Jazz

you left out a couple of the guys who i thought would be on this year's team - parker and gaub. plus there's david cales and maybe dolis if he moves to the pen and throws enough strikes. the problem with the list above is that most of those guys just don't have a big league arm, and the ones who do don't know where the ball is going when they throw it. In fairness, I listed everyone else who had logged time this season in the bullpen. There are a number of other options available in the minors, including Cales, Dolis, Gaub, Parker, Sommer, Shafer, Rusin, Jay Jackson, etc. The problem is, none of those guys have proven themselves in the majors, while all of them have shown they can handle the minors. The only way the Cubs can see if those guys can succeed is by using them out of the bullpen in the majors. If the Cubs are rebuilding next year, they can stomach the hiccups and work with these guys through their growing pains. But, if Hendry's serious about not wanting to rebuild, the Cubs are screwed if they have to rely on a bunch of unproven guys out of the pen. Getting Guzman back would be fantastic, but I'm not counting on it happening. I think thats a little bit drastic to say. Septembither call ups/Spring training should weed out the unprovens, and given Hendry's love affair with free agent relievers, I'm assuming the entire thing will be a moot point.

Get less crappy? I think if you go out and get a Dunn or someone better to man 1st base, and a solid arm or two, and some bench help than I don't think you really need to go out and "rebuild". With guys like Zambrano, Aramis, and Fukudome proving that they aren't completely worthless if they just play even close to their career norms the cubs have a chance to be decent next year. The thing I'm most concerned about is the rotation. Do you go out and get a top of the line starter or just maybe an innings eater and hope Z and Demp can be a good enough 1/2 for us?

soriano anyone?

his walks (or lack thereof) sure are alarming though aren't they? I mean I guess it's hard to draw them when you're hitting at such a high clip, but is it a warning sign? His BABIP is .362 and his P/PA is below average at 3.62. Hopefully he can develop some patience, cause I feel like we could see him having long cold streaks if pitchers start to figure him out.

I'd be in, but youd need to make the draft like an hour or hour and half later so I could make it after work.

boras is pujols' agent right.. 10 years, 280 mil sounds about right

as a broncos fan, and a huge cutler fan, this saddens me. At least he went somewhere we're hell probably do well.

yes you are.

i'll tell you what though, the crowds participation for that last AB made me smile. 7 1/2 innings left btw.

are you soap dropping kidding me?

really.....

w00t K

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080710&content_id=3107903&vkey=allstar2008&fext=.jsp look at the video of hart being mobbed by his teammates? are you kidding me guys, hes holding his daughter in his hands and your pouring champagne on him?

THERIOT!!

Well we are 16 games over .500 so I think anyone who complains constantly or says something like what's above might want to take the results into account. The above statement would mean that at least 24 other managers would have us more than 16 games above .500. Has Lou made mistakes of course and I'm mad when they happen but I don't constantly criticize a guy who has winning. Charlie Manuel, Clint Hurdle, Grady Little, Phil Garner, etc. All horrendous managers who took their teams to the playoffs. Lou is a two time manager of the year winner, has won a world series, has a career record over .500, and is I believe in the top 20 for wins he's not a horrendous manager. The team is winning, they are getting a long better than they have in a long time. Has Lou made some game mistakes yes but every manager does. His managerial style is working. Not all a manager does is game time decisions. Even with all of that being true, I will say this. If he continues this kind of misuse of the bullpen, I don't care who would be better or worse, we're going to have a depleted pitching staff with a few injured players, and only one person to blame.

haha even announcers are realizing how awesome geo's name is.

Derrek Lee Was subject of alot of hoopla after Hoops broke the trade way early. Had a career average year in 04 in 2005 morphed into the Rodan we knew he could be Vance orchestrates a voting brigade that may or may not have got Lee to start in the ASG Got hurt in 06', groans are heard across the board. had a sweet year in 07 and now is shalacking the ball at the beginning of this year, rejoice insues.

and even though the last 3 look brutal, Pie is developing and gettning him at bats down there is beneficial in the long run, and Theriot isn't as much of an automatic out as lemons of years past. I'll take that lineup.

I don't get this ... why does everybody keep just posting his name, and other people quoting it? How did this start? I think early on last year, a lot of people were misspelling his name. So they'd write out his full name/correct it and quote it over and over. At least, I think that's how it started. IIRC it was in the minor league forums when Soto was absolutely annihilating AAA ball and management were too soap dropping stupid to call him up, so after like his 4th or 5th multi hit game in a row, i think sethuel or someone else just quoted his name emphatically, and i guess everyone else picked on that from there. But like all other NSBB inside jokes, their origins matter little as they are all accredited to the strange randomness of this great site ;).

GAME OVER!!!!!

nice coverage. 10!

what a sack!!!

cmon giants d!

WOAHHH!!!! TD GIANTS

HOWWW!???