5/16 Cubs (Zambrano) @ Reds (Bailey) 6:10 PM CT WCIU

[BCVM22]

Was that a DeJesus send or did Sori just run through the stop sign?

[TruffleShuffle]

Aramis needs to pick it up, SOON

Or maybe we just need to consider what really happened after 2009. I know there were injuries last season, but I still find it suspicious when someone suddenly drops from a consistent .900+ OPS to the low .700's in what should be the prime of his career.

 

he's like 5 years past the average player's peak (27)

[Sammy Sofa]

The Cubs are playing at a 90 win pace with their opening day rotation. If the fill-ins were even just as bad as last year's back of the rotation, the Cubs would be 2 games out of first, 1 out in the loss column entering tonight.

That's nice and everything, but every team should plan on having some missed time from their starting pitchers, and the Cubs probably more so than any other. If the fill-ins suck, that's on the team just as much as if the regular guys do.

 

The Cubs should plan for pitching injuries more so than any other team? Why?

 

And you don't think the Cubs wouldn't have signed guys like Davis with that in mind? It was just bad timing that two guys went down after their first starts of the year. Few teams are going to be able to handle that.

I'm not denying that it was tough luck. I just think the whole 'we're good with our team intact' thing doesn't hold much water because a MLB pitching rotation is extremely unlikely to stay intact for a whole year.

 

Right, and like I said, bringing in guys like Davis likely would have happened anyway. It was just unfortunate that you get the one-two punch of two guys going down after their first starts when few teams are prepared for such a thing.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Aramis needs to pick it up, SOON

Or maybe we just need to consider what really happened after 2009. I know there were injuries last season, but I still find it suspicious when someone suddenly drops from a consistent .900+ OPS to the low .700's in what should be the prime of his career.

 

Prime?

31 and 32 years old? Yeah, those should still be prime years for a hitter. Maybe the tail of the prime, but close enough.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Aramis needs to pick it up, SOON

Or maybe we just need to consider what really happened after 2009. I know there were injuries last season, but I still find it suspicious when someone suddenly drops from a consistent .900+ OPS to the low .700's in what should be the prime of his career.

 

Yeah, his destroyed shoulder was an elaborate front.

 

Yup. he actually injured himself during a [expletive] fight gone awry.

[MADD_DOG_31]

fire the whole staff

 

NO EXCUSE to send him

 

wow

 

totally agree...what can it hurt

[Sammy Sofa]

The Cubs are playing at a 90 win pace with their opening day rotation. If the fill-ins were even just as bad as last year's back of the rotation, the Cubs would be 2 games out of first, 1 out in the loss column entering tonight.

 

well that's a very optimistic way of looking at things, considering that wells and cashner pitched only one game each and won them, so you're projecting a very small sample size over a very long season. nonetheless, i admire the mental gymnastics required to make it seem like the team with the fourth-worst run differential in baseball is a bad break or two away from being very good.

I'm really hoping we hit on this draft pick, we can't afford to keep crapping out on top 10 picks.

 

There's a HUGE middle ground. Again, producing useful everyday players would be a huge improvement. They don't to make the leap from cranking out mostly [expletive] to superstars to make very different, very better teams. And the top 10 is hardly the only place where superstars come from.

Edited May 17, 2011 by Sammy Sofa

[UMFan83]

How bad does it have to get for Hendry to be gone?

 

Wait, what? He's survived far, far worse than this one game.

No I meant this season.

This is 2005. He survived 2006

The point is, how many shitty season can he survive.

[TruffleShuffle]

fire the whole staff

 

NO EXCUSE to send him

 

wow

 

totally agree...what can it hurt

 

yeah i can't see any downside in firing the entire coaching staff of 10 people or whatever

[illiniguy]

The Cubs are playing at a 90 win pace with their opening day rotation. If the fill-ins were even just as bad as last year's back of the rotation, the Cubs would be 2 games out of first, 1 out in the loss column entering tonight.

 

well that's a very optimistic way of looking at things, considering that wells and cashner pitched only one game each and won them, so you're projecting a very small sample size over a very long season. nonetheless, i admire the mental gymnastics required to make it seem like the team with the fourth-worst run differential in baseball is a bad break or two away from being very good.

I'm really hoping we hit on this draft pick, we can't afford to keep crapping out on top 10 picks.

 

There's a HUGE middle ground. Again, producing useful everyday players would be a huge improvement. They don't to make the leap from cranking out mostly [expletive] to superstars to make very different, very better teams.

