4/11 Cubs (Gorzelanny) @ Reds (Leake) 12:10 CST CSN+

[A-Cal]

Cubs Win!! oh...wait...

[Andy]

[expletive] worthless

[NotSoSober]

God damn, this is going to be a terrible season :evil:

[Little Slide Rooter]

Usually, I say _______ is the guy I want up in this situation. Well so far this year, theres really nobody who fits that bill. Maybe Lee.

[Ski]

I need to learn just to give up, but I have to keep watching until the end.

[illiniguy]

 

Exactly. This is why I picked the offense in the poll recently posted here asking what we were most concerned about going into the season. If the offense can't bounce back from how anemic it looked last year then they're toast. The team has just gotten older and Soriano and Soto are by no means locks to be significantly better. If they can't rebound then the only realistic improvements you can see are Aramis (hopefully) staying more healthy and Byrd, and neither are enough to carry the team.

I agree with this, but I'm very afraid that we will be close enough that Jim will try and make a trade to save his job. I really don't want him trading away any prospects.

 

Yeah, I'm concerned that they're just going to middle around technically being in contention because of how bad the division is. If they do fall out of it it needs to be big so that both Hendry gets the boot and they wise up and look to move Lee/Aramis/Lilly/etc..

We gave out no trade clauses. We might not be able to move any of them. It's comical.

[GlassCow]

Pretty sweet road trip to start the year. This team is going to give me ulcers.

[A-Cal]

 

Exactly. This is why I picked the offense in the poll recently posted here asking what we were most concerned about going into the season. If the offense can't bounce back from how anemic it looked last year then they're toast. The team has just gotten older and Soriano and Soto are by no means locks to be significantly better. If they can't rebound then the only realistic improvements you can see are Aramis (hopefully) staying more healthy and Byrd, and neither are enough to carry the team.

I agree with this, but I'm very afraid that we will be close enough that Jim will try and make a trade to save his job. I really don't want him trading away any prospects.

 

Yeah, I'm concerned that they're just going to middle around technically being in contention because of how bad the division is. If they do fall out of it it needs to be big so that both Hendry gets the boot and they wise up and look to move Lee/Aramis/Lilly/etc..

 

2010 - The Quest for .500

 

Everybody get excited for the deadline this year in hopes that we can sell off some of our baggage.

[UMFan83]

Cubs starting pitchers only gave up 4 ER this series and we lost 2 of 3 how flukey is that?

[illiniguy]

Pretty sweet road trip to start the year. This team is going to give me ulcers.

Maybe not, this could fall apart pretty quickly.

[Sammy Sofa]

 

Exactly. This is why I picked the offense in the poll recently posted here asking what we were most concerned about going into the season. If the offense can't bounce back from how anemic it looked last year then they're toast. The team has just gotten older and Soriano and Soto are by no means locks to be significantly better. If they can't rebound then the only realistic improvements you can see are Aramis (hopefully) staying more healthy and Byrd, and neither are enough to carry the team.

I agree with this, but I'm very afraid that we will be close enough that Jim will try and make a trade to save his job. I really don't want him trading away any prospects.

 

Yeah, I'm concerned that they're just going to middle around technically being in contention because of how bad the division is. If they do fall out of it it needs to be big so that both Hendry gets the boot and they wise up and look to move Lee/Aramis/Lilly/etc..

We gave out no trade clauses. We might not be able to move any of them. It's comical.

 

Nah, they probably could if they just went to them and said that they're simply not going to re-sign them.

[bcl412]

Looking at the positives from the first week, the starting pitching, save opening day, has been northing short of spectacular. The offense has underperformed. I expect it to still be below average but much better than what we've seen so far. We probably are going to win more than 75 games this year. How much more has yet to be decided. More likely closer to 80 wins than 90, but nothing is out of the realm of possibility yet.

 

I could see them not winning more than 75. It wouldn't be a shock to see the offense regress from last year when they weren't that good and it wouldn' be suprising to see the pitching not hold up when you have guys like Gorz and Silva in the rotation.

