a great player too. There’s no reason to be so horribly pessimistic about the years people have had.[/quote]Man! What are you doing!?! I don’t come here for optimism! I come here to remember that other people are hurting on the inside too. If I wanted optimism I’d listen to Dave Kaplan tell me the Cubs are trading Z and bringing in Girardi as the manager.
binkyQuote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]Exactly. Why the fuck not? This is a major market team and we still have to go back to Mark Fucking Grace for a prospect that had any longevity as a productive player and Grace wasn’t even that great. He was very good.
Hell, the last starter the Cubs turned out was Zambrano. That was 8 years ago. Nothing in the minors makes me think any of those streaks are going to be broken any time soon. It’s a fucking embarassment and Hendry is signing a useless closer to a three year deal for public relations purposes.[/quote]
Castro has come up. B-Jax could very well be awesome. So could any of those other guys I even listed. There is always luck involved with prospects.
And while none of them MAY end up superstars. Any single one of them could.
DoogolasQuote Reply
Jackson’s going to have find a way to cut down on the K’s to be anything more than a good-very good player.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Jackson’s going to have find a way to cut down on the K’s to be anything more than a good-very good player.[/quote]
Depends on what you consider a good player. He could be Colby Rasmus with better defense. Which would be a very, very good player.
DoogolasQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Jackson’s going to have find a way to cut down on the K’s to be anything more than a good-very good player.[/quote]
Depends on what you consider a good player. He could be Colby Rasmus with better defense. Which would be a very, very good player. Jackson I don’t think is going to be a superstar. But I think he’s gonna be pretty damn good. The guys who have the ability to be 5+WAR players are Vitters and Lake. Szczur has a chance at being really, really, really good too. Just depends on how much power he really has in him. If he can put out 10HR per season, then he could possibly do it Gardner-style.
If we go lower, there’s Golden and DeVoss could be pretty damn awesome as well. Baez when he’s signed, Vogelbach could possibly be fantastic someday too.
Obviously all of these are huge ifs. But it only takes one guy putting it together. All you can do is get as many of them as you possibly can in one place, and in the last couple years, especially after this draft, we’re moving in the right direction.
I’m also very curious who the big Cuban signing we made is that will be announced on the 8th. I dunno if you guys know about that, but apparently it’s pretty big, they can’t say who until the 8th for whatever reason though. I’m really hoping it’s Speck.
DoogolasQuote Reply
[quote name=Doogolas]Depends on what you consider a good player. He could be Colby Rasmus with better defense. Which would be a very, very good player.[/quote]In 1776 MiLB PA, Rasmus K’d in 20% of his PA. Jackson has K’d in 23% of his 1221 PA. That’s a higher K% than Colvin, and Colvin’s jumped ~7% in the majors My closest comp to Jackson is Curtis Granderson, and even he only K’d in 18% of his MiLB PA, and that jumped to 27% at the ML level. I don’t think it will torpedo Jackson’s shot. He’s certainly got excellent contact skills. But his K-Rate is going to be a problem at the MLB level.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
DeVoss is a slapp-hitting MIF-CF type who was signed overslot. His scouting reports read “poor man’s Juan PIerre.” Cub fans would do well to cool on his early successes.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]In 1776 MiLB PA, Rasmus K’d in 20% of his PA. Jackson has K’d in 23% of his 1221 PA. That’s a higher K% than Colvin, and Colvin’s jumped ~7% in the majors My closest comp to Jackson is Curtis Granderson, and even he only K’d in 18% of his MiLB PA, and that jumped to 27% at the ML level. I don’t think it will torpedo Jackson’s shot. He’s certainly got excellent contact skills. But his K-Rate is going to be a problem at the MLB level.[/quote]
I read on fangraphs the other day that as a general rule K-rate jumps about 3% on average. I figure Jackson will K around 25% to 26%. I mean, look at Rasmus this year, down to 20% on that K-Rate. Which is much more what you expect out of a guy with that sort of K-Rate in the MiLB.
I think he can hit something like .260/.355/.450 or so.
I don’t think he’ll do that kind of power next year. But I think in a few years he will. I figure next year he’ll be something closer to .260/.350/.420 or so with average to + defense in CF. Which is probably near a 2WAR player? I don’t really know, mostly just guessing.
DoogolasQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]DeVoss is a slapp-hitting MIF-CF type who was signed overslot. His scouting reports read “poor man’s Juan (dying laughing).” Cub fans would do well to cool on his early successes.[/quote]*shrug* I think DeVoss is really interesting. All he has to do is show the ability to ISO around .100 and he can be a really good player. He may never do that, but he’s still very interesting. Putting him in that list was probably pretty silly, I’ll grant you that, but honesty I think he has a pretty decent shot at being a good player if he can show even passable power.
Anyhoo, I gotta get to bed. Good talking to you guys.
DoogolasQuote Reply
[quote name=Doogolas]I read on fangraphs the other day that as a general rule K-rate jumps about 3% on average. I figure Jackson will K around 25% to 26%. I mean, look at Rasmus this year, down to 20% on that K-Rate. Which is much more what you expect out of a guy with that sort of K-Rate in the MiLB.
I think he can hit something like .260/.355/.450 or so.
I don’t think he’ll do that kind of power next year. But I think in a few years he will. I figure next year he’ll be something closer to .260/.350/.420 or so with average to + defense in CF. Which is probably near a 2WAR player? I don’t really know, mostly just guessing.[/quote]As a general rule, yes. But players with similar skill sets and MiLB rates to Jackson’s have seen larger jumps, and even 25% would be pretty bad. I think he could put up a line similar to the one you’ve posted, but I think with a reduction in his K’s, he could put up some really, really good numbers. He’s got very good contact skills, decent pop, and good speed. If he can cut down the Ks and keep walking at the rate at which he has, the Cubs have a really nice player there.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Doogolas]*shrug* I think DeVoss is really interesting. All he has to do is show the ability to ISO around .100 and he can be a really good player. He may never do that, but he’s still very interesting. Putting him in that list was probably pretty silly, I’ll grant you that, but honesty I think he has a pretty decent shot at being a good player if he can show even passable power.
Anyhoo, I gotta get to bed. Good talking to you guys.[/quote]He has no power. At all. Or at elast that was the widespread opinion at draft time.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
I know some of you are Royals fans, so this might be exciting:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=17704645
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]He’s certainly got excellent contact skills. But his K-Rate is going to be a problem at the MLB level.[/quote]I don’t understand. Doesn’t “contact skills” mean “ability not to strike out”?
ACTQuote Reply
Carlos Zambrano: .333/.364/.524
Albert Pujols: .280/.346/.530
Of course, Z might have trouble sustaining his .444 BABIP.
ACTQuote Reply
Doogolas is one optimistic person. Nothing wrong with that, but you’re not going to get people to jump on the bandwagon when everything is about this guy could be good, this guy could be really really good and this guy could be awesome.
mb21Quote Reply
A-Rod —-> no suspension over lame poker accusations
BerseliusQuote Reply
I initially agreed with this, but I think it’s clear that the Cubs knew neither player was going to get more than they’d have gotten in arbitration. The year before the Yankees didn’t bother offering Bobby Abreu arbitration and he was still just over 3 rWAR player. The Cubs didn’t offer arbitration to Kerry Wood either after his outstanding season.
