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Ripken aging, Arod moving, Garciaparra's injury all led to this. Now Tejada isn't the same player he was. Michael Young isn't having his usual season. A lot of top SS prospects have proven they can't handle the position on top of that. Players like Hardy and Betancourt (who I love watching), also Drew, Wood, Tulowitzki, Reyes, etc. I'm not too worried about the next generation of SS. While they prob, won't reach the production of Rodriguez, Nomar, Tejada and Jeter (I think Reyes will though), there will be enough quality out there to still recognize the offensive advantages of having a quality SS. True. Haven't seen much of Betancourt. Not sold on Drew, Hardy or Tulo yet. Tulo will probably be the best of the bunch, and I'm pretty close on saying he's legit. Hardy's had a great year, but he never projected to do what he has so far. Is he antoher Peralta? Drew, well....is a Drew. You know he has talent, but will he ever live up to his potential?

Didn't get to see the game yesterday, and forgot Fuentes was a lefty. I was screaming at the computer because Lou didn't hit Floyd or Ward. Would have been a devastating loss with the game seemingly in the bag and the Brewers having won already.

Ripken aging, Arod moving, Garciaparra's injury all led to this. Now Tejada isn't the same player he was. Michael Young isn't having his usual season. A lot of top SS prospects have proven they can't handle the position on top of that.

Holliman and Huseby are my boys!

I'm in Frontier League country, and having seen the Washington Wild Things several times (I believe they've won 4 straight division titles), I would say the talent level is around Short-season A and low A-ball. There really are quite a few diamonds in the rough in this league that could be ML players some day if they got the chance. At least 5-10 players each year gets signed by a ML team (then into the minors) from this league.

{sarcasm}All of them would have performed to career best and been 100% healthy for the Cubs. The Cubs have had amazingly good luck with free agent signings over the years.{sarcasm}

I think when he was suspended they called him Richard "Tank" Johnson.

If they want to accept, fine. If they don't, fine. I just don't see what harm could come from further exposure of the Negro Leagues. Yeah. That's how I feel. Who cares when or why it's done. It's a nice gesture. Jackie died before his number was retired. I don't think anyone would feel like it was condescending if it was offered by the MLB. BTW, Buck O'Neill was an amazing man. He was great enough on the field to be considered HOF worthy. He was 1 million times better as an ambassador.

Vasher is the perfect player for his role. Cover 2, takes the #2 WR. He's great at what he is required to do. No problem re-signing him. I do worry about Tillman, as he has to be salivating looking at the contract Nate Clements received, even though he isn't thought of as being as good.

Marmol is one pitch away from having the ceiling of a #3-4 starter. Dominant fastball and slider combo. If his changeup ever develops (probably not gonna happen in the pen) then he could start for a lot of teams.

I applaud the Bears for doing the right thing. I really like Tank and thought he had a ton of talent, but it's not worth the hassle. He's been out of jail less than a month.

Obviously, you want to get to .500 first. Obviously, you want to sweep the Brewers and gain 3 games on the weekend. However, if the Cubs are within 5 games at the break, that's doable. A realistic expectation is 2/3 vs. Colorado, 2/3 vs. Milwaukee, 3/4 vs. Washington, and 2/3 vs. Pirates. That's a 9-4 record.

My rotation isn't as good as those 2, but I have probably the 2 best 2nd half pitchers from last year. Johan Santana and Cole Hamels. Along with the phenom, Gallardo. If those guys all pitch to their potential, it won't really matter who is in my 4-5 spots.

This is a real good matchup.

The key part is "without any major acquisitions". If that's the case, the answer is probably, NO. Unfortunately for the Cubs, they don't have anyone to add to the ML roster from the minors so they are gonna have to get some help to catch the Brewers. The Brewers were able to add Braun and Gallardo when they were starting to struggle and both will be improvements over what they had in those spots (when Capuano comes back in Yovani's case). With help brought in, I would say there's a decent chance. With the current roster, I would say they will not finish within 5 games of the Brewers.

