USSoccer

That extension should never have been given in the first place. MacPhail, Hendry and Baker should all go, along with the entire staff save Speier, and the entire front office, scout system, and minor league development people. Silver lining: everything I have heard is that the Trib loves Andy. Maybe Hendry's extension will be proof positive that Andy has flaws and the entire organization needs to go in a different direction. I just don't think the corporate mentality will allow that. The team has made them a whole lot of money over Andy's tenure. They probably value that more that the struggles of the past 2 seasons.

That extension should never have been given in the first place. MacPhail, Hendry and Baker should all go, along with the entire staff save Speier, and the entire front office, scout system, and minor league development people.

This is the key paragraph. Hendry has made a pattern of grossly overpaying the guys he target, which is terrible, since usually the guys he makes his mind up to get fill an idea in his head about a certain role or trait, like being left handed and being a starter, or being fast and a toolsy OF, or being a versitale utility guy. The problem comes in when all these guys are are the traits. They aren't any good, but not only do we sign them, we overpay them to boot, ensuring that we can't pursue anyone that's an impact player. It's tools and versatility over value and production. It's poor payroll management. It's poor general management.

Drew. Ordonez. Beltran. Those were 3 options. Regarding the Sosa thing, if the Trib hadn't completely tossed him udner the bus and trashed his trade value, we might not have been in the position to settle for Burnitz by Feb. If you want to deal someone, you don't purposefully tank his trade value. Hendry is an overrated GM. The Ramirez and Lee deals came about because 2 teams decided to shed salary. Lofton was Hendry's main target, and taking Ramirez's salary of Pittsburghs hands was the reason we gave up so little. Ditto for the Lee deal. The Nomar deal was a gamble that failed. The Pierre deal wasn't a good one, but I'm a little suprised it's as bad as it looks right now. However, his trades aren't the real problem.... ...His FA moves have been a problem. He's resigned Perez twice, Rusch twice, and the second time both got paid 2x as much as they should have gotten for 2x the years they should have gotten. Yet Hendry acted as if they were priceless commodoties that needed to be locked up. He overpaid Henry Blanco for no good reason. The fact that he brought back Jose Macias after 04 and gave him a raise in 05 is absurd on principle. He grossly overpaid both Howry and Eyre, to the point where the players themselves were shocked at the offer. Regardless of his perfomance this season, and the injuries to Prior and Wood, he overpaid Maddux in years and money. Those types of irrespnosible decisions tied up a large enough chunk of the payroll to the point where we couldn't get in on the bidding for an impact offensive player. And lets not forget him outbidding himself to sign Jones for more money and more years than he ever, ever should have gotten. Hendry consistently makes the same mistakes over and over. He has a plan, but the plan itself is flawed. He over and over goes for versatility and tools over production and value. He overpays his mediocre bench players, hamstringing both the budget and the offense, and insuring that the team cannot survive an injury to a key player. Both Baker and Hendry are at fault, for the composition of the roster and the wasting of the best core of players this team has had since the mid-60's. There is no reason beyond incompetence that a core of Lee, Ramirez, Barrett, Prior, Wood and Zambrano shouldn't have been surrounded with good enough talent to win over the past 3 years. Yet they have been. This team won in spite of their manager in 2003, imploded in 2004, was crippled from the start in both 2005 and 2006, when there were plenty of positions to fill and plenty of money within the budget with which to do it.

Are you kidding me?

Don't forget having your worst bench OBP option lead off the 9th.

Are those jerseys really $22? That seems super cheap to me...

Italy has some big problems.. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=367786&cc=5901 Are they implying Buffon could be out due to injury or the gambling probe. Also, I don't see how anyone could be shocked at match fixing in Serie A.

*SIGH* I'm sorry but this is a high school lineup. Looks like he used the Dusty Dice for this one. In no universe is Cedeno a #3 and Neifi a #1.

