thedaymen

I feel so much better knowing he only has a 5.54 era in the first inning.

I don't think Walker's a major problem per say, but the Cubs' infield defense and range was terrible this year. Especially watching the Mets and Yankees all year (living just outside NY) then the Cubs, its brutal how many balls that Wright-Reyes-Cairo OR AROD-Jeter-Cano would get to trickle through the infield on Aramis-Nomar-Walker. Getting rid of Walker wouldn't fix that; getting rid of any one of them wouldn't fix that, but I do think something needs to be done in this area. Unless you can get Nomar cheaply, I think he's the one that should go.

I like that theory. He was so concerned about Jin and Sun's relationship on LOST that he couldn't mentally or physically prepare for games until June.

His terrible first innings, his ever increasing era, his lack of innings pitcher per start....I think I'm beyond worried. I'm beginning to think the Cubs only have one "ace" out of 2003's "Big Three." And he has been overworked an almost criminal amount this year.

First, whether a manager "helps" a team win or "can hurt" a team's chances to win is a semantic argument. We all agree that two teams that are made of players who are mirror images of each other physically and mentally will have different records? And that the team with the better manager is more likely to be the team with the most wins? So the manager does impact his teams w/l. Second, the Eck v Nomar argument was pretty pointless. I can't imagine anyone would argue Eck had a better career or Nomar had a better 2005. Everyone was just talking past each other. Third, Eck was a great pickup for the Cards this year. Whether the coaching staff noticed something that has helped him become a better player or whether he's just had a great season; he's been a great pickup. Good for Jocketty and good for the Cardinals.

Florida is done. Buried by the Mets of all people. I suppose thats fitting, it was the Mets' sweep of the Cubs at Shea when I wrote the Cubs off as well. My preseason picks: East: atl Central: StL West: San Diego WC - Mets (whoops) AL East - Yankees Central - Twins West - Angels WC - Red Sox I now think the Astros will get the NL Wildcard, the RedSox will win the AL East and the Indians will win the central and White Sox will win the Wild Card.

Hmmmm, fair point. I guess I should have said, "I don't care how good he plays or how good his numbers are" not "I don't care about Barry Bonds." I clearly care enough that he's my least favorite player and the only baseball player I boo who I haven't personally witnessed being an ass (or Robbie Alomar).

Which of course begs the question, why hasn't he been shut down for at least the last month.

To be fair, I would prefer them to be having fun to not having fun. Of course if the options were "having fun" and "winning," I would take winning.

I'm pretty sure it doesn't say you can't spit on an umpire, but Alomar got suspended for that. I mean, the rulebook doesn't have to spell every damm thing thing out in excruciating detail, does it? HE BROKE A LAW TO IMPROVE HIS PLAYING SKILLS. Thanks to his continually lieing about taking sterroids in the past, it is just as logical to assume he's on something MLB doesn't test for as not. If you enjoy watching him that much; go ahead an enjoy!

On Barry:I couldn't care less about Barry Bonds, not a lick, and quite frankly wish he would go away. I saw him play in Baltimore a couple of years ago and he got intentionally walked 3 or 4 times. Friends later said, "stinks you didn't get to see him hit." My response was, "I can boo him just as well when he walks as when he doesn't." Did Barry do roids? Yes. We all know he did. I can't send him to jail for it, but I know he did and anyone that wants to investigate it at all knows he did. I mean, the dude admitted it...I'm stunned people can still, in an Internet chat room, not the court of law, say allegedly took sterroids. Should Barry be in the HOF? No. He cheated. There is no constitutional right to be in the HOF, so don't give me that "innocent until proven guilty." Look at it this way, if Andre Dawson had been able to duplicate his best season even once more, he would be in the HOF, no question. But, to the best of my knowledge and personal beliefs, he played by the rules so people like Jay Mariotti won't vote him in. Fine with me. I don't support the Hall anyways. But sterroids don't help you play that much better Thats true in one sense, and not true in another. If I were to start taking flax seed oil like Barry, I wouldn't suddenly go from "below average softball player" to "Semi-pro baseball player." It wouldn't even happen overtime... ....unless I worked out like mad. The most common sterroids allow your muscles to regenerate much quicker a) reducing the pain of workouts and b) making you able to work out more. Thats a huge advantage over people that don't dope up.

