USSoccer

Pass. I don't think Fat Roger has anything left in the tank. Yeah, he was only the best pitcher in baseball last year. :roll: Who broke down the last month and a half...

Wait til Ramirez heats up. I'm sure he will, but it won't be nearly enough to offset the other stuff I mentioned plus Lee's absence. Ramirez and Pierre haven't heated up yet, and although Jones sucks, he doesn't quite suck as bad as he's shown. I think we can weather this, especially if we get better pitching.

Wait til Ramirez heats up.

Pass. I don't think Fat Roger has anything left in the tank.

Hendry had 5 options as far as what to do with the roster: Call up Sing Call up Hoffpauir Call up Restovich Find someone off the scrap heap Trade for someone Sing has struggled in AAA. Hoffpaiur is in AA because he didn't hit in AAA. The scrap heap is the scrap heap for a reason, and it's too early to make a deal without getting absolutely robbed by an opportunistic GM who know's we're desperate. To top it all off, Dopirak broke his foot like 1 game into the season. Restovich makes the most sense. If we were to roster someone, it had to be someone who'd have usefulness after Lee and Dopirak come back. Were we to call up Sing or Hoffpauir, we'd be stuck with a guy who had really limited use after the 2 already rostered 1B's came back. Restovich cam be a useful 4th OF, RH power bat off the bench, and spell whoever is at 1B. By all rights he probably should have been on the team anyway in place of Bynum. It was the best move under the circumstance.

If we lose Bynum for the sake of rostering Restovich and keeping the possibility of Lee's early return open, I'll hardly regret it.

Lee to the 60 day DL would solve that problem. I've seen 6-8 weeks. With a rehab assignment that comes to 60 days. I'd be suprised if the 60 day DL'd him. Fractures can heal faster than projections. I broke my wrist once and instead of the 6-8 weeks, it took about 4 to heal.

*Bump* For some random updates: US now ranked 4th in FIFA's rankings, FWIW. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=365360&cc=5901 Beasley charged with drunk driving in Einhoven. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=365419&cc=5901 Also, Jonathan Spector, who is an intriguing option for the back line this summer probably had his roster chances go up in smoke after he seperated his shoulder in a Premier League game. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=365284&cc=5901 The roster gets announced on May 5th.

Again, look at the schedule for the next 45 days. It's a pretty soft one. It gets much tougher in June and July, but asking the Cubs to stay in the NL Central race until June isn't all that unrealistic. Factor in Wood coming back within the next 2 weeks, and you've plenty of cause for short term optimism.

Who's getting derostered to make room for Restovich?

I've never done it, never will do it, but the historical bad rap that that plant has gotten is ridiculous. It's probably less dangerous than alcohol, and certainly less dangerous than tobacco. Tax it (heavily), regulate it, and I'm fine with it.

In the next month and a half we play 9 games against decent teams. The rest of the team we play are Florida, the Nats, San Diego, Atlanta, the Giants, the D'Backs and the Reds. This is a challenge, but it doesn't sink us like it would have had it happened in June.

Very true. People need to back up from the ledge. Nice gesture, but it's over. Astros '05 Look at the schedule in May and for the rest of April. It's hardly a murderers row of teams we play. We'll be okay until June, and by then maybe Derrek will be back.

Lee's is a great 1B, but it's not like he's the only player on the roster who can scoop an errant throw. Sure a couple more might get past someone else, but it's not like every bad thow is going to get by now that Lee is gone. In the early goin it seems like the Cubs have been playing with a lot of desire, if they can maintain their intensity and focus, they can weather losing Lee. With or without Lee, it was going to be pitching and defense that help the Cubs win the majority of the games they win. Lee going down just makes needing a healthy Wood and Prior that much more important. Plus, a LOT of Lee's defensive value doesn't lie in his ability to pick throws out of the dirt, but rather play the position and allow the 2B to cheat in the hole a little bit. Lots of 1B can dig a bad throw out. Not many have the lateral movement and quickness Lee does. Well we can't have it both ways, can we? Either Wood, Prior and Lee matter, or Hendry was a fool to pay them all that cash. This team might play decent ball for awhile without them, but eventually it's going to catch up to us and we will start dropping games. I think that in a best case scenario Wood comes back no later than May 5th, and Prior a couple weeks after that, and our pitching is good enough to keep us within 5 or so games of 1st. It helps that we play FLA, AZ and SD a lot in May. Plus, the NL outside of the Mets suck, so it's not like there are other teams that can run away with it on us.

One thing to keep in mind about Lee's defense is that it's not so much him saving errors on bad throws but his lateral movement that allows the 2B to cheat towards the middle. Lots of 1B can dig out bad throws. I forsee Baker going with a lot of Walker at 1B and Neifi or Hairston at 2B to try and plug that gap.

Lee's is a great 1B, but it's not like he's the only player on the roster who can scoop an errant throw. Sure a couple more might get past someone else, but it's not like every bad thow is going to get by now that Lee is gone. In the early goin it seems like the Cubs have been playing with a lot of desire, if they can maintain their intensity and focus, they can weather losing Lee. With or without Lee, it was going to be pitching and defense that help the Cubs win the majority of the games they win. Lee going down just makes needing a healthy Wood and Prior that much more important. Plus, a LOT of Lee's defensive value doesn't lie in his ability to pick throws out of the dirt, but rather play the position and allow the 2B to cheat in the hole a little bit. Lots of 1B can dig a bad throw out. Not many have the lateral movement and quickness Lee does.

Pierre Murton Ramirez Walker Barrett Jones Cedeno Mabry

Money. Olerud? Hairston could play second and outproduce him. .289/.344/.451 in 173 at bats last season. i doubt hairston puts up that line. I'd rather deal for Clark, but if Olerud were willing, I'd take a flier on him.

You have no idea what you may have unleashed. season's over anyway, maybe something funny will happen to the players we don't like Nothing bad will ever happen to Neifi. He's like that guy in Unbreakable...

Money. i meant more along the lines of letting him wear the newly designed cubs helmet while on the field No, he'll insist on wearing Barrett's old "I'm 9 years old" helmet.

Money.

You have no idea what you may have unleashed.

Cabrera was going to cost more than we could have given BEFORE Lee went down. What makes you think thhat now that Lee is hurt, his cost would be equal? Also, Cabrera can't play 1B. He's a 3B. His proposal is too light, but Cabrera plays 3B, Ramirez 1B, then Cabrera moves to RF. When has Ramirez ever played 1B? It's not like he's a utility guy or something. He's nearly a liability at 3B, so I can't see him being worse at the easier position. Cabrera is a pretty solid at 3B so that would be a temporary improvement. He's not a liability at 3B either. His rep is far worse than the reality. He's about average at third.

Craig Wilson fits the bill.

Mark O'Neal better be strecthing ARam out properly, else we're a pulled hammy from being the Royals.