CubinNY

But flexible! and they're fast! and they can catch the ball. Hitting, now that is a horse of a different color.

Maddux never was nor has he ever been a nibbler. Maddux is a control pitcher who is able to out think a batter. Maddux is a rare breed of pitcher who never has high pitch counts, actually he the exact opposite of a nibbler.

Both Cin and Oak are outliers. That doesn't change the facts. But your points are well taken. Nevertheless being a big market/big dollar team is no excuse for poor draft philosphy and poor player development. And I think it is quite clear the Cubs "philosophy" translates to wasted investments and a poor record.

When Jose was with the Yankees he was afraid to throw a strike. He was a power pitcher who tried to nibble. Last year he changed his approach. We'll see if he reverts back to form. --------------- Not to hijack the thread but Rusch was the same way (although he doesn't have the pitches of Jose), nibble, nibble, nibble. He became more successful when he started going after guys. Last year Glavin stopped nibbling after the ASB and he was much more effective in the second half. I hate nibblers.

Can we get a pic of Harang so we can get a before and after shot of the beating he will be taking?

NL West: San Fransisco (if Bonds plays); LA if not Central: Milwaukee East: Philadelphia WC: Atlanta AL West: Oakland Central: Minnesota East: Toronto WC: Boston NLC: Milwaukee ALC: Oakland WSC: Milwaukee CubinNY goes to Las Vegas and collects $6,000.

I wonder what swayed Dusty to choose Walker.

Ah, hell. I'll join in on the fun, too. Care to wager on that? I don't wager, ever. Well........I *did* bet on the Marlins on games 6 and 7 and won about 1,500 bucks. Almost never. It's a feeling, based on past history with how our starter's injuries tend to go. You should be banned from all things Cubs for the rest of your life. :twisted: :wink: I don't feel guilty about it, though I understand people's reaction to it. It was based on a hunch. No, the money didn't help soften the blow. It paid my rent instead :wink: Did you ever see The Bad lieutenant?

I actually don't want to hear anything about Prior until they announce when his first start in a real game will be. I would just as soon not know anything untill then. I don't think Wood will make almost all of his starts but I am not willing to put a bet on it.

I think Slappy's head is skinnier, he can't even keep his hat on. I bet he wears a 6 1/4.

What? So as long as somebody is getting paid to do something, it justifies doing it? You aren't making any sense here. Wojo has the right to call Farns an idiot, and to even go beyond that in the way he calls him an idiot. But others have a right to call him a hack for how he goes about doing his job. Go ahead and criticize what he writes. I could care less about that. But don't criticize him for writing. There is a distinct difference between the two. Obviously you don't understand the difference. I am not a hypocrite because I'm not criticizing either of you for voicing your opinions. I don't agree with what you are saying and am voicing my opinion on that. Wojo is getting paid to write a column and his job description requires him to write his opinion on the current happenings of the sports world. He is getting paid to do that. As I said, if you don't like him then don't read him. It's not very complicated. Where in the wide wide world of sports has anyone said he shouldn't be allowed to write a sports column? Wholy smokes, I am having a hard time with this one.

Was it Farnsworth who refused to be interviewed unless he was compensated? I just assumed that it was Sammy, but now that I think about it, neither were quoted in Cubs Nation. Yes it was Farnsworth.

In the interest of not over quoting scocer10k, If wrong were a country your posts in this thead would be it's capitol. There is nothing hypocritical here, except what your posts. The Hack has I right to write whatever he wants But I don't have a right to criticize his writing That is your argument here, you know. Yours, HypocriteinNY