Italy got lucky on that one. The fact that Vieri was even being considered was a total farce. They'll be much better off with Lucarelli (or inzaghi) on the roster than Vieri. Also, Luca Toni, who will be starting up front, has scored 30 goals in Serie A this year, the most in 65 years or something like that. I got my #22 Onyewu WC jersey from an ebay seller in Thailand yesterday. Sweet on the jersey. I'm trying to track down a Dempsey kit myself. Vieri isn't a good player anymore, so I'll agree that it's a blessing for them that he got hurt. I still don't fear Italy as much as I fear the Czechs, though. Also, there's speculation that O'Brien could be replaced on the US roster by Steve Ralston as early as Monday.

Totti resumed action as a sub: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=367664&cc=5901 Vieri and Diana out for the Cup: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=367492&cc=5901

Nice Sig mojo. Did you happen to see "Goodfellas" You might wanna check that out. i thought he was quoting the movie also. hmmm anyway. just give me someone who knows what the heck he is doing. i don't feel the need to be reactionary and get a yeller, but a manager, with a better hitting philosophy, and i wouldn't mind a new pitching coach also, one who understands that less pitches thrown = longer lasting success... some new players would be nice too, but hendry pretty much has them stuck there. where are the supporters of that one ex-houston manager? dirker? what about him? Larry Durker? I thought he had brain surgery or something. The perfect world would be to fire Dusty and hire Steve Stone. That would be cool. Stone would make a worse manager than he would make a GM, and he'd make an abysmal GM. It doesn't take much skill to "predict" that a good slider low and away will get a lot of hitters to swing and miss.

Psst...Dusty....you're 4.5 games back of Houston. There is a difference. He'd make a great politician. Just a steady stream of excuses....

Sigh. Dusty asked for these types of players. Guys with speed. Guys who could "catch the ball". As a result, we have a leadoff hitter who's not had a good OBP in 3 seasons, a RF who is a terrible baseball player-Corey Patterson without the upside-who we're stuck with for 3 seasons and $16m because our GM overbid against himself. We have Neifi and his $5m contract thru 2007. We pointlessly resigned Rusch. We TRADED for Freddie Bynum, who's worse than Jose Macias. Furthermore, just because the roster that was fatally flawed to start with lost Lee doesn't mean Baker should have to be held accountable for his terrible in-game management that takes what slim chances we have to compete and dynamites them to nothing. He consistently overmanages, doesn't put his players in the proper positions to succeed, and occassionally now is reverting back to the 2005-eque baffling lineups where John Mabry bats 5th ahead of 2 of our best hitters. Baker is just as responsible. He's a bad manager. He isn't a good motivator, he is a pathetic strategist, can't handle a pitching staff, is at least half responsible for the frightening overuse of the 2 players everyone blames for always being hurt, and makes a steady stream of excuses for his own actions and the mental lapses of the players he wanted brought in Hendry and Dusty are equally to blame for this. Both should go, but one got an extenstion. The other can be easily rid of.

Yes, firing the manager has always been the surefire cure in the past. :roll: I'm not even a big Dusty fan but what manager is going to make chicken salad out of this mass of chicken crap? Take a deep breath and count the number of managers this team has been through in the past 20 years. Then think to yourself, has the problem always been the manager? If you answer yes, then I think you are kidding yourself. Just because Hendry did an incompetent job (again) of putting together a decent team doesn't absolve Baker of the myriad of idiotic decisions and poor coaching he's responsible for. Baker is a bad manager. This team isn't talented, but should be playing better than they are. Baker does not consistently put his players in situations to succeed. Also, keep in mind Dusty went to Hendry and asked for players with speed who could catch the ball. Thus, we went out and traded 3 players for a leadoff hitter who can't hit, overpaid criminally for Jones, brought back his security blankets in Rusch and Perez, and traded another player for Freddie Bynum, who is worse than Jose Macias was. Dusty is as equally culpable for the constructoin of the roster as Hendry is.

Intervention by Andy or players literally refusing to play. Losing 20 of 25 probably does it as well.

