BigbadB

You think it's drivel, I think it drives home a point. It was a sarcastic response to some pretty insincere words coming out of Hendry's mouth. Why do you pretend like there isn't a problem with the Cubs right now? Do you really think everything is fine? Many teams have spots to fill. I'm a laid back guy w/ patience. A laid back guy whom with every opportunity you get defend Hendry and the organization and keep waiting for the big trade or signing to happen. Time is ticking as far as I'm concerned. How is giving Hendry a B- a defence @ every opportunity?? Also, I've said he's done enough to get canned by the end of this upcoming season, if they don't contend. Sounds good to me. Although considering the holes we still have a B- is generous. :P I take the last 3 1/2 years into consideration. The team far exceded expectations in 2003. They underachieved a little in 2004, but had major injuries to Prior & Wood and still won 88 games. Last year was a major disappointment and Baker's infatuation w/ Perez reached epic proportions. Hitching his wagon to Baker for a 4th season makes me questions whether Hendry's fit for the job, as he's a pretty stubborn man. I'll give him one more year. Do you think Hendry salvaged Baker's final year because he stands to make 4m in that final year? Do you think that the Tribune would be happy with Hendry if he fired a guy Hendry hired, who still had 4m to go on his contract? Then also knowing that someone would have to be hired to replace Dusty, would Hendry's own job become more unstable? I'm wondering if that had anything to do with Baker still being here. The rumors of extensions kind of shoots that theory out of the water. But, Baker has been absolutely horrible (in my mind) with filling out a line up card, from preventing clubhouse chaos, etc... He hasn't been a man worthy of a 4m paycheck, IMO. Will it be easier for Hendry to fire him this year knowing he's now in the last year of his contract, meanwhile an interim manager wouldn't cost anymore? Or at this point, will Hendry just be sent packing too (assuming that he doesn't improve the team)?

Are Novoa, Wuertz, Ohman, Wellemeyer and Bartosh off limits as well? Do we still have Bartosh? With Dempster, Eyre, Howry, Williamson and Rusch in the pen (assuming Williams is in the rotation and Wood is indeed ready to go at the start of the year), aren't some of these bullpen arms available? Bartosh doesn't have much value, but he IS a lefty. :twisted:

Hey, while we patiently wait, I have a fun piece history to share. Not sure if it's a record or not, but......... Herb Washington appeared in 105 regular season games and another 5 playoff/world series games over a 2 year span with the Oakland A's in the early 70's, and not once did he ever come to the plate for an at bat. And he wasn't a pitcher. I remember him. I always thought he was Claudell Washington's brother. However, I'm not sure whether he really was or not. He was fast. That's it. However, he was not so good at stealing bases. 31 steals in 48 attempts. A "player" who never pitched and never came to the plate in his entire career with a World Series ring. Guess we couldn't have been so lucky if the Cubs won the World Series with Jose Macias on the team. :D I do wonder if this has happened to anyone else?

A little more perspective: Cardinals were coming off 4 out of 5 years of playoff appearances on December 18th of last year, including a 1st place finish and a trip to the World Series. It doesn't kill their fan base to hold out for something better to come along. They also followed up the moves after December 18th with another 1st place finish. The Cubs lost more games than they won last year.

Should we be patient? Good question. Considering at this point in the offseason, we could potentially hide a Rule 5 draft pick in RF all season long, I think the time to be patient has passed. :wink:

With Walker's attitude problems, he might even ignore Dusty's call from the dugout to bunt Pierre down to 2nd. :wink: :D

No, the Cardinals wouldn't be better by your standards either, because they couldn't even finish higher than Houston in the playoffs. I guess I can't put as much weight on a playoff series as I would on a full season. I also can't give as much weight during a full season to a team that had an easier schedule to reach the wins they did. Would the White Sox have won the division with 99 wins if you switched them with Boston or New York in the NL East? I don't think so. How about this? Boston, New York and St. Louis all had better teams than the White Sox last year, but the White Sox played the best baseball during the playoffs! Does that let me off the hook on this subject? :D

I would have loved to seen Mackowiak as the Cubs utility man.

