USSoccer

Only if Baker insisted on batting him 1st. Bat him 7th or 8th and it's less important than his SLG%

One-Hundred Twenty-One pitches in 8 innings for a team 19 games under .500 in mid-August. Un-bloody-acceptable.

I hope he retires, or they put a 3rd man in the booth to do actual color commentary. I can't take listening to him and Hughes on their own. I get no enjoyment out of getting terrible analysis, incoherent ramblings, pointless stories and screaming and muttering. I have nothing but respect for him as a person, a player and an advocate for JDRF, but he's not very good at his job. I expect the color guy in a major market to bring more to the table than raw passion. It's very difficult to enjoy listening to a game on the radio with him now, even compared to 3 or 4 years ago.

That almost worries me. If the Cubs like him, there must be something wrong with him.

He should just throw the ball up there left handed. He'd shut us out on 4 hits.

FWIW, I'm willing to cut Grossman slack for a couple preseason games. If he craps the bed in the regular season, then maybe you pull him. But nobody really looked good last night on the first team, and it's really easy for a backup QB to look good against a 2nd string defense in preseason.

What did I do now?

Quoting someone who said it better than me. "The problem with the wave is that once it gets started, it's divorced from what is happening on the field. You have a bunch of people doing the wave, and the opposing team scores a run, and they're still doing it." Good point. I guess you need to have an attentive fanbase. Maybe the pace of baseball doesn't lend itself to that sort of thing.

I'm glad fans in this city have decided to actually do something during the dead times in games that makes some noise. Maybe I'm spoiled by soccer, but the atmosphere at our sporting events is really tame in comparison to an average soccer crowd. The wave, singing, chanting, clapping...I'm all for it, it it brings some noise and energy to the experience.

I wonder if arbitration will be worth more than what another team offers? The way Pierre has been hitting lately, I think some team (watch, it'd be the Cubs) will give him a ridiculous deal that will be worth more than arbitration. That would stink. I'm hoping some team jumps the gun early and signs him right away. What type of free agent would he be anyway? How many teams say they need the "proto type" leadoff guy? If Hurdle manages the way it looked he may want one. I'm looking forward to Hendry extending him to a big contract, and then Aramis opting out immediately after to try and get more money, and then we'll lose in a bidding war (like we always do) because we wasted a big chunk of our budget on a .320 OBP leadoff hitter.

I wonder if arbitration will be worth more than what another team offers? The way Pierre has been hitting lately, I think some team (watch, it'd be the Cubs) will give him a ridiculous deal that will be worth more than arbitration. I'd be willing to bet we'll pay him 3/$27m.... ..and then NSBB will crash for a week.

Girardi > Baker. A magic 8 ball bolted to the bench would be better than Baker. We shouldn't settle for someone just because he would be better than Baker. Baker is so terrible tactically and strategically you would be hard pressed to find a more terrible manager.

Contracts that go through arbitration can only decrease a certain amount from the previous year's level. I think you can only reduce a salary to 80% of it's previous amount, but I'm not 100% sure on that. I'd imagine Cobs would offer arbitration in good faith, as long as they thought he could recapture his form.

Was in 2003 or 2004 when Baker said "Are you here to develop or are you here to win"?

it's ok, we got to the nlcs! that's all that matters dude. thanks dusty! http://www.worldwide-web.com/JeffreyBabad/Simpsons/Nick/nick.jpg Don't forget to thank our training staff.

When I lived in B/N, we always got the preseason games...

nah brah, we're still in this! gotta keep in the wild card race can't shut down our horses. i think he's injured, too, but cubs brass is too stubborn to shut him down. Cubs motto, don't ever admit you messed up. http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/images/07-minister.jpg "There is no Mark Prior on the Chicago Cubs"

Just shoot me...

