BigbadB

I'm sort of hoping for a domino effect, all the way to MacPhail.

It only flashes up on the tv screen every time someone comes to the plate. It would be quite difficult to NOT be aware of it.

I thought this thread would be entirely about the Cubs. Not enough Cub players on the list, and they completely forgot a management team, who should be coached by none other than Dusty Baker. Cliff Floyd is not a RF. Garrett Anderson is not a CF. How can Juan Pierre and his 12 RBI not make the list? Think about that for a second. A guy who has not missed a game all year has 12 RBI. Wait. You did not think about that for a second. Think about it. That's just ridiculous.

The Milwaukee announcers were driving me nuts defending Dusty last night. It was non-stop. Each time a player did something wrong, they would say something like "so how exactly is a play like that Dusty's fault". Well, Dusty allows such plays to go unpunished, that's how, you idiots. If they saw more than just the games they play against their own team, maybe they wouldn't be so critical of the thought of Dusty being removed. When the next manager comes in and does more than Dusty does, it will be proof alone that Dusty wasn't worthy of a 4m paycheck or to wear the Cub logo on his uniform.

What's Anthony Gwynn up to? Is he doing any good? Does he have a chance to be anywhere near as good as his father was?

And would Nomar really throw any worse than Pierre or Jones? I mean, really? Or would Nomar's arm be worse than watching Phil Nevin attempt to catch a routine fly ball? You're talking about a shortstop with a gun. Is he incapable of shifting his arm slot to over the top when roaming the outfield? I don't know. But, if 5m would have brought him back, it's a reasonable amount of money for an incredible talent with a bat.

I can respect your opinion, I just can't agree with it. The Cubs could have had Nomar locked up immediately. He didn't sign with the Dodgers until after the arby deadline. Nomar wanted to come back. He felt like he owed it to the fans to come back and play a healthy season. Maybe it's all talk. But, there's no reason for me to believe he was just telling tales. The Cubs showed no interest in him at all and he went the way of the market. Maybe it would have been 5m plus incentives. I don't know. But, a guaranteed amount of games before he gets a boost from 5m wouldn't have been bad for either party. Better yet, you lock up Nomar and give him the shortstop job until it's obvious he really can't play the position anymore. Try him out in the outfield. If that doesn't work, I'm sure Cubs management and Nomar could have reached some sort of agreement to move him to a team that could use him. And if they took that approach, they might have been able to actually get something for him. Letting him just walk was a poor decision no matter how you slice it, whether you blame Hendry or not, IMHO.

How can you knock a guys throwing error when he's committed a total of 4 errors all year? The argument about attempting to go to 3rd is reasonable, but it should also quiet the argument that he's lazy.

91 pitches? Now that is the stat of the day.

Number of innings he's been needed at another position? 0

This argument always gets twisted. Granted, Neifi does make too much money, but he isn't the one who made the offer, Hendry did. That Neifi bats second isn't Neifi's fault, it's Baker's. Do I have this personal vendetta against Neifi? Absolutely not. Do I wish he was off the team altogether? Absolutely not. Should Neifi ever bat before Derrek Lee bats? Absolutely not. If Neifi played everyday, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Good teams have won with a player of Neifi's talents playing everyday. The dislike for Neifi is directed at Dusty more than it is directed at Neifi. That Dusty will use Neifi incorrectly is why there always seems to be this tremendous hatred for Neifi. That Dusty and Neifi have this gentleman's agreement that Neifi will play often and bat at the top of the batting order is where most of the anger generates. That Neifi's OBP is barely better than his AVG is why he should never bat at the top of the order is why Neifi gets the attention that he does. Other than not having a clue how to take a pitch, he's really just a hair below mediocre as a utility infielder. Typically, a utility infielder should never draw this much ire from the fans. If they are, the anger is directed at the wrong persons.

Who said he would be a utility guy? You did in your previous post when you said they could have signed him and "played him all over the place." He gave him a one year deal in '05 to prove that he could stay healthy. What happened? He got injured three weeks into the season and was out til what, August? What was he supposed to do, give him another one year deal to see if he could stay healthy again, and run the risk of flushing another 6-10 million down the drain? Yep. You take that chance with anyone you sign. Did you see Nomar after his return from injury last year? He looked pretty good. What's he doing now? Playing great. He's even stealing bases like he never had an injury. 6-10m? Try 5m. That was the quoted price to stay in Chicago. He's getting 6m from the Dodgers. The Dodgers felt he was worth the gamble. Hendry didn't. Hendry is the one with egg on his face. And I can't make excuses for it. As far as playing all over the place, the point I was trying to make was he could play wherever you put him. He'd likely have his own position somewhere, just have to figure out what works best for him and the team. Cleveland was going to stick him in the outfield, and Nomar sure would have looked better in LF for Cleveland than Hollandsworth is turning out. All these other teams had Nomar's injury history. Someone was going to take a chance on him. Who better than the team that he felt he betrayed by being injured during much of his tenure here? It was clearly quoted in nearly all the local papers that he wanted the opportunity to come back and give the fans what they expected of him. Heck, the Dodgers took a chance on Nomar AND stole away Hendry's one true love.......Furcal. The Dodgers also nabbed another guy I wanted to see the Cubs grab......Kenny Lofton. Depth. Bench help. The Dodgers have built up a solid core and they have a great opportunity to be very good for a long while. A nice blend of veteran leadership and solid young up and coming prospects along with good role players mixed in between. The Cubs? Not so much. The organizational philosophy and poor decisions are going to haunt this team for years.

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>