jjgman21

the realization I think we can all agree on.... Hendry cannot play his usual wait and see game on this one. he needs to be proactive. extend his contract right now. 4/48 with incentives that can bring him upto 15M per year.

Bruce (if you get this) please don't follow the advice I give in the other thread. the last thing we need is your access being limited. still, someone really should follow up with Hendry by pointing out the that the player acquired does not address the weaknesses on this team. every position on the team besides the least important, leftfield, either has low error totals or good to great range already while adding Izturis and moving Cedeno to second adds to the biggest weakness on the team, complete and utter blackholes in the lineup. it need not be confrontational...."Izturis' defensive abilities can't be denied, but doesn't his addition exacerbate the Cubs biggest problems, lack of OBP and power and only marginally improve an area that isn't all that important with a high K staff?" of course the problem is getting him to address that question instead of getting a (Tony) Snow job.

It's no doubt Boston needs a catcher on the news that Tek has a torn meniscus in his knee and will need surgery. That's usually a 6 week limitation to starting physical activity. Blanco is a nice idea given need for a good signal caller and defender. ? I heard it was just a cartilage tear.

for those who didn't notice, I've been standing on my head the past three weeks saying this is the guy the Cubs should target in the Maddux trade. the perfect platoon player for Jones, can play all outfield positions, etc. etc. etc. he's the perfect player to have around if the Cubs are going to keep Jones. edit - depending on the condition of Lowell's foot, how about Cruz to Cubs, Nevin to RedSox, RedSox whatever to Dodgers.

the foulball off of Lowell's foot last night looked nasty and Veritek on the DL. seems to me a good fit for them is Nevin. 1B, 3B, emergency C. with his big contract Nevin would probalby pass through waivers. I don't want Choi back (not that I don't have a soft spot for him), but this seems like an opportunity to swing a trade to dump a player that should have been dumped last week.

like I alluded to earlier, even if that is the case, they wouldn't have put Walker at first a day or two after Lee went down when the Cubs were in first place. these games are meaningless. put him out there in game action. the change is not that great. difficult turns at 2nd might cost you one out over the course of the next five games. big fricken deal. Walker wouldn't have had a runner coming at him spikes first trying to break up a double play at 1st base. If Cedeno isn't accustomed to turning the DP (and evading a baserunner sliding) at 2B, then I don't think it's a bad decision to let him get a couple of days of work doing so in practice. Conversely, I think we'd likely care quite a bit less about a possible injury related to this type of scenario if we were still in the playoff race. There was no real reason to risk an injury to Cedeno by placing him at 2B a bit prematurely since we are out of the playoff picture. If we needed his bat in the lineup and we were in the playoff picture, he would have played 2B yesterday.....my opinion. you're envisioning an incident that happens once every 10,000 major league baseball games happening withing the next 5 games. with Ronnie's athleticism and familiarity playing around the keystone corner, I'd take my chances. we just witnessed the closer being used four games in a row and in 7 of 8 days in a row, a little over a year after treating another pitcher with a surgically repaired arm, Chad Fox, in a similar way and ending his career. we've seen Kerry Wood go from 50 pitches for a month then up to 85 pitches in a rehab start. we've seen Mark Prior try to pitch through an achilles injury when anyone with any knowledge of the body or access to webmd.com could have told you the only prescription for an achilles injury is rest. please don't tell me the Cubs management suddenly become enlightened about the risk of injury to Cubs players.

why don't you post his number here so we can give him our thoughts. I believe there is some available storage space on my cell phone. 1-800-K-R-I-S-P-Y-K-R-E-M-E can we make fun of him because he's a so sweaty? That's just lame. You want to rip on a guy because you think he's a lousy GM, be my guest. But making fun of his weight is a cheap shot.. can we make fun of him because he's a so sweaty?

thanks for the defense Pink. I think what alludes everybody in this discussion is the Cubs don't play the Cubs during the day. they play teams that haven't been playing day games five days in the past week. in July - Sept, they play teams that haven't played 50 day games over the past couple months. playing during the day takes more out of you physically and mentally. any non-Cub will tell you that.