Abreu would have made about $16 million (no less than $15 million) in arbitration. Wood would have made $7-8 million and maybe even more considering how dominant he was in 2008. Wood’s base salary in 2008 was $4.2 million, but he had all kind of incentives, many of which he met. I seem to recall a Tribune article writing that he made just under $7 million that year. Arbtration guarantees he makes that much and I could easily see him getting $10-15 million after the season he had.
There were other players who weren’t offered arbitration that offseason. Wood signed a 2-year deal for $20 million while Abreu signed a 1-year deal for $5 million.
There was plenty of reason to believe that the same thing would happen the following year and it did. Gregg got less than he’d have gotten in arbitration and the same is true for Harden. The same was true for many free agents those two off seasons and even the next one.
Considering the Cubs lack of resources, these decisions can only be seen as smart decisions. If we don’t view them that way we have to consider all similar decisions by all GMs to be stupid. So I guess it doesn’t matter. Either way, we see Jim Hendry made the same decisions and we couldn’t have expected, nor wanted different ones with a different GM.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]A-Rod —-> no suspension over lame poker accusations[/quote]Good. Saves me from being pissed off. That whole thing was a joke. Like the MLB Lawyer said back in 2005, they have no right to tell him he can’t play in those poker games, he’s not doing anything illegal and he’s not violating the morals clause. in short, he literally did nothing wrong. Not in 2005 and not now. I think it’s the same thing as telling players they have to tuck their shirts in other than when they aren’t at bat.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]Good. Saves me from being pissed off. That whole thing was a joke. Like the MLB Lawyer said back in 2005, they have no right to tell him he can’t play in those poker games, he’s not doing anything illegal and he’s not violating the morals clause. in short, he literally did nothing wrong. Not in 2005 and not now. I think it’s the same thing as telling players they have to tuck their shirts in other than when they aren’t at bat.[/quote]
If this were the NFL it would be a 4 game suspension (dying laughing). Too bad it looks like the NFLPA didn’t tamp down on that shit in the new CBA
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]Doogolas is one optimistic person. Nothing wrong with that, but you’re not going to get people to jump on the bandwagon when everything is about this guy could be good, this guy could be really really good and this guy could be awesome.[/quote]I’m not always like that, for one thing, I love to discuss stuff, so I play Devil’s Advocate all the time. A lot of people here have what I consider to be a very pessimistic outlook on just about everybody. I’m not trying to get anybody on board, I appreciate the discussion, it’s fun and interesting. I don’t even necessarily think you guys are wrong when I’m making these arguments, I’m just kind of pointing out that there’s another side to the coin. Sure, if the approach of “All our prospects aren’t going to be more than mediocre” that’s going to be right 90% of the time, but that goes for all teams. Now, in the last 20 years or so, yeah, it’s been really bad for us, but I can see it turning around with one of our guys.
Also, about B-Jax, two things:
1) No, contact skill is not the ability to not strike out. Brett Jackson is very patient, he works counts deep and because of that it often will only take him one swing and miss for him to strike out.
2) Yeah, if he is able to lower his contact rate to say, 20%, he could be an absolutely outstanding player, like pre-injury Grady Sizemore good. But even more realistically I think he’ll be damn good, putting up between 4WAR and 5WAR in his prime years.
DoogolasQuote Reply
WOO HOO CUBBBIEEEEZZZZZ
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Even if jackson lowers his K-rate he’s not going to be a great player. He’s had some nice numbers in the minors, but things are more difficult at the big league level. Let’s not set him up for failure by expecting too much out of him. You don’t have to be a great player to be valuable. Starlin Castro isn’t a great player and likely never will be, but he’s a very valuable ballplayer. I think Jackson, if he reaches his ceiling, can be better than Castro, which is just a really good player. I think he can make a couple all-star games in his career, but let’s not go overboard.
Also, just because someone doesn’t see the brightest sides of everything doesn’t mean they’re pessimistic. Saying that Brett Jackson isn’t a great player and probably never will be isn’t pessimistic. It’s realism. Saying the same for Starlin Castro isn’t pessimistic. It’s only pessimistic if you think he has to be so good or he’s a failure. I don’t. I never have. I never will. He makes league minimum and is still a good ballplayer. rWAR doesn’t like him, but I think he’s somewhere in between rWAR and fWAR. About average. Let’s just go with that. He’s 21 and should improve, but players don’t typically improve by as much as you’re suggesting.
mb21Quote Reply
Pessimism is saying that Brett Jackson sucks and that Starlin Castro’s numbers are a fluke. Optimism is saying Brett Jackson can be worth 5 WAR later in his career. I don’t care what player you’re talking about. The odds of a player being that good years down the road is small. Albert Pujols is the best player in the game and I’m not confident enough to say he’ll be a 5 WAR player in 4 or 5 years. I think the smart money would be betting that he won’t be. That’s not pessimism.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]Even if jackson lowers his K-rate he’s not going to be a great player. He’s had some nice numbers in the minors, but things are more difficult at the big league level. Let’s not set him up for failure by expecting too much out of him. You don’t have to be a great player to be valuable. Starlin Castro isn’t a great player and likely never will be, but he’s a very valuable ballplayer. I think Jackson, if he reaches his ceiling, can be better than Castro, which is just a really good player. I think he can make a couple all-star games in his career, but let’s not go overboard.
Also, just because someone doesn’t see the brightest sides of everything doesn’t mean they’re pessimistic. Saying that Brett Jackson isn’t a great player and probably never will be isn’t pessimistic. It’s realism. Saying the same for Starlin Castro isn’t pessimistic. It’s only pessimistic if you think he has to be so good or he’s a failure. I don’t. I never have. I never will. He makes league minimum and is still a good ballplayer. rWAR doesn’t like him, but I think he’s somewhere in between rWAR and fWAR. About average. Let’s just go with that. He’s 21 and should improve, but players don’t typically improve by as much as you’re suggesting.[/quote]Well, first of all, you’re wrong that Castro likely never will be a great player. The fact that he’s already an above average player and is only 21 years old is a sign that he could easily be a superstar someday. Maybe he never will, but history tends to side with “if you’re good when you’re 20 you’re going to be a stud when you’re 27”
As for B-Jax, I don’t think he’s going to ever put up a K-Rate of 20%. But if he did, yes, he would be a superstar. We’re talking about him putting something like 5% more balls in play. In 700PA (what he’ll likely get per year) that’s 35 extra balls in play. With a .310BABIP that’s 11 extra hits in a year. Let’s say normally he’s got a K-rate of 20% (140) and a BB% of 11% (77) we’ll say he hits FB 40% of the time and hits a HR/FB of 10%.that’d give him 19HR.
So with that .310BABIP we’re talking about him having a .275 batting average. An ISO probably right around .200 and a BA/OBP differential of right about .100, that’s a .275/.375/.475 centerfielder with average to above average defense.
I’m roughly 99% certain that’d be a 6+WAR player. If you need an example of that type of season see: Sizemore, Grady: 2007. And that was in a much more high scoring run environment than the one Jackson will be coming into even if we go back up to last year’s. I do not think it will happen. In fact, Castro has a better chance at becoming a future MVP than that happening. I’m not setting Brett Jackson up to be anything other than a good player. I was talking about a hypothetical situation with MO, that’s about it. Jackson will likely come up and be an OK player for a couple years and then give us his prime years where he’s maybe a 4, 4.5WAR type guy. Good, but not spectacular.
