Bruce's Take

[Banedon]

Its easy to call out guys when things are going bad. My tendency for years was to do that. Baseball tends to police itself over time . If the cubs continue poorly all year the pressure will continue to be wratched up. Ive said that all along also. I just hate the blanket Dusty hate. A hall of fame manager of your choice , would have issues with this team at this time. Coach L

 

Would they last year? How about 2004? Would they have pulled Prior in Game 6 in '03? The Baker "hate" is not from 30 games this season.

[CubinNY]

Its easy to call out guys when things are going bad. My tendency for years was to do that. Baseball tends to police itself over time . If the cubs continue poorly all year the pressure will continue to be wratched up. Ive said that all along also. I just hate the blanket Dusty hate. A hall of fame manager of your choice , would have issues with this team at this time. Coach L

 

Would they last year? How about 2004? Would they have pulled Prior in Game 6 in '03? The Baker "hate" is not from 30 games this season.

 

I think Baker hate is too strong of a word and paints the wrong picture. I don't hate Dusty. He seems like a nice guy. I had the chance to talk to him for like two minutes and he was very friendly.

 

Nevertheless, it is a poor plumber who blames his tools when he can't fix a leak. Saying that no manger could do a better job is at best inaccurate and at worst appologetic of Dusty's performance as a manager of the Cubs. It's one thing to have a player commit a physical error, but quite another to see the same types of mental errors occur again and again.

 

At some point you have to stop blaming the tools, and fix the leak or whomever you work for will find another plumber.

[wastra]

I don't blame Dusty for this team's performance- at least not primarily. This is a terrible roster. It was a bad roster before Lee got hurt, and it's a terrible one now. That's Hendry's doing. Frankly, due to the awful roster, Baker can't really do much that will help anyway. We're going to lose either way.

 

That doesn't make Baker a decent manager. he's a pretty poor manager, actually. It's just that this year's awful lineup is Hendry's doing (just as the fact that Dusty is Managing that roster is Hendry's doing.)

 

Jim has made 4 or 5 really good moves as GM and about 10-15 horribly bad ones. He's simply not shown he has the chops to manage a major league organization, and he needs to go.

[badgercub]

Its easy to call out guys when things are going bad. My tendency for years was to do that. Baseball tends to police itself over time . If the cubs continue poorly all year the pressure will continue to be wratched up. Ive said that all along also. I just hate the blanket Dusty hate. A hall of fame manager of your choice , would have issues with this team at this time. Coach L

 

Would they last year? How about 2004? Would they have pulled Prior in Game 6 in '03? The Baker "hate" is not from 30 games this season.

 

I think Baker hate is too strong of a word and paints the wrong picture. I don't hate Dusty. He seems like a nice guy. I had the chance to talk to him for like two minutes and he was very friendly.

 

Nevertheless, it is a poor plumber who blames his tools when he can't fix a leak. Saying that no manger could do a better job is at best inaccurate and at worst appologetic of Dusty's performance as a manager of the Cubs. It's one thing to have a player commit a physical error, but quite another to see the same types of mental errors occur again and again.

 

At some point you have to stop blaming the tools, and fix the leak or whomever you work for will find another plumber.

 

Well put. Dusty has said in the past that he doesn't understand why these mistakes are being made, as they practice this stuff in spring training. Well Dusty, apparently you aren't practicing/stressing the importance enough, because each year the team seems to be a little less fundamentally sound than the year before.

[LoneStarCubFan]

I don't blame Dusty for this team's performance- at least not primarily. This is a terrible roster. It was a bad roster before Lee got hurt, and it's a terrible one now. That's Hendry's doing. Frankly, due to the awful roster, Baker can't really do much that will help anyway. We're going to lose either way.

 

That doesn't make Baker a decent manager. he's a pretty poor manager, actually. It's just that this year's awful lineup is Hendry's doing (just as the fact that Dusty is Managing that roster is Hendry's doing.)

 

Jim has made 4 or 5 really good moves as GM and about 10-15 horribly bad ones. He's simply not shown he has the chops to manage a major league organization, and he needs to go.

 

As bad as this roster is, prior to Lee's injury it was better than the one Baker started with last year. Even without Lee 2-8 in the last 10 is inexcusable given who they've been playing.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I don't hate Baker. He's an extremely nice an personable guy. He exudes charisma.

 

I was also a fan of his hiring. On the other hand, his moves and line-ups have be befuddled at times. I think he had the talent in 2004 and yet allowed that team to implode.

[wastra]

I don't blame Dusty for this team's performance- at least not primarily. This is a terrible roster. It was a bad roster before Lee got hurt, and it's a terrible one now. That's Hendry's doing. Frankly, due to the awful roster, Baker can't really do much that will help anyway. We're going to lose either way.

