Gregory Pratt

These guys can't, as a whole, play here anymore. Not together. Not for Ozzie. Ozzie has clearly lost respect for his team and they've likely lost respect for him and themselves, though they don't know the latter yet.

Oh God, get better, Encarnacion.

There I am, hanging in a dear friend's apartment in Uptown. We're talking about life and relaxing. We'd spoken before about how she needs to see Wrigley Field. (I think it's a beautiful park, the more I go there, and it's a great place to go, IMO, except for the team and fans, but that doesn't bother me too much.) Suddenly I say, "Let's go," and we wound up getting there at the start of the fifth inning. We wound up in the third row, in the club section, right behind the Cubs bullpen. There's Kerry Wood, ten feet in front of me. Ohman. Howry. Dempster. And so we sit there, relaxing, enjoying the day and chit-chatting about baseball. Mocking the Cub fans. Laughing when they chant "Asshole! Asshole!" at Carlos Lee. Cheering Lee for his double and scoring. Enjoying the game though we're losing and I think we're going to lose. And then the eighth starts and I say to D., "I'm going to try and heckle Dempster into a blown save. If I get us kicked out, will you be mad?" Laughter. "No, but, be careful." "Well, I'm not going to threaten his life or anything." So I start when he gets up. First with You Sucks and then Your Team Sucks, First Place or Not and then all sorts of variations on "You Suck." Just screaming at him between pitches for the whole eighth inning and when the Cubs had two outs in the ninth I yelled at him, "It's almost time for you to suck, Dempster. But I guess there's always time to suck when you're Ryan Dempster!" ("That guy's harsh," said a Cub fan behind me.) There were these skinny, so-skinny-they're-somewhat-sickly-IMO girls in front of us and they hated me. So when I'd yell they'd meekly say, "Go Ryan!" and I'd yell louder that he's awful, "I don't care what your save percentage says, you're a fluke." And when he was leaving he shot me a dirty look. Gave me a dirty look a couple of times. I'd like to believe that I heckled Ryan Dempster into giving up a homerun to Carlos Lee that left the park. A friend of mine in Boston says he heckled Billy Koch into blowing a save. That was my inspiration, and I've never been that close to The Enemy's Bullpen at any park (I often sit behind the Sox dugout in the Cell) so I had to seize the dog.

I doubt Crede hits twenty next year. Pierzynski is bound to decline significantly next year, and his power numbers here haven't been particularly helpful, IMO. Tejada isn't a particularly powerful guy anymore, at least as far as HR go. Dye might hit thirty. I doubt Thome hits thirty. Konerko can go anywhere from 30-40. I'm not pencilling Rowand in for a huge number. I doubt Eckstein even hits three. Fields has got good power, but he doesn't necessarily have to keep it up and he wouldn't be the first player with good power numbers to stop hitting for a variety of reasons. It's just not a lineup that turns me on.

QUOTE(JPN366 @ Sep 1, 2007 -> 07:36 AM) Did you not read what I wrote? I said it has nothing to do with his swearing. Go back and read what I said. 1. Still, I don't care how big a tool he is. As long as he's not a killer and has baseball tools. 2. What is he a tool for, then?

The screwball is my favorite pitch. HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!

HAPPY HAPPY SINNERMAN HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY DAYS HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY I am very HAPPY HAPPY right now and it's not even my birthday! I hope you're HAPPY HAPPY too HAPPY HAPPIER HAPPY

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 31, 2007 -> 10:55 PM) IMO, it's a hell of a lot better than you think...but then again, I'm the "Overrating our young guys" person and you're the "our young guys all suck" person. Actually, I'm going off on the veterans more than the young players, but they won't be too good either.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Aug 27, 2007 -> 08:57 PM) I work with a die hard Yanks fan, and he was watching the game at his desk tonight. He said Moose wasn't hitting 86.... You work? Poor Mike Mussina. I hate him but I love him. I hope he gets it together.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Aug 31, 2007 -> 10:13 PM) I'll play along -- IF we're willing to spend over 20 million for Rodriguez, there are going to be quite a few changes within the rotation and lineup. Cheap alternatives need to be scattered around the diamond to offset Rodriguez' salary. For one, I don't believe we'd sign Eckstein; Richar would be the option. It'd have to be almost necessary for Williams to acquire someone cheap AND talented for LF, because Fields would undoubtedly play 3B. Contreras and Garland would be gone as well. Likely to be replaced by two of Floyd, Egbert, Gonzalez, Broadway. Is a lineup of.. FA/Prospect in LF Owens Dye Fields Rodriguez Richar Konerko Thome Pierzynski and rotation of Buehrle Danks Gonzalez Egbert Vazquez capable of reaching the playoffs? Depending upon the LFer, the progression of Richar and Fields, and whatever we receive from Egbert and Gonzalez, it'd atleast be an interesting ballclub. I doubt they'd reach the playoffs, but attention would certaintly be on the ballclub with Rodriguez. You'd just have to ignore Boras as his agent, or the likelihood New York retains him. Which are fairly important items and just about render the enter scenario unlikely. That's probably not a good team.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Aug 31, 2007 -> 01:55 PM) Both Iguchi and Mackowiak will be available via free agency this offseason if the Sox just can't go on without them.

