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BigbadB

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Everything posted by BigbadB

  1. BigbadB
    I think the point AmazingGrace was trying to make is that Hendry has progressively gotten worse. So, if you discount 2002 and call 2003 Hendry's first real season, he has progressively gotten worse. 2003 was an amazing season. However, ANY GM could have improved upon the 2002 season. The trend will end this year. There is no way Hendry could end up worse than they were last year.
  2. BigbadB
    Can they play SS?
  3. BigbadB
    Some of you are acting like AmazingGrace's comment was way off base. I don't see it that way. Okay, yes, the Cubs have not gotten progressively worse each year of his tenure. However, I do not count 2002 as a year of his tenure since he was taking over the position and the mess someone else made mid season. Yes, the Cubs won one more game in 2004 than they did in 2003. Short of that one win, they have gotten progressively worse. However, they went from 1st, to 3rd, to 4th to 6th since 2003 in the standings. Many will argue that the final standings have more significance than the final win count. Getting to the playoffs is definitely significant. Regardless of his past, he really can't get much worse than he was this past year, and I'm actually fairly pleased with his offseason. I still have some concerns about the direction of this club, but I'll hold off judgment until the season starts and I actually see that direction.
  4. BigbadB
    :lmao:
  5. BigbadB
    It wouldn't surprise me to see Cedeno at Iowa, at least until he gets his confidence back. Cedeno isn't fully developed. He'll be able to finish his development in AAA much better than sitting on the bench in Chicago.
  6. BigbadB
    :shock: Yeah, a bit shocking. However, Tampa had a total of 3 bullpen arms with ERA+ in the 100's last year. Novoa had an ERA+ of 109. No, he's not setting the world on fire, but he's fairly cheap and small market teams like that a lot. Only 9 of 38 inherited runners scored on Novoa last year. Some of his peripherals aren't all that bad. I've certainly seen worse.
  7. BigbadB
    Buck Coats could be the one to go. Yeah, scouring the list of people on the 40 man roster, there really aren't all that many people who the Cubs can easily drop. Coats is probably one of them. I could see a minor deal like Novoa for a PTBNL happening instead, but after that, there isn't much else. I would think Novoa would be of some value to some teams out there, but his value to the Cubs 40 man roster is next to nil considering the depth in the bullpen.
  8. BigbadB
    My only benefit to this is their huge windfall of cash won't be coming from me. And I hope that many more take my stance on this.
  9. BigbadB
    I didn't say I would give up watching baseball. I just won't be watching games on MLB EI or MLB.com. I'll still see highlights of games on ESPN. I'll still be able to watch all the Padres games since Cox shows them all on their cable network. I'll still be able to see the ESPN games, the WGN games, the TBS games, a few Fox games that show the Dodgers/Angels, and the game of the week. When Cox, Comcast, Time Warner all find out that they will be shut out of MLB for the next 7 some odd years, maybe they can strike up a deal with some network to show more college and minor league games. I'd be fine with that. When DirecTV starts losing money on this deal (750,000 total subscribers of MLB EI last year and many of those will not go to the trouble of switching providers to continue service), DirecTV will have to raise the package price. How much will you be willing to pay for it? They will not raise it right away. But, eventually they will. Why? Because they can. Once they got a firm grip of your privates, they won't let go. You won't be able to switch to someone else for the service. Part of the reason it only costed $149-$179 was because there were other providers competing to keep the cost down. Through Cox Communications (my provider), I would have been willing to pay even double the price to have MLB EI in my living room. But, I'm not going to switch providers. Why should I have to? It's the 21st Century. I should be able to order up baseball games no matter who my cable provider is. I'm disappointed that you don't agree with this, but to each their own. As a consumer, I would think you would want competitive pricing to be in place to keep costs down, but we aren't all built the same I suppose.
  10. BigbadB
    I can't decide if he wants to downplay the importance of it (Peyton has never wanted to talk about his injuries when he has had them, of course they've never been serious enough for him to miss a single game in his career) or just a little bit of gamesmanship. I think it's the former, but I can't be sure. I wasn't aware that Peyton told Sorgi to "be ready" until I watched the NFL Replay last night. Since he was able to continue in the AFC Championship, I don't think it's a big deal. He pretty much had to continue in the AFC Championship game. But, all during that time, he kept working the thumb to avoid it tightening/swelling up. It is when you quit working it that it tightens up and causes a problem. But, with nothing showing up on x-ray and 2 weeks to heal, he'll probably be fine. Whether he'll still be fine the first time he gets hit hard is another question.
  11. BigbadB
    Yes, making an agreement with DirecTV is definitely on par with canceling a World Series. The strike was 13 years ago. Let it go, man. No, I'm not going to let it go. This agreement with DirecTV is on par with cancelling the entire viewable baseball season for everyone who doesn't have or want DirecTV. Corporate greed wins again. The fans? Not so much.
  12. BigbadB
    They won't need anymore for awhile if they lock down Zambrano. :wink:
  13. BigbadB
    =D> =D> =D> I guess since Muskat has not asked you to remove derogatory posts about her we can continue calling her Muskat. Maybe we can mix it up a little, like God Muskat damn. . btw - I have reason to believe that Carrie's been here in the past. OTOH, I'm pretty sure it's not worth God's time to see what people are saying about Him here. And I'd hope that He's got a pretty thick skin about such things. I've never understood why He would be put out by mere mortals using his name in vain, anyway. It seems so petty. If you were all powerful, would you care?!? I meant that post in levity. Sure cursing offends me, but if we can curse we should beable to say Muskat, or atleast say it without someone making a huge deal about it. It's not a filthy word, just a childish name. Cursing offends me more than seeing someone spout a bad nickname like Muskat, or Jock (whom I like). . So if we are allowed to offend the "beleivers", we should continue to beable to make up childish nicknames for Muskrats sake!! You are REALLY pushing your luck. I suggest you stop.