The Sox have to trade Buehrle. He's not gonna re-sign, and they aren't gonna compete this year. If they could get Buchholz and Ellsbury/Lowrie, that would be a pretty good trade for them. Sadly, Mark Buehrle may be the most sought after pitcher in the trade market this season. I would think the Braves would really jump into the talks, but I don't know that they would give up what it takes.

Anyone think the Dodgers would give up Billingsley, Loney and one of Kemp/Laroche for Lee and either Murton or a SP prospect?

As for IU footbal, if they are ever gonna return back to a bowl game, this is the year to do so. As usual, weak OOC schedule (Ball St, Indiana St, Akron, W Michigan...3 of which are at home) and no Michigan or OSU. If they played inspired football for their fallen coach and win those 4, and take 3 or 4 vs. Minnesota, Purdue, Illinois (home) and at Mich St and Northwestern, that's a bowl game. Penn St, Wisconsin and Iowa are sure losses. They bring back most of the roster. Have one of the toughest matchups in country at WR (James Hardy) and can rack up yards with the option or pass. If they can even remotely stop anyone on defense this year 6-7 wins is not out of the question.

Since Michigan lost almost there entire defense and I think Michigan/Wisconsin game is in Wiscosin. I think I would take Wisconsin to win the Big Ten. Unless you are taking PSU to win the Big Ten? In which case I still will take Wisconsin. Michigan did lose a bunch on defense. Offense looks to be a top 5 in the country, but I think their defense will lead them toward the way of ND and USC from last year. Lost their 2 top tacklers from last year, and that doesn't include top 2 round NFL picks Leon Hall, Lamar Woodley and Alan Branch. I think Michigan loses at least 2 and Wisconsin wins the Big Ten.

They should play Ward in RF. Soriano Fontenot Lee Ramirez-DH Ward-RF DeRosa-3B Bowen-C Pie not izturis-SS

Funny, you mentioning the Rockies. Weren't they recently shopping for a 4th/5th oufielder, who is left-handed and can handle CF? They've been searching for that since they got rid of Juan Pierre.

From the Tribune I'd be happy with Curry in the 2nd round. Takes Duhon's place. He's better than Duhon. Curry is extremely talented.

The back issue is tied into his weight. The man himself has said that he has trouble keeping the weight off as the season goes on. As a person gets older, it becoems harder and harder to keep weight down. Is that really the type of situation we should ignore when talking about signing a pitcher for 5+ years? Apparently only when he decides he's that good. And he can net you a huge return. It would be nice if for once the Cubs sold high. Using a guy that plays once every five days to potentially fill multiple every day holes seems like a great idea, especially since developing pitching seems to be the only thing we can do sorta right in our system. Most people are talking about trading him for proven impact players, or prospects to spin off for those players. Which is what most people are suggesting when they talk about trading him. He just turned 26. In 5 years, he will just be ending his prime. You make it sound like he's aging right now. The Cubs to me can't justify signing Soriano to that insane contract and re-signing Ramirez and then trade Zambrano for prospects. Those moves make the Cubs a win-now team. Their window is the length of Lee's contract. They can't replace Zambrano and think they will still be able to compete. There's not a single pitcher that will be available that can replace Z's production....especially now that Marquis and Lilly are pitching like they have their entire lives and Rich Hill is no longer putting up Sandy Koufax numbers. The prospect thing was about Vance's trade suggestions. He (and many others) have often brought up trading Zambrano for prospects.

I don't understand why people are pointing at 2 months of this season and a back condition and workload that haven't shown any signs of affecting him in the least as reasons not to sign Carlos to a long contract. What about the fact that he has been one of the top 5 pitchers in baseball for the last 4-5 years? He's a great pitcher. One of the few legit #1 starters out there. And people are wanting to trade him for prospects? I'm not 100% that the Cubs should pay Zambrano $100M for 6 years, but that's much better than trading him for prospects, who may or may not pan out and signing a lesser FA pitcher. If the Cubs are gonna trade Zambrano, they had better get a player under control for at least 3 years and a legit ML ready prospect, unless it's a player like Tex or ARod.

I went and did laundry that day and had the TV on, as I was folding clothes, I saw it and I basically threw all my stuff in bags, loaded the car, and flew home to get on this site.....only to see the thread was already about 56 pages long.