CubinNY

So does Brantly. The old cowboy likes his burbone

He's dealing.

Yea, the Reds' crew are terrible. Did you catch the part earlier where they called Cubs fans the "most delusional fans" and also were bashing Santo for his optimism as well? Yes. I think it is Joe Nuxall

Yea Cubs. I'm listening on XM. I can't get anyting to work with MLB. #$!$!$!@#$!@@#$!$!@#%^%^%@E!@#### Yea Cesear. Listening to the Reds broadcaster and I can't tell what the hell is going on except that the Cubs scored on a botched bunt.

According to this, Memphis is Cardinal, Braves, and Reds market. Looks like you're SOL. So that means I'll never get to use MLB.TV to watch Cub games? Not if they're playing the Cards, Braves, or Reds. The same thing happens to me with Astros and Rangers. That is just insane. The Reds are not on here on any TV service. We have Fox Sports South and CSS. Fox Sports south shows Braves games. Right now the Braves and Phillies are on. CSS shows no MLB games. I am going to swear :-#

According to this, Memphis is Cardinal, Braves, and Reds market. Looks like you're SOL. So that means I'll never get to use MLB.TV to watch Cub games?

Hey, can anyone explain these blackout restrictions to me? I tried watching the game on mlb.tv and they said I couldn't b/c the game was blackedout. wtf? I live in memphis tn.

Can someone please explain the blackout restrictions to me? I tried to watch the Cubs/Reds game on MLB.TV and they said I couldn't because of blackout restrictions. What does that mean? They aren't on any TV chanels in my area???? I am pissed. I've paid $100 for the Cubs on mlb.tv and I cannot watch them?

I could've sworn that team went to a World Series. ;) Yes, but look at the fallout the next season with Kent gone. If you had an entire team full of altercations like that it wouldn't be something easily overcome. Or more of the Sammy Sosa boombox things going on. Egos can play a lot in all sports, baseball included. Did it really matter on the field? The next year they won 93 games and won their division. And the Cubs with Alou's crazy antics and Sosa's boombox were a much better team in 2004 than without them in 2005. But look at it on a large scale. We're talking about isolated examples. Image that kind of a fireworks display all year long with huge egos and pouty stars. I don't think there would be the ability to overcome it despite their talent. That's just flat out wrong. Baseball is different. I just saw a talk show where Tim McCarver and Rolly Fingers were talking about the A's of the early 70s. In five seasons from 1971 to 1975 the As won five divisions, three pennants and three WS in a row (1972-1974) Fingers said there were daily fights in the clubhouse. Reggie Jackson and Sal Bando use to have a fight a week. Bill North hated Bando and Jackson. Joe Rudi hated everyone. And everyone hated Catfish Hunter. They had a saying, "25 guys, 25 cabs".

I agree with that. But one thing Cuban has done is to hire people who know what they are doing. He's hired statisticians for the Maverics and he seems to understand the value of data. There is no guarentes for success, but I'll take a numbers guy any day. It seems to me that MacPhail and Hendry have been given a mandate to be competitive from the Tribune company. Or at least that is my hypothesis based on the way they talk. It's always about competitiveness, never about winning. This year seems to be different though.

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/smokies_baseball/article/0,1406,KNS_329_5462490,00.html Fox can hit. Are they going to find a position for him? He could be a valuable trading chip, especially for an American league team.

Anyone who buys the Cubs will be A) A Cubs fan B) Someone who wants the Cubs because they are profitable No prospective owner will care whether Soriano's OBP slips. If anything, he is a benefit because he is one of the most marketable, popular players in the league and will most likely remain so for the next few years. Soriano's popularity will disappear very quickly if he can't hack it in CF and puts up an OPS slightly above .800, as he did in TX for the 2 years before 2006. Then he'll be a barely above average corner OF who's owed another $126 mil. That's not something a buyer would consider attractive. Let's get real. A bad year from Soriano isn't going to deter people from buying the Cubs. No, but it drove Trib stock price down for a day or two. :D

the jean shorts are fantastic. Gotta love how his shirt appears to be tied through a loop on his jean shorts. And is that a bag of candy in his back right pocket? That picture is just perfect. Look at all the people in the background. That color of red does not look good on anyone.

It would but Kentucky and West Virginia suck too much.

what? era+ from '03-'05 123 227 (227???!!!!) 181 That's a pretty poor stat to judge a reliever. Even so, he had three good years as a "closer" but what does that mean?

Too many pitches per inning and too many two inning saves on multiple days and he wasn't that good to begin with. How do you figure? I figure that becuase most releif pitchers are failed starters, as is Lidge.

