SB Nation User Blog: CHCOWNTHECENTRAL

Kind of OT: College Baseball and Rule 4 Draft

CHCOWNTHECENTRAL — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:38:01 -0000

Not sure how many people follow NCAA Baseball and it may be a little early to talk draft but I thought I would start this thread if for no other reason than to proclaim my love for next years concensus #1 pick, Stephen Strasburg from SDSU.

Through 4 games this year Strasburg's line is

ERA W-L IP H R ER BB SO 2B 3B HR AB B/Avg WP HBP

1.98 4-0 27.1 19 7 6 5 59 4 0 1 99 .192 3 1

I also figured that those of us that do follow NCAA Baseball and the draft could discuss players to watch here, perhaps providing insight for those who don't really know what names to watch for come June.

Spring Training Pics

CHCOWNTHECENTRAL — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:49:19 -0000

Spring Training Pics

Not sure how many people have seen Tim Sheridan's blog. He gives daily updates on the Cubs spring training and usually throws in some pics. Just thought I would share the site in case there are others like me who can't wait for the season to start and needed more Cubs material to read until it does start.

Ramses Barden

CHCOWNTHECENTRAL — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:15:52 -0000

I was just watching the College Football All-Star Challenge and one of the first contestants I saw was Ramses Barden from Cal Poly. At 6'6" Barden isn't going to be running a 4.3 40 anytime soon but this guy still has good athletic ability for his size and his hands looked great. He made a couple one-handed grabs one of which was on his backside and looked pretty hard to grab.

This guy is not a first round pick which would allow us to address bigger needs early such as O and D-Line, DB, QB.

Also competing were Hakeem Nicks and Jordan Norwood but I think of the three Barden fits our needs the best. Just throwing a name out there to keep an eye on, if anybody else has seen this guy play let me know what you think.

Switch-Hitting Leadoff not named Roberts

CHCOWNTHECENTRAL — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 03:28:39 -0000

Well I haven't seen this mentioned since DeRo was traded so I figured I would put it up here...

Orlando Hudson is currently a free agent and I remember his name coming up at the beginning of the offseason but most people wanted him at SS.

Now that DeRo is gone I believe we could use O-Dog he would add balance to the lineup and move Sori from the leadoff spot. I know we just added Miles but O-Dog would be a much more impressive addition then Miles. Fontenot has shown that he deserves more ABs but I still don't believe he is an everyday player and I really don't like having nobody better than Miles to split time w/ him.

Obviously a LH RF is still priority #1 for Hendry but Hudson makes to much sense to not be mentioned.