BigbadB

I love it. I actually don't order it anymore. My cable company just automatically renews it each year. It wouldn't be worth it if I lived in the market area of the team I was focused on. I live in San Diego, and they don't show any San Diego games on MLB EI. But, you wouldn't need it if that was the only team you wanted to see. San Diego has their own Padres baseball channel. The only Cub games that don't show on MLB EI that I can think of are WCIU broadcast games. There have been a few instances where they didn't have enough channels for all the 4pm (7pm East Coast time) games, and on a rare occasion, it's the Cubs that aren't airing, but I see enough games that this doesn't hurt my feelings all that much.

Maybe he's at WBC practice?

I think they'll be somewhere between 85-87. Pittsburgh and Milwaukee are better this year than they were last year. Cincinnati could be better. Houston is probably not as good and St. Louis is probably just a smidge worse than last years team. Because of a better balancing within the division, I don't see the Cubs being strong enough to run away with it.

I look forward to the day that a US Olympic athlete is introduced as such, rather than by race first.

Wow! He looks awesome.

Prior has always done towel drills.

I can't respect a guy who wears massive body armor and uses it to his advantage to hug the plate. Oh, and there is no room for Bonds on Mt. Rushmore. Ty Cobb gets his mug on there before Barry does.

:!: I had completely fogotten about this. Okay, I sorta cheated. My location made it much more easy for me to remember it. :wink:

I'd stay away from Brees. That injury he suffered looked career ending. It remains to be seen whether his shoulder will ever be the same. It will be interesting to see if any NFL team will offer him a big deal considering his current status.

Agreed. I always cheer against show boaters. Nothing angered me more than to watch Sammy Sosa do the hop and end up with a long single when the ball he hit never left the park. If it's any consolation, though. Her showboating move to lose the race will probably end up being much more memorable and receive much more television exposure for years to come than if she would have just focused on what she was supposed to do and just win the race. Better yet, she will have that permanent reminder (silver medal) that she was the best loser in that race.

I think you are forgetting who is managing this team. If Walker weren't here and Soriano was, Jones would likely be batting 2nd, not Murton. Dusty sees speed and AVG as important at the top of the order, not OBP. Walker hit 6th quite a bit last year while Neifi hit at the top of the order. Who filled out that line up card?

Not if Griffey has one of his typical injury filled seasons.

Yeah, I always thought the USA did pretty good with amateurs whooping up on other countries pro's. So what if we didn't win the most medals? It's to be expected when amateurs are competing against pro's. But, vice versa, the countries who outmedaled us had no business bragging how superior they were than us. But, did we really need to bring the professionals in to prove our superiority? Who freakin' cares? It's greedy and unnecessary and probably just one more added reason that other countries hate us. And then, to listen to that idiot analyzing the China team in figure skating was an absolute joke. I hate ice dancing, can't stand watching it, but I did so out of respect for my wife's desire to watch it. I don't know who the guy was, but he sat there and just bashed the Chinese team that I thought was better than any other team that I saw by a long shot. Bash, bash, bash to the point you wonder if he has some sort of issue with people from China. The girl then completely disagrees with his analysis and says "sounds like the crowd disagrees with you", then the judges proceed to give them first place by a large margin. If a guy can be much more clueless about skating than I, what in the world is he doing in the booth at the Olympics?

A few players might take a team up on that, but most want the big payday. Furcal reached free agency, and what better position to win than staying with the Braves. He left Atlanta for Los Angeles, a team that has basically been in turmoil. A player like Dunn is probably going to get 2 big paydays. But, this one is the one he will really want to make a splash. Injuries could remove any chance you get the 2nd big payday. Brian Giles is a perfect example of a guy who missed his big payday. He signed a long term deal with the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates, who never once attempted to build a good team around him. I think Giles wanted a big payday this time around, but the settings had to be right and he needed to be overwhelmed to move. No one overwhelmed him and San Diego upped their offer to keep him.

Hairston and Walker were decent enough options to lead off. Hairston was coming off of injuries last year, so there is an expected improvement in OBP from him over last year. Walker's OBP is, was and can be just as good, if not better than Pierre. I don't know what Pierre's problem was last year, but if he duplicates that same OBP while getting caught stealing as often as he does, I don't think he's that great of an investment. I think it's just another added problem if Hendry has ruined relationships with other teams. It probably wouldn't be that big of a deal if everything else was right with Cubs management. But, tack on this problem on top of everything else, and I'll be screaming for a regime change if this team doesn't have a good season. It's a shame, because I really was on board with Hendry in 2003. I have liked some of his moves since 2003, but I'm at the point that I don't believe his organizational philosophies are going to get this organization where it should be.

