Bradley Signs with Cubs 3/$30 million (p. 33)

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Part of me kind of hopes they do get swept in the playoffs next year, though. My generic sports fan finds the losing streak to be fascinating. Eight and counting, all by multiple runs.

 

It'd have to be big, though, one-upping even this year's beatings.

[UMFan83]

Part of me kind of hopes they do get swept in the playoffs next year, though. My generic sports fan finds the losing streak to be fascinating. Eight and counting, all by multiple runs.

 

It'd have to be big, though, one-upping even this year's beatings.

 

I find the 3-9 in our last 12 home playoff games dating back to 1989 mark to be even more amazing

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Part of me kind of hopes they do get swept in the playoffs next year, though. My generic sports fan finds the losing streak to be fascinating. Eight and counting, all by multiple runs.

 

It'd have to be big, though, one-upping even this year's beatings.

 

I find the 3-9 in our last 12 home playoff games dating back to 1989 mark to be even more amazing

 

A losing streak of 3 games in six straight postseason appearances.

[Gingerballs Lives]

Is Hermida no longer an option?

[haubrich91]

Is Hermida no longer an option?

 

The Marlins made it seem like it'd be easier to get Peavy than Hermida.

[Joe_Cub]

great offseason

[Rusch33]

Even if we do have to wait until mid January or Febuary, a pretty good outfielder probably still be on the market. Plus we can still make a trade for someone at that point as well. There's no reason at all to freak out right now. The Cardinals got a little better, but there still not in our league. The Brewers are much worse right now with losing Sabathia, Sheets, Torres and others. The Astros got a little worse losing Wolf and Wigginton as well. The Cubs right now are 90 plus win team, especially in this division. Plus they will add a LH RF who is productive. It just depends on if it will be a guy who can play everyday like Bradley, Dunn, Abreu, or a guy they can use in a platoon who crushes righties. This team is still very talented and deep team. I have no concerns at all about making the playoffs right now, the only thing that could stop this team is poor health.

 

Getting to the playoffs isn't enough anymore. Going 0-6 in the last 2 playoff series, and doing nothing isn't going to make fans happy.

[Guest]

Part of me kind of hopes they do get swept in the playoffs next year, though. My generic sports fan finds the losing streak to be fascinating. Eight and counting, all by multiple runs.

 

It'd have to be big, though, one-upping even this year's beatings.

 

Nine straight.

[third eye]

Part of me kind of hopes they do get swept in the playoffs next year, though. My generic sports fan finds the losing streak to be fascinating. Eight and counting, all by multiple runs.

 

It'd have to be big, though, one-upping even this year's beatings.

 

Aren't we at 9 now? :confused:

[wrigley23]

what you are not getting through your thick message board head is we don't play Pittsburgh, Houston or St Louis in the playoffs. The Cubs play real teams in the playoffs. Soriano & co feast on poor pitchers & when they go up against better pitching they wilt like a flower. Whether St Louis, Houston, etc get better or worse...who cares? The Cubs need to find ways to get better than...Philly & the Dodger. Gee, what a concept. This is the problem w/ the Bears. They need to get better than Pittsburgh & Indianapolis, etc...not the Vikings or the Packers. The bar is way too low for some of you. In regards to Piniella saying the Cubs need more speed/athleticism & a left bat..he did not come out & say directly that this is why they failed in the playoffs, but he said that is what is needed going into '09. I'm not a rocket scientist, but after getting swept two yrs in a row, I'm reading between the lines. Hendy has made many mistakes. Signing Prior over & over, giving out no trades like they are going out of style, playing w/ monopoly money on overhyped/priced free agents...the only moves he has made that have turned to gold are when the other team is dumping payroll that he picks up. He is a tireless worker, but does not seem to be a smart one. Lou does know more than all of us put together. He made numerous statements 3 yrs ago that the team's parts did not fit well together...that falls upon Hendry & still does to this day. Is this team good enough to win the division again? Yes, but it has went the other direction in terms of beating the best in the NL. The AL has gotten significantly better w/ the Yankee shopping. It is the Cubs reaction to the Yanks, Phils & Dodgers that bears watching...not what St Louis may or may not be doing.