I'm aware, but we really need to hit on a star at some point.

[Guest]

Aramis needs to pick it up, SOON

Or maybe we just need to consider what really happened after 2009. I know there were injuries last season, but I still find it suspicious when someone suddenly drops from a consistent .900+ OPS to the low .700's in what should be the prime of his career.

 

Yeah, his destroyed shoulder was an elaborate front.

 

Not to mention that age 32 is hardly the prime of a player's career.

[Sammy Sofa]

The Cubs are playing at a 90 win pace with their opening day rotation. If the fill-ins were even just as bad as last year's back of the rotation, the Cubs would be 2 games out of first, 1 out in the loss column entering tonight.

 

well that's a very optimistic way of looking at things, considering that wells and cashner pitched only one game each and won them, so you're projecting a very small sample size over a very long season. nonetheless, i admire the mental gymnastics required to make it seem like the team with the fourth-worst run differential in baseball is a bad break or two away from being very good.

I'm really hoping we hit on this draft pick, we can't afford to keep crapping out on top 10 picks.

 

There's a HUGE middle ground. Again, producing useful everyday players would be a huge improvement. They don't to make the leap from cranking out mostly [expletive] to superstars to make very different, very better teams.

I'm aware, but we really need to hit on a star at some point.

 

Why do they NEED to? I'm seriously asking this. Why not just at least several good players in short order?

[Little Slide Rooter]

The Cubs are playing at a 90 win pace with their opening day rotation. If the fill-ins were even just as bad as last year's back of the rotation, the Cubs would be 2 games out of first, 1 out in the loss column entering tonight.

 

well that's a very optimistic way of looking at things, considering that wells and cashner pitched only one game each and won them, so you're projecting a very small sample size over a very long season. nonetheless, i admire the mental gymnastics required to make it seem like the team with the fourth-worst run differential in baseball is a bad break or two away from being very good.

I'm really hoping we hit on this draft pick, we can't afford to keep crapping out on top 10 picks.

 

There's a HUGE middle ground. Again, producing useful everyday players would be a huge improvement. They don't to make the leap from cranking out mostly [expletive] to superstars to make very different, very better teams. And the top 10 is hardly the only place where superstars come from.

 

I agree that its great to be able to crank out useful everyday players, but it would be nice for once to produce a Ryan Braun, Joey Votto, or Tim Lincecum. Yeah, there was Prior, but that didnt work out so well in the end.

[MADD_DOG_31]

fire the whole staff

 

NO EXCUSE to send him

 

wow

 

totally agree...what can it hurt

 

yeah i can't see any downside in firing the entire coaching staff of 10 people or whatever

 

need to fire them now before they corrupt these young guys any more....worst staff in baseball hands down

[illiniguy]

Why do they NEED to? I'm seriously asking this. Why not just at least several good players in short order?

Because in order to win a title at some point we are probably gonna have to have a star. Teams are doing a better job of signing those type guys through their prime years. Thus it's gonna be harder for us to go out and buy one.

[Sammy Sofa]

The Cubs are playing at a 90 win pace with their opening day rotation. If the fill-ins were even just as bad as last year's back of the rotation, the Cubs would be 2 games out of first, 1 out in the loss column entering tonight.

 

well that's a very optimistic way of looking at things, considering that wells and cashner pitched only one game each and won them, so you're projecting a very small sample size over a very long season. nonetheless, i admire the mental gymnastics required to make it seem like the team with the fourth-worst run differential in baseball is a bad break or two away from being very good.

I'm really hoping we hit on this draft pick, we can't afford to keep crapping out on top 10 picks.

 

There's a HUGE middle ground. Again, producing useful everyday players would be a huge improvement. They don't to make the leap from cranking out mostly [expletive] to superstars to make very different, very better teams. And the top 10 is hardly the only place where superstars come from.

 

I agree that its great to be able to crank out useful everyday players, but it would be nice for once to produce a Ryan Braun, Joey Votto, or Tim Lincecum. Yeah, there was Prior, but that didnt work out so well in the end.

 

Or a Starlin Castro?

[Sammy Sofa]

Why do they NEED to? I'm seriously asking this. Why not just at least several good players in short order?

Because in order to win a title at some point we are probably gonna have to have a star. Teams are doing a better job of signing those type guys through their prime years. Thus it's gonna be harder for us to go out and buy one.

