CubinNY

Paul O'Neil

It's never a good idea to be late for work, especially if you were just hired. I hope the Cubs at least warned him before firing him, for all intents. I also hope he learns something from this. At the same time, I hope the Cubs don't make too big of a deal out of it that they trade him for a box of cracker-jacks.

Don't buy into that at all. Lou has remained fluid through out the entire season, and may be one of the reasons the Cubs are even in the race in the first place. It could also be the reason why the Cubs aren't 5 or 6 games in first place instead of .5 too. We'll never know, but I'd compare Lou's tactis to Bobby Cox's and they don't look so good.

In whack-a-mole the only guy who wins is the guy collecting the quarters. Lou cannot win consistently by playing "the hot hand" or by trying what was needed yesterday. On a local scale luck rules, but on global scale talent does. The Cubs were extremely unlucky last night, but that doesn't mean it is a good tactic to play for luck. It's like gambler chasing after lost money. Lou needs to get the best eight position players in the lineup and keep them there.

Z had over 2 hours to be pissed off before his press conference. Plenty of time to blow off some steam, and say what Kip Wells said. Instead Z decided to go the different route. Please. Did he hurt your feelings? Please, its not about hurting my feelings its about being a Pro. I'm sure you know a lot about that. You and everyone else cannot have it both ways. Lots of people love the firey fist pumping Z after a K. Or the hustling Z who tried to get to every ball. Or the Z who says, "I have to give it up to God, becuase without him I'd be screwed". Well this is the same guy. He's emotional. The only difference is he's emotional after a loss instead of a win. You have to take the good with the bad.

Z had over 2 hours to be pissed off before his press conference. Plenty of time to blow off some steam, and say what Kip Wells said. Instead Z decided to go the different route. Please. Did he hurt your feelings?

One time I was pitching at half distance in the cage before a game and got a comebacker that just cleared the elbow of L screen. It hit me square in my right eye. The only thing that saved me was the balls were probably pretty soft (shag balls) and I was wearing plastic sunglasses. The glasses frame completely embedded in my eyebrow and down the side of cheeck and cut to the bone. I had 75 sttches and sitll have numbsness around my eye socket. And I was lucky.

Oh boy. Z not "shaping up" will be the glisseny drop of dew on top of the cherry, on top of the whipped cream, on top of the icing, on top of the crap cake that Hendry made. DISCLAIMER: I'M NOT BLAMING HENDRY FOR Z'S ACTIONS If by shaping up you mean pitch better, I think everyone agree with that. And I hope he does. I really don't get all this hate at all. Z has pitched poorly, he made a boneheaded baserunning mistake, and he was pissed off at the end of the game. He's human. He probably said some things he regrets, but nobody likes to get booed. People, imagine if 35 of your "friends" came to your job when you had a bad day or were sluffing off posting here and started ridiculing you. How would you feel about it? Z shouldn't have said what he said, but I think his feelings are a natural part of being human.

Pack a lunch and bring your crossword puzzles, Steve "do I really have to do this?" Traschel is on the bump. Should be a good one.

Boy I hope so, Loiza is just the sort of pitcher the Cubs struggle against. It may have helped them facing Williams today.

Edgar Renteria, were looking at you. I really hope he takes a beaning next year from Big Z.

I LOVE ME SOME MATT MURTON!

Or maybe he helps the Cubs more if he's on Milwaukee's mound?

Can the Cubs afford to let him start those 5 games? I'll take craps on that roll of the dice. The only way this won't bother me is if the Cubs actually manage to win when he starts or he never starts.

We ARE ND! They're the most over-hyped over-ranked team almost every year since Knut Rockney.

hahahaha! Lloyd Carr is finished. hahahaha!

Marquis could be a fairly good pitcher if he wouldn't overthrow his pitches.

Hey Chicago What do you say?

Charlie Marbles for closer!!!