Sorry. Yay Freddie. You managed to get a triple in a 9-0 game. You're awesome. I take back all the concrete evidence that you're terrible.

Neifi Perez is worse than Freddie Bynum.

Freddie Bynum is worse than Jose Macias. I'm going to post this every time he bats, until he's DFA'd.

Freddie Bynum is worse than Jose Macias...

we're terrible.

That's all well and good, but running around ranting and raving like a manaic doesn't mean you are holding guys accountable and making them concentrate. There's an enormous difference between not making excuses for players and making a complete ass out of yourself. As far as I can tell, Sweet Lou has had some of the most talented players in baseball history and has had mixed results. Then he quit on that team and wanted warm weather, and less demand for success. All he does is yell. I don't see a yeller making the difference. Also good points. It comes down to the talent on the field, and the willingness of the field manager to put his players in the best possible position to succeed.

I beg to differ. Lou is as much of a loon as Bowa. Yes but he would be our loon! Baker walks out of the dugout to argue and you don't think anything of it. Lou P comes out and you get interested really fast. The players see this and see the fire. With Dusty they see someone just awaken from a nap! Aramis: Well gee, I wasn't gonna try and hit a homer. But now that I see Lou is angry and the crowd is pointing and laughing at him, I shall now hit a monstrous homerun to show my appreciation for Lou! *CRACK* I hate that ridiculous and condescending reaction to this argument. It oversimplifies a complex issue and says a lot about theperson posting it, IMO. No one is arguing that the Cubs don't need better players and a manager -who in addition to holding his players accountable and demanding concentration - understands how to fill in a lineup card and manage pitching staff. In spite of this fact, many members continue to generalize and twist statements. In deference to people who just don't get it, let me spell it out plain and simple: 1) The Cubs need better players; 2) The Cubs need a manager who understands in-game strategy, how best to lineup his position players, and how to manage a staff; and 3) The Cubs need a manager who, unlike Baker, demands accountability and concentration, and doesn't make every excuse in the world for his players (i.e., the weather is cold; we travel too much; we play day games; black guys react better to the heat or whatever). Good points, all.

Baseball is alla bout focus. right now the Cubs have no focus at all. If they focused on a new manager that hold them accountable I'm betting they would respond. The Cubs have the talent. What they need now is the focus. Maybe in the form of a loony manager. Goonie. I have heard rumors he'd like the Cubs job (Davie that is) Baseball is all about pitching, hitting, and catching a round ball. It has no more or less to do with things like "focus", "chemistry", "intensity" than any other job. The reason the Cubs have struggled recently has nothing to do with not being held accountable. It has everything to do with the fact that the talent on the roster isn't that great, and they are without 3 of their best 5 players. Yes and seeing that loss of three big players tends to weigh on you. I've read during the losing streak the Cubs looked tired, made alot of stupid mistakes. They were not focused. Don't lump team chemistry with this. Or, the fact that they look tired could have to do with the fact that they've played about 13 games in a row, a large part of which was on a west coast road trip. Or the fact that they were losing 8 straight could have fed into the perception of looking "tired" and "indifferent". The baserunning and defensive errors have to do with bad baseball players making bad baseball plays. Pierre is a terrible defensive CF, and always has been. Ditto for Jones, except he's not a very good offensive player either. Losing streaks tend to have the effect of people projecting whatever they want to read into onto the losing team. It's not grounded in any reality. It's a sports cliche.

Baseball is alla bout focus. right now the Cubs have no focus at all. If they focused on a new manager that hold them accountable I'm betting they would respond. The Cubs have the talent. What they need now is the focus. Maybe in the form of a loony manager. Goonie. I have heard rumors he'd like the Cubs job (Davie that is) Or they could "press" and still suck. Lloyd McClendon had my favorite manager argument of all time where he took the base and walked off the field with it. Shockingly, the Pirates still sucked. Wait, so the manager acting like an idiot didn't make the talent on the Pirates better?