CubinNY

There is no way Philly can get anything near equal value for Abreu. If Philly continues to slide out of contention (WC too) by June. I'd see what Philly wants. I'd give them Jones and pay at least half his salary. I also think that he could become a free agent at the end of the year if he is traded in the middle of a multi-year contract, but I'm not sure about that. I also give them a pick of any two of Guzman, Marshall, and Hill. Jones for half price (for one year if I'm correct) and two cheap #2/3 starters is more than enough for Abreu plus his huge contract. If they want Pie, no deal. Pierre won't play for the Cubs next year, if he continues at his current level of production.

A day off after burning up the pen and looking really bad might not be a bad idea. Ask Crash Davis if you don't believe me. :)

They also have one hell of an offense. It will be even better when Jr. gets back. I wouldn't write them off just yet.

Come on rain!

Phil Jackson has been giving books to his players for years. I don't see anything wrong with Dusty showing Barrett some books to make his point. I think many of you are missing the importance of this. You have a 25 man roster. If one player is unavailable it absolutely impacts that game. For the sake of argument, Barrett unavailable impacts the following: Mabry is now your backup catcher and unavailable early in the game Aramis up in a critical situation in the middle innings vs. a tiring pitcher now becomes Aramis vs. the opponent's ace reliever (since there's no RH pop on the bench hence nothing to save him for) Your pitchers have to bat because of a short bench, allowing the opposition to pitch around the eigth place hitter You may not agree but I think these are huge advantages for the opposition and will affect the game. Kirk Gibson wasn't available for the rest of the World Series after his HR off Eckersley - do you think LaRussa would have liked to know that? This is not a big deal, but everybody knew Barrett wasn't going to play and was unavailable to play. All one had to do was read any one of a number of local newspapers before Barrett said anything. They were all reporting he would be down for a couple of days. IMO, it is pretty stupid of Dusty to be upset about it, if he is upset. I think the media might be making too much out of this.

His average is up to .275 now, but as someone else mentioned, he only has the one walk and isn't getting a whole lot of extra base hits or anything. that sounds awfully similar to another cf ive seen a lot of this year sample size. spiny iguana.

More heat? Do tell...

First Dempster, then Williamson. I hope Hedry can make it 3 for 3 on reclamation projects with Miller. Chad Fox? Not Hendry's fault, Fox was doing a great job before he became the 2nd of 3 Cubs pitchers to be injured by a line drive. Fox was not injuried by a line drive. He was pitched until his arm fell off. Almost literally.

Yes. How are those wings?

Stupid. They dude use to play for the Cubs, they should no not run on him.

Maddux needs to ge the ball down.

Forgive me for not being clear. By "cheer" i meant "laud his praises," not the literal cheering at the ballpark. It's not my style to boo players and of course when at the ballpark I'll cheer for him as I will for any other player. My point was to say: "Look, I'm not anti-Pierre. I want him to succeed, just like all Cubs players. In fact, he's seems like a tremendous guy with a wonderful work ethic. I also really enjoy watching him on the basepaths. So I'm not criticizing his play for simply the sake of doing so. And when/if he turns it around I'll be the first to admit that I was mistaken about him." ...But in the meantime, isn't it okay to point out that he's really struggling? And isn't it okay to also point out that he's struggled now since 2004? And isn't it okay to express concern that maybe...just maybe...he is and will continue to be a liability for the team? Because he is right now. His play is hurting the Cubs. We really need him to play better if we are going to survive this time without Lee, Prior, and Wood. He needs to pick it up, and pick it up fast. If he doesn't, I would have no problem with a Pie callup to take his place. If Pierre doesn't get on base more frequently, he is a liability. He simply doesn't do anything else well enough to help the team in other ways. Well written.

Proper Name: Jose Alberto Pujols Born: January 16, 1980 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Height: 6-3 Weight: 225 lbs. Age: 26 Pronounced: POO-holes I still don't believe this. It has nothing to do with his extremely receeding hairline, either. It has to do with the skin of his face. If that man is 26, it has been a hard 26. Ditto that. I don't see how he's a day under 29... Someone should check his rings or do some carbon dating on a liver sample. In all seriousness, I think he is whatever age he says he is. But does it really matter? He's had about the best 5 year begining of a career ever.

