BigbadB

Had you ever heard of Angel Pagan prior to this year? Neifi Bynum Theriot Womack Hairston Pagan Blanco Pierre Let's build a huge wet paper sack and put 'em all in there and give each of them a bat. The first one to hit their way out of the sack is spared their job.

I don't know how anyone can say Dusty can't be blamed for today's loss. Who filled out the line up card with Juan Pierre and Neifi Perez batting 1/2 in the order? If Dusty didn't do it, then I take back the negative things I'm about to say. Pierre= 1/5 Perez= 1/5 OBP in the top spots in this game= .200 Hits by the middle of the order? 8 hits At bats in the game? Pierre (5), Perez (5), Ramirez (4) If you're going to let Perez have more at bats than Ramirez, you might as well let the pitcher bat ahead of Ramirez as well. Because it's about the most stupid strategy that I could ever imagine to put Neifi Perez ahead of GOOD hitters in ANY line up. Is Dusty totally to blame? No. But, he certainly didn't do everything he could to win. You know what makes me curious? Why didn't the Braves bat Todd Pratt at the top of the order? If batting your crappiest hitter in the 2 slot makes sense, why isn't Bobby Cox doing it? The Braves magically scored 6 runs on 5 hits. Of those 5 hits, only one was for extra bases. 1 double and 4 single's created 6 runs. Ya see, Dusty, walks are real. And they don't always just "clog" bases.

3 of those walks scored.

I applaud Dusty for this line up. "Dude, Murton would get sunburnt if I put him out there."

From the Media Dept: How dare he steal Augie's number.

1. He can catch the ball. 2. He's fast 3. He's toolsy 4. He hits left handed for power, something the team has a shortage of. 5. They gave him a 3 year deal 6. He's aggressive 7. He can handle grueling day games in the heat of Summer 8. He can play CF if needed 9. His 6m contract is not viewed as a liability by the guys who signed him 10. If they were to consider trading him, they don't have anyone in the minor leagues to take his place. I've only got 10 reasons. But, that's probably enough. You can disagree if you want. But, you can no longer ask for reasons he won't be traded. :D

Bruce, Why don't the Cubs consider a Murton / Jones platoon in LF in 2007? The splits indicate that Murton looks like a stud against LHP, and Jones is a stud against RHP. Cost can't be an issue, given Murton is earning minimum. If Murton does get it together against RHP in 2007, then Hendry would have some attractive trade bait in either Jones or Murton. I would imagine the thought process is one that would include Murton in a deal to improve the LF position, like Dunn or Cabrera. If the Cubs could get one of those guys without moving Murton, more power to the Cubs. But, if I'm trading a stud outfielder, I'd probably want Murton as part of the deal.

I'm not making this up. Von Joshua career stats: .273/.306/.380 (.380 is SLG, not OBP) Neifi Perez career stats: .270/.301/.380 Gene Clines: .277/.329/.341 Since the organizational philosophy is all about aggressiveness, it makes sense that their hitting coaches are masters of the art of never seeing a pitch they didn't like.

You're partially right. Walks aren't important if your whole baseball team hits .330+ AVG.

Milwaukee has been negotiating an extension with Carlos. Seems they want him back and he isn't opposed to coming back. If that deal gets done, that's one less FA outfielder on the market this coming offseason. I'm really not all that excited about the prospects of Carlos Lee. Miguel Cabrera? You bet. I'd be on the phone asking what they want for him. Pie, Hill, Guzman, Marshall, Gallagher, Moore, Murton, Cedeno, Patterson, etc... Whatever they want, they can have. Miguel is one of those players you can trade the farm for. Assuming you can sign him beyond his free agent years. Miguel is a year and a half younger than Murton. I would agree with Vance that moving Jones to CF makes his production adequate. I've also said all along that Jones isn't going anywhere. That would be admitting that they made a mistake in signing him, and I don't see this management team doing that. But, I also don't expect them to attempt to go after Cabrera. That it would make sense to go after Cabrera doesn't seem to register with this management team. Hendry will play hardball with the Marlins for Cabrera, without any realization that you can't play hardball with a team that doesn't have to trade Cabrera to anyone.

Yes, he has only played 21 games this year. But, that's why you have Lofton, Murton and Patterson. DEPTH! If we're going to speak in hindsight, however, in only 21 games Bradley has 3 more home runs than Pierre, an OBP that's 100 points higher than Pierre, 4x as many RBI and he costs half the price Pierre does. And, he plays in a pitchers park compared to Pierre playing regularly in what is supposed to be a hitters park. The Dodgers also had Drew, Lofton, Cruz, Repko, Ledee in the OF. Why would they need Ethier? Because the Dodgers are smart. They understand the importance of depth.

