Bruce Miles

Vance sighting this morning.

Lineups Cubs Pierre, CF Walker, 2B Lee, 1B Ramirez, 3B Mabry, LF Jones, RF Barrett, C Cedeno, SS Marshall, P Dodgers Furcal, SS Lofton, CF Cruz, RF Kent, 2B Saenz, 1B Mueller, 3B Alomar, C Repko, LF Penny, P

Lineups Cubs Pierre, CF Walker, 2B Lee, 1B Ramirez, 3B Barrett, C Jones, RF Murton, LF Perez, SS Zambrano Dodgers Furcal, SS Lofton, CF Drew, RF Kent, 2B Ledee, LF Mueller, 3B Loney, 1B Navarro, C Lowe, P

Thanks, guys. I really appreciate the well-wishes. True story about Marquis Grissom. He's 10 years to the day younger than me. He gave it a good go in the spring, but was smart enough and unselfish enough to know it was time to leave. We didn't even have to seek him out. He came into the conference room where we met with Dusty every morning and sat down with us. At the end, he shook everyone's hand, even though we had covered him for only six weeks. I wish I could have covered him in his prime. Let's hope Carlos sends everybody to bed relatively early, just as Maddux did last night!!

Much more fun to cover a winner. Way, way more fun. Guys are in a good mood every day, and that makes it easier to work.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. One year to go until I hit the big five-oh. Good thing the camera caught me working and not eating a Dodger Dog.

Lineups Cubs Pierre, CF Walker, 2B Lee, 1B Ramirez, 3B Barrett, C Jones, RF Murton, LF Cedeno, SS Maddux, P Dodgers Furcal, SS Lofton, CF Cruz, LF Drew, RF Saenz, 1B Mueller, 3B Robles, 2B Navarro, C Tomko, P

:lol: Maybe Dusty meant "flare" not "flair", and the reporter mistyped? :D I wouldn't mind seeing Juan start dropping a few bloopers into the OF. Good catch on "flair" vs. "flare." You could be a copy editor. I typed it as "flare," because Dusty meant it as a bloop hit, not flash and panache. The OBP of .257 needs a little work.

The Cubs were pleased. He may do a simulated game Saturday.

I watched Sunday's game on TV. I thought it was a very creditable outing by Marshall. He showed poise, just as he did in spring training.

Lineups: Reds Freel, 2B Lopez, SS Griffey, CF Aurilia, 1B Dunn, LF Encarnacion, 3B Kearns, RF Ross, C Arroyo, P Cubs Pierre, CF Walker, 2B Lee, 1B Ramirez, 3B Barrett, C Jones, RF Murton, LF Cedeno, SS Rusch, P

Might have to write about how that run was set up by a nice, patient, smart plate appearance by Murton. Excellent.

Yep, that's why I got the jersey this offseason. You're going to need No. 3 starting Friday, when Ronny switches again. Jerome to go to No. 57. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. NOOOOOOOOOO is anybody new going to wear 5?? Not that I know of.

Yep, that's why I got the jersey this offseason. You're going to need No. 3 starting Friday, when Ronny switches again. Jerome to go to No. 57.

Lineups Cubs Pierre, CF Walker, 2B Lee, 1B Ramirez, 3B Jones, RF Barrett, C Murton, LF Cedeno, SS Rusch, P Reds Freel, 2B Lopez, SS Griffey, CF Aurilia, 1B Dunn, LF Encarnacion, 3B Kearns, RF Ross, C Arroyo, P

But why would a big league manager twice, not just once, preface a player in the lineup by saying "young"? I'm not trying to read into it, I'm just looking for an explanation I guess. I've never heard a manager do that before and I think it's kind of odd. Well, he used to refer to Choi as "Big Choi." Yesterday, he referred to Bynum as "Fast Freddie." They're all friendly terms.

