Andy

He is bad overall but I would argue that he is clutch. I know he's been a nightmare against the Sox for years and he hits higher than his career average with RISP. I could hit higher than Jacque Jones' career average with RISP.

I just read 37 pages of thread. I'm as disgusted as anyone at this pathetic signing, and seats on the "I Hate Jim Hendry" BandWGN are going fast, so pick them up quickly. Amazingly ironic that CFICT is the only one trying to be optimistic about this signing. I hate Freedom Fries Jones.

Their loss > Our loss We'll get this one.

I think Patterson being tendered has more to do with organizational philosophy than positional need. While it certainly helps that our OF is a nightmare, I think the bigger thing is that non-tendering Patterson would be perceived as giving up on him, getting nothing for all that work and investment into him. Whether that's the right decision or not, I see that playing a huge role in whether or not they non-tender Corey. Cubs Tender Contracts to All Unsigned Players

Lenny Harris. Well, I can only assume that, since we pitched around him to get to Mike Lowell.

Edward K from Indianapolis is going to fall in love with Jones. I love the Jacque Jones signing! He was great in the first half of 2005! How much money do you think I should bet on the Cubs winning the World Series in 2006? - Edward K., Indianapolis, Ind.

Was that an intentional double entendre? ????Range factor or Radio frequency???? "Don't think we need a RF that badLY" and "Don't need a RF who IS that bad" is what he was referring to.

The AL West will be a very good division again next year with Oakland, Anaheim and an improved Texas.

Neifi (killed the Cubs before and after coming to the team) Oswalt (HOW did everyone forget him?) Tavarez And just for kicks, add Jack and Joe Buck to the list, too.

Great deal for the Nats, eh? Wilkerson, Sledge, and extras for whatever scraps they can pick up for Soriano.

Did they have to count the Sun Belt as a conference? And ND/TCU and Texas/Akron? This wouldn't be very entertaining to be honest.

This is the best Notre Dame class since the one Lou brought in after the 1989 season. That class won more games than any other in Irish history and capped it off with an 11-1 season that should have ended in a national title. Let's just say I try not to think about 2006-09 because I get too excited.

I read that the Dodgers are interested in Sanders, but haven't heard anything else yet.

Personally, I don't like Mitre at all, and to me he had all the trade value of Patterson. We've been playing him off and on for three years and he never did anything better than average. I can't imagine that we could have gotten much better of a player for Pierre, except for Bradley since they were giving him away - but clearly had no intention of giving him to the Cubs.

Is it just me or does Neifi and Macias sound like a really good 1/2 leadoff combination? - Edward K., Indianapolis, Ind.

From the Carrie Muskat Mailbag this week: Wow. Just wow.

ND beats IPFW by 2. That's encouraging. Sigh.

Moreover, they'd fly his dead body back to Chicago and make Larry Rothschild work on Prior's mechanics even further.

We could've had him for 4.5. :(

If this deal is done, then my faith in Jim Hendry is somewhat rekindled. Here's hoping I wake up and the deal is done.

Ball State downed Anderson 75-47 to go to 4-2. Next is a tough road test against Drexel, though.

Offense is good too. And we don't have near enough of it at present.

Texas gets beaten at home by Tennessee and UK beats Louisville. Upset Saturday indeed. Ball State is up 12 over Anderson IN at the half.

I'll take the 2005 Millwood in the Cubs rotation. The only thing is, can we expect that?

Not to take anything away from the Cardinals, but they have been one of the luckiest (although much has been created out of Jocketty's intelligence) teams in all of baseball. Aside from the Rolen injury, what hasn't gone their way? Sanders stayed healthy and produced at an old age. Carpenter became a stud. Marquis has been tremendous. Edmonds has remained productive. Their pithing has stayed healthy. Tavares has been solid out of the pen. Womack had one of the flukiest seasons in MLB history. Eckstein recovered nicely. What I'm trying to say is (without a constant infusion of farm talent like the Braves) this team is bound to abide from the law of averages. They're due for more injuries. Some players are bound to decline. Others are bound to have off years. This luck simply can't conitune. At least I hope and don't think so. The exact opposite of which can be said about the Cubs. Aside from Derek Lee, virtually everything that could have gone wrong has. Every bullpen acquisition has been a complete disaster (even the ones that were, at the time, good sigining - LT). Prior and Wood have been slowed by injuries. Rookies haven't produced. Corey's regression was stunning even to this lifelong detractor. Our closers have been injured and inconsistent. Although some of this can be chalked up to shoddy coaching, and/or shoddy talent evaluation by our GM, a lot of it was simply bad luck. Could this bad luck continue on into next year? