Illini Iceman

Fixed. I figured everyone assumed the media was a large part of "the baseball world". Silly me. Manny they seem to have given a pass. I would say ARod has been treated no better than Sosa and Bonds.

Maybe there is hope both will stay after all.... Of course then they go and ruin it.... http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-05-cubs-brite-chicago-jul05,0,1200641.story Like it is inconceivable that a team could get by with 11 pitchers for an extended period.

I find it somewhat humerous that people who have seen Fox for two weeks are certain he will not sustain his production but they feel that other GM's who have whole teams of scouts that have been watching these players for years are not going to know this and will be willing to give up quality major league talent based on 2 weeks of success. Fox and Hoff would be fine guys to have on the bench along with Baker, Johnson and Hill as the back up C and Miles as the utility infielder. The Cubs just need to get off their need for a 12 man bullpen and either start actually using Patton or dump him and have a 6th reliever out of the bullpen they will actually allow to get into games so the rest of the pen doesn't get over used.

Maybe Hendry will be able to work out a trade for him before the deadline. There was some other interest in him in the offseason - maybe one of those teams will take his salary for a low A fringe prospect (Alburquerque-esque). To me the ideal roster once everyone is healty is: C - Soto C - Hill IF - Lee IF - Hoffpauier IF - Fontenot IF - Baker IF - Theriot IF - Miles IF - Ramirez OF - Soriano OF - Fukudome OF - Bradley OF - Johnson OF - Fox P - Zambrano P - Harden P - Dempster P - Lilly P - Wells P - Gregg P - Marmol P - Guzman P - Heilmann P - Marshall P - Samardzija Shark, Marshall and Heilmann all are guys that have been or could be starters so you would be able to extend any of them for multiple innings if the pen is tired and you get a bad start and need one them to finish out game to give the rest of the relievers a break. Fox, Hoff, Baker and Johnson are pretty good bats off the bench. Hill is the token back up catcher. Miles is the utility man which is fine for his talent (though maybe not his salary, but that is water under the bridge at this point) Blanco, Scales, etc can be down at AAA waiting in case we need someone for a couple weeks due to injury. Ascanio, Hart, etc the same on the pitching side. Patton is expendable because they have guys just as good in the system that he would just be blocking anyway. Miles is not really the problem, the problem is that if he is being counted on as anything other than they last guy off the bench.

RBI's aren't the best way, sure. But when your big run producing offseason acquisition has 16 RBI's at the end of June... that's very telling. For comparison, Mark DeRosa drove in his 16th run on April 27th. yes, and he had a .618 OPS at the time, which only proves that guys were getting on base ahead of DeRosa at a much higher clip than the guys in front of Bradley. You're missing the point. The point is, we traded a run producer to clear payroll to add a supposed bigger run producer. And that supposed run producer has been a complete bust. Meanwhile, the guy we traded has three times as many RBI's. no, you're missing the point. you're using RBI's as your main point of comparison. The fact that DeRosa had 16 RBI on April 27th had less to do with DeRosa being better (his numbers at the time sucked) and more to do with opportunities. Bradley has been bad, but he's also played less frequently and had fewer opportunities to drive guys in. If Bradley were a true run producer he would will the guys ahead of him to get on base and into scoring position so he could drive them in.

So everyone ripped Hendry in the offseason when he traded DeRosa and one of the complaints was he did not get back nearly enough. Now the Indians trade DeRosa to the Cardinals what appears to be even less than what Hendry got. I think at this point it is fair to say that the perceived value of DeRosa among posters here is much higher than what the market values him at. I liked DeRosa as a player and would rather have him on the team than Miles. However, I really don't think he is a huge difference maker one way or the other. I get the feeling if you played one full season with DeRosa on the Cards and Miles on the Cubs and then switched it around with all else being equal the final results of both teams would be pretty close to the same. The other factors (bullpen, Harden, Bradley, etc for the Cubs and Carpenter health, etc for the Cards) are going to be what winds up making or breaking each team. My feeling still is that Hendry was told he had to clear the DeRosa salary to sign Bradley. While admittedly it has not worked out well to this point, in the offseason switching out Bradley for DeRosa seemed to be an upgrade. As for signing Miles, that one is a mystery to me and I think even Hendry at this point would admit that was a big mistake. Blanco and Scales have shown they can do just as much or more so the Miles salary is a waste and Hendry probably wishes he had a mulligan on that one.

If people left him alone he would probably be fine. He decides earlier this year not to talk to the media so Lou and Hendry get on his case about it so starts talking again and we hear this stuff and he gets himself in trouble. He is mad he got under a ball so he throws a bat and hits the gatorade machine so Lou tells him to go home. I guarantee if he did that to Z he would have flipped out as well. Bradley has watched his team mates do it all season and Lou doesn't call them out on it so this adds to his me against the world complex. He didn't suddenly forget to hit, just put him out there when healthy and leave him alone and have the media leave him alone and he would end up with acceptable numbers at the end of the season (though admittedly down from what was expected due to the bad start). But instead it seems like most people (especially the media) can't keep from stirring the pot so we keep having to hear about these comments which when they get back to him probably only make things worse. He is kind of an odd personality, but is not necessarily a bad guy. Everyone can't be happy go lucky Ryan Dempster, so it would be much better to let him be himself and play the game and stop trying to fix him.

