SB Nation User Blog: santo for prez

Diary of Bonds and Rose....

santo for prez — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 11:18:10 -0000

....IMHO Barry Bonds and his extremely overgrown cranium are about as worthy of cooperstown as a loin cloth from mark macguire. oh wait a minute there are way too many similarities in this conversation.
Where do I even keep myself out of this topic????

People are starting so many unrelative diaries lately that it is completely unbelievable. I completely understand that there is not a whole lot in the area of news at the current moment.. News is on the horizon hopefully.

Poll

Who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame more?

Barry Bonds

1 votes

Pete Rose

9 votes

10 votes | Poll has closed

Tickets for the last series.

santo for prez — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 01:50:38 -0000

I was able to borrow a computer to post this real quick.

They have migrated us into another server and my wireless service is no longer available. We are getting ready to redploy back to the states in a couple of weeks and I have no way to get onto this site. I think that the Friday (9/29) game is taken care of by Jessica but I am still hoping to get tickets for the Saturday and Sunday (Colorado) games. Since I can still get to my army email, if you have bleacher tickets that you are looking to sell for either of those two dates, you can email me at douglas dot strehlow at us dot army dot mil.

I look forward to coming home and hopefully see the Cubs play some good ball. Hopefully I will see some of you at the games.

My email link is actually on my info page.

I am very sorry!

santo for prez — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 21:31:25 -0000

I am sorry to use space for a new diary, but I should apologize for my inappropriate behavior.

I was completely wrong to have any hope that the Cubs could turn things around completely next season.

DLee got hurt this year and ARam didn't step it up while he was down. Prior will be on the payroll next year but he will never again be able to even be a #3 or #4 starter...probably not even a #5 starter for that matter.

I am completey crazy to think that maybe Barrett has mastered the art of seeing the ball really well. I have no idea what I was thinking when I thought that Juan Pierre would take a couple of months to adapt to hitting in Wrigley and Dusty was bunting him to failure.

ARam is done, I was severely mistaken by thinking that he could continue to be a 30-40 HR kind of guy and I really must have been smoking something to think that Murton could possibly hit 20 HRs next year.

Someone please wake me up, as I have no idea what I was thinking....I was so crazy to think that some of these young arms might have solid seasons next year (even though 13-13 might not be horrible for a #5 starter). I guess I was dilusional to think that at least a few of them would be able to take their experinces this year and turn it into an improved season next year.

I apologize to everyone for my mental lapse (maybe it is the heat) recently. I have woken up now and realize that the Cubs won't make any trades in the offseason, none of the players will be able to play at the same level as they have been in the last few months (or years). Players that have been injured will always be injured from here on out. Management is not going to get into much of the FA market this offseason and next year I will be able to watch the Cubs win about 60 games.

2007 Cubs = 2006 Tigers???

santo for prez — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 00:25:25 -0000

I noticed a lot of negativity on the open thread today probably caused by this recent losing streak.

If the Cubs can finish like they have played the last couple of months they will end up around 70-92 give or take a couple of games.......Does anyone know what Detroit's record was last year? It was 71-91.

A good offseason, a healthy DLee and next year could be a completely different season. What is to say that two of the rookies won't come back next year on fire .....how many Tiger fans thought their rookies were gonna be so good?

So many posters on here (myself included) have voiced their opinions stating, "let the kids play" since the season is lost anyway. Well the kids are playing and they are going to take their lumps, the key is for them to reflect on their experience and prepare to come back next season and improve.

I am not real knowledgeable about how Detroit played as a team last year (I started the deployment process in the beginning of July) so let me know why you think that either the Tigers were in the same situation as the Cubs are or why they were better off than this years Cubs are heading into next season.

Michael Barrett and why I think he should stay.

santo for prez — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:14:55 -0000

Being a catcher growing up from little league through Legion Ball, this is a position that I am passionate about. It is hard for me to comment on his defense this year as I have not been able to "see" him play over here in the desert.

A lot of people don't understand that stats don't tell everything about a catcher. While I do agree that he is not a stellar defensive catcher, there are other variables that slightly invalidate some of his stats. The Cubs pitching staff is very young and wild. They do not seem to do a great job of holding runners on and pitch location is a huge part of throwing runners out.

I am comparing Barrett to a catcher whose name has been thrown around here quite a bit in comparison to Michael. Damian Miller is your prototypical catcher with great defensive numbers and sub-par offensive numbers.

They both get about the same ammount of playing time so I don't think that any stats need to be adjusted.

