I imagine what all the Cubs players are thinkin. .

[A New Era]

Us signing Soriano. Us going after Shmidt and shoring up the pitching with another quality guy. I bet they're pretty excited to play some baseball in '07. I think they will all play hard and in addtion to our new Cubs coaching staff there will be alot of excitement in the 2007 season.

[Backtobanks]

Us signing Soriano. Us going after Shmidt and shoring up the pitching with another quality guy. I bet they're pretty excited to play some baseball in '07. I think they will all play hard and in addtion to our new Cubs coaching staff there will be alot of excitement in the 2007 season.

 

Apparently all the money they made last year didn't make they play hard.

[erik316wttn]

Us signing Soriano. Us going after Shmidt and shoring up the pitching with another quality guy. I bet they're pretty excited to play some baseball in '07. I think they will all play hard and in addtion to our new Cubs coaching staff there will be alot of excitement in the 2007 season.

 

Apparently all the money they made last year didn't make they play hard.

 

I sure as hell hope Lou makes them. Dusty didn't give a rip about effort.

 

What's Lou's record when it comes to on-field laziness and lack of fundimentals? Is he quick to fine and/or bench?

[Omar]

Lou Piniella is a big factor into them "playing hard"...

[Jehrico]

They might be thinking that now, but last week they were thinking...

"I should have taken the blue pill..."

[A New Era]

They might be thinking that now, but last week they were thinking...

"I should have taken the blue pill..."

 

Why worry about what they were thinking then? This is NOW buddy. And I love the red pill.

[A New Era]

Us signing Soriano. Us going after Shmidt and shoring up the pitching with another quality guy. I bet they're pretty excited to play some baseball in '07. I think they will all play hard and in addtion to our new Cubs coaching staff there will be alot of excitement in the 2007 season.

 

Apparently all the money they made last year didn't make they play hard.

 

Funny what a little optomism and a coach that demands playing hard every day can do. My point is there has got to be alot of positive energy around the club with the direction this off-season is going. Positive energy is a good thing.

[NorthsideAvenger]

Us signing Soriano. Us going after Shmidt and shoring up the pitching with another quality guy. I bet they're pretty excited to play some baseball in '07. I think they will all play hard and in addtion to our new Cubs coaching staff there will be alot of excitement in the 2007 season.

 

Apparently all the money they made last year didn't make they play hard.

 

Funny what a little optomism and a coach that demands playing hard every day can do. My point is there has got to be alot of positive energy around the club with the direction this off-season is going. Positive energy is a good thing.

 

Martha Stewart, is that you?

8)

[A New Era]

Us signing Soriano. Us going after Shmidt and shoring up the pitching with another quality guy. I bet they're pretty excited to play some baseball in '07. I think they will all play hard and in addtion to our new Cubs coaching staff there will be alot of excitement in the 2007 season.

 

Apparently all the money they made last year didn't make they play hard.

 

Funny what a little optomism and a coach that demands playing hard every day can do. My point is there has got to be alot of positive energy around the club with the direction this off-season is going. Positive energy is a good thing.

 

Martha Stewart, is that you?

8)

 

Sorry to dissapoint. :lol: You don't agree with that? Having a positive attitude influences your performance. Haven't you ever heard that? You go into an interview nervous, you really need the job, and you try hard not to goof up, but your nervousness shows. You go into an interview knowing you are the best person for the job, and your confidence shows. Same thing in sports. If you are nervous at the plate and in a slump you will continue to be in a slump. If you go up to bat confident in your skills, you will get better results. I am just taking that into a bigger picture of the whole Cubs team. The players will be more confident and more energized about their team. Because of adding important peices like Soriano, a Schmidt or a Westbrook. And they will perform better. That is all.

 

There is some psychology in proffesional sports. Long slumps, long loosing streaks. There is no reason any team should ever have a 8 game loosing streak. We've had alot of those the last few years.

[Careless]

why should no team ever have an 8 game losing streak? if you have a 40 winning percentage, the odds against you losing 8 in a row are about 60 to one against. That's in any 8 game period. that means what, you hvae a 94% chance of having at least 1 8-game losing streak in a season

[A New Era]

why should no team ever have an 8 game losing streak? if you have a 40 winning percentage, the odds against you losing 8 in a row are about 60 to one against. That's in any 8 game period. that means what, you hvae a 94% chance of having at least 1 8-game losing streak in a season

 

Ok, no team contending for play-offs should have an 8 game winning streak. If you have a 40% winning percentage. It wont' matter if you have 10 8 game loosing streaks. .

