Tracer Bullet

Lou's already given up. But this team isn't going anywhere this year, so there's no need to fire him. The only reason I'd do it is if Trammell would be given the team for the rest of the year and allowed to stay on next year. But Sandberg is clearly going to be manager next year, so screw it.

Scott GF was the fun kind of insane. On the other end of the crazy spectrum - little Mizzou cameo at the end of that thread.

Think Jackson can keep up his 38% LD% and 500 BABIP?

MeBron? Who would name their kid MeBron?

I agree, but didn't ESPN try to make the LT name stick with Tomlinson? I can see how it would transfer, but I do think it's strange.

I'd imagine Wakamatsu/Jack Z called the meeting. Our management was too busy calling him a piece of [expletive]. Poor, poor misunderstood Milton. Its everybody's fault but his. This seems like an odd reaction to someone coming to his bosses and teammates asking for help. It looks like he's placing the blame squarely on himself. MILTON finally is, which is great. I hope he gets the help he needs now. However, others are not. They would rather use Milton to take cheap shots at Cubs management in a very Rosenbloom-esque style. There are plenty of good reasons to criticize Cubs management. This one is just kind of pathetic. that reaction isn't any less odd than the last one.

Can't he do something about it? I'm sure someone out there is willing to pay him money to pitch a product. I mean it sucks that he grew up in the wrong time period, but he also didn't play in a time period where football was 24/7/365. He probably used training camp to get in shape, when nowadays players show off how buff they got during their offseason training programs. I'm sure Sayers would have been happy to work year round to make the big bucks, but I'm just stating what a different game it is today. Walking around moping isn't going to help him. I don't think either of us can speak with any degree of certainty about what Gale Sayers has really been doing with his life since he retired. Assuming he's "walking around moping" and hasn't done anything else is a pretty big leap. I don't know anything about the guy. For all I know he's a whiney little ass. But he's also a famous former Bear that probably gets a mike shoved in his face all the time and he's bitter about how the NFL takes care of its veterans. Would I prefer that he not come off like this so much? sure. But there might be a whole lot to him that I just don't see.

but isn't it more than that? my understanding is the old guys whose bodies are all beaten up but who didn't make hundreds of thousands or millions don't feel they're adequately taken care of by the league that made a ton of money off of them in their younger days. he does sound like a bitter a-hole, but he has a point.

I know, which is why I posted Markakis recent line b/c he started really slow too. You have 5 guys for 4 spots. Trade one or play match ups.

And Markakis is like 10/20 with 2 HRs. Try playing match-ups. What are you expecting people to say? You gave us 5 players that would start in almost every league right now.

As long as Markakis stays hot, I think you sit Hamilton.

7 walks and 4 XBH? I hope he keeps that .415 BABIP up.

btw - this is all hypothetical. I haven't seen anything about Soriano bitching about the booing.

why? he gets paid and assload and hasn't come close to living up to it. I don't fault him for signing that contract. But when you do, you better understand the expectations that come with it. I don't want to hear you complain about the boos when you turn in a sub-.800 OPS, injury or not. Comes with the territory. why boo him for not meeting unreasonable expectations? what was he supposed to do? "thanks for the 136 mil offer jim, but i don't think i could possible be good enough to make that contract good. i'd prefer you make me a lower offer" Soriano career- .279/.327/.511 Soriano w/ Cubs- .276/.330/.512 And those Cubs numbers are brought down heavily by a season in which he was hurt.... an injury that is looking more and more likely to have caused his poor performance. Soriano has been very good in his time with the Cubs. He's done as much as you could have reasonably expected/hoped for when he signed the contrct. Booing him because he took a big contract is pretty stupid to me. Yeah it "comes with the territory" and it's hard to feel bad about a guy getting booed when he's making that much money, but what does that have to do with it? Just because you have a right to boo doesn't make it any less meatballish. You have the right to heckle players too, but that doesn't mean you aren't obnoxious when you do it. first of all - I don't boo him. I've never booed a cubs player or any player on one of my favorite teams. so it's not a personal thing for me. I just think there are certain expectations that come with signing a huge contract like that. what does the money have to do with it? the money they're paying Soriano can't go to fix any number of other issues with the team. People are going to boo Soriano b/c they can and he tends to give them ample opportunity (bone head plays and he's a streaky player so he'll go on long stretches of suck). People at Wrigley can't really boo Hendry as easily, so they boo the guy that's available - and that's Soriano. It comes with signing a fat contract, especially for a team like the Cubs. Fans are going to boo. Soriano isn't a rookie. It's not like he didn't know anything about Chicago (or couldn't easily find out). Are they obnoxious when they boo and heckle? sure. But it's a bunch of guys hanging out with their buddies and getting drunk in the sun. I'm sure you're all at your most rational under those circumstances. People boo. Get over it. Doubly so for players. If you don't want to be booed, go play for the Royals.