 

Why? The Cubs are about to have a ton of money to spend starting after this year. Develop good players form the farm (and it looks like they've produced a star at SS right now) and sign smart impact FA.

[Guest]

The Cubs are playing at a 90 win pace with their opening day rotation. If the fill-ins were even just as bad as last year's back of the rotation, the Cubs would be 2 games out of first, 1 out in the loss column entering tonight.

 

well that's a very optimistic way of looking at things, considering that wells and cashner pitched only one game each and won them, so you're projecting a very small sample size over a very long season. nonetheless, i admire the mental gymnastics required to make it seem like the team with the fourth-worst run differential in baseball is a bad break or two away from being very good.

 

It's not really mental gymnastics to conclude that even bad fill ins should be better than 2-9 with a run differential of -31 in the absence of Cashner and Wells. Again, with merely "bad" performance from the back of the rotation, this team is around .500 with a comparable run differential.

[USSoccer]

Aramis needs to pick it up, SOON

Or maybe we just need to consider what really happened after 2009. I know there were injuries last season, but I still find it suspicious when someone suddenly drops from a consistent .900+ OPS to the low .700's in what should be the prime of his career.

 

Yeah, his destroyed shoulder was an elaborate front.

 

Not to mention that age 32 is hardly the prime of a player's career.

 

It's gonna be pathetic when people look back and bitch about Aramis after he's gone when he's been, by rights, the best offensive player on the team in the last 7 years.

 

DAMN HIM FOR GETTING OLD AND HAVING A WRECKED ARM

[Little Slide Rooter]

I agree that its great to be able to crank out useful everyday players, but it would be nice for once to produce a Ryan Braun, Joey Votto, or Tim Lincecum. Yeah, there was Prior, but that didnt work out so well in the end.

 

Or a Starlin Castro?

 

Time will tell. Im leaning toward Castro being a great player, but I also thought that Corey Patterson would be the next Rickey Henderson, so who knows.The point is, with Byrd, Ramirez, Barney, Soriano, Pena, Fukudome, and Castro, our team is full of good players, but we sorely lack a star. If you look at all the teams who perenially contend, they have at least 1.

[Sammy Sofa]

I agree that its great to be able to crank out useful everyday players, but it would be nice for once to produce a Ryan Braun, Joey Votto, or Tim Lincecum. Yeah, there was Prior, but that didnt work out so well in the end.

 

Or a Starlin Castro?

 

Time will tell. Im leaning toward Castro being a great player, but I also thought that Corey Patterson would be the next Rickey Henderson, so who knows.The point is, with Byrd, Ramirez, Barney, Soriano, Pena, Fukudome, and Castro, our team is full of good players, but we sorely lack a star. If you look at all the teams who perenially contend, they have at least 1.

 

So sign a star. Superstars don't HAVE to be developed internally. Yes, obviously, it would be ideal, but it's not the end of the world if the Cubs' farm system doesn't produce another star for several years outside of Castro but is able to produce several good, everyday players.

[Schwarber Fan]

I can't wait till the day that Cordero's junkballing finally hurts him

 

dude never has ANYTHING out there.

[woodchip2153]

Dusty using his closer for the 4th night in a row with a three run lead. I don't miss him that's for sure.

[rynefan]

This team is terrible.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I agree that its great to be able to crank out useful everyday players, but it would be nice for once to produce a Ryan Braun, Joey Votto, or Tim Lincecum. Yeah, there was Prior, but that didnt work out so well in the end.

 

Or a Starlin Castro?

 

Time will tell. Im leaning toward Castro being a great player, but I also thought that Corey Patterson would be the next Rickey Henderson, so who knows.The point is, with Byrd, Ramirez, Barney, Soriano, Pena, Fukudome, and Castro, our team is full of good players, but we sorely lack a star. If you look at all the teams who perenially contend, they have at least 1.

 

So sign a star. Superstars don't HAVE to be developed internally. Yes, obviously, it would be ideal, but it's not the end of the world if the Cubs' farm system doesn't produce another star for several years outside of Castro but is able to produce several good, everyday players.

 

And Im very much on board with that. This offseason would be the perfect time to strike with Pujols or Fielder, both of whom would be perfect fits for the Cubs, considering our needs and avaialble money. However, if that doesnt happen, its back to the drawing board unless they pull off some kind of blockbuster trade. As for producing a star, I still really wish we could do that for once, and hopefully Castro could be that guy. It would be nice to just follow a guy from the minors all the way to the top, an opportunity that we as Cubs have never really had, at least in recet years.