- The Cubs will eventually get Brian Roberts. Andy MacPhail has to decide whom he wants. But the Cubs are convinced it will happen.

When Gammons was saying this, was his head sticking out of Terry Francona's ass? Or was he so far up there that he was actually speaking out of Francona's mouth?

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Hell, if McPhail wants to reclaim his whole crappy farm system, he's welcome to it as far as I'm concerned.

It's Peter Angelos from what all reports are. For some reason he loves Brian Roberts?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

i hope this is true, because he is just what that lineup needs. the cubs need to give up whatever prospects they have to and land this guy and get it done before this season starts, and get soriano where he needs to be - 5th or lower in the lineup. they wont win shit with soriano leading off. a genuine leadoff man, and this team could make some noise this year.

The Cub lineup would be incredibly impressive by adding Roberts. The bottom may be a little weak, as Soto probably had a career year in 07 but 1-6 would be a killer.

The Cubs will hit homeruns no doubt. But will they be able to manufacture a run when they need to? Fukudome and the addition of Roberts would be a major plus in that category, since their "leadoff man" isn't a leadoff man at all.

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Soto played for a month and a half - that's a career year???

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His minor league stats were great as well, and he had never had a year like that coming up through the system.

Being held hostage by Soriano's idiosyncrasies (much poorer stats anywhere else in the order) and inability to run any longer means that Roberts is all but a must. Roberts can put the pressure on a defense that has been missing for some time.

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

Hendry better not give up the farm to acquire Roberts because I think he will need to acquire another starter during the season. The Cubs have enough pitching to win the division but if they want to go deep in the playoffs they will need to acquire another proven starter.

What a dumbass thing to say. He's 25, has a grand total of 30 MLB games played and a total of 80 pro at-bats. You're gonna say he had a career year. I expect better GD.

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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

Sorry - I misunderstood the term then. Didn't Ty Griffin have a couple of career years? What year was Pie's career year?

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You continue to misunderstand the term. Last year, both the portion in the minors and the portion in the majors, was so far above the norm for Soto that it is illogical to believe he will match the numbers. That is a layman's definition of "career year".

Since the thick headed douchebaggery seems to be running rampant in this thread:

BA- minors last year .353, MLB last year .389, previous high in any year .272

SLG- .652, .667, .417

HR- 26, 3, 9

RBI-109, 8, 48

My comparison is only between last year and previous year's highs. If I were to take his average year the contrast would be even clearer.

In short, Soto had a year that was so phenomenally good it may induce people to extrapolate 2007 for his career. I would recommend penciling him in for .250-5-35 in 2008.

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/players/p ... age/392194

Ok - got it now. When you say he had a career year last year, you mean that you expect his numbers this year (a full season in the majors) to be lower than last year's (majority of the season in the minors). In that case, I agree with you, he had a "career year" last year.

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No, you don't have it yet. I expect his 2008 numbers to be below his AVERAGE numbers in the minors.

In saying career year, I expect that he will NEVER have another season remotely approaching what he did for the combined 2007.

Why on God's green earth would anyone's AAA numbers equal his MLB numbers? that's a given, and has nothing to do with diminishing skills.

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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

thick headed douchebaggery!

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@audioidkid

Who said anything about diminishing skills?

His AAA numbers from last year do not match his typical minor league numbers. In fact, he was so good last year and ONLY last year, that one should expect a dramatic decrease in production. On the other hand, if he was the type of prospect who hit .300 regularly with power in the minors, I would expect only a small decrease in numbers, if any.

Have I stepped into some odd dimension? Simply look up Geovany Soto on the site I linked. Take a look at his offensive production and 2007 jumps off the page at you. I really could not give a clearer example of a "career year" short of referencing the steriod era.

Sorry, when you say someone's career year was last year, it sounds to me like you expect that to be his best year, and any year after that would be diminished from his "career year". So, in my perverted opinion, you are predicting diminishing skills from Soto.

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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

To be fair though, dont you expect diminishing results also? Or do you expect him to hit .389 over the whole season?

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Diminishing success is what I am talking about.

His skills are the same or maybe even a little better.

The one thing that should be transferable is plate discipline. He has always had a good OBP. If he can hit .250 but get on at a .330-.350 rate, that is pretty good for a catcher.

No.
I don't however, think you can put someone into the career year catagory when he's got 80 MLB at bats and expects to spend his first season in the bigs.

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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

I think Soto can take Zambrano. I can't wait for those fisticuffs to start.

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Barrett would have kicked Zambrano's ass in 1999 at AA Walla Walla, but of course, that was Barrett's career year. Zambrano got lucky and caught him on the downside of his career last year.

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The Prospectus guys are pretty high on him- he's one of the six guys on the cover this year. I think that he could regress AND have a pretty damn good year.

BP has him at 19 HR, 69 RBI, .279 Avg , but yet one of the most valubale young talents in the game. With a WELL above average thowing arm, comparing it to charles Johnson.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

His arm is very good. He's tossed a couple would-be base stealers out this spring and had a couple in his short time up with the club last season. Should help the pitchers a lot as guys used to be able to run like crazy on just about all of them. (Though anything is a step up from Barrett and Kendall's throwing abilities) His defensive skills have impressed me, too. Looking forward to seeing how he'll do in a full season being the guy.

what is nice is that they are giving the guy the job, not making him sweat ever little mistake and at-bat. they dont have anyone else to go to realistically, so he can go out and play, and hopefully show his best over a long period of time. they should do the same with pie, and it looks like they will.

Obviously I'd take the under on that, especially the home runs.