Cubzfan64

Wow - how cool - the worst relief pitching performance I've ever seen in my lifetime.

As a Cub fan (and not a Red Sox fan) living just north of Boston, I'm not too proud to admit that I get sick of hearing about them because I'm JEALOUS!!! I'm jealous of their payroll, of the young arms they've brought up from the minors, and mostly jealous of their recent WS success. Will Colon have any impact on their team this year - highly doubtful, but who cares. Odds are he won't even make the opening day roster.

Demps' 2006 and 2007 esp. left much to be desired. And IMO, closers are closers because (1) they don't have the talent that starters do, or (2) they have the "stuff", but not the endurance. Dempster is borderline candidate at best for the closing spot, and IMO has no business in a starting rotation unless there is a dire emergency (e.g., the Wood-Prior debacle that the team endured for two years). he had three blown saves.... THREE!!!! my goodness, with this team recent history of ratty closers you would think people would appreciate dempster more. 2006/2007: Combined 3-17 record, an 81% save rate, an ERA of around 4.8 and opponents hitting 0.250 against him. To me that's definitely not a great closer or even a good closer - it's an average closer at best imho - the only stat there that's not too bad is the 0.250 BAA.

What's that exactly? That Marquis and Dempster are going to have to compete for rotation spots with the Seans and Hart. I've criticized Hendry's talk about Dempster going to the rotation because I very much doubt its sincerity and I don't think it's fooling anybody. Telling bad lies just makes the organization look silly and sleazy and it irritates fans. Question: why is Dempster still a Cub? If he blew his second year as a closer, wouldn't he be worse as a starter? He should be hidden in middle relief with a run cushion (or if the Cubs are losing by 4+ runs), or not on the roster. What the Cubs should have done (and a number of people suggested it on the forum at the time so it isn't hindsight), is either traded him during the 2nd half of 2005 or in the offseason that year while his value was at roughly it's peak. Instead, the Cubs took a guy who had arm trouble, somewhere around a career 5.0 ERA and a tendancy to give up HR's and inexplicably believed that he had miraculously become a great pitcher in 2005 and was their new answer to the closer role - only to see him spend the next two years reverting back to what he was previously. When they picked him up originally, I think everyone bought into the "low risk, high reward" idea - nothing wrong with that, in fact I think it WAS low risk and high potential for reward. Unfortunately the organization once again failed to evaluate their players well and missed out on that "reward" they could have gotten by moving him after 2005. Instead, we have a guy who's getting paid too much for his production. I know all MLB teams have situations like this, but it irks me to no end to see an organization that can't seem to evaluate talent well enough to buy low and sell high at least more than 10% of the time. *sigh*

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm significantly UNDERwhelmed by the Cubs offseason so far. This team was barely good enough to take first place last year in a very weak division and found itself completely overmatched in the playoffs. I don't see where we've really done anything to improve the ballclub enough to move us up to the next level of competition. It's pretty darn discouraging.

What could the Red Sox give up for Lee that would help us this year? Drew is the only guy on the team that could help and might be available, but it would take a lot more than Drew to get Lee. You have to remember that the Cubs consider themselves contenders, so they're not going to trade their #3 hitter for prospects. The only other possibility would be to involve a third team where we might get Drew from the Red Sox and another player from the third team while the Red Sox send prospects to the third team. In any case, not going to happen. Lee will retire a Cub. You're absolutely correct that the Red Sox don't have alot to offer that would help us right now - and if the organization truly thinks we're only one or two players away from a WS trophy, then nothing would happen. On the other hand, if we wanted to get a couple guys that could be a big help a year or two down the road, I think it could get done. Do I see it happening? Not a chance because I don't think the Cubs are very good at evaluating talent and/or trading when a player has good value. I do think in this case knowing how much Theo adores Lee, you could use that to your advantage and come out on the better side of a trade with them.

For what it's worth, I know Theo Epstein LOVES DLee and he would be a big answer to their current IF situation as well as adding the bat they need. Put DLee at 1B and move Youkalis to 3B and the Red Sox would be set. Wonder what they'd give up for Lee?

It's just more of the same - year after year after year... Your statement is exactly accurate! I'd rather we just traded him for a couple minor leaguers - maybe we would have gotten lucky and fallen into a good player for down the road. I have absolutely zero confidence in the Cubs organization anymore. It'll take a major change in philosophy to get me excited about our chances in the future.