EDIT: Even if we say Castro is merely average right now. History does, in fact, show that 20 year olds do improve by that much. You’re greatly underestimating how ridiculously young he is. It’s fine if you don’t agree with me on Castro. We’ll see what happens. But I wasn’t saying that stuff was going to actually happen with B-Jax. It was a hypothetical that MO brought up, as I recall.
DoogolasQuote Reply
fWAR sees him as above average. rWAR sees him as slightly above replacement.
Look, there’s no point in discussing this with you because you’re right, I’m wrong, everyone else is wrong. We’re pessimists and you’re a realist.
mb21Quote Reply
By the way, history does not, in fact, show that. Look it up. I’ve posted the numbers here before. History doesn’t even tell us Castro will improve defensively. I don’t know what you mean by historically, but I think you’re using the wrong definition.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]fWAR sees him as above average. rWAR sees him as slightly above replacement.
[/quote]He has 1.3 rWAR this year.
ACTQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]fWAR sees him as above average. rWAR sees him as slightly above replacement.
Look, there’s no point in discussing this with you because you’re right, I’m wrong, everyone else is wrong. We’re pessimists and you’re a realist.[/quote]I never said any of that. Why does this have to be taken so seriously? We can’t just talk about it and agree to disagree without getting pissy at each other? But you can look at what he’s done and look at the other people who have done the same and see that all of them are in the Hall of Fame.
I mean, sorry if you misread my tone there, but you’re taking it way too seriously.
And when I say “what he’s done” I’m not speaking about strictly his WAR. There is more to baseball than comparing a guy’s WAR to other people’s. I’m referring to what he’s done at such a young age as a hitter.
DoogolasQuote Reply
[quote name=ACT]He has 1.3 rWAR this year.[/quote].6 last year.
mb21Quote Reply
The Q I have is…who are the comparable players to Starlin Castro so far?
By that I mean over all of baseball history, not just contemporaries. Then you can use that data to determine Castro’s predicted progress/aging curve/whatever.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Doogolas]I never said any of that. Why does this have to be taken so seriously? We can’t just talk about it and agree to disagree without getting pissy at each other? But you can look at what he’s done and look at the other people who have done the same and see that all of them are in the Hall of Fame.
I mean, sorry if you misread my tone there, but you’re taking it way too seriously.[/quote]
it’s difficult to agree to disagree when you tell me I’m wrong. Tell me why you disagree without telling me I’m wrong. I may in fact be wrong, but so may you. Neither of us knows so why even say you’re wrong?
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21].6 last year.[/quote]He’s still closer to average than replacement.
ACTQuote Reply
* if you combine the 2 years, I mean. And that’s with no preferential weighting to this year.
ACTQuote Reply
Doog, I agree what Castro has done is impressive and I’ve never said otherwise. I’ve only said he’s likely not going to be a superstar. He lacks necessary skills for that. He doesn’t hit for enough power and players his age don’t typically become power hitters who have little power at his age. He hits too many balls on the ground, too. He doesn’t take enough walks. His OBP is always going to remain near his average. He’s a poor fielder and even the scouts have always said he’ll have to move to a new position at some point.
None of this is taking away anything that he’s accomplished so far at his young age. I’m just saying that players who have displayed his skills, even at that age, do not typically turn into superstars.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=ACT]* if you combine the 2 years, I mean. And that’s with no preferential weighting to this year.[/quote]Probably about the half-way point. Average would be a little under 4. I guess the more important point I was trying to make is that fWAR sees him as already being above average while rWAR tells us another story.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]The Q I have is…who are the comparable players to Starlin Castro so far?
By that I mean over all of baseball history, not just contemporaries. Then you can use that data to determine Castro’s predicted progress/aging curve/whatever.[/quote][quote name=Rice Cube]The Q I have is…who are the comparable players to Starlin Castro so far?
By that I mean over all of baseball history, not just contemporaries. Then you can use that data to determine Castro’s predicted progress/aging curve/whatever.[/quote]PECOTA uses comparables and I started writing something yesterday about Castro and I’m going to look at some comparables. Hopefully have it posted later today.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]PECOTA uses com parables and I started writing something yesterday about Castro and I’m going to look at some comparables. Hopefully have it posted later today.[/quote]
Cool, looking forward to it. I figure that’s probably the better way to look at Castro’s career predictions based on “history” is to see what other above-average-speed/bad-defense/slap-hitting 21-year-old shortstops did as they aged (dying laughing)
Rice CubeQuote Reply
The problem with comparables for Castro is that there are so few of them.
mb21Quote Reply
PECOTA’s RoS projection sees him as going .297/.328/.397 (1.0 WARP) the rest of the year. As long as he finishes above .300, I’ll be happy (yeah, despite all the lessons I’ve heard to the contrary, I still find something “magical” about the .300 mark. Sue me.)
ACTQuote Reply
.300 is just a nice number. Anyone who didn’t get into baseball through sabermetrics likes the .300 batting average.
mb21Quote Reply
The thing that tends to make me “pessimistic” (for lack of a better term) is that baseball is inherently a game of failure. The best players in the entire history of the world failed more often as they succeeded at the plate. Ted Williams career OBP is .482. The best most of us have ever seen is Barry Bonds’ .444. So even those ridiculously talented guys failed in over 50% of their plate appearances.
So when We see holes in guys’ games, like a low OBP due to an inability to take walks, or a lack of power, or whatever other issues we have with any prospect is that the game itself is going to tend to exacerbate whatever weaknesses there are in someone’s game. Advance scouts know exactly what we do (and probably more) and will determine a game plan to get Castro out.
The truly amazing thing about guys like Pujols is that they adjust and learn what the opposition is doing and close whatever hole they have found. That usually creates another hole somewhere, and the chess match goes back and forth.
Maybe Castro can do that with regularity, and he’ll grow more muscular, and yadda yadda yadda, but the guys with that kind of ability + the ability to understand what the opposition is doing and likewise adjust + have very few holes in their game to begin with are very, very, very, very rare. So tempering my expectations of what Castro (or any Cubs prospect) can be is probably my way of dealing with the crushing disappointment that most of these guys are not going to be great players.
Then there is still the matter of the Cubs providing proper instruction and I’m not sold on their ability to help these young players along the way.
I have resigned myself to the fact that the Cubs are a horrible organization and any success its players have is in spite of the organization and not due to anything they do to help.
Aisle424Quote Reply
Well put, 424. I also think we as fans tend to get too optimistic about young guys. They do something we really like and then we think if they can fill all the other holes how good they could be. We do that enough and all of a sudden this guy has the potential to be a superstar. All the prospects have the potential to be a superstar. All of them. Poorly rated prospects have changed part of their game and become stars. It happens. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.
What we tend to ignore is that most prospects fail. Baseball is a cruel game to young players. It’s more cruel than any other professional league. We also ignore something with regards to the aging curve. We like to think a guy is just going to improve and improve. Well, that’s not necessarily true. The sample of players who reach the big leagues, continue to play for a few to several years continue to improve through age 26 to 28. But that doesn’t include the players who flamed out.
If we know Starlin Castro is going to be playing baseball as long as the group that continues to improve we should expect him to also improve, but we don’t know that. There have been a lot of players, even players his age, who started out with a promising career only to see it go away quickly.
