CubinNY

It's not just this year. He's been mediocre to bad for awhile.

Not as much as I hate Notre Dame, and I don't even really care about college sports. That's how crazy irrational hatred can be. It's crazy and I know it.

That's pretty faulty logic. Actually it is really faulty. A GM and a manager's job is to put their team in the best position to win. If one doesn't look at the underlying reasons why they are winning, and more importantly refuses to question the basic assumptions of a strategy, winning will not long last. As fans it doesn't matter what we think, but when the numbers even out, what Hendry and Lou have done will matter. Hendry and Lou has been extremely lucky that this division is populated with some of the worst decision makers in baseball. You state it's faulty logic then build your own strawman argument to support the point. The role players are not the "underlying reasons" this team is winning. I don't believe they are even in the top 5 reasons and I never stated anything in my post to make it seem like that was case. So it does you no good to use that as your one supporting point to why my logic is faulty. This team wins because the 3-6 spots in the lineup are good; sustained and dependable good. It wins because the ace is a reliable stud. It wins because the bullpen has a show-stopping lead holder in Marmol. It wins because of depth: a 30-40 HR guy like Soriano isn't even considered in the top two hitters on the team. It wins because middle starters are good enough to put out quality outtings most of the time. Role players come and go on every team. When they are hot, they earn playing time. When they are not, managers usually let a battle ensue, often including a young guy that has potential in that battle. If the young guy gets a chance and performs, he plays more. If you're going to claim my role player logic is faulty, you need a much better argument. And make sure the point you're debunking is one I actually made, and not one you created for me. Strawman :stickman:

Are you serious? Of course it makes a difference when a player dominates on your arch rival rather than some random baseball team. Most stupid posts don't deserve a reply but the above is so beyond stupid it demands one. You wouldn't want Fat Albert Pujols?

That ended up being a lot of puns without intention. I hate this move not because of personal feelings towards Edmonds. Heck, if the Cubs somehow traded for Rick Ankiel to play CF, I'd be thrilled. I hate this move because what the Cubs can reasonably expect from Edmonds this year is worse than what the Cubs can reasonably expect with Pie. Why the Cubs don't see anything in Pie is beyond insane. I agree. However, the hate of Edmonds was overshadowing what a stupid move this is. That's all I was trying to point out. The fact that the washed up vet is Edmonds is coincidental, but it makes it much worse.

He a proven veteran who just knows how to win. Jim is a gamer, he's just a... ball player. Those are all the cliches I could come up with.

He has? For the last month, he's been playing as his career numbers indicate...decent against lefties, horrible against righties. YES. That is pretty much the definition of a role player. His role: hit against LHP.

If he were bad at hitting a baseball he'd be Manny being Manny doing something else! He'd be Manny being Manny at Tito's Carwash in the Bronx.

OK, I'm not much for coming down on the board as the board isn't really a person. However, here's the deal: I freaking hated Jim Edmonds, mostly because he was a show-off, but he was good. Now he probably isn't good, but he'll be playing for the Cubs. Boy does that suck (no pun intended). If he sucks (no pun intended) lets all pile on JIM HENDRY (no pun intended) not Jim Edmonds. Edmonds didn't hold a gun to Hendry's head (or more likely a dozen crispy creams to his mouth. See, I'm piling on already). Edmonds is a mostly innocent party to this travishamockery. So, let's all get behind Edmonds (no pun intended) and give him a break. I hope he admires a dozen HRs and really sticks it to the Cardinals (no pun intended). There, I said it.

The wife, cocker spaniels, and I are headed to beautiful Prattville AL to spend the weekend with the in-laws. We're going to catch the Smokies and the Biscuits in not-so-beautiful Montgomery. Who do I watch on the Biscuits?

That's awesome!

That's pretty faulty logic. Actually it is really faulty. A GM and a manager's job is to put their team in the best position to win. If one doesn't look at the underlying reasons why they are winning, and more importantly refuses to question the basic assumptions of a strategy, winning will not long last. As fans it doesn't matter what we think, but when the numbers even out, what Hendry and Lou have done will matter. Hendry and Lou has been extremely lucky that this division is populated with some of the worst decision makers in baseball.

Does anyone know if MLB EI will pick up this game?

By who?

how are they not? his previous worst for the past 5 seasons was .305. his FIP's actually as good as it's ever been. Probably has to do with his HR:9 and his line drive (against) %. He's missing badly in the zone. Sometimes a high BABIP tells a true story. The true story is that Marquis sucks, he's not unlucky. Edit: Sorry didn't read Brinoch's post.

I'm gonna go kill myself. They should make sure he gets the cold shower in the home dugout. I don't think he's going to like playing in Chicago very much. Hopefully he doesn't play very much, but something tells me that won't be the case. Meanwhile the Iowa Cubs are going to rake! I can't wait until they come to Memphis. Dumb.

This is where the Cubs come back. Marquis pitched a lot worse than the score of tonight's game. He's damn lucky the Padres cannot hit. He was missing in the zone all night. Blech!.

