tgk

I agree, and I certainly hadn't thought about the day games ending at at what? 5 PM? And 5 PM in Wrigleyville really is a bar scene. There's no denying it. I fail to see how this is relevant. The great majority of the American workforce gets off work at 5 p.m., and I'd bet you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't drive past a bar on the way home. Heck, I go past two and I live in a dry county. (Illegal to sell for those of you who are in shock). I'd also bet that you could find a bar or two near every major stadium. This doesn't even count the beer in the clubhouse. He'll face the same temptations in Chicago that he would anywhere else. I'm on the fence on Furcal, but this article made me less worried, not more so. I don't know whether I'd sign him or not, but this wouldn't be an issue.

He was a super-two, and I'm not positive if that means he reaches Free Agency a year earlier or if he gets a 4th year of arbitration. If it's the former he's a FA after '06, the latter after '07. I think he gets the 4th year of arbitration. Not early free agency. Rulebook please :?

Chemistry is often overrated because it's a good story. They tell us how the guys are a band of brothers who hang out together and whose wives organize social functions that include everyone's kids. . . and we eat it up. It is, by and large, an overrated element to winning, but it is an element. Have you ever had a job where the boss was a real jerk, you couldn't stand some of the people you worked with and you didn't fell like you could talk to anyone because everyone was out for themselves? I have, and let me tell you, it isn't a lot of fun. You don't like going to work and it is harder to do your job well because of the tension. Conversely, If you work in an environment where everyone gets along, you have monthly potlucks and you play together on the company softball team it helps you keep a positive attitude. Now, having a positive attitude does not mean you're a good worker, and being in a tense, negative environment doesn't automatically mean you can't perform your job well. But I think the vast majority of us would find it easier to be productive employees in a "Good Chemistry" company. I know I would. The same holds true for teams. Chemistry isn't essential, but it is a plus.

From his ESPN Chat, I just skimmed it and only saw two Cub references. Not really sure which forum this should go in so I'll post it here: Mike (Chico, CA): Hey Jim, which team's farm system improved the most since last year? Who regressed the most? Thanks Jim Callis: I think the team that will make the biggest rise when we do our org rankings in the spring is the Red Sox, who were No. 21 last year. Almost all of their top prospects still qualify and had good years in Double-A or above, plus they added five first-round picks in the draft. You'd think the Braves would be in for a fall after graduating about half their Top 30 list to the majors, but they still have a ton of quality and depth and shouldn't tumble too far past their No. 5 ranking of a year ago. The No. 8 Athletics (a lot of players moved up to Oakland and come off the list) and No. 10 Cubs (a lot of guys had off years and/or stagnated) may drop the most. That's mostly conjecture, as we haven't even discussed the org rankings yet. Aaron (San Antonio, TX): Any chance Epstein ends up in Chicago instead of Hendry? Jim Callis: Not this year. Hendry is on safe ground and I think he's done a pretty good job, though he's too attached to Dusty Baker. Now I've done it. Scoop Jackson will be knocking on my door in suburban Chicago any second. Nothing really new, just thought I'd pass it on.

I'll take Furcal, simply because it's now two years later and I can still hear Pierre rapping, "And we went to Wrigley Field, and got that Wiggley feel." :puker: But Seriously, I'd have to go with Pierre. Several Reasons: 1. Weak SS class, Furcal will be overpaid. 2. Pierre shouldn't cost all that much to acquire if the rumors of Florida wanting to move his salary are true. Just eat the salary and give them a list of B prospects to choose from that doesn't include left-handed pitchers. 3. With Pierre in Center, you can keep Walker at 2nd and play Cedeno at short. If you sign Furcal, Walker has to go. 4. Leaves Hendry with a pile of money ($25 or so) to throw at Giles (or take on another large contract in trade) and still afford Burnett, who it appears is high on the list. (In fact, if I have to overpay for someone, I overpay for Giles, throwing an extra mil or two above what anyone else will pay per year to get a two-year deal with a reasonable option/buyout in 2008. I know, nobody Front loads contracts, but it makes sense as we've got the salary space now, no need to cause budget problems later. Say something like 12, 11, 7) That would leave you with a line-up of: Pierre Walker Lee Giles (or Mystery RF) Ramirez Barrett Murton Cedeno I could live with that. Hendry should still have enough left over to bring in a bat at the deadline if Murton and/or Cedeno aren't producing. 5. As stated before, Pierre is gone in a year. Gives Pie the luxury of having another year at AA to AAA and be ready to compete for the job in '07. 6. I no longer believe Patterson can be successful in Chicago. Trade him to the Mariners or somewhere else that we'll never have to see him and maybe he can realize his potential. Maybe we can get a bullpen arm for him. Oh well, doesn't really matter as I'm not running the team, but it beats working. Now, if I could just get that stupid song out of my head. :wall:

