SB Nation User Blog: Canseco's Roid Party

On Milton Bradley: Open Letter to Steve Rosenbloom

Canseco's Roid Party — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:11:02 -0000

Hello, friends and fellow Cub fans, I have not posted in a while but decided I must make time to share my thoughts on this issue with the world. We will see if the world cares or merely ignores my thoughts in the Internet sea of white noise, but I hope a few people at least care to read this post.

My topic: the media treatment of Milton Bradley, and how unprofessional most of the so-called "journalists" have been in covering this matter. In particular, this will focus on the blog post by Steve Rosenbloom, found here:

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/rosenblog/2009/04/i-thought-this-milton-bradley-experience-was-going-to-be-different.html

Milton Bradley has been bad, injured and cranky, so of course he’s blaming the media for the way he’s being covered.

Yo, Milton, how do we Febreze bad and injured? Should we write that you’re Albert Pujols, except with a .043 average?

Milton Bradley has 24 AB on the season. Twenty-four. While obviously Mr. Rosenbloom has little to no concept of mathematics, the fact that he neglects to mention how few ABs the ".043 average" comes from tells me right off the bat that Rosenbloom is likely to present a massively skewed piece. He does not disappoint. His agenda is evident, and while this should not be particularly surprising given the sad state of sports journalism in mainstream media, I find it distasteful enough that I felt compelled to answer in the timeless style of Fire Joe Morgan. I miss those guys, even if the repitition was beginning to get tiresome. Bad, irresponsible journalism is tiresome. I will shed no tears on the inevitable day the Trib and Sun-Times are forced to fire some of the hack columnists which make up most of their rags.

It didn’t take long with this guy, did it?

Bradley came with a resume that showed he has trouble working and playing well with others. When he’s healthy enough to play and work, that is.

Pure propaganda. Irresponsible, just like much of what we see spewed throughout our papers and other media outlets. What do you consider playing well with others, Steve? Bradley actually has a good reputation, if you ask former teammates and managers. The only ax MB truly has to grind is with people like you. Unfortunately, players and managers rarely discuss their peers in the media, so this is seldom mentioned. Certainly seldom heard over the usual tripe about Milton's problems, which I admit certainly are existant, but would go barely noticed if it were not for the work of our beloved media. Actually, work is too strong a word for what you do. Gastrointestinal explosions are more coherent than your opinions, and certainly more grounded in reality. So if by "others" you mean "the media", then you have a point. Last I heard, the big checks are for winning games and making fans happy, not for spouting meaningless cliches in postgame interviews so you can discuss them in your next column.

OK, so let’s see if I have this right: isn’t healthy, got booed, wouldn’t talk -- and it’s someone else’s fault.

The only thing different is he’s compounding the agony by not hitting. See, he also came in with a baseball card that said he could fall off a gurney and still get on base. But now he can’t even do that, and worse, he’s reading from the good book of I-confess-he-did-it.

What are you even talking about? Whose fault is it? You make allusions to statements which do not exist. You read between the lines to extract whatever you can from Milton's comments. There is a word which captures this quite well: Lying.

You are lying, taking the words spoken into your microphones and distorting them into whatever you damn well please. Why? I have no clue. It's juvenile and pathetic and manipulative, all for some perverse pleasure derived from attacking an athlete in print. The same print which you control. Since you are making baseless explanations of Milton's behavior however you need to write a column, I feel justified in making one of my own about you, Steve. Your work reminds me of several famous authors who also were well-known for their work in media: Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, and Kim Jong-Il. When you are the only game in town (since newspapers tend not to engage in columnist-battles, this is true even with three papers: Bruce Miles is far too professional to publicly trash you, and he is basically the only legitimate sportswriter in town. The others generally spit the same gossip and commentary suitable for "fans" drunk in the bleachers yelling at opposing players they can barely name)

The Cubs believe their employees have a responsibility to deal with the media, so whatever Bradley thinks and whomever he wants to blame for his miserable first impression, he found media sanctuary by talking to Cubs.com.Yeah, and what's your problem with this?