All we really know about a guy like Castro and how he may age is that patience, power and defense are skills. They may improve, but they don’t typically improve significantly. You don’t see too many low-walk guys who become very patient and you don’t see too many low power guys who suddenly start cranking home runs left and right. It can happen. It’s happened before and it could happen to Castro, but it’s not at all likely.
mb21Quote Reply
I agree with you on Castro and walks MB but I think you’re discounting what the scouts have said about Castro’s power. He’s 21 and hits a lot of doubles. Some of them will turn into HRs when he fills out. I’m not saying he’s going to become an A-Rod like power-hitting SS but I think it’s more than fair to think that his power numbers will improve.
I’d like him to stick at SS, since good SS are hard to find, but I don’t care if his ss defense moves him to 2b or 3b or CF. As we’ve discussed before, unless we have some specific reason to believe that they’ll suck at another position defensive translations mean that Castro would have just as much value as a 2b as a SS.
BerseliusQuote Reply
Prospects are kind of like the backup QB on a team with a struggling starter. They are a potential Pro Bowler just wasting away on the bench in the fans’ eyes.
There is nothing wrong with being optimistic, but I think when it comes to baseball and the Cubs in particluar, you’re going to be disappointed far more often than pleased with the actual results.
Aisle424Quote Reply
Cubs fans are the best: http://deadspin.com/5828447/
Aisle424Quote Reply
[quote name=ACT]I don’t understand. Doesn’t “contact skills” mean “ability not to strike out”?[/quote]Not necessarily. As I take it, it means the ability to get the bat on the ball with some regularity. As Dooglas pointed out, guys that can do that tend to work deeper counts (fighting off pitches) and will usually strike more than most.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Lots of fly balls today.
ACTQuote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]Cubs fans are the best: http://deadspin.com/5828447/%5B/quote%5D“Wrigley Field is the greatest place on earth.”
~Tom Ricketts
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=ACT]Lots of fly balls today.[/quote]Randy Wells has become very hittable.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
HOLY SHIT. Castro crushed the living shit out of that.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Castro!
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]HOLY SHIT. Castro crushed the living shit out of that.[/quote]
All the dead shit is missing too
BerseliusQuote Reply
I want to punch Bronson Arroyo right in his smug face.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I want to punch Bronson Arroyo right in his smug face.[/quote]
He plays guitar, so he must be a Cool Guy, MO.
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]He plays guitar, so he must be a Cool Guy, MO.[/quote]Yeah, the cornrows are pretty bitchin’, too
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
A lineup that contains DeWitt and Campana without injuries to any regular position player. Holy shrieking eagle shit is this roster a shitshow.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Credit that run to Wrigley Field
BerseliusQuote Reply
Pirates look to lose yet another game in the standings today.
ACTQuote Reply
[quote name=ACT]Pirates look to lose yet another game in the standings today.[/quote]Let us hope this sends a big caveat emptor to Hendry, who was earlier touting the Pirates success as an example of what the Cubs could do next year.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
The part of the batting tee today will be played by Randy Wells.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Randy Wells has become very hittable.[/quote]Fortunately, the same can be said for Bronson Arroyo.
ACTQuote Reply
Great play by Castro
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=ACT]Fortunately, the same can be said for Bronson Arroyo.[/quote]Yes. The question then becomes which lineup is more capable of making the pitcher pay for it.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Wheels are coming off for Wells.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
4 IP, 0 K for Wells.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]Credit that run to Wrigley Field[/quote]
Couldn’t watch game today, did the Reds hit a basket homer?
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]I agree with you on Castro and walks MB but I think you’re discounting what the scouts have said about Castro’s power. He’s 21 and hits a lot of doubles. Some of them will turn into HRs when he fills out. I’m not saying he’s going to become an A-Rod like power-hitting SS but I think it’s more than fair to think that his power numbers will improve.
I’d like him to stick at SS, since good SS are hard to find, but I don’t care if his ss defense moves him to 2b or 3b or CF. As we’ve discussed before, unless we have some specific reason to believe that they’ll suck at another position defensive translations mean that Castro would have just as much value as a 2b as a SS.[/quote]The power numbers will improve with age, but he’s never going to be hitting 30 home runs. 10 to 15 is probably where he’s going to be at in his prime.
mb21Quote Reply
Yeah, b, I don’t care if he moves to a different position either. He’s not losing value with a position change.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]The power numbers will improve with age, but he’s never going to be hitting 30 home runs. 10 to 15 is probably where he’s going to be at in his prime.[/quote]
15 or so sounds about right to me.
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]The power numbers will improve with age, but he’s never going to be hitting 30 home runs. 10 to 15 is probably where he’s going to be at in his prime.[/quote]
Never say never…especially with better “nutrition” and “supplements” out there.
Of course he might just have a naturally fluky season where the wind magically blows out every time he gets a ball in the air.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]Yeah, b, I don’t care if he moves to a different position either. He’s not losing value with a position change.[/quote]
It will be hilarious when Darwin Barney blocks him from moving to 2b (dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]15 or so sounds about right to me.[/quote]I envision something like an at-his-peak Orlando Cabrera when I think of what Castro can be.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]It will be hilarious when Darwin Barney blocks him from moving to 2b (dying laughing)[/quote]And Blake DeWitt blocks him at 3B.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]Never say never…especially with better “nutrition” and “supplements” out there.
Of course he might just have a naturally fluky season where the wind magically blows out every time he gets a ball in the air.[/quote]I’d be OK with Castro taking some “supplements.” If it turned him into a 25 home run hitter in his prime I’d like it. (dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
Randy Wells seems to be getting owned.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]Randy Wells seems to be getting owned.[/quote]
I’m surprised he’s still in. When the rotting corpse of Edgar Renteria homers off of you you’re probably done for the day
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I’d be OK with Castro taking some “supplements.” If it turned him into a 25 home run hitter in his prime I’d like it. (dying laughing)[/quote]
Agreed, as long as they’re not “illegal” according to the MLB banned substances list, which probably doesn’t know of certain “supplements”…
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]I’m surprised he’s still in. When the rotting corpse of Edgar Renteria homers off of you you’re probably done for the day[/quote]
A slightly less decomposed corpse of Edgar Renteria did homer off Cliff Lee in the World Series, so we’ll just chalk that up to shitty variance.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I envision something like an at-his-peak Orlando Cabrera when I think of what Castro can be.[/quote]Edgar Renteria is the guy I think of. The two are about the same size and they both have had success at a young age.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]Edgar Renteria is the guy I think of. The two are about the same size and they both have had success at a young age.[/quote]
Hopefully Castro matches Renteria in the World Series winning hits category. Sadly it probably won’t be with the Cubs (dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
Jeebus save Randy Wells.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Buster Olney is getting all hot and bothered over WAR on twitter (dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]Buster Olney is getting all hot and bothered over WAR on twitter (dying laughing)[/quote]For or against?
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
I could also see Castro’s home run be more similar to Templeton than Renteria. Castro and Templeton have very similar numbers (minors and majors). Prior to last season Bryan Smith did a piece on Castro on Fangraphs and found he was most similar to Templeton. They were similar in the minors and at the majors through age 21 here is what they have done: .314/.331/.427 (106 OPS+) and .307/.344/.420 (104 OPS+).
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]For or against?[/quote]one guess.
mb21Quote Reply
ROFL.
