USSoccer

Trading ARod for ARam doesn't improve the team all that much.

Isn't the big wild card in this the fact that the Trib is a publically owned company, and therefore the process of buying the asset has to be transparent? By the time the sale is made Tribune will not be public. Isn't Zell an owner of the White Sox? I think both sales happen concurrently. Which is why the asset value has to be maximized.

Why would the USSF waste it's time?

Adu, Szetela called into camp for the Switzerland friendly.

I'd love to think we could have a shot at him, but I think he ends up in LA playing for the Angels.

I'd think that this is correct.

This is more or less exactly what I was trying to say....And yeah, they're rich they can afford to buy refundable tickets, I could care less about that but just the idea that they MIGHT be worried about getting out of town as soon as humanly possible in the event we lost didn't sit too well. I wouldn't have cared less if it had happened after the game...hell, there may only be one flight a day from Chicago to the Dominican or something like that, and I don't blame them for wanting to get on it...but the idea of them making arrangements for Sunday before they even played the game on Saturday rubbed me wrong. Why? Do you seriously think they planned on losing, or hoped to lose? Or did they maybe-GASP- just want to make sure that if they did lose, they could see their families ASAP instead of having to wait by themselves an extra day thinking about getting swept? Never once did I say they hoped to lose. It does bother me they were thinking about it and planning for that contingency though. Like I said in an earlier post.... I wouldn't have minded at all if they looked into it and bought the tickets right after the game...but worrying about losing and making sure they're on a plane out of town 10 hours after the game was over, before it even started, does rub me the wrong way. Ok, so you don't think they hoped to lose, yet it bothered you that they had someone arrange this ahead of time...because why? Because it's incongruous with your idea of what a professional athlete should be? Should they be souless, gritty hustle-bots? Or should they make sure they can see their families as soon as possible should they be eliminated and thus have no reason to hang out in Chicago to read articles expressing the idea that they suck and don't care?

That's part of it. Overswinging is another. Trying to hit the ball down Kenmore is another. A horrible strike zone is another. Ramirez was definetly pressing, though. For a guy who only struck out 65 times in 162 games to K 5 times in 3 games isn't good. It was a bad 3 games. I'm not ready to say Perry did a bad job, or a good job. I want to see him work with Pie, Soto, Cedeno and Murton for a full season and then see what happens. The veteran guys are who they are.

This is more or less exactly what I was trying to say....And yeah, they're rich they can afford to buy refundable tickets, I could care less about that but just the idea that they MIGHT be worried about getting out of town as soon as humanly possible in the event we lost didn't sit too well. I wouldn't have cared less if it had happened after the game...hell, there may only be one flight a day from Chicago to the Dominican or something like that, and I don't blame them for wanting to get on it...but the idea of them making arrangements for Sunday before they even played the game on Saturday rubbed me wrong. Why? Do you seriously think they planned on losing, or hoped to lose? Or did they maybe-GASP- just want to make sure that if they did lose, they could see their families ASAP instead of having to wait by themselves an extra day thinking about getting swept?

And what everyone else is pointing out is: -It doesn't matter, because if you think Aramis and the 2 others that left planned on losing, you're insane. -These guys are rich enough to pay for refundable, open ended tickets -Someone in the organization probably set it up for them. Do you seriously think Aramis was like on Expedia.com at 7:30 am on Saturday booking airfare back to the Dominican? Everybody knows Zambrano is in charge of making all online transactions for the team. No, Lou put him in charge of planning the return trip to AZ for Game 5.

Someone who's white, media friendly and looks like he tries hard all the time to the casual observer. EDIT: Joe Crede would be perfect for Rozner.

And what everyone else is pointing out is: -It doesn't matter, because if you think Aramis and the 2 others that left planned on losing, you're insane. -These guys are rich enough to pay for refundable, open ended tickets -Someone in the organization probably set it up for them. Do you seriously think Aramis was like on Expedia.com at 7:30 am on Saturday booking airfare back to the Dominican?

His well thought out reply...I love this argument, BTW, because it requires no factual support at all when it's used. At least he replied, I'll give him that much. I'd probably respond that maybe he should watch the games next year on something other than his imaginary TV. Idiot. He shouldn't have a job.

Ryan Theriot stayed and mowed the outfield at Wrigley before doing 5000 Hail Mary's and then moving into a refrigerator box on 3 blocks down from Wrigley. He then bought one of those belts that cut into you when you tighten them in order to punish himself for his playoff failings. I also heard he's not going to eat or shave until he reports to Mesa.

What?

The owners of the Cards, Reds, Pirates, and Astros? McLane, maybe. I don't know anything about the other owners. Can I make the assumption that generally speaking, owners votes should be independent of competitive balance? In other words, did Steinbrenner vote yes to the new Red Sox ownership? Or does that only work in theory, since some guys have petty personal vendettas? I would think so. Otherwise, how did John Henry get approved?

The owners of the Cards, Reds, Pirates, and Astros? McLane, maybe. I don't know anything about the other owners.

Can anyone name 7 owners that wouldn't want him in the game? I can only come up with 4: Reinsdorf, Glass, Angelos and the guy who owns the Brewers who's name I can't recall. Anta-something.

Isn't the big wild card in this the fact that the Trib is a publically owned company, and therefore the process of buying the asset has to be transparent? That's a good question as far as it being a publically owned company, I'm not sure if they have to list the amounts offered compared to who has offered. I *think* they have a responsibility to the shareholders to max out the value of their assets. That adds a wrinkle to the process.

Isn't the big wild card in this the fact that the Trib is a publically owned company, and therefore the process of buying the asset has to be transparent?

Yes, Drew and Upton will get better. I'm not impressed with Young. Why anyone would ever throw him a fastball is beyond me. I don't know if Randy Johnson does anything for them ever again. Orlando Hudson isn't anything special. Livan Hernandez isn't going to pitch forever. Doug Davis? Really? Eric Byrnes will regress. They're good, but I don't fear them. Yeah, they beat us, but we weren't that good, and we played as badly as we could have. Milwaukee, I'd fear. They have a good 2-3 years before the arbitration years hit for their core.

I truthfully can't see how anyone looked at the 2007 Cubs and expected them to do anything in the postseason. They were not good enough. 2003 blows all of these away.

I don't know how great of a shot we had this year anyway. You can look at 2003/2004 as "blowing our best shot". Then, we had payroll to burn, and still had assets in the system to go along with 4 really good starters. Hendry had a great hand with which to play, and played his hand horribly.

I love that someone thinks Ramirez and Soriano were bad in the LDS because they "didn't try and half assed it". If anything, that's the opposite of truth. They pressed. Get some perspective. This team wasn't that good. They didn't lose because their best players didn't try. They lost because their best players played terribly over a 3 game sample size.

Jersey is correct about the main point, though: This team is going to have to have either one of their young position players break out, or have Prior return to form to see signifigant improvement over 2007. We're not going to have the payroll to add impact players. Thus, it comes down to Prior, Pie, Soto, or maybe Murton to exceed expectations.