If Schilling doesn't return to the Red Sox (and he stated this morning on the radio that he'd still take just a 1 year contract with them), it's my guess that he either goes to a Florida team or back to Arizona. If he were willing to come to the Cubs, I'd do it for no longer than a 2 year deal - I think he would be worth it if he can stay healthy (and that's a big if at this point of his career)

Coca Crisp is an excellent defensive CF - outside of that, since he came to Boston he's shown little to nothing at the plate and if you thought Pierre had a lousy arm for a CF, you should see Crisps!!! I vote no - there has to be a better option

I have 4 possible RB's to start this week - I have no idea what my final choice will be, but I'm looking for some input to help me decide: 1) Shaun Alexander @home vs. St Louis 2) Reggie Bush @home vs. Atlanta 3) Ken Watson @home vs. NY Jets 4) Kevin Faulk @Miami Right now I'm leaning towards starting Watson (if I can confirm that Rudi will be out) but I'm really stuck on the other 3. Alexander has done almost nothing the last 3 weeks, Bush gets some yardage but no TD's and if Maroney and Morris are not playing, Faulk has the chance to not only get decent running yards against a crappy defense, but he catches alot of passes as well. I've had a bad season so far (2-4) and really need to get some good output from my RB's this weekend. Give me some thoughts on who to stick out there given the matchups - maybe someone has some insight that I haven't thought of yet. thanks

Only way I see Boston moving Manny is if they get a major offensive bat to replace him (see Alex Rodriguez). With the lack of production they got from Lugo, Crisp and Drew this season, they absolutely cannot afford to lose Manny's bat without something guaranteed to replace him. Not only does Manny provide offense, but his presence makes Ortiz a better hitter as well. There's some talk that Boston won't re-sign Lowell either - unless he's at that point in his life/career where the $$ isn't the most important thing to him. I just don't see Manny being traded in the offseason.

Deep down I knew we had no chance, but I let myself "hope" - now I just feel sick to my stomach. God do I hope the new owners want to win a fricking WS and sign some GOOD players this offseason!!! I hate baseball right now. Cya all in the transactions thread later this year.

Some days I really really really regret ever turning on channel 9 during the afternoon one day back in 1964 and deciding the Cubs were MY team from that day forward. My mom should have slapped some sense in me.

Talk about embarrasing yourselves in a playoff series - just goes to show this team had no business being in the postseason. In fact, as much as I hate the Brewers at least I think they would have made it competitive. I can't wait to hear all about this from my Red Sox co-workers next week. This team didn't even give me any excuses to use - they may just as well have forfeited the series and gone fishing. What a sad sad display

Well, I'm done - looking forward to seeing who purchases the Cubs this offseason - hopefully it's someone who wants to win and not just fill the stadium. Bye guys.

I think we'll make a game of it tonight - not sure how, but I have the feeling we're not gonna just hand this one to them

Heck, I wouldn't worry about it - you'll probably be saving yourself alot of pain and frustration by going to a meeting instead of watching this mess :P

I mentioned it the other night - I'm convinced we have a good number of hitters who decide before the ball is thrown whether they're gonna swing at it or not. I have been convinced of that for 3 years. I agree - how the rest of of the major leagues and the majority of fans can see that and the organization can't (or worse yet, promotes it) is beyond me I don't know how you spend as much money as we have and still have someone like Cliff Floyd hitting cleanup in an elimination game. But hopefully this trainwreck of a front office is soon to be gone. Sad that a change of ownership is the main thing to look forward to during the playoffs eh? :)

Jury's still out on Hill tonight afaic

I mentioned it the other night - I'm convinced we have a good number of hitters who decide before the ball is thrown whether they're gonna swing at it or not. I have been convinced of that for 3 years. I agree - how the rest of of the major leagues and the majority of fans can see that and the organization can't (or worse yet, promotes it) is beyond me

I mentioned it the other night - I'm convinced we have a good number of hitters who decide before the ball is thrown whether they're gonna swing at it or not.

LOL - 0 for 10 for the series. CLUTCH!!!!! :P

That was a strike - not a ball - it was right down the middle of the plate - besides, it was far too close to let go by. I find it hard to blame the umps for our own team failure

Ahhh, there we go - let those pitches right down the middle of the plate go by!!! I thought for a second this wasn't the Cubs with the patience, but Ramirez brings it back to typical Cub baseball. If this weren't so sickening it would be hilarious