I think the Yankees motivation on Giles was to drive his price up in case Boston made a run at him. While the Yankees do pay top dollar for players, Giles just wasn't a good fit for them. An outfield with Giles in CF would have been ugly, especially anothe year or two down the road. Boston was a team that expressed interest, so it made sense for the Yankees to get in on the bidding just to drive up the price for othe teams. Legitimate question regarding Giles (the one year contract question). Maddux would be off the books, so there's 9m. Not giving Neifi 2.5m or Rusch 3m would have been almost another 6m. Not giving Jacque Jones 5m for the next 3 years would have been a given. Pie taking over in CF when Pierre and his 6m left in 2007 was a possibility. If Wood isn't retained, there's another 12m. Granted, other players would have to be brought in and along with raises to Prior and Zambrano and the like, I think Giles was affordable for the next 3 years. Especially if Cedeno, Murton and Pie worked out. In fact, with Giles, I think the team could still be quite good offensively if Murton and Cedeno struggle in their first year. If it was me, I wouldn't have spent all that cash on Howry and Eyre. I would have traded farm surplus for MacDougal and Affeldt in KC. Big savings there also. Bullpen guys are completely unpredictable. As good as Eyre and Howry were last year, there is no guarantee they will be that good again this year. It's hard to find consistent bullpen guys outside of the top closers. Paying big money for them has burned the Cubs before (Remlinger, Hawkins). Yes, used improperly is part of the problem. But, that problem is still patrolling the dugout this year. KC would have pounced on Mitre, Nolasco and Pinto for those two relievers. CF still needed to be addressed, and I would have focused my energy on getting Bradley. Yes, Bradley is another guy who didn't appear to be available to the Cubs as the Dodgers didn't appear to want to deal with Hendry. Why is that, exactly? Dusty flies out to LA to meet with Bradley and that's the end of it? What happened there? I suppose Dusty could have been less than impressed with his meeting with Bradley, but I can't imagine it.

Not that I believe Hairston is much of a threat with a bat, I would much rather see him in RF against a lefty starter than Jones. But, for a true platoon at 2nd base, Hairston should have been penciled in at 2nd, leaving someone like Marquis Grissom or Michael Restovich to start in RF. Though, I doubt Dusty goes with a platoon at both positions. And if he does platoon, I see him platooning at 2nd and not RF.

Maybe I am just a bit hazy here, but can I see this quote please? I don't remember it. Based on the fact that he pursued Furcal and Pierre out of the gates, or is there something else I am missing? Again, is there some sort of quote where he said this? I don't remember seeing it. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to go hunting for old newspaper articles quoting Hendry and his comments about Giles. Bruce Miles mentioned the age thing, and I really don't recall whether Bruce was speculating or was quoting an actual comment by Hendry, therefore no disrespect to the messenger. I saw the "bidding war" comment on ESPN Insider Rumor Central. Hendry basically stated he would not get into a bidding war for Giles. I saw it. If you wish to doubt me, feel free. I don't make stuff up, however. I don't think I have ever given anyone any reason to believe I make stuff up.

And joining the Yankees would have meant switching leagues and playing CF. The Yankees seemed like they were only posturing Giles to drive up his price. They didn't seem all that serious about Giles, and defensively, it was probably a good idea that they didn't. Never said a word about 1 year. The going rate appeared to be 3 years for Giles. I'm just pointing out all the evidence that suggests Hendry wasn't all that interested in Giles. Evidence can be pointed out that Giles had no interest in playing for the Cubs. It's pretty much been beaten to death. Fact of the matter is, none of us really knows, but does that mean I should automatically assume that Giles had no interest in playing for the Cubs when there is plenty of evidence that suggests that, just maybe, Hendry had no interest in going after Giles? Because you do? I can respect your opinion on Giles availability. Why do you constantly question mine?

Who had more money to spend on free agents this offseason than the Cubs? The Cubs had somewhere in upwards of 40m to spend. Would it have been in the best interest of Brian Giles and his agent to posture to get the best deal possible, but exclude the Cubs and all their cash to get that good deal? Not only did Hendry state he wouldn't get into a bidding war for Giles, but he also seemed more intent to settle the lead off spot than land a big bat. He also showed some concern about Giles age. Most everything lends towards Hendry not being interested than Giles not being interested.

How old is he now?

It's comments like this that always leave me scratching my head. You don't know that. And it's comments like this that always leave me scratching my head. You don't know whether they did or didn't. But, we have direct words from Jim Hendry that state he would NOT get into a bidding war for Giles. Good thing, too. I'm much happier they outbid everyone for Mr. Jacque Jones?

Stick around for what? Dunn stands to make more than 10m a year, and Cincinnati isn't a team that will be able to give that to him. If I was Dunn, and after seeing what the free agent market looks like for 2007, I would most definitely test the market.

Way below. But, the Gold Glove, for unknown reasons, gives defensive merit for offensive prowess. Ask Rafael Palmeiro. With that in mind, Pujols probably finished 3rd in the GG voting last year at 1b.

I'll agree the bullpen has better arms than in past years, but I am not the slightest bit assured that Dusty knows how to effectively use them.