BigbadB

Wow.

I don't think Hendry could have written that article any better, himself. I believe Phil Rogers has a steak dinner coming, courtesy of the Cubs GM.

I keep forgetting, are the free agent rankings based on 2 or 3 years? If it's this year and last year, I could see Pierre ranked as a B rather than an A. Clement and Nomar were both ranked B's after their time with the Cubs.

What blows me away is how Dusty can continue giving the bunt sign on the first pitch after Pierre gets a single. That might be the dumbest call in the history of sports, and he does it frequently. Why? Waste an out to get a guy to 2nd base that 9 times out of 10 Pierre can get without anyone else's help. Not only is this team horrible in relation to OBP, but they also waste precious outs way too often when they do have runners on base.

Can we get some really bad Muzak piping through the speaker system of this virtual waiting room, already? Just having to hang out in here just isn't enough pain. Thank you!

Sorry for shouting, but....... WHERE IS THE LOVE FOR THE 'HORN? Geez!

Wait a minute. The Cubs are off again tomorrow?

A lot of those power guys provide good OBP, though. A power guy with a good OBP is better than a non power guy with a good OBP.

There was a lot to evaluate today. It might take a few weeks to get through all that data.

Mmm. That would require scoring runs against a soft tossing lefty. That's quite a stretch.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm cheering Dusty to have the worst season in baseball history. I do applaud Dusty's new way to lose a ball game today. 2 Grand Poobah's in the same inning. :cheers:

And here is where this argument ends. The Cubs are not a very good team.

Meanwhile, Jacque Jones has been gunned down by outfielders as many or more times than all of our outfielders have assists. :roll: It had to be said. #-o

Cub fans worst nightmare........ 0-7 Fuzzy Logistics have basically been in fire sale mode most of the season, but is about to win for the 5th time in a row (6th overall), saving the managers job and an outside shot at being at or near .500 by August 5th. :D

I have Chris Shelton to offer.

If you aren't competing for anything this year, it probably doesn't matter. But, I'd get rid of all the part time players, either by dumping them or trading for a full time player. Walker, Murton, Lofton to name a few. Murton might be someone to stow away on your bench, but Lofton and Walker may never be regulars again.

The 2006 Florida Marlins are 10x more fun to watch than the 2006 Chicago Cubs. (though I really did enjoy Zambrano's baserunning skills yesterday). I'd rather sit and watch a bunch of no names with heart and soul doing everything they can to prove they belong in the big leagues than a bunch of spoiled, whiney, overpaid veterans pissin' and moanin' about why they are 20 games under .500. Personally, I think Florida is only a Cabrera and Willis trade away from giving the Mets a run for their money next year.

Dusty: How in the world did he score a run?

Alex Sanchez career: .296/.330/.372 Is Alex Sanchez a class A FA? No. Does Juan Pierre's last 2 years compare with Sanchez? No. The only 2 things Pierre has on Sanchez is AB and a clean bill of health. That teams are dumb enough to continue hitting such a poor hitting hitter at the top of the order does not make him a class A free agent. If the Cubs want to fill CF next year, they could get the same or better effects by trading for Sanchez. No thanks. The Cubs have somewhat identical options in their own minor leagues if they want a fast, low OBP lead off hitter who will make really fast outs.

All of this stuff is happening (ie. Barrett decking AJ, Jones lashing out at fans, Walker lashing out at the booth) because why? THIS TEAM SUCKS! We haven't seen the last of it either. This team isn't going to wake up tomorrow and be a good team. When you lose, you start pointing fingers. You have trouble keeping your composure. It's not fun going out there day after day knowing the season is basically over, except for the meaningless games that still need to be played. I feel for the players. They didn't assemble this lousy team. Management did. It's not about race. I don't see the race card being used. The Cubs have had 2 different black managers in this century, and one received a very nifty 4 year contract. What has he done with that contract? I'll be the first to tell you he didn't earn it. There has been no accountability this year for this teams suckage. Hendry should resign effective immediately. MacPhail should follow suit. Resigning now would actually be a good way to go out. It might just allow them to save face and land another professional job of some sort, someday. If they status quo, I can't seen anyone wanting to take a chance on them anytime soon. A captain goes down with his ship, but this isn't a ship. This is a professional baseball team. Or, should I say it's SUPPOSED to be a professional baseball team. The problems start and end at the top. If this was a good team, there wouldn't be all this hatred spewing forth. Walker would be patting Cedeno's bottom rather than looking for someone else to blame. Besides, it's not about looking for scapegoats. The whole team loses, not just the person who made the error or struck out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th or didn't hold the runner, etc.... We saw all of this in 2002 with Baylor and we saw it again in 2004. It's happening again in 2006. Management has been given the tools necessary to build a winning team. The fans know it. The fans also expect it. Because management didn't build a winning team, someone needs to be held accountable. There hasn't been 1 firing at this point. The pitching has been horrid and the ability to get on base and score runs has been horrid. A lot of people need to go for those two reasons alone. I'm sure Walker will end up being the scapegoat when all is said and done. I won't condone his actions, but he is not the problem with this team. MacPhail, Hendry, Baker, Rothschild, Clines, Matthews, Pole and any other significant person in charge of building and maintaining a winning organization should be the scapegoats. It's managements fault that Jones is getting into it with fans. It's managements fault Walker is lashing out at Brenly. Put a winner on the field and everyone is happy. EVERYONE! Bottom line.

It wasn't luck. It was good pitching. Remember that horrid 2002 season? The team scored 706 runs and posted a .321 OBP that year. In 2003, they weren't much better. They scored 724 runs and posted a .324 OBP. They made some strides in 2004 by improving the OBP to .328 and increasing their run output to 789, but they fell off dramatically last year with 703 runs and a .324 OBP. They weren't lucky in 2003. The pitching was so good that they won games in spite of the poor hitting attack. If you had great pitching, you might be able to get away with what Houston and the White Sox accomplished last year. But, it's risky to do nothing to improve a bad offense and assume your pitching will carry you. And right now you are seeing why that is such a risky game plan. The White Sox didn't sit on their hands after winning the World Series by living and dying on a strong pitching staff. They went out and improved the offense this offseason while also working on improving the pitching staff. Hendry had an average pitching staff at best last year. He had a horrible offense. Instead of focusing on improving the offense, he focused on speed and defense. Gee, why is this team 20 games under .500? And I'm no rocket scientist.

We've been saying this for a lot longer than the beginning of this year. I think I mentioned it casually at least once everyday last year. That Derrek Lee finished with (by far) the lowest RBI total in the history of the game for guys with 99 XBH's or more speaks volumes.

Is Pierre better than Tavares? Not by much if he is. So, Houston trades Ensberg for a Tavares clone that makes 15x more than Tavares does, and some B level prospect that "might" be a major leaguer someday? I don't see it.

Their goal at this point is to attempt to win as many games as possible to give an impression the season wasn't really all that bad. Which means that Murton will stay on course as a part time/seldom used option in LF. Neifi will continue to get incredible amounts of playing time, etc... I honestly don't think they'll make any significant moves. I also don't think any of the players that will be tradeable parts will have very much value at the trade deadline. Who in their right mind will pay top dollar for Pierre, Nevin, Maddux, etc...?

Huff wouldn't be a good move at this point. He's in the last year of his contract. The Cubs don't need any more of those.