Hell, Carrie Muskat is even better than you. Which says something.

First, the Cubs don’t like that strategy, especially not for $30 million. Second, the manager is the one dropping you in the lineup at whatever point you become healthy enough to actually be in the lineup. And third, it’s your responsibility to stay healthy, it’s your responsibility to hit, it’s your responsibility to run hard.

Goodness, pal, it could not be simpler: Perform, and everyone will love you; fail, and it’ll be on you no matter who you try to blame.

Really, the Cubs don't like that strategy? What quotation would lead you to believe this? I must have missed it, or more likely, it simply does not exist outside your imaginary world of sportswriting fame and glamour.

Yes, the manager is dropping Bradley in the lineup. This is the same manager who batted Reed Johnson cleanup against RHP Monday. While you know far too little to report anything on baseball strategy outside of the usual outdated and proven false cliches, we know better: Lou makes terrible strategic decisions routinely, and his opinion on valid strategy is worthless. He has the uniform and experience, which is really all that he has backing up some of these decisions. Neil Cotts as a LOOGY. Reed cleanup vs. RHP. Lee 3rd and cold as ice while Hoff plays the occasional game butchering RF? Gathright pretty much ever. All brutal, all routine with Lou (although he is sadly par for the course as far as MLB managers go)

I do agree with your third point above, which is about the only sentence in the whole article with which I can agree. Milton, it is your job to stay healthy and play hard, although I would be fine seeing you jog out some ground balls if you think that helps you stay healthy. You know yourself better than we, Mr. Bradley. We know little, due to the media BS which stands between you and us fans. Perhaps someday we can get you a BCB interview (which if such an interview were feasible, I would love to conduct and would do pretty much anything necessary to make a reality), and then you can tell your tale freely and without threat of Rosenbloom or another hack tearing your direct quotations to shreads of their intended and stated meanings.

And as for Steve: the season is young, your job is safe (for now), and Bradley has yet to have the ABs necessary to raise his average. Better celebrate with another column of hateful drivel while you still can. Go Cubs, beat the Dbacks tonight!

Canseco's Roid Party

April 28, 2009

This Might Actually Be What It's All About: An Injection of Rambling Sentiment

Canseco's Roid Party — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:03:59 -0000

As a kid, I never noticed that days like this were special. That the feeling of excitement in my stomach was anything more than the way it felt to be alive at any given moment. That there wouldn't always be so much to look forward to, and that my trivial worries, struggles, and even massively sad life-changing events would only multiply with the number of candles on the cake.

These are the things you don't learn until you've lived a bit. I mean really lived, and hurt, and lost. We all know these feelings. Luckily, there's also the good side to all these tough times, and the tougher things get, the more worthwhile getting through them can tend to be. Think of an old man and child smiling together. The old man says so much more than the child ever could.

What I'm getting at here, and what I hope you'll bear with my overwrought romanticism to hear, is that sports have a very special place in the world. They are a place where we can put away all of the troubles, difficult decisions, and foggy thoughts ever-present in our lives. And just be. As the Buddhists strive to "do without doing", we often can reach such a transcendent state without even knowing it. We care so much for the fates of our teams, especially the Cubs, that it can become us, if even just for a moment, without us realizing it.

This is not a moral rant. Not a "it's only a game" speech. In fact, it's quite the opposite, a rambling incoherent mess maybe, but a mess that I have been thinking about recently- there is a simple happiness in sports that makes it an essential part of so many lives. Pure unadulterated joy. On the flip side, there are few times in life where it is clear that you FAIL, but in sports....a loss is thus. You lose.

I don't think we're going to lose this time. And I don't say "we" as a player, obviously I am not one (unfortunately), but as a part of the collective of souls sharing this experience together. The world's a big and lonely place. But at least we've got this. Oh yeah, we've got this. And I can't think of a whole lot better thing to have, the hope, love, and excitement that comprises each day.

This time, the feeling in my stomach is going to continue for all of October.

