Rob

My opinion on the matter has often been misconstrued as support for Hendry. However, I don't feel it's unreasonable to have an idea of who our alternatives are before firing him. I don't think anybody would be happy to be in a situation where the only person willing to even interview for the job was Jim Bowden. In short, it's not about firing Hendy... it's about hiring somebody better.

Frankie Piliere seems to believe the Nats have zeroed in on Bubba at #6. I would probably want us to draft Bubba if he falls to us, but I think I'll be relieved if he's off the board by then. There's a lot of risk there and our track record doesn't bode well for his success.

I would. Yankees wouldn't.

I didn't say it was always easy. But failing at respectfully disagreeing, I've found it best to say nothing and click a different thread.

With all due respect Rob, characterizing my viewpoint as "ridiculous crap" makes you part of the elitist know-it-all (and uncivilized) problem others have alluded to. Who are you to decide what's ridiculous crap? It'd be more accurate to characterize me as a liberal amongst a crowd of conservatives (or visa versa). We may not often agree, but that doesn't inherently make either of us idiots, or what we have to say ridiculous. Therein lies the problem here. There's virtually no tolerance for opposing viewpionts or differences of opinion. Right and wrong is treated as black and white. The notion that reasonable minds can differ on a particular issue does not live here. At all. That, as much as anything else, is what has stifled this board, IMO. The fact that this intolerance is often portrayed so smugly and maliciously surely doesn't help matters, either. I both apologized in advance for the remainder of that post and admitted guilt in the past. You were singled out so I hardly begrudge your response, but I hope that in rereading my post you can see that I appreciate the value you bring to this board even when I do feel what you are posting is ridiculous. And I hope you don't feel as though I've been too rude in my interactions with you at those times. That said, I don't blame you if you hit the "foe" button. As to the meat of your post, I'd have to say that reasonable minds can only differ a reasonable amount. After that, somebody is being unreasonable and the responsible thing to do is show why they are mistaken. That's where I feel the breakdown in communication is occurring... instead of people taking the time to point out mistakes, we are just loudly mocking them into submission.

In short, I'm not surprised by the situation. The nature of internet message boards themselves seems to dicate that nobody will stick around forever. The trick is always in keeping fresh blood coming in. And since the Cubs are awful, I can hardly blame people for not being interested enough to show up on the boards. Hopefully registrations will tick up when the Cubs get better. That said, there is a major problem with civility on this board. And it appears to my untrained eye that many mods have decided they would rather have rude members posting correct information than more civil members being stupid. I apologize in advance for the example I'm about to use, but I feel it illustrates the situation fairly well. davearm has been known to annoy the hell out of me. He is constantly posting ridiculous crap that I find patently absurd. It's apparent that most of the board feels the same way, from the reactions he garners. Each and every time he posts, the same people come in and just lambast him... and it's rarely civil. And yet I never see anybody get in trouble for being so rude to him. But without guys like davearm around, I probably wouldn't post at all. Because without an opposing side, there isn't an interesting debate to be had. How he's managed the desire to stick around despite being shouted down on each of his last thousand posts, I'll never know... but I respect the hell out of it. If the quality of posts here is going to go back to where we all want it to, it all starts with keeping a civil tone so that actual conversations can be had. I wont single anybody out, as I have been guilty of it in the past too... but the snark is out of control. We need to stop scaring people away.

A lot of those are operating under the premise that Rendon isn't there at #2.

I could have sworn I read something where Fleita said Ha wouldn't be going back down... guess he changed his mind. Either that or I imagined it.

3.5% 3.2% The top number is Darwin Barney's BB% this season. The bottom number is notably hacktastic and much-maligned Shawon Dunston's career average BB%. If Barney isn't capable of supporting that .331 BABIP he's sporting right now (and he probably isn't), his lack of walks and his lack of power are going to tank his offensive value in a hurry. And that's without even getting into the fact that RBI are a meaningless stat. Don't take this post to mean that I don't like Darwin Barney. Believe it or not, I see his potential as a valuable role player. But make no mistake... if he's going to have value, it'll be coming from his glove. Not his bat. To tie that in with the rest of the thread, that's about how I feel about Campana too. If we stick him at the bottom of the order and never let him bat in crucial situations, he could provide some real value as a fielder and runner. Not a star, obviously... but a decent enough reserve guy.

That sound you just heard was West Ride Rooter creaming himself.

He has Archie Bradley falling to us.

Lopez will likely be starting for us on Memorial Day.

Nope. Fleita said today he takes the guns out of the park when Simpson pitches. Doesn't want him worrying about it. Not entirely sure what to think about that. The meat head in me thinks that if Simpson is mentally weak enough to let a radar gun bother him that's worrisome. The Cubs don't want him to start overthrowing and end up hurting his arm. I didn't see anything about Simpson being mentally weak and letting a radar gun bother him.

