Rob

I don't have the book on me, but I remember reading a biography of him where he lashed out at... I wanna say it was Dallas Green... for having some computer printouts designed to help dictate strategy.

This.

he was never going to play; reed johnson was the platoon partner for fukudome and the corners were filled by bradley and soriano. pie was never going to "figure it out" in a role where he never played and didn't get to adjust to major league pitching. Agreed. Once we decided to sign Bradley, Pie had no place on this team. I really wish Lou would have given Pie a fair shake last year though... but of course he defaulted to the scrappy veteran Reed Johnson after about 4 games.

You know, I understand the urge to have all your players know how to bunt, hit and run, etc... they can be useful tools to have. But they need to be used sparingly... and Ryno's strategy seems to be to "manufacture" runs... and that's bad.

I'm going to assume that the Cubs were thrown in there by shear laziness. Cubs will almost assuredly take a look, but they wont be major players.

Yep. If someone who isn't pick protected signs him. Even a sandwich pick and a second rounder has more expected value than Ceda.

I said it at the time of the trade, and I mean it now... I'd rather have six years of cost-controlled Jose Ceda than one of Kevin Gregg... but if he's our closer all year and leaves as a Type A FA we've offered arby too, we came out way ahead.

It's just a matter of who gets hot when. Hell, if Soriano gets really hot, he can almost win us a 5 game series by himself...

Ryno was my favorite player growing up... and I think he'd make an excellent bench coach. But I don't want him to manage the team. He's completely backwards.

Entourage

http://www.fangraphs.com/lgraphs/290814116_Pirates_Cubs_138435942_lbig.png

That was a tough play.

call me crazy... but I kinda want to see Koyie hit into a triple play here. I can't imagine anybody has ever hit a triple and a triple play in the same inning before.

Sori's leg kick was reaaally off on those first two pitches.

No one will ever beat Rusty Kuntz. Daley Cox was up there... but we just released him.

Logan White and Kim Ng say hello. Logan White is the best GM prospect and if they were to replace Hendry, he would be the only one on my list. Chris Antonetti belongs on the list too... but I'd prefer White. Antonetti will replace Shapiro when Shapiro gets promoted in about 1-2 years. That's pretty obvious from the way he turned down the Cards job. But he did interview, so there is a slight chance he was willing to be stolen away.

I never wore a cup while playing sports. After blowing out my knee one time too many, I was too slow to voluntarily slow myself down more with one of those.

That'd make the Pac Rim haul pretty darn impressive this season if true. If there's one thing that Jim Hendry has done real well on, it's allocating his resources to the Pac Rim. We're getting a lot more bang for our buck out there than we would be duking it out with all the other teams in the Dominican, Venezuela, etc...

Not that anybody is interested, but I'm revising my list... 1.) Josh Vitters - Tools are obvious, but his injury history is becoming slightly worrisome. 2.) Starlin Castro - I actually considered giving him the top spot. He's done more than just hold his own at such a young age... he's been fantastic. Even his slow start at Tennessee is nothing to be concerned with, as he hasn't struck out yet in 33 AB. 3.) Jay Jackson - There's nothing not to like. 4.) Andrew Cashner - I'm coming along slowly on him. I question his ultimate ceiling still simply because the organization doesn't seem to see him in the rotation down the road. 5.) Hak-ju Lee - I heard Tim Wilken refer to him as a first round talent, and he's certainly playing like one. His power may never materialize, but he has all the makings of an excellent player with a high average, plenty of walks, plenty of SB, and fantastic defense. 6.) Chris Carpenter - First round talent with injury problems. The performance is about what I expected... but he's got a ways to go before the injuries don't scare me. 7.) Kyler Burke - I've been higher on him than most in the past, and I'm continuing the trend now. He's starting to hit for average, and some of those doubles are going over the fence. I'm starting to see a lot of Jeremy Hermida in him. 8.) Dae-Eun Rhee - His stock drops slightly on account of the injuries... but I am in love with his arm. Something tells me he could take an Angel Guzman path to the majors... but he'll pay off at some point. 9.) Brett Jackson - I still think he was a mistake of a pick, but he's doing his best to prove me wrong. 10.) Junior Lake - Hasn't produced this year, but he's got tools out the wazoo. Plus, this pick should piss off Truffle.

It's amazing how many people want this. I'm just curious, why is everyone so opposed to this? The guy has won a World Series ring, and as far a I can see, really knows the game and the Cubs personnel. How many times have you heard him suggesting sac bunts in the first inning? He won a WS ring riding Schilling and Johnson all the way... he's not a good manager.

Bradley's OBP by month: April - .333 May - .348 June - .377 July - .457 August - .488

Logan White and Kim Ng say hello. Logan White is the best GM prospect and if they were to replace Hendry, he would be the only one on my list. Chris Antonetti belongs on the list too... but I'd prefer White.

The Phillies are just sitting on his fastball... It'd be nice if the Cubs had let him work on his other pitches a bit in the minors instead of riding the pine up here for months at a time.

Do clutch players exist? Possibly. It's tough to find an adequate criteria to determine clutch, and limited sample sizes of that make the job considerably harder. Are there players out there who fold in the clutch? Absolutely. While again, clutch is harder to determine... basic human nature suggests that there are some players who have trouble with the pressure. Greinke, Willis, and Greene amongst others have all struggled with anxiety related issues, and would seem to be slightly more likely to fold under extreme pressure. Here's the real question... how do you identify which players on our team are anti-clutch? Given the extremely limited sample sizes, it's impossible to accurately determine who was just cold, who was unlucky, and who walked off the field after dropping a load in their pants. You want to blow up the whole team? Fine... but you're gonna ship off some players who very likely could have been a huge positive impact on the next postseason series. Edit: Can a mod delete this post? I want to see if this page can be entirely taken up by people on my ignore list.

He's quite good for a color man... not the best or anything, but well above average. The problem is simply that he fancies himself to be more than that... if he'd realize he's never going to make it into a front office, he'd be a lot better off.