Good point. However, any time you can do anything to try to upgrade your team, it's incumbent upon the GM to do so. I have to believe that SOME of the guys who struggled in the first half, will fare better from this point forward. They may not. But the history of guys like Bradley and Soriano is such, that it's reasonable to expect better. If not, move to the bench and lets see what guys like Jake Fox can do with increased at bats.

Guys like Fox and Hoffpauir would probably produce much better, but we know how salaries determine so much. You look at Hoffpauirs stats and in just 156 at bats, he has 8 homers and 25 RBI. You multiply his AB's x 4, which would give him a number of at bats expected for a starter/regular and he gets 32 homers and 100 RBI. Plus, if he played regularly, he would be likely to be even sharper and his stats might well be better. Fox has done a great job as a hitter and also deserves more AB's.

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Go Cubs!!!!

That's fuckin great. How are those extra AB's treating Fontenot this year??

I like it. At worst they spent a few hundred thousand on a guy who has been thought highly of in the past. Sometimes a change of scenery and a new perspective from a new pitching coach can go a long way. I'm sure once he pitching in Az or iowa they will say they found a hitch in his delivery. Even if they didn't really find anything, making him think that he was sucking because of some mechanical issue, it could get his confidence back up and he could end up being effective.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Not as well as Cubs fans would've hoped, you giggly shit. Schadenfreude Sox fans seem to be getting all sorts of giddy about it though. Glad it makes somebody happy.
Get the hot bats the ABs and ride them while you can. Fuld got it done again in the 9th just now... but that would depress you, so we won't talk about that.

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Stupidity irritates the crap outta me... and yes, I irritate myself far too often.

kerchung you've gotta take it easy man...

Oddly enough, you're not the first person to tell me that. There must be a trend there somewhere...
I know I'm wound too tight. May that be my worst flaw in life and I'll do just damned fine.


What can I say? Sox fans getting giddy about Cubs misfortunes irks me from time to time. It's similar to my reaction to stupid people. Must be a trend there too...

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Stupidity irritates the crap outta me... and yes, I irritate myself far too often.

i've had to do some personal therapy on situations like this myself, so i understand. but it just doesn't do anything but add to it when you *show* how much it bothers you. all you can do is laugh...and, let it fester...

Oh, so THATS what southpaws are supposed to do out of the bullpen!

You should write a book about baseball steve. Joe Morgan and/or Tim McCarver could co-author.


kercunk, I hope you have that same reaction towards Jim Hendry (re: reaction towards stupid people), who has forced himself to rely on Toronto's garbage for an effective bullpen the 2nd half of the season.

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Party pooper.

Rest assured Frank. There are times when I hold Hendry in the same regards in which I always hold you. The principal difference is that he doesn't go stomping about here looking for attention as often as you do.
Crap, I just hand delivered an invite to whomever runs the Hendry mult. Oh well...

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Stupidity irritates the crap outta me... and yes, I irritate myself far too often.

seems like i'm always ruining something for you

You are the biggest MORON in the Chicago area. B.J. Ryan was a CLOSER for Toronto. He saved 32 games last year. he saved 38 the year before that. He was not just asked to get Lefties out, in the role he had in Toronto, by any means. The role he will have with the Cubs will be vastly different, in that the Cubs will be asking him to retire lefties only, in most cases. If brains were dynamite, you couldn't blow your nose!!

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Go Cubs!!!!

Did you hear that one on while you were on the force?

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This logic is terrible. In Hoffpauir's 156 at bats, he's been put in situations where he's more likely to succeed (i.e. facing right handers almost exclusively). When he faces left handers, he might as well not bring a bat up to the plate with him. He doesn't walk much and he's hitting .240 with an OPS of .732. Nothing about that tells me that he has earned more playing time than he is already getting.

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

I agree that this is a very low-risk move. But if his ceiling is to be effective against JUST LEFTIES, as you put it, how is that high reward? To me, high reward is dominant set up man, or effective closer. Not Will Ohman redux. This is low risk, low reward.

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

Low reward is better than we have right now from the left in the pen, so maybe that makes it middle reward.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I'm not arguing that it's a good deal because they gave up nothing to get him. I'm just saying, that if we're hoping that he can get one guy out a week in a big spot, that's not exactly a high reward payoff. Perhaps just symantics.

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

Before Marshall was put into the bullpen, we did not have a lefty to bring into a situation where the pitcher was going to face a tough left handed hitter. Cotts would either give up a walk or a hit WAY too often(especially the walk). Now, with Dempster on the DL and Harden having been awful way too often, until last night, it was very possible they might want to move Marshall back into the rotation. Even if the don't, it's pretty nice to have a 2nd lefty (that can get lefties OUT) to bring in for 1 or 2 batters and still have another available for later in the game.

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Go Cubs!!!!

Any cub or sox issue really brings out the ugly and illogical side of CSFMB.

Anyways Ryan might work out...its 23% risk 84% possible reward to be exact with a likely low reward return of 41%.

Also...Steve...As much crap as I give you...I know you're not dim enough to really believe in the "mulitply all his stats by 4" thing.

Your better than that...not much better...but better.

This is how I was before the 2004 squad killed off most of my feelings on the subject...Im almost immune.

From what I know about a Wheaton Zack...Ill bet you used to be the same way.

So thank you Mercker, Hawkins, Sosa etc. You gave me some valuable perspective.

It's not fair in the sense that he is used so often as a pinch hitter and therefore has more opportunities with RISP and also inserted into situations where Lou believes he has a better opportunity to succeed. however, you must also consider, that because he gets at bats so seldom, he is nowhere near as sharp as he would be as a regular. When he played regularly in spring training, he led the majors in RBI. I don't think the 32, 100 numbers are far off at all. But I think his batting average would probably be much higher, if he played regularly.

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Go Cubs!!!!

Steve was the same type of fan who had Tuffy Rhodes pegged for 203HRs and 429 RBIs.

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Well he was right.....just in Japan

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Wait, isn't that you talking about Beckham?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Did he win the spring training RBI championship too??

Never was a Tuffy fan. I have been wrong on some players...Corey Patterson for example, but not Tuffy. Corey was the classic million dollar talent with a 10 cent brain (he has that in common with frank) unfortunately. He had a world of talent though.

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Go Cubs!!!!

So Frank has million dollar talent?

No, not even close. If you look back, I was for keeping him at AAA until September.

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No Frank your a sox fan...so you were building him a wing in the hall of fame...just like if one cub fan doesnt watch the game...they ALL dont.

Meh, you're the same type of fan though.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014