  14. BigbadB
    The Horn can do anything he wants.
  15. BigbadB
    I'm an average consumer. I won't do either. I'll still be a baseball fan, but I'll just have to see the limited games made available in my area and just read up on box scores and watch more highlights. And if it does go through, I hope somebody gets hit real hard in the wallet. Either MLB or DirecTV. I'll send a follow up letter to MLB thanking them for saving me $139.00 by no longer paying for MLB EI. They didn't care about the fans during the strike year and they are clearly proving they don't care about the fans by going exclusive with a dish network. Someday, they'll piss off too many of the right people....
  16. BigbadB
    Vernon Wells didn't start playing everyday until 2002. Shannon has zero games in CF since 2001. He played one game in CF in 2000. 7 games in '99. Not even a couple of games here and there to rest the everyday CF. Worthy of note, however, is that it appears that Jacque Jones and Lew Ford were the guys who covered for Torii when he was injured in 2005. Nick Punto and Jason Tyner got CF duty rather than Stewart. The Cubs already have Jacque Jones.
  17. BigbadB
    The Jays began to phase Vernon Wells into the lineup and CF starting in 1999. He didn't play significantly early, but I think I recall them shifting Stewart in preparation of Wells' emergence. Then, when he was traded to the Twins, they had Torii Hunter already and had no reason to put Stewart there. Okay, but why didn't they put Stewart there when Torii missed most of the season in 2005?
  18. BigbadB
    Before the plopped down more money for Shannon Stewart, I'd like to know why he hasn't seen any significant playing time in CF since 1998.
  19. BigbadB
    You could get WGN and the Cubs for just about every game back in the good old days. And, outside of some premium channels like HBO and Cinemax, there wasn't much more to cable than a few superstations like TBS, WGN and the one in New York, forgot the name.
  20. BigbadB
    By the way, the cost of Pay-Per-View in bars is loosely based on maximum occupancy. I recall a few bars in San Diego several years ago that got busted for illegally transmitting PPV fights to their customers. When they got caught, they were fined a hefty amount and had to pay so much per head based on maximum occupancy. I can't recall whether the illegal broadcasts were from those illegal analog cable boxes that were just about everywhere right before cable went digital, but the fines weren't pretty.
  21. BigbadB
    SI predicted that many years ago. You might be right, but I doubt it'll ever go 100% PPV. That would be the surest way to erode the fan base. Agreed. The Super Bowl is the most watched sporting event for a few particular reasons. AVAILABILITY is the main factor. Take away the availability, and it will no longer be the #1 watched sporting event. It is a well produced program as well. There are side attractions like commercials that interest a non-football base. I can take or leave watching the Super Bowl if MY team isn't playing. I do watch it now because of the availability. However, if the Colts and Saints were playing this year and it was on pay-per-view? I'm not going to pay to watch it. It's a bit early to predict how much it would cost to see individual games or even the Super Bowl, but the successful sports bar owner I discussed earlier predicts it would cost him somewhere around 20K to show the Super Bowl. He will do it, even at that cost. He knows he'll lose money on game day, but his hope would be to improve his clientele over the course of the entire year.
  22. BigbadB
    Unfortunately, I'm not going to have time to check it out. If anyone can provide a quick synopsis, it would be much appreciated.
  23. BigbadB
    This is exactly what will happen eventually. Although, Pay-Per-View hasn't been what they hoped it would. Eventually, the Super Bowl will only be available by Pay-Per-View. One of my best clients has one of the best sports bars in San Diego County, and he expects that to happen very soon. This location also is the very first bar in the country to offer table top pay tv and video games. People can order food and beverages through their table top tv besides watching whatever sport they want or play any of the currently available bar video games. They can browse the internet as well. It's pretty crazy and will soon be available all over the country.
  24. BigbadB
    How many Cub games did you get on this last year BbB? Most of them. The only games that don't show are the WCIU games and black out games occasionally, like Saturday games that air during the Fox game of the week. Even the WGN games show on MLB EI, though I generally just watch them on WGN, because sometimes you get the home team announcers rather than Bob and Len.
  25. BigbadB
    Cox Communications does own the broadcasting rights to the Padres. And for a price, other cable companies can pay for the right to broadcast the games as well. Cox is not the only cable company in San Diego. Time Warner is also here. Time Warner buys these rights from Cox. You don't see premium movie channels being exclusive to one provider or another. You can get HBO regardless of what provider you have. Cable providers should have the opportunity to pick up and distribute to their customers whatever programming their customers would like to view. 7 years on DirecTV is just long enough to kill MLB EI. I don't exactly understand the whole trickle down effect of this stuff, but would there be an FSN that broadcasts games in towns like Cincy, Tampa, FL if MLB EI wasn't kicking some profits of the 750,000 subscribers luring advertising dollars? Sunday Ticket is absolutely ridiculous in pricing to sports bars. Ask your local sports bar what they pay for the package. And it is very inaccurate to state that all of these venues reap huge rewards for supplying Sunday Ticket. Some do it because they would be dead in the water if they didn't. The place I watch Sunday football games paid over 3 grand for the rights to Sunday Ticket. They also offer free breakfast to everyone because Sunday Ticket can be seen at the bar down the street just as easily. So, 3 grand plus free breakfast for 17 weeks of football (6 hours of broadcasting a week). He loses money every year on this deal. And it will be more expensive for him next year.
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