USSoccer

St. Jeter works in mysterious ways.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=361879&cc=5901 Donovan out 2-3 weeks.

You do realize Steve Stone isn't a doctor, never gives any real solid baseball information when interviewed, usually gives vague answeres to specific questions and has a Paul Bunyan sized axe to grind with the Cubs, right? And he is negative about everything so considering he is commenting about the Cubs has a better than average chance of being right even if he has no clue what he is talking about. Does Stoney speak different on the radio than he does for say his ESPN games? I watched an ESPN game last year and he had nothing but positive things to say about the Cubs -- AND they weren't even playing in the game. There is no doubt in my mind that Stoney is one of the biggest Cubs homers around and it is pretty pathetic that both sides can't let it drop. The Cubs do themselves no good by trying running out of town an analyst who was simply frustrated with a bad team and spoke his mind on the air. There also seems to be a pattern of publicly disgracing anyone who disagrees with them or whom they don't like. My guess is that once Walker is traded we will hear every negative thing that he has done since donning a Cubs uniform. Maybe they even have video surviellance of him leaving a game early, etc. Oh, do not get me wrong. The Cubs have become a PR joke, with the way they tend to handle news and react to things. To answer your question about Stone, he is on WSCR about 3-4 times a week, and is generally critical, snide, and smart alecked about it. I can understand the critical, but it's in the tone of his delivery that smacks of sour grapes and immaturity. Maybe he's playing to his audience/host, since they all tend to be pretty negative about the Cubs. The other thing I don't like is that he typically doesn't offer much insight when he answeres a question.

You do realize Steve Stone isn't a doctor, never gives any real solid baseball information when interviewed, usually gives vague answeres to specific questions and has a Paul Bunyan sized axe to grind with the Cubs, right? Looks like Stoney was right on this one, reguardless of any issues he has with the Cubs. I find it funny that Prior talked about how suprised he was to find out he was injured and claimed that he felt great etc. Not even the most adamant Hendry/Cubs Front office supporters buy that garbage. Why not just give it up to Carroll for delivering the scoop and move on? The Cubs and their players would be better off not taking everything so personal. I still don't buy that Carroll's report and Prior's injury are the same thing. I am of the mind that Prior is sore, but he overreacted to said soreness, and he doesn't trust the Cubs medical staff to treat or diagnose everything. That said, all Stone did (again) was take someone elses work or story and agree with it. I'm not sure how he deserves any praise.

You do realize Steve Stone isn't a doctor, never gives any real solid baseball information when interviewed, usually gives vague answeres to specific questions and has a Paul Bunyan sized axe to grind with the Cubs, right? And he is negative about everything so considering he is commenting about the Cubs has a better than average chance of being right even if he has no clue what he is talking about. exactly. It doesn't take an insightful baseball mind to gripe about Wood getting hurt, and then make sarcastic cracks at the organization that employed him for 20 years.

in that case let's do stone's proposed aramis ramirez for manny and bill mueller asap Yeah! Greatest trade idea ever. Let's trade a guy entering his prime for a guy leaving it AND one who makes twice as much. /sarcasm. Honestly...I mean, he was a good color commentator, but he's not the baseball Jesus he gets pimped as.

You do realize Steve Stone isn't a doctor, never gives any real solid baseball information when interviewed, usually gives vague answeres to specific questions and has a Paul Bunyan sized axe to grind with the Cubs, right?

I have no doubts he feels soreness, but I have doubts whether or not he can differentiate between normal soreness and serious soreness, and I have no faith in the Cubs' ability to help him differentiate. Again, he's left games feeling discomfort and soreness, and then been fine enough to take his next turn in the rotation. There is precedent for questioning his own sense of pain.

if they expect to find damage it makes sense to release the news on the weekend of the first round of the NCAA's. it's helps the story get less exposure than if they release it during the week.

...or paranoid. I'm just happy it's fairly minor. Do you remember last year when Prior walked off the mound in pain, and then pitched 4 days later? Just because it's medically minor means nothing. Prior is going to treat every little discomfort like a blown out elbow. I think he's soft.

So..in other words, Prior is hypersensitive to pain.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=361786&cc=5901 Demspey was dropped from the US roster for the March 22nd game vs Germany. Factor is no Beasley, Onyewu and Dempsey, and the angry, motivated German team, and I think we're going to get thumped.

