BigbadB

LaRoche should be exempt.

Hater.

Well, yeah. Besides Zambrano and now Marquis, it's definitely not worth holding back Michael Barrett in the 15th inning with a runner on 2nd and pinch hitting Rich Hill because you're worried that Blanco is going to get injured. I agree with the idea of the post though, this happens about 4 times a year. No catcher wants to catch for 16 innings straight. Your knees would hurt for days. You have to bring in the other guy for a while, and that has its risks. Is no one else looking for anything to scratch the itch? I am. The better plan is to put together a solid enough bench so that games don't drag on 15+ innings because they can't knock in a run.

I think it would be worth $2.00 to not see Neifi in a Cub uniform, but that's just me.

I would agree with that statement if he wasn't going into the last year of his contract. If he can't be resigned to a long term contract, you risk losing him anyway, therefore he isn't "untouchable".

Not as many lefties in the division as there used to be.

I think you'd lose your money on Ward since he's left handed. Marmol won't be making the team unless about 3 other guys are injured all at the same time. My money is on Barrett not needing to be used in a PH situation unless he's coming in to replace Blanco. We have Theriot, Floyd or Murton, Ward, Marquis, Prior, Wood and Zambrano to do the pinch hitting while Barrett gets his rest. And all the above mentioned are potentially better PH options than Blanco.

Why stop at DirecTV? Maybe DirecTV could go exclusive with a particular brand of television. And maybe the tv brand can go exclusive with a particular piece of furniture. And maybe the furniture brand can go exclusive with a certain kind of refrigerator. And maybe the refrigerator brand can go exclusive with a certain kind of beer. In the not too distant future, or possibly sooner, to get MLB EI, only those people with an Amana refrigerator filled with Budweiser, La-Z-Boy strato-lounger with a Sony HD TV and DirecTV can have MLB EI.

All he has to do is buy up a lot of MLB.TV stock once people find out they can't get their MLB EI anymore, and he'll be as rich as he wants to be. He's already told the world he's retiring. Now he's just got to get his retirement fund started. His kid's kid's kid's kids have got to eat.

When they reduce the price of tickets for those games, that would be the day I would come to accept a forfeit game as acceptable. For some fans, that is the only game they may have an opportunity to see the team play in person.

If Izturis is putting up the ol' .300 OBP line, I doubt he stays in the 2 hole. We have Lou, not Dusty. :D I'd be pretty bummed about Izzy in the 2 hole as well. Hopefully the Cubs scouts are right about DeRosa. If Soriano and DeRosa produced the same OBP this coming year as they did last year, .351/.357, this could be a very good year for Lee and Ramirez. Their career OBP's .325/.331 leave a little something more to be desired, but I like that they are trending upward rather than downward like Pierre. I also just noticed that DeRosa has played some shortstop each year he's been in the bigs. Hmmmm.

Exactly. Everything is supposed to be HD sooner or later. And to touch on a point in your first post in this topic, MLB stood to make 70m this year from JUST the cable companies. That would not include the offers ponied up by Dish and DirecTV and any other service to continue providing the service as they have in the past. The combined totals might have surpassed the 100m they stand to make by going exclusive with DirecTV. Seems like a poor decision to me. Amateur economist or not.

DeRosa I would be okay with. If it's Izturis, just shoot me now.

I was going to point out that Corey Hart was missing from the original post, but someone beat me to it. They seem pretty high on him. There is no guarantee that Jenkins will be in the outfield when the season starts. They've been trying to move him all winter long. But, I do agree that they are an improved team.

The vault has been open for a few years now. However, the spending gives the appearance it was only just opened this year. That's what happens when you give out big contracts to guys like Neifi and Rusch.

Sounds a lot like my posts in Transactions over the weekend.

Well, I've always viewed the Bears as a ball control offense. Moose fits the description of the ball control receiver. He should be the go to guy. Berrian is the guy you look for once you've got the defense convinced everything being thrown will be for 10 yards. Until you get the safeties to cheat up, take advantage of the short game. Once the safeties cheat up, THEN look for Berrian deep.

Last night he couldn't, but he did just that several times this year. Twice in the New Orleans game he horribly underthrew Berrian.

I really like Anderson. He makes one of Adewale or A. Brown expendable. I'm not sure which one I would part with, but Anderson needs to be in there on every down. Bye bye, Tank. Harris and Boone/Scott make for a solid middle. Hillenmeyer is the weakest link on D, IMO. I think he'd be alright if the Bears worked in a 3/4 defensive scheme, but we don't. Is Hester going to be an option on defense next year?

Grossman needs to learn how to see the whole field, even under pressure. As soon as there is a little bit of pressure, he folds up and looks like a scared puppy dog looking for it's momma. It's pathetic. Granted, the offensive line not being able to hold an attack doesn't help matters, but Rex and Turner need to work on safety outlets for when the line comes through so easily. I like Berrian, but I like him better as the #2 go to guy, not #1. Moose is still the guy who can make the catches when the ball is thrown to him. Grossman couldn't hit Berrian in stride on a deep route if he wanted to. Against a cover 2 defense, they should have just abandoned the Berrian deep passes for more 2 step, first down passes like Manning was doing.

I'm sure he will profit from it. It's the next generation who will get screwed as baseball gets less attention. Bud doesn't care about them or us. Only himself.

Nice post. That's exactly what should be happening, but I doubt anyone ever accuses Bud Selig of being a rocket scientist.

Go Bears! That is all.

I wish they would have stuck it out with Nomar another year, too, but I understand why they didn't. Yes, finding a position for him was probably a factor besides the fact the Cubs didn't really get their money's worth the 2 previous years. We couldn't have predicted Cedeno would end up being as bad as he was. I was penciling him into RF, with a move to 1st being perfect for him when Lee got hurt. Jones/Murton in left would have been a good platoon last year with Nomar in RF. I don't wish to dwell on that, however. Hendry does deserve kudos for getting Murton in that deal. I never said he didn't deserve it.

Murton was a product of the Red Sox, not the Cubs. I hope Wilken turns things around, but the Cubs farm system is currently below average. I don't understand. 10 yrs from now hopefully no one will remember where Murton was drafted. They'll remember where he made his name. Is Ryne Sandberg a Phillie? I agree with your posts most of the time but Hendry picked Murton out of a million. He does deserve a little credit on that trade. I wish someone would come out and say he seen a little something in Murton. Where's Bruce Miles when you need him? I didn't say anything about not giving him credit for the trade. The words used in the original post were that the Cubs "produced" the likes of Murton. No, they didn't. Boston drafted him and they produced him until the Cubs traded for him. The Cubs can have some credit for continuing his progression, but Boston drafted him. Prior was pretty much a finished product before the Cubs ever drafted him, but I would still say that the Cubs "produced" him, because the Cubs drafted him and he progressed through their system. Ryne Sandberg was a product of the Phillies. There's nothing wrong with recognizing a good prospect and trading for them, but you don't get to take the credit for drafting them and developing them into major leaguers. So, I do give credit to Hendry for the trade. I do not give him credit for developing him into a major leaguer. And I'm still a bit shocked that Hendry did trade for Murton, because he doesn't fit the mold of the skill set Hendry likes. Hendry likes tools guys and Murton does not fit the description. And when the season starts, we still don't know who will get the bulk of the at bats, Floyd or Murton.