Offensively Barrett has 178 total bases compared to Miller at 117. That is a difference of 61 total bases. Barrett has 5 errors compared to 1 for Miller. Let's take 4 bases away from this total......Barrett +57

Opponents have stolen 82 bases off of Barrett versus 31 on Miller for a difference of 51 steals.....Barrett +6

There have been 21 runners caught stealing versus Barrett as opposed to 15 runners stealing versus Miller for a difference of 6 baserunners....Barrett +12

Barrett has 108 hits compared to Miller's 73 hits. RBIs and runs scored are a stat that depend on their teammates so I am just throwing this stat out there to show how many more opportunities Barrett has provided to drive runs in than Miller has. Barrett has 14 HRs compared to Miller's 6 HRs.

I think that Michael Barrett's inadequacies behind the plate are more than made up for with his bat.

If the Cubs were better offensively with more run-producers in the lineup then I would have no problem with a Damian Miller-type catcher in the lineup. However, given the current situation, I think that Michael Barrett is more of an assett to the Cubs offensively than he is a liability to the club defensively.

Poll

Should the Cubs trade Barrett for a "defensive" catcher.

Yes, the catcher position is a defensive position.

6 votes

No, try him at another position.

2 votes

No, he is a bigger assett than liability.

54 votes

62 votes | Poll has closed

In the words of Colossus I believe..

santo for prez — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 01:37:33 -0000

...NO HITTER, NO HITTER, NO HITTER!

I don't think that it would really jinx a guy playing for another team anyway.

Our good ole boy Maddog is 4 innings through a no-hitter in Cincy.

I wish Mr. Maddux all the best and I hope that he finishes the season strong. Maybe this is his "Indian Summer" and he will finish the season and retire "on top"! I would like to see him finish the no-no.

Poll

How many innings will it last?

5 inn.

0 votes

6 inn.

25 votes

all the way!

5 votes

4 inn.

2 votes

32 votes | Poll has closed

Not another duplicate diary!

santo for prez — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 11:26:37 -0000

Someone that we haven't talked about lately is Wade Miller.

When I was searching through the minor league stats I came across Wade Miller stats from Peoria. Are these from earlier in the season or is he finally starting his rehab assignment? Does anyone here think Miller will be a Cub next year?

On a side note, Augie Ojeda has pitched one scoreless inning for Iowa this year.

Poll

Will Wade Miller be back next year?

Yes, for a deal similar to this year.

16 votes

No, he will become a nomad.

13 votes

Who?

4 votes

33 votes | Poll has closed

Today's non-baseball diary.

santo for prez — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 02:16:59 -0000

I hope I set this link up properly as I haven't used this style before.

Tonight I caught this story on Tedy Bruschi and a little boy named Andrew Geracoulis and the Make A Wish Foundation.

There aren't many things that actually bring a tear to my eye, but this story did. My sister had to have this done as a small child (that may have made it more personal).

The idea of this diary is to show that there are more to these professional athletes than just what we see on the field.

Please share anything that you have witnessed (or been a part of) in regards to any of the charities or event.

Hopefully this will help to ease some of the tensions here and bring everyone to realize the "good" things going on out there.

Sosa's return to baseball??

santo for prez — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 03:03:12 -0000

I haven't been able to find anything on the internet regarding this. ESPN just reported for the first time at 5:55am local time in the middle east that Sammy Sosa is contemplating a return for the 2007 season.

Who will be the unfortunate team to get sucked into this signing? Thank god the Cubs world will have no part of this. I know that Jim Hendry has hit the early stages of alzheimers but I don't think that even he is lost enough to think about filling the outfield holes with that donut.

Does anyone know who holds his rights?

Poll

Who gets screwed?

No one is dumb enough to take him

23 votes

NL team

3 votes

A desperate AL team in search of a DH

45 votes

The Cubs

9 votes

80 votes | Poll has closed

POSITIVE POST!!!

santo for prez — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 01:30:53 -0000

OK guys, let's try a little something different. I have been just as guilty as the next person but let us try something a little different.

This post is meant to be positive, no negatives. You can talk about that has been negative by trying to find a positive in it. I am going to start it out.

Although I don't believe that we need Neifi on this team or batting 2nd in the lineup, Neifi came into tonight's ball game batting .318 for the month of June. Even though I want Dusty gone as much as the next person, perhaps these stats have been making it hard for him to sit Perez. I also want to make it known that I am a big fan of Walker so that was hard for me to say.

JP has been having a sub par year to say the least, but he has been asked to do things that he is not been doing before. He is being forced to try to bunt for base hits a lot more than he ever has before. Thus, his average is gonna suffer. I am gonna be hopeful that JP really ups his numbers after Dusty is gone.

Now see everyone, I didn't spontaniously combust from saying some positive things about our Cubbies so everyone else give it a try.