CubinNY

I went with Slappy. We use to make fun of him when he was with the Marlins. He's sucks so bad it hurts. Then the Cubs traded three decent pitching prospects for him and his bloated contract just so Jimmy could have his "lead-off" man. Then he doesn't even have the decency to strike out every once in a while or grow his awsome pornstache back. He's a one tool player.

The best way to do it would probably do a poll of all the top picks(including Price, Porcello, guys who may get taken in front of us). Then do another poll with the top guy from the previous poll excluded, then repeat that to emulate our Top 3 preference. Price will almost certainly be the top choice... everyone knows I'm a big fan of Wieters, and even I'd go with Price if he's available. I'm guessing Wieters would be #2 after him, and then either Porcello or Vitters. It will almost be better for the the board (less heated banter) if Wieters is gone at #2. If Price and Wieters are off the choices become a little more equal. Regardless, I don't think the Cubs take Wieters, its the smart move.

If it was a "players only" meeting who do B&B know what went on?

A more fitting punishment would be to not suspend Lou and make him watch this sorry bunch of slugs play baseball. Having to manage the Cubs is punishment enough. This is like a get out of jail free card.

If the team was winning, that % would be microscopic. Yeah, nobody was complaining in 2003. I agree to an extent, but there is always going to be people upset. In 2003 it was Wood/Prior pitch counts, and probably rightfully so. But I still feel a good majority of those folks would have complained had Baker shut them down. "Those people" refer to nobody specifc, just trying to think back to the general themes of discussion from that year. My opinon is that no manager (or coach) could have done well with this team. Lou has managed to take a poorly contructed team and get less than would be expected. What was expected by me was an around .500 team.

I'll just pile on here and add Cliff Floyd to the list. Hendry recruited him when he was at Creighten I'm sure there are others.

You forgot "don't worry, be happy"

Zambrano and Barrett in 2 fights The Cubs lose for 5 straight nights Don't Worry Be Happy When the other team hits 3 doubles It may look like the start of troubles But, don't worry Be happy do, do, do, do, do, do, do, de, do don't worry be happy!

Jeff needs to do something different or this could be the worst 7+ million dollars spent in history of minor league baseball.

Off the top of my head Cap Anson Dave Kingman George Bell Frank Chance Glen Allen Hill Edit: Bill Buckner- He once stepped on Gary Carter's catcher mask on purpose after scoring just so he could pop Carter in his permed mug. All-Time for any team Ty Cobb Albert Bell

No, he doesn't. Not even close, really. Are we really arguing over a below average player and an even more below average player? You are very correct there. Not really. VORP/WARP in '06 Matt Murton: 16.2/4.5 Angel Pagan: -2.7/1.0 Murton sucks as an outfielder and can't drive in runs, what do miss about those facts? BTW, it is 2007 and Murton has done NOTHING. Your posts never disapoint in their utter mendacity. First, you tried to compare Murton to Pagan. Second, he's received sporadic playing time. It's hard to do ANYTHING when you are sitting on the bench.

This is a completely lame standard to hold Barrett to. Yes, professionalism went out with red leather jackets. Give me a break. I'm not even sure what point you are trying to make here. You don't like Michael Barrett, we get it. The fight was almost entirely Zambrano's fault. It's pretty obvious to everyone. Why does Barrett have to sit there and take a tongue lashing from one of the worst regular starting pitchers in baseball this year? Zambrano was a complete joke today. Imagine the nerve of him to tell another player to "keep their head in the game." What a delusional maniac. Good point. I consider myself a professional. I usually act such at work. But if a colleague walked into my classroom, called me a horrible teacher in front of my students, and insulted my intelligence while I was aware that he had deficiencies of his own, I'd probably point those out at that time. While it might not be the most professional way to handle the situation, I'm also likely not the one to be blamed either. Then you're not acting professional.

This is a completely lame standard to hold Barrett to. Yes, professionalism went out with red leather jackets. Give me a break. I'm not even sure what point you are trying to make here. You don't like Michael Barrett, we get it. The fight was almost entirely Zambrano's fault. It's pretty obvious to everyone. Why does Barrett have to sit there and take a tongue lashing from one of the worst regular starting pitchers in baseball this year? Zambrano was a complete joke today. Imagine the nerve of him to tell another player to "keep their head in the game." What a delusional maniac. My point is that it seems to me that many people are making Barrett the victim here. Zambrano is not the first Cub pitcher to have a problem with Barrett. Prior and Maddux both have had problems with him in the past. Z is/was stupid. Z should not have done what he did. Barrett on the other hand instigated the altercation by pointing to the freaking scoreboard after he made two stupid mistakes on one play. It's seems to me that both are in the wrong here.

