BigbadB

50/50 right now to me means the glass is completely empty. :(

It looks to me as though your team could use offense more than anything. I wouldn't do either of those trades. Carpenter is a franchise player. Don't let him go without receiving the compensation deserving of a franchise player.

I agree. If you are going to go with a "speed" guy at lead off, might as well grab one of your farmhands. They can nearly duplicate the production of a Juan Pierre or Podsednik at league minimum. Heck, you might even find one who is willing to take a walk. Hendry needs to sit down and analyze just what exactly makes the high scoring teams a high scoring team. He needs to look at the Los Angeles Dodgers top of the order. He needs to look at Boston's top of the order. He needs to look at NYY's top of the order. And not just the top of the order. The whole line up should be filled with quality OBP guys. He needs to notice that Boston had a semi-slow moving semitrailer 1b by the name of Youkilis batting lead off, and it didn't hurt their run production one bit. In fact, it bolstered it even more. 1b with piano on his back with .390 OBP>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>100m dash world record holder with a .325 OBP.

I love not being the most pessimistic Cubs fan. I still hold out hope that Hendry could see the light and make a couple good moves. I'm not confident at all, but holding out hope. Yeah, I recall giving you a ration or two about your pessimism. I've definitely surpassed you. I don't think a good GM could fix what Hendry has done, so I have little hope that Hendry can fix it. With Cedeno, Izturis and Neifi in the middle infield, at least 1 of them will have a regular gig. I'm assuming it will be Izturis since they just traded for him. Loretta and Tejada would be a much better middle infield, but I don't see Hendry having the pieces to acquire a guy like Tejada and I don't think he values what Loretta brings to the table. Aramis just might walk. His agent will be checking into his options. San Diego would be a great fit, IMO. With Klesko, Park, Williams and Piazza off the books, they could easily afford 10m+ for Aramis. Heck, they could afford Aramis and Zito. Hendry appreciates Pierre's hard work and dedication. That will drive Hendry to bring him back. Production seems to take a back seat. To Hendry, Pierre is still a prototypical lead off hitter, even though he gets on base no better than a utility infielder. The few decent power bats available this offseason will be very sought after, and I have no faith in Hendry to land one of them. The pitching staff is in shambles and may not ever recover.

Nope. Neifi's contract will be honored for next year. Count on it. He's probably just nursing an injury of some sort.

2007 is done. Nothing Hendry does will make this team competitive next year. And if Baker is the manager again next year, I'll get a lot more done in my real life. Because I'm not going to waste my time watching what will surely be another joke of a season.

Let's see. Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla are both rookies and they bat 1/2 in the line up. Ramirez' OBP has slipped a bit to .337. Uggla's at .348. Cubs 1/2 is .323/.289 That's OBP, not AVG. I'll take Girardi all day long. Here's what the Cubs have gotten in OBP out of the 2 spot so far this year. Walker (133 ab)- .320 Cedeno (102 ab)- .260 Perez (74 ab)- .286 Womack (41 ab)- .318 Hairston Jr. (27 ab)- .185 Izturis (23 ab)- .320 Pierre (13 ab)- .154 Bynum (13 ab)- .154 Murton (12 ab)- .308 Theriot (10 ab)- .455

You really should qualify that better - he's 10th in the NL in OBP among qualified CF's. If he were 10th in the NL, we'd be very happy with his .398 OBP. Unfortunatley for us, ol 43 is 74th in the NL in OBP. That's simply horrific for a lead-off hitter. No he's 10th in the NL in OBP among qualified Leadoff hitters... And how many are qualified? 10?

Haha. Okay, it was a horrible deal to start with. Now, it's really horrible.

