Look at the bright side

[Backtobanks]

If the Cubs continue playing like this, they will have a better shot at all of those August & September waiver deals. Maybe, they could find someone to help for next year cuz they won't need it for this year.

[treebird]

plus next year's amateur draft is more exciting with ever passing loss

 

THATS RIGHT MILWAUKEE WE PICK BEFORE YOU

[Transmogrified Tiger]

plus next year's amateur draft is more exciting with ever passing loss

 

THATS RIGHT MILWAUKEE WE PICK BEFORE YOU

 

Minnesota thanks us in advance for when we sign Jacque Jones for 3/25.

[treebird]

plus next year's amateur draft is more exciting with ever passing loss

 

THATS RIGHT MILWAUKEE WE PICK BEFORE YOU

 

Minnesota thanks us in advance for when we sign Jacque Jones for 3/25.

 

not if we get down to one of the first 15 picks!

[Transmogrified Tiger]

plus next year's amateur draft is more exciting with ever passing loss

 

THATS RIGHT MILWAUKEE WE PICK BEFORE YOU

 

Minnesota thanks us in advance for when we sign Jacque Jones for 3/25.

 

not if we get down to one of the first 15 picks!

 

Wow, that really is a bright side! We're 13th right now!

[OleMissCub]

i can't find a bright side. This team sucks soooo hard.

[treebird]

plus next year's amateur draft is more exciting with ever passing loss

 

THATS RIGHT MILWAUKEE WE PICK BEFORE YOU

 

Minnesota thanks us in advance for when we sign Jacque Jones for 3/25.

 

not if we get down to one of the first 15 picks!

 

Wow, that really is a bright side! We're 13th right now!

 

Really? I guess I should've known since we're under .500, but I was still thinking we'd be around 18-19 at the moment. Stupid Cobs.

[YearofDaCubs]

plus next year's amateur draft is more exciting with ever passing loss

 

THATS RIGHT MILWAUKEE WE PICK BEFORE YOU

SWEET!!

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Since we're not catching Houston, finishing below the Pirates and Brewers could cost Dusty his job.

 

I'll never hope for a loss, but maybe that's a bright side. This team needs to some serious remaking and it starts with the skipper.

[MajikRat]

Plus it will make those Sunday afternoon tough decisions that much easier - Cubs or Bears???? Bears

[YearofDaCubs]

Plus it will make those Sunday afternoon tough decisions that much easier - Cubs or Bears???? Bears

Good thing football season is right around the corner.

[Illini Iceman]

Plus it will make those Sunday afternoon tough decisions that much easier - Cubs or Bears???? Bears

Good thing football season is right around the corner.

 

Which will happen first? Cedric Benson signing a deal or Cpatt recalled from Iowa?

[YearofDaCubs]

Plus it will make those Sunday afternoon tough decisions that much easier - Cubs or Bears???? Bears

Good thing football season is right around the corner.

 

Which will happen first? Cedric Benson signing a deal or Cpatt recalled from Iowa?

Haha, that's a tough one but I'm going to say Cedric to sign first only because the pressure is really on him now.

[rabidawg900]

This thread calms me.

[neely crenshaw]

if we finish below the pirates(our class aaaa farm club) i gotta believe dusty and hendry are gone. last year we had serious injuries but we had far less damaging ones this year. i can't see the tribunw being very happy letting hendry spend 100 mil to finish below pittsburgh. their team is paid less than our pitchers!

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

The real danger in finishing this far back in the division is that the Tribune may put the reigns on payroll again. They may decide to pocket much of the salary coming off the books rather than re-invest it into the team. Instead of team with a 100 million payroll next season, we could be looking at a team with a 70-75 million payroll.

[Cubzfan64]

The real danger in finishing this far back in the division is that the Tribune may put the reigns on payroll again. They may decide to pocket much of the salary coming off the books rather than re-invest it into the team. Instead of team with a 100 million payroll next season, we could be looking at a team with a 70-75 million payroll.

 

If that's the case Vance (and I'm not so sure you aren't right), it would be a real slap in the face to Cub fans everywhere. We've (the fans) been given a taste of what it would be like to be a playoff team the past few seasons and it would be disgraceful to fall back now.

 

The ONLY excuse I would allow for us not improving the ballclub seriously for 2006 is that we're going to see how some of our youngsters do and get rid of some contracts at the end of 2006 in order to make a big push for 2007+, but no team will ever actually state that's what they are doing.

 

The 2 things I've been most disappointed in with the last 2 seasons are both tied together:

 

1. Ownership not properly addressing the glaring need for this team to have better offensive balance - speed & OBP + power hitters - we just have too many of the same kind of hitters - it makes it too easy on the opposing pitcher to approach each hitter the same way.

 

2. The entire offensive philosophy of not making the opposing pitcher work for the outs - we swing at far too many pitcher's pitches and don't make them work.

 

There's so many deficiencies in this team that it's maddening to even try to address them all.