I'm glad to no longer be a child. But I'm also glad the Cubs can help me remember this simple and true meaning, that it's the little moments that keep us alive, and that everyone needs something to believe in. For when we forget the excitement and hope of the innocent times, and allow cynicism to dominate (so easy these days, especially w/r/t financial markets et. al.), it seems we lose an essential part of Being that tends to make us hurt deep inside in a way that we don't even realize. Hopefully someone else knows what I'm talking about, and I'm not just ranting pointlessly. I guess I just am ready for tomorrow :)

I believe we will all be celebrating the 2008 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs. This is, quite literally, the type of thing we live for. Enjoy the ride.

Let's Talk About...Contracts

Canseco's Roid Party — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:55:49 -0000

At this point in the season, people begin bandying about talk of the various Free Agents that will be available in the upcoming offseason. While we all have hope that this season will be the one we've all been waiting for, that doesn't mean that we can stop planning for next year. I'm sure Hendry and the FO have been doing just that, even with the uncertain ownership situation. This post and related discussion to follow (I hope everyone chimes in for a while) is intended to recap the Cubs contract/payroll situation, and discuss the options available for 2009 and going forward.

Contract info is from Cot's- http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/chicago-cubs_112114177768677294.html

First I will list the salaries for players under contract or club control (guaranteed renewal, or arbitration) for next season.

Starting Pitching:

Z: $17.75M in 2009 ($17.875M in 10&11, $18M in 12, $19.25 vesting player option in '13)

Lilly $12M in 2009 (and $12M in 2010)

Marquis $9.875 in 2009

Harden $7M club option (I am considering him as under contract, it has been previously discussed that there is a loophole where he could demand a trade as a player w/ 5 years service which he will have following this year...but there is no way that scenario actually happens. I think it was just something where the blogger who wrote about it needed something to complain about, as they were used to always criticizing Hendry, and couldn't admit that he has done a great job recently. Tangent over.)

Rich Hill, if he ever can get the magic back, would be a minimum contract next year as well. Other rotation options for next year discussed below-

Bullpen:

Marshall: I love him as a starter personally, especially because he should be making about $400K next year. Don't know where to find service time info updated to this year, but at the beginning of the year he had 1 year and 132 days, so he needed to be in the majors for nearly the entire year to get arbitration. Pretty sure he was in the minors for enough time that he won't hit arbitration, I don't know how much he would even make in arb- it wouldn't be terrible if he did but would be more expensive than $400K for sure, maybe about $1M?

Cotts: arb-eligible, he's been solid so I'd say he will get a raise from $800K, probably something around $1M or slightly over?

Wuertz is in the same boat as Cotts, not nearly as good this year though. He is currently at $860K and I'm guessing he'll get about that (there's some %-max for arbitration pay cuts I think?), Cotts sucked in 2007 and got the $800K for 2008 so that's probably a good guess for Mike.

SHARK- First glance looks like he'll get about $2M next year, I shouldn't try to read anything else into his contract as it is just weird.

Gaudin- He'll be somewhere around $2M. Note that Gaudin, Cotts, and Wuertz are all under Cubs control in 2009 and 2010.

Marmol- he'll be slightly over 2 years service time. $400K give or take the cost of a few of Soriano's suites.

Guzman- if he is able to pitch, he could be a great bargain for the minimum.

Hart- also an auto~$400K guy. Ascanio and Piggy also would qualify if brought up to the majors, and those two along with Billy Petrick are the only other 40-man bullpen arms under contract...well except for Harben who has 0.000 service time and i think that he may FINALLY be removed from the 40-man following this season. One would hope.

Also, I'm guessing Randy Wells could get a look as a pen arm for the minimum, depending on our needs he could be servicable middle relief at the cheapest possible price.

Hitters:

Soto: oh yes. i love the thought of a top C making less than a half mil a year in 2009 and 2010. And under club control for 3 MORE years.

Theriot: also making the auto-renewal amount for one more season ($428K in 2008).