It's just like the logging companies who plant 2 trees for every 1 they cut down. It seems as though the Cubs have been doing the opposite. Novoa, Moore and Flowers for Farnsworth. Blackford and Burrows for Hollandsworth. Two guys for Welly. Whomever for Remlinger. Does it matter? Yeah, I know about Mitre, Nolasco and Pinto for Pierre, but the Cubs have added to the system as they've gone. Some of the moves may turn out to be nothing for nothing, but Murton doesn't look to be a bad catch at this point. He may end up being the best guy that changed hands during that four-team deal.

I don't know about that. The Cubs have a very low committment 2-3 years down the road. They shouldn't be guaranteeing anything to Perez, Rusch or Jones beyond this year. And he went a bit long on the middle relief. But he has much bigger faults than "saddling the payroll" with bad contracts. You mean like saddling the 25 man roster with mediocre talent, thinning a farm system that he had previously worked so hard to build, etc.? I don't know about "thinning the farm system." A few years ago, everybody, including Baseball America was gaga over a system that included Patterson, Choi, Kelton, Goldbach, Christensen, Hill, Hinske, Cruz, Zambrano and others. Hendry used that system to trade some of these "prospects" for players such as Lee and Ramirez. Not to mention Jerome Williams and Aardsma, who threw the heck out of the ball in spring training. My guess is that the current system will provide more serviceable players, not necessarily stars, than the system everybody raved about a few years ago. Guys like Dopirak, Sing, Fox, Reyes, Ryu, Theriot, Guzman, Pie, Coats, Marshall, McGehee are likely to make more of an impact than the aforementioned players. And Pie is a possible star. And don't be surprised if Hendry uses some of these players and guys like Rich Hill, in future trades. And mediocre talent abounds in the major leagues these days. I don't know, Bruce. In 2002, the Cubs had the #1 rated farm system and the top 6 looked like this: Prior, Cruz, Choi, Kelton, Hill, Zambrano. That's two bona fide stars, two fringe-regular players for a couple years, one backup and one bust. And I'd love to see what Choi and Hill would have been able to do if their development hadn't been stalled with the hand/wrist and back/leg injuries, respectively (at least, I think that's what happened to Hill, iirc). Go a little deeper on that list and it included guys like Guzman, Ryu, Cedeno, Beltran, Welly, Willis, Sisco, Theriot & Wuertz. All of these guys have seen the majors except the first two, who will see it at some point soon. Willis adds another star to the list of players in the system in 2002. Cedeno, Wuertz & Sisco add three more solid regulars. Guzman and Ryu make up part of the current core of players. The system that Hendry built as farm director and took over as GM in 2002 was almost ridiculously deep. If the Cubs get nearly that much service out of the current group of players I'll be really surprised. The overall quality of the system is part of what helped raise the reputation of guys like Hill and Choi to the point where they had enough value to get ARam and Lee. I don't see players in the system currently who have enough value to land marquee guys like that except for Pie and, maybe, a couple of the pitchers. And Pie is not really any more highly regarded now than Choi was back at that time. Another point is that we were able to trade some of these guys without feeling it too badly because there were so many good prospects. If we traded away Pie right now, who would be left on the position side with star potential unless Dopirak or Harvey can turn things around in a hurry? And while we have some good pitchers in the system right now, they certainly don't compare to the Prior/Cruz/Z troika. There are certainly still players there who are going to provide value to the team. But I don't think there's any question that the system is shallower than when Hendry moved up to GM and has a lot less star potential. Good points all, Tim. There were a lot of red flags among baseball people about Hill and Choi before any injuries came along. Scott Boras did a good job of ballyhooing Hill. Once he got into pro ball, a lot of flaws in his game were exposed. Scouts saw a lot of flaws in Choi's game even before 2003, with one telling us he'd be in the minor leagues that season _ and this was in March of 2003. The Cubs have gotten pretty good feelers already on guys like Eric Patterson, Marshall, Gallagher and Hill. The jury is still out on guys like Harvey, Dopirak, Grant Johnson, Veal and Pawelek. The Cubs development staff did a pretty good job in turning Wuertz's career around. (He's another good guy, and I hope his bad spring was just a fluke.) It's just so hard to tell. That's why I don't get too caught up in saying how great or lousy things look at the moment.

