KurtEvans

I don't get it.

Their size and popularity has never stopped ESPN from reporting nonsense as absolute fact. I don't think there is such a thing as "too big" a blog to post the occasional garbage story. It is a blog. Blogs by definition do not contain fact, and if they claim to, links are expected to be provided substantiating the fact. ESPN has expanded their blog section greatly in recent years, where a lot on conjecture occurs, but you don't often see a story about a trade reported as fact unless a deal is in place "in principle", if not official. I do wish sites that contain both "news" and blogs would do a better job separating the space they share, because it is too easy to mistake a news report for a blog. I do so love that this perspective continues to exist. Blogs are media. Media conveys news, and blogs are news sources just like anything owned by Rupert Murdoch, Ted Turner, or anybody else. There are certainly differences between a blog and an accredited news source, but the assertion "blogs by definition do not contain fact" is just plain ridiculous. Now if you excuse me, I have to return to MY blog in order to discuss the World Champion Chicago Cubs. They've won the title 4 years straight and have talked a surprisingly resurgent Mark Grace out of retirement in order to help him accumulate the numbers he needs in his bid for the Hall of Fame.

I don't get this Kurt Evans photoshop at all. Dude, kayfabe!

Dolan used to write a 7-10 paragraph blog entry every day. Now he'll churn out 3 paragraphs a week. He is a fading star in the Cubs blog world, so I guess this would be a good way to get back into the mix. Based on everything you seem to know about him, he sure does appear to have a fan in you, UMFan. For his next stunt, Dolan will be arranging a Voyeur Bus in Chicago. He'll have nude models and porn stars riding around town in a glass bus. He figures it'll be a good way to "get back in the mix," as you put it.

Anyway, on the off chance that any of you would be interested in learning more about the whole process of being interviewed by ESPN, I've written about the whole thing. You can read it here, on GROTA.

You think?

I met you, got one of the photos. Very cool... I hope you enjoyed it. I was hoping that people who got Carlos could go and try to get it signed, but from what I understand, the Carlos line was amazingly long. On the bright side, I was able to give him a full-sized Scarlos.

Did nobody here who attended receive one of the Goat Riders photoshops I was distributing? I know we gave some stuff to some guys who frequent the board, but I didn't catch their names.

I just think it's interesting that bunts and the hit-and-run are "useless." Still, there seems to be an advocation for a manager who basically does nothing more than make sure his players take fielding practice, learn how to work the count, and then sits back and only works on the pitching and substitution aspects of the game - if even that. Is an intentional walk also a no-no because it's guaranteeing that a guy is put on base? Anyway, from what I understand of it, a bench coach's role is to know the splits. How well does player A hit off of pitcher B? Who is the best pinch hitter or reliever in any given situation? That kind of thing. The bench coach should not be relied on for strategic moves, although I'm sure he'd be asked his opinion from time to time. Therefore, assuming that Sandberg can do his homework, I would have no problem with him serving as bench coach for a year or two. Ryno is also very knowledgable about base stealing and he seems to understand fielding fundamentals. So long as he's not making personel decisions or overly advocating the bunt, I'd have no problem with him breaking his teeth in with the Cubs. On the other hand, I do suspect that he'd make a terrible manager. But there is a drastic difference between being a bench coach and being the skipper, and I see no reason as to why Ryno wouldn't be qualified for the former position.

Why? He's made comments intimating that he's a huge fan of (in so many words anyway) Ozzieball. Bunting, hit-and-running, other completely useless things that managers do to make themselves look smart. Ah. And what exactly is the superior method of managing? Not telling your players to give away outs or run into outs? So, no stolen bases, then? Just out of curiosity, what if a player hits a frozen rope into the outfield? Should he settle for standing on first, or "run into an out" by trying for second? Does the superior managerial strategy call for hitters to try for drawing walks, try to get hits, and nothing more?

Why? He's made comments intimating that he's a huge fan of (in so many words anyway) Ozzieball. Bunting, hit-and-running, other completely useless things that managers do to make themselves look smart. Ah. And what exactly is the superior method of managing?

Why?