[Mike Aller]

what you are not getting through your thick message board head is we don't play Pittsburgh, Houston or St Louis in the playoffs. The Cubs play real teams in the playoffs. Soriano & co feast on poor pitchers & when they go up against better pitching they wilt like a flower. Whether St Louis, Houston, etc get better or worse...who cares? The Cubs need to find ways to get better than...Philly & the Dodger. Gee, what a concept. This is the problem w/ the Bears. They need to get better than Pittsburgh & Indianapolis, etc...not the Vikings or the Packers. The bar is way too low for some of you. In regards to Piniella saying the Cubs need more speed/athleticism & a left bat..he did not come out & say directly that this is why they failed in the playoffs, but he said that is what is needed going into '09. I'm not a rocket scientist, but after getting swept two yrs in a row, I'm reading between the lines. Hendy has made many mistakes. Signing Prior over & over, giving out no trades like they are going out of style, playing w/ monopoly money on overhyped/priced free agents...the only moves he has made that have turned to gold are when the other team is dumping payroll that he picks up. He is a tireless worker, but does not seem to be a smart one. Lou does know more than all of us put together. He made numerous statements 3 yrs ago that the team's parts did not fit well together...that falls upon Hendry & still does to this day. Is this team good enough to win the division again? Yes, but it has went the other direction in terms of beating the best in the NL. The AL has gotten significantly better w/ the Yankee shopping. It is the Cubs reaction to the Yanks, Phils & Dodgers that bears watching...not what St Louis may or may not be doing.

.516 = NL Central Win% last year. By the way, thats .026 points better than the division that the Phillies played in (while the Phillies were 5.5 games worse than the Cubs last year). Oh, and let's not even talk about the NL West.

 

The Phillies and Dodgers got hot at the right time. They played great baseball in October, and obviously the Dodgers were at the benefit of an amazing Manny Ramirez. However, trying to say that the Cubs are somehow down a peg from these "elite" teams of the National League is absolutely ridiculous. Yes, there is always something to be said for a championship, so credit has to be given to the Phillies. However, don't forget that these "lower tier" teams like the Astros and Cardinals would have won the NL West with the records that they had.

 

Do changes need to be made? Sure. Do you need to fly off the deep end and create some huge gap in talent? No, probably not.

[Fred Hornkohl]

Gentlemen..... let's all remember to keep it civil.

 

Thanx.

[TruffleShuffle]

He makes millions of dollars a year

 

so does dusty baker.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I dont know about the rest of you, but what Im getting from a lot of non Cubs fans, including Brewers and White Sox fans(I dont know any Cards fans) is that while they do enjoy our misery, part of them is just sick of hearing about it, and Cubs fans wearing the 100 year thing on thier sleeves like some kind of badge of honor and wish that they would just win the damn series and be done with it.

 

Besides, it's not like we lost anything of substance this off season, aside from Wood, and maybe Edmonds. We have the same team that dominated the NL for the majority of the season aside from a few dry spells in July and early September. Lou still has a damn fine team to work with here, and maybe he wont get a new toy and will have to work with what he has, and the first step could be to work Soriano into the middle of the lineup and get someone else at leadoff.

[davearm2]

what you are not getting through your thick message board head is we don't play Pittsburgh, Houston or St Louis in the playoffs. The Cubs play real teams in the playoffs. Soriano & co feast on poor pitchers & when they go up against better pitching they wilt like a flower. Whether St Louis, Houston, etc get better or worse...who cares? The Cubs need to find ways to get better than...Philly & the Dodger. Gee, what a concept. This is the problem w/ the Bears. They need to get better than Pittsburgh & Indianapolis, etc...not the Vikings or the Packers. The bar is way too low for some of you. In regards to Piniella saying the Cubs need more speed/athleticism & a left bat..he did not come out & say directly that this is why they failed in the playoffs, but he said that is what is needed going into '09. I'm not a rocket scientist, but after getting swept two yrs in a row, I'm reading between the lines. Hendy has made many mistakes. Signing Prior over & over, giving out no trades like they are going out of style, playing w/ monopoly money on overhyped/priced free agents...the only moves he has made that have turned to gold are when the other team is dumping payroll that he picks up. He is a tireless worker, but does not seem to be a smart one. Lou does know more than all of us put together. He made numerous statements 3 yrs ago that the team's parts did not fit well together...that falls upon Hendry & still does to this day. Is this team good enough to win the division again? Yes, but it has went the other direction in terms of beating the best in the NL. The AL has gotten significantly better w/ the Yankee shopping. It is the Cubs reaction to the Yanks, Phils & Dodgers that bears watching...not what St Louis may or may not be doing.

