Rooftop Bum

Oh, one thing I did not like was Lee's little "Oh I am so frustrated tantrum" when he missed strike 3 and their catcher dropped the ball. He could have possibly made it to first safely and then you get Aramis up who did end up hitting the ball to the track twice. Instead we get to see Lee kick his legs up and twirl his bat like a baton and whine allowing plenty of time to get thrown out at first. Way to keep your head in the game. Not that it cost them the game or anything but it just seem liked the Cubs had a lot of little things bit them last night.

The only bad thing about the Cubs being in the playoffs is how much we have to hear about goats, Bartman, and 99 years talk. It's nauseating and the media just has a field day with it and never shuts up about it. Now we may have to watch Bartman sing the 7th inning stretch? Geez, might as well I guess. That is all we hear about anyway. God, for nothing else I wish the Cubs would win it all just to negate all the silliness.

The funny thing about the NL Central teams....they are not that much off of the "superior" teams in the NL. At least not the Cubs and Brewers. Behind sure but just a few games off.

I think that window of opportunity passed long ago. At least anything revolving around Mark Prior.

He would have been good 2 seasons ago or even last season though. Oh well.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! Seriously I think this is exactly what will happen. Even if Hendry were to get one of the above something oddball will happen to that player as always when they put on the Cubbie blue.

My thing with Cedeno is this. I don't care if the Cubs keep him or leave him. Either way is fine with me. I don't think he's all that special and I don't think he's terrible. If they can pick up someone better for him that suits me just fine. If not he's okay to have on the team.

Exactly, he's barely pitched for the Cubs the past 2 seasons anyway.

Yep, there is our new manager. From bad to worst.

The only player I really would like the see the Cubs get rid of is Kerry Wood. I like Kerry but the guy just can not be relied upon any longer. Or at least not with the trainers or whomever we got trying to rehabilitate him. If they keep Aramis, Prior, and some others that is fine with me. But please get rid of Kerry Wood unless they want to try him out in the pen but I doubt he would succeed there.

I would not have guessed how serious my lack of enthusiasm is for this franchise now. I just can't believe how unattached I feel towards them. For example. Apparently Wood is not feeling good again. I just don't have a reaction to it. I am not mad about it. I am not surprised about it. I am just like whatever. Same old, same old. If the Cubs win or lose I just don't really have a reaction either way. If they win it's like "Eh, so what...they are still so far back it does not matter." If they lose it's like "Eh, should not be surprised." I just feel so ho-hum about them and in turn makes me feel bored with baseball as a whole to for some reason. Sometimes I don't even bother to check the boxscore. I don't ever remember not at least checking on a regular basis. I mean I'll go 3 days in a row without looking. That's sad. I am surprised that the organization has not fired Baker by now. I am not saying it's all his fault. However, most clubs when it's obvious things are not going to turn around they fire their current manager. Regardless if it makes the team better or not. They just do it because SOMETHING has to be done to shake up the team. I guess that's another reason I feel so ho-hum about the Cubs because it's obvious the higher ups could give a rat's hind-end if they win or lose. Anyway, as far as baseball goes besides the Cubs. I am kind of surprised Clemens is pitching again. The Astros are not headed back to the playoffs this year. Unless they have another miracle turnaround. Then again they give him millions upon millions. So, I should not be that surprised. I am surprised the Braves are in last place instead of the Marlins. I did not think the Marlins were going to be the worst team ever but I did think they would be in the cellar. Blue Jays are keeping up with the Yanks and Red Sox. The Diamondbacks still close to 1st place even with their current 12 of 13 losing binge. Somehow the Pirates are managing to be worse than the Cubs.

Yep, unfortunately those are big names. I would be shocked if we got any of those. I am sure the Cubs will be rumored to be involved in the contracts though. It will whoop us all up into a frenzy and then get mad when Jim won't give up an extra $1 million or 1 year to land someone. As far as the outfield goes I expect the big change to be Pie in CF.

But we must rally around what Jim H and Andy M has said "The Astros did it last year!" LOL. Those quotes pretty much summed it up for me this year that management simply does not care about winning. That was the nail in the coffin for me.

Some team would probably take Wood for the bullpen. Assuming Kerry would not mind that? I doubt he would.

That would be good if the guy could actually come out and pitch every 6 days. But so far he can not. I kind of hope the Cubs trade Wood. He's not much good in the starting rotation and the Cubs won't move to the pen. Just get rid of him already.

The Cubs will probably sweep the Cardinals again. Then the extension will be Dusty's. Then it's back to losing 20 of the next 24.