No credible journalist would write "If stupid were a country George W Bush would be it's capitol" and expect to keep his/her job. What little I've watched of Rome I haven't like so I don't watch, nor do I listen. That is the thing, if you are a sportswriter you are also a journalist. If you want any credability you stick to what is on the field not what is between someone's ears. Here is what the Richard could have wrote: After Farnsworth was roughed up yet again during the failed run to the wild card he probably sealed his fate with the Cubs when he had to go on the DL becuase he kicked a fan. No not the ones who were swearing at him. The one who attempt to cool him down after failing on the field. It probably wasn't the smartest thing he ever dd and may have cost him a lot of money. No columnist may have said it exactly like that, but many have said something along those lines. Do you even remember the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and how often Bush was ripped for supposedly not responding quick enough? Have you ever heard of political cartoons? Sure they don't actually say Bush is an idiot in words, but they damn sure imply it. There is a thing in this country called freedom of speech. I don't have the freedom to call you an idiot on this board because I would get kicked off. But if I wrote a book, I could call you an idiot. That's what Wojo did. He wrote a book about the Cubs and his personal opinion about the Farnsworth injury was that Farnsworth was an idiot. If you don't like it, you don't have to read him. But don't criticize Wojo for writing what he feels in his book or in a column because he has earned the right to do so. He has earned nothing but his hack status. Sure he has the right to say whatever he wants and I have the right to criticize his writing. Freedom of speech works both ways, does it not? Yes freedom of speech does work both ways. But you can't criticize him for saying whatever he wants to. However, you can criticize his opinion. There is a difference between the two. I can criticize anything I want. That is what freedom of speech is all about. Sportswriters get off easy b/c most people don't think sports are important enough to really care about. Most of the opinon columns in sports are nothing more than a personal soap box on which to try and demonstrate how witty the writer is, and not about what is going on on the field. Next time you think about read an op-ed piece in the Sun Times and then compare it to something Mike Downey or Jay Marrotti writes in one of thier columns. You will see a difference.

No credible journalist would write "If stupid were a country George W Bush would be it's capitol" and expect to keep his/her job. What little I've watched of Rome I haven't like so I don't watch, nor do I listen. That is the thing, if you are a sportswriter you are also a journalist. If you want any credability you stick to what is on the field not what is between someone's ears. Here is what the Richard could have wrote: After Farnsworth was roughed up yet again during the failed run to the wild card he probably sealed his fate with the Cubs when he had to go on the DL becuase he kicked a fan. No not the ones who were swearing at him. The one who attempt to cool him down after failing on the field. It probably wasn't the smartest thing he ever dd and may have cost him a lot of money. No columnist may have said it exactly like that, but many have said something along those lines. Do you even remember the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and how often Bush was ripped for supposedly not responding quick enough? Have you ever heard of political cartoons? Sure they don't actually say Bush is an idiot in words, but they damn sure imply it. There is a thing in this country called freedom of speech. I don't have the freedom to call you an idiot on this board because I would get kicked off. But if I wrote a book, I could call you an idiot. That's what Wojo did. He wrote a book about the Cubs and his personal opinion about the Farnsworth injury was that Farnsworth was an idiot. If you don't like it, you don't have to read him. But don't criticize Wojo for writing what he feels in his book or in a column because he has earned the right to do so. He has earned nothing but his hack status. Sure he has the right to say whatever he wants and I have the right to criticize his writing. Freedom of speech works both ways, does it not?

Behavioral conditioning through a history of reinforcement. I don't like it either. The reason for that is that when I was a kid every single one of my coaches would make us do push ups if we didn't wear our cap bill forward, unless we were catching.

He wrote it because Farnsworth is an idiot. He wrote it because Farnsworth got himself injured in the middle of the wild card race for kicking a fan. Farnsworth is an idiot because there is no reason to suffer a stupid injury like that late in the season. Completely uncalled for. I'm not trying to defend all of Wojciechowski's work, just this quote. No writer who is writing a book about baseball has the right to impune someone's intellignece that way. He could have written it any numbr of ways. Instead, he wrote what he wrote, because he thought it was funny and catchy. It was neither. Or he wrote it because Farnsworth refused to grant him permission to use his interviewws to sell his worthless book. I choose to believer the latter because the guy is a punk ass loser who can't string two thoughts together without trying to seem smart. How in the hell do you know that Farnsworth is stupid? Becuase he looks it? Becuase he kicked a fan after a poor outing? Becuase you gave him an IQ test. It was the same way with Patterson. It wasn't enugh that he was having a bad year. He also had to be lazy, uncoachable, and uncaring. This kind of crap has to stop. The sportswriters can get by with writing almost anything. That's the freedom that being a sports columnist gives you. Wojo can write whatever he wants. Do you get mad at Jim Rome when he rips people on national television? Because sports columnists rip players multiple times every single day. Do you get mad at people who rip our government and say George Bush is an idiot, because there is no difference in calling Bush an idiot and calling Farnsworth an idiot. None whatsoever. So don't single out sports columnists in this one. You have to point the finger at every single columnist, because they all do it. No credible journalist would write "If stupid were a country George W Bush would be it's capitol" and expect to keep his/her job. What little I've watched of Rome I haven't like so I don't watch, nor do I listen. That is the thing, if you are a sportswriter you are also a journalist. If you want any credability you stick to what is on the field not what is between someone's ears. Here is what the Richard could have wrote: After Farnsworth was roughed up yet again during the failed run to the wild card he probably sealed his fate with the Cubs when he had to go on the DL becuase he kicked a fan. No not the ones who were swearing at him. The one who attempt to cool him down after failing on the field. It probably wasn't the smartest thing he ever dd and may have cost him a lot of money.

