06/08 Cubs (Lilly) at Milwaukee (Gallardo) - 7:10 CT - CSN+

[DiamondMind]

Every time I bring up lebron and the bulls, and the resurgent hawks, and their collective impact on this joke of a team we call the cubs, I get mocked. Which I don't understand. People are going to reach the breaking point with these clowns sooner than later with better alternatives.

[witty alias]

Marmol made a mistake catching that bunt. Gomez never ran. Drop it, throw to 1st then get Weeks. Somebody should have been telling him.

[DiamondMind]

Marmol made a mistake catching that bunt. Gomez never ran. Drop it, throw to 1st then get Weeks. Somebody should have been telling him.

 

Meh. Marmol gets a pass from me. He's near the bottom of the list of people to blame for this abomination imo. He actually has a few more passes saved up as far as I'm concerned.

[Little Slide Rooter]

part of the problem, which magnifies the bullpen issues, is that the offense is frequently inept and the bullpen keeps pitching in close low-scoring games. they've scored 2 runs or fewer in 23 of 58 games, or nearly 40%. that's atrocious.

 

Our offense is the problem, no question. Back when Samardjiza, Caridad, and Grabow were all key parts of our pen, then the pen was a big problem. Now, its the offense. Theriot is garbage. Lee and Ramirez will occasionally show flashes of their former selves, but for the most part, they have no busienss in the heart of any lineup. Our 5 best hitters as of late are all outfielders, and theres really nothing we can do about that.

[DiamondMind]

FWIW, I have no clue what's wrong with Ramirez. Lee is just like.. old. But Ramirez? I don't get it.

[Ballgame64]

FWIW, I have no clue what's wrong with Ramirez. Lee is just like.. old. But Ramirez? I don't get it.

All I know is he should be on the DL. It is bad enough his lack of production is hurting this team, but to screw around with a sore thumb and be a worthless member of the 25 man roster is inexcusable. Who is running this team, the players or management?

 

Chad Tracy might not be great, but he is a better option at 3rd than Fontenot or Baker.

[witty alias]

Marmol made a mistake catching that bunt. Gomez never ran. Drop it, throw to 1st then get Weeks. Somebody should have been telling him.

 

Meh. Marmol gets a pass from me. He's near the bottom of the list of people to blame for this abomination imo. He actually has a few more passes saved up as far as I'm concerned.

 

Somebody should have been yelling it at him. Hill, Ramirez, somebody should have been telling him. Gomez never moved. Thats an easy DP and the game would have basically been over.

[J.R.]

Every time I bring up lebron and the bulls, and the resurgent hawks, and their collective impact on this joke of a team we call the cubs, I get mocked. Which I don't understand. People are going to reach the breaking point with these clowns sooner than later with better alternatives.

 

Lebron could probably lead off and take a [expletive] walk every once in a while. That would be a better alternative.

[Sammy Sofa]

There are so many things to question, that it isn't even worth worrying about anymore.

 

So the Ricketts clan went to Milwaukee to watch this collection of stiffs. Did they notice all the empty seats, because that is what Wrigley will look like soon. Highest average ticket prices in baseball for this. Supply and demand will switch places because people are not going to be paying premium prices to watch this crap.

 

Again, what do you want them to do right now? Firing Lou isn't going to magically make a mediocre team good. They're not sitting on a glut of prospects (or even just one) in the farm system that they can start playing who are likely to make the team better in the immediate future. The money isn't there yet to try and fix this with big FA signings. So again I ask, why do you keep making this statements as if there's anything they can do now that would actually make the team better? Just admit them you only want them to effectively ply you with more lip service, because that's all they can effectively do at this point. Sure, they could and should fire Hendry at some point, but again, no money to start rebuilding and why would you want them to start trading off their prospects for a team this old and flawed? Fixing this is going to take time.

[J.R.]

Fire Lou today, see a sane lineup card tomorrow. Good enough for me.

[Sammy Sofa]

Fire Lou today, see a sane lineup card tomorrow. Good enough for me.

 

Sure, but the poster I was replying to seems to be making like the Ricketts can make moves now to significantly reverse the course of this team. That's simply not the case. A "sane" lineup doesn't actually make this team good.

[J.R.]

Maybe, maybe not. We sure couldn't do any worse.

[Sammy Sofa]

Well, obviously they could.

[JonJayCutler]

Every time I bring up lebron and the bulls, and the resurgent hawks, and their collective impact on this joke of a team we call the cubs, I get mocked. Which I don't understand. People are going to reach the breaking point with these clowns sooner than later with better alternatives.

 

It's probably because a lot of people aren't Chicago sports fans for all 4 major sports. Personally, the Cubs are all I have until NFL Training Camp, so hearing things like "at least we have the Blackhawks" doesn't apply. I can't complain when it comes to hockey though, my team got the Cup in 03-04 and had 2 years to enjoy it because of the lockout. But I would trade all of that and more for a Cubs WS Title.

[Andy]

2 hits apiece for, frankly, the only 2 [expletive] reasons to watch this team, Colvin and Castro.

 

Two years ago seems like an eternity.

[Little Slide Rooter]

2 hits apiece for, frankly, the only 2 [expletive] reasons to watch this team, Colvin and Castro.

 

Two years ago seems like an eternity.

