BrandoFan

Cubs just keep on winning. 10 games over .500 and yet to hit their stride. They got into Houston and St.Louis' heads the last couple of years worse than Twins got into ours - this Cub team is incomparably more talented than ANY Twin team, possibly ever. And to think it all began with Bartolo Colon.....After dropping the first game in Anaheim to open a BRUTAL stretch (Angels-Astros-A's-Cards-Sox), they dropped to a season-low 2 games over .500 and were seemingly poised for a MOTHER OF ALL JUNE SWOOONS..........But then Bartolo threw a little of batting practice, lost that game, got their hitters on track and Cubs have been playing like the best team in NL ever since........Good to see Fatolo keeps hunting us from his California grave.

No way you can lay this on Rowand - he's been hitting EVERYTHING lately, and his last two outs in this game were SMOKED. Paulie had a terrible game, your ire should be focused on him and Loaiza.

He is put in an unenviable position - Cotts, Politte, Jackson, Adkins are all terrible, and he wisely refuses to burn Shingo and Marte because it would mean pennant race death. Of course Loaiza losing 2-3 mph off his fatsball doesn't help - hitters are hammering pitches they used to foul off last year.

Because Joe is a headcase with no eye and a slow bat? [/only a slight exaggeration]

Shingo with a perfect relief game! Took him 2 friggin' months. Althught, he committed two cardinal sins: fell behind 2-0 on left handers and left the pitches up. He got lucky because all 3 soft liners by Vizqeul, Hafner and Martinez could have EASILY been hits. I hope he makes adjustments.

Joe Greedy....... Contrast that swing with the one Rowand put on an identical ball......My god Joe, seriously.

Cotts i serving batting practice, wow. Belliard, Crisp and Vizquel all got their cookies and just got under those pitches - Matt Lawton is the one who nailed it.

Miguel put down a mediocre bunt but Aaron got screened and wasn't sure if it would be caught or not - it cost him when 1B got him at 3B.

To be fair, Jose totally beat out that force-out throw. Paulie would have gotten an RBI. Ump took pity on the Indians for Belliard's f***-up the inning before.

You're right - the prediction was made when he was 6-3 with a mid-2.00 ERA - I just checked that thread from May 25th. The problem? I've been calling on Clement to fall since his crappy 2004 ST at least, and that included the period when he was 4-1 as I tend to stick to my pre-season predictions. It's wasn't a lie you dink - I was simply thinking of another thread or another arguement concerning the Goateed Wonder circa April-May when he really was 5-1 and people were nominating him for Cy Young. My mistake. But whatever - that really doesn't alter the 3.75+ ERA prediction from the Jimmy Greenfield Article thread in the least. Let's see where Clementine is at the END of the year, shall we? Come to think of it, what WAS your pre-season prediction again? You don't believe in supplemental use of advanced defensive metrics, and would rather use ESPN "scout" (the same hack who claimed, among other hilarious things, that Konerko had a "slider-speed" bat a couple of years back when he was one of the best fastball hitters in AL) as gospel? That's YOUR problem. "....With the exception of errors"? Are you for real? I guess Beltran is worse than Garret Anderson, then - what with 3 errors and all. And you know what's funny? That imbecil you quoted said Patterson has a "strong" throwing arm -- that's where his credibility and your naivette are betrayed more than ever..... Blind? Heal thyself, physician. "Web gem" catches? Carlos Lee makes "spectacular" catches in almost every game - is he a "very good" defensive player? You don't pay attention to jumps, routes and all that other (important if unquantifiable) stuff that that ultimately separates Kotsay, Edmonds, Hunter, Beltran from speedsters like Sanchez, Patterson and Crawford. And where did I say Patterson isn't fast? Reading is a skill - just as the case with Pierre and Harris, Patterson's speed doesn't automatically create for a great range. Rowand is simply a better defensive CF. But hey, you were the guy who said Timo Perez is a "very good" defensive CF'er on ESPN boards when he was first acquired, weren't you? But hey, here's what your favorite omniscient ESPN Scout says about one of the worst defensive CF'er in AL: "Baserunning & Defense Perez is the Mets' best all-around defensive outfielder. He owns above-average arm strength and good accuracy, enabling him to accumulate six outfield assists last year-second-best on the team. He plays one of the more shallow center fields in the game because of his speed and ability to read balls off the bat." Sweating and waiting for Patterson OPS to drop? Don't project, beefster. And what's with all that rhetorical noise coming from your moniker, flathead? Take a deep breath maggsformayor, the day you're a better judge of talent is the day I take a walk down Mishima Avenue. Your hack "uncle" impresses noone.

Please get the f*** off the board, scumbag.

Overpaying is one thing.... Trading Borchard, Reed, Cotts, Diaz, Munoz and Rauch for a 40yo power pitcher who had a series knee problem the last few years and who is making 15+ Mill in the next 2 years? Pure insanity.