That's fine, sir, but I don't think that contradicts anything Piniella has said. Based on how he's managed his other teams, the Cubs may start playing the game with a more disciplined approach to hitting. That in itself is huge. Something else to consider is that, while the Cubs can absolutely lead the league in homers at Wrigley Field on any given year, it probably becomes considerably more difficult to rely on the three-run homerun (or any kind of homerun) in the cold months of the season. And, regretably, it tends to be pretty cold in Chicago in late September and October. The notable exception to this was the playoff drive in 2003, when it was unusually warm in Chicago in October. I'm just saying, if Piniella advocates winning with other means than the homerun, I'm all for it.

I am not and never will be a Lou Piniella apologist, but I get the feeling that you fine folks are misunderstand what I believe he was trying to say. Piniella seems to have said at some point that the Cubs can't rely on homeruns to win. I see absolutely no problem in that opinion. Clueless to the end, Dusty Baker wanted a team that could hit more homeruns, but Wrigley Field is not a good ballpark for a team of players who rely on the longball. It seems to me that the team is better off with players who can hit, run, and work the count. Over at Goat Riders the other day, one of my colleagues noted that Piniella's teams seem to have higher OBPs in the last year he managed the team than in the first, the Yankees being the only exception. While I see Lou as potentially being dangerously clueless, he seems to understand the importance of plate discipline and that alone makes him an improvement on Dusty. And if he actually tries to improve the team's approach by making them a group that does NOT rely on the long ball, then I'm all for it. That said, I remain unconvinced that he was the best guy available. He's just not quite as bad as I originally thought he was.

Here's a crazy idea... Before Joe Girardi became a manager, he spent a year as Joe Torre's bench coach. The Cubs have a guy who wants to become a manager. He could get a job managing a minor league team in the system, but maybe he'd make an interesting pupil under Piniella instead. Anyone for Sandberg getting a chance?

Well, as one of the guys at Goat Riders who has written and read a lot about these candidates, I can only come to one conclusion: Unless the manager or GM is a part of a defending World Championship team, he's going to be disliked or criticized by at least a third - and probably as much as half - of the fan base. There are some guys who have a generally good reputation, like Torre or Beane, and I'm sure that even THEY have their detractors. Therefore, we have to take some of these criticisms with a grain of salt. Me, I would still sooner run a nail through my foot than see Lou Piniella manage the team, but otherwise I'm open to all of them. Bochy would be a very interesting choice, so would Girardi. Hell, even Brenly would be better than Lou. Therefore, to sum it all up: nobody really knows what they are talking about, it's all guess-work until that final, championship game is played.

You may recall that at the end of September, it was announced that Derrek Lee was forming Project 3000 an organization dedicated toward fighting Leber's congenital amaurosis - the affliction that has rendered Lee's young daughter partially blind. At GROTA, we put a tremendous value in Derrek Lee. He's the best player the Cubs have, and based on 2005, he's one of the best I've seen in my lifetime. That said, we want to help his cause. So, we have opened a Paypal account with the intent of taking donations from Cubs fans and hopefully presenting it to him or another representitive at the 2007 Cubs Convention. Goat Riders of the Apocalypse If you click on that link, it will take you to the Goat Riders site. On the right hand side, you will see an image of Derrek Lee. If you click on that link you will be taken to Paypal where you can make a donation. We will be accepting donations into January. We will present Derrek with a check for all the money you have donated to his cause. We will also give Project 3000 a list of your contact information so they can notarize that you donated the money and you can write it off on your taxes. Should Derrek not attend the Convention this year - and we fully expect that he will - we will arrange to hand the check over to another Cub or representitive of Project 3000. I have no idea how much money we can raise. It would be great if we could raise at least $3,000 (because it's Project 3000, of course), and with a little dedication, maybe we'll be able to do even better than that. If you would like to make a donation but do not own a Paypal account, just drop us an EMail at riders@goatriders.org and we will make arrangements with you. Make sure to title your EMail "Project 3000." Please spread the word. Tell your friends and family. Ask them to tell their friends and family. We want as many people to know about this as possible. As angry as we have sometimes been at how little the Cubs organization has given back to the fans, nobody can say that Derrek Lee has held back anything. He truly is a class act and an amazing player, and this might be our one opportunity to give him something beyond the cheers that he hears at Wrigley Field. This is your chance to contribute. We hope to see a lot of Cub fans give something, even if it's only a couple of dollars. Thank you for at least reading this, and we hope you help. Thanks!

He's everything that they said, PLUS he once kicked my dog! ...not really.

