Over at Grantland (Bill Simmons' new website), Bill Barnwell takes a look at the market inefficiencies that successful baseball teams have utilized since On Base Percentage went mainstream in the early to mid 2000's.

It's sadly worth noting that neither defense nor smart bullpen construction (two of the article's centerpieces) seem to have been things that the Cubs organization is doing a very good job of prioritizing.

Heard this mentioned during the coverage of the Bin Laden story tonight. Pretty cool.

Not sure if it's going to be possible to keep the comments totally respectful and free of politics, but I know Al would appreciate if we tried.

"We've always done more than people thought," Hendry said. "… We've always factored that in. But I'm always going to be a scouting guy first. You can skew statistics to frame it the way you like it.

"Some statistics that a lot of people think are always vital to making decisions, they should be a part of the equation, but not the be-all, end-all. … You factor a lot of stuff in, not just ‘Oh gee, that guy has a high or low on-base percentage.' "

"Move could open up roster spot for Kevin Millar"

I seriously hope that Chad Tracy would get a shot to make the roster before we would give the roster spot to Millar.

ESPN piece about whether the Cubs made a mistake not signing Joe Girardi.

In my opinion, we might not have made the playoffs in 2007 and 2008 with him at the helm instead of Piniella, but we would be in a better place this season and beyond. Given that we didn't have any success in the playoffs, I'd probably prefer that alternate universe to our own.

ESPN's blurb: "Former Mets GM, baseball analyst Phillips fired"

Love that instead of putting in his first name or indicating he was an ESPN employee, they identify him by his job as the Mets GM 6 years ago.