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If Pierre isnt a good lead off man he really shouldnt be in the lineup. His defense is not a lot better than Hairstons. Hairston is probably the better offensive player. Should at least be platooning. I like Murton batting 2nd. I also find it funny that it has taken Dusty this long(and cedeno slumping) to figure this out.

I also think that it is both sides of the street also. I would venture to guess that the Cubs have 1 of the lowest BA against in the NL the last couple of years. However they continually get themselves in short outings and tight jams because of giving up walks and deep counts. When you watch a Cubs game it seems like the other team is always batting. Its like they cant figure out a 2 pitch single is a lot better than a 7 pitch walk. The whole team philosophy on this is just terrible. It also has been an ongoing problem for several years. Until they improve on this they will never be a 90 win team.

I cant wait until barry is on some AL team next yr and see a whole new group of fans jump off the barry bandwagon(Giants) and a whole new group jump on (whatever AL team he gets on)

I live in Central Illinois and it is shocking how many "fans" down here dont realize he is part of the problem

Both Florida in 2003 and Houston in 2004 changed their managers, so Hendrys reference to them is either dumb or foretelling. I intentionally avoided baseball yesterday (mothers day, Cubs suck)and just got online tonight (no Cubs game today). I am in utter shock they havent done something. At the very least fire Rothschild or Gene Clines or dfa Perez or Bynum or Rusch. Something that will at least tell the players and coaches there is going to be accountability. They only moves that have been made thru this stretch is moving Guzman, Aardsma and Restovich. WOW those are some real statements. Come on Jim Do Something of note, Why dont you at least say we Suck and call some players our publicly. Really I am more depressed about the situation today than I was before.

y would you sac when the other team has already scored 2 runs in 3 innings? I hate the sac bunt and really hate it when the manager doesnt know how to use it.

Kruk was on with Salisbury yesterday on ESPN1000. Both of them excused Dusty for the team playing poor fundamental baseball. They both said it was the players fault. Kruk said "You shouldnt be in the major leagues if you dont know the fundamentals" I agree with the statement. Heck we learned most of the basic ones that the Cubs mess up in little league. However since the Cubs obviously do not know the fundamentals very well is it ok for the manager to do nothing. What these 2 guys were saying is it is OK for Dusty to do nothing about it. The fact that they should know them by the time they get to the majors is moot, they dont or wont. It is up to the manager to correct the problem and since it has been ongoing since 2003 it is obvious that Dusty cant do it. Anyway I just wanted to throw in a John Kruk rant. Sadly I still think he is smarter than Harold Reynolds

Is Mike North on northsidebaseball.com? Next someone in here is going to say they would rather have joe crede than ARam. If aram isnt hustling it is also the managers fault for letting him get away with it. Personnally it doesnt bother me mostly because it is exagerated. When he COSTS the team games for not hustling let me know. Personnally I am more concerned about his lack of production so far. Which with his history is probably going to change. However he is the best remaining offensive player on this team and until the last 2 games has been bad. To go with ARams poor offensive production so far here is a list of other things that bother me about the Cubs more than his lack of hustle. 1. juan pierres OBP 2. Zambranos control 3. Jock Jones playing against lefties 4. Bynum, Hairston and Perez nuff said 5. GM expecting to compete with Glendon Rusch as a 3rd starter 6. Sac Bunts not a fan of them and really hate them when we dont execute them in situations that call for them, really really hate them when our best hitter is called on to do one 7. Roberto Novoa 8. If we cant hit why dont we at least try to take 1 more pitch per AB as a team. 9. Angel Guzman and Rich Hill. I will give them some slack because they are rookies however their poor performance so far certainly bothers me more than ARams lack of hustle. 10. The talent and money that was paid for this collection of players!!

I think ARam could sure be dropped down without me argueing. I kind of wonder why he is batting ahead of Murton and Barret. Jones is up to 250something, at this point is does seem more reasonable to bat him cleanup than ARam

During the Hockey lockout I had several arguements with fans that teams like the Red Wings are good for the sport. Spend money put a competitive team on the ice. Grow large fan base reap benefits. As opposed to teams like the Blackhawks, cut payroll, complain about the system run fans away. There is nothing that a salary cap is going to fix a stupid franchise like the Blackhawks. I think a great example of how a good team is run is the Cardinals. St Louis is not a large market, actually it is one of the smallest in baseball. However they have invested money into a winning product, expanded their fan base and are able to pay salaries to be a competitive team. I would contend that Pittsburgh, KC, Tampa and Florida could all be competitive if they were willing to invest more into their teams instead of trying to make a widen the profit margin. I am pretty sure that KC actually made more profit last year than the Yankees. So I feel no pity except to their fans who are being lied to. Pittsburgh wouldnt sell their team to (Dallas Mavericks owner whos name excapes me). If they are losing so much money why are they not bailing out? Again have to feel sorry for Pittsburgh fans who are being lied too.

call Arizona and see what they would want for Tony Clark. We could than turn him around to a AL team before the deadline.