 

That doesn't make Baker a decent manager. he's a pretty poor manager, actually. It's just that this year's awful lineup is Hendry's doing (just as the fact that Dusty is Managing that roster is Hendry's doing.)

 

Jim has made 4 or 5 really good moves as GM and about 10-15 horribly bad ones. He's simply not shown he has the chops to manage a major league organization, and he needs to go.

 

As bad as this roster is, prior to Lee's injury it was better than the one Baker started with last year. Even without Lee 2-8 in the last 10 is inexcusable given who they've been playing.

 

It's a mild improvement over last year's, nothing more. Still a bad lineup. Any lineup that apparently is mediocre at scoring runs with one player but the worst in the NL without him is a bad lineup. I love Derek Lee, but as Jay Mariotti wrote today "Sure, Derrek Lee is a wonderful player. No, he isn't the most indispensable hitter in baseball history, which is how the ballclub has responded since his wrist was fractured. "

[CubfaninCA]

Would rather see Pie brought up to play CF instead of rf, and platoon Jones. However, gotta give Pierre more time, and Pie's probably not ready yet.

 

I don't think anyone can pinpoint a move that could have been made in the offseason that would have significantly improved this team.

 

Signing Giles was pure fantasy.

 

Nomar wasn't coming back to possibly make a fool of himself in rf when his hometown team offered him $6 million to play 1b.

 

Milton Bradley's on the DL and Coletti wasn't going to trade him to Chicago anyway.

 

The biggest critics of Hendry wanted nothing to do with Soriano, so don't go there. Bad road/split remember. :roll:

 

The Lee injury is a back breaker, but keep blaming Hendry.

[CubfaninCA]

I don't hate Baker. He's an extremely nice an personable guy. He exudes charisma.

 

I was also a fan of his hiring. On the other hand, his moves and line-ups have be befuddled at times. I think he had the talent in 2004 and yet allowed that team to implode.

 

baker probably cost this team the first two games in sd, with his bizarre lineups and not putting dempster in either game.

[BigbadB]

Signing Giles was pure fantasy.

 

Source?

[CubfaninCA]

Signing Giles was pure fantasy.

 

Source?

 

common sense.

 

1. the trib wasn't going to throw down the money.

 

2. the cubs had to pay giles as much or more than aram. rammy probably wouldn't like that considering his ops is better than giles and he's a lot younger. give giles 3 & 36, and lee probably asks for more than 5 & 65.

 

3. his family's in sd and you know better than anyone how nice of place sd is.

[CubinNY]

Signing Giles was pure fantasy.

 

Source?

 

Exactly. He ad hock disqualifies the move that made the most sense because he says it ain't so.

 

Horse crap

Edited May 8, 2006 by CubinNY

[BigbadB]

Signing Giles was pure fantasy.

 

Source?

 

common sense.

 

1. the trib wasn't going to throw down the money.

 

2. the cubs had to pay giles as much or more than aram. rammy probably wouldn't like that considering his ops is better than giles and he's a lot younger. give giles 3 & 36, and lee probably asks for more than 5 & 65.

 

3. his family's in sd and you know better than anyone how nice of place sd is.

 

Nah, I asked for a source, not your opinion. If all you can provide is your opinion, then I suppose it isn't "pure fantasy", because your opinion is no better or worse than mine.

[XZero771679666304]

Signing Giles was pure fantasy.

 

Source?

 

common sense.

 

1. the trib wasn't going to throw down the money.

 

2. the cubs had to pay giles as much or more than aram. rammy probably wouldn't like that considering his ops is better than giles and he's a lot younger. give giles 3 & 36, and lee probably asks for more than 5 & 65.

 

3. his family's in sd and you know better than anyone how nice of place sd is.

 

Didn't the Cards make him an offer? Giles had nice things to say about STL, and if he didn't take their offer, he wasn't going to take a Cubs offer.

 

He demonstrated what an extreme preference he had for remaining in SoCal by taking the money he did.

[Jehrico]

Dont leave out what he said about it not being Dustys fault. Ive said before ,he has managed well this year. This mess is a flawed roster. Time will tell how flawed it is . Thats the beauty of baseball. Coach L

 

I agree that this year's mess is not Dusty's fault. Hendry put together a flawed team. On the other hand, 2004 was Dusty's fault. That team had plenty of talent to get the job done and Dusty let the "us vs the world" metanlity implode on that team.

 

I would disagree...I wouldn't put all of the fault on Dusty, the roster is a big part of it. However, Dusty has yet to show us a fundamentally sound baseball team, and that should be realistic to accomplish every year regardless of how talented the roster may or may not be.

[XZero771679666304]

Signing Giles was pure fantasy.

 

Source?

 

common sense.

 

1. the trib wasn't going to throw down the money.