This is a completely lame standard to hold Barrett to. Yes, professionalism went out with red leather jackets. Give me a break.

Wasn't there an incident with Murton earlier this year where Zambrano showed him up? I can't recall what exactly happened, but I do vaguely remember something taking place. I can remember one with Murton and one with Walker. I think there have been others as well. Zambrano, as much as I've liked him, is a punk. His bravado is fun and entertaining when he's going well, like his predicting the Cubs will win 110 games or his claiming he'll win the Cy. But when things go bad, he's an immature jackass. Barrett's an emotional player as well. We've seen this with Oswalt and AJ. The difference is Barrett is usually taking on the other team and not his own. That behavior may not be good, but it's world's better than pouting and blaming your own teammates. Zambrano was acting like a baby and Barrett called him on his prima donna attitude. Maybe if Zambrano started throwing the ball better and quit trying to act like Kent Tekulve he'd get more outs this year. I basically agree with you here. Barrett should not have started round 2, if indeed he did. I'm withholding judgement on round 2 until I know more. While Barrett went into the clubhouse, right now we don't know what happened to re-ignite things. Barrett may have gone in there to continue the fight, or he may have gone there to ask Z wtf was his problem. I don't know...and right now none of us do. We might never know. But from what I saw on the tape, it was clear this was more a cause of Zambrano acting like a complete prima donna ass, and Barrett simply pointing that out. Don't excuse Barrett. He's an ass that can't catch and hase gotten into altercations before. There is no excuse for following Zambrano back into the lockerroom. None. I've said this before, Barrett is a terrible catcher. Just terrible. He hops around behind the plate, sets up late or sometimes not at all, and gets crossed up far too often with too many pitchers. Zambrano shouldn't have started this whole thing. IMO, he is the most to blame. However, all Barrett had to do was walk away. Instead, he pointed to the scoreboard. Then he goes back into the locker for whatever reason. He's an ass.

Sometimes you have to own it. First Barrett calls for a pitch and gets crossed up Then he makes a really stupid play to compound the already stupid cross up. I looked to me like Z was telling Barrett to use his head.

Right. I takes 2 to make a fight. Z was wrong for talking to Barrett. Barrett was wrong for point to the scoreboard. They're both dunces. This goes in the lowlights of the 100 year drought. Yea Cobs!

Its about time he said it! The thing is though, he's got every single outfielder playing out of positon except Soriano. He's got Theriot everywhere. Obviously the guys need to catch the ball. However, aside from Barrett's bone headed playes most of the errors have been physical not mental. I think I'll assign blame thusly 33% to the players 33% to Lou for playing them out of position 33% to Hendry for putting together a team of players that don't fit The Cubs are less than the sum of their parts, sadly.

No, that would be the smart thing to do. Very un-Cubs-like

Back and to the left, back and to the left, back... and to the left.

And Joe Girardi would have been the perfect skipper for that process. Too bad he wasn't available. Oh, wait. Joe Girardi sucks. I'm sick of the "Joe would have been better". He's an old school, bunt-the-man over, double-switching moron. He's already ruined one of the more promising pitchers in baseball. Let him damage some other team's players. Lou might suck, Girardi swallows.

He threw in the mid 90's in high school. I doubt he'll be able to reach that again, but the Padres have to salvage something. Was this the worst #1 pick in professional sports over the last 10 years? Depends on how you view it. In terms of talent, there's a good argument that he is. However, compared to the contracts #1 overall picks in other sports compared to him, I'd say probably not. Some other candidates to consider... Kwame Brown (NBA) Michael Olowokandi (NBA) Bryan Bullington (MLB) Josh Hamilton (MLB, Arguable) David Carr (NFL) Courtney Brown (NFL) Tim Couch (NFL) If Ryan Leaf and Tony Mandrich weren't taken as the second pick they would be neck and neck in this debate and everyone else would be a distant third.

As per usual he's right on the money. He also gets in some nice digs at our favorite GM http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/cubs.asp

JP Richardi, Paul Depodesta Please no re-treads. By that I mean A Baseball Man who knows The Game.

Do you know what sucks? In relation to the Chicago Cubs National League Ball Club, the draft is all we have to look forward to this year. Even September call-ups can't get me fired up.