jjgman21

I don't think he came out and started talking about it. like with many things that players say, you have to take what he said into context. he was responding to a question a reporter asked about playing day games. I don't think Todd was making excuses. he was giving his opinion in response to a direct question. he wasn't saying 'the reason we fail is because of day games.' I think we all know Todd a little better than that. that said, its nice having intestinal fortitude by proxy, but anyone that thinks the Cubs heavy day game schedule doesn't impact their performance isn't existing in reality. this has been talked about by Cubs players for years. it does impact their performance. looking at their record since playing more night games is completely irrelevant, but if you really want to go down that road, compare their record in 03-05 with their record in a three year span before they played night games. it simply is not easy turning around from night games to day games...especially when the schedule makers keep assembling the Cubs schedules with stupid spacing of days off, ie. making them back up road trips with home stands without a day off or sending them on 20 days without a day off. the Cubs have more days where they arrive at the airport at 2:00 a.m. and have to play a day game than any other team in baseball. it's really easy to pound your chest and say they should suck it up when it's not you who has to suck it up. furthermore, the cumulative effect of playing all the day games cannot be denied. until you are a Cubs catcher squating in the heat for 9 innings day after day, I don't think anyone here has a right to say 'you should go out and suck it up and perform like the heat isn't happening.' the Cubs suckitude is primarily a function of crappy players, but the day games they have to play exacerbate the problem.

Ole Miss rudely interrupted my temper tantrum about the deadline deals with a message and raised a question I'd like everyone's opinion on just kidding. this is for fun.

I made a similar comparison earlier in the thread, but looked at what could be obtained. regarding Dye in 2007 -- he's a fluke. Williams got lucky. his signing before 2005 was no better than Jones signing before this year, with the exception that the third year was an option. let's look at the OPS+ the four years before becoming a Sock. 109 105 41 (half season) 103 Craptacular! don't hand out genius points just because our GM sucks. there is a certain amount of luck in things like this.

No. Luna for Belliard was pretty much an even deal where neither team improved that much or lost that much. This deal just plain sucks a fatty fatty ding dong. Just curious, but who would you have preferred from LA? I doubt they'd have given up any of the Martin/Ethier/Kemp group, and Guzman was sent to TB. if we had to take a player they don't need and is paid 4-5M/year, it would have been Cruz to split time in the corner outfields with Murton and Jones. ok. these wrists aren't slitting themselves. Im out.

I appreciate the attempt to lighten the mood, but that move was lateral, the Cubs took a step backward.

final thought before I got off the computer and go slit my wrists... I think alot of my frustration stems from the talk of "a pitcher and a hitter from triple A." got my hopes up. even so, there were so many options that would have been better. for instance, any of the following: take big huge contract of oft injured player off Dodgers hands who have plenty of young replacements (Drew) take part time outfielder that they don't need at all and has moderate contract, but would help the Cubs (Cruz) get a good prospect and pay all of Maddux's salary get a non-spect and pay nothing, use the money to DFA Rusch or Neifi. the last possible thing the Cubs should have done is take on a moderate size contract for a player that will not perform much better than two guys they already have. between this and the Neifi/Rusch contract, the Sosa deal, the Patterson deal, the Aram opt out, there is no reason to believe that Hendry is capable of negotiating with agents, GMs, or anybody. he was bargaining from a position of strength IMO as I think the Dodgers were really interested in Maddux. should've stuck by the guns that were reported. 'if the Cubs don't get good return, they will keep Maddux.' well they got the worst possible return. I'm at a loss. so disappointed.

the thing about scouting is it seems it should be so easy does he recognize when a pitch is a ball? does he swing when the pitch is a ball? does he take a good swing when the pitch is a strike? if you get the right response to all three, evaluate further. if you get the wrong response to any of the three, move onto the next guy (unless he's some freak like Vlad, but those guys are 1 in a million).

dude, I tangle with many of the people you are tangling with right now, but look at the roster going into 2004 and look at the roster going into 2007. there's many reasons for negativity there, and if Aram opts out, that will leave exactly three players that are capable of being in the top half of the league at their position, barring offseason acquisitions. sure, defense up the middle is important, but the game is really about scoring runs and pitching. and what really compounds it is that the past two off seasons were relative disasters, so it's hard to see any acquisitions that will allow us to score any runs. the only option will be to bench the two best positional prospects we've had in two decades. it's just an absolute nightmare right now.

guys... teach, don't brow beat. this is no way to win converts.