Again I just dont understand ML umpiring. This isnt very similar to the earlier incident with the Mets and the Nats. If they are going to keep on punishing the retaliator(and not the instigator) there is going to be alot more bean ball incidents. I have always liked omar vizguel as a player but he really shouldnt have written what he did in a book.

carlos beltran had a .744 ops last year. If I remember right his contract is in the 16 million range

YOu can say what you want about paul oneill but the Yankees havent won a world championship since he retired

funny the "who is worst arguement" bundy or gacy hitler or stalin bonds or mcgwire. for some reason these arguements just seem silly. the real problem is fans are not pointing fingers at players on their favorite teams. we're to happy they are helping us win or at least be better so we dont want to point out the ones on our teams, so we point at the ones on other teams. until we start getting on our own players this is going to be a problem. Another solution would be to instead of suspend players for using, forfeit games if a team uses a player that has tested positive. My guess is steroids would be gone in baseball next week if that happned. owners, gms, managers and fans would be quick to clean up their own act in that case

dusty wont throw a veteran under the bus for screwin up or not hitting, but he will tell the press he has the runs. this is the best laugh i have had this week.

MORE RICK SUTCLIFFE I dont think the nats can try to do any retaliation. they have already been punished for what little they did. If one of there pitchers beaned pedro he would probably get suspended for 10 games. This of course is why baseball has this problem. They dont suspend the instigators enough and then suspend the players who are retaliating to much.

I am thinking if your strenghts as a player are you are scrappy and dont whine. You suck. If someone cant use statistics to show your value, well that pretty much shows what your value is.

lamar hoyt, richard dotson, dave stewart, bob welch, kent bottenfield, cris carpenter, jeff suppan. I am probably missing a couple of more. These are all pitchers that were not good before Tony LaRussa and except for the last 2 were not good after tony larussa. Dusty Baker doesnt have nearly the track record for getting this kind of performance from the scrap heap.

He sure went out on a limb for a couple of those picks. Tigers 9th wow

Sadly If only cpatt would have given us Micheal Tucker kind of production last year

I dont care why they do it, it is much more proven way to build a successful franchise through a productive minor league system and enhancing your team with trades and free agent pick ups than it is to try to build a team from other peoples talent. If this is really a philosophy change all I have to say is about time, after not winning for 100 yrs it is about time they tried something different

Also if you really look at realistically the only place that you would definetly have the White Sox as a better team than the Cubs is starting pitching. There lineups are about equal minus the DH. I really would have a hard time saying that the White Sox are betting in the bullpen. They do have a better bench. However the White Sox have 2 teams in there division that are really strong (twins, indians) and another that I think is going to be better than expected (tigers). The Cubs division has 1 maybe strong team (cardinals) and 2 other that could be good (Brewers, Astros). I don't even think it is worth the time to explain why the Cubs are going to be a better team than the Reds or the Pirates. Aslo to be considered is the fact the White Sox did have career years out of several players that I wouldnt count on repeating. This to go with the other good teams in there division I just dont think the Sox are going to repeat. The Cubs will probably not win there division, however they are a better team this year with no other team in their division do any major upgrades and both the Cardinals and Astros probably coming back to earth it is very conceivable for the Cubs to win the division. Especially if Prior comes back early and is productive

All I know is that I am pretty sick of hearing is this going to be Clemens last game ever everytime he pitches. To me it is just as obvious that he is on steroids as Bonds but somehow never gets called out on it. Boston didnt let him go b/c he was winning 20 games with a ERA under 3. He just wasnt very good anymore when they let him go, than bam after 3 mediocre years he is a Cy Young award winner and great starter again in his mid 30s to mid 40s. Come on ESPN you guys missed the obvious boat back in 98 dont miss it again.

I would bet a paycheck that UConn doesnt win the title. I like Illinois chances better then UConns. They dont have a go to guy when it really matters. Yes they are very talented and will dominate lesser teams. When a close game is on the line against a team with equal talent they dont have a go to guy though. Is it just me or would Illinois of last year run away with the title this year. Even if Deron Williams came back I think Illinois would mop the field with this years tourney. If North Carolina would have had 2 guys stay they would do the same. This just doesnt seem like a very good tourney this year. Personnally as much as I dont want to say it I think Duke is going to win.