I think the implication was that Geo was informed that he had failed a test long before it was made public oh, i didn't hear that. still though, i doubt geo was stressing over it. nobody should care You should probably read the articles about it, rather than mocking the opinions of those that DO know about it. Geo said in the intial press conference that this has been a pretty fair amount of stress for him for the last six weeks. He just said that in the article because it is pc. Dex knows that, and is willing and able to speak for all people in this matter. I thought I was at least a little bit concerned about it but was thankfully notified by him that I was just pretending to be so now that I realize that I suddenly feel much better about the whole situation.

i think it's clear that it's in their heads right now and it's affecting them, so yeah Clearly. Except when they come back from big deficits and win games. Then it is not.

Why the assumption that Griffey Jr wasn't juicing? I've been debating who, out of everyone that's played baseball since 1985, would be the absolute most devastating name for baseball to have revealed as a steroid user. Junior Griffey would probably be #2 behind Ripken. I'm open to other names and suggestions, though. Greg Maddux would probably also be pretty bad since he has kind of been held up as the mirror image of Roger Clemens as a guy that did it the "right way". If it were to come out, for example, that Leo Mazzone had some "trainer" that put his staffs on a HGH regimen and that is why Smoltz, Maddux, Glavine, etc had such extended periods of dominance that would be a huge revelation.

Why the assumption that Griffey Jr wasn't juicing?

Regression in today's start. Kind of glad this isn't the Cubs problem any more. It is one thing if he was consistently bad, but the occassional start that get's your hopes way up only to be followed by a complete melt down is really annoying.

He was on the 40 man roster so I doubt it.

MLB.com is flat lying to cover their ass. No they're not. The memo you referred to was never enacted or enforced by the MLB. And if the collective bargaining agreement or player's union did not give MLB authorization to test for steroids or punish players if found then the memo isn't worth the paper it was printed on anyway. The only reason they can test and suspend players now is the union agreed to it due to the pressure from outside sources.

He's guilty until proven innocent because of an irresponsible media and irresponsible fans. It's a shame that so many idiots speak so loudly as to alter public perception with no proof to back their claims up. Yeah, his name always comes up along with McGuire, Bonds and Clemens when the talking heads discuss "known" steroid users, so unfortunately perception is reality and he will most likely get the same treatment as those guys when his time comes for election.

No - Mark Clark came over to the Cubs with Lance Johnson and Manny Alexander from the Mets for Brian McRae, Mel Rojas and Turk Wendell. That was an epic trade.

There really is not a huge problem with a Izturis / Blanco type of player on a 25 man roster as a utility infielder. The problem with Izturis is that he was being paid as a starter and the plan seemed to be to actually let him be the starter until Lou gave the job to Theriot. Blanco is fine in a back up role, but the Miles / Blanco combination is redundant and it will weaken the bench to have both of them around if that is what happens when Miles gets off the DL.

That .195 / .271 / .310 line Pie is putting up for Baltimore would really be helping the Cubs.

Now Ozzie Guillen, that's a guy that cares!! We know because he blows his top and acts like an idiot. Let's argue and get thrown out of a game. Maybe throw at the other team just for the heck of it. That will turn this losing streak around! I thought the argument was that Lou is no good for this team because he is too uptight and makes panic decisions? Now the argument is that he not uptight enough and doesn't care?

I don't think you got the point of the question.

He tried to shut his mouth but Lou and the front office told him he had to start talking to the media again. Now he is forced to talk to the media and actually says what he thinks so people say he needs to shut his mouth and hit. As if he suddenly started spouting cliches (I am taking it one at bat at a time, etc) it would have some influence on him starting to produce.

With Akinori Iwamura out for the season for the Rays let's bite the bullet and give them Miles for Longoria. If they really twist our arm maybe we can even agree to Fontenot instead but we will need them to throw in a PTBNL.

I heard a rumor from a source inside the clubhouse that the couches were actually so upset that they refuse to let anyone sit on them until the Cubs win a game.

Dodgers: Before Manny Rays: We knew they were a good team during the streak. This Cubs team has not been impressive at all. To be honest, I dont remember them being impressive, but the fact that after a 7 game losing streak, and theyre still at .500 suggests they have been. They had Aramis Ramirez when they were impressive. Now they don't. That's the key difference here. I'm not sure what ARam's projected status is, but I've got to believe his return is still in question (in terms of timelines and effectiveness when he does return). Yes, one player means that much to us, right here & right now, IMO. They weren't impressive with Aramis in the lineup either. Of course we aren't better off now but then we had bullpen problems. Now it's hitting and bullpen. Your posts remind me of every Cubs fan I hated to have to listen to on a daily basis when I lived in Chicago. Super happy and placing orders for World Series Champs T-Shirts after the Cubs win a few games in a row and quitting on the season when things are going bad. Loving a player when he hits a couple home runs and wanting to release him when he strikes out with the bases loaded. It is a 6 month season, either take a chill pill or give up baseball and just stick to football where there are only 16 games a year to spaz out about. Maybe they will recover and still win the division and make a run in the playoffs. Maybe age, bad luck, injuries, etc will catch up to them and they will wind up being a major disappointment. It is worthy of discussion, but popping in after ever loss and Bradley out with "OMG, OMG, look what happened!!!" like the rest of weren't aware is lame.

Why would anyone assume that "a panel of 100 Hall of Famers, major award winners and other baseball personalities" would be able to put together any quality list of the top 50 players. They just named the first 50 guys they could think of so of course you get a lot of veterans and guys that on the east coast teams. I am kind of interested in an example of one of the "other baseball personalities". WTF does that mean, the San Diego Chicken or something?