Blanco: $3M club option ($300K buyout) in 2009. Also whoever put the award bonuses in Hank's contract must have an outstanding sense of humor, the thought of Hank White as an All-Star or Silver Slugger is hilarious, and I hope he is the WS MVP and gets that additional $150K. Hell, I'll send him my entire net worth (which is significantly less than this amount) if he hits the game winning hit in the WS clincher. Also I will have likely had a heart attack from seeing him come up to the plate in such a scenario, so I better go write a will or something.

DeRosa: $5.5M in 2009.

Dome: $11.5M in 2009 ($13M in 2010, $13.5M in 2011)- I really really really hate the backloading of this contract, unless Dome does what some 2nd year Japanese imports do and really figures out MLB in year 2; he only was paid $6M this year so hopefully we get 2x the value next year.

DLee: $13M in 2009 & 2010.

Soriano: $16M in 2009, $18M in 2010-2014.

A-Ram: $15.65M in 2009 ($15.75M in 2010, $14.6M player option in 2010, $16M club option)- The player option is actually his option to void contract after 2010 and become a FA, don't know what the odds of him doing so would be.

Cedeno: arbitration eligible in 2009, so he'll become a bit more expensive if retained.

Fontenot: auto-renewal, 2 more years pre-arbitration, which is nice.

Pie: Apparently we still have this guy. He has accrued very little service time, and we will see if that changes. All other minor leaguers such as Fuld, HOFF, Jake Fox...basically everyone who sucks but gets a horde of fans from a brief cup of coffee glory, they all have mere days of service time. As none of these players will likely ever reach even the 3 year barrier, this is not really too important to know, but I mention it anyhow.

So you stuck with me through all of this...what does it all mean?

Before you count the club control guys, we have $108,275,000 currently on the books for next year. This is Z,Lilly,Marquis,Harden,Lee,ARam,Sori,Dome,DeRo- 9 players. Notice this is almost as much as our current payroll, even with several FAs coming off the books. Backloaded contracts...it is strange that we should hope for inflation in this case, at least baseball inflation.

Adding in my rough estimates for Soto, Theriot, Fontenot, Cedeno, Marshall, Wuertz, Cotts, Gaudin, Marmol, Shark, Hart, Pie, and Hoff leaves us with what we'd have without signing or trading anyone. This would fill 22 of the 25 roster spots and mean Hoff replaces Ward; Marshall is #5 starter, Pie in CF, no backup C yet, and we have 6 relievers at this point with Wuertz/Hart replacing Wood/Howry...a downgrade even if HR Howry continues. The cost of all this? Somewhere around $118M, and if we pick up Blanco's option to fill the C spot we're looking at an additional 3- $121M.

Especially if Pie is allowed to play, we will re-up Reed, at something like $2M for a year. He'd be worth that, but anything more and I'd have to say no.

Resigning Wood would be nice, but that should be dependent on his asking price. Someone could throw money at him, and I'd think a 3-year deal or so might be necessary to get him back- I just don't know if we could do a 3/30 without moving some serious $$ off the rolls. Dumping Marquis would make this more feasible.

Thinking about it like that, there doesn't seem to be any way we could resign Wood and Demp- anybody have any guesses at the market for Dempster? My guess is 4/$60M, hope we can get a slight discount and make it a deal...but I am flexible as to whether we should resign him or not. Hopefully Wellington Castillo can fill the backup C spot for cheap, saving us $2.7M after we buy out Blanco, but you never know how that will work.

So after all this rambling, my initial conclusions are that:

We owe a lot of money next year.

We can't afford to let anyone but Pie play CF (or Pie/Reed platoon)

Drop Hank White and let him bask in the glow of his World Series MVP as a retiree.