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=17743257
Rice CubeQuote Reply
David Wright ———-> Apparently playing SS right now after a Reyes injury
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]For or against?[/quote]
Bitching about the positional adjustments. He thinks there are too many 2B/SS/CF in the top WAR getters.
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]David Wright ———-> Apparently playing SS right now after a Reyes injury[/quote]Jose Reyes’s agent —————-> hoping injury isn’t serious.
Mets ———————> hoping he’s out for one year
(dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]Bitching about the positional adjustments. He thinks there are too many 2B/SS/CF in the top WAR getters.[/quote]So too many players who play the most important defensive positions are being ranked as among the more valuable players in the league. Brilliant stance for Buster to take. Really solid. About what I have come to expect from ESPN.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Paraphrasing Buster Olney:
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]Paraphrasing Buster Olney:[/quote]Why would anyone ever have to make that choice? And that’s not what WAR is meant to convey, anyway!
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Why would anyone ever have to make that choice? And that’s not what WAR is meant to convey, anyway![/quote]
But they have more WAR, so that means they’re better players both now and forever (dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]But they have more WAR, so that means they’re better players both now and forever (dying laughing)[/quote]Jeebus. Fucking Olney is an idiot. ESPN is a fucking wasteland.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
(dying laughing), DeWitt, of course. Man, Hendry is going to get sucked into thinking this roster isn’t bad, and next year is going to be ugly again.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
I hope this is true: http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/press-tour-sons-of-anarchy-goes-back-to-basics-for-season-4
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder](dying laughing), DeWitt, of course. Man, Hendry is going to get sucked into thinking this roster isn’t bad, and next year is going to be ugly again.[/quote]I don’t know how that can happen, MO. They’re below average in runs scored per game, 3rd worst in runs allowed, terrible on defense and horrible at running the bases.
This isn’t last year’s team where there were some bright spots and reasons to think an improvement was possible even if unlikely.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I hope this is true: http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/press-tour-sons-of-anarchy-goes-back-to-basics-for-season-4%5B/quote%5DSame. That show went way, way off the rails.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I don’t know how that can happen, MO. They’re below average in runs scored per game, 3rd worst in runs allowed, terrible on defense and horrible at running the bases.
This isn’t last year’s team where there were some bright spots and reasons to think an improvement was possible even if unlikely.[/quote]I suspect that what you and I consider bright spots and what Hendry considers bright spots are two different things. (dying laughing)
I see what you’re saying, though, and I hope it’s right because when you can put DeWitt, Colvin, and Campana in one lineup without any regular being injured, you have a roster that is seriously flawed.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Same. That show went way, way off the rails.[/quote]Yeah, I didn’t even like most of season 2. Sepinwall seemed to enjoy it, but it was too different from the first season. By the time Jax’s baby was kidnapped I was wondering why I even watched the show. I heard last year was about the same so I didn’t watch it. I’ll watch it this year to start the season anyway.
mb21Quote Reply
Tony LaRussa has instructed Jason Motte to fly to Chicago and throw at the next Reds batter.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I suspect that what you and I consider bright spots and what Hendry considers bright spots are two different things. (dying laughing)
I see what you’re saying, though, and I hope it’s right because when you can put DeWitt, Colvin, and Campana in one lineup without any regular being injured, you have a roster that is seriously flawed.[/quote]
I think the biggest difference is money. The Cubs haven’t had money for a few off seasons so there was little they could do. That’s not a problem this year. I was thinking the other day that I could see the Cubs acquiring a guy like Jose Bautista. He’s not exactly cheap, but his contract is still friendly. Those are the guys the Cubs need to go after and they have the money. The question is whether or not they have the talent to acquire him.
mb21Quote Reply
Nice to see a Cubs baserunner go from first to third for once
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I think the biggest difference is money. The Cubs haven’t had money for a few off seasons so there was little they could do. That’s not a problem this year. I was thinking the other day that I could see the Cubs acquiring a guy like Jose Bautista. He’s not exactly cheap, but his contract is still friendly. Those are the guys the Cubs need to go after and they have the money. The question is whether or not they have the talent to acquire him.[/quote]They’re still working with ~$25 mil offseason purse, right?
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
I hear Campana broke up a double play.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Ugh, I hate that that play is considered clean
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]Ugh, I hate that that play is considered clean[/quote]
He didn’t make anyone bleed so it’s clean (dying laughing)
Rice CubeQuote Reply
The Legend of Tony Campana grows.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
I would love to see Marlon Byrd write a blog about how Tony Campana’s slide was dirty (dying laughing)
Rice CubeQuote Reply
7 IP, 1 K for Wells, also 6 R, but only 1 BB. He’s not fooling anyone anymore.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Byrd with 2 RBI doubles today.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
The Cubs refuse to lose (dying laughing)
Rice CubeQuote Reply
World Series Bound, y’all (dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
The NL Central is a festival of shitty baseball.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
If only the Brewers would start losing.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]If only the Brewers would start losing.[/quote]
Take heart RC, the Cubs are only 16.5 back in the wild card
BerseliusQuote Reply
Oh wait, there’s our Cubs…
Fortuitous double on the Byrd fail.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
And they play 7 against the braves. Along with their 25-game winning streak, they’ll be in for sure.
writerjoshQuote Reply
(dying laughing) @ the defensive setup in the Cub OF. The fastest guy in LF, the worst of the 3 defenders in the most difficult position (RF in Wrigley is a bitch), and the guy shaped like a beer keg in CF. Cubs baseball! Yippee!
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
(dying laughing) (dying laughing) (dying laughing) NEITHER TEAM WANTS TO WIN THIS GAME.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Wasn’t Kirby Puckett shaped like a fire hydrant?
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]Wasn’t Kirby Puckett shaped like a fire hydrant?[/quote]Yes. If fire hydrants were perfectly spherical.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
I see Samardzija is the fireman today.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Today’s bedshitter = Marshall unless the Cubs foist the bedshitting unto the Reds.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Ugly outing for Marshall.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Is the umpire okay? Sounds like one of them is sick.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]Ugh, I hate that that play is considered clean[/quote]I take it Campana took the middle infielder out at 2nd base? Why do you guys hate that play? I’ve always liked it. As long as the player is within reach of the base, I think it’s a good play and I think the baserunner would be silly not to do it.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]Take heart RC, the Cubs are only 16.5 back in the wild card[/quote]How many more in a row would the Cubs have to win to have a better than 0.5% chance of reaching the playoffs?
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I take it Campana took the middle infielder out at 2nd base? Why do you guys hate that play? I’ve always liked it. As long as the player is within reach of the base, I think it’s a good play and I think the baserunner would be silly not to do it.[/quote]
He slid over the base sideways and wiped out Janish’s legs. He ended up 4-5 feet from the base
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I take it Campana took the middle infielder out at 2nd base? Why do you guys hate that play? I’ve always liked it. As long as the player is within reach of the base, I think it’s a good play and I think the baserunner would be silly not to do it.[/quote]They’re playing like a team that want to win. I say go for it. Let the umpire decide clean/dirty.
writerjoshQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]He slid over the base sideways and wiped out Janish’s legs. He ended up 4-5 feet from the base[/quote]Did he overslide?
mb21Quote Reply
Wow: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/chi-giants-manager-calls-radio-host-comments-racist-20110807,0,837624.story
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]He slid over the base sideways and wiped out Janish’s legs. He ended up 4-5 feet from the base[/quote]
From the way Pat and Keith described it on the radio it was Holliday-esque. Which according to Byrd’s blog is totally clean.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=writerjosh]They’re playing like a team that want to win. I say go for it. Let the umpire decide clean/dirty.[/quote]Yeah, I agree with that.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Wow: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/chi-giants-manager-calls-radio-host-comments-racist-20110807,0,837624.story%5B/quote%5D
I read that the other day, it’s a stupid thing to say anyway because in order for Ramirez to draw even a league minimum paycheck he needs to have a visa so shouldn’t be illegal.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]Did he overslide?[/quote]
Yes.