[Little Slide Rooter]

 

Exactly. This is why I picked the offense in the poll recently posted here asking what we were most concerned about going into the season. If the offense can't bounce back from how anemic it looked last year then they're toast. The team has just gotten older and Soriano and Soto are by no means locks to be significantly better. If they can't rebound then the only realistic improvements you can see are Aramis (hopefully) staying more healthy and Byrd, and neither are enough to carry the team.

I agree with this, but I'm very afraid that we will be close enough that Jim will try and make a trade to save his job. I really don't want him trading away any prospects.

 

Yeah, I'm concerned that they're just going to middle around technically being in contention because of how bad the division is. If they do fall out of it it needs to be big so that both Hendry gets the boot and they wise up and look to move Lee/Aramis/Lilly/etc..

We gave out no trade clauses. We might not be able to move any of them. It's comical.

 

Soriano is the albatross thats going to weigh us down for the next 5 years. Theres no way to trade a guy this bad with that kind of contract. Even is we were willing to eat more than half the money, I dont think theres a team out there who would want the guy for 4 plus years.

[hardcorecubfan]

can't believe cutting the grass will be more exciting, but it will be

[Soul]

Cubs starting pitchers only gave up 4 ER this series and we lost 2 of 3 how flukey is that?

 

when you suck at hitting and have a terrible bullpen?

 

Not very.

[Andy]

We gave out no trade clauses. We might not be able to move any of them. It's comical.

 

Nah, they probably could if they just went to them and said that they're simply not going to re-sign them.

Benchings would probably help in that department too. It's a scummy move, though (except for Soriano, who just plain deserves it).

[Little Slide Rooter]

We gave out no trade clauses. We might not be able to move any of them. It's comical.

 

Nah, they probably could if they just went to them and said that they're simply not going to re-sign them.

Benchings would probably help in that department too. It's a scummy move, though (except for Soriano, who just plain deserves it).

 

We may want to keep some of those guys if we want to compete the next few years. I dont know who wed get to replace Lee, unless we want to give up everything on the farm for Adrian Gonzalez, making the future look evn more grim. Same with Ramirez.

 

Id personally like to bring up Castro and give him a chance. As narrow as the window is open for us now, without Lee and Ramirez, we could be really, really bad. Im talking Pirates bad. Im all for not only bringing up Castro, but giving Cashner a shot in the pen.

 

I know a lot of people want to save Castro for the future, but does the future mean when our team starts to look like thoise of the 90's?

[RedFlash]

I wish MLB would give their teams a mulligan like the NBA did a few years ago with the "Allan Houston rule", cause I know who would be my candidate for instant release.

 

Well golly, when you have so man young/rookie pitchers in one bullpen it's not a surprise the bullpen is struggling.

[Sammy Sofa]

We gave out no trade clauses. We might not be able to move any of them. It's comical.

 

Nah, they probably could if they just went to them and said that they're simply not going to re-sign them.

Benchings would probably help in that department too. It's a scummy move, though (except for Soriano, who just plain deserves it).

 

Wait, what? I'm talking about moving guys of value who have contracts coming up or can opt out. Why would they be benched, especially if we're hoping that they can convinced to not exercise their NTC? When you talk about moving guys at the deadline, Soriano's name can't even come up. You can't move him. We're talking Lee/Aramis/Lilly and even Fukudome and Byrd if possible.

[Sammy Sofa]

We gave out no trade clauses. We might not be able to move any of them. It's comical.

 

Nah, they probably could if they just went to them and said that they're simply not going to re-sign them.

Benchings would probably help in that department too. It's a scummy move, though (except for Soriano, who just plain deserves it).

 

We may want to keep some of those guys if we want to compete the next few years. I dont know who wed get to replace Lee, unless we want to give up everything on the farm for Adrian Gonzalez, making the future look evn more grim. Same with Ramirez.

 

Id personally like to bring up Castro and give him a chance. As narrow as the window is open for us now, without Lee and Ramirez, we could be really, really bad. Im talking Pirates bad. Im all for not only bringing up Castro, but giving Cashner a shot in the pen.

 

I know a lot of people want to save Castro for the future, but does the future mean when our team starts to look like thoise of the 90's?

 

If they move their bigger contracts or let them expire, what's to stop them from signing FA's?

