Jump to content
Cubs v Phils, join our game thread! ×
North Side Baseball

USSoccer

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    17,655

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Profiles

Joomla Posts 1

Chicago Cubs Videos

Chicago Cubs Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

2026 Chicago Cubs Top Prospects Ranking

News

2023 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks

Guides & Resources

2024 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks

The Chicago Cubs Players Project

2025 Chicago Cubs Draft Pick Tracker

Blogs

Events

Forums

Store

Gallery

Everything posted by USSoccer

  1. USSoccer
    Of that list, only Lowe, Zito and possibly Hernandez appeal to me, but I'm not sure we'd be able to give Oakland anything they'd want for Zito. Maybe Hill, Mitre and Sing? I don't think that would be enough, though...maybe I should stop typing streamm of consciousness
  2. USSoccer
    That game broke an agonizing losing streak in which the bullpen was completely shot. I saw that one as justifiable because, at the time, the Cubs needed a big shot in the arm and that CG win was absolutely huge. They needed to break that losing streak if they wanted any chance at actually competing for the WC/Division. Of course, that turned out to be a completely moot point. Everything looks completely obvious in hindsight, ya know? That said, there were plenty of other instances in which I was incredibly pissed off at Dusty for overworking the arms. I don't know. I was at that game, and I think you could have gone to Dempster in the 9th, when it was clear that Z was done after the 8th. Who knows, though. Z has been very durable so far *knocks on desk*
  3. USSoccer
    What about the 139 pitch complete game effort against the Phillies? In May. 139 pitches in May. That's only surpassed by the 152 pitch death march Baker had Wood throw against St Louis in May of 2003. *edit* It was actually 141 pitches. In 7 innings. So in a way, that's even worse than 152 in 9. That way being, in reality.
  4. USSoccer
    One could argue that that very decision in Game 2 of 2003 cost us Game 6. And this needs to stop before Dusty wrecks the best 2 arms ever to come out of our system.
  5. USSoccer
    thanx no problem. i think you are a winner, and would bring a fresh new attitude to the team with your imbball.
  6. USSoccer
    Hey, JC, haven't seen you here in a couple weeks! YOu don't think Stone shows a little too much "woe is me"?
  7. USSoccer
    I fully expect Prior to be at top form next year. The broken elbow had to hurt his stuff just a bit. Wood, who knows. He's probably the biggest x-factor on our roster at present. If I were Hendry, I'd plan on him being hurt, rather than counting on him.
  8. USSoccer
    I nominate an IBM supercomputer than processes matchups and splits for manager.
  9. USSoccer
    Are you sure you want a lefty-swinging veteran corner OF on the bench? He would certainly take a significant # of starts from Murton, and guess what would happen when Murton experiences his first slump. If we get a veteran backup OF I don't want him to be able to swing a bat any way but right-handed. No, No, No. Our lefty-swinging veteran needs to be a corner IF, not OF. The last thing we need to do is give Dusty a nice crutch with which to lean on the first 7 game dry spell Murton hits. Sign Sweeney. Or *gasp* just go young on the bench. Having said that, I'll guarantee we'll have a left handed 4th OF by Dec 15th, and our bench will look a lot like last year's bench. Maybe something like: Branyan, Perez, Cedeno, Blanco and Hairston/Patterson/Token CF backup
  10. USSoccer
    No, I agree. One needs look no further than his ludicrious trade idea this past summer. He'd be real bad, and then what would happen to his baseball Miss Cleo rep here in Chicago? And going over and above Dallas Green's head gunning for his job was pretty low. Openly politicking for a job in professional sports usually doesn't work too well, and I can't imagine the good ol' baseball boy network looked kindly upon that.
  11. USSoccer
    That made me laugh, and then hate ESPN more.
  12. USSoccer
    I think that one of the more accomplished statisticians here could calculate Beltran's park adjusted numbers. The best I could do was, in a neutral ballpark he puts up about a .790 OPS. So Beltran was a bad random example to use. Look, I'm not trying to get angry, and I apologize if I'm coming off as ultra defensive. It's been a real, real bad couple days for me. The only points I was trying to make (and admittedly I did a bad job framing it) was that I'd rather the Cubs overpay good to great talent, than overpay or setlle for mediocre to bad talent. As far as Mazzone goes, I tried to clarify my initial reaction by saying that I am concerned about another offseason of relative inactivity followed by settling for what's left on the market, rather than taking control of the situation and being intelligently aggressive. Am I jumping the gun by crying doom about this winter already? Maybe, but it unnerves me that Burnitz's option hasn't been declined yet, and Macias is on the team, still. Delroy, I hope we're cool. After all, soccer fans have to stick together.
  13. USSoccer
  14. USSoccer
