Cubman15

Yeah, not used to how the board is run yet, but I guess i'll get the hang of it eventually!

I was at the cubs convention today and had a chance to sit in the 4th row during the "Down on the Farm" discussion. Seated just two rows in front of me was a man and his wife wearing, you guessed it, NSBB t-shirts. I wanted to say hi after the discussion, but snuck out earlier than expected when I heard about Carlos Zambrano's sneak appearance. I was lucky enough to ask the very first question, so I asked what Oneiri could tell me about Felix Pie. Basically he said that the cubs plan on being very patient with him, since he's so young and they want to develop him the right way. Pie will be starting in AA this year at the age of 20. He was part of the Carribean World Series last year and has played on championships in several minor league stops including: Mesa, Boise, Lansing, and Daytona. When I asked about Pie, Fleita seemed very happy that I brought him up and overall, the cubs people were very high on him. Luke Hagerty~~Was lost in the Rule 5 Draft this season. Stockstill said that you can't protect everyone, and since the decisions have to be made in Novemeber, you unfortuinately lose some good young talent. The Cubs didn't protect Hagerty for several reasons; 1) He had only pitched 70 IP in the last two years 2) his surgery didn't go as well as had been hoped for 3) they believe that he will probably make his way back to the cubs this year anyway. Nic Jackson~~Was not on the 40 man roster this year. The cubs are still optimistic for him, but his injuries have been a big cause for concern for the organization. He will be invited to Spring Training this year. Grady Little~~Will serve as the Cubs catching instructor for the minor leagues this year. The Cubs are very excited to have him on in that capacity. Jon Leicester~~Actually played 3B and pitched in college. He said his third base career went into the dumps because he couldn't hit the braud side of a barn! LOL Ryan Harvey~~Drafted in 2003 (?) is still 4-5 years away, but has a ton of potential and a very potent bat. Sorry for the short report, but I had to cut out of the discussion a little early to go and get Zambrano's autograph since he's one of my favorite players. The gentleman that was there with the NSBB t-shirt seemed to have a notebook full of stuff, so I'm sure you'll be getting a detailed report from him shortly.

Hello Fellow Cub fans. In case some of you don't know me, I'm a long time member of Cubs.com. I still recognize many of your names from the old board and its nice to see that Tim has started a site that everyone can discuss the Cubbies in a troll free environment. Now that I have the introductions (and "re-introductions") out of the way, I'll let you know a little about my experience today..... My friend knows a guy that works for the Cubs marketing department and was pretty much in charge of this weekends festivities, so we were able to get in for free. We got to the Hilton about 20 minutes before things began. It was great to see all of the Cub fans there, even though Sunday was basically a day to wind down from the rest of the weekend. The first thing we wanted to do was get a couple of autographs, so we went and did so. It took about 30 minutes to get Jason Dubois autograph. He had a smile on his face as he signed the memorabilia, but wasn't too talkative, so I wished him luck on the upcoming season and moved on. We went to one of the rooms with the open discussion, apparently this one was one public relations/advertising/promotions. A couple of people whined about the Mother's Day figurines no longer being available (or at least my understanding). One gentleman pretty much begged them to stop the 7th Inning Stretch Guets, to which he got a good round of applause from the crowd. When one of the guys on the panel explained the concept behind it (not sure who he was), the other half of the room applauded him. All in all it seemed split down the middle about the 7th Inning Stretch Guest Composers. At 10:30, they began discussions on the Cubs minor league system, something I was looking forward to. I was actually sitting in the 4th row, about two rows behind someone wearing a NSBB t-shirt! I wanted to introduce myself, but never got the chance as my friend received a phone call from his buddy that was in charge of the event, telling us that Carlos Zambrano snuck into the building and would be signing autographs pretty soon. Dave Otto, Jon Leicester, Jason Dubois, Oneiri Fleita(sp?), and stockstill were there answering questions. I actually got to ask the very first question of the day, about Feliz Pie, so that was very cool. (I'll start another post with some of my notes from "Down on the Farm") At about 10:50 or so, I snuck out of the discussion to go and get Zambrano's autograph, since it was a surprise appearance. On my way out of the discussion, I actually passed Jim Hendry and got his autograph. He was very nice, shook hands with me, and just seemed like an overall good guy. Once in line, it took about 45 minutes to get Carlos' autograph. When I got up there, he seemed like he was getting a little tired of signing, so I wished him good luck and told him to say hi to Jim Edmonds again for me. He kind of laughed at that one. Overall, it was a fun experience today. I realize that this was the slowest day of the three, but I'm sure I'll be going to many conventions in the future.