I hope the Starting Pitcher market continues to go crazy, because my ideal scenario there would be: Dump Marquis, Sign Demp for a not-absurd amount. Although those two might kind of be impossible to have the necessary market so that both occur...i guess one or the other is good enough. If we can "trade Demp for Marquis", we would then have Z/Demp/Harden/Lilly/Marshall

Then any additional cash would be directed towards relief, as the other obvious hole would be Wood's departure. This is where someone like Ceda/Guzman could help, because if one of those two is back of the bullpen quality, having Marmol/Gaudin/Shark(who would probably start in AAA stretching out?)/(Ceda/Guzman) would give us 4 back of bullpen relievers, with Cotts also being a very solid lefty. Then Hart/Wuertz/Wells/whatever could clean up, and bullpen could be solid.

Adding Wood would be great and vastly improve the pen as well. But I'm not gonna overpay unless it's an area of need...so we'll have to play it by ear.

Cliff Notes: We have massive payroll commitments for 2009, but are in decent shape overall and there should be ways to make the necessary additions. Let's discuss and I hope this can be a long-lasting and intelligent discussion on any and all contract issues!

Prospects on Kane County?

Canseco's Roid Party — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:19:01 -0000

Hello Athletics Nation,

Cubs fan here. As you may or may not know, Tuesday night the Peoria Chiefs (yes, you saw them on ESPN the other day...hopefully since the crazed pitcher Castillo is likely out of baseball we will not have any more incidents, as that was horrible) will be taking on the Kane County Cougars at Wrigley Field, in what is believed to be the first minor league game ever at Wrigley. Over at the SBN counterpart Bleed Cubbie Blue, a few people were wondering what the Kane Co. team looks like prospect-wise; I read Paul Thomas's top 30 list and it looked to be by far the weakest stop in the A's organization. Is this true? Who should we be looking at as interesting players for Kane County? I'd be happy to report back after the game if you guys are wondering about how anyone in particular looks, I'm guessing not too many readers of AN attend Midwest League games. Any info would be appreciated, pretty much all I know is that Josh Vitters' brother is on the Kane Co. squad; we had heard Josh should be called up to Peoria in time for this game, but he has been out for about a week with a sprained ankle, so not sure if that is still the plan. Anyhow, thanks and good to see Gallagher with a solid start overall for the A's, although Murton certainly has not done anything except make it look like the Cubs actually knew what they were doing by benching him for 2 years.

Open Letter to Rich Hill

Canseco's Roid Party — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:55:28 -0000

Dear Rich,

I miss you. I miss the sight of your pitch tumbling toward the earth, watching the helpless hitter so unlucky as to wear a non-Cub uniform flail away thinking "oh, I can't wait until Jason Marquis pitches tomorrow, then I won't look so stupid up here". But I still remember it, and I think I speak for many of us here when I say that we hope to see you again, and not only remember you as a name people reference when thinking back to what might have been. I want you to wear a ring along with everyone else when it happens. I miss when you would toss 110 pitches in 5 shutout innings. As wonderful as that always was, of course, it was nothing compared to the feeling deep within my soul when all would be right with the world, and you would stride out to the mound for the 7th and even 8th innings, racking up K after picture-perfect K. You gave us moments of beauty and transcendence, and I want nothing more than for you to capture that magic again. As our life in this world is impermanent, it fundamental that all good things must end. Your career, however, is not yet ready for this end. I know you are not ready either. In fact, I hope to find out that you are gearing up to show everyone how really, you were just getting started the first time. And now, as from dust you came and shall someday return, let you harness the Earth's power, to rain forth curveballs of ungodly break, showering down upon hitters who whether they look or swing: are wrong. Curveballs, curveballs, let them be thrown. For called strikes, for swinging strikes, for balls just to toy with the unlucky few who are in an opponent's lineup when you're on the mound. And then maybe also you can throw those two changeups you have every once in a while too, that 91 mph fast-changeup and also the more traditional 80ish changeup. I know you can. I know you will. Bring us all some more of those moments that feel so good you stop to think "wow, so this is what its like to really Live". I love you Rich.

