Power Pros Forum

Guys, I have a trade I might propose to Colorado. Think it's a good deal?
They Get:
C/1B Robby Hammock ($390K, 31 years old, D F F F F C)
RHP John Lieber ($3.5 Mil, 38 years old, 91mph, D CTRL, B STAM)

I Get:
1B Great Weeks ($390K, 26 years old, D F F E F F)
$1.1 Mil

I can give Sean Marshall the #6 spot in the rotation and bring Randy Wells up as the swing man (or bring Kiko Calero up and not have a swing man). The interest level is 4 stars. Should I go for it?

Try including their catcher (Yorvit Torrealba?) instead of the $1.1 M. If it's 2 stars or more reload until it goes through.

Trade with Rockies Approved
Cubs Get
1B Great Weeks ($390, D F F E F F)
$1.25 Mil

Rockies Get
RHP John Lieber ($3.5 Mil, 91mph, 125 CTRL, 135 STAM)
1B/C Robby Hammock ($390, D F F F F C)

The Cubs used this trade to get rid of an old and overpaid starter. Weeks will be placed in the minors and will be called up if Derrek Lee gets injured while Sean Marshall fills the 6th spot in the Cubs' starting rotation and Kiko Calero will be called up to fill the open roster spot.

June 17
Another Cross-Town Game
The Sox struck first with a homer from Jermaine Dye in the second. The Cubs retaliated in the fourth with back-to-back doubles from Soriano and Ramirez and a homer from Mark DeRosa. Ramirez had to be taken out of the game after coliding with the fence after diving for a foul ball, but his replacement, Ronny Cedeno, managed to get a ribbie in the 5th. Despite giving up 3 runs, the Cubs bullpen remained vigilant enough to hang on to the lead and Kerry Wood got the save.

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June 22
Fenway Park
Ah, if there's any ballpark with an atmosphere nearly as amazing as Wrigley Field, it's Fenway Park. Also, Mark DeRosa is officially the backup 1st baseman after filling in for Derrek Lee. Anyway, the real story here was Tim Wakefield. You didn't have to look any farther than the Cubs' batters' faces to see how frustrating that knuckleball was. "That thing is nasty," Matt Murton said, "You have no idea where it's going to go!" "I thought maybe his slow 'fastballs' would make things a bit easier," Mike Fontenot remarked, "but I'm so used to seeing faster pitches that it just confused me more!" Kosuke Fukudome showed his agreement by muttering something in his native tongue. The Cubs' half-Japanese GM told us it was best if we didn't know what Kosuke said. The Cubs barely managed to get 3 runs off of Wakefield before he was taken out in the 6th. Luckily, they got plenty of insurance runs against the Red Sox bullpen to secure the win.

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June 30
Good Hitting Pitchers Rock!
Ted Lilly put the Dodgers pitching to shame today! He got an RBI and had a nice sacrifice bunt to get another run for the Cubs. To top it all off, he went 6 innings with no runs and no walks. Derrek Lee and Geovany Soto were the other anchors of the offense, totaling 3 home runs together. Yeah, the dodgers got pwnd. Except for the part when the Cubs bullpen blew up... AGAIN! Well, at least they won. Wow, I used way too many emoticons in this one.

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Cubs June in Review
Well, the month of June is best defined as... OK. The Cubs went 15-12, so they still have a decent record. But they fell 4 games behind the Brewers in the NL Central with the Reds in second. It's going to take some climbing to get back, but at least we're not the Astros. They're 20 games back.
Obviously, the draft took place this month. The Cubs' first round draft pick was George Whiteman, a decent 3rd baseman with promising fielding ability. Jose Melo was the team's second pick. He has the makings of a future starter. The Cubs have had him practice with Carlos Marmol to see if Marmol can teach the kid some tricks of the trade. The Cubs also moved Angel Guzman to the Athletics and picked up veteran reliever Kiko Calero to bolster the bullpen. They also sent overpriced starter John Lieber and underperforming minor leaguer Robby Hammock to Colorado in return for 1st base prospect Great Weeks and a ton of cash.
Financials... Meh. The team didn't win many individual awards, which hurt a bit. A few trades helped the salary problem a bit. With the trading deadline approaching at the end of the month, this is the new GM's last chance at improving the roster and cutting salary.
And now the season is half over. As we all know, the All-Star break is going to be around mid-month at Yankee Stadium. According to fan voting as of now, Geovany Soto, Derrek Lee, and Alfonso Soriano are going to be starters. Aramis Ramirez and Kosuke Fukudome are battling for backup spots. We hope to see them all proudly represent the Cubs in the All-Star game. Good luck htis month and LET'S GO CUBS!