Surely you're aware that the Cubs finished the regular season with more wins than the Phils and the Dodgers. Schedule strength does not explain the difference.

 

So again I'll ask, how do 3 games provide a better indication of team strengths and weaknesses than 162 games?

 

Whether folks want to accept it or not, the best team doesn't always win. Now that doesn't mean the Cubs should not endeavor to get even better. They absolutely should. But make no mistake, they were (and probably still are) the best, deepest, and most complete team in the NL.

[17 Seconds]

what you are not getting through your thick message board head is we don't play Pittsburgh, Houston or St Louis in the playoffs. The Cubs play real teams in the playoffs. Soriano & co feast on poor pitchers & when they go up against better pitching they wilt like a flower. Whether St Louis, Houston, etc get better or worse...who cares? The Cubs need to find ways to get better than...Philly & the Dodger. Gee, what a concept. This is the problem w/ the Bears. They need to get better than Pittsburgh & Indianapolis, etc...not the Vikings or the Packers. The bar is way too low for some of you. In regards to Piniella saying the Cubs need more speed/athleticism & a left bat..he did not come out & say directly that this is why they failed in the playoffs, but he said that is what is needed going into '09. I'm not a rocket scientist, but after getting swept two yrs in a row, I'm reading between the lines. Hendy has made many mistakes. Signing Prior over & over, giving out no trades like they are going out of style, playing w/ monopoly money on overhyped/priced free agents...the only moves he has made that have turned to gold are when the other team is dumping payroll that he picks up. He is a tireless worker, but does not seem to be a smart one. Lou does know more than all of us put together. He made numerous statements 3 yrs ago that the team's parts did not fit well together...that falls upon Hendry & still does to this day. Is this team good enough to win the division again? Yes, but it has went the other direction in terms of beating the best in the NL. The AL has gotten significantly better w/ the Yankee shopping. It is the Cubs reaction to the Yanks, Phils & Dodgers that bears watching...not what St Louis may or may not be doing.

 

so your theory is that our offense is built entirely on guys who destory bad hitters but are completely helpless against good pitchers, while other successful playoff teams' offenses are full of guys who hit pretty well against bad pitchers and pretty well against good pitchers.

 

yeah, that's a perfectly reasonable conclusion.

[Derwood]

nevermind the numerous times that people have illustrated that our offense DOES do well against some of the best pitchers in the league

[wrigley23]

so your theory is that our offense is built entirely on guys who destory bad hitters but are completely helpless against good pitchers, while other successful playoff teams' offenses are full of guys who hit pretty well against bad pitchers and pretty well against good pitchers. yeah, that's a perfectly reasonable conclusion.

 

I never said that loudmouth. Quit putting words into my mouth. You remind me of the person that tries to yell over everyone else talking & if successful, thinks your point has been proven. if you want to continue to put your coconut into the proverbial sand & say that the Cubs just happened to have 9 straight "off days" over a 3-yr playoff period, then knock yourself out. I happen to believe the offense is/was flawed. Hendry/Piniella seem hell bent on adding a left hitter in the middle & i've heard on numerous occasions that the team needs more speed/athleticism. That doesn't sound to me like a mgr/gm that they just had 9 bad days in a row in the playoffs.

[17 Seconds]

umm that's pretty much exactly what you said. your exact quote-

 

what you are not getting through your thick message board head is we don't play Pittsburgh, Houston or St Louis in the playoffs. The Cubs play real teams in the playoffs. Soriano & co feast on poor pitchers & when they go up against better pitching they wilt like a flower.

