meauxpack

dude, if someone in class tries to show me a knife, i'm calling in the SWAT team. fuck that shit. crazy sumbitch.

first it was the gay military dating site, now this? you're web surfing habits have caused these people to think you are a big flaming man lover. either that or cow stole your computer.

nice, now i don't have to hook up my laptop to the tv. if you're thinking about doing mlb.tv, do the premium its worth it.

voted. he's now up by ~400+. when's it close?

http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/difficulties/yours.html

;D

Lucky-8.8 posts per day Caracarn- 1.6 posts per day And there was more punctuation in Caracarn's one post than all 2000+ posts of yours ;D plus, when checking out your profile, I came across this: Awesome. Just Awesome.

I left out the important part there. oops. Not my prediction, it's the ZIPS total projection for him. I'd be fairly surprised if he didn't outhit the projection. It's not that he can't do it, because he did for a season. The problem is that he absolutely CANNOT hit breaking pitches. Check out his pitch type values. He hammered fastballs in 2008, but until he shows he can hit breaking stuff, he wont see any fastballs. He needs to make the adjustment, or just hope for a lot of 3-1 counts. It's not that I doubt Lilly. He's a good pitcher, but an ace? He's only had 2 seasons of 20+ starts and a sub-4.00 ERA. Last year was a great year for him, but repeating or improving on that year seems unlikely based on the previous decade he's spent in the bigs. With Randy, it's just a matter of doing it again. It's pretty rare for a guy to have an easier time getting out big leaguers than he did minor leaguers. Is it possible that he'll repeat with a 3.00 ERA? sure. Would I bet on it? Absolutely not. To clarify, I don't think the Cubs will finish any worse than 2nd or 3rd in the Central. I think they are a competent team, but 90+ wins would be an unbelievable surprise. It would take EVERYTHING going their way. Regardless, it will be a fun summer of baseball watching the Central shake out. It always is.

Losing Aramis was a huge blow last year, no arguing that. But the Cubs were way more than a half season of A.Ram from competing. For what it's worth (admittedly, not much), a .280/.343/.506 line with 23HR for Aramis this year. The only way that Soriano will be a successful big league hitter again is if he completely changes his approach. He no longer has the bat speed to swing that 37" club and try to drop bombs. Teams realize there is no reason to throw him fastballs and Soriano is as stubborn as they come. If he were to aim to make more contact and try to use his speed, which is most definitely still there, he COULD salvage some of his value. I don't see that happening. Look on the brightside, only 5 more years at $18M per. I'd never heard any steroid talk about Soto, and I wouldn't have put much stock in it if I had. The longer he struggles, the more likely it is that he unable to adjust to what pitchers are doing to him. Dude feasted on fastballs in 2008. Last year, he didn't see many and was AWFUL against any breaking ball. He won't see anymore fastballs until he proves he can hit a slider/curve. IMO, its more likely that 2008 was an aberration and he returns to something closer to his career minor league numbers. I think Byrd will be a decent addition for you guys THIS year. I'm glad that you signed him for 3 years. His defense will not be as good as you expect it to be and will deteriorate further quickly. If Soriano or Fukodome struggle, they will still be out there for 5+ games per week. There is no such thing as a $13M-$18M fourth outfielder. The Front Office will be unwilling to admit those contracts as "sunk costs". Nady's arm is a HUGE liability in RF and Colvin has a grand total of 4 hits above AA. It's good to have depth in case of injury, but I would be very surprised if either of those guys got anything more than spot starts. Dumpster is undoubtedly your best pitcher. I think his ceiling is probably around a low to mid-3 ERA, but he is basically a fastball/slider pitcher. Any improvement by Dempster will likely be offset by regression by Wells and Lilly. Lilly's ERA was almost a full run lower than his xFIP and Wells' was 1.2 runs lower than his xFIP. That kind of difference is generally unsustainable, and in Wells' case he outperformed his minor league history by over a full run. It's possible they'll continue their good fortune, but not likely. Zambrano's meltdowns will continue as long as he continues to struggle. The reason he struggles is because he's losing his "stuff". Every one of his pitch values has been in decline. Last year his fastball, generally his best pitch, was down to 9.1 runs above average from 30.5 (!) raa in 2005. His fastball and splitter were his only two above average pitches last year. In 2007, he didn't have a single below average pitch. Combine that with the fact that dude is clearly unstable and the results will keep me watching all summer The effect of a hitting coach is AWLAYS overstated. The results always show that some guys will progress while others regress. Banking on a hitting instructor to turn a team around is like going to a psychic to get the winning lottery numbers. The good news for the Cubs is that predicting bullpen performance is a pretty tough task. The tough thing for you guys is that your closer often has a lot of trouble throwing strikes. If he throws strikes, he'll be effective but thats no given. The only other guy in your bullpen who's been able to get anyone out should probably be given a shot in your rotation. Sean Marshall has been UNBELIEVABLE so far this year. It seems like such a waste to keep him as a 7th inning/long relief guy. He could be sooo much more valuable. Counting on young guys to anchor the back end of a bullpen can get you into a LOT of trouble. Just ask the Cards last year. Sometimes it works out great, but most of the time it is an exercise in patience. yet they still finished with only 83 wins. I'll see your goat post, and raise you a goat response! ;D