I just finished watching the game on DVR. Harang pitched a damn good ball game. He pitched ahead all game. There were only a few real bad ABs (Murton's K, and some of Izturis's, but that is to be expected). Overall, not a bad start to the season. I'm disapointed but I saw some bright spots too.

Too many pitches per inning and too many two inning saves on multiple days and he wasn't that good to begin with.

UGH I'll predict that Lou isn't going to like the sound of that. You said it. Now, how do the Lilly, Marquis, and Derosa contracts look? I don't like that Hendry waits until the last minute to get this stuff done. He's had all winter. I've never been a big supporter of JH, but I don't think he can take all the blame here. He's had a history of getting guys signed right before the season or shortly thereafter, and it usually works in the Cubs' favor. If he had gotten Z signed for $80m/5 years, almost everyone on this board would have been thrilled. So the fact that the Trib gets sold and that puts spending on hold shouldn't mean Hendry wasn't doing the right thing by waiting to sign Z. There is/was no reason to wait until the end of ST to get the deal worked out. I don't give two hoots about Hendry's track record. If the owners look at the current payroll and say "no more spending" the sunk costs of Lilly, Marquis, and DeRossa look bad when they could add up to or help with the costs of signing Z. The sunk cost had absolutely nothing to do with it. The ownership froze spending because the assests are in the process of being sold-the payroll could have been 90 million instead of 110 million and they still would have done the same thing. If the ownership had said no more spending because of too high of a payroll, they would have done so well before now. Which is why waiting until the last minute to get things done is not a good way to do business. Hendry and McDonough had to know something like this would happen and also had to have some knowledge of the process and how long it would take. There is no way Hendry doesn't get the blame for this if Z doesn't get signed, sorry.

UGH I'll predict that Lou isn't going to like the sound of that. You said it. Now, how do the Lilly, Marquis, and Derosa contracts look? I don't like that Hendry waits until the last minute to get this stuff done. He's had all winter. I've never been a big supporter of JH, but I don't think he can take all the blame here. He's had a history of getting guys signed right before the season or shortly thereafter, and it usually works in the Cubs' favor. If he had gotten Z signed for $80m/5 years, almost everyone on this board would have been thrilled. So the fact that the Trib gets sold and that puts spending on hold shouldn't mean Hendry wasn't doing the right thing by waiting to sign Z. There is/was no reason to wait until the end of ST to get the deal worked out. I don't give two hoots about Hendry's track record. If the owners look at the current payroll and say "no more spending" the sunk costs of Lilly, Marquis, and DeRossa look bad when they could add up to or help with the costs of signing Z.

Really? I thought his love for the Cardinals was clearly shining through, right down to the "oh no! oh no..." when the Cards grounded into a DP. I thought it was some of both. Joe was giving a lot of love to players of both squads last night-everything was the best or most exciting on both squads-it's your typical national announcer. Joe only gives love to one person, himself. The rest is just nonsensical talk. At one point when talking about the Mets he said something like: "They'll beat the bad clubs becuase they can hit. But when they play the good clubs they'll have to pitch." What the hell does that mean? Not that I agree with it, but he means that against most of the league the Mets lineup can beat up on any average or less starter. However, a good club, especially in the playoffs will have a couple good to great pitchers that can shut them down, and the Mets weakness at starting pitcher will kill them then. That's based on the assumption that a great pitcher can shut down great hitters on a consistent basis, which I'm not sure I agree with. I really don't want to get into this but it is pure nonsense, just like almost everything else that comes out of his mouth. Lousy pitching is lousy pitching, it doesn't matter.

Really? I thought his love for the Cardinals was clearly shining through, right down to the "oh no! oh no..." when the Cards grounded into a DP. I thought it was some of both. Joe was giving a lot of love to players of both squads last night-everything was the best or most exciting on both squads-it's your typical national announcer. Joe only gives love to one person, himself. The rest is just nonsensical talk. At one point when talking about the Mets he said something like: "They'll beat the bad clubs becuase they can hit. But when they play the good clubs they'll have to pitch." What the hell does that mean?

He's played a little bit Yeah I know. That is why I said earlier in the thread that it is crazy to expect this guy to stick with a major league club after playing only 15 minor league games the past 3 years. And Hamilton made the roster. :-#

UGH I'll predict that Lou isn't going to like the sound of that. You said it. Now, how do the Lilly, Marquis, and Derosa contracts look? I don't like that Hendry waits until the last minute to get this stuff done. He's had all winter.

Colangelo would have to be considered the front runner. He has the connections and has allies with current owners. Cuban would be my best choice. George Will called TLR a genius which is enough for me not to want him. Will would have to be the front man, like Bush was when "owned" the Rangers. I don't think he has enough dough.