Ryan Dempster Has Shortest Start In More Than Two Years, Cubs Blasted By Pirates

Caught up in the excitement and heat of the moment, he promptly heaves it back into the park. A few high fives from those around him and then he continues on his way. About 50 feet later, he stops, looks back and kinda shakes his head. The look on his face was no longer excitement – it was a mixture of regret and disbelief. Ken Freakin’ Griffey Jr! Hall of Famer!

Add it to my list. I still put the rotating band of D-list celebrities doing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” as a bigger atrocity.

Set an example.

… only that the concept of having such a sign doesn’t bother me.

I find it completely unobtrusive and the sign fits well with the ballpark.

But I never hear anything about this – The non-stop PA system advertising prior to the start of the game and between innings. It is a constant barrage of advertising. You can hear the PA announce sucking in big glups of air as he does it.

The Toyota sign I can easily avoid. But the audio advertising is unavoidable. I am amazed at how any visual change to Wrigley is debated to death, yet the audio advertising is never considered.

and it’s not so much the concept of songs as it is the abruptness – 3 seconds of some (most likely) hiphop song blared really really loud and then nothing.

Unless it’s something iconic – opening keyboard riff from Baba OReilly for example – I just don’t see how 3 seconds of something gets the crowd or the player going. Compare that to when the Cubs take the field (Jump!, Beautiful Day, Boys are Back In Town, etc.) and it’s a completely different situation. At least then, you hear most of the song and you definitely get a chance to get into it.

Dunn will be 31 in November. Four years with an option would bring him to 35. IMO, he is the type of player whose skills could deteriorate quickly.

If the team does indeed go through some regrouping, there’s a potential for it to be a little painful, even if it’s done right. Somebody like Dunn in the lineup, hitting 40 HRs a year, breaking a few windows on Sheffield, motivating a certain ballhawk to finally get in shape, could certainly help to divert the casual fans’ interest away from the regrouping.

I agree someone like that is needed…..I think Kenny Lofton was that for the 03 Cubs

I have seen way too many statheads justify acquiring players because of splits and statlines instead of looking at the player and factoring in his personality as well. that’s how most saw the (name redacted) deal. the major supporters looked at how he hit in Texas and his career numbers he put up. I looked at 9 teams in 9 years with some legendary on field meltdowns. I never figured in his high walk totals would be more of a hinderance than a help. a lot of those same statheads claimed that because GM wundekind Theo Epstein said that players who don’t make outs are very valuable, (name redacted) is valuable because he walks and doesn’t get out. never mind he also doesn’t drive in runs. maybe that’s why there are no major league teams made up of players 4 feet and shorter, because there is a major flaw in that logic reasonable people could recognize. outs aren’t bad. bad outs are bad, but I can’t see anything wrong with sac flys, sac hunts, or outs that advanced the runner.

looking at what any player’s statline should be A factor in signing a player, not THE factor most want it to be. like for me signing Adam Dunn would be okay only if it is an acknowledgement that we wont be good the next few years. his defense scares me. he can cream the ball but he may allow as many if not more runs on the field. plus he’s on the wrong side of 30 and not likely to improve his defense much.

• I’m still going to use (name redacted). i think its funny and should be his official bcb nickname.

Do stats always predict the future accurately? No. Can we improve on projections systems? Of course. But they still are the most accurate method of predicting future performance. Most of the time they do a pretty good job. What things do stats fail to consider?