From Espn (Of course, an article on the Yankees offseason) http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2005/columns/story?columnist=klapisch_bob&id=2187879: The bullpen? Gordon might've pitched himself out of pinstripes by failing to hold down the Angels in Game 3, retiring none of the four batters he faced in the seventh inning. Gordon's postseason anxiety became obvious in 2004, when the Red Sox scored six runs in 6 2/3 innings against him in the ALCS, so unnerved the right-hander reportedly threw up in the bullpen before appearing in Games 4 and 5. No thanks

For the most part 'Cards fans are fine. However, like every other team - including the Cubs, there is a vocal minority that can be completely obnoxious. They are the people who feel the need to troll other teans' boards when they are winning and disappear when losing. In my opinion, the world would be a lot better off without them, but unfortunately the authorities tend to frown on random disappearances, even of obnoxious fans. :roll:

Not to ask the impossible or anything, but does anyone know if / where we can get a shot from the rooftops across the street?

I live in Western KY, which is still Cardinal country. I know a lot of Card's fans, but no Astros fans. As such, I guess I'm for the 'Stros just so I don't have to listen to any gloating. However, I don't really care. The good news is one of them will lose. I don't want to talk about the bad news. :cry:

Yep. Teams usually wait until after the arbitration deadline because if they sign a player before it then the other team offers arbitration and receives the draft pick compensation. By waiting there is a chance the player's old team won't offer arbitration because they don't want to get stuck with what the arbitrator would award. However, some of the real premium guys will sign before the 7th as it is a foregone conclusion that they will be offered arbitration. Mid Nov. on Furcal and Burnett, early X-Mas presenets on others.

I think it is 15 days after the World Series. Then, teams have until around Dec. 7 to offer arbitation to eligible players or be unable to negotiate with them until either May 1 or June 1, I forget which. After being offered, a player has about two weeks to either accept arbitration, thus tying them to the club, or refuse, which frees them to sign with any club except the one they refused.

Uh Oh! You said the "T" word. Now we're on the list for sure. Last year I was going on a business trip and my wife packed my suitcase. I check in, check my bag and go all the way through security. I'm talking laptop out of the briefcase, putting my shoes back on and I hear, "Northwest passenger Tom XXXXXX please return to the check in counter." I grumble, put my shoes back on, repack my briefcase and go back. Get to the counter and the guys asks me to unlock my bag. I tell him it isn't locked. He says okay, and I go my merry way. Back through security, laptop out, shoes off and I hear, "Northwest passenger Tom XXXXXX please return to the check in counter." Back out, to the counter. Guys asks if it is my bag, I say yes. "Did you pack it?" "No, my wife did." "Did you know you have a FAA banned substance in your bag?" "No, what" He lifts up a can of spray starch. "Aerosol cans are banned on airline flights sir." "Okay, just throw it away." "I can't do that. We have to turn it over to the FAA. Please go fill out these forms." (Name, address, SS, etc.) "I'm sorry, I didn't know. Won't happen again." "If it does, as a repeat offender you may be subject to up to 3 years in prison and a $50,000 fine." "Yes sir." And that's how I became the spray starch terrorist. The really annoying thing is that my wife no better than to think I'm going to use spray starch anyway. Oh well, at least I made my flight - it was delayed. It's nice to know you can count on Northwest for something.

