erik316wttn

He likes guys who can catch the ball.

NCAA head says the Death Penalty for Miami is certainly on the table. He's not advocating it, but not ruling it out, either. http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/08/19/ncaa-president-leaves-death-penalty-on-table-for-miami-football/

I don't see why the two things have to be mutually exclusive.

He's certainly saying all the right things, I'll give him that.

Rosenthal must be the biggest idiot in the history of the world then. Seriously, when did this ARam hate really get into the mainstream? The guy has one bad season after badly dislocating his shoulder and all the sudden he's public enemy number 1 in the media. WTF I sent him a very angry tweet saying as much. That'll teach him!

Lifetime 1 whole game over .500. How sad is that?

No, of course I'm not expecting a contract like that. If we want Pujols or Fielder of course we'll have to pay top dollar. But I don't want to pay top dollar for a guy who doesn't deserve it, and have the contract be an albatross like Soriano's is now.

I think the intent was to say that the GM could get who he wanted, but that major contracts, ie Soriano-esque, would have to be approved by Ricketts. It sure appeared to me that he meant that most things could be worked out by the GM, with Ricketts providing a "rubber stamp". If that's the case, then I approve.

That Theo Epstein guy would be ok by me! (yes, I know it won't happen)

Running a top 3 baseball market team with a top 5 payroll in a division full of small market teams? I can't imagine how there'd be interest in a position like that. Particularly after a press conference where the owner states flat-out that it's the GM's job to sign players and make baseball decisions and that the new GM will have carte blanche to hire whomever he wants. Did Ricketts really say that in regards to players or just personel, because if that extends to players, it makes me very happy, and if neither Prince Fielder nor Albert Pujols are in a Cubs uniform come next spring, our future GM will waste no time finding his way onto the [expletive] list. I don't know if you want to give an incoming GM that much power. I just fear another Soriano-type contract if you hire the wrong guy. Carte blanche within reason, yes. Give him the benefit of the doubt? Sure. But throw a ridiculous contract at a guy who doesn't deserve it? The owner needs to nix that.

Today is a day of celebration, not of turning on each other.

I will temper my celebration all over your face. I will temper nothing. Spray chart bukkake for Kyle. I shouldn't have laughed at that but I did.

BAH GAWD, KEENG! THAT MAN HAS A FAMILY!

Matt Garza approves.

Perhaps Randy Bush is just keeping a chair warm? If he has orders not to make any roster changes (except for minor league call-ups come Sept 1st) then he can't really do any damage. Just have a guy there to occupy the seat and conduct a search. Hopefully well before the FA signing period, though. I want to have someone established by then.

Jim, can you take all your left-handed leadoff hitters who can catch the ball with you?

Any my only question is why not now?

He certainly has done the right thing so far, but lets see how active he is this offseason.

There may be hope for this team yet.

Bruce just confirmed it. Hendry is out. Oh, glory of glories. What a wonderful day.

YES!!!!!!!

What does $12 million in draft spending have to do with Pujols or Fielder? Unless Ricketts' ultimate goal is to win the PCL, the ML club must be invested in as well. Just because the Cubs are starting to invest in their MiL system on a level similar to smaller market franchises like KC, Pittsburgh and Tampa doesn't mean they have to operate their ML team like the Royals. The BoSox spent upwards of $10 million on this draft as well. Does that mean that Theo Epstein is going to slash ML payroll? What it sound like he's suggesting is that Ricketts will prefer to build a team from within rather than going after pricey free agents and build that way. It's not that one affect the other, just that he might prefer not even go after the big name players. The problem is, the only teams in recent memory I can think of that have had any real success building their teams that way are the Rays and the Twins, and I don't think we have anywhere near the kind of talent that those farm systems had. I understand what he's getting at. I just don't think it makes any sense. A team like the Cubs needn't build from within at the expense of acquiring available talent via free agency. It is possible (optimal) to do both. Teams that draw talent almost exclusively from their farm system (TB, KC Pittsburgh, Oakland) do so because of budgetary constraints. The Cubs do not face such constraints. For them to behave as though they do would be counterproductive and stupid, and I don't think Ricketts is that dumb. Maybe I'm too optimistic... I definitely agree with you there. I wasted too many years of my life watching the Cubs try to build from within. At least back then, they had Sammy to build around, not that it made the results any better. Hey, he had Rondell White and Ron Coomer in the same lineup! How they didn't win a World Series is beyond me.

Vick has done a lot to improve his personal image since the whole thing went down and has regained a lot of fans, but there are still quite a few people who despise him and will not root for any team he plays on. Ugh. Vick served his time and paid his debt. Also, the Cutler hate is pretty ridiculous, too.

Mrs. Myers can rest easy tonight.