Cubzfan64

I do too. He could have and SHOULD have gone out of baseball as an idol and hero in the game for the Chicago Cubs, but his ego got the best of him and his offensive discipline that served him so well for a number of years seemingly disappeared in late 2003, was gone in 2004 and apparenly isn't going to arrive anymore. He's a very proud player and I'm sure the personal attacks (booing etc...) that he started to receive on a regular basis affected his game and life - I believe it would for 99% of us. The organization and fans share some of the fault as well as Sammy - a divorce is rarely 100% the fault of one side. Because of the way he left Chicago, the rapid descent of his abilities and the timing of him falling on hard times as a baseball player, his career will forever be tainted by questions of steroid use. My guess is a guy who several years ago was a sure thing for the Hall of Fame will never be voted in by the members. It is indeed a sad turn of events for Sosa - from the top of the mountain to the bottom. Oh - and for what it's worth Burnitz has performed better than I had anticipated - still not certain he's worth the $ but he's far from being the most disappointing aspect of the 2005 Cubs imho.

Yeah, because he's worth Boras LT money at what, 34? Nevermind, I'm an idiot, he's only 31... A little more palatable. My gut tells me Damon is going to want $13-$15 mil per season for a MINIMUM of 3 years and likely 4-5. Add to that the fact that he will sit back and wait for the bidding to end before he decides who he's gonna play for (cough... Yanks... cough) and during all this time even if the Cubs are interested, they'll have to sit back and wait for him to make a decision before they pursue anything else because of the potential $ of signing Damon. I honestly just don't think he's a sound choice for what he's going to be asking. Getting him and signing him to a ridiculous contract will only cause us to not be able to financially address other deficiencies on the club.

I have the misfortune of mis-judging Sammy Sosa now on 2 occassions: 1. I don't recall what year it was, but it was just before Sammy started his career years. I remember watching him swing at balls in the dirt a foot outside consistently and believed he would never adjust his swing and become more patient at the plate. I was wrong and the next year he took a tremendous number of walks, hit alot of balls to the opposite field and began his ascent to becoming one of if not THE premier power hitter of the time. 2. After the trade (which I think was something that under the circumstances was something that had to be done - for the best of both Sammy and the Cubs organization) I honestly thought he would have a resurgence of sorts and have an excellent season for Baltimore. I fully expected him to be in the 40+ HR, 100+ RBI category in 2005 as more or less a "last hurrah" for his career. I'm honestly surprised at how quickly his fortune has turned and as others have said, he really is just a shell of his former self in only a matter of a couple years. His ascent was rapid, but his decline has been just the same. I feel sorry for him to tell you the truth.

In short, my answer to the question is no, unless: a. We have a good number of players overachieve in the second half and have no more injuries or b. We make some positive changes to the team makeup by the trade deadline that address our deficiencies.

What worries me the most about Dunn potentially in our lineup (and I don't feel we really have much of a chance of getting him at all imho) is that we're still fairly one dimensional in the free swinging offensive strategy. I do like his higher OBP, and I wouldn't mind having him in the lineup at all, but I want to balance the offense a bit with 1 or 2 contact hitters with some speed. I don't care if that comes at SS, 2B or an outfielder I just think we really need to add a little more dimension to our offense - if for no other reason than to take opposition pitchers out of their rhythm. As it stands now, with a couple exceptions a pitcher can throw the same way to most of our guys and get them to swing at THEIR pitches far too often.

In all honesty, Joe would probably be happy to go to any team for a chance to stay in the majors and pitch. He's likely close to a make it or break it point of his career where he either convinces himself that he can still get outs, decides to undergo surgery or just retire. Although I feel badly for how the last couple seasons have gone for Joe, I can't help but think that he was one of the few who got his 15 minutes of fame in life and was able to do something he really loved and was good at it for awhile. I'm guessing Joe is a pretty competitive guy and if he can't put it together soon he'll likely retire and not hang around being shuffled from one team to another for a couple years.

it shouldn't have taken an injury to Halladay for Matt to make the All Star game - he deserves it this year.

I've wondered that too - the best reason I can come up with is... Because all facets of our team's game has gone down the toilet at the same time - starting pitching, relief pitching, defense and offense. I'm with you though - dumb luck alone should have had us win at least 1 game during this stretch! Maybe God really DOES hate the Cubs - I'm beginning to run out of any other ideas.