Maybe it's the PR rep in me, but this doesn't bother me because it smells like classic spin. I'm guessing this was made sometime around the signing, when basically the choices were Burnitz and nobody. Ever seen a team sign a person and say, "Well, he sucks, but he was all we could find. Maybe if we hadn't drug our feet so long on the Sosa deal maybe we could have found a warm bucket of spit instead." Now, if he picks up the option. . . :roll:

I was going to say Tapani...but the 98 Cubs were 90-73.. :wink: Kinda threw me off... DOH! #-o

Just to Illustrate the point: In 1998 this pitcher went 19-9 with a 4.85 era. He pitched 219 innings, allowed 244 hits, and 62 walks for a Whip of 1.397. Team's record as 90-72 (.572) In 1999 the same pithcer went 6-12 with a 4.83 era. He pitched 136 innings, allowed 151 hits and 33 walks for a whip of 1.352. The team's record was 67-95 (.414) Who is he? Kevin Tapani of your Chicago Cubs.

Two things stand out: Clemen's ERA and the fact that Boras represents 40% of the list.

Perhaps they should have tried that their first 5.5 months of the season. I'm sure they did. Again, I never said I agreed with his line-ups, just that his logic of trying to win was sound. You play to win the games. I could care less who else gets in the playoffs, simply because they're not the Cubs, but as a baseball fan I think it is important to maintain the integrity of competitive balance. What a load. All that talk of kissing up to potential free agents has achieved absolutely nothing. Great free agents don't sign with teams based on how much the manager bends over for them. They sign with the team with the best combination of money/chance to win. It is completely hypocritical, and in my opinion moronic, to try and pound into the heads of the kids the need to play for the good of the team and ignore individual statistics, and then repeatedly sacrifice the opportunity to give some experience to the young kids so veterans can get a chance to achieve meangingless goals. There is absolutely no excuse for Mitre and Hill failing to each get at least 3 starts in September. If you'll look closely, I said that playing the vets wouldn't necessaryily help, but that a bad reputation could hurt. Now, do I think this is the #1 consideration of a potential free agent? Of course not. The top considerations are going to be Money, location, and chance to win. The order of those is likely to be decided by what is important to the player. But, it is a part of the decision criteria. If all those things are equal, a negative reputation could impact the player's decision. Ah, but if they play in Sept. it doesn't count, don't forget that gem. Look, overall I'm with you. I want to see the young players develop because in the case of Murton and Cedeno, they are probably our best options for next year. I'd like to see what Hill can do and I think you could have sat Glendon without really aggravating anyone, including the teams chasing Houston. I think I got a pretty good read on Mitre - A solid mid to back of the rotation guy. Everyone is so ticked about the season and had enough Dusty-isms that anything he says is instantly blown out of the water. I just didn't think this one was that big of a deal. His logic in trying to win is sound, the means he is using to achieve those ends is questionable. I'll check back later, but now I've got to get back to work. I've got my wedding to plan, my wife to kill and Gilder to frame for it. I'm swamped. (Edited for some atrocious type-os. We'll leave the minor ones for posterity.)

It's not often that I say this, but I've got to side with Dusty on this one. I know there is no rule that says it and that the team's only responsibility is to itself, but the Cubs should be trying their best to win, that includes placing the best line-up possible on the field. Now you may disagree with what Dusty thinks is the best line-up, but that is another argument already taking place in several other threads. Remebmer 2003? Milwaukee went into Houston on the last weekend and beat them enough that no only did the Cub win the division, they had a day to rest the starters. If the Brewers had sat Richie Sexon and didn't pitch Ben Sheets everyone on this board would have been crying foul. It's the same situation, we're just on the other side of the equation. As for the meaningless milestone arguement, McGriff and Maddux are two completely different situations. McGriff was going for another season of 30 homeruns and needed several starts to do so, basically playing the entire month to get there. Maddux is going for another season of 15 wins, and really needs only 1 extra start to do so, and that is only if he wins the two games leading up to that. You are probably talking about 6 innings of work, which i hardly think ins robbing a youngster of a chance to develop. Remember, while we like our young players and want to see them get a decent chance, we also want free agents to sign with the Cubs too. Giving Maddux the extra start and continung to play veterans while mixing in kids may not augment the chances of signing free agents in the future, but a reputation for sitting veterans and not allowing a chance a meaningful personal milestones could be a deterrent for some players in the future.

