shuggoth wrote:I'm normally a lurker, but damn it really sucks to be a Cub fan right about now. Neifi Perez. Please excuse the profanity, but Neifi Perez. This is going to one loooooooong summer. Especially since almost all of my in-laws are Sox fans. I wouldn't mind a fire sale once we got close to the trading deadline. As long as Neifi and Dusty go. Who cares if 3 years ago the Cubs were in the playoffs? After all that I have seen since then I am convinced it was just a fluke.
Sorry,but the language isnt allowed on the board. If you continue to use that languae, a mod will ban you from the board. On a different note, welcome to the cafe.
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A) Easy Marver... the Cubs would have cleaned up in the West last year. 95+ wins no question. The Pads have a pair of prospects who never panned out and never will hitting 4-5 in their lineup, which is worse than the Cubs'... even sans D-Lee. Wait 'til the dust settles... the NL West is still the worst division in the MLB.
B) Dusty should stay, but won't. Hendry and Rothschild should be on the chopping block. Not preparing for another season w/out Prior/Wood is unacceptable. Looting your minor league prospects like you're the Yankees is also unacceptable. Being responsible for having your top two pitchers on the DL is unacceptable as well. I have complete confidence in the man who took the Cubs to the NLCS in '03, and the organization should, too.
C) Prior will be back. I know it's long distance, but I'd wager a sig/av that he'll win 15+ next season. He's a lock for 8 this year, as well.
D) The Cubs will have money to spend in the offeseason. Wood and his terrble contract are gone after this year. They'll probably unload Jones on the Yanks. Someone should step in for Hendry and actually address the corener outfield spots like a man (i.e. - keep Patterson and play him in his natural position and make Brian Giles an offer he can't refuse). This isn't just 20/20 hindsight... I was pushing for that in the offseason as well.
E) The Sox winning the WS was the best thing to happen to the Cubs in a long time. The Northsiders have owned Chi-Town for the better part of a half century. Now there's actually pressure with the Sox threatening to steal some of the fan base. Before last year, the Cubs could throw a AA team on the field and still fill the stands. Now they will have to work to keep butts in the seats. That means putting a quality product on the field.
F) There will be no fire sale. The ownership has committed to making the Cubs competitive this year and in the future. Todd Walker is gone, D-Lee will return, Prior will return and the Cubs will get back to .500 by the trade deadline. The one thing Hendry is good at is making mid-season moves, and the Cubs will improve and make a run at the wild card.
G) Offensive language is for those with a deficient vocabulary. Get a clue.
I try to hide my allegiance on the boards most of the time for the sake of a non-biased commentary, but I had to throw my hat into this ring.
A) Easy Marver... the Cubs would have cleaned up in the West last year. 95+ wins no question.
The Cubs finished 79-83 last season, 19-15 against NL West teams, 43-36 against NL Central teams, and 11-23 against NL East teams. If you project those winning percentages if they played the amount of games against each division that they would in the NL West, they would have gone 72.36 - 71.64 against NL teams, meaning that even if the Cubs won all 18 interleague games, they'd only have 90.36 wins, far from the 95+ you promised, "without question".
The Pads have a pair of prospects who never panned out and never will hitting 4-5 in their lineup, which is worse than the Cubs'... even sans D-Lee.
Right. Khalil Greene will never pan out? Didn't he drive in nine runs in our seven game season sweep of the Cubbies? And who is the other prospect you are referring to? Josh Bard? Have you seen how well he's been hitting? In fact, Padres catchers this season are 59 for 202 (.292) with 11 homeruns (.525 SLG), 35 rbi, and 24 walks (.367 OBP) giving them an OPS of .892. So, yes, the Padres catcher rotation has a higher OPS than any Cub at this point in the season (ignoring Lee's 45 at bat sample). And our catchers can control themselves, too.
Wait 'til the dust settles... the NL West is still the worst division in the MLB.
You do realize the Cubs are 6.5 games worse than the worst team in the NL West right? And this is before Eric Gagne, Ryan Klesko, Woody Williams, Doug Brocail, Bill Mueller, Cesar Izturis, Jayson Werth, Jason Repko, Moises Alou, and Lance Neikro return from injuries, and before Stephen Drew, Carlos Quentin, Chad Billingsley, Joel Guzman, and Cesar Carrillo get their 2006 callups. Don't worry, a division 21 games over .500 is certainly the worst in the league.
A) Easy Marver... the Cubs would have cleaned up in the West last year. 95+ wins no question.