I never said your economic position would be improved. I said the economic position of the neighborhood and alot of people. if you need to have that explained to you, there's no point because it is so blatantly obvious. night games generate alot more money for the neighborhood. more drinks are consumed, more dinners eatten (and dinners are more expensive than lunches), the crowd is more adults than kids, more parking tickets issued, etc etc etc. as for you personally, any nuisance that diminishes your property values is easily offset by an increase in property values due to the demand of people to move there to take advantage of said increased economic activity.

like I alluded to earlier, even if that is the case, they wouldn't have put Walker at first a day or two after Lee went down when the Cubs were in first place. these games are meaningless. put him out there in game action. the change is not that great. difficult turns at 2nd might cost you one out over the course of the next five games. big fricken deal.

I once drove from Eugene, OR to Wisconsin Dells, WI in approx. 29 hours, with a three hour visit to a friend in the Twin Cities and getting a speeding ticket in North Dakota mixed in. again, why the media let's him get away with it, I have no idea.

I believe Rich Hill should be given opportunity to see what he can do, and believe he can be a major league pitcher, but.... while encouraging, Hill again couldn't get the fastball below mid thigh. that's fine for minor league hitters who can't recognize a curve from a strike quick enough because high 90 mph fastballs will then blow them away. it's not good enough against major league hitters in Wrigley on most occassions. good luck Rich. get that fastball down please.

just another example of how lame the beat reporters are. they have no problem writing articles criticizing, but when given the opportunity to confront Dusty with his BS, they never take advantage. how about this as a follow up question: "so Nevin's been carrying around his outfielders glove since 2003, the last time he played outfield?" or how about "Todd Walker had no experience playing first base when you switched him there, why is it so different with Cedeno?" similar wry querries could have been made regarding Guz's travel too. noone wants the guy back, including the media, why let him wriggle off the hook? pin him to a wall, throw darts at him, and expose his idiocity to the fanbase so there's no support to bring him back.

Wrigley came with the Cubs when the Trib bought them. I'm guessing the only payment they have to make is taxes, upkeep, and renovations.

Every Philly fan I know gave up on this season long ago, and have been calling for an overhaul for a long time. I doubt many are upset or think management threw in the towel too soon (although they should be upset that they got nothing for Abreu). that's strange to me. if the Cubs were five games out of the playoffs right now, the fanbase would be pissed if Hendry didn't make a push, even with this group of less than inspiring ball players.

I think this gets to the answer to my queery. nobody seems to want to mortgage the future to make a push any more. plus, I think we saw the old group of talent on the way out and the new group coming in, without alot of dominant players in between. I've been thinking about this lately, and it seems the vast majority of superstars are either in their first few years, or on their last legs, without a bunch in between. the 27 y.o. to 33 y.o. (approx) group in baseball right now is just not very talented.

if I were king for a day... clean coaching staff house, pry Joe from the fish, bring Maddux back as pitching coach in 2007.

like I alluded to above, alot of times the opposing teams have a better travel schedule than the Cubs. furthermore, most of the time the opposing team has not been out in 90 degree heat playing baseball 3-5 days in the previous week. those of you that jog or run for exercise...is it just as easy to have daily jog on days like today (the 10th in a series of extremely hot days) or is it easier to have a daily jog in say May after a string of unseasonably warm days. there's simply no two ways about it. bodies wear down in this weather. what is surprising about this debate is people who otherwise despise anything irrational saying the Cubs day games should be an advantage since other teams aren't used to it. what a bunch of boo-hickey that is.