Argh! I'm turning into a bad imitation of Steve Rosenbloom, and I don't even mean to.

Thats weird, I was thinking "Great! With all these guys clogging up the bases, the Brewers are never going to score!"

Easrlier in this thread there was discussion as to what Dusty did as manager of the Giants to prove or disprove that he hates young players. Some of the players from his better teams were listed; this shows me a couple of things. 1) Dusty's philospophy about veteran players was born of experience and reinforced by the way his veteran teams in SF performed. It isn't unreasonable to expect that he would have "learned" from that experience and have brought that theroy that veterans=more wins. 2) Given that Baylor was also in love with this philosophy (remember the Proven Veteran Leader?), is it safe to say that management (MacPhail) embraces the veterans first philosophy as well? If so, that means that Baylor, while he needs to go, isn't the problem...he's just a symptom of the problem, and what needs to happen is a larger reorganization.

No guys, I don't care about the hijacking, I was serious...it wasn't much of a grabber which tells me a) nobody else has noticed or b) its not really an issue, I just remember the bad innings for Prior for some reason.

Not a big grabber for a topic, huh? Its just something I've been wondering about. I've noticed Prior and Rusch have both gotten "larger" (thrown together with Maddux and Z and the Cubs may have the most overweight staff in the majors...I'm sure Williams will be carbo-loading this offseason.), so I've wondered about their conditioning. I've also noticed that Prior has a nightmare first and then pitches well frequently....last night, in Philly, the Sunday night game against the Cards on ESPN...there must be something wrong with the way he's preparing for games, because he's not hitting his stride until around pitch 40.

Whoever it was that said the 2005 Cubs were going to win with starting pitching, defense, and little ball sure was right on the money. Zambrano needs to show a little more emotion on the mound. I don't know why anyone would be upset about management's moves last offseason, didn't you know the 2004 Cubs' only problem was too much Latino music?

Anyone else notice how bad Mark has been in the first inning this year, and how he often settles down for the rest of the game? Anyone think the Cubs need to work with him to change his warmup routine?

Hey, I'm happy Maddux is pitching allright. I'll take it. I hope he gets to 15 wins, of course, but he's going to have to end on an awfully hot streak. That being said, the inconsistant nature of his performances, and I have him in a very deep fantasy league and he's killed me this year, make him the quality of a fourth starter. Whether he's actually the Cubs' #4 matters little in the discussion. You never know what you'll get out of him, its just as likely he'll pitch average, as it is he'll pitch great, as it is he'll pitch terrible. At this point in his career, he's not at the quality of Jon Lieber, or Steve Trachsel or Matt Clement, all pitchers that are solid #3 starters.

I predict 5 BBs for the entire team for the entire tournament. Only if Sammy is batting in the lineup, then it will be the folks just ahead of him

I thought it was when they interviewed a charectar from a beer commercial (while he was still in charectar) during the World Series.

I don't even watch television shows on ESPN in which he appears in protest. I think it was his column on why he didn't vote Ryno for the HOF on the first ballot where I just tuned Jay out forever.

I don't even know what he's talking about anymore: Should the Cubs evaluate kids at the expense of trying to win? "I'm trying to do both," Baker said. "It's a situation where you have to find something to play for. I learned that from Steve Garvey. On days he had a migraine and didn't feel like playing, he played for a sick child or an older person in the hospital or something." What the hell does Garvey have to do with anything?

I want someone young anyway. The Mets can win with Willie Randolph (even though I hate a lot of his moves) so the Cubs can win with a Girardi or Varsho.

What it seems a lot of this discussion is, is that we don't like the way Neifi has been used, even though he's been somewhere between slightly and much better than expected. I agree with that. I get frustrated whenever Neifi comes to bat in a key situation that he's even in the game. The problem isn't Neifi's existance or hitting, its that Dusty has him confused with A-ROD. Incidently, why do people insist he's a superb SS defensively? Reyes is superb. Greene is superb. Rollins is superb. Neifi isn't anywhere near them, and I would argue is below average defensively.