[Careless]

why should no team ever have an 8 game losing streak? if you have a 40 winning percentage, the odds against you losing 8 in a row are about 60 to one against. That's in any 8 game period. that means what, you hvae a 94% chance of having at least 1 8-game losing streak in a season

 

Ok, no team contending for play-offs should have an 8 game winning streak. If you have a 40% winning percentage. It wont' matter if you have 10 8 game loosing streaks. .

ok, and we weren't contending last season. In 2003 we had no long losing streaks (or winning streaks, we were improbably unstreaky). In 2004 we had none longer than 5 games. In 2005, when we didn't contend, we had 2 8 games, 1 7 game.

 

I wonder why a positive mental attitude doesn't create long winning streaks

Or was 2003 a bad chemistry year?

[Jon]

I believe they're all thinking of how much they all wished they had been on the FA market this offseason instead of being under contract. Lee would be worth what, $25 million a season relative to Soriano's deal?

[Careless]

I believe they're all thinking of how much they all wished they had been on the FA market this offseason instead of being under contract. Lee would be worth what, $25 million a season relative to Soriano's deal?

And ramirez wishes that he had actually taken advantage of free agency

[A New Era]

why should no team ever have an 8 game losing streak? if you have a 40 winning percentage, the odds against you losing 8 in a row are about 60 to one against. That's in any 8 game period. that means what, you hvae a 94% chance of having at least 1 8-game losing streak in a season

 

Ok, no team contending for play-offs should have an 8 game winning streak. If you have a 40% winning percentage. It wont' matter if you have 10 8 game loosing streaks. .

ok, and we weren't contending last season. In 2003 we had no long losing streaks (or winning streaks, we were improbably unstreaky). In 2004 we had none longer than 5 games. In 2005, when we didn't contend, we had 2 8 games, 1 7 game.

 

I wonder why a positive mental attitude doesn't create long winning streaks

Or was 2003 a bad chemistry year?

 

The long loosing streaks was sort of a side remark. I don't think you'll see that with Piniella this year. I wasn't comparing it to positive mental attitude. You did that.

[bhogg]

Jesus, people. Put yourselves in the shoes of the 2 or 3 healthy Cub players last year.

 

On paper, things looked good. In hindsight, that "on papper" team should have been in the pathetic NL central play off race.

 

Then, all you hear is Dusty bashing from the media. Warranted or not, it's a guy you play for, spend a lot of time with, and probably like very much.

 

Then, players begin dropping like flys. . . . not just the bad ones, the good ones.

 

You run a rookie starter out there 3 out of 5 days so the pressure is on to really pick up the slack.

 

The team goes into a slump and you put more pressure on your self.

 

Fans, media, their collective chia pets, uncles, and third cousins begin calling every player not named Derrek Lee a lazy good for nothing slug. You pretend you don't hear it, but you do.

 

Baseball is no different than any other profession. There is a huge mental aspect ---- just ask Mark Wohlers. Just like stress, negativeness, etc can affect yours and my job performance, it does the same to a baseball player.

 

Just because they are multi millionaires, doesn't mean they are robots.

 

Giles makes a good point. He's not trying to fully explain the meltdown of '06. He's just saying that things are really looking good this offseason and the guys coming back are most likely excited about it.

[Careless]

Jesus, people. Put yourselves in the shoes of the 2 or 3 healthy Cub players last year.

 

On paper, things looked good. In hindsight, that "on papper" team should have been in the pathetic NL central play off race.

 

Then, all you hear is Dusty bashing from the media. Warranted or not, it's a guy you play for, spend a lot of time with, and probably like very much.

 

Then, players begin dropping like flys. . . . not just the bad ones, the good ones.

 

You run a rookie starter out there 3 out of 5 days so the pressure is on to really pick up the slack.

 

The team goes into a slump and you put more pressure on your self.

 

Fans, media, their collective chia pets, uncles, and third cousins begin calling every player not named Derrek Lee a lazy good for nothing slug. You pretend you don't hear it, but you do.

 

Baseball is no different than any other profession. There is a huge mental aspect ---- just ask Mark Wohlers. Just like stress, negativeness, etc can affect yours and my job performance, it does the same to a baseball player.

 

Just because they are multi millionaires, doesn't mean they are robots.

 

Giles makes a good point. He's not trying to fully explain the meltdown of '06. He's just saying that things are really looking good this offseason and the guys coming back are most likely excited about it.

But your order is wrong. Their worst month was May. Dusty questioning, injuries aside from Lee, Dempster collapsing, they're all things that happened after the team went into the toilet. They actually got better once these things you're bringing up started happening.

 

Wow, they had more 1-run losses in may than they had wins.