Agreed. Anyone have any ideas as to why they waited until now? To give the impression that Andy sat back and studied the offseason moves, and came to the conclusion that Jim did a really good job? This has been in the works for some time.

I don't know about that. The Cubs have a very low committment 2-3 years down the road. They shouldn't be guaranteeing anything to Perez, Rusch or Jones beyond this year. And he went a bit long on the middle relief. But he has much bigger faults than "saddling the payroll" with bad contracts. You mean like saddling the 25 man roster with mediocre talent, thinning a farm system that he had previously worked so hard to build, etc.? I don't know about "thinning the farm system." A few years ago, everybody, including Baseball America was gaga over a system that included Patterson, Choi, Kelton, Goldbach, Christensen, Hill, Hinske, Cruz, Zambrano and others. Hendry used that system to trade some of these "prospects" for players such as Lee and Ramirez. Not to mention Jerome Williams and Aardsma, who threw the heck out of the ball in spring training. My guess is that the current system will provide more serviceable players, not necessarily stars, than the system everybody raved about a few years ago. Guys like Dopirak, Sing, Fox, Reyes, Ryu, Theriot, Guzman, Pie, Coats, Marshall, McGehee are likely to make more of an impact than the aforementioned players. And Pie is a possible star. And don't be surprised if Hendry uses some of these players and guys like Rich Hill, in future trades. And mediocre talent abounds in the major leagues these days.

Dusty means absolutely nothing demeaning, pejorative or condescending when he calls a guy "Young." That's reading way, way too much into things.

We don't HAVE an office in Joliet. You might be referring to the Joliet Herald, a paper not affiliated with the the Daily Herald, whose offices are neat and clean (from what little I see of them).

LaRue to the DL.

I got early lineups: Cubs Pierre, CF Walker, 2B Lee, 1B Ramirez, 3B Jones, RF Barrett, C Murton, LF Cedeno, SS Zambrano, P Reds Womack, 2B Lopez, SS Griffey, CF Dunn, LF Encarnacion, 3B Hatteberg, 1B Kearns, RF Valentin, C Harang, P

Wow, I spend 12 hours traveling yesterday (including a stop-over in Denver with a two-hour delay), and I see a 10-page thread. I hope we have one this long when Neifi cures cancer in the next few days! Just kidding. But nobody can get the blood flowing like ol' Neif. (My favorite Neifi quote is this: "You see the color of my glove? It's Gold. Make them hit it to me." He said something like that in L.A. last year to Koronka to relax the kid, and John pitched well enough to get the Cubs a win.) I talked to somedoby from the Cubs yesterday on the phone while at the airport. He assured me that now is not the time to be having the Ronny-Neifi discussion and that if Ronny was going bad after a month into the season, which he did NOT think was going to happen, then we can talk. So I think the whole thing is a lot of ado about nothing. (Not that you guys _ and me _ are wrong in spending 10 pages on it. That kind of passion is why we follow baseball.) My take on the other guys mentioned here is that the Cubs did not ruin Juan Cruz. At every level, he had pitching coaches tearing out their hair, and the Braves did a good job of "hiding" him in the pen while he was there. You think Leo Mazzone didn't have enough? Juan simply wouldn't listen. Hill was overhyped, and kudos to his agent for getting him the big dough. Kudos to Jim Hendry for getting Aramis for him. I had a scout say in April of 2003 three things: Bobby Hill was not that good a player; Hee Seop Choi would be in the minor leagues before the season was out; and if he could have one pitcher off the Cubs for his team _ other than Wood, Prior, Zambrano _ it would be...drum roll...Joe Borowski. I felt bad for Choi. Who knows what would have happened had he not gotten hurt? But it's up to him now to show he's a major-leaguer. Again, I think this is all good discussion. Got to unpack, get a haircut, see the family, order some Lou Malnati's pizza and pack again for Cincinnati.