And always start on the road, and always have that stupid friggin "Monday-Wednesday-Thursday" series. I HATE THAT! :evil: I could be wrong, but I believe the reason the Cubs always start on the road is weather. The league likes to give the Northern teams an extra week for Spring to kick in. Cincy isn't that much warmer than Chicago though. It's pretty northernly(word?) in it's own right. But it's tradition (one that hasn't been followed of late) Cincy is supposed to be the first game played every year. It was this way until the Yankees or Sawx had to go to Japan or Mexico to make the first of 85 ESPN games... Rant over. I always thought that was one of the most pointless traditions ever. It's pretty important in Cincinnati. They have the first Monday game on opening day every year, often with a real early start. However, it has become pretty pointless with the advent of the Sundqy Night game the day before. It's like a lot of other traditions, it doesn't really mean much and is "Mostly Harmless" but it is a big deal to them so let 'em have their moment. It's not like they've got a centennial of their last title to plan or anything. :oops: Man, we better get there next year!!!!!!! (Note, I live on the western end of KY, actually closer to StL than Cincy)

And always start on the road, and always have that stupid friggin "Monday-Wednesday-Thursday" series. I HATE THAT! :evil: I could be wrong, but I believe the reason the Cubs always start on the road is weather. The league likes to give the Northern teams an extra week for Spring to kick in.

I've noticed, it also seems like they trim a few more games from WGN each year. I guess it's not that big of a deal anymore because I don't have the time to watch games like I used to. When I was in college I never missed a day game, 10 years later I never see one. In a way I almost wish they would go ahead and drop the Cubs off of WGN completely because then I could more easily justify paying for the Xtra innings package. I work in sports so not only do I work during the day, but it isn't unusual for me to work at night too. A few years, when I was working for a college in Texas, I actually sat down, looked at the Cubs schedule for the final half of the season, removed the games I could see for free, (WGN, Fox, Espn and via the Astros Fox Sports broadcast), then crossed off the games I knew I wouldn't be able to watch because of work. It was the halfway point and they were offering the package for about $80. I realized there were only about 8 games that I didn't have to work during AND that were not on WGN or something else. Because of that it would have cost me like $10/game for those games - assuming I would have been able to actually watch them - Which is unlikely with a wife and two small children. I'd be much more likely to buy the package if the Cubs weren't on WGN and didn't play all the day games. Basically, you are buying the package for the games which are unavailable via other methods, which is less than half of many other teams. Which means the per game cost is twice what it is for almost any team except the Braves. As it is I just have the internet radio subscription and try to listen when I can. Anyway, I know I'm rambling. If you can think of a reason this should matter to anyone other than myslef let me know. :wink:

That's what I thougt, it just made me do a double take. I figured if WGN was dropping games people here would know about it.

From Carrie Muskat's mailbag on Cubs.com: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050919&content_id=1215753&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc Thanks for the suggestions and advice. Anyone interested in DirecTV or MLB.TV packages should read the fine print carefully because of blackout rules. Many people who live in Indiana and in Illinois, but outside of Chicago wrote about blackout problems. The days of free TV broadcasts on WGN are over. I know I haven't been paying very close attention, but did I miss an announcement by WGN that they are dropping their games? Or is she trying to say that WGN won't air any more games? I'm confused, and maybe a bit befuddled too. :? (Edited for readability)

Maybe it's an outbreak of solidarity and Rusch is just trying to get Mitre some work?

Now see, that's a team player. Intentionally getting thrown out to create playing time for his teammates. Maybe we can get Nefi on this program?