[UMFan83]

Looking at the positives from the first week, the starting pitching, save opening day, has been northing short of spectacular. The offense has underperformed. I expect it to still be below average but much better than what we've seen so far. We probably are going to win more than 75 games this year. How much more has yet to be decided. More likely closer to 80 wins than 90, but nothing is out of the realm of possibility yet.

 

I could see them not winning more than 75. It wouldn't be a shock to see the offense regress from last year when they weren't that good and it wouldn' be suprising to see the pitching not hold up when you have guys like Gorz and Silva in the rotation.

 

Yeah but I don't know but I feel strangely positive after this first week. The starting pitching was the thing I was worried about most coming into this season, and they've looked good so far. Obviously going by track records, I shouldn't expect Gorz and Silva's starts to be the norm but every time they pitch well the more confidence I get. Besides, the thing I was most excited to see as Wells' performance the other day.

 

The offense has to be better than this. Half the lineup is hitting under .200 and I cannot remember a single extra base hit that wasn't a home run this season, other than Soriano's check swing double (although I'm sure there have been, just can't remember them). They will probably be a slightly below league average offense this season, but that's still better than how they played this week. Plus, if they can just be solid enough to get to July, there is always the possibility of an upgrade.

 

The bullpen worries me, but you gotta hope by the middle of May, we'll have sorted out roles a little better, and hopefully someone in there can be a reliable 8th inning guy. If not, we have some other arms in the minors that could be worth a try.

 

I don't know, after seeing how close we could easily be 5-1, it's hard to be too pessimistic about the team after the first week. It's definitely distressing to see us 2-4, but there will be weeks where we'll get lucky and have a better week than we've played too. If we can get 2 against Milwaukee, we should be able to at least get 2 against horrible Houston, and we'll be back to .500 a week from today.

[Little Slide Rooter]

We gave out no trade clauses. We might not be able to move any of them. It's comical.

 

Nah, they probably could if they just went to them and said that they're simply not going to re-sign them.

Benchings would probably help in that department too. It's a scummy move, though (except for Soriano, who just plain deserves it).

 

We may want to keep some of those guys if we want to compete the next few years. I dont know who wed get to replace Lee, unless we want to give up everything on the farm for Adrian Gonzalez, making the future look evn more grim. Same with Ramirez.

 

Id personally like to bring up Castro and give him a chance. As narrow as the window is open for us now, without Lee and Ramirez, we could be really, really bad. Im talking Pirates bad. Im all for not only bringing up Castro, but giving Cashner a shot in the pen.

 

I know a lot of people want to save Castro for the future, but does the future mean when our team starts to look like thoise of the 90's?

 

If they move their bigger contracts or let them expire, what's to stop them from signing FA's?

 

But whats out there? Are we going to be able to get a better 1B and 3B than Lee and Ramirez? If we could get Lee for a 2 year deal and a good price, no reaso to let him go.

[gflore34]

The leash on Soriano has got to be shorter than a month, you just can't afford to keep playing a LF who can't catch the ball.

[Sammy Sofa]

There's plenty of reason to let him go if the rest of the team is not very good/young and unproven. Lee and Aramis are not enough to carry a team at this point.

[illiniguy]

 

Exactly. This is why I picked the offense in the poll recently posted here asking what we were most concerned about going into the season. If the offense can't bounce back from how anemic it looked last year then they're toast. The team has just gotten older and Soriano and Soto are by no means locks to be significantly better. If they can't rebound then the only realistic improvements you can see are Aramis (hopefully) staying more healthy and Byrd, and neither are enough to carry the team.

I agree with this, but I'm very afraid that we will be close enough that Jim will try and make a trade to save his job. I really don't want him trading away any prospects.

 

Yeah, I'm concerned that they're just going to middle around technically being in contention because of how bad the division is. If they do fall out of it it needs to be big so that both Hendry gets the boot and they wise up and look to move Lee/Aramis/Lilly/etc..

We gave out no trade clauses. We might not be able to move any of them. It's comical.

 

 

Nah, they probably could if they just went to them and said that they're simply not going to re-sign them.

I don't know Lee maybe, but Aramis can opt out if he wants, he'd pry rather finish out the year with us before he opts out.