The Cubs are on pace to barely walk more than they did last year. Last year, the Cubs were one of the worst teams in the league at drawing walks. The opponents have drawn almost twice as many walks at this point in the season. Cubs 115 walks. Opponents 211 walks. Big deal right? Cubs batting averages to date: .244 Opponents: .243. Granted, the SLG is definitely better for the opposing teams, but who do you think those doubles and HR's are driving in? GUYS WHO WALK! "Hendry won't fire Dusty?" Good, fire Hendry too, because he's a bigger problem. And while your at it, fire yourself!

Your point is well taken. But, if given a 150m payroll, do you think these dimwits would spend it on quality players, or would they just give the crap players they currently have more money? I can see it now. Neifi (6m), Rusch (6m), Jacque (10m), Bynum (2m), etc... Ludicrous assumption? Maybe. But it's also ludicrous to give Neifi Perez 2.5m. The Yankees and their nearly 200m payroll doesn't pay Miguel Cairo 2.5m. Boston doesn't pay Cora 2.5m. Heck, Chone Figgins doesn't make 2.5m and he's actually GOOD! There is no reason to pay over market price for someone. If Dusty is such a great guy to play for, wouldn't Neifi have come back for say 1m? 850K? If not, nice knowin' ya Neifi. Why? Because Ryan Theriot is probably equal or better and only costs league minimum. If you pay more than market value for 1 player, a team can probably absorb it. Several players? It's going to make an impact on your overall production. Because instead of affording GOOD players, you have to settle for mediocre players.

Whoa Whoa Whoa, easy killer! I wasn't for or against, just posting that we are the second highest charging team. Thats all. I have no idea if Fenway has parking BTW, but do they have a TV/radio revenue like us? I don't know that either. I know we spend and have been spending, albeit in the wrong places, I am not a "Trib needs to spend more" kind of guy at all. Sorry if you took it wrong. Heh! I wasn't quoting you when you quoted me. :D But, you did find the difference in ticket prices, which was something I was looking for. Thanks!

I might also point out that over the last several years, the Cubs ticket prices have steadily gone up, but so has the overall team salary. In 2000, I don't think the salary was much more than 65m. They are 30m more than that today.

Okay, now take $12 a seat x 38,000 seats x 81 home dates and what do you get? It's over 36m in extra revenue. Does Fenway have parking to draw revenue from? Wrigley doesn't. How much more is Boston's annual salary? It's not 36m more than the Cubs. What I outlined above was just an example of how the Cubs could have "wisely" spent money in the 2005 offseason. The point was that the problem is not that the Trib won't shell out the money, but rather how Hendry spent the money made available. Neifi's 2.5m, Rusch's. 3m, Hairston's 2m, Blanco's .5m, Pierre's 6m, Jones' 6m is 20m that could have gone towards good players instead of mediocre to below average players.

