CubinNY

How is that stronger than "you know what I'm willing to offer, call me back when you're ready to deal"? I want to tell my family that I have let them down and apologize for posting in this thread. I have violated your trust and for that I am truly sorry. ------ I think all this is speculation. The Cubs and Os might already have a basic deal in place, but the Os want to wait until ST is close to over to decide what they need in terms of players. On the other hand maybe talks haven't been serious at all and the media are making wild guess because that is what ST is for.

That's what they are proposing, kind of. What you are suggesting is extortion.

Zell will be forever known as the man that killed the goose that laid the golden eggs. However, he won't care because he will have milked as much money out of his 18 to 24 months of ownership as was humanly possible. Let the next guy figure out how to make a profit.

Yes, early and often.

He looks high all the time. He's like Jim Breuer.

If that's the batting order, I look for Aramis to have an MVP caliber season.

That's the standard. We want a GM who is clearly not the worst in baseball. .500 here we come! Where's the beer?

There's a joke in there somewhere.

Yea, that's a bunch of b.s. A handful of sporadic ABs punctuated by weeks of sitting on the bench between them. He got 177 AB's total. shttp://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/gamelog?statsId=7704&year=2007 Those were split over mostly two windows. If you look at the game log, he got called up and started at least 10 of his first 12 games in April (4 or more AB), and only once in those first 12 games didn't play. With a .250 OBP he got benched, and returned to Iowa. He got recalled again in June, and started almost every one of his first 20 20 games, routinely getting 4 or 5 AB. (The record shows two games with 2 AB and two games with 3 AB.) 79 AB in 20 games, that's full time opportunity. After a while, having gone hitless in five of his last 8 games, and with a .275 OBP and a .227 average, he lost his full-time job. Some sporadic bench play, back to Iowa. When he got recalled in August, he was again given a shot as the regular starter but this time a much shorter window, 4 straight starts. AFter going hitless in two of the last three, Lou bagged the idea it was sporadic defensive replacement usage with only a couple of starts the rest of the way. Basically 10 start, 20 start, an 4 start windows in April, June, and August. Each in concentrated packages, and each following full-time work at Iowa. So it's not like his opportunities involved using him when he was cold off the bench, other than the few scattered AB's during the last 6 weeks. The June window was really the best opportunity. If he'd have done well in April, that would have been great. But by June, they'd abandoned the Soriano-in-center experiment, it was Pie's to take and hold. Are 10 and 20 start windows too short? To adequately judge a guy long-term, obviously not. But that's long enough where a guy who's hitting at Iowa could keep hitting and go from there. I understand that a 20-start window is short; pressured; and even the best of hitters go through 20-game periods where they struggle. I expect it will be longer this spring. But I don't know how many outfielders are allowed to go as the regular starter with OBP in the .275-range. I think Pie will make it a lot easier on everybody if he can keep his OBP on the right side of .300 early on. Then he won't need to worry about how quickly Lou will pull the plug. Check out Pedroia's first 20 games. It wasn't very pretty. Also, Pie was not a "supported" starter. I think he was pressing, trying to do more then he should have been when he played because he knew his leash was short. I hope Pie comes out on fire and wins over Lou. If Lou supported Pie like he does Theriot, I'd be happy. Or Jose Reyes. I think he walked once or twice in his first 100 PAs.

Yea, that's a bunch of b.s. A handful of sporadic ABs punctuated by weeks of sitting on the bench between them.

i think the cubs will be thrilled if he puts up numbers like that. the problem will be if he puts up a line like, say, .215/.271/.333. If they leave him alone he will be fine.

I'm not understanding the expectation level. Do they expect him to be good, great, or an all-star? It's almost unbelievable. If he hits .270/.335/.450 in his first year is he automatically a bust?

Sun shines on a dog's behind once in a blue moon. :scratch:

You should shoot him an email truffle and see what he thinks about the computers getting it exactly right. He said exactly what he thought about it right in the article. Sorry, I didn't read the article.

You should shoot him an email truffle and see what he thinks about the computers getting it exactly right.

There is a very fine line to attacking pitches early in the count and a series of 4-3 ground outs. I think Dunn is pretty set and doesn't need to change a thing. Anyway, he'll either be in Boston or someplace else that appreciates his skills before too long. Votto? He'll be another one that wasn't any good anyway thus validating through the most faulty of faulty logic the idea that Dusty doesn't get any good young players. In the meantime, a once up and coming franchise will be relegated to 4th, 5th, or 6th place until Dusty-isms become passe´

He's a BS maestro. In this postmodern world the less sense one makes, the more one makes sense. Or so it seems.

I think it is satire, but I'm not sure b/c it is written so poorly.

What's really amazing to me is that someone could be in baseball for their entire adult life and not understand a fundamental principle of the game.

At one point, when it looked like he couldn't reach an agreement with the Pads, it looked like Greene might be available. Link? That seemed more to be a nsbb pipe dream more than anything else. You don't need a link. Greene said he didn't want a long term contract with the Pads. The speculation is that the Cub might want him. Greene said he didn't want to sign a long term contract with the Padres because he wanted to be on the East Coast near his family. Chicago is closer, but it doesn't really qualify. Also, even if Greene wasn't planning to sign a deal with San Diego, that still doesn't mean the Padres would want to trade him. They want to win this year, and trading Greene is counterproductive to that. Whatever, that's not what my reply was about.

In the vet's office today I was reading last summer's Forbes. It was the one with the 400 richest people in the US. William Wrigley, Jr or III (I can't remember which) has a fortune of $2.3 Billion. If the family still owns the company I think they could pay for the naming rights.

At one point, when it looked like he couldn't reach an agreement with the Pads, it looked like Greene might be available. Link? That seemed more to be a nsbb pipe dream more than anything else. You don't need a link. Greene said he didn't want a long term contract with the Pads. The speculation is that the Cub might want him.

There is no way to do that except to tear down most of Wrigley. They may be able to rip out the seats for better sight lines but they're isn't much they can do about the obstructed seats unless they tear down the entire upper deck. I suppose they could leave the field and the outfield bleachers and the 100 level seats and tear up everything else, but that would probably cost nearly as much (and maybe more) than just building a new stadium.

I don't know about your conspiracy theory, but I basically agree with your sentiment. I think they (Zell) are banking on somebody wanting to own the Cubs very badly and at most any cost. I think they will find few takers for the Cubs if they sell Wrigley separately. Once the new owner is in place you can bet on some cost cutting measures. Maybe in the long run it will make the Cubs leaner and smarter in terms of baseball operations, but in the short term there will be a lot of disgruntled Cub fans.

lol, is this even considered basketball? It's basketball, just different than the pro game. After Alston crossed over and became afairly successful NBA player, they kind of earned more cred, imo. I think it has become what the globetrotters were, a nice alternative to structured basketball. I'm more of a Slamball guy. Probably just me. BASEketball for me. 1, 2, 3, 4, your moma is a dirty ho!