why? he gets paid and assload and hasn't come close to living up to it. I don't fault him for signing that contract. But when you do, you better understand the expectations that come with it. I don't want to hear you complain about the boos when you turn in a sub-.800 OPS, injury or not. Comes with the territory.

Hey guys...I think Soriano might be back...

As long as Soto doesn't stay at 8 on ARam's days off while Chad Tracy hits 5th, I suppose it's not a problem. Oh wait

Last year? Yeah, but why still act surprised that's "back?" It's not like he's just started hitting in the last few games. He's been looking good most of the season now. we're only a month in after a terrible year last year. I don't think it's terrible for some people to want to see a month (or more) of ABs before they determine last year was a blip (injury related or otherwise) rather than a trend. I only watched the last few innings. Was the umpire terribly inconsistent with balls and strikes all game? Who said it was terrible? My response was based on the comment sounding like Soriano had just picked up in the last few games. Who (other than you) said Soriano just picked up in the last few games? All inari said was "Soriano is...back?" which could easily mean Soriano could be back to the .900 OPS Soriano that we had before last season. And in the quote above, you infer surprise and say he's looked good most of the season. Well, the season is a month old and he's looked much better than he did last year. I think "Soriano is...back?" is a perfectly logical comment, especially after yesterday's game when he had a big hit. Seems inari, I, and maybe others, thought a month's worth of ABs was a good time to contemplate that Soriano might be back to pre-2009 form and you seemed to take issue with that (i.e., you decided at some point earlier this season that he was back to pre-2009 form, which is also logical, I suppose). Maybe we're all inferring things that none of us meant.

Last year? Yeah, but why still act surprised that's "back?" It's not like he's just started hitting in the last few games. He's been looking good most of the season now. we're only a month in after a terrible year last year. I don't think it's terrible for some people to want to see a month (or more) of ABs before they determine last year was a blip (injury related or otherwise) rather than a trend. I only watched the last few innings. Was the umpire terribly inconsistent with balls and strikes all game?

everything is relative, but I think that's right. For some schools, they lose money going to the smaller bowls.

that's my guess. if he's going to replace him with Hill in the 7th or 8th inning on a frequent basis, you can't have him hitting 5th or 6th. Of course, it's just as likely (roughly) that he comes up in the 9th inning while hitting 8th. exactly. i didn't say it made a lot of sense.

It's time for Brett to hang it up. yup. just in time to come out of retirement in 4 months.

4/48. $13m this year. $13.5m next

that's my guess. if he's going to replace him with Hill in the 7th or 8th inning on a frequent basis, you can't have him hitting 5th or 6th.

Someone was going to take him, but not necessarily first. Quinn was the 2nd QB taken, about 20 picks later. Would you rather pay #1 pick money to Russell or #20 money to Quinn? So far, neither has shown much, but Russell has eaten himself out of the league. While rookie contracts need some limits, imo, drafting Russell first was still stupid and many people thought so at the time. Throwing the ball 80 yards from your ass is only helpful if you're going to get so fat that you can't get off it.