WE NEED PEOPLE WHO CAN ACTUALLY GET ON BASE. You can get that from other positions. If Izturis returns to his 04 form his 330 OBP will be just fine from the 7 spot. If we can hopefully sign Carlos Lee or Soriano this offseason we will be set. Pierre, Barrett, Lee, Soriano/Lee, Ramirez, Jones/Murton, Izturis, Cedeno. What makes you think Hendry will do ANYTHING to get OBP at any position? Huh? I don't know. But the fact that no one can predict the future is reason enough to be optimistic. YOu can't assume that something is going to happen a certain way. We need to patiently wait till the offseason and see what he does. If he does go out and get Lee or Soriano this will have been a great deal. So sit back and relax and hope for the best. There is no reason to be negative. i'm actually starting to think that hendry is doing the exact opposite of what statistics-minded GM's are doing around the league in a desperate attempt to prove that OBP isn't important. he's doing more to prove that it's important than he'll ever know. do you find yourself singing that Rockwell hit from the mid-80's with the Michael Jackson background vocal?

I happen to fully agree with Stone(I know, I blast him a lot), but you got a true SS, a switch hitter who doesn't strike out and a glod glove fielder vs 2 more months of Maddux. I could deal with it if I knew Neifi wasn't coming back next year. But, he'll be back. was just thinking that Neifi plus Izturis in 2007 = 6.5M and that Craig Wilson plus Theriot/Fontenot in 2007 = <6.5M which would you rather have? which reminds me, the Yankees get Wilson for Chacon? fricken Chacon? sweet jesus, give the Bucs Rusch and low level prospect and some money, land the man, and sign him for next year. UUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!! I'M SO P'D OFF. THIS DEADLINE COULD NOT HAVE GONE WORSE!!!!

I happen to fully agree with Stone(I know, I blast him a lot), but you got a true SS, a switch hitter who doesn't strike out and a glod glove fielder vs 2 more months of Maddux. We already have two true SS's on the roster for next year. Switch hitting doesn't matter if the production isn't there. Cedeno & Neifi don't strike out that much, either. Neifi won a GG, too, and we already had him and don't have to pay an extra $4M for him next year. Cedeno isn't a quality SS and Neifi is a backup. What did you think you would get for Maddux for 2 months, along with a No trade clause? Count me among the idiots. I'm not sure what Hendry was supposed to get for a 2 month flyer on an ancient pitcher with little or nothing left in the tank. Not sure what to think about Izturis. I just didn't expect anything more than a marginal prospect or two for 2 months of Mad Dog. I would much rather have had a marginal prospect than what we got.

if I'm not mistaken, Angelos just scoffed at Oswalt + for Tejada. Angelos is doing some weird little dance with the Orioles. He might just be desperate for headlines in the market. I don't see Tejada going anywhere until his deal is up the way Angelos has been going about this.

I was just thinking of the days we were bitching because we needed one more bullpen arm and better bench players than Bako and Goodwin. those were the days.

yeah. let those injuries begin. life of a Chicago sports fan, I fully expect to see this around Thanksgiving "Bears playoff hopes dashed: Urlacher in head on auto crash with Ben Wallace."

I've had my points of defending him, giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was often in difficult situation, or at least softening the rhetoric of how bad some of the players acquired were. this is about it. I thought he should be fired for months, but from here on out I'll be a little more vocal about it.

weak press corps. fricken weak. you ask Todd Walker about how it is to have all these day games, but don't ask him about Dusty? c'mon. have a testicle.

I remember back after the playoffs in 03, some commentators wise-cracked that the playoff loss works out for the Cubs because they would lose their lovable loser mystique if the won, and that's their biggest selling point. you think Hendry thinks that too? I really think this fore shadows Dusty's resigning. it's just his sort of guy. 2006 Chicago Cubs - leaders in untalented redundancy.

Dear Greg Maddux, I thought you said you only wanted to be traded if it helps the Cubs. If that was the case, why didn't you nix this deal somehow? jjgman21

hey, let's spend 4 million dollars (actually 6 million since their giving money to LA) on a guy who can do no better than the guy making league minimum. Brilliant.

no salary in return. no crap players taking up roster spots in return.

The reports I've seen haven't mentioned any minor leagures at all. Same here. It appears the deal is Maddux + 2 million for Izturis. so we gave away a pitcher and took on 6+ million, for nothing. less than nothing. for a guy who will hurt the chances of winning a ball game.

and the Cubs sent money to LA? un-fricken believable. if they sign Dusty Baker to an extension, I am officially no longer a baseball fan.

Cubs can't hit sinkerballers (see Lowe, Arroyo, etc.). it's sort of like soft tossing lefties are to ... the Cubs. or how rookies are to ... the Cubs. you almost which every pitcher in the league was a veteran power pitching righty.

had to dig into the archives for this thread. didn't want to start a new one to ask... what the hell are the Brewers thinking? did Sheets have enough rehab starts to allow him to work into the ninth and throw over 100 pitches in his first start back?