The Cubs finished 79-83 last season, 19-15 against NL West teams, 43-36 against NL Central teams, and 11-23 against NL East teams. If you project those winning percentages if they played the amount of games against each division that they would in the NL West, they would have gone 72.36 - 71.64 against NL teams, meaning that even if the Cubs won all 18 interleague games, they'd only have 90.36 wins, far from the 95+ you promised, "without question".
The Pads have a pair of prospects who never panned out and never will hitting 4-5 in their lineup, which is worse than the Cubs'... even sans D-Lee.
Right. Khalil Greene will never pan out? Didn't he drive in nine runs in our seven game season sweep of the Cubbies? And who is the other prospect you are referring to? Josh Bard? Have you seen how well he's been hitting? In fact, Padres catchers this season are 59 for 202 (.292) with 11 homeruns (.525 SLG), 35 rbi, and 24 walks (.367 OBP) giving them an OPS of .892. So, yes, the Padres catcher rotation has a higher OPS than any Cub at this point in the season (ignoring Lee's 45 at bat sample). And our catchers can control themselves, too.
Wait 'til the dust settles... the NL West is still the worst division in the MLB.
You do realize the Cubs are 6.5 games worse than the worst team in the NL West right? And this is before Eric Gagne, Ryan Klesko, Woody Williams, Doug Brocail, Bill Mueller, Cesar Izturis, Jayson Werth, Jason Repko, Moises Alou, and Lance Neikro return from injuries, and before Stephen Drew, Carlos Quentin, Chad Billingsley, Joel Guzman, and Cesar Carrillo get their 2006 callups. Don't worry, a division 21 games over .500 is certainly the worst in the league.
I really don't have the time/energy to properly reply to this, so I'll just rattle off a few quick things.
I only called you out b/c I took exception to a Pads fan making you-know-what out of anyone else's lineup. Go ahead and spew off about BP factors or whatever, but the Pads are only batting .002 points better than the Cubs without Lee and with A-Ram struggling (which won't continue).
The other prospect was former #1 overall pick Adrian Gonzalez, who just blows. And for how highly-touted Khalil was when he got called up, his .254 AB in over 1,100 AB's is just horrendous. I like the kid, but he's had plenty of time to adjust and still hasn't figured it out.
Honestly, how big of an impact are guys like Repko and Werth going to make? Other than Klesko, I'd be surprised if the combined WARP of the guys you listed there even equalled that of D-Lee alone last season. And it's not like injuries have affected the Cubs at all in '06. I'm sure with a healthy D-Lee, Prior and Wood the Cubs would still be 13-games under .500. And if those call-ups you listed are going to make such a big difference, why aren't they already up?
Oh, and the Pads' catchers might be swinging a hot stick right now, but at least when Barrett's behind the plate runners at first don't get a free pass to second.
I stick by my statement that the West is the worst division in baseball. We're less than a third of the way through the year, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
WittyC wrote:I really don't have the time/energy to properly reply to this, so I'll just rattle off a few quick things.
I only called you out b/c I took exception to a Pads fan making you-know-what out of anyone else's lineup. Go ahead and spew off about BP factors or whatever, but the Pads are only batting .002 points better than the Cubs without Lee and with A-Ram struggling (which won't continue).
To get rid of the Wrigley/Petco comparison, on the road the Padres hit .276, while the Cubs hit .245. And the Padres have scored 54 more runs this season than the Cubs.
The other prospect was former #1 overall pick Adrian Gonzalez, who just blows. And for how highly-touted Khalil was when he got called up, his .254 AB in over 1,100 AB's is just horrendous. I like the kid, but he's had plenty of time to adjust and still hasn't figured it out.
Honestly, how big of an impact are guys like Repko and Werth going to make? Other than Klesko, I'd be surprised if the combined WARP of the guys you listed there even equalled that of D-Lee alone last season. And it's not like injuries have affected the Cubs at all in '06. I'm sure with a healthy D-Lee, Prior and Wood the Cubs would still be 13-games under .500. And if those call-ups you listed are going to make such a big difference, why aren't they already up?
Oh, and the Pads' catchers might be swinging a hot stick right now, but at least when Barrett's behind the plate runners at first don't get a free pass to second.
I stick by my statement that the West is the worst division in baseball. We're less than a third of the way through the year, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
First things first...the Padres were stole 12 bases in 6 games against Barrett, and only got caught twice. Barrett isn't exactly tough stuff on defense, from what I've seen.
Second of all, you're writing off a former number one pick who just turned 24. Anyone that talented can turn it around whenever...we've seen it in San Diego with Phil Nevin; and Nevin was 27 when we got him. To write off Gonzalez now is foolish, especially seeing the way he has torn up AAA.
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by Cleveland Steamers » Fri May 26, 2006 10:18 pm 