These guys would surely ask for more money I would think though from the source. That source would be from the Tribune. How they get the payroll budget is beyond me. I don't know how they determine it. Yeah, I know what you mean in that they spend whatever money they have "to work with". I understand that. Unless they are truly that stupid and don't ask for more money? LOL! I would not put it past them unfortunately. It just seems like they like to pass on quality players because they are just too pricey. Okay then.

The signing of Rusch and Perez stinks. That could have gone towards locking up Furcal. It seems like the Trib just does not want meet any high salary long term deals. Which is okay I guess if you have solid options to fall back upon. However, in this case Furcal would have been a much better one than relying on Ronny C and Neifi to pan out. We could have placed Ronny C at 2nd base or traded him for some other talent. Or traded Walker. At least there would have been some options there. I think it would have been worth what Furcal was asking. Granted Lee got injured but the lineup would have looked nice with Furcal SS, Pierre CF, Derrek Lee 1B, Ramirez 3B, Jones RF, Barrett C , Murton LF, Cedeno 2b or Walker 2B. Or wherever you want to stick those people in the lineup. I just can't imagine the Trib did not have enough money to swing that lineup. But yeah, in the end what the Trib is spending right now is definitely enough to have a contender. No doubt. But that one signing would have sure made things look better going into the season. That would not be out of the Trib's reach. It's not like that would be $150 million.

I think the love stems from the fact that he is very much fan oriented. He is extremely visible and makes it a point to appease the fans in as much as an owner of a sports team (i.e. business) can. Exactly. I do not think Hendry and company are all that enthused about winning. Sure they would like to win but don't seem passionate at all about it. Cuban certainly does. Not that you need a person who is boisterous and exciteable and acting like a fool but at least he shows that he truly cares. I think the man would be going out of his mind if he owned this team and they were playing this poorly. He would do something instead of just sitting around saying "Oh well the Astros turned it around last season. So, I won't do a damn thing about it. Those are the breaks. Maybe we will get a break to. Ho Hum. Life sucks and then you die." I don't really get that vibe from Cuban. He would be firing Baker at least. Sure it might not do a thing to turn anything around but at least it would be a sign of at least TRYING to shake up the team. This management does zilch. Honestly, I would like to see a rich dude take over the Cubs. It seems like those guys know it's their rear ends on the line and will do something to better their team at all costs. Granted the Tribune does have the Cubs at a nice monetary amt but you know they could dish out plenty more but simply will not. All I know is something in upper management and/or ownership needs to change. I would not mind Cuban being the replacement at all.

By the 3rd week of June if not sooner.

Seconded I totall agree as well. I just hope we actually get some decent players in return. I am not really counting on that to happen with the folks running this show.

LOL! Sad but true.

Well apparently A.J. has some sort of reputation for being an instigator in the past. I don't know that but that is what I have been reading. Apparently he is none to popular in MLB. I never watch Sox games so I have no idea if that is true. A.J. did get a tadbit overzealous with a non play at the plate and then slapped the plate like he really accomplished something buy knocking Barrett over. So, it's not like he is some totally innocent man and Barrett knocked him to the ground for no reason whatsoever. Then AJ goes all nutty smacking himself in the face and acting like a moron afterwards. I am not that impressed with A.J. sorry. It's kind of like Zambrano's crazy antics. Yeah, it's all emotion but it does tend to tick people off regardless and get under their skin. It's all a bit unneccessary and just more for show than anything else. Yeah, Barrett should not have sucker punched him. He deserved his suspension IMO. It's baseball and you are the catcher. You are gonna get nailed at somepoint. But I think for Barrett he just got tired of teams walking all over the Cubs. I think A.J. was trying to rub it in there a bit with this bowling over of Barrett and hand slap garbage. Barrett got a bit tired of it and lashed out. At least somebody on the team showed some disappointment in the season and how it's going. Baker never does anything. He just whines to the press about bad luck and hoping things will hopefully turnaround. Same with Jim ripping on reporters. As far as Lee goes. Well that's baseball. It seems to be the only sport where every single player, manager, coach, etc has to run out on to the field and act tough but do nothing. It does not really matter since the Cub season is basically over unless a miracle happens and right sooneth. If he gets a 5, 8, 10 game suspension it won't really matter all that much.

Wow. That is sad. Eh, you just can't count on Kerry. I like him and everything but if the guy can't pitch just get rid of him. Hopefully we can find someone that can.

Honestly, I dont' think anyone should be excluded from getting traded. Obviously Lee is not going anywhere now that he is signed for awhile. Anyone they can get rid of and bring something decent back in return is fine with me.