Love and Curveballs,

Canseco's Roid Party

Written and Posted appx 8 AM today, in the Year of the Cub July 10, as a pre-work breakfast for the soul type ordeal, prior to heading to the California L, Logan Square, Chicago, IL

An Injection of Stats, Thoughts, and Musings

Canseco's Roid Party — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:51:26 -0000

I was checking out some current stats on BP and found myself surprised by some of them, so I thought when I got a chance I would post some thoughts and open up some discussion, hopefully at least a little bit of it will be on different topics than the usual suspects.

Hitters:

Ramirez .300/.412/.502 You have to like seeing A-ram with 40 BB: 41 K as of this writing(doesn't include tonight's rays game). He's doing exactly what we want and need here, and is the most valuable Cub hitter by VORP, although this is basically because he has more PA's than Soto, it looks as if Soto is slightly more valuable (due to the obvious scarcity of hitting at C) on a per-PA basis. Purely looking at hitting and not positional scarcity though, A-Ram is definitely the top hitter to date- that ridiculous .412 OBP is so awesome to see, I in fact wet myself seven times while typing this paragraph.

Soto .288/374/.527 Maybe we should trade for Jason Kendall? Yeah, Soto strikes out a lot, but as anyone who probably cares to read this post knows, strikeouts don't matter. At least not when you kill the ball otherwise and take walks at a solid rate. Geo, I love you. That is really all that can be said.

DeRosa .299/.384/.464 I'm a little unclear as to if VORP includes DeRosa's at-bats as carrying the value of the defensive position he is playing while he takes them...but anyhow he is putting together a great season so far- note that he does seem to be outplaying the projections in regards to AVG which is probably due to slightly higher than usual luck, but even a slight dip in average has him as one of the more valued players on the team. Yeah, he has sucked at 2B so far this year, but I feel like his statistically awful fielding numbers are due to a few terrible games in the first few weeks of the season....cwyers can maybe weigh in on if this is true or not,. Anyway his versatility is nice as we all know, and as he is generally at least a decent 2B, he won't worry me too much there when Soriano is presumably back for good.

Lee .289/.349/.511 Where are the walks Derrek? Love to see the power back in full effect, but the OBP isn't what we expect from you...I know it is unlikely but if these numbers hold up, a lineup shuffle would actually be pretty helpful, something like Sori/Dome/A-Ram/Soto/Lee/(edmonds or dero) etc., rearrange as desired or if you're BlueMike trade Soriano for Barry Zito and call it a day with Theriot batting in all nine lineup slots. But seriously, Lee is hitting more like an RBI guy than a true OBP+power star, so hopefully he can start walking more soon!

Soriano .283/.332/.547 Honestly, these stats are pretty much exactly what you would expect from him.

Theriot .310/.388/.373 Surprisingly he is sitting at 14.3 runs over replacement, which of course now is time for the massive DISCLAIMER that this does not include defense....which the point has been hashed and rehashed to a sufficiently thorough level by now that, even though he grits and grinds and is white, his defense is absolutely ass-suckingly bad. Probably significantly better than Derek Jeter, but it is still a big old turd. All things considered though, he still is solidly over a replacement level player, probably right about at average or slightly below, and for his tiny salary.....you can't complain. Also he brings a lot of humor to the team by diving towards balls he has no chance at getting and also getting thrown out on the basepaths a lot and having good interviews with Mark DeRosa. All in all, I rate him a 4, which if you drink enough is plenty pretty to satisfy one's short-term sexual appetite. I wouldn't want to marry a 4, though.

Dome .293/.401/.423 Surprised to find he translates currently as the 7th most valuable hitter by VORP! I guess decent corner guys are really pretty easy to find. However, adding in his D it's pretty clear he is WAY more valuable than the aforementioned SS wonderboy from LSU. I expect a few more 2Bs to fall for him and he should be looking at a more reasonable SLG while hopefully keeping up the same walks. right now i am thinking DAMN OUR TEAM IS DEEP.