That goes along with several different theories I have thought of. I asked the question because I had two really phenomenal coaches in highschool that had both played minor league ball (both made it to AAA). They were great coaches and both went on to coach college first as assistants and now one of them is the head coach at UIC. Just thought they were phenomenal coaches who know the game extremely well. The things you are both saying here also fall along the lines of scouting and player development - it's all pretty much a "fraternity" of ex players that handle those things (as well as being batting and pitching coaches). Off topic a little, but it always interested me how the "moneyball" theories of baseball worked their way into the sport. Those theories were certainly revolutionary and there are still lots of ex players/scouts etc... who slam them any chance they can get.

As much as I'm sure they're thrilled with the chance to come up to the big leagues, Greenberg and Murton have to be pretty dang nervous being sent up to an underachieving big league club who's manager and GM have to be on the hot seats and where the clubhouse attitude ain't exactly happy and welcoming. I wish them good luck - you'd think with all the bad luck we've had there might be something good to come out of all this.

The worst thing that can happen under the circumstances of this team right now is for Hendry to make panic trades in order to try to salvage some semblence of dignity for the season.

no offense meant, but that's far from a fact in baseball.

Where else should the Cubs spend their money? Who do you want? Who is going to help the Cubs more than a lead-off hitter with a very good OBP? I haven't even begun to look at what other options may be out there, I just know that Damon has had a career year and half and his value has never been as high as it will be at the end of this season. The last thing I want to do is sink a minimum of 10 mil per year (and if I had to guess, I'd say he'll be shooting for 12+ per year) for 3-4 years on him. Call it a gut feeling more than anything, but I think JD is overachieving and will likely regress as he going from age 33 to 37 in the next 4 years. I don't have an answer right now - I just don't think it would be well spent money as it fixes only one spot on a team that has alot of problems to fix and fixes that spot in an uneconomical way imho.

Put a fork in us - we're done. The team is self destructing right before our very eyes.

Damon thinks he's God's gift to baseball - combine that with his agent and there's no way he takes less than a 3 year contract and he'll be asking for at least 10 mil per season. No way I sign him for that - spend the money elsewhere Oh, and if I had to bet money on where Johnny Damon will be playing next year, I'd put my money on the Yankees. He gets to continue developing his "celebrity" status while playing for a team that might be desperate enough for a CF to overpay him and sign him to a long term contract.

no. jeff francoeur. marte was up a few weeks ago. Ironic isn't it that Francoeur is the one who hit the big dinger in the 8th too?? everything is quickly going down the pooper for the cubs that's for sure

He's been vocal for awhile now that he's quite unhappy with his playing time in Boston. He's a free agent next year I believe and doesn't want to be labelled as a reserve. Word has it he will be shipped to Oakland in a trade.

Unless Hendry is able to swing some miraculous deals, I don't see many scenarios where we get decent value in return. We have too many "I'll trade you my crap for your crap" players to work with. Just because we're willing to throw in 4-5 players for 1 good one doesn't make it something a good team wants to do. The best chances we have of adding "real" talent to the team will likely all involve taking on additional salary that other teams can't afford and want to dump. Hendry and the organization have made this bed over the last 2 years and unfortunately they now have to lie in it. In my opinion, there isn't a single guy on this team that I would make untouchable - make all of them available and see what kind of offers you can get - perhaps someone will be desparate enough to significantly overpay for one of our "stars" like Prior, Zambrano, Ramirez or Lee. I certainly would not go out of my way to try to deal them, but I'd certainly entertain any and all offers. The main problem I see is that unless Hendry and the organization change their offensive philosophies of how to put together a contending team, they're gonna go after the wrong guys and we'll be back in this same mess again next year. What a crying shame the last couple seasons have been!

This is true, but I don't care about them! I don't personally get too mad about guys like Dontrelle since he was a minor league guy and flordia did their homework and we got the guys we needed at the time for a run. However I know Clement and Maddux were on the same team, but I would have given the Maddux money to Clement and you'd still have the same team with a young guy like Mitre, Hill, Williams, someone else in the 5th slot. My comment was in reference to the title of your post and this comment you made This really irks me...why does it seem everyone that moves on does so well If you're basically just unhappy about Clement leaving and doing well, then your thread title is misleading. It was an attempt at humor, sorry it didn't hit the mark. Heh - np, I'm disgusted enough with this season so far that I miss alot of humorous comments.