I see a trend.

Isn't Jenny Finch marrieged to Daigle? You might want to, um, check her out.

I realistically agree. I was hoping for a .500 record after the Brewers series and even if they get swept, Vinshu forbid, they will be one game over.

It's not a small amount of games. He was bad last year, bad this spring, and bad thru 20 games in the reg season. This is getting a little long to be a slump. It's starting to look like a decline. And his defense sucks. I thought spring numbers didn't matter. What about last year? Do you just excuse that? What about how lost he looks this year? Do you just write that off? I really hope that JP can turn it around and get his OBP up above .350. I'm skeptical he can do it though. I have a lot more confidence in Pie's abilities than Juan Pierre's. Of course, I'm also more confident in Pie than Jacques Jones as well. So no matter which guy Pie replaces, we're still stuck with a bad outfielder. Yeah, I write those off. It pales in comparison to all of his good years, and he too young to be washed up or declining. Actually no. His whole game falls to pieces if he loses any speed, so he is the type of player who may experience a rapid decline. His speed looks fine to me. Nobody has given an explanation why we should expect him to keep having a low average and low obp other than the fact he is in a prolonged stretch of it. Explain to me why he isn't going to play like he did for years before. And to RyCubsfan, I'm not looking for SLG from the leadoff man. I'll give you a quick one. Grass. The grass at Pro-Player is lightning fast. Not so much at Wrigley.

EDIT: This was posted after the Marlins series and at a time when some where complaining that people were overly pessimistic about the Cubs. In the interest of being fair and balanced I'll just post the numbers and let you sort it out. The Cubs had 13 hits in three games and won two of them. As Pat said, "most of the time you'd be lucky to win one if you hit like that."

This wonderful news.

90-93 wins willl get the Wildcard. 95 will get the division. The possible exception is the NL West where a win total in the 80s might do it. The AL is stacked though.

Woah woah. Are you saying those that criticise the Cubs organizations are rational and those that don't are irrational? I think he/she means rational in the philosophical sense. It is a clash of world views. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rationalism-empiricism/ Exactly. I do not have a philosophy background either, but as far as my limited knowledge brings me, you are still saying that those who are critical of the Cubs organization are the only ones being rational and those that don't criticize, are unreasoned drones. nonsense. No. A rationalist beleives there is more to something than what one can get through their senses (see, hear, touch, taste or smell). You could call these people "anti-stat" or "pro-chemistry" or "pro-speed kills" if you like. An emperists believes almost the opposite. But that's the opposite of the correllation Caryatid was making. Not that I think he's saying people are mindless drones, but it seems someone has the words mixed up(hint: it's probably me). I agree. I put an edit in the above post. I don't think it is a black and white case though.

Woah woah. Are you saying those that criticise the Cubs organizations are rational and those that don't are irrational? I think he/she means rational in the philosophical sense. It is a clash of world views. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rationalism-empiricism/ Exactly. I do not have a philosophy background either, but as far as my limited knowledge brings me, you are still saying that those who are critical of the Cubs organization are the only ones being rational and those that don't criticize, are unreasoned drones. nonsense. No. A rationalist beleives there is more to something than what one can get through their senses (see, hear, touch, taste or smell). You could call these people "anti-stat" or "pro-chemistry" or "pro-speed kills" if you like. An emperists believes almost the opposite. But I would say that Caryatid has it backwards in some respects.

People never get banned for disagreeing. They get banned for acting like idiots. In your opinion, should Gunned get banned for the post he made? Gunned got what he deserved, KurtEvans. Go photoshop something and LEAVE US ALONE! Adam Dunn only eats meat that's died of natural causes because he doesn't wanna hurt any of God's creatures. That's documented, people. See now you're not discussing anything, you're just mocking the board as a whole, some of whom really don't care for Adam Dunn. You're right. I'm sorry. I'll be good. MIZZOU fans usually have a better sense of humor, though. I'm gonna go read the member guidelines right now. My nonsense ends HERE. Seriously. See now you are just trolling. Is it so you can go to Cards talk or some other borad and say you got in trouble here?