Great run down there, Kurt. It seems the fears I've had about Girardi are supported there. I've got a couple of thoughts about it. In a different topic, we talked about the Herges interview on B&B. Herges was, amongst other things glowing about how good a manager Girardi is. Herges said that all the negative things spoken about Girardi are untrue. Girardi makes Herges want to be a better man, he has integrity, he is both tough and nice but not too much of either. Girardi is a father figure who uses tough love. Herges doesn't believe that anyone wouldn't respond to Joe's style. Even Scott Olson, the player Girardi grabbed by the jersey during the game against Chicago would do anything for him. Furthermore, Herges believes that any veteran players who don't hustle - like Aramis - would hustle for Girardi because Cabrera used to dog it until Joe arrived, and Cabrera was also moved to tears when Joe was fired. So, I think he might be good for the players. As far as his strategy does... I would be shocked senseless if Girardi ever made Derrek or Aramis bunt. Regardless of that, I also think that Joe is still young and developing as a manager, so we can't assume he will repeat past mistakes. In other words, although I might want a Bobby Valentine most of all, I would be very satisfied with Joe Girardi, and I will be disgusted with the organization if we get Lou Piniella.

Hey, folks. My colleague at Goat Riders went out and contacted some bloggers who follow the Marlins. They filled us in on their thoughts of Girardi, and it's not very positive. You can check it out by going here. On the bright side, some players for the Marlins have contradicted what those guys thought. On the other hand, we definitely shouldn't expect Joe to "save us," although he would HAVE to be an improvement on Baker just for his disciplinary skills.

I wanted to add that we also came up with a couple of other ideas based on the postings of some of the residents of this site. Two years ago, we had a 120-win Zambran-o-Meter. This past year we modified it a bit: http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j74/KurtEvans/carloswinmeter.jpg Once the team tanked, it turned into this: http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j74/KurtEvans/dustymeter2.jpg

Just taking a moment to tell the folks over at Goatriders that I appreciate the insight and humor over there.. It (almost) makes a losing season bearable! Thank you, sir. We always appreciate the complients (and criticisms). What you may not know is that Goat Riders originated here on this board. I can't precisely remember when - sometime in mid October, 2004 - but I posted in a thread that a great idea for a website would be something like http://www.goatridersoftheapocalypse.com ... before long it took off. So, it's possible that were it not for the folks of NSBB, I may never have created the site.

I'm not sure about that, but mostly because I don't really have an educated opinion on Girardi. Piniella would be a tremendous, absurdly terrible mistake. I'm terrified that Jim will grab him. Girardi is at the very least a guy who gets his players to like him while maintaining a level of discipline. He seems to have a somewhat lacking in-game strategy, but he studied under Torre and if he has any sense of hitters needing plate discipline rather than aggressiveness, then I'll be okay with him. I also know about the pitching injury incident, but I doubt that Joe is going to do that again. I also doubt that he'll abuse and injure pitchers like Dusty has. Therefore, although I have more to learn about him, I do like him better than Brenley who at the very least has the reputation of being the dumbest manager to ever win a World Championship. So, I dunno. I hope Bob gets a job somewhere so we can get Stoney back, although I do think that he's okay in the booth. I just love Stone.

I don't think Bob would be the best choice for Cubs manager. I wish him well in finding a job in San Fran. Stone returning to the booth again would be a dream come true. Len is an awesome play-by-play man, he and Steve would make for an incredible team.

We've been speculating on this at Goat Riders from the moment that McDonough took over. First, we believe that the sale is going to happen. That means that 2007 is, in all likelihood, a bust. McDonough said today that the team will maintain a payroll at around 100 million, but we'll see how that plays out. Quite frankly, the Cubs should probably have a payroll in the 110 or 115 range, but that's neither here nor there. The next way to gauge if a sale is looming is by how long the next manager signs on for. Likewise, if McDonough's position is no longer "interim," - as we already suspect - then that means the Cubs aren't (or cannot be) actively seeking someone who could actually DO the job. If Chuck is right and MacPhail actually resigned back in August - to the ignorance of the entire front office, oddly enough - then it doesn't make sense how even McDonough didn't seem prepared to discuss his new role. Maybe he didn't know either. Regardless, the Trib should've had time to seek a long-term replacement. That they didn't also lends credence to the possibility of a sale. Lots of stuff to consider. I'll write an article about this at Goat Riders later today...