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]From the way Pat and Keith described it on the radio it was Holliday-esque. Which according to Byrd’s blog is totally clean.[/quote]I don’t have a problem with Holliday’s slide. He went in a little high, but other than that, I don’t care. I don’t think it was dirty and wonder if we’d have been saying the same thing if the Cubs were in a pennant race and did the same thing in a close game.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=writerjosh]They’re playing like a team that want to win. I say go for it. Let the umpire decide clean/dirty.[/quote]There has been no point at which these players did not want to win, nor have they ever played more to win or less to win. The only difference is that they are winning now and were losing then. Everything else is the hackneyed armchair psychoanalysis in which fans indulge to assuage their own frustrations and justify their own preconceptions.
But I agree on the umpire bit. That’s what they are there to do. No need to engage in silly beanball antics or the like.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I don’t have a problem with Holliday’s slide. He went in a little high, but other than that, I don’t care. I don’t think it was dirty and wonder if we’d have been saying the same thing if the Cubs were in a pennant race and did the same thing in a close game.[/quote]
Actually most of the interwebs and the announcers were cheering Campana on so obviously they thought it was clean too.
Speaking of Campana, I just saw the replay of Frazier’s RBI double and Campana missed Castro at the cutoff and fired to nobody in particular at 2B. Ball bounced off Frazier’s leg as he got into 2B standing and could’ve given him 3B if it bounced even farther away. WTF, Campana?
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]Actually most of the interwebs and the announcers were cheering Campana on so obviously they thought it was clean too.
Speaking of Campana, I just saw the replay of Frazier’s RBI double and Campana missed Castro at the cutoff and fired to nobody in particular at 2B. Ball bounced off Frazier’s leg as he got into 2B standing and could’ve given him 3B if it bounced even farther away. WTF, Campana?[/quote]Campana’s arm is awful, maybe worst I’ve ever seen on a ML OF. No accuracy or arm strength at all.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
I haven’t seen the Campana one. If you find a video let me know.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I haven’t seen the Campana one. If you find a video let me know.[/quote]
I haven’t either, maybe someone has TiVo but I imagine since nobody scored on the play, MLB.com might not upload it.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I haven’t seen the Campana one. If you find a video let me know.[/quote]
It’s not in the game highlights on Gameday
BerseliusQuote Reply
Al Alburquerque is pitching for Detroit right now!
Correction…he’s done, got two outs on 9 pitches.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
I’ll see if I can grab a screenshot or two
BerseliusQuote Reply
Aroldis clowns three straight Cubs.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Aroldis clowns three straight Cubs.[/quote]
Topped out at 101 mph according to Gameday. Was hoping for 103+…
Rice CubeQuote Reply
F7 is so wild.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Baker in RF. (dying laughing) Quade loves the MIF in OF move.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Baker in RF. (dying laughing) Quade loves the MIF in OF move.[/quote]
Gotta save Soriano for extra innings, y’know. And it’d be too logical to put Campana in CF and move Byrd to RF.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]Gotta save Soriano for extra innings, y’know. And it’d be too logical to put Campana in CF and move Byrd to RF.[/quote]Eh. I don’t know that Baker’s glove isn’t preferable to Soriano’s. But if he was going to take Colvin out, he might as well have left Reed in to play RF the previous inning.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
F7 wasn’t missing the zone by much, at least against Votto.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
The feed isn’t loading on my laptop right now – I’ll try to grab some images of the slide later.
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Baker in RF. (dying laughing) Quade loves the MIF in OF move.[/quote]defensive spectrum.
Baker has only played 10 more innings in the outfield this year than he did last year.
mb21Quote Reply
F7 is all over the place. Ye gods.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]defensive spectrum.
Baker has only played 10 more innings in the outfield this year than he did last year.[/quote]It’s not a big deal to me. It just makes me laugh. Quade really has his favorite moves.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
had the hardest time logging into the site from my wife’s computer. Weird. i was thinking that I wonder if the difference in the club house, in terms of Quade “alienating” the Latino players might just be a language barrier. Lou spoke a hilariously accented Spanish, but he actually knew quite a bit of the language.
binkyQuote Reply
Really nice job on the last three pitches to Votto. Looks like he found the handle on the FB.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=josh]had the hardest time logging into the site from my wife’s computer. Weird. i was thinking that I wonder if the difference in the club house, in terms of Quade “alienating” the Latino players might just be a language barrier. Lou spoke a hilariously accented Spanish, but he actually knew quite a bit of the language.[/quote]I think Starlin is the only Latino player that still struggles a bit with English, so that’s prob not an issue. Plus, the rumor was that Quade was alienating the veterans in the clubhouse, not the Latino players.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]The feed isn’t loading on my laptop right now – I’ll try to grab some images of the slide later.[/quote]It’s no big deal, b. More than likely I’m not going to think it was a dirty play or should be considered dirty.
A dirty play to me is A-Rod swatting the glove away. It’s yelling “got it” when the ball is in the outfield. It’s throwing a bat at someone running down the line. It’s throwing at someone’s head. It’s pushing Don Zimmer down. It’s taking steroids. It’s spitting on baseballs. And you know how I feel about steroids and spitting on baseballs. If you can get away with it, you should do it. (dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=josh]had the hardest time logging into the site from my wife’s computer. Weird. i was thinking that I wonder if the difference in the club house, in terms of Quade “alienating” the Latino players might just be a language barrier. Lou spoke a hilariously accented Spanish, but he actually knew quite a bit of the language.[/quote]What happened when you were trying to login?
Anyone else had this problem? The cache is off so it would have to be something else.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]It’s not a big deal to me. It just makes me laugh. Quade really has his favorite moves.[/quote]What makes me laugh about it is that playing Blake DeWitt in LF isn’t necessarily a bad decision. That’s funny. And sad. (dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
This is where Pena flies out to the warning track.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]It’s no big deal, b. More than likely I’m not going to think it was a dirty play or should be considered dirty.