Bat confidence?

You do a great job setting the stage for the games. Well done, #1 starter.

Indeed. He'd be a terrible pick up at this point in his career. I hope this is more speculation than sourced material. Where's Bruce Miles?

The Cubs are for real. I am starting to believe in this team more than I've believed in any other Cub team. If Lou can get the pitching figured out they should be a 90+ win team.

I wonder what sharkfan50 or whatever he/she is called thinks about the recent developments.

A new park isn't necessay for the Marlins? In what dimension? It has a horrible location, it's not designed at all for baseball and it's brutal sitting there for 3 hours or more in the Florida weather. Contrary to current attendance, they do have a reasonably strong fanbase down there. They don't have a fan base at all and Dolphin Stadium is in the best location for easy access to both Dade and Broward County. However, the park isn't built for baseball, but that's not what stops people from going to games. Loria is just a terrible owner from the perspective of the fans. He's the reason why no one goes to games. Edit: I've told this story before, but in 2001 I was driving home from work and listening to the Marlins. I can't remember who they were playing but it was late in the year and they were losing. In between the banter of Boog Shambi and Len you could hear "Less go Jankees. Less go Jankees". Boog got kind of pissed and said he was embarrassed.

In the last 15 years, Loria has more World Series titles than any other owner besides Steinbrenner. Loria has one world series title. By accident. He was sent to Florida to torpedo that team the way he was set up to torpedo Montreal for contraction's sake. Larry Beinfest screwed everything up. Right, kind of. D. Wayne Huizinga (sp?) won the first title. I don't think Loria was offered the franchise to undermine it, I think the owners like him. They don't care because MLB is a private club and he's one of the more popular members (regardless of what RedIvyCub thinks she/he knows). If he were going to move it would have happened already. Now that they have a stadium deal in place, they won't be moving. The deal, btw, is a really bad one for the fans. Not only are they going to pay $395 million dollars The Orange Bowl area is one of the worst crime ridden slums in MIami, or at least it use to be when I lived there. Little Havana is controlled by corrupt politicians. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if their attendance figures don't significantly increase after they get their own park. Not only that, but the team gets to lease the field tax free!

Let me preface this by saying that I think Cuban would be a great choice. However, defending his ability to run a business really doesn't do much to further his cause to non-believers, especially in the Cubs case. The man is going to make an obscene amount of money with the Cubs no matter what he does; the question is, is he going to run his business like Jeffrey Loria or like Steinbrenner? And by like Jeffrey Loria, I would mean keep the payroll the same and not drastically change the team. Loria makes a ton of money by selling his young players high at the cost of the team's (continued) success. My finance major friend says he's the best owner in baseball because of his business savvy. I think he's an a-hole. There could be any number of different ways to define the best owner in baseball, and profitability is certainly one. Most fans would use some variation of wins and losses/playoff appearances/world series titles as the yardstick. The Marlins don't measure up too well on that scale, even after having won the WS in each of their two playoff seasons. Regardless, it's pretty hard to make a case for a guy being the best owner in baseball when his team is perennially at or near the bottom of the league in attendance (MLB ranks since 2001: 29th, 29th, 28th, 26th, 28th, 30th, 30th, 30th so far in '08). Think of it this way. Let's say you have a publicly traded company that is not particularly well-run. It's making a profit, but it's not performing up to its potential. However, the employees are treated well with plenty of vacation time and generous bonuses. Long-time customers get contracts for their goods at below market prices. One day, someone with a boatload of money comes around and launches a hostile acquisition of the company. He buys out all the shareholders at $2b total, takes the company private, fires the Board of Directors, and puts his own people in place. Over the next three years, the guy who bought the company proceeds to cut costs in a huge way. He fires employees. He cuts down on bonuses. Subsidiaries are sold off to competitors. The price of the goods sold gets jacked up twofold. Regulatory compliance costs (OSHA, Environmental, etc.) are cut to the point where the company is still in compliance, but just barely. Now the company is making a great profit. The company's value has increased from $2b to $5b. However, at the same time, employees, clients, and long-time customers are miserable. After carving out a path of destruction, the guy sells the company off at $5b just before the company begins to suffer a downward turn that leads into an eventual collapse due to all of the things I outlined above. If you think of it from a business perspective, the guy who bought out that company at $2b was a great businessman. He made a 150% return on his investment, which is phenomenal. The company is also making a much better profit than when he first acquired it. You can say that his business savvy paid off. However, in a larger sense, the guy completely killed the company. He alienated customers. He fired employees. He did a lot of really bad things that eventually led to the company's downfall. He made a terrific profit, but at the same time, he wrecked what once was a pretty good thing for a lot of people. He didn't care about the little people he crushed in carrying out his business plan. On a personal level, the man acted in a rather disgusting way. Maybe he's a good businessman in the sense that he got a great return on his investment, but there's something to be said for the consequences of his actions. Wow! what a great post.