[treebird]

The real danger in finishing this far back in the division is that the Tribune may put the reigns on payroll again. They may decide to pocket much of the salary coming off the books rather than re-invest it into the team. Instead of team with a 100 million payroll next season, we could be looking at a team with a 70-75 million payroll.

 

for what it's worth, hoops has mentioned this as a possibility.

[CDBears1259]

The real danger in finishing this far back in the division is that the Tribune may put the reigns on payroll again. They may decide to pocket much of the salary coming off the books rather than re-invest it into the team. Instead of team with a 100 million payroll next season, we could be looking at a team with a 70-75 million payroll.

 

While I understand what your saying and agree that I wouldn't want them to tighten up the purse strings, having a low payroll does not automatically make for a less competitive team, just as having a high payroll doesn't automatically guarantee a WS trophy type team (as clearly evidenced by the 2005 version of the Cubs). Unless there is some championship title awarded for highest payroll, I don't care if the team spends $50 million. And yes I realize that the more $$ spent the more likely it is that the team is built of quality players.

Edited August 7, 2005 by CDBears1259

[AAApittsburgh]

The real danger in finishing this far back in the division is that the Tribune may put the reigns on payroll again. They may decide to pocket much of the salary coming off the books rather than re-invest it into the team. Instead of team with a 100 million payroll next season, we could be looking at a team with a 70-75 million payroll.

 

While I understand what your saying and agree that I wouldn't want them to tighten up the purse strings, having a low payroll does not automatically make for a less competitive team, just as having a high payroll doesn't automatically guarantee a WS trophy type team (see the 2005 version of the Cubs).

No, but it guarantees Prior and Z won't be around for very long.

[10man]

Having a lower payroll might actually be an advantage for the Cubs as the team will be forced to rely more on youngsters. Wait! Check that. If Dusty is still our manager next year then the team will rely on cheap sucky veterans like Holly, Neifi and Macias.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

The real danger in finishing this far back in the division is that the Tribune may put the reigns on payroll again. They may decide to pocket much of the salary coming off the books rather than re-invest it into the team. Instead of team with a 100 million payroll next season, we could be looking at a team with a 70-75 million payroll.

 

While I understand what your saying and agree that I wouldn't want them to tighten up the purse strings, having a low payroll does not automatically make for a less competitive team, just as having a high payroll doesn't automatically guarantee a WS trophy type team (see the 2005 version of the Cubs).

No, but it guarantees Prior and Z won't be around for very long.

 

Just because the payroll goes down one year doesn't mean it won't return to where it was. As I've said before, the Cubs could drop payroll and still have enough freed money to spend on improving the team.

[CDBears1259]

The real danger in finishing this far back in the division is that the Tribune may put the reigns on payroll again. They may decide to pocket much of the salary coming off the books rather than re-invest it into the team. Instead of team with a 100 million payroll next season, we could be looking at a team with a 70-75 million payroll.

 

While I understand what your saying and agree that I wouldn't want them to tighten up the purse strings, having a low payroll does not automatically make for a less competitive team, just as having a high payroll doesn't automatically guarantee a WS trophy type team (see the 2005 version of the Cubs).

No, but it guarantees Prior and Z won't be around for very long.

Lower payroll doesn't guarantee that all in my opinion. It just means that if the payroll was lowered that they would have to get a bigger percentage of the total. The only problem then is finding good young and cheap talent. Which could be a big problem obviously.

[treebird]

The real danger in finishing this far back in the division is that the Tribune may put the reigns on payroll again. They may decide to pocket much of the salary coming off the books rather than re-invest it into the team. Instead of team with a 100 million payroll next season, we could be looking at a team with a 70-75 million payroll.

 

While I understand what your saying and agree that I wouldn't want them to tighten up the purse strings, having a low payroll does not automatically make for a less competitive team, just as having a high payroll doesn't automatically guarantee a WS trophy type team (see the 2005 version of the Cubs).

No, but it guarantees Prior and Z won't be around for very long.

Lower payroll doesn't guarantee that all in my opinion. It just means that if the payroll was lowered that they would have to get a bigger percentage of the total. The only problem then is finding good young and cheap talent. Which could be a big problem obviously.

 

good young and cheap talent that our manager will use properly/at all

[Backtobanks]

Where would our payroll be next year with Murton, Pie, Patterson, and someone like Kearns as our OF's. Add to that D. Lee, Walker, Cedeno, and Aram with a sub in the $1 million range. Barrett & Blanco catching a pitching staff of Wood, Prior, Zambrano, Maddux, Williams, Ohman, Dempster, Wuertz, Welly, with another 2 pitchers at a total of $5 million. We could bring back Nomar at about $4 million and a Hollandsworth/Burnitz/Grieve/Stairs kind of sub/pinchhitter for a few more million. After getting out from under Sosa's contract, Nomar's contract (or greatly reduced), maybe Burnitz', and Remmy's, we could field a pretty competitive team for a whole lot less money. Who knows, we might save money on Baker's salary too. Also, I think that a lot depends on the rest of this year with Maddux because he might decide that he doesn't want to tarnish his reputation by being a below-average pitcher for another year. Maybe he will decide to take some kind of settlement and retire.