We'll see how our predictions for Matt Clement turn out in about 3 months. He was 5-1 and now he's 7-5 - and the Annual Clement Swoon hasn't even commenced yet. You seem to disagree. Oh well, time will tell. If Cubs want to trade Clement for Rauch and Munoz, then by all means. Maggs to Cubs? No way. As far as Patterson having more range than Rowand, going by 2003 and 2004 data (from UZR, Pinto's PMR to your basic defensive Win Shares) but most importantly PERSONAL experience of watching the two play, that is simply not the case. Hell, even the generic Zone Rating for both 2003 and 2004 (869 and 870 for Corey and 960 and 911 for Aaron) places Rowand above Patterson - and A-Row's advantage in arm strenght is obvious, which not only shows up in assists but also deters some runners from even trying to advance - whereas just about everybody runs on Patterson. People get fooled by Patterson's short and quick little legs and assume he must have an enormous range because he looks so fast......Well, Hunter, Wells and Beltran, let alone Kotsay and Edmonds, are all slower than Patterson and yet they are better overall defensive CF. Willie Harris is nother speedy guy who can't play CF. Funny how that works. Just as good batspeed doesn't help a hitter who can't pick up the ball early and who has a big strike-zone, same way blazing speed in CF won't help the likes of Patterson for their rather pedestrian reads, jumps, routes, technique and decision-making - all of which come into play on non-routine plays where margin for error is very small. What happens once his OPS goes over .800? I don't know - it's not going there.

I am not sure what this has to do with a 5th starter. Since it's 0-8 with a gazzillion ERA this year, Mike Sirotka's scar tissue could be an improvement, let alone a good pitcher like Matt Clement. Same as it looked 3 weeks ago, except Wunsch is on DL now - which you mentioned nothing about then, so you get no points for it. Maggs will be back in a week. My Dear Clementine will pitch as he pitched throughout his career - possibly good enough for low- 4.00 ERA in AL - which would make him slightly better than Judy - if he is even pitching at all, that is, I have him on DL before 2005. He'll go trough his typical phase where his fastball doesn't hit over 92 (Oakland game on WGN? He didn't above 93 once and was mostly 90-92) and hangs a hell out of his slider. That ERA will SOAR. But hey, keep on watching, we'll settle this at the end of the year - 3.75 NL ERA/4.15 AL ERA thing, remember? As we will Perez trade and other things. Except not really. I'll take Rowand over Patterson, both offensively AND defensively. 760 OPS is as high as Corey will go. Stay tuned.

No. Show has cooled off, but last night's outing was ok. 7 inn, 3 ER (I am sorry but Konerko and Uribe gave the Indians 5 or 6 outs in that inning, how in the world can you give him an ER there?) against a hot-hitting team? Did you really think he was gonna keep them down to 1 run? Same thing happened in Seattle and Florida - no run support, Show is forced to nibble and defense betrays him. He is simply not goon enough to be a #2 starter he was earlier in the year, but as a #5, with less pressure on him, he can post 4.40-4.60 ERA and be more than tolerable in that role. This team needs a bona-field ace. It's been said 50 times and it will need to be reiterated 150 times more. One pitcher. Solve all our SP problems, and maybe even improve BP by default. One pitcher.

This is one of those things where I'd love nothing more than to chow on some big-time craw. If Sox take 5 out of 6, that would alright by me. Not gonna happen though.

Keep lying to yourself if it makes you feel any better. Sox would be lucky to beat Maddux (check out his last 9 starts versus Loaiza's) and I think it's safe to say we lose 5 out of 6 to the Cubs this year, esp without Magglio. Might lose all 6.

The funniest part of all is that they probably knew Wright was f***ed up - hell fans knew that a YEAR ago and they still trotted him (and Stewart, Cotts and Porzio) out there in 2003 and 2004 just so they could save a couple of Mill.........Ok, so Sox narrowly missed the playoffs because of it, balablabla.........What do they do in 2004? Same thing. Fanatical determination to do everything the cheapest way. In the process they completely devalued Diaz, Munoz and Rauch - who will give you Garcia for them now as opposed to 4 weeks ago when they had decent value? So as a result Sox have no 5th stater AND no ace. No BP help either. Instead of going on big streaks like a well-balanced playoff team playing in a s***ty division should, Sox are only 4 games over .500. The f***.

Shingo retired his last 24 batters and is only 3 shy of the bullpen equivalent of a perfect game. Well, he was - until I jinxed him just now.

The wench needs to step away from the sun...What a mess. :puke

Ne volnuites' tet'a D'ad'a na rabot'e E smotrit'e vi kino

I think you got it backwards: Kenny NEEDS to make the moves but I don't think he WILL. We need Glavine/Garcia/Batista - he'll get us Armas, Jr. We need Urbina, he'll get us Meadows. We need Finley, he'll get us Marvin Benard. Then he'll go on the radio and proclaim his unquenchable desire for triumph -- World Series, Oscars, Nobel Prize; he's the type-A-guy who just wants to win afterall. :puke

Our hitting is not good enough to win the WS (Indians in the mid-90s weren't good enough, either), but you're crazy if you think that the offense that is on pace to score 900+ runs without its second biggest bat in the line-up is the culprit. We don't have an ace. We don't have a good RHP arm to set up for Shingo and Marte. You may not think that 2 moves will make us into world beaters but look at it this way: Glavine/Garcia > Buerhle Buerhle > Loaiza Loazia > Garland Garland > Show Show MUCHO, MUCHO > MunozRauchWrightDiaz That's AT least a 10 game improvement Then you have: Shingo > Koch Marte > Marte (Damasso was unbelivably unclutch in April and May, he will improv) Urbina > Politte/Jackson (primarily vs righties) Cotts as a lefty specialist > Cotts as a key long reliever That's another 4-5 game swing. The way these additions would positively affect and inspire other players cannot be quantified. Mediocre players are known to elevate their game when they know/feel that good players are backing them up - you can't ask Showenweiss to beat Sabathia but if you trot him out there as a #5 starter against some other schmuck, he can throw a 4-hit shut-out once in a while. Maggs comes back and with those acquisitions SOX are a legit contender. Throw in Finley before the deadline, and Sox are on their way.

It's called reality. He is a momentum-killer of legendary proportions. Deal with it.