Indisputable? Hardly. The economics of the Ramirez and Lee deals can't be ignored. They were components of the deals that factored in what the Pirates and Marlins could demand in return. As such, its hard to see how Hendry can receive all the credit and the "Jason and the Argonauts Golden Fleece Award". As far as Nomar goes, he was a complete bust for the Cubs, in part, because Hendry waived the Cubs' right to require a physical. Instead, Hendry merely took Boston's reports and knew he was getting damaged goods by acknowledging that Nomar wouldn't be playing with regularity. As for Murton, he was a throw in, thanks to Theo Epstein's insistence when the Expos demanded Harris. Grudz and Karros turned out much better than I expected. I give Hendry credit for that. Other than Grudz/Karros, I hardly see an objective "fleecing" being had in each of these other instances. Agreed 100%. Some credit is due for exploiting the situations, but Hendry was the recipient of good luck in both of those deals, and just because Murton is promising doesn't make that a fleecing. The main part of that deal was an unqualified waste.

I think it would be terribly awesome.

Seth, You're overrating France severely. They are just not that good anymore. Their core of players is largely past their prime.

After the last 2 seasons, you'd think Hendry would have learned that lesson. Instead, our vaunted pitching "depth" of 9 potential starters features 3 oft injured players, 2 rookies, 1 declining, HR prone pitcher, one guy who's not very good, Williams and Zambrano. If Lee goes down, will anyone pitch to Ramirez, ever? That's really sad. What's even sadder is our payroll is $95m

Just when Dempsey was stepping it up... http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=361699&cc=5901 He gets in a fight with a teammate.

At this point, even though it won't be a popular sentiment here I'd throw Guzman out there in the rotation right away when we break camp. If he gets hurt, he gets hurt, but while he's healthy he's a better option than Hill or Rusch, and our rotation will need the help. Pitch count him. We'll carry 12 pitchers anyway, and we have a nice, expensive bullpen. Get what you can out of him, because at worst you end up with what you've gotten from him the past 3 seasons, and at best he lives up to his billing. Or at least he helps keep you afloat until May when one of Wood, Miller or Prior should be back.

Random thoughts: So at this point, you assume Prior will be on a schedule similar to Wood's, right? Do you decide that you've waited long enough for Guzman, and just let him be the 5th starter, or do you go with a 4 man of Z, Maddux, Williams and Rusch until Miller, Wood or Prior are back? After all, Guzman should have been with us late 2003. It's now 2006. BTW, without Wood, Prior and Miller, our rotation is bad. Makes you wish our offense was top 5. Also makes me wish they would have at least looked at Jeff Weaver this past winter on a 1 yr deal. If Prior has an issue with pain tolerance, and overreacts to semi-normal discomfort it could explain why Hendry might have considered dealing him this winter, public comments to the contrary. Finally, the Cubs need to begin addressing the plethora of pitching injuries at all levels of the system. I know injuries happen, but every single high ceiling/key pitcher from Guzman to Wood has missed signifigant time in the past 5 years, Z being the exception. What are they doing wrong? No focus on prehab? Bad trainers? Bad scouting? Irresponsible managing leading to idiotically high pitch counts? A combination of all of these and bad luck? Sooner or later they need to look at this in a non old school, traditional baseball way.

Best fans in baseball

I think the fear is he could be playing hsi way out of a job a la Bobby Hill in 2003.

As opposed to the era ewhere the mound was higher, as opposed to the cocaine era, as opposed to the era where guys used spitballs and scuffed the ball....

Just my two cents, but the seedings are a joke (how does Cuse go from on the verge of being left out to a 5 seed based on 4 tourney games, and what did Gonzaga do to deserve a 3 over a 2 seed?) and they left out teams they should have put in. Aren't they supposed to take the best 36 teams, and not the best 20 plus some 20 win mid-majors?

From an organizational standpoint I'd rather take my chances that the younger Sing or Pagan improve and contribute given the opportunity than I would take the chance that Grissom isn't washed up. And given our manager's inability to see when a player is washed up, having Grissom break camp means he's on the roster until he gets hurt or until August. So I'd take either Sing or Pagan, but only because I think Grissom is washed up.

Redick is really pressing on his shot, and BC is very, very tough. They're going to have a good tournament.