Play Ball!!!
 

It's everyone's favorite day of the year! Opening Day!!!!

Unfortunately, the season got off to a bad start, with the Yankees whooping up on the WORLD CHAMPION Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium (I think Boston feels sorry for 'em since they will whoop 'em in the postseason again this year)


But Regardless, it's the American League, noone cares. It's the Year of The Cubs, where we will finally see AD000000!!!

This is the year, Cubs Fans!!! Lets get ready for a great season!!

http://www.ilexikon.com/images/4/41/Cubs_field.jpg

Baseball season's underway
Well you better get ready for a brand new day
Hey Chicago, What do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today


They've got the power, they've got the speed
To be the best in the National League
Well this is the year and the Cubs are in
So come on down to Wrigley Field

Baseball time is here again
You can catch it all on WGN
So Stamp your feet and clap your hands
Chicago Cubs got the greatest fans

Go Cubs Go
Go Cubs Go
Hey Chicago What do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today

LET'S GO!

I'm only gonna say it once since they always disappoint me:

GO PHILLIES!!

Last night was a great start to the season, but there's still a long way to go. Hopefully this year ends better than last year did. Go Yanks!

Mark Buerhle had a great start today but I am worried about the offense.

Go White Sox:D

Ditto.

At least they won today. Ho-hum, back to counting the days before football season for me...

Cubs are up 14-3, middle of the 7th inning. :D

CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!

The Chicago Cubs are #1 and UNDEFEATED in the National League!!!!!!!

I think it's really going to be the Devil Ray's year.









Oh yeah....and GO YANKEES!

16-6 baby! :D

How the white sox keep winning with hardly any hitting is beyond me but I'll take it.

Are the dodgers for real?

It's not just the hitting - their pitching ratios are beyond bizarre. Outside of Buerhle, they've walked as many as they've struck out. It looks like they're getting some bounces - you're right though, no offense at all on this squad past Konerko. They'll need to make some moves, or have the ghost of Joe Crede take flight. With a strong bullpen to draw from, plus some 'blocked' prospects, they may just be able to draw off some solid players . . . for instance, the Red Sox will probably move Kevin Youkilis for right-handed relief help if Mantei and Blaine Neal don't work out. That would be a coup for the pale hose.


Also, da meat hook may have given Ozzie Guillen some bulletin board material - I don't think it'll matter, because Guillen is already a rah-rah guy (and pretty bad in-game, i might add), but who knows.


Probably, but not in the way you're thinking - their offense actually should stay this good for the season, or possibly better if they get any sort of contribution from JD Drew and Jayson Werth. Their pitching is on eggshells, though - anyone who expects even 10 mediocre starts from Scott Erickson is fooling themselves. By that time, though, Brad Penny should be back, which will be a HUGE boost to the rotation. Their bullpen, however, is doing it with smoke and mirrors. Brazoban and Carrera are the only real major-leaguers on the backside, and they need Gagne back ASAP - it appears his elbow issues are a lingering result of changing his mechanics when he hurt his knee, so obviously the Dodgers are treating him with kid gloves. It'll be interesting to see how aggressive the timetable for return winds up becoming.

Regardless, the West is not shaping up to be inordinately strong - the Pads look good, very good actually, but with a marginal bullpen and some dubious lineup spots, it's a lot to ask for them to keep this up. Plus, any regression by Adam Eaton, or need to rely on Darrell May for a long time, will result in another .500 season for the Friars. If they wise up and boot Burroughs, playing Nady at 3b, they might make more noise, however - past them though, weak division.

The Dodgers have been unreal, especially considering that Werth, Gagne and Drew haven't been contributors yet. There's a balance with Gagne - they don't want to rush him back, but they probably don't want to burn out Brazoban and Carrera.

Rob, if the Sox got Youkulis, what do you think they would do with Josh Fields? Would they move Youk to 1st base? It would be an awful trade if Boston trades Youkulis and a huge trade for Chicago, I agree with you on that one.

Youkilis has played quite a bit of 1b, and a little OF as well - some have speculated that this was in an effort to increase his value for trade.

As far as Fields, he's only 22, and his numbers last year weren't exactly dominant, even for the Carolina League - here's the line:

Again, note the defense rating - some have claimed he'd be better off at first . . . I'd say he needs to learn how to catch, but the White Sox apparenty actually care about 'defense'.

Either way, he's a few years away at yet, and so Youk will be just reaching his age-28/29/30 seasons when he's ready - he'll be arb-eligible and easy to move. Sounds like a deal to me. The other option would be moving Fields in a package deal to get Youkilis, possibly getting someone like Dustin Pedroia in return - that would give the Red Sox what they need (depth in AA and below), give the White Sox a young 2B candidate (who projects to a double-digit VORP in the majors right now), and the Red Sox don't have to pick between Pedroia and Hanley Ramirez.

Interesting observation that only Collin will care about: the #1 PECOTA comparable to Fields right now is Wily Mo Pena's 2004 season . . . also in the top-20? Danny Ainge in 1983 (at like #13). His PECOTA forcast is fascinating.

Wow...now that is weird.

I'll admit I didn't know a great deal about Fields' numbers, and moving one of them to 1st sounds reasonable. Youkulis will supposedly be playing a lot of 1st at AAA when he's down there, so we'll see how that turns out.