I'm a firm believer that fundamentals are neccessary to win. I believe in clutch hitting, and I believe in giving it your all 100% of the time. When Ramirez doesn't hustle I get upset. The reason being that I believe everyone should always give it their best effort no matter what. It is just like any other job. I think everyone should give 100% no matter what. Whether you work at McDonalds, in an office, as a salesman, or play pro sports I think you should give your whole heart all the time. If you look at all the truly great players in any sport they all wore their hearts on their sleeves. Brett Favre(I hate him but he does), Cal Ripken Jr, Griffey Jr (remember when he ran into the wall catching a ball and broke his wrist), Jordan would play with a fever and still have games of his life. I hate guys who don't play up to their potential because they don't have the motivation. First off, I hope my post didn't come off as being too caustic. My 3 week old has been keeping me up all week, so I'm a bit edgy. I shouldn't generalize like I did. My main point was that the majority of the fanbase has not correctly identified the reasons why our team isn't good. They have an idea, albiet a very basic, general one, but until they realize that Ramirez's hustle is an annoying but not fatal flaw, or that it's not that Dusty should be fired not because he doesn't yell enough, but because he's a really bad manager with glaring tactical and strategic flaws, we're not going to see any change come about. MacPhail probably hears the complaining of the fanbase as being indicative of a fanbase upset about a losing season, and not a failed direction. That's a problem. This organization is pointed in the completely wrong direction.

It's hard to throw strikes with a fork sticking out of your back. Maybe the combination of freak injuries and time off have just taken too much of a toll...

There are like 3 on this board at least.

I wonder if Farny is related to Mr. Weebles

Rocket, you know as well as I do that this management team doesn't give a rat crap about what anyone thinks outside their inner circle of scouts and coaches. God, being a Cubs fan absolutely sucks. I know, but I'm not asking him to point out an opinion. Just print Dusty's quote about Hanley's AAA numbers then Bruce simply respond with the facts. Then the reader can see what a moron Dusty is without Bruce having to say anything. But are we the majority of the fanbase? I think we're the somewhat vocal minority. I think the majority of Cub fans are the sort that call sports radio and complain about Ramirez's hustle, Wood and Prior being soft, and yearn for a fire and brimstone manager. They believe in clutchiness and old baseball mystique about pitching, defense, and fundamentals. They understand Baker is a problem, but on a very basic level. They fail to comprehend the enormity of the wreck he (and Hendry) have made this team. They don't recognize the uselessness of half the players on the roster. They don't understand that you can have a $90m payroll and waste half of it away on terrible baseball players, and it won't do any good. They LOVE Cesar Izturis and his RBI-creating glove. They complain about the Trib's "lack of committment to winning", when they've increased payroll a ton since the mid 1990's and spend over $100m in 2004 on a team that by all rights should have gone to the playoffs. They don't understand that it was an unreasonable workload on top of flawed mechanics, and not a lack of guts, or a stubbornness to alter said mechanics that led to Wood's shoulder exploding. They look 16 blocks south or whatever it is and see Guillen and a World Series, and think that what they need is a team of grinderballers who play "smart" ball. That majority would read Bruce's column with those stats and either not grasp the signifigance of it, or would dismiss it out of hand because prospects' numbers in the minors don't mean anything, good or bad. I love Bruce. I respect him and appreciate the advocacy he shows on our behalf, but the hopelessness of it all it just mind blowing. I'd rather have an interviewer point this crap out live, and make Baker or Hendry respond. Get tape of one of them stammering, grasping for a response. THAT's what I want. Calling their idiocy out in print isn't helping. Bruce has been doing it for nearly 2 years now, and perceptions haven't drastically changed. Just, anybody, PLEASE grap a stat sheet before an interview or press conference.

I cannot imagine what Baker or anyone could have possibly said to him to make him finished as an effective pitcher.

Rocket, you know as well as I do that this management team doesn't give a rat crap about what anyone thinks outside their inner circle of scouts and coaches. God, being a Cubs fan absolutely sucks.