Wrong..It would piss off the City and the neighborhood around the park. THats why there is a city ordinance that prohibits the Cubs from playing more night games. wrong. the city wouldn't care. your only real point is about people in the neighborhood, and guess what...not one of them did not know what was in their neighborhood when they moved there. the majority of people that live in that neighborhood now live there because of Wrigley field and the amenities that built up around there. the ordinance still exists because there are a few very wealthy neighbors of Wrigley that hold more sway than the majority of the people in the neighborhood. many areas of Chicago have changed dramatically over the past two decades, Wrigley should be no different, and the economy in the area would only improve with more night games. more people would be better off if more night games would be played, few would be in a worse position. the people that bitch about the crowds or Wrigley are like people who move in next to a landfill and then complain about the stink. they came to the nuisance, and should have known that said nuisance would get worse long before it got better.

might belong in baseball discussions, feel free to move. while nowhere near as dead as last year or the year before, this is the third straight year where there are 20 or so teams in the playoff hunt, but very few teams make any moves. what do you think is the cause? is so much of the talent concentrated in those teams that there is nobody on the other ten teams that nobody wants? is the large number of teams in the hunt dissuading GMs from thinking they can make the playoffs because there are too many teams to climb over? what's the deal here. it seems the wildcard may be slowing down the flurry of deadline deals we used to see. or maybe it's just the heirarchy of teams created by payroll (there are no bad contracts on poor teams to trade away). and as a side note, how would you feel if you're a Phillies fan? they are in just as good of a position right now as the Astros or Brewers to make the playoffs. all they need is an 8 out of 10 and they are probably a game or two out of the wildcard, yet they make no attempt to make a push. just the opposite, they choose to trade away one of their top players while other teams in their position are either making deals or in the 'looking to improve' rumor mix.

hey, let's start the arby and option clock on another minor leaguer for no apparent reason.

why don't you post his number here so we can give him our thoughts.

I've got no problem with Walker for Ceda. Walker wouldn't be back next year, anyway, and Ceda may or may not contribute in the future. This organization has developed some decent pitchers in recent years. However, I can't believe Hendry did the deal for Izturis instead of a couple prospects. Izturis - whose glove is probably going to be worth three wins next year - is redundant on a team with Cedeno and Perez. the problem I have with the Walker deal is suggested in my thread in the transactions forum. Ceda's future success is no more predictable right now than an early round draft pick. Walker would probably qualify as a Type A FA, if not a type B, which means the Cubs could have had two early round draft picks for him, if not one high draft pick. in other words, in a roundabout way the Cubs just traded two high draft picks for one, or just traded a high pick of their own choosing for a high draft pick of someone else's choosing. if Walker accepted arbitration, I'll take his better than mediocre D (recent performance notwithstanding) and .350 OBP for another year, no problem. Walker was not going to get a Type A class. I have no problem with Ceda vs. a Type B/Type C class pick. we'll see. if he doesn't qualify as a Type A, the only reason would be his switch to first for most of his ABs this year and Baker's use of Neifi over Walker both this year and last year. again, just shooting outselves in the foot. even so, I think it would be quite easy to pick a guy in the first three rounds that could put up Ceda's numbers in the Dom.L. or in AZ.

I've got no problem with Walker for Ceda. Walker wouldn't be back next year, anyway, and Ceda may or may not contribute in the future. This organization has developed some decent pitchers in recent years. However, I can't believe Hendry did the deal for Izturis instead of a couple prospects. Izturis - whose glove is probably going to be worth three wins next year - is redundant on a team with Cedeno and Perez. the problem I have with the Walker deal is suggested in my thread in the transactions forum. Ceda's future success is no more predictable right now than an early round draft pick. Walker would probably qualify as a Type A FA, if not a type B, which means the Cubs could have had two early round draft picks for him, if not one high draft pick. in other words, in a roundabout way the Cubs just traded two high draft picks for one, or just traded a high pick of their own choosing for a high draft pick of someone else's choosing. if Walker accepted arbitration, I'll take his better than mediocre D (recent performance notwithstanding) and .350 OBP for another year, no problem.

I do have a sliver of hope considering he was the best shortstop in the NL the first half of 2005. I thought he was about to break out, but then there was the injury, which pretty much puts him back to being pathetic in my eyes. at this point, I don't see him being much better offensively than Cedeno, so I'd rather spend his money on a second baseman who is mediocre defensively but has some offensive skills, which we already have two of in the minor leagues. defense up the middle is important, but not at the expense of being pathetic offensively.