The quote I recall from Hendry was "we are not going to get into a bidding war for Giles". That's it. Didn't need to be a bidding war. Offer him 15m a year for 3 years, take it or leave it. Press catches wind and publishes it like just about every other rumor. I think the real factor is that Hendry didn't want to spend 15m on a RFer because then he couldn't get the guy "he" really wanted, and that was Furcal. I think he placed more value on a young lead off SS than a aging power-hitting RF. One can't say Giles was realistic or not, one way or another. All we can do is speculate. I happen to believe Giles was realistic. "Was" being the key word at this juncture.

I didn't know Dusty did that. Coreyie, Kerryie, Derreky, Aramisy, Moisesie, . Sounds like fun. :D

"Slappy" is derogatory and unfair, yet "one-pitch, once-around-the-league, too-old prospect" isn't? Okay then.

so just because you didn't think they'd be good, the fact that they were means it was luck? i don't get what you're saying. i'm really surprised by all the white sox hate here. i don't know how anyone can deny that kw has done better than hendry over the past few years. kw is working w/ a lower payroll, an armpit of a stadium that they can't fill, and a rookie manager. hendry has a huge payroll, one of the most beloved stadiums filled w/ fans, and supposedly one of the best managers in baseball. yet the white sox won the WS and the cubs finished in 4th place. come on...things are looking pretty good for the white sox right now, and the last two years of hendry has been nothing short of a big fat F. and to everybody clamoring about how the sox were lucky...does everyone remember what type of hitter dlee was before he flirted w/ .400 and the triple crown? or what kind of hitter barrett was before he became the best offensive catcher in the nl? or what type of pitcher dempster was before he became one of the best closers in baseball last season? how about murton hitting .320 straight from AA? ramirez going from flop to stud? Nope. You missed it entirely, my friend. I said that the Yankees, Boston and St. Louis were better teams than the White Sox last year. That's it. Nothing more. That's still giving them credit for having the 4th best team in baseball. That's nothing to sneeze at. I gave KW credit, and I said he's had a great offseason so far this year. And it had very little to do with luck. I have a question for you. Going into the 2005 season, could you honestly (and I do mean honestly) tell me that the White Sox starting pitchers (Buehrle, Garland, Contreras, El Duque and Garcia) were going to have a better season than (Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright and Shawn Chacon) or (Curt Schilling, Matt Clement, Wade Miller, Tim Wakefield and David Wells)?

I don't know why, but I call Cleveland.

Am I sensing sarcasm? I did stress "team".

You originally said 3 games. March 18-20 or March 18 and 20? I'd go up to $50 a seat, no more. I was kind of hoping to NOT show my support for Petco/Padres this coming season, but I suppose WBC isn't really related.

Well, at least Hendry has sent a message to teams thinking they could pick him up for next to nothing after a nontender that they are barking up the wrong tree. I'd rather keep him too. I'm not so sure about playing RF. But, he can catch the ball.

Team. I don't have to define the lack of a CF or pitching staff. I said better "team". The Yankees had A-Rod, Sheffield, Matsui, Giambi, Posada, Jeter, Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, Mariano Rivera, etc... Overall, the Yankees had a better team than the White Sox. Sorry to burst your bubble. I could do this for each of the teams I said were better, but I'm not going to waste my time. I gave the White Sox credit for a good season and having a good team. Why can't you be happy with that? I'm not going to change my mind. And just for the sake of argument, how many people here would have predicted that the White Sox would have a better team ERA than either the Yankees or Boston prior to the start of last season? I sure wouldn't. And I woudn't predict them to do it again, either.

Can we even talk to Grieve prior to May 1? Do we have rights to him in anyway? Where is he? I'd probably rather have Grieve than Mabry, but if it came down to Grieve or Patterson in RF, I say neither. If those are the choices, just fire Dusty and bring up Pie.

