1. There’s no way he can put up his current numbers.
2. He could hit .290 with an OBP of .350 – which is true in and of itself.
3. If he did, that would be acceptable production.

And if he did hit .290 with an OBP of .350, assuming his career norms in slugging or a bit more, then he would be… a mildly below-average shortstop. If he did that – and he could, but nobody has established that it’s likely.

I just don’t understand why people seem so abjectly hostile to the idea that Theriot’s past performance is our best indicator of his future performance. (And his minor league numbers? Yeah, nothing to brag about.)

And the best tools we have at our disposal are simply what that player has done in the past, as well as how other players like him have performed in the future.

I do my absolute best to be fair and go to the conclusions the data takes me to, in spite of my personal feelings about a ballplayer. (You’d have to spend a long time on BCB and pay an awful lot of attention to me to know that my favorite Cub of all time is Mark Prior.)

The data so far on the season (at least, as of two days ago, which is the last time I did a thorough look at the defensive stats) says that Aramis Ramirez has been the least valuable member of the team so far. I don’t worry about it, because I know that the data on the season so far is as close to meaningless as it can be. Our preassumptions in this case – and really in all cases – are more valuable to us as information that what has happened on the field.

I don’t go out of my way to discover proofs about Ryan Theriot; I only write about him as much as I do because it seems to be so controversial.

Certain skills progress differently – walk rate doesn’t seem to peak, it just continues to increase, while speed skills tend to start declining earlier. Power peaks later than other skills.

But during the 27-29 years the slope is pretty much flat – it’s where you expect the most consistancy out of a player’s performance level.

That’s not an iron law, and I’ve never claimed that it is. But there’s no reason, based upon his past performance, to EXPECT an improvement out of him. It’s an outlier of a posibility.

I don’t know if that info includes today’s games or not. But I imagine if it doesn’t, than the Cubs would place higher on several lists.

Pittsburgh is 7-5 against everyone else.

I’d like to see these starters going deeper really soon.

Al, I’m surprised you’re not making a bigger deal out of it. After all, Baseball is a game of numbers and records. That’s quite a stat you’ve got for yourself.

NHK always brings in their own HD camera to go after Japanese players (as they did in Seattle, NY and Boston), and mix it with local station’s picture.
NHK is public broadcating and removing all the commercials on local station’s program.

in English – here you go

Nice story about Hata and Leon Lee…I was thinking too, now that Dome is so popular and the Japanese fans see Wrigley Field, that in the future, more Japanese stars will want to play for the Cubs….I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Could it have something to do with your text editor settings?

When you get a second, you might mention to the techs that the default text editor may have a bug. Indented paragraphs and/or breaks seem to periodically be interpreted as a

 tag. That sort of text is basically a block quote that doesn't wrap, so you get the odd run-on like Lemon is seeing. It's happened a few times that I've seen, although I've not personally tried to replicated it.

be available….as the companion book is now. How could this NOT be made available for purchase? I think you were OK in being observant!

I think Jack Brickhouse deserved a bit more time….and certainly, there should have been more time spent with Lou Boudreau….Vince Lloyd…...I know that footage is in the vault…..that’s why I’, certain there will be a DVD with “footage not seen on TV,”

They are running it again on May 3rd at 7:00 according to the WGN website. I missed it also, so I set my DVR to catch it the next time it’s on.

you’ll be stuck in Iowa canning vegetables.

But I just wanted to know because it seems like it’s been a while since we have been this good, this early. I know, I know, we beat the Pirates. But tomorrow and Tuesday are big tests for us, and if we can split the series, or win both times (which we should facing Maine and Nelson F.), I think it proves that we are a better team, and perhaps the best team we’ve have constructed in this decade.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHC/2004_sched.shtml

The Cubs started 2004 6-6, but then had a 6-game winning streak which included a win against the Reds, a 2-game sweep against the Pirates, and a 3-game sweep against the Mets.

leg injuries often before he became a Cub. Hindsight is not 20/20.

I can think of plenty of other bad free agent contracts that are worse than this. More recently, I think the Andruw Jones signing was much worse than this.

Damn man.

On another note, where else would Soriano hit if he wasn’t leading off? The 5-hole? That’d be pretty cool

Without Soriano, the Cubs are watching the Brewers last year. I’m pretty sure he started off slow last season. Think what our lineup will be like with Lee back, Aramis, Soriano playing well, and Fuku. We’ll run away with this division.

Big deal. Someone who thinks the Cubs are better off without a guy who, despite the injuries, will post a .280/30/90 line is just wrong.

a short minute ago.

Yeah, Soriano contract is a rich one, and hell I wish we saved that money to get Santana, or something. But nonetheless, Soriano is a hell of a player.

Last year was down year and he posted an average alittle below .300 with over 30 HR. He was our sparkplug for the last part of the year. I don’t see how you can deny that.

Well, I’m convinced!

I’ve had my targets in the past, such as certain pitchers, but that was after many, many problems. Soriano delivered just about what was to be expected last year. I think you are expecting him to be a superstar. He’s not. Soriano is an accomplished major leaguer who was in the right spot at the right time to be offered the contract he has. With big contracts, come over-inflated expectations.

He’s not a HOF player. People seem to think he is. When he returns, he’s probably going to deliver what he usually does. If you, and those other talk-show callers are surprised about what a free-swinger he is, you probably haven’t paid attention to what his past career has been like.

And, I think you’d admit the playoff loss to the D-Backs pretty much lies on everybody on the 2007 Cubs, not just Soriano. To blame that series on him—I’m sorry, I just don’t see that at all.

And remember, Sports Radio exists on controversy. Without it, there’s nothing. If such stations existed in the early 70’s I guarantee people would have been saying that Ernie Banks was ‘washed-up’ and ‘over-the-hill.’ Even a future Hall-Of-Famer would have taken hits from angry fans…..

And, I’d love to join you in the 3rd base seats at Wrigley. That’s a given.

the Padres are as cheap as it’s gets.

Columnist Tim Sullivan: (before Sunday’s game)

Jim Edmonds, R.I.P. He’s about as done as it gets.

I’ll let you in a little secret. Matt Murton isn’t any good. Notice that 29 teams didn’t exactly beat a path to Jim Hendry’s door trying to acquire Murton in the offseason. Not much of a market for a one position player who is poor fielder, doesn’t run well, doesn’t hit for power and doesn’t drive in runs.

What’s that?!? Close eyes and swing at every pitch, proceed to get hot / lucky for two weeks, followed by four weeks of suckage to start the cycle all over again?!? Oh goody goody. I can hardly wait to see Soriano resplendent in his voodoo paint under the eyeballs striking out on 3 pitches or failing to advance the runner in hopes of him blasting 15 home runs in a 10 day period and bulking up his stats on the back of his Topps’ bubblegum card. But wait, it gets better !!! When the playoffs arrive he’ll be the easiest out in the Cub lineup, to the point where he make Felix Pie seem like the second coming of Ted Williams !!!

I think if Samardzija pitches for the Cubs this year, it will be as a September call-up.

It is possible he’s in the rotation next year though. He “projects” as a #2 starter, but there is a long way between what he is now and that projection, more so than most projects. He won’t be there next season.

... ought to be worried about Randy Johnson, who appears to be just about done.

I’m not scared of him any more. Wright, Beltran and Reyes are good—but the rest of that lineup doesn’t really worry me.

why does he play Theriot at SS when Cedeno plays?