The Voice of Reason

I believe you mean commas.

Time for Canning and Jocketty to start working on their plans for the 2008 Cubs.

In other news . . . Anybody have Travis Henry on their fantasy team? Probably going to be suspended for a year due to testing postive for pot.

I do. Hindsight is 20-20. We should sign this Hindsight guy - that's a pretty good batting average.

I do.

IBL.

Why would you judge him against the inept history of this franchise rather than against his actual, you know, competition? Hendry's record isn't even close to Jocketty's. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/32456B7DBB9EEC44862573690069E6D7?OpenDocument

Hopefully, it was because Cardinal ownership refused to spend more money.

I'll go with "all of them". Interesting. So you think the Cubs won't come to regret the three year $21 million contract they game Marquis and aren't concerned about his 6.21 ERA in September. Aren't the least bit concerned with Dempster's 9.82 ERA in September. Don't think the backloaded contracts Hendry handed out may limit flexibility in the future. Will be satisfied with a 85 win season if the Cubs don't make a deep playoff run. No, I said I disagreed with the points he made, please don't try to make my argument for me. Marquis was a necessary evil. 2006 showed that we can't just hope for the best with multiple young players in the rotation(for several reasons) and expect to be competitive. 3/21 is a stiff price for Marquis, but 33% of the way through the contract he's proved one of the better gambles, and with the way the market has gone it wouldn't be a surprise that he's considered appropriately or underpaid after a couple offseasons. Dempster is fine. He had a horrible month. So did Bob Howry in may. He's not going to be completely lock down, but we knew that going in and he's paid appropriately. Bob Cook is really over dramatizing Dempster's performance. The point about backloading hurting the team is a weak one. First of all, if the new owner spends money, it's a moot point. If he doesn't, then we were screwed anyway. The contracts with the most severe backloading are the shorter ones to the likes of Marquis and DeRosa rather than Ramirez or Zambrano. It's silly to think that the team will be forced to unload someone like Hill or Marmol(who will either not be arbitration eligible or first year by the time Marquis, Howry, Eyre, DeRosa, etc. are through with their contract) because of those middling FA deals. Never mind the fact that forecasting payroll problems 3 years in advance is a fruitless exercise for many reasons, not the least of which is that we don't know who's going to be available as a cost-effective option from within. Who saw Theriot as our everyday SS this year after the collapse in 2004? And finally, the "trying to buy a world series" gimmick is cliche and tired. The Cubs aren't even close to being at the top of the payroll ladder, and their run this year is heavily influenced by their own system with players developed by the team or traded for with those players. Dempster has a 3 - 16 record and an ERA around 4.75 over the last two years. His lack of control and the number of times he is hit hard is troubling. Hitters are no longer swinging at his breaking balls in the dirt like they did in 2005 and are waiting for walks or until he grooves one. Hence the high ERA. To say it's just been one bad month is a stretch IMO. Giving players high priced long contracts, especially for years when their skills will be diminishing can most certainly hamstrung a GM. Just look at how harmful the long term contract MacPhail gave to Sosa was (the Cubs couldn't sign free agents because they were stuck with a $20 million contract for a player no one wanted) or the ridiculous contract the Rangers gave Chan Ho Park.

I'll go with "all of them". Interesting. So you think the Cubs won't come to regret the three year $21 million contract they game Marquis and aren't concerned about his 6.21 ERA in September. Aren't the least bit concerned with Dempster's 9.82 ERA in September. Don't think the backloaded contracts Hendry handed out may limit flexibility in the future. Will be satisfied with a 85 win season if the Cubs don't make a deep playoff run.

KILL THIS GUY. Which of his points do you disagree with?

I think Bob Cook nails it pretty well. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21085505/

For all the Cub Heroes . . Hornsby, Cavaretta, Harnett, Sauer, Banks, Dawson, Sandberg and Sosa. and for the Cubs that became "goats" . . Don Young, Billy Buckner, Leon Durham and Donnie Moore. and for the guy who built the bleachers and scoreboard, planted the ivy and loved sitting in the bleachers with the fans on a hot sunny day enjoying a cold beer - Bill Veeck.

Never mind.

:lol: aaaaawwwwwww so bitter!!! lol Don't worry bitter Brewer fan, we're going to give Ed Yost a playoff share to make him feel better - God knows, he deserves one.

sit down meat!

can of corn

Yeah baby!

I think the Red Baron is a lot more entertaining in the booth when he's hammered.

Not for me, I'm really enjoying it.

No, they're committed to showing reruns of the Golden Girls.

http://www.northsidebaseball.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=44431&start=15

Trachsel is a delusional moron. Good riddance. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/deluca/578864,CST-SPT-deluca28.article

Note to Roy Oswalt conspiracy theorists: Dunn, Griffey and now Sheets. Time to stop saying the Cubs aren't getting any breaks. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3039778

for the Cubs or the Brewers?