BigbadB

Good thing for the other top pick teams that the Pirates will draft on signability rather than choosing the best player. :wink: :werd:

Who said he would be a utility guy? Nomar in LF is >> Murton, Nevin, Pagan, Bynum or anyone else they've stuck out there. Nomar in RF >> Jones. Move Jones to left field. Nomar at SS >> Cedeno I sacrifice defense for offense everytime. If it turns out Nomar would end up being a utility guy, use him to trade to a team that could use his talents properly. I wanted him back and I'll never understand Hendry's reasoning behind not offering him a contract. If he wanted 10m, I could understand it. At 5m, Nomar is a steal, even if he only ends up playing half a season.

He could have played RF, LF, 1B, 3B, 2B, SS. A healthy Nomar is better offensively than nearly our entire team. Agreed. Instead of Neifi and Rusch, the Cubs could have had a good player and played him all over the place. 2 bad players does not equal 1 good player. Ever.

I would do either Santana and Hamels or Santana and Blanton. Chuck James scares me since he can't throw anything over 85 MPH. Heck, it's probably worth it for Santana alone. But, whatever you can get extra makes it even better.

Interesting that the Cubs do not value OBP, yet OBP is one of the stats that flashes up on the screen for each batter. Whoever had the power or authority to get that stat posted on the screen is who I want as the next Cubs manager. :wink: I mean, think about it. Posting OBP when the team doesn't value it in any way, shape or form would be comparable to posting Pitcher Abuse Points for each pitcher coming into a game rather than IP, W, ERA, etc.... It's like the guys in the WGN truck have a bigger clue than the Cubs management team, for cryin' out loud.

I have a roster change taking place on Sunday that shouldn't affect anything. Verlander will be replacing Marmol. Marmol is scheduled to pitch in Milwaukee on Saturday (no rain out expected with a covered park) and Verlander isn't scheduled to pitch the remainder of this week. I'll be out of town until Wednesday night and it would not allow me to make advance changes after Sunday. I'm really disappointed I can't be here to share with you Dusty's removal. It should have happened long ago.

I agree, but I'd probably go a little more than that.

The reason you won't see it happen is because a team in turmoil isn't going to turn into a powerhouse team because a new manager is at the helm. While anyone taking over was an improvement over Baylor, the team didn't really play any better under Kimm. An interim is most likely the replacement if Baker is turned loose. As much as I want Baker gone, what happens if 3/4 of the players absolutely love Baker and will be very upset at his removal? Do you think they'll play harder for an interim manager? What will need to happen is the interim will need to come in there and find a way to light a fire under these guys butts, and it's likely the players won't take too kindly to some new guy (possibly a temporary guy as well) telling them they aren't trying hard enough. Meanwhile, while this is happening, Hendry will be working the phones attempting to trade some of these players to improve his position for 2007. Trading players is a sign of giving up. It's hard to motivate players to play their best when the team has basically thrown in the towel. I don't wish to spoil your optimism. Keep on keepin' on. But, your expectations seem a little high, IMO.

I think you did a pretty good job with this. It's all about baserunners.

I place as much, if not more, blame on Hendry. But, Hendry firing Baker and his clowns is a step in the right direction. Hendry has a lot of the blame directed at him because he trusted Dusty's opinion on what kind of players he should sign. The manager should not be making those decisions. The manager should be deciding how to correctly fill out a line up card, motivating the players to give their all, preaching fundamentals and putting the best team on the field. A manager is a field general. He leads his troups into combat with the goal of winning every battle. The general manager is the guy who chooses the right guys (field general and troups) to go to battle. It's not nearly that simple, but Hendry is guilty of allowing his manager to have too much say in how this team operates. That Hendry has taken this long to recognize this is a direct reflection of Hendry. Firing Dusty and his clowns will not fix this team. It is however the first step needed to fix all the things that need to be fixed. Speier is the perfect interim, IMO. While Razor sounds like the kind of guy I could get on board with, I doubt the Sox give Hendry permission to speak to him during the season. They have their own managerial issues going on too. He might be a candidate at season's end, but realistically, an interim is probably the only real option at this time. Hendry needs to take a more hands on approach to the rest of this season and just keep Speier on as his puppet.

You forgot Zambrano. If he's not the definition of "untradeable," I don't know what is. Oops. You are correct.