    The difference is that Manny is still putting up MVP numbers. Sosa wasn't anymore, which is why they could justify getting rid of him. The Cubs will take a guy with an iffy attitude, i think, if he's really good.
  15. USSoccer
    Is that really necessary? Is that what I said? Yeah, you're right. I said Beltran would have hit 70 HR's and stopped Hurricane Katrina with his sheer force of will if he'd have signed here. And geez, sorry if I got Burnitz's $5m contract mixed up with his option yeah for $7m that the club hasn't turned down yet. Man, I'm incompetent! Good thing I have you around to put me in my place. Just for the record, this is what I actually wrote: So as you can see, I acknowledged Beltran's crazy contract, and didn't try and make a prediction on his performance. Not to mention that I was simply using him as one example for my point, which you ignored. Also, I qualified the Burnitz contract statement in that sentence. Next time you want to put me in my place, bother to attempt to grasp what I'm writing before you do it. If you want to disagree with my point about overpaying for mediocrity, fine, knock yourself out. I'm a big boy, I can handle that. Don't make me sound like some dope who's still ticked about the Cubs not just signing everyone under the sun for $120m contracts. That wasn't my point.
  16. USSoccer
    I've met Alex Brown, got called a "no class punk" by Phil Jackson, met Bill Wennington, Eddie Robinson (douche) and Big Cat Williams. I've talked many times to Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler. Johnny Oates gave me an autographed baseball at a Cubs game, and chatted with me and my father. I also met Kevin Bass (former Astro). I think the nicest was Alex Brown. He's a pretty normal guy.
  17. USSoccer
    So unless all of your arguments was that the Cubs should've hired Perlozzo as the manager in the past couple weeks, your anger is misplaced. I don't think expecting Hendry to even inquire about his availability is too much to ask. How do you know that he did not? Source? I think criticizing Hendry for not going after Mazzone is patently unfair, misguided, and ridiculous. Of course, I don't know he didn't, and I suspect that if he had, we'd have heard a rumor or rumbling from someone close to the team. And again, I clarified my anger in a later post.
  18. USSoccer
    There's a difference between overpaying for value, and overpaying for mediocrity. We overpaid for Burnitz, Macias and Perez. Yeah, Beltran got a crazy contract, and put up a subpar season, but that was in a pitcher's park, and who knows what he would have done at Wrigley. My point is, is that I'd rather get All star production and overpay, than overpay for mediocrity. When you look at the production you get per dollar spent, it's actually worse to pay $7m or whatever it is for Burnitz and get his production than it would have been to pay $14-16m for someone who'd be much more productive.
  19. USSoccer
    Bruce, you just made my otherwise awful night. Thanks, man! :D
  20. USSoccer
    What do you consider serious interest? I would say Hendry was serious about Beltran, but obviously wasn't willing to pay him a bunch of money he wouldn't earn. Serious interest, I guess, would be making a competitive bid. I don't expect Hendry to grossly overpay, but I think he tends to undervalue FA's both in terms of dollars and years, and thus is never first choice when it comes to the top players. He shies away from market value. He's better what it comes to resigning his own marquee players. I think the Ramirez and Lee deals are pretty good and very fair (although I think ARam opts out and renegotiates after 2006). Most maddeningly, though, he overpays his fringe players, and given their value, I'd say he grossly overpays. It makes no sense to me how he decided Macias and Perez were worth what they were. Ditto for Burnitz. If he'd just realize that overpaying for high production is a better investment, relatively speaking, than overpaying for his bench, then I'd be happy.
  21. USSoccer
    I see Houston in 6. W.S. win games 2 and 5, beating Pettite and Clemens. Fat Elvis wins the MVP.
  22. USSoccer
    Many FA's have families that live in the cities in which they play, yet players continue to change teams and cities. I completely agree. I'd venture a guess that 90% of the FA's follow the money in the end.
  23. USSoccer
    at the very least now houston can sort of set their rotation up. Clemens Pettite Oswalt Backe Clemens Pettite Oswalt. Not so shabby. And Buerele and Garland are going to have issues with the Crawford Boxes. Stros in 6
  24. USSoccer
    Well, see my post above for clarification, but for the record, he's also won divisions with Kent Mercker, Paul Byrd, Jason Marquis, Russ Ortiz, Mike Hampton, and Horatio Ramirez as starters, and made decent relievers out of more than a few players. He also managed to keep a team that lost 60% of it's starting staff in 1st place this year. And it's not as if we don't have talent on this staff. Zambrano and Prior are two really, really good pitchers, and Kerry Wood could benefit from Leo as well, as could Jerome Williams.
  25. USSoccer
    There are a lot of players with options that haven't heard anything yet. Teams have until two weeks after the WS to declare. I'd feel better if something were done sooner, rather than later. Didn't the Cubs already have organizational meetings?
×
×
  • Create New...