RynoRules

I think we can safely say that this is the most proactive Cubs front office any of us have ever seen. BTW, I fail to see how this would leave the bullpen a "mess". Sign Wood and the bullpen will be fine.

Doesn't Burrell make more sense for us than Abreu?

I don't think today's result is anything to get upset about. Good teams - Super Bowl teams - have games like this during a 16 game season. I think next week is very important, however. Lots of road games coming up thereafter, and we still have two games with the Pack. That said, probably will need 10 wins to get in the playoffs, so its not like you have to go undefeated. If they go 5-3 again they should at least get a w/c.

As a Michigan fan, its difficult for me to be upset with Rodriguez over what has happened this year. The seeds of this type of season were planted years ago, and now they are trying to run a system built for cheetahs with players who are more like elephants. It was bound to happen.

Realistically, this team is stuck with Fukudome and Lee. I'd move Fukudome to CF, let Edmonds walk and keep Johnson around. Then you go out and get a power-hitting RFer, rebuild the pen (with the exception of Woody, Marmol and Gaudin), and get a new SP via trade rather than re-signing Dempster to what is sure to be an inflated contract. I'd peddle Theriot as part of that trade scenario, but who knows whether Hendry will.

"Marshall's only mistake was to Ramirez." No, Dick, Manny is just the best hitter in baseball and picked that one off the freakin dirt. Anyone who has watched 7 innings of baseball knew that.

Cubs in 4. If they win game one I will feel much less nervous.

Hey, Len: Thanks so much for popsting here and celebrating with us. First step towards the WS, and we are loving every minute of it. By the way, The Dandy Warhols are a great band.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! \:D/

Good pitch - SS was lucky there

Cmon now Woody....

Yup That's ok - got the leas guy and another DP is in order

CARLOS ZAMBRANO YOU ARE RIDICULOUS!!! :yahoo:

I actually thought he had a good AB the other day (IIRC, it was Friday). He doesn't play enough to significantly improve his nos. or his approach, IMO, and I am ok with that. He's a fungible commodity and gives them IF flexibility insomuch as he can play 3 positions pretty well. If we were relying on him for key late-inning AB's I'd be more concerned

I was going to say the same thing. If there is a big surplus of starting pitchers, Hendry will have the option to deal for an impact hitter when one is needed. Right. You could just re-tool the bench and keep other things status quo until you see what is needed for 09'. If Guzman contributes next month out of the pen you have a great deal of flexibility in the trade market. Next year's draft will also be very important, IMO. We need to start considering who the realistic replacements for Lee and Ramirez will be. I am guessing one or both may be gone by 2012-13.

I am not, but I wouldn't rely on his availability either. Won't Rich be 29 next season? Its not like he has a bunch of time to get things figured out.

What a great problem to have. I would keep Jeff in the pen for the time being, re-sign Dempster, trade Marquis (if he is decent for the rest of the season he will be very easy to trade b/c he has one year and 7 mill left on his deal) and give Marshall a well-deserved shot at the 5th spot in the rotation. I would concentrate our offseason moves on building organizational depth and deciding once and for all what to do in CF.

You can't blame Angelo for Williams' injury. Most teams who saw the same med reports stated they would have also taken him had he been there and had they needed a LT. That said, the O-Line is horrible and this team will therefore likely waste what is likely to be a very good yr from their defense. Angelo tried to get an extra yr out of brown, Miller and Tait at LT and it cost him. Remains to be seen if they will be historically bad, but I doubt that will be the case. In the last several yrs the Texans have fielded some of the worst O-Lines ever. In the 80's and most of the 90's the Bucs - in spite of Paul Gruber - couldn't block anyone. Green Bay's o-lines in the 80's and early 90's were horrendous. The Majik Man ran for his life half the time - not b/c he was so mobile, but b/c his protection broke down all the time. That's just off the top of my head. Uh-huh, and how did those teams do, on the whole? You can definitely blame Angelo for the overall situation on the OLine. Whenever you put yourself in a situation of needing to rely on a rookie or the OLine collapses, then you as a GM have put your team in a very bad position. They're going to be bad on a Epic level. The only difference is, Turner will probably just run the ball to try to cover for their horrendous pass protection skills. If he doesn't you can bet they'll be bad on a Texans-type level. On 3rd and long it's going to be nightmarish because they'll have to throw, they have slow receivers, and they can't pick up blitzes. It's horrible. There's no other way to say it. I think we agree here; not sure why you felt the need to respond as though we did not. The only pass I give Angelo is on the Williams pick as most GM's in need of a LT would have picked him where the Bears did. The rest of the O-Line problems were predictable two to three yrs and Jerry should have been ready for them.

You can't blame Angelo for Williams' injury. Most teams who saw the same med reports stated they would have also taken him had he been there and had they needed a LT. That said, the O-Line is horrible and this team will therefore likely waste what is likely to be a very good yr from their defense. Angelo tried to get an extra yr out of brown, Miller and Tait at LT and it cost him. Remains to be seen if they will be historically bad, but I doubt that will be the case. In the last several yrs the Texans have fielded some of the worst O-Lines ever. In the 80's and most of the 90's the Bucs - in spite of Paul Gruber - couldn't block anyone. Green Bay's o-lines in the 80's and early 90's were horrendous. The Majik Man ran for his life half the time - not b/c he was so mobile, but b/c his protection broke down all the time. That's just off the top of my head.

Hey, Jeff: Scoreboard

I don't believe the 40-man is full at present. It will be once Guzman completes his rehab. It would freaking awesome to have flame-throwing Guz and Samardzija in oure pen for the stretch run and in the p-offs.

I like his production, but 10 mill for a potential 4th OFer?

Reds GM is every bit as bad as Dusty, I see. I can't believe that is all he received for Dunn.

Fukudome looks confused at the plate much of the time. Then he'll drive one to left and make me think he has it figured out again. I dunno what his deal is, but I think the smart thing would be to give him a day or two off now and let him get things figured out by mid-September. In the meantime, we have enough offense to cover for him. I still think it is too early to judge his overall ability at this level in light of what other Japanese players have experienced during their first seasons.

Hoff will be here on Sept. 1. I think there is a pretty good chance that - if he performs well - he could replace Ward on the playoff roster.