A dirty play to me is A-Rod swatting the glove away. It’s yelling “got it” when the ball is in the outfield. It’s throwing a bat at someone running down the line. It’s throwing at someone’s head. It’s pushing Don Zimmer down. It’s taking steroids. It’s spitting on baseballs. And you know how I feel about steroids and spitting on baseballs. If you can get away with it, you should do it. (dying laughing)[/quote]
(dying laughing), this is my personal crusade. I’ll need a new axe to grind after Soriano is out of baseball (dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
I usually login with my facebook account, but when I would try the button, it did nothing. It could be that her computer doesn’t have the latest javascript or something.
binkyQuote Reply
Awwww…now it’s going to be harder to make the playoffs.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Ugly game all around. And Randy Wells needs to find a way to miss some bats. Lots of contact today.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Cubs don’t win 40 in a row
Suburban kidQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]What makes me laugh about it is that playing Blake DeWitt in LF isn’t necessarily a bad decision. That’s funny. And sad. (dying laughing)[/quote]Yeah, like I was saying earlier, when a manager can justifiably have Campana, Colvin, and DeWitt int he same lineup without any regulars being injured, there are serious roster problems.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Checking out the Cardinals game now. Pujols has 27 HR. Even after a crap season he will get yet another 30 HR season unless someone kills him with a wrecking ball. It’d be tougher for him to get to 100 RBI or .300 batting average. Right now he only has 69 RBI, it doesn’t help that TLR kept batting auto-outs in front of him.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius](dying laughing), this is my personal crusade. I’ll need a new axe to grind after Soriano is out of baseball (dying laughing)[/quote]I thought Carl Crawford was your new crusade. (dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=josh]I usually login with my facebook account, but when I would try the button, it did nothing. It could be that her computer doesn’t have the latest javascript or something.[/quote]When was the last time you logged in using FB on a different computer?
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I thought Carl Crawford was your new crusade. (dying laughing)[/quote]
They’re two separate but related windmills. The first is that Carl Crawford is stupidly overrated, the second is the Soriano contract itself (dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]Checking out the Cardinals game now. Pujols has 27 HR. Even after a crap season he will get yet another 30 HR season unless someone kills him with a wrecking ball. It’d be tougher for him to get to 100 RBI or .300 batting average. Right now he only has 69 RBI, it doesn’t help that TLR kept batting auto-outs in front of him.[/quote]It’s truly amazing to think about what Pujols has done over his career given the shit with which TLR has often surrounded him.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]When was the last time you logged in using FB on a different computer?[/quote]Didn’t work for me either. I know what the issue is and I’ll make the necessary changes a bit later. I disabled mootools.js and caption.js for non-registered users. That obviously disables the FB and Twitter login.
mb21Quote Reply
Earlier today. Then it would let me log in with twitter, but I guess it sort of gave me a different profile. Anyway, I tried to cancel that out and it didn’t like that, I couldn’t login any other way. I ended up clearing out my cache and breaking the connection on Twitter, and that solved that problem.
binkyQuote Reply
On a related note, I often have problems logging in on my phone
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]On a related note, I often have problems logging in on my phone[/quote]
I do as well. I blame Steve Jobs.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Vitters has a K-rate of just 10% this season, but his K:BB is still nearly 3:1. If he would just take a few more walks, I think he could really blossom.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
More on Vitters, via Miles:
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Poor Felix Hernandez. He pitched a 12-strikeout gem and fell to 10-10. He must be dying to play for a team with a big-league offense.
ACTQuote Reply
It appears I may have been wrong about bolstering the rotation. Miles on Hendry’s offseason plans:
I assume this also implies that neither Pujols nor Fielder are in their plans…which means Peña for another year.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]It appears I may have been wrong about bolstering the rotation. Miles on Hendry’s offseason plans:[/quote]Who’s going to realistically be available? I’m assuming our trade prospects are virtually nil, but maybe I’m wrong.
binkyQuote Reply
[quote name=josh]Who’s going to realistically be available? I’m assuming our trade prospects are virtually nil, but maybe I’m wrong.[/quote]MLBTR’s list:
Looking at that list, I’d say the likely Hendry targets are Jackson, Millwood, Maholm, and Vasquez.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
I just hope they don’t go after Wakefield or Livan.
ACTQuote Reply
[quote name=ACT]I just hope they don’t go after Wakefield or Livan.[/quote]Or MIllwood or Javi. But Hendry’s gone the the buy-low veteran innings eater route before.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Good news: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/08/red-sox-release-kevin-millwood.html
They should get that Ryan Dempster fellow. He’s been solid. Any chance CC opts out, or is that like when there was a “chance” Jeter signed with someone else?
binkyQuote Reply
The play by Campana on Frazier’s RBI double:
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=17766879
Seriously…who was he throwing to? On that play I think you concede the runner will get to 2B and fire to the cutoff man on a line to 3B to prevent the runner from getting to 3B.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Looking at that list, I’d say the likely Hendry targets are Jackson, Millwood, Maholm, and Vasquez.[/quote]
Millwood just more or less hung em up today. Apparently he cleaned out his locker for the BoSox AAA team
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Looking at that list, I’d say the likely Hendry targets are Jackson, Millwood, Maholm, and Vasquez.[/quote]
I can’t believe Buerhle is 33. He seems Moyer-esque (dying laughing).
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=josh]Good news: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/08/red-sox-release-kevin-millwood.html
They should get that Ryan Dempster fellow. He’s been solid. Any chance CC opts out, or is that like when there was a “chance” Jeter signed with someone else?[/quote]I’d be shocked if CC opted out. But you never know.
I could see Hendry working a waiver deal with BOS for Z or Demp, though if he wanted to max out value, he might offer Garza.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]Millwood just more or less hung em up today. Apparently he cleaned out his locker for the BoSox AAA team[/quote]Well, that might just save Hendry from himself. (dying laughing)
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Bert Jackson ——–> 2 HR today. The second one was estimated at 432 feet
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]I can’t believe Buerhle is 33. He seems Moyer-esque (dying laughing).[/quote]Yeah. He’s almost certainly going to StL, though.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]Bert Jackson ——–> 2 HR today. The second one was estimated at 432 feet[/quote]
That’s far.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I’d be shocked if CC opted out. But you never know.
I could see Hendry working a waiver deal with BOS for Z or Demp, though if he wanted to max out value, he might offer Garza.[/quote]
I’d be shocked if they moved Garza, even if Hendry is no longer the GM.
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]The play by Campana on Frazier’s RBI double:
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=17766879
Seriously…who was he throwing to? On that play I think you concede the runner will get to 2B and fire to the cutoff man on a line to 3B to prevent the runner from getting to 3B.[/quote]His arm is terrible. Just awful. I’m surprised this never came up while he was in the minors.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]I’d be shocked if they moved Garza, even if Hendry is no longer the GM.[/quote]Yeah, me, too. But he’s probably the second most-valuable chip they have.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]His arm is terrible. Just awful. I’m surprised this never came up while he was in the minors.[/quote]
Can’t really tell where Barney was on that play. I think Castro was set up to receive the cutoff near 3B to prevent an advance. Should Barney have been covering 2B, or is he backing up something else? Or was he scratching his ass in the outfield?
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]Can’t really tell where Barney was on that play. I think Castro was set up to receive the cutoff near 3B to prevent an advance. Should Barney have been covering 2B, or is he backing up something else? Or was he scratching his ass in the outfield?[/quote]I’m not sure. You would assume Barney should have been there (he’s gone missing a few times this season on plays at 2B), but it’s hard to get a sense of position sometimes, given TV camera angles. Bottom line is that it’s a wildass throw without a lot of zing. Get it to Castro and let the guy with the big league arm make a play if it’s there.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]His arm is terrible. Just awful. I’m surprised this never came up while he was in the minors.[/quote]Yeah, can he not hit the cutoff man, or was that what he was trying to do?
binkyQuote Reply
He’s like a little leaguer. He turns and launches the ball in the general direction of the infield with all his might.
binkyQuote Reply
[quote name=josh]He’s like a little leaguer. He turns and launches the ball in the general direction of the infield with all his might.[/quote]If the Cubs plan on giving him real innings, someone needs to work with him on this.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
I thought that throw should’ve been thrown towards 3B/cutoff in that direction. I was very surprised to see that it went to 2B when Castro was out of position because he was in the proper cutoff position and Barney was meditating in the outfield or something.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Strasbourg’s first post-TJS outing: 1.2 IP, 4 K, 1 R, hitting upper 90’s.