Ozzie Guillen is a Latino LaRussa.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Aug 31, 2007 -> 03:41 PM) I luuuuuuuuv YTMND

Uh, if you don't think there's a Conservative Media out there you're not paying attention. Why would you believe that your side does what you accuse your opponents of, though? That would make your side equal as a lesser to the greater evil.

Phillies are good. Braves are a hope. Padres are good. Brewers I hope. No problem rooting for these Indians. No problem rooting for these Red Sox. No problem rooting for the Mariners.

QUOTE(JPN366 @ Aug 31, 2007 -> 04:40 PM) More like 15 games, I'm a Barons season ticket holder. But, hearing him scream the F word audibly countless times doesn't bode well in my book. I like passion in a ballplayer, but not unhinged anger. And, the language didn't bother me at all. Plus, he was originally in the Pirates system, came over in the LaRoche deal. I don't want a guy the Pirates don't want. Like Aramis Ramirez? If you think he's a tool because he swears....heh, I don't even have a cute thing to say to that.

Oh. Well, I was just going by what he'd said. I wasn't exactly sure. I've never been a big fan of his, anyway, but it's interesting.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 31, 2007 -> 04:12 PM) Well I guess I just don't see it that way. I think its very common for age to be incredibly important, as you state. I just think thats a mistake. I am not saying it doesn't have some importance. Just that when you are talking about a 20 year old (like Miranda), versus a 23 year old (like Paiml), I think that age is nearly irrelevant. What is more important in this case is that Miranda is simply outperforming Paiml, and at a higher level. I think that a lot of very talented players, who could be major league contributors, are lost in the shuffle due to age, and for no good reason. Ross Gload is a good example - succeeded at every level, and has been a .300 or near it hitter every year he has had any significant number of at bats in the majors (his success and obvious talent is why I was always pulling for him). Yet, beause he was stuck behind the likes of Konerko, Thomas, etc., he got a couple years too old waiting for his shot. He was then labeled as "not a prospect". If you overemphasize age, you bias yourself out of some potential talent. Ryne Sandberg says he was told he was too old in AA to ever make the Majors. Beyond him, I can't think of anyone too recent who was unfairly labeled due to his age. And it's especially true at the lower levels, and it's very consistent with what they've done in the past.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Aug 31, 2007 -> 04:04 PM) Or a player like him (the Sox can use some of there prospects and do a swap of prospects as Lillibridge really doesn't have a spot in Atlanta). And I'm sure there are other guys out there that are in similar situations and I am quietly hoping Kenny uses some of his young arms (even guys that some of you may not think have much value such as Sisco or Thornton or MacDougall or Floyd or Broadway or McCulloch or Russell or Masset or even Eggy) to acquire some prospects at positions we need them. I'm not necessarily saying you'll be able to trade Broadway for Lillibridge but maybe the right package and you can. Or maybe you deal a guy like Masset for a little older prospect that has had success but never had a position because he's blocked by major league talent (yet this prospect still has talent, its just his value has dropped a bit based on him not being able to get promoted to the majors). Those options are out there, but its going to come down to Kenny being a little ballsy and taking a chance (something I'd like to see) as well as our scouts doing an excellent job identifying these guys that could be had without giving up any major long term chips (Gio Gonzalez, maybe Egbert is considered this as well but I included him on the list because i would deal Egbert for Lillibridge or any other upper echelon prosepct, although I don't know if the other organization would consider those sort of deals). Yeah, like I said, nobody's getting Lillibridge cheap. I'm glad you're not saying that you can trade Broadway for Lillibridge because you can't. And no, you can't send Nick Masset over there, either. As for Egbert? I don't know. I don't think they would. I wouldn't trade Lillibridge for Egbert, if he were mine. I just don't think we've got a match for Lillibridge with Atlanta.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Aug 31, 2007 -> 11:10 AM) The most impressive thing was when the Supra hit Hogan at 75 mph and Hulk no-sold it. I love you.

Rocky Cherry's a nice guy. I wish him the best. Of course, that's not Baltimore!

I've got to concur.

Lillibridge won't come cheap. The Braves will be moving either Lillibridge, Escobar or Renteria and none of them will come "cheap" per se. I'd love to have Lillibridge but I don't think it's going to happen. As for Eckstein? I love David Eckstein as a player. God bless him, he's such a gamer and he's got more heart than just about everybody in baseball, but we've got another DE who is just like that, who I love just as much and admire, who has absolutely no business starting for a championship caliber team. But since we won't be a championship caliber team next year, maybe it isn't a bad idea?

I could've sworn Oswalt had a lower ERA than Webb.

It's never you. The Cubs ARE indeed THAT good.