July 4
That was Stressful
Marshall left in the 5th with elbow pain. Now he's on the 15-day DL. Crap. He did pretty good though, giving up only 1 run. Unfortunately, he had NO RUN SUPPORT! The Cubs got a grand total of wait for it... 2 hits through 6 innings. Woop-de-doo! Geovany Soto FINALLY broke that pathetic scoreless streak with a 2RBI single in the 7th. The Cubs and the Mets could both do nothing from that point, and Michael Wuertz protected the 1-run lead for the save.

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July 11
No Wonder the Cardinals aren't in the Running
Their pitching sucks! Even with another amazing year from Albert Pujols, the pitching keeps falling apart. Of course, the Cubs bullpen fell apart too, giving up 5 runs, but the Cardinals were even worse. The Cubs scored FIFTEEN RUNS! Other than the Cards getting pwnd, there was only 1 thing to talk about. Derrek Lee had a day off with DeRosa at 1st, Theriot at 2nd, and Cedeno at Short. Murton filled in for Fukudome. Theriot got injured, and Derrek Lee was unavailable because he had just pinch hit. So Lou Piniella moved DeRosa to 2nd, Ramirez to 1st, Soriano to 3rd, Murton to Left, and put Fukudome in right. Theriot's injury doesn't seem too serious, so hopefully we won't have a defense like that again.

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I filmed the All-Star game and put it on YouTube. Here's a link to part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60keo_DShXU

nice, continue the good work zumi

and I think you need to find good logos that work...

My, dad told me start reading my book for my book report, but instead I'm doing this!
July 16
Pitching Duel
With the Cubs tied with the reds for 1st and the brewers not far behind, this was an important game against milwaukee. Early on, both teams kept getting on base, but there were no runs at all. This would go on for 6 innings. Reed Johnson got on base with a little blooper then advanced to second on a passed ball. Theriot doubled him in and Derrek Lee blew the game open with a homer. Howry and Wuertz held the Reds to 1 run to finish the game.

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*gasp!* What is this? Is this... an update? Yes it is!
July 18
Bad First Impression
Today, the Cubs went up against the Dodgers and their newly acquired pitcher: Scott Kazmir. The pressure was on for Kazmir to give the Dodgers fans a good first impression. That did NOT happen. Through 5 innings, Kazmir gave up 5 runs and even 2 walks. Walks?!? The Cubs never get walked! They're free swingers! The bullpen did not do much better. They gave up 6 runs in the remaining 4 innings. Meanwhile, Zambrano made it through 5 innings with only 1 run. The Cubs' bullpen gave up 3 more, but with the way the lineup was pummelling the Dodgers' pitching, that didn't matter much.

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Did I mention this trade yet? I don't think I did. Anyway, I traded Marquis to the Twins and got Scott Baker in return. I probably also got an insignificant amount of money in return too, but nobody cares about that.
July 25
As if the Reds Weren't Enough to Deal With
They're only 3 games back, and the Brewers (who the Cubs faced) are only 4 games back, so this is an important series. Sean Marshall managed to go 4.2 innings and only gave up 2 runs. Good for him. His ERA needs a boost. The Cubs scored 8 runs today. A huge part of that was Derrek Lee. He got enough hits to get to 1500 career hits! Yay! Well, that's what happens when you go 5 for 5. Wait, 5 for 5?!? That's awesome! Those 5 hits (4 singles and a double) were a perfect setup for Aramis Ramirez. He had 2 homeruns today that net him 4 RBIs, but he's still 1 shy of 250 career homers. So close! The bullpen nearly imploded (again), but luckily they had a big enough lead to avoid disaster. Bob Howry had elbow pains, but it doesn't look serious. He's fine.

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July 30
ALMOST the Greatest Comeback in Sports History
Well, Scott Baker has been sent down to the minors and replaced by Randy Wells. Why? He gave up EIGHT RUNS IN THE SECOND INNING!!!!! The bullpen did nothing to help. They gave up a combined six more runs!!! Carlos Zambrano was used just to save the rest of the pitchers!!! The Phillies scored FOURTEEN RUNS!!!!! Even though they were hopelessly far behind, the Cubs batters fought as hard as they could to get back. After 6 innings, they were still down by 8. Then a 6-run ralley in the 7th and another run in the 8th suddenly got them within 1 run of a tie game! Then in the ninth inning... they went down 1... 2... 3... Alfonso Soriano had this to say after making the last out.Ugh... let's try to end this on a positive note. Let's see... positive... positive... Oh, yeah! Ramirez got his 250th career home run! That's something, right? Yeah, I thought not.

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*I used an online translator for this, so I probably completely butchered it.