 

and you keep talking about how the offense is flawed yet you don't explain why and we keep showing you that's it's not. you make some weak argument, we expose it, then you ignore it and start something new.

 

you- "we need more speed and athletisism"

 

not you- "but we led the league in runs"

 

you - "well we feast on bad pitching and can't hit good pitching"

 

not you - "actually, it's been proven that the team hit good pitching well"

 

you- "i never said they didn't! stop putting words into my mouth you loudmouth!"

 

and so on

[wrigley23]

ok...i'll bite. Try this one. Does the Cub offense lead the league in runs in the postseason the last three appearances? No..in fact, they are the worse...by far. Flawed offense or just 9 bad days in a row. Tough one.

[E.J.]

ok...i'll bite. Try this one. Does the Cub offense lead the league in runs in the postseason the last three appearances? No..in fact, they are the worse...by far. Flawed offense or just 9 bad days in a row. Tough one.

 

LOL. So you're going to look at the 9 postseason games, but disregard the 162 games that got the Cubs to the postseason? Nice logic.

[SABR Gamer]

so your theory is that our offense is built entirely on guys who destory bad hitters but are completely helpless against good pitchers, while other successful playoff teams' offenses are full of guys who hit pretty well against bad pitchers and pretty well against good pitchers. yeah, that's a perfectly reasonable conclusion.

 

I never said that loudmouth. Quit putting words into my mouth. You remind me of the person that tries to yell over everyone else talking & if successful, thinks your point has been proven. if you want to continue to put your coconut into the proverbial sand & say that the Cubs just happened to have 9 straight "off days" over a 3-yr playoff period, then knock yourself out. I happen to believe the offense is/was flawed. Hendry/Piniella seem hell bent on adding a left hitter in the middle & i've heard on numerous occasions that the team needs more speed/athleticism. That doesn't sound to me like a mgr/gm that they just had 9 bad days in a row in the playoffs.

 

 

The first 3 games of those 9 are irrelevant to this Cubs squad. Z and Ramirez are the only guys I can even think of that were there for 2003, so for your argument it's 6 bad games in a row, not 9.

[Bote McBoteface]

I guess TECHNICALLY Lee contributed to those 3 in 2003 :|

 

 

Wood, too.

[wrigley23]

when you are 0-9 in the playoffs (which is what ultimately counts) then...yes...i would look at the playoff results & disregard the regular season. Please go back & read the posts that outline why the regular season is irrelevant when you get rick rolled in the playoffs against real teams that are not in your division. The stats & games were overstated when you consider the number of creampuff games in the nl central the last several years.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

ok...i'll bite. Try this one. Does the Cub offense lead the league in runs in the postseason the last three appearances? No..in fact, they are the worse...by far. Flawed offense or just 9 bad days in a row. Tough one.

 

It's pretty disingenuous to say 9 games in a row, the only hitter from 2003 on either of the 2007 or 2008 teams is Ramirez.

 

And yes, I'd say that it's entirely possible to have 6 poor offensive games in a row, especially when you face good pitching. I don't think speed and athleticism is really the missing piece here, considering the Cubs have good speed and good athletes for the position around most of the diamond(Soto, Fontenot, and Ramirez are the exceptions that come to mind). Plus, the Rockies and Phillies aren't exactly loaded with speed and athletes all around the diamond, and the Rockies should be the textbook example that yes, it is possible to get flukishly hot or cold for a couple series at a time.

 

If you want to say that a big left handed bat would make a nice difference in the playoffs as most (good) pitchers are right handed and the good ones can get our RH heavy lineup out, that's not a terrible argument(I'd also buy that failing to get out to a good start with the expectations of the home crowd in a short series is another factor). However, that's much easier said than done and comes with tradeoffs of health(Bradley) and/or defense(Dunn, Abreu). And most importantly, it's not indicative of some wildly flawed approach at building an offense. For years we've had crummy offenses, and now that we have a very good one we shouldn't go about making wholesale philosophical changes because we didn't do well in two playoff series.

 

Related to the point, where's the call for a different philosophical approach to building the rotation and pen? The Cubs have only averaged 2 runs per game the last 6 playoff games, but they're also giving up 6 runs per game over that timeframe.