Z Big Z is our 8th best hitter by VORP. this is not a typo. He also currently has better triple-slash stats than DLee. He also apparently has one of the longest streaks ever without taking a walk. This is only cool because he is a pitcher, so don't any positional Cubs get any ideas. Unfortunately, the lame warning of "small sample size" makes me tell you that he probably won't finish the year with an ops of almost 900. But hey, how about a 750-800, Z? Keep killing it. And throwing strikes...

The next five in order of VORP are Edmonds, Cedeno, Hoffpauir, Reed, and Little Mikey Fontenot. Small sample sizes make these numbers pretty meaningless, but I will maybe go into some of what this means at a later (or just earlier tomorrow...cause its late) time.

Pitchers:

Z 5.96 K/9, 2.89 BB/9, 0.63 HR9- the home run rate is pretty low, which if he can keep it up(tough, but it shouldn't go up by too much if it does, he's been around 0.9 recent years), the dip in K's from previous years doesn't cause warning at all...Z pitching like this is one of the best no doubt, he is currently the 4th ranked P by VORP.

Demp 7.53 K/9 3.51 BB/9 0.80 HR9- Little high on the walks, but that's what you'd expect. It looks like he is legitimately pitching better this year than any Cub starter has in the past few years....who'd have guessed that not only would Z step up from where he has been the past couple years, but RYAN DEMPSTER would top that level as well? I like him (not just for the jokes) and think he would look great pitching a Game 3 in the playoffs...Game 2 I'd be less excited about but depending on how the trade market looks I could be convinced it is right.

Lilly 8.79 K/9 3.28 BB/9 1.48 HR9 The HR rate is ridiculous. Hopefully it will drop a bit, cause we should keep seeing him improve his results if it does....that 8.79 K/9 is great! If he can keep that but drop his HRs to a more normal 1.3 per 9 innings, he is definitely a TOUGH #3 as well....just compare him to who other teams would have in such a spot. I think he's going to keep his year going upward and end it with solid stats.

Marquis 4.48 K/9 3.38 BB/9 0.73 HR9 Yeah, he can't K anyone and has fair control. But he has yet to have a barrage of HRs unleashed against him, and until that occurs (it is inevitable, isn't it?), he should continue to post an ERA around where it sits right now at 4.24. I don't hate him. I wouldn't cuddle with him on a stormy night, but we could probably hang out without incident.

Gallagher 7.78 K/9 3.24 BB/9 0.86 HR9 No idea if he can keep up these raw numbers, but the minors seem to indicate he should at least be close to them. If he keeps these numbers up....well let's just say please don't trade him, please don't trade him...well unless we get A-Rod or Hanley or something. I also like how he is much less fat, it makes me feel better about his cholesterol AND chances with the ladies, which are two of the most important "deep sabermetric" stats only kept by those extremely into the field.

That's all I have for now, if there is continued interest I plan on following this up with some discussion of our options for the trade market, which i am guessing no one here cares about judging by the history.....ha. Also some talk about relievers, why a 12-man bullpen is unnecessary, why Mike Fontenot is unnecessary , and if things go well a detailed discussion of the ins and outs of arm-tats, featuring Hank White and Ronny Cedeno. All this and more, on the next cycle of old-fashioned anabolic goodness, courtesy of Canseco's Roid Party.

Kerry Wood's 20K Game on ESPN Classic

Canseco's Roid Party — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:02:13 -0000

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but for anyone who is interested ESPN Classic is showing Kerry Wood's 20 strikeout game right now. Channel 403 on Comcast in Chicago. Hopefully the Astros will have nearly as much trouble hitting Teddy later....

Anyway I just thought I'd post this now as I am sitting at home and thought I would share for anyone else who is doing likewise. Just showed the first pitch hitting the ump in the face as has been discussed by Al a few weeks ago; also there is hardly anyone at this game- the crowd was just showed on the foul ball.

Don't know the word limit on these, but i will add that the curve Kerry just threw was disgusting, 12-6 and then he follows it up with that ridiculous slurve. And no one has a chance at the 98mph fastball. Not even Jeff bagwell who is a funny name to remember.