I think it's a little early to get that negative about 2007, and I'm a guy who even before opening day wanted the Cubs to quickly fall out of contention in 2006. Hendry will be back for another year. Neifi, Izturis, Jones will all be back, and quite possibly Pierre as well. Pierre and Izturis will be batting 1/2. Neither is likely capable of providing an OBP better than .320 at the top of the order. Throw in Jones, Cedeno and Neifi, and you have the makings of a pretty horrid offense. If I was Aramis, I would definitely opt out. I'd bet the Padres could match what he's making now and they don't currently have a 3b. Klesko, Park, Piazza and Williams will all be off the books, I believe. There may be other teams interested in paying big bucks for his services as well. This team has no direction and the leadership is chasing its tail. I'm already writing off 2007. It's going to take an incredible offseason to make this a good team, and with Hendry pushing the buttons, I can only expect more of the same.

I seem to remember Gonzalez dropping a routine DP in game 6 of the NLCS. Yeah, I guess defense isnt important. Are you suggesting it's smart to construct a team based on the results of one play? Hehe. I knew someone would fall into my trap.

I seem to remember Aramis fumbling, bumbling and stumbling his way around 3b most of the 2nd half of the 2003 season. The Cubs still made the playoffs. I watched Sammy miss the cut off man on just about every throw he made from RF. I watched Moises fall down on routine fly balls. The Cubs defense in 2003 was beyond horrid. Yet, they made the playoffs. The Cubs offense in 2006 is dead last in just about every major offensive category. But, hey! They're fielding the ball pretty decent. The Cubs tried speed and defense and they have proven that a speedy, defensive minded team sucks. It's time to try OBP, SLG, quality starting pitching, and management with half a clue. Unfortunately, the idiots in charge haven't figured that out yet.

Look at the stellar defensive unit the Cubs trotted out in 2003, which was almost a trip to the World Series. I'd take the 2003 horribly defensive team over the 2006 decently defensive team. Moises Alou=pathetic Sammy Sosa= pathetic Lofton=weenie arm Aramis=error after error Simon/Karros=need I say more? Grudz/Walker=average Gonzalez=slightly above average Miller=good Agreed with Sulley that defense is way, way down the list of importance of improvement areas.

I'm officially writing off the 2007 season. The Cubs will suck again next year. Book it. Thanks Hendry.

I'd add the Dodgers and maybe even Tampa Bay as another trading partner, but other than that I would agree that this is the team to deal with.

The Cubs did come within a game of the World Series in 2003 and Hendry's decision to trade for Kenny Lofton & Aramis Ramirez helped the team with the stretch drive. The guy gets bashed quite a bit anymore so it's only fair to point out the whole story. But in any case, to me the goal of deadline deals isn't to transform the Cubs into title contenders for 2007. The goal would be to expand the base of younger talent and add pieces which could contribute to a title team down the road, perhaps 2008. Hendry got Lofton and Ramirez for a PTBNL, Matt Bruback (who?), Jose Hernandez AND cash. Who in their right mind wouldn't make that deal? Bobby Hill ended up being the PTBNL out of a group of choices Pitt had between Hill, Francis Beltran and Steve Smyth. Yeesh. Talk about a no brainer. Littlefield was giving players away that year. Randall Simon for Ray Sadler? (this was an after the deadline trade by the way). I give Hendry credit for pulling off the deal, but no more than that. The 2003 Cubs went to the playoffs because of Wood, Prior, Zambrano and Clement. The offense was marginal at best. I just felt like adding that because you also left out part of the story.

Walker is probably playing everyday for the rest of the month in hopes he improves his trade value. Playing Neifi at SS everyday while Cedeno sits is a given.

The last 15 years has been the Sammy Sosa era? I keep forgetting that. Quick, who is the best running back of the Sammy Sosa era?

I'd bet that KC is picking up most of Perez' contract, which would explain why 2 pitching prospects were included in the deal.

Agreed. As a coach, I'm certain you gave some pine time to anyone guilty of not hustling. If talking to a guy over and over isn't going to get the message across, then the next message should be to let someone else play. This gives notice that it won't be tolerated.

It's the curse of inept management!!! Preach it!

Sorry. You can have the next one. :D

Do the A's have anymore Andre Ethier's to trade?

I think they fired the wrong guy. Next time, start with Kruk and Morgan.

Yes.