Go Tech!

turns out that they did the right thing with DuBois No they didn't. How many times does this have to be gone over? Dubois didn't have to set the world on fire, all he had to do was play better than Todd Hollandsworth. The problem is that we don't know what would have happend becuase Dusty contiuned to trott out a crappy Hollandsworth. It's probably not just the Cubs, its all the MLB. In the NFL you don't see crappy vets given playing time over cheaper and probably just as productive younger players. Kendall is playing well but it's not a good bet that he will put up better numbers than Soto next year or the following. My prediciton if Hendry is still GM, Kendall 2 years @ 4mll/year. Dubois was terrible, he was terrible for the Cubs and for everybody else at the major league level. There just might be a reason he hasn't played in the major leagues since 2005, and it has nothing to do with the CUbs, Hendry, or Dusty. He wished he could have Hollandsworth's career. The Cubs did exactly the right thing by not playing him. It's not about a "career". It's about production, cost, and the future. Hollandswroth/Kendall are/were at the end of their carrer and not likely to get better and much likely to get worse. Nobody knows what the future holds for Soto and at the time for DuBois. But again, all of that is beside the point, somewhat. Hollandsworth was terrible in 2004, DuBois just had to be slightly better than terrible. But he got the Murton treatement (or has Murton got the DuBois treatment?) so we don't know what he would have done given a little consistent playing time. May you be talking about 2005 instead of 2004? Hollandsworth was not terrible in 2004-far from it. He put up a .318/.392/.547 line. In fact, Hollandsworth's 2004 was probably the reason he was taking time away from Dubois in 2005. No I'm talking about 2005. By the end of the year both were gone. I mistyped the date in the original post. Thanks for the catch.

turns out that they did the right thing with DuBois No they didn't. How many times does this have to be gone over? Dubois didn't have to set the world on fire, all he had to do was play better than Todd Hollandsworth. The problem is that we don't know what would have happend becuase Dusty contiuned to trott out a crappy Hollandsworth. It's probably not just the Cubs, its all the MLB. In the NFL you don't see crappy vets given playing time over cheaper and probably just as productive younger players. Kendall is playing well but it's not a good bet that he will put up better numbers than Soto next year or the following. My prediciton if Hendry is still GM, Kendall 2 years @ 4mll/year. Dubois was terrible, he was terrible for the Cubs and for everybody else at the major league level. There just might be a reason he hasn't played in the major leagues since 2005, and it has nothing to do with the CUbs, Hendry, or Dusty. He wished he could have Hollandsworth's career. The Cubs did exactly the right thing by not playing him. It's not about a "career". It's about production, cost, and the future. Hollandswroth/Kendall are/were at the end of their carrer and not likely to get better and much likely to get worse. Nobody knows what the future holds for Soto and at the time for DuBois. But again, all of that is beside the point, somewhat. Hollandsworth was terrible in 2005, DuBois just had to be slightly better than terrible. But he got the Murton treatement (or has Murton got the DuBois treatment?) so we don't know what he would have done given a little consistent playing time.

First Cedeno is 24. Second, he had a decent year at AA the year before. He also was the MVP of the Winter League he played in. Third, he was not a "top hitter" in the PCL. The Cubs seem to have no idea how to develop a player. The problem with Cubs is that their offense is so bad that they need every position to contribute substantially. In other words, Ronny's troubles at the plate are magnified by the overall badness of the Cubs.

turns out that they did the right thing with DuBois No they didn't. How many times does this have to be gone over? Dubois didn't have to set the world on fire, all he had to do was play better than Todd Hollandsworth. The problem is that we don't know what would have happend becuase Dusty contiuned to trott out a crappy Hollandsworth. It's probably not just the Cubs, its all the MLB. In the NFL you don't see crappy vets given playing time over cheaper and probably just as productive younger players. Kendall is playing well but it's not a good bet that he will put up better numbers than Soto next year or the following. My prediciton if Hendry is still GM, Kendall 2 years @ 4mll/year.

Steve hasn't seen mediocre for a couple of years. It's not about who the Cubs gave up, it's about who they got. I'd rather they gave Cherry and Moore to Baltimore and gotten back a signed autograph of Cal Ripken and Jim Palmer to put in the Diner in CF.