How many guys in the league have a batting average over .400? How many guys in the league have an OBP over .400? How many guys in the league have a batting average over .350? How many guy in the league have an OBP over .350? It's all about getting runners on base. Doesn't matter if it's a walk, error, hit or HBP. Get the guys on base, and you will increase your chances of scoring. I asked the questions above because there is no one hitting .400. But, there are guys who get on base 40% of the time. Quite a few of them. It's not coincidental that guys who get on base at that rate score more runs than guys who do not get on base 40% of the time. Same can be said about .350. Hardly anyone is hitting over .350, but tons of them are getting on base at 35% or better. It's hard to string together a bunch of hits. The success rate is less than 30%. Because the success rate is so low, you have to use other means to get runners across the plate. It's quite elementary. And one has to look no further than their own pitching staff to see what kind of damage a walk can do.

=D>

I'd lean towards 100 losses if the other choice is .500. The trade deadline is July 31st. Some good players on this team could be gone by that time, which only further weakens any chance of a .500 season. If anyone came calling on Maddux, Jones, Williamson, Walker, Perez, Rusch, Eyre, Dempster, Howry, Pierre, Murton, Bynum, Pagan, Mabry, etc... Actually, it would probably be easier to say anyone not named Lee, Aramis and Barrett..... I'm all ears.

Was Chacon the guy who started the 19-1 game?

I can't blame Hendry for not signing Furcal. I can blame him for spending almost the entire offseason courting him when he already had a shortstop. RF was a gaping hole in the 2004 offseason and instead of looking to make a deal to fill the biggest gaping hole in the offense, he signed a poor stopgap in Jeromy Burnitz. Hendry ignored that Burnitz' offense in 2004 was mostly generated by playing half his games in Coors Field. The only other team in baseball even remotely considering Burnitz was Pittsburgh, a low rent, bottom feeder team. Where is Burnitz this year? If the gaping hole in RF wasn't enough for the entire 2005 season, instead of addressing it at the trade deadline or immediately in the offseason, Hendry camped out on SS Rafael Furcal's doorstep the entire offseason. While he was serenading Furcal, he was kicking Nomar to the curb. When he finally got around to addressing the biggest gaping hole in the offense, he basically had to settle for whatever was left of Reggie Sanders, Juan Encarnacion and Jacque Jones. And instead of going stop gap with Jones, he signed him to a lucrative, long-term deal. Just what the Cubs needed, a 3 year stop gap at a position that is supposed to be one of the most offensively productive positions in baseball. Instead of valuing OBP at the top of the order, he targeted speed. Pierre was coming off a .326 OBP season. The red flags were raised, but Hendry ignored them and sent 3 young pitching prospects for a poor OBP lead off hitter in the final year of his contract. You make a deal like that at the trade deadline in a pennant race, not in the offseason. After this season, Pierre will probably be gone, and Mitre, Pinto and Nolasco will still be somewhere else. Instead of having strong bargaining chips to deal for "good" players, Hendry is left holding an empty bag. The red flags that were raised prior to this deal have come to fruition. Pierre is having an even worse year than his previous season. I'm not so sure that Pierre will even qualify as a Type A free agent. A lead off hitter that doesn't get on base any better than Alex Sanchez isn't a major league caliber player. Alex Sanchez is in the minor leagues as I write this. What would it have cost for Alex Sanchez (not that I would want him in CF either)? Juan Pierre for 3 prospects and 6m or Alex Sanchez for less than a million and a no name, never-will-be minor leaguer? Hmmm. It's too bad that there is no one in this organization that has enough of a clue to see just how poorly this organization is being run. Someone with a clue could probably do something good with a tremendous payroll at their fingertips.

Does Clemens really have 92 pitches after 4 innings of work?

Lamb 3rd and Ensberg 6th? Wow, that's a very Dustyish line up.

:D

If everyone agreed with everything I said (which they should), even I wouldn't like it around here. It would become quite boring agreeing with everything that was said.

Hooray to Williamson. It will cost him his job and playing time, but someone with a microphone needed to say it.

Patterson could have had a change of scenery without every taking off his jersey. A new coaching staff to match the entirely new front office could have done wonders for Corey.

Take that, Dusty! Fired my entire bullpen today. Figured I better get some better protection for my 9 starts this coming week. Fuzzy's on a roll.

Nice!

Good article. This organization needs a thorough cleansing, top to bottom.