Anybody ever play Basewars on the NES? That's how I think it should be.

I think it's a given that an outfielder will be called up before tomorrow's game. Calling up a pitcher to replace Byrd on the roster was a move for one game, to provide bullpen depth behind Russell. It would be an interesting story if it is Montanez: Former Cubs' #1 draft pick makes Cubs' debut more than a decade after being drafted after first spending time in the ex-Cubs' rest home in Baltimore. :D I dont mind calling up Montanez. Or LaHair or Snyder, who are all pretty much interchangeable, but I wonder of that 1 bad slide came between Brett Jackson and a callup. I wonder if their will be any correspoinding roster moves for Iowa, Tennessee, and Daytona, or if Iowa will jutst stick with an extra pitcher. There's no reason to call up Brett Jackson this early. If we did, he'd qualify for Super 2 status and assuming he develops into a pretty good player, that can end up costing the club upwards of $10 mil or even $15 mil over the course of his club-controlled years. Since adding him a month early likely wont make the difference of us making the playoffs this year, it would be a very bad idea to just throw that money down the drain.

I wont fault a guy for putting up bad numbers while playing injured. Apparently goony does not feel the same.

I almost referred to you by name when I said "some people."

Lake's batting average is over .300 now and he's still flashing some pop. He still needs to work on his approach and his defense, obviously... but I'm not as ready to give up on him as some.

In that case let's think about ways to get Jesus Montero. I don't think there's a pitcher in our organization that could get us Montero. Garza probably could. But yeah, Montero isn't getting traded for a bunch of our prospects. The Yankees were willing to include him in deals for top-shelf guys... not Blake DeWitt and change.

But HGH is not illegal because it makes you good at baseball..it is illegal because it is addictive and harmful. If protein shakes were addictive and harmful to your health would they also be a PED? Your post is the first time I've ever heard of HGH being labeled addictive. However you are certainly right in that there are harmful side effects. But the side effects are merely the reason it's a controlled substance. They aren't the reason it is banned from competitive sports. HGH was declared a banned substance by the Olympic Council back in the late 80s. The move was more pre-emptive than anything else. There wasn't anything to suggest that HGH was going to be terribly useful as an anabolic agent, but athletes had assumed it would be and began taking it in abundance. And while studies in recent years have shown that HGH has very little effect on how hard one can hit a baseball, there isn't exactly a good reason to un-ban it either... At any rate, I digress. My previous post was intended only to show that the line between "supplement" and "PED" isn't drawn by how useful a substance is... What sense does it make for all these self-righteous fools to ostracize a player as a "cheater" for taking a less effective substance with more side effects? This sort of "cheater" is to be pitied for being a moron, not burned at the stake for ruining the integrity of the game.

Emergency Board

I'm surprised there isn't a thread about this already. He'll be our starting pitcher Saturday. Rumor has it that he's guaranteed $900,000 when he gets called up, so I'm beginning to worry about what role Cashner is going to have when he does return.

Guilty as charged of hating on Jackson and Cashner. Jackson's strikeout rate was (and is) scary, but his walk rate has come around. Cashner I just hated because I was sure he was going to be a reliever... I seem to recall likening it to drafting a place kicker in the first round of the NFL draft.

Last year, his BABIP indicates he was a bit unlucky. However, his FB rates the last two years have been 44.9% and 42.0%. That's not a good idea in Safeco. But even beyond that, his plate discipline seems to be eroding as quickly as his mental state. His strikeout rate is up over 30% and his once-prolific walk rate has dipped as well. He's already burned through 8 teams in the league, none of which is likely to welcome his return. Of the remaining teams, I can't imagine more than a couple would have any more than a passing interest. The way I see it, it's likely Tampa Bay or bust. They're a saber-oriented front office which makes them more likely to value his potential contributions, they are in contention and trying to make due with a Fuld/Damon/Johnson trio across LF/DH, and Bradley's league-minimum pricetag matches up nicely with their thrifty ways. Also worth noting is that the media coverage is pretty light. Of course, the wildcard in that proposal is Desmond Jennings. The Rays will delay free agency by a year if they keep him in the minors until this Saturday, but it will likely take into July to avoid Super-2 status. If they're inclined to think Bradley may rebound, it may do them some good to pick him up and give him a shot until July or so. But ultimately, I think they'll pass. As will the rest of the league. Baltimore needs help at 1st. What's the thought process there? Bench DLee (who has been a notorious slow starter), move Scott to 1B, and Bradley in left over Pie/Reimold? I wont put anything past the O's, but considering how close MacPhail and Hendry are, I'm sure he's privy to all the awful things Bradley did in his tenure with the Cubs that never made it to the press. Besides which, it seems awful early to pull the plug on a "big FA acquisition" like the O's sold DLee as being to the fans.

We've got plenty of options in house between Randy Bush and Dave Littlefield. What are we waiting for?