When are the games and how much do they cost? I haven't given it much thought, but I'd probably go if someone else did all the legwork for the tickets.

I haven't figured McCourt out. He's been crying poor ever since he bought the Dodgers. Now all of a sudden it's like they struck Texas Tea. They're like kids in the candy store. They want one of everything. I don't get it. Maybe they raised the price of Dodger Dogs. :-k

I'd love to have Drew, but did the Walker/Bradley deal fall through because of a stormy relationship between Coletti and Cubs management? If so, how do they repair it quickly enough to bring me Drew? I'd take either Penny or Lowe along with Drew.

Sosa's skills were declining. He wasn't a RFer anymore. He would have been fine in LF for his final years (didn't realize the next year would be his last at that time) while Alou either played 1st or more likely got shipped off to San Fran for Durham or Alfonzo, etc... I don't know what Vlad's deal was, but with only 1 year remaining on Alou's deal and Sosa obviously needing a switch to LF, and the long term ramifications of Vlad if they could figure out a way to land him, they should have tried every avenue. Not sure if they'd let him get involved with Manny, but I would hope they would. As crazy as it might sound, I do like Tejada better. The contract is better and he plays a more difficult to fill position. At least I thought it was more difficult to fill. Maybe RF really is the hardest position to fill. :D

And which team was better? The Sox had the second best record in baseball (only one game behind the Cards). They were four games better than the next three teams in the AL during the regular season (Yankees, Angles, and Red Sox). Two of the three teams they easily beat in the playoffs losing one of eight games. They then swept the World Series. To me that's a pretty convincing argument that they were the best team. The White Sox had a much softer schedule than some of those teams. If you don't see that, we'll have to agree to disagree. What teams were better? The Yankees, Boston and the Cardinals were all better teams than the White Sox as much as I hate to admit it. Of course, I don't really take any joy in saying the White Sox were good either. :D

Well, that's plausible, but the Maddux deal is nothing to write home about and I can't fault the Cubs for signing Sosa for 4 years. Altogether, yes he hasn't bogged down the franchise w/ any horrible deals like the AGonz deal. Signing Jacque Jones for 3 years would be AGonz Part Deaux! That being the case, you don't go anywhere near a deal like that. Hendry definitely isn't a "big" gamble man. He could have gotten involved in the Vladmir Guerrero sweepstakes and he could have gotten involved in other big deals as well. There was NO excuse for not attempting to get Guerrero. If Guerrero came to Chicago, one of Alou or Sosa played 1st base or got traded. San Fran would have been happy to take Alou for the last year of his contract. It's called being the big player. The Mets are the one's going after Manny Ramirez, and we are hoping for their spare parts (Floyd) if that deal goes down. We should be the team standing right next to the Mets asking about Manny, not Anaheim. Speaking of Manny, wouldn't Boston just love a package of prospects like the one's we are offering Baltimore for Tejada? Get creative and make something happen. Tons of money, some trade commodity and players that are available in trade. Don't sit there and do nothing.

Well, they are stuck with the decisions they made. Are they going to sit Mike Mussina and his 19m price tag on the bench in favor of someone like Millwood? No. They'll go to war with that group. The difference between them and the Cubs is those teams have depth. Where they are weak, they are strong elsewhere, so they can be weak here and there like Bubba Crosby in CF. With Cedeno and Murton (two virtual unknowns production wise), you can't afford to have a weakness elsewhere. I'm not so sure it's a good idea to even start two rookies until I've seen more of what they can do. That does not mean Neifi F. Perez gets the nod, however. It's not too late. Hendry could pull a miracle out of his butt and save the offseason by landing a combination of Huff, Wilkerson, Floyd, Green, etc... If he can do that, he will have a competitive team. I don't know if it will be playoff caliber, but it will be competitive. At least do that since the opportunity to land impact players was on the bus Hendry missed.