bukie

That's it. They've already played the rescheduled Braves, Astros and Cardinals rainouts.

At this rate there are going to be like 6 teams with first round picks next year.

The worst part of it is having to deal with the fans. You wouldn't know because you don't live in Chicago. Yes, I am kidding...

Also, if the Cubs are facing Peavy in the World Series this year, I'd be ecstatic for two reasons: 1) The Cubs are in the World Series! 2) The good teams in the AL didn't make the World Series!

I'm not very hopeful that the Cubs are going to be buying much of anything for next year, as they have over 100 million being paid to 6 players.

Now he can go watch the Cubs play while not pitching for the Sox.

heheh...wow $5 says Rolen ends up on yet another team at the waiver deadline when the Reds are 10 games out. According to MLBTR, Rolen still has to approve the deal. The Reds are already 10 games out.

Morning people, maybe? I got nothing. The Cubs are unique in all the day games, but the park itself varies wildly from week to week as to whether it functions as a hitters park or a pitchers park, specifically based on the wind. It's difficult to build a team around that kind of volatility to do anything to "take advantage" of it.

Hendry's biggest flaw, IMO, is overpaying for middling relievers and bench players. I could definitely see Hendry extending Grabow to some kind of a 3 year deal worth 3+ mil per.

After the playoff experiences of 2007 and 2008, I actually yearn for the success of 2003.

I'd do Ichiro for Bay straight up. I think Bay is the best player involved in that deal. He's been in a slump lately, but it's a walk year and he's hitting cleanup in a loaded lineup.

Especially beating FLA and COL would not only help us on the NL Central, but also trying to distance ourselves in the WC race, if the NL Central is lost. If the Cubs manage to put distance between themselves and Florida/Colorado, the NL Central will not be lost by the end of the trip.

doumit Easy, this is a family board.

So the Cubs series caused the turnover of 4 pitchers for the Astros in 4 days.

I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy: their starters are well rested. :)

wtf? Someone who is watching please explain this. Not watching, but sounds like Theriot broke for second, and Fukudome broke for home as soon as the catcher threw to second.

Close...

Somewhere, on an Astros board, somebody is bitching about giving runs right back after scoring.

Here. Any day of the week. Yeah. It always should be applauded when a crappy pitcher gives back 2 runs after we scored 4. What the hell is wrong with you people?? Yeah, perspective is for pussies.

Hey, somebody found a worse idea than trading for Teahen. If Ross came cheap enough, a .925 OPS against lefties isn't bad at all. There would be a roster crunch when Reed returned, but he'll be back close to roster expansion, which would make it a non-issue. The last thing the Cubs need at this point is another Reed Johnson. Fukudome slugs less against lefties, but his OBP is comparable to career averages. Fukudome is what he is, an above average defensive OF that gets on base at a good rate. Very similar to Bradley at this point. Fukudome and Bradley don't need to be replaced for the team to succeed, they need to be at the top of the order instead of guys like Johnson and Theriot.

Hey, somebody found a worse idea than trading for Teahen.

The truth of the matter is the Pirates' organization has to be run differently from the Cubs' organization. They can't afford to keep players long-term with the hopes of adding on later. They have to know they'll have a minimum of inexpensive contributions at the major league level before they can even consider being in "buyer" territory. At the end of the last regime in Pittsburgh, both the major league squad and the minor league system were abysmal. Prior to that point, trades weren't made to improve the system, they were made primarily to dump salary. Here's the way I see the three trades mentioned, from Pittsburgh's perspective: - Aramis Ramirez - People easily forget how bad Aramis was for the Pirates in 2002. In fact, there was an article out there somewhere indicating that Ramirez's 2002 was the worst statistical year ever for a cleanup hitter. Yes, he was playing hurt, but management wasn't willing to let that go, with what they were paying him. As a result, Aramis was very disinterested in playing for Pittsburgh and gave little effort. That, combined with the injury and the cost, was more than enough to convince Pittsburgh to dump him for what at the time were considered to be decent to good Cubs prospects (Hill, Bruback) and a stopgap 3B (Hernandez). - Jason Bay - Bay was a year away from free agency, and the Pirates were more than a year away from contention. Rather than get nothing for him, they got what many considered to be a good package of prospects from the Red Sox. - Nyjer Morgan - Really, the Nyjer Morgan trade was likely a case of selling high on a productive OF to improve the system. The real question here is why Washington did the deal.

Only took 3 games for the Brewers to discover that the Nats pitching is really bad.

I think that'd be about the same, if not better with Soto starting. Well I figured it wouldn't be that good just with losing Soto's bat for Hill's. Although Soto hasn't been that great but still better than Koyie at the plate. I don't really care if he can hit out of a paper bag if we're 42-23 with him starting. You're a fool to not look up from the spreadsheet and see that Koyie is making a difference in games in other ways than his bat. Correlation does not equal causation. It's that same kind of thinking that made people think Dusty Baker was a good manager because the Giants improved by 31 games in his first season.

I guess it was Reed's turn this week. At least Lou will be more inclined to use Fukudome in the leadoff spot against righties.