 

I think Colvin, Castro, Lilly, Dempster, Silva, Cashner, Marshall, and Marmol despite last night are the only Cubs Im not sick of looking at. Sometimes Soriano and Byrd.

[Sammy Sofa]

I hope you guys will be OK.

[Ballgame64]

There are so many things to question, that it isn't even worth worrying about anymore.

 

So the Ricketts clan went to Milwaukee to watch this collection of stiffs. Did they notice all the empty seats, because that is what Wrigley will look like soon. Highest average ticket prices in baseball for this. Supply and demand will switch places because people are not going to be paying premium prices to watch this crap.

 

Again, what do you want them to do right now? Firing Lou isn't going to magically make a mediocre team good. They're not sitting on a glut of prospects (or even just one) in the farm system that they can start playing who are likely to make the team better in the immediate future. The money isn't there yet to try and fix this with big FA signings. So again I ask, why do you keep making this statements as if there's anything they can do now that would actually make the team better? Just admit them you only want them to effectively ply you with more lip service, because that's all they can effectively do at this point. Sure, they could and should fire Hendry at some point, but again, no money to start rebuilding and why would you want them to start trading off their prospects for a team this old and flawed? Fixing this is going to take time.

 

No, I don't want lip service, I want action.

 

What do I want them to do right now? How about acting like winning is more important than anything. Oh wait, they are because the Cubs might win the BP Cup this weekend! :banghead:

 

You act like the Cubs/Ricketts don't have two nickels to rub together. If that is the case, why did they buy the team? And if they don't have the money now, I can't wait until revenue plunges so the Cubs can become the Pirates. Will the family have to spend a little more money than they planned? Maybe. But they might have to lose money now to make money in the future. If they were not willing to do so, knowing where things stood during the process to buy the team, why did they buy it?

 

The entire organization looks stupid when you keep a manager who continues to say "I don't know what to do", "I don't want to talk about it anymore", "What am I supposed to do?"...He is being paid $4 million to figure out what to do so if he can't, you fire him. You don't let the season go down the drain in June because you still owe him money. Will firing Lou make the team better? Who knows. But it seems keeping him only guarantees more fan discontentment and less fans in the stands if things don't turn around.

 

The last thing Ricketts should want is apathy. Look at TV ratings, radio ratings and attendance - you can even look at internet site traffic during games - people are just not interested in this team. But as a fan, if the owner doesn't seem interested in improving the team, why should I care anymore? Change for the sake of change might not be the answer, but I think Lou has earned his termination.

[Sammy Sofa]

No, I don't want lip service, I want action.

 

You DO want lip service, because the only action they can take right now would be little more than superficial moves. Yes, replacing Hendry would be a step in the right direction, but his replacement would be severely hindered by the current financial situation and how this team is currently made up in terms of contracts.

 

What do I want them to do right now? How about acting like winning is more important than anything. Oh wait, they are because the Cubs might win the BP Cup this weekend! :banghead:

 

So you don't want lip service, yet you want them to "act like winning is more important than anything?" That's basically the same thing.

 

You act like the Cubs/Ricketts don't have two nickels to rub together. If that is the case, why did they buy the team? And if they don't have the money now, I can't wait until revenue plunges so the Cubs can become the Pirates. Will the family have to spend a little more money than they planned? Maybe. But they might have to lose money now to make money in the future. If they were not willing to do so, knowing where things stood during the process to buy the team, why did they buy it?

 

I'm not saying they're broke. They're trying recoup some of the cost and also not make stupid business moves that would inflate the already inflated payroll of a very mediocre team. What exactly would be the point of adding another bloated contract to this group, and who the hell do you even expect them to spend money on right now?

 

The entire organization looks stupid when you keep a manager who continues to say "I don't know what to do", "I don't want to talk about it anymore", "What am I supposed to do?"...He is being paid $4 million to figure out what to do so if he can't, you fire him. You don't let the season go down the drain in June because you still owe him money. Will firing Lou make the team better? Who knows. But it seems keeping him only guarantees more fan discontentment and less fans in the stands if things don't turn around.

 

I can say with 110% certainty that firing Lou will not make this team significantly better. He's obviously not helping, but this team simply is not very good as a whole. A team without 3-4 hitters isn't going anywhere. And yeah, you could marginally improve things by doing something like putting Byrd and Soriano 3-4, but they're both too impatient and far too streaky to turn this team around.

 

The last thing Ricketts should want is apathy. Look at TV ratings, radio ratings and attendance - you can even look at internet site traffic during games - people are just not interested in this team. But as a fan, if the owner doesn't seem interested in improving the team, why should I care anymore? Change for the sake of change might not be the answer, but I think Lou has earned his termination.

 

Sure, but firing Lou doesn't fix anything you just listed. It doesn't make the team any better this year and it won't make people more interested in the team this year. If they want to fire Lou, great, he deserves it, but it's not going to do any of the things you seem to think/hope it would do.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Sammy Sofa

[Ding Dong Johnson]

You act like the Cubs/Ricketts don't have two nickels to rub together. If that is the case, why did they buy the team? And if they don't have the money now, I can't wait until revenue plunges so the Cubs can become the Pirates. Will the family have to spend a little more money than they planned? Maybe. But they might have to lose money now to make money in the future. If they were not willing to do so, knowing where things stood during the process to buy the team, why did they buy it?

Who in the world are they going to be able to get right now that will help turn this team around, not help cripple them financially, and not empty the farm system?