He wrote it because Farnsworth is an idiot. He wrote it because Farnsworth got himself injured in the middle of the wild card race for kicking a fan. Farnsworth is an idiot because there is no reason to suffer a stupid injury like that late in the season. Completely uncalled for. I'm not trying to defend all of Wojciechowski's work, just this quote. No writer who is writing a book about baseball has the right to impune someone's intellignece that way. He could have written it any numbr of ways. Instead, he wrote what he wrote, because he thought it was funny and catchy. It was neither. Or he wrote it because Farnsworth refused to grant him permission to use his interviewws to sell his worthless book. I choose to believer the latter because the guy is a punk ass loser who can't string two thoughts together without trying to seem smart. How in the hell do you know that Farnsworth is stupid? Becuase he looks it? Becuase he kicked a fan after a poor outing? Becuase you gave him an IQ test. It was the same way with Patterson. It wasn't enugh that he was having a bad year. He also had to be lazy, uncoachable, and uncaring. This kind of crap has to stop. The sportswriters can get by with writing almost anything.

You are the man Bruce!

Steriods are controlled substances, unless you have a legitamite perscription they are illegal. The fact that they were not a banned substance is beside the point.

Not me, I want to lose. Neifi will save you though.

I'm not a real big fan of this guy. There is nothing new or inspiring about the article. Like most of the stuff he writes, it is unnecessary piling on. If I'm Prior I'm not having much fun either. There are already whispers that he is soft. Now he is soft and sullen. Way to kick a guy while he is down. On the ohter hand, Maddux is the old man who already has estabished himself, he can afford to be a wise ass. I will never forget that this guy wrote, (paraphrasing) If stupid were a country, Farnsworth would be the capitol. IMO, he wrote it b/c Farns wouldn't give him an interview for his book. To me the guy is a hack looking to make a name for himself in the Jay Marrottti, Mike Lupica school of journalism.

Lugo, Renteria, Tejada are 3 off the top of my head. Lugo is one that was on the trade block and a deal never got done. Of course, I wanted the Cubs to bring back Nomar. Nomar backing up Cedeno and sticking Nomar in RF if Cedeno worked out would have worked for me. Putting Nomar at 3b if Ramirez had any lengthy downtime would have worked for me. Lofton in CF at 1m instead of Pierre with Hairston platooning with him would probably be close to equal production. Mitre, Nolasco and Pinto might have gotten the job done for Lugo. Hill might have needed to be in the mix, but if they wanted Hill, getting Aubrey Huff while his value was low wouldn't have been completely out of the question, IMO. Hendry blew money this offseason like it was going out of style. He did not spend wisely, and if the Cubs don't do well this year, it should be both he and Dusty's jobs that it costs. You can all call me crazy if you want too but I would have gone with Nomar at SS with Ceeno backing him up.

The difference is those teams can afford to take on such a bad bat. The Cubs can't afford a black hole like Neifi in their already weak lineup. Boston has major holes in their lineup also. They're awful at SS,3B, and RF. And they're not overly strong at first. They led all of freaking baseball in runs scored last year. They'll be fine. They can handle a bad bat or two because the group as a whole is great. And RF is not awful for Boston. I'd take a platoon of Nixon and Pena (or either one individually) over Jones in a heartbeat. And their 3B situation has a chance to work out very nicely. Yeah that .254/.304/.492 is great from Willy Mo in right. Not to mention his 120 strikeouts to 20 walks. Corey Patterson will probably outproduce Pena this year. And Nixon's numbers are on a steady decline, plus he's injury prone. Nick, check out Willie Mo's numbers against left handed pitching. They are pretty good. Also check out Nixon's # against right handed pitching, also impressive.

If Dusty gives Cedeno 200 at bats and Ronny hits .210 in them, Dusty is going to lose his job because it's going to severely hurt the team. And he knows that. The idea of Neifi starting doesn't make me happy. I think it's absurd. But I think it's equally absurd to let a rookie with a sketchy minor league history flounder away for two full months in hopes that he'll get better. A team with realistic WS aspirations shouldn't have to deal with this crap. If the Cubs are floundering it won't be becuase the number 8 hitter is sucking. If the Cubs are doing well it won't matter. IMO, they have to give the kid enough ABs to see if he can make it. We all know what the alternaive is.