Good thing he didn’t contract mono, or that might have been a career ender.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
It ultimately doesn’t matter, but I think Frazier was in 2B safely within 8 seconds of making contact with the ball. Ball bounced off his ankle about half a second later, but he slowed down to not overrun the bag and was safe standing. I don’t know why the throw went to 2B, because the LF was not Soriano. Not that we’ll ever know, but Soriano probably takes longer to get to that ball than Campana, and while his throw is stronger, that delay in getting to the ball would mean Frazier is safe at 2B anyway whether the throw got there or not.
I think Barney was backing up Castro’s cutoff position. Oh well. Maybe Q will yell at them later.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]On a related note, I often have problems logging in on my phone[/quote]Are you sure you aren’t logged in and it just doesn’t recognize it? I don’t know what’s up with the login on the mobile page, but I know I’ve had issues, but I’m actually logged in.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I’d be shocked if CC opted out. But you never know.
I could see Hendry working a waiver deal with BOS for Z or Demp, though if he wanted to max out value, he might offer Garza.[/quote]I’d be surprised if CC didn’t opt out. Most Yankees fans seem to think it’s a given. On the 3 or 4 Yankees blogs I visit they seem to think it’s all but official, which I agree with.
I think that’s who the Cubs target. I could see the Cubs going after him and sticking with Pena if he’ll take $5 million or less. Not a bad start to a team that could build and get better and be ready to contend in 2013.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]I’d be shocked if they moved Garza, even if Hendry is no longer the GM.[/quote]I agree. Garza is pretty damn good. He’s probably the best starter the Cubs have had since Zambrano (2004-2005) and before that Prior. If the Cubs want to contend it’s unlikely any trade would benefit the Cubs. If the Giants call you up and offer you Tim Lincecum for Garza then you do it, but I don’t see that. (dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
In any case, I want CC back in the NL. That dude can hit.
ACTQuote Reply
So I can get the twitter login to work, but still having issues with FB. Probably won’t look into it until tomorrow. I’ll check out the mobile login tomorrow.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I’d be surprised if CC didn’t opt out. Most Yankees fans seem to think it’s a given. On the 3 or 4 Yankees blogs I visit they seem to think it’s all but official, which I agree with.
I think that’s who the Cubs target. I could see the Cubs going after him and sticking with Pena if he’ll take $5 million or less. Not a bad start to a team that could build and get better and be ready to contend in 2013.[/quote]Hmmm. That’s interesting. What’s the better move: investing in a really good, fat pitcher, a really good, fat 1B, or an aging, all time great 1B?
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Hmmm. That’s interesting. What’s the better move: investing in a really good, fat pitcher, a really good, fat 1B, or an aging, all time great 1B?[/quote]
I think they try to use the Giants method…try to ensure a good rotation and then hope that they outpitch the opposition while your shitty offense puts up just enough runs.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[quote name=Rice Cube]I think they try to use the Giants method…try to ensure a good rotation and then hope that they outpitch the opposition while your shitty offense puts up just enough runs.[/quote]I’d like just for ocne to see them behave like a large market team and try and do both at once.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I’d like just for ocne to see them behave like a large market team and try and do both at once.[/quote]
The Yankees tried, but they bought the wrong high-priced pitchers it seems. Other than CC. AJ Burnett has been meh even after Larry Rothschild sort of fixed him. I think they seem content just outslugging the opponent.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
FWIW, I too have issues logging in on my iphone. It will automatically log me out once I leave the page. At the bottom it acts like I’m logged off, it has the “name, email, website, prompt” but I have to logoff at the top of the page. I then have to go to the home page. I login, after completing log in it says my session has expired so I have to login again. At that point it works fine. This is how it’s been consistently for me the last few weeks.
melissaQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]Are you sure you aren’t logged in and it just doesn’t recognize it? I don’t know what’s up with the login on the mobile page, but I know I’ve had issues, but I’m actually logged in.[/quote]
It’s possible. If the comment form doesn’t show me as logged in I go to the login on the top. After I login I get some sort of error page, but if I navigate back to OV I’m logged in.
BerseliusQuote Reply
What melissa’s describing could be going on too. I probably only use the mobile site once a week or so but I never tell it to log me off.
BerseliusQuote Reply
Any chance I’m in tonights episode? I didn’t even make it into the secondary characters catch-up episode last week.
Walt JuniorQuote Reply
jackson has an ops over 1.2 in the last 10 days
dylanjQuote Reply
Meh, a OPS of 0.12 days in a row isn’t that impressive. Let’s see what he does in games played during the Iowa State Fair.
Ari KaplanQuote Reply
McNutt going for Tenn tonight.
dylanjQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]It’s possible. If the comment form doesn’t show me as logged in I go to the login on the top. After I login I get some sort of error page, but if I navigate back to OV I’m logged in.[/quote]That sucks. I’m going to have to roll back several of the improvements I made. In other words, we have to make the site worse so people can login.
That’s messed up. That’s Kafkaesque.
/Pinkman
mb21Quote Reply
hey md, what do you make of Vitter’s this season? Its weird but for the last few levels he posts similar lines. They dont stand out (OPS in the .775 range) but he isn’t getting worse as the competition increases. He doesnt walk, he doesn’t strike out, he hits for average power and a decent average overall. IF he can stick at 3B he might be a prospect but if he has to move to 1B then forget about it
dylanjQuote Reply
another McNutt started delayed by rain. You cant make this up
dylanjQuote Reply
Breaking Bad thread on Unobstructed Views: http://obstructedview.net/unobstructed-views/general/breaking-bad-bullet-points.html
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=dylanj]hey md, what do you make of Vitter’s this season? Its weird but for the last few levels he posts similar lines. They dont stand out (OPS in the .775 range) but he isn’t getting worse as the competition increases. He doesnt walk, he doesn’t strike out, he hits for average power and a decent average overall. IF he can stick at 3B he might be a prospect but if he has to move to 1B then forget about it[/quote]When I was doing the last prospects thread a few days ago, Vitters had played about 30% of his games at 1st base. There’s little doubt at this point that he’s a 1st baseman. If he’s there 30% of the time in AA, he’s a 1st baseman.
Even as a 3rd baseman, I think he has the type of skill set that is going to be exploited the higher he goes. I’m actually pleasantly surprised it hasn’t happened at AA yet, but eventually I think his swingtastic approach is going to kill his chances.
If he does have decent power or can hit lefties well enough, there’s always a chance he could be a platoon player. To be honest, I think that’s where his ceiling is at this point. I just think he has too many holes. He’s slow, He doesn’t hit for tremendous power, not a super high average, terrible on-base skills, poor defensively. If he can mash lefties there’s no reason he couldn’t be a platoon guy though.
mb21Quote Reply
new shit: http://obstructedview.net/chicago-cubs/articles/starlin-castro-year-1-and-year-2.html
mb21Quote Reply
Does anyone actually platoon at first base at the major league level? I think, almost always, the first baseman is a guy who hits so well, you have him in the lineup even without the platoon advantage.
ACTQuote Reply