Exactly how much money would you like the Trib to spend? Would you like them to spend as much as Boston spends on their team? If so, would you also like them to raise their ticket prices to something that more closely resembles the Red Sox ticket prices? Take a look at how much Red Sox tickets are before you respond with a YES! The problem isn't the Tribune and how much they'll spend. It's who they employed to delegate how that money gets spent, which falls on the shoulders of Andy MacPhail and Jim Hendry. If you are shopping the papers for a used car, and a guy has the exact car you are looking for, and the blue book value is $1500, but the transmission needs some work, the engine warning light is on, the tires are bald and the interior is trashed. The guy is willing to part with this car for $200. Are you going to offer him $5000 for this car? Of course not. That would be foolish. But, that's basically what MacPhail and Hendry have been doing. They did it with Pierre, Jones, Rusch, Neifi, Hairston, Blanco, Mabry, etc.... With the money they could have saved by paying these players their actual value, they could have gotten at least another good player. With the money they would have saved by not spending that money at all on such crap players, they could have afforded good players. Blanco at 850K or Soto at 350K? That's a half a million. Would the team be worse with Soto? I suppose that depends on whether he could hit lower than .050. Neifi Perez at 2.5m or Ryan Theriot at 3.5K? That's more than 2m in savings. Boom. Between those two alone, that's enough to afford Kenny Lofton. Kenny provides depth off the bench and can spot start occasionally. Instead of trading most of the starting staff at Iowa for a slap hitting CFer, trade some of those guys (all of them if it takes that much) for Milton Bradley. Bradley makes 3m and Pierre makes 6m. Pierre is a free agent next year and Bradley is not. That's another 3m in savings. Take Pierre's extra money and the money spent on Glendon Rusch, and you actually have enough money to retain Nomar. Let's now pretend Brian Giles was available via free agency. Just pretending now, cuz I really don't want to get into this argument again. But, let's pretend that Giles was available. Let's also pretend that it would have taken 13m a year for 3 years to make it happen. The 6m saved by not signing Jacque Jones, the 6m they were supposedly saving for trade deadline moves and the little more left and any other left over gets the job done. Now, here's what you have going into 2006. Bradley (CF) Walker Lee Giles Aramis Nomar (LF) Barrett Cedeno Bench Murton Patterson Lofton Hairston Soto Theriot The starting line up has 7 guys capable of providing .340+ OBP. The bench has 3 guys capable of doing the same. Okay, Giles wasn't available and the pitching staff needs help. The money spent on Giles gets spent on Millwood instead. Anything left over could be spent on deepening the bench after Murton takes an outfield job. Fire whoever turned Patterson into such an out machine and get someone who can patiently work with him. Until he figures it out or at least builds up a respectable trade value, why trade him? Giving people away is not a good business practice. The team listed above with our current pitching staff is about 5 or 6m more than the team they are currently trotting out on the field. Every team in the Cubs division that has a better record right now than the Cubs has a smaller budget to work with. The Tribune is outspending them all. So, is the problem really that the Tribune won't spend the money, or is it that they employed idiots to spend the money? That they employed idiots to spend the money I do fault the Tribune for. The team I assembled above was realistic (unless anyone wishes to claim Giles was not available). So, you make a deal for a power lefty bat from somewhere else. Shawn Green, Cliff Floyd, or even Jacque Jones on a 1 year deal for 3 or 4m and you have a team with tremendous depth. When Derrek Lee goes down for 2 months, you have Nomar to stick at 1b. Instead, Hendry focused his energy and monetary resources with getting guys who are more famous for catching the ball, and that is why this team can't hit their way out of a wet paper bag.

I don't think anyone is saying blow up the whole team except the pitching staff. I think the finger pointing has been pretty much at everyone. Management has lost control of the team. The team wasn't very good in the first place, which is upper managements fault. I can still remember the quotes of the offseason so vividly. Hendry's smug little "we want guys who can catch the ball" references are proving that he really has no clue. Someone should sit down with Hendry and explain that leading the league in stolen bases, sacrifice bunts and team defense have no impact on who goes to the playoffs. Someone should point out to Hendry that the win/loss column is what determines who goes to the playoffs. It makes me absolutely speechless that they gave Hendry an extension during this freefall. For that, MacPhail must go as well.

July 5th? That's a long time to wait for something to happen.

I liked the "Fighting Cancer" one the best.

Bonderman had his share of deductions as well. But, he got me a win. Good starts for me this week. Bonderman and Verlander against the Royals and Hudson against the Cubs. Too bad I traded Smoltz on Sunday. He already kicked the Padres butt on Monday, and then he would have been facing the Cubs this week as well. I'd be over 200 points right now with starts from Verlander, Hudson, Smoltz and Moyer still to come. Madson threw 7 relief innings in one game the other day, so I really messed up that one.

So Fuzzy Logistics got hot out of the gates this week for what looked like it would be a sure win, which would be the first of the season. They still lead every team in points this week, but Alamo is now 2nd in points and closing in on me. I'm starting to feel like Jim Hendry. Everyone is gunning for the downtrodden.

Florida may alienate their fanbase by dumping players for prospects, but they understand very well how to get the most production possible from their most productive hitters. Marlins lead off hitters this year: .392 OBP/41 runs scored Marlins #2 hitters this year: .378 OBP/34 runs scored Marlins #3 hitters: 36 RBI I'll go ahead and toss in there that both Florida's regular 1/2 hitters currently sport OBP's above .400 Cubs lead off hitters this year: .265 OBP/24 runs scored Cubs #2 hitters this year: .314 OBP/21 runs scored Cubs #3 hitters this year: 21 RBI

Well tribune employee emails are; first initial last name @tribune.com I fired one off yesterday, while he did not respond, it also did not get bounced, and that is not to say it is manned, but I found it interesting that it did not bounce. I guess one could say, it is a publically traded company, and there is no reason not to have this kind of information available, especially if one would like to write or discuss scomthing with someone in this postion. The right thing to do would be to resign. BCB There's probably a catch-all account. In other words, you could in theory send a message to "FireJimHendry@tribune.com", and it would not bounce. FireJimHendry@tribune.com is not in the proper format. It would have to be: FJimHendry@tribune.com. :wink:

HA HA! The Cubs have played worse than 7 losses in a row and no team has felt the wrath of the Cubs "break out" moment. Next excuse, please! Edit. Whoops, I thought this was a real quote from today's loss. Please ignore.