wOBA (weighted on-base average) for the 2009 Chicago Cubs (min. 350 PA): 1. Derek Lee .412 2. Kosuke Fukodome .346 3. Milton Bradley .345 4. Ryan Theriot .318 link If you don't know about wOBA, look it up. You'll thank me. Board Game's bat was worth 4.4 wins over replacement last year. I don't know how his demeanor affected the clubhouse, but I do know that he was much better than most people in Chicago gave him credit for. He didn't do himself any favors, but the expectations of both the front office and the fan base were much higher than could have reasonably been expected based on the body of his 9 previous seasons. Dude got scapegoated. Soriano and Soto had a lot more to do with the disaster of last season than Milton, but they weren't so easy to blame and get rid of. I don't feel terribly cocky about my cards, and I realize they are some elbow inflammation away from watching october baseball from the 19th hole, but I fell off my chair when I read your prediction of 90-94 wins for the cubs. It'll be a fun summer regardless. Especially on days when Zambrano pitches. ;D

90-94 wins? pass the chronic homie. You still have "Bunny Hop" Soriano, Geovany "Cheech Marin" Soto, "Crazy Eyes" Zambrano anchoring that "team" right? D.Lee has been extremely streaky the last couple years, A.Ram shows up when he wants to, and you guys shipped off your 2nd best hitter from last year to the Mariners for a $7.5M replacement level pitcher. I can see them getting better, but even 85 wins would be a HUGE over-achievement. The Cards have the 2 best pitchers and 2 of the top 3 or 4 hitters in the division (including the greatest hitter on the face of the planet). All told, the Cards lineup is at least as good as anyone else in the central, and their rotation is MUCH better than anyone else's, save possibly Cinci if all of their young guys put it together. I see another summer of indigestion for Lou. The best the Cubs can hope for is to be battling the Brewers for second place without much shot of a wild card berth. I think we can all agree that it will be a lot of fun watching Zambrano lose his shit and Soriano strikeout and then boot cans of corn with that stupid ballet move. Jim Hendry is my favorite GM.

I agree with all of this (especially that asshole youtube guy). I would add no daytime thermal scope and bringing back the old rank system. cookies and wings.

what is it about dogs that makes them so racist? One of my dogs hates black people too, but the other one loves everyone. I must be a terrible owner.

stocking up for those heavy flow days? ;D I would agree EXCEPT that apple did the smartest thing they could have done: signed contracts with many of the biggest textbook publishers. If they are able to get textbooks on those things for even just 10-20% less than what the hard copy's cost, that thing will take off like a fucking rocket ship. Outside of that, it seems ok.

dude, i thought chaka was mexican too. if he is, he is a self-loathing. he gets pissed when people call him that. ;D

I agree. However, after Socom 4 is released to worldwide critical acclaim and Zipper donkey punches Infinity Ward, I would really like Socom 2 re-released as a downloadable PSN game. I can't believe this hasn't happened yet.

this is also a staple of these types of threads...

Yeah I tried it...But I wasnt much of a clan starter. Noone wanted to do the competitions and were running around like little kids, not being mature, talking trash over mics, ect... Yeah I did try to start a clan? so? Alot of people here have started clans and did really well (Mikejaxon and the boys at Uprising), son have failed(myself and some others).... But i did learn one thing about it.. It is hard being a clan leader and still be able to play the game... I don't think he was just talking about that thread. There's been at least one other with the "I'm taking some time off to get my head right" stuff. Good luck figuring your shit out koontz.

honestly, i just want them to sprinkle some crack on it. It's impossible to catch lightning in a bottle twice, so they absolutely need to push the SOCOM brand forward. As long as they bring back fast-paced, addictive gameplay, i dont care how they do it.

Fixed by Shane this should help you guys find him

yes it does. what a douche.

The jabra eargels are the bee's knees. and they're super cheap. Buy two sets and you're set. I would wipe it down every once in a while and also take a paper clip and clean out the little "tunnel". Makes the sound quality so much better and its WAY more comfortable.

only a couple weeks to opening day.

FAIL

you could probably meet like half of LPK. Like RVN was to Chicago, LPK is to Vegas.