This is true, but I don't care about them! I don't personally get too mad about guys like Dontrelle since he was a minor league guy and flordia did their homework and we got the guys we needed at the time for a run. However I know Clement and Maddux were on the same team, but I would have given the Maddux money to Clement and you'd still have the same team with a young guy like Mitre, Hill, Williams, someone else in the 5th slot. My comment was in reference to the title of your post and this comment you made This really irks me...why does it seem everyone that moves on does so well If you're basically just unhappy about Clement leaving and doing well, then your thread title is misleading.

I agree with what Tim said - you consider moving Lee when his value is far higher than it ever has been IF/WHEN your team is out of contention. If you think your team has a shot at it, then I guess you don't pull that trigger. Personally I disagree with a number of people on these boards in believing that this team is 1 or 2 key players away from a championship caliber team - maybe short term we could get over the hump with 1 or 2 key players, but no way is this team 1-2 key players away from a consistent playoff bound team.

I'll echo the sentiments here that Matt hasn't changed much (he still gets in trouble with walks now and then, but he HAS cut down on those this year). The difference is the team that surrounds him. I do wonder now and then what affect a solid catcher like Varitek can do to help a guy too. I've never heard Barrett lauded for anything he brings to the "game calling" or "handling pitchers" aspect of his game and to tell you the truth, that bothers me a bit. Keep in mind too, there are plenty of other ex-Cubs who've fallen apart once they leave Chicago, they just don't stick in your mind like the guys who went on to excel.

I've been a strong proponent of teams buying low and selling high for years, but the success of a theory like that is contingent on the ability of the organization to evaluate talent properly and unfortunately I don't feel the Cubs organization has enough skill in that area. The added problem of course is that there is a definite degree of luck involved in evaluating that talent as well. I love Lee at 1B and was thrilled with our ability to get him, however you don't win championships with 1 or 2 star quality players on a team where everyone else is below average. If the Cubs want to build this team around Lee, Ramirez, Prior and Zambrano, that's fine with me, but then they should have been actively pursuing trades with guys like Patterson and Wood when their values were higher. I just don't feel like the Cubs organization will ever have the skills necessary to play the buy low, sell high game. They've had a minimum of success doing it with Ramirez and Lee, but they've stuck with some other guys far longer than they should have.

Actually that's not true. He started three games for the Red Sox before going back on the DL, but he wasn't effective (1-2, 8.15 ERA). Oops - my mistake, sorry. I still stand by the fact that I look for other ways to fix my closer problem than putting Schilling in there, but then again if I was a baseball expert I wouldn't be working 8-5 in a stinky musty basement laboratory for a living either :-(.

Heard about that today on Boston's sports radio - I'm honestly a bit surprised to tell you the truth. Boston is leading their division by 4 games without having Schilling throw one pitch so far this year, Millar and Bellhorn not putting up the numbers they did last year and Foulke pretty much stinking it up as their closer. Why risk injuring your supposed "ace" by tossing him into a closer role that could end up being significantly harder on him physically under those conditions? I could see tossing him into some long relief roles to give him 2-3 innings here and there as he rebuilds his arm strength, but why would you want to risk screwing him up as a closer? Personally I think Boston would be far smarter to seriously pursue a trade for a closer and let Curt get into shape and work his way back at AAA where he can get into a routine of every 4-5 days pitching 5+ innings and rebuild his arm strength until he's as close as possible to 100% before rejoining the big club. Boston has a number of options - I personally just don't think the risk outweighs the need right now. That said - Keith Foulke has been utterly SUCKY most of this season!! I'd give Timlin the ball from here on out unless you can find someone on the market that can fill that role. One last thing - I tried to get through on the phone when I heard the sports guys talking about where Latroy Hawkins went and whether he was available and one guy suggested they look at Borowski since he was released - apparently the guy doesn't follow baseball all that closely because he stated that Joe was dumped by the Cubs because he couldn't fit into the new role as a "non-closer." I wanted to call and let them know that Joe lost his job because he couldn't throw anything that didn't look like a giant meatball over the plate anymore. If Schilling stays in the bullpen for more than 2 weeks I'll be very surprised.