Illini Iceman

Paul Sullivan @PWSullivan Lack of bunting tournament backfires on Cubs. Prove you are not really him. I posted a dachshund picture with me in it the other day in Potpurri thread I believe, that will have to do. OMG - PAUL SULLIVAN LOVES DACHSHUNDS!!!

Paul Sullivan @PWSullivan Lack of bunting tournament backfires on Cubs. Prove you are not really him.

Wittenmyer already in midseason snark form: Gordon Wittenmyer @GDubCub Four-pitch strikeout for Rizz. 0-for-1 RISP so far.

Bonifacio is really going to wear #64 during the regular season?

- Matt Miller Isn't it kind of assumed that if this kind of info is being leaked then the Bears are almost certainly going another direction and just putting this out there as misinformation?

The transaction was actually a waiver claim by Texas according to Muskat.

He cleared outright waivers so Texas must not be too keen on him either.

I feel like my dream job passed me by. I left out the part where the source said they had to let the guy go, so count your blessings. Isn't that pretty much what Brett at Bleacher Nation does? All they would have had to do is have the guy go there every day and click on all the links in his daily bullets.

Also lets him start the home opener which is probably a bit of consolation prize for not being the opening day starter.

Why are you letting your woman decide what offers you field, bro? If anyone wants to bother me on vacation to offer me $52 million I encourage them to do so.

So USA will need to probably beat Canada then Sweden to win the gold and if they lose to Canada possibly Russia just to get the bronze. Pretty tough road. Czech Republic versus Slovakia is kind of a cool matchup in the play in round.

http://baseballpastandpresent.com/2013/12/15/2014-hall-fame-election-forecast/ This guy has a pretty good track record and he predicts only Maddux will make it.

He has a radio gig? I knew he was on TV and assumed it was due to his pretty face and not speaking ability. He does the morning show on MLBNetwork Radio on XM with Jim Memolo.

Whatever that move the Ravens kicker was doing after he made the winning field goal just shouldn't ever happen again.

Please tell me that the Tim Beckman era of Illinois football is over after this season. It is a complete embarrassment to have let the football program become this much of a joke.

Why would the Packers not just keep running the ball?

The t-shirt said Grater Head

It is going to be funny as hell when Colletti hires Dusty Baker.

Just came to post this as well. It will be interesting to hear his reasons. Could it be stress/health related? Leyland is a smoker, could possibly think that staying in that job is shortening his life. Bring back Alan Trammell.

Yep. Freakin Sveum was put on the cover of the schedule his first season. (There was the whole Castro rapey thing, moving him off of it, but still. And the tickets were really flying off the shelf.

There's a chasm between "just a little input" and "forcing your GM to send a top prospect and several million dollars of a slashed payroll to get a specific manager that most of the bleacher crowd doesn't know by name". Even more so when half the reason that GM left his old job was due to similar power struggles getting in the way of his job. Yeah - I would say a great majority of average Cubs fans couldn't even tell you who the Rays manager was and wouldn't be much more impressed by his hire than any from the Acta, Hinch, Renteria grab bag. Girardi was probably the only one they could hire and possibly get a big reaction due to his being a popular former Cubs player and originally being from the area. I haven't looked into the metrics so it might just be a small sample size from the games I have watched but when I take my kid to the games Maddon seems to sacrifice a lot for my liking and doesn't seem to an overly sabermetric guy. He is not "old school" when it comes to player discipline and general attitude but does not strike me as overly progressive regarding strategy. He did spend a lot of years with Scioscia so maybe he has a hard time letting go of some of those philosophies. I get the feeling he really doesn't want to leave Tampa. I think his laid back attitude fits well in a low pressure market like Tampa and he wouldn't really like going to New York, Chicago, etc where he is under more pressure. Also, the Rays management pretty much gives him freedom to do whatever he wants and I think he likes the arrangement quite a bit. What does that even mean? The majority of Cubs fans know who Joe Maddon is. I am not so sure. You might be giving average fans a bit too much credit.

There's a chasm between "just a little input" and "forcing your GM to send a top prospect and several million dollars of a slashed payroll to get a specific manager that most of the bleacher crowd doesn't know by name". Even more so when half the reason that GM left his old job was due to similar power struggles getting in the way of his job. Yeah - I would say a great majority of average Cubs fans couldn't even tell you who the Rays manager was and wouldn't be much more impressed by his hire than any from the Acta, Hinch, Renteria grab bag. Girardi was probably the only one they could hire and possibly get a big reaction due to his being a popular former Cubs player and originally being from the area. I haven't looked into the metrics so it might just be a small sample size from the games I have watched but when I take my kid to the games Maddon seems to sacrifice a lot for my liking and doesn't seem to an overly sabermetric guy. He is not "old school" when it comes to player discipline and general attitude but does not strike me as overly progressive regarding strategy. He did spend a lot of years with Scioscia so maybe he has a hard time letting go of some of those philosophies. I get the feeling he really doesn't want to leave Tampa. I think his laid back attitude fits well in a low pressure market like Tampa and he wouldn't really like going to New York, Chicago, etc where he is under more pressure. Also, the Rays management pretty much gives him freedom to do whatever he wants and I think he likes the arrangement quite a bit.

Seeing Martinez next to Maddon last night swayed me . . . Maddon can frustrate similar to LaRussa, he's an overmanager. I still have no idea we saw so little of Joyce. Yes - he also falls in love with certain guys that have no business playing. He played Sam Fuld quite a bit the last few weeks of the season (check out Fuld's stats for a good laugh) and the decsion to start Hellickson instead of Archer or even Moore on 3 days rest in game 4 was strange as well.

Never even remember him being the Diamondback's manager until I looked him up. Has a degree from Stanford in Psychology. Looks like he would fit right in with the Theo and Jed. Meatheads and Sullivan would hate it.

Vanilla and boring is not exactly a negative attribute. Yeah, given what most teams usually end up with I want a manager who I forget is there most of the time. True, but it doesn't exactly sound like "energy, creativity and freshness".