 

2. the cubs had to pay giles as much or more than aram. rammy probably wouldn't like that considering his ops is better than giles and he's a lot younger. give giles 3 & 36, and lee probably asks for more than 5 & 65.

 

3. his family's in sd and you know better than anyone how nice of place sd is.

 

Nah, I asked for a source, not your opinion. If all you can provide is your opinion, then I suppose it isn't "pure fantasy", because your opinion is no better or worse than mine.

 

And just because it can't be sourced doesn't mean it isn't true. All signs point to the idea that Giles never had any real intention of leaving.

[goonys evil twin]

And just because it can't be sourced doesn't mean it isn't true. All signs point to the idea that Giles never had any real intention of leaving.

 

All signs point to the idea that Hendry didn't even try to convince him otherwise.

[BigbadB]

Didn't the Cards make him an offer? Giles had nice things to say about STL, and if he didn't take their offer, he wasn't going to take a Cubs offer.

 

He demonstrated what an extreme preference he had for remaining in SoCal by taking the money he did.

 

For every reason you can come up with for why he is still in San Diego, I can come up with one for why he shouldn't be. But, in the end, they are all just opinions, therefore it's not just "pure fantasy".

 

Did the Cards make an offer? Seemed to me the Cardinals took the 2006 offseason off. If they did make an offer, were they the slightest bit serious? The Cardinals cried poor all offseason and picked up guys like Aaron Miles and Junior Spivey and Juan Encarnacion.

 

And if the Cardinals offer was 8m and the Cubs offer was 12m, would Giles still not take the Cubs offer because he didn't accept the Cardinals offer?

 

See, we can play this game all day. Hendry targeted Furcal. He expected to get Furcal. He basically ignored Giles from where I sit.

 

The fact Giles is still in San Diego had more to do with the fact teams weren't showing the interest he was hoping for, IMO. If he couldn't get the offers he was hoping for, then I can't blame him for signing with San Diego again. It was very close to the arbitration date, and San Diego probably would not have offered it up, therefore Giles would not have been able to join San Diego until after May 1, making a switch to another team likely.

 

Fact is, we really don't know either way.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

The Giles thing is getting old. Why on earth would we want a guy who gets on base more than 40% of the time and scores lots of runs? HUH?!?!?!

[CubfaninCA]

Signing Giles was pure fantasy.

 

Source?

 

common sense.

 

1. the trib wasn't going to throw down the money.

 

2. the cubs had to pay giles as much or more than aram. rammy probably wouldn't like that considering his ops is better than giles and he's a lot younger. give giles 3 & 36, and lee probably asks for more than 5 & 65.

 

3. his family's in sd and you know better than anyone how nice of place sd is.

 

Nah, I asked for a source, not your opinion. If all you can provide is your opinion, then I suppose it isn't "pure fantasy", because your opinion is no better or worse than mine.

 

c'mon. guy wasn't going anywhere.

 

now getting Soriano would have given this team a lift, but that flies in the face of moneyball.

[BigbadB]

And just because it can't be sourced doesn't mean it isn't true. All signs point to the idea that Giles never had any real intention of leaving.

 

If that's the case, can you please provide your explanation of why he became a free agent in the first place? If he was so adamant about staying, why did he file for free agency?

[CubfaninCA]

Signing Giles was pure fantasy.

 

Source?

 

common sense.

 

1. the trib wasn't going to throw down the money.

 

2. the cubs had to pay giles as much or more than aram. rammy probably wouldn't like that considering his ops is better than giles and he's a lot younger. give giles 3 & 36, and lee probably asks for more than 5 & 65.

 

3. his family's in sd and you know better than anyone how nice of place sd is.

 

Didn't the Cards make him an offer? Giles had nice things to say about STL, and if he didn't take their offer, he wasn't going to take a Cubs offer.

 

He demonstrated what an extreme preference he had for remaining in SoCal by taking the money he did.

 

I can't recall. LA was interested in him tho.

[CubfaninCA]

And just because it can't be sourced doesn't mean it isn't true. All signs point to the idea that Giles never had any real intention of leaving.

 

If that's the case, can you please provide your explanation of why he became a free agent in the first place? If he was so adamant about staying, why did he file for free agency?

 

he wanted more than sd's initial offer, 3 & 21.

[goonys evil twin]

now getting Soriano would have given this team a lift, but that flies in the face of moneyball.

 

What would have been the lift? Walker would have sat, and probably would have been more likely to not even be here. Soriano's numbers replacing Walker's numbers doesn't make this team any better.

[Jon]

A great article about the state of the Cubs...or the greatest article about the state of the Cubs?

 

(sorry T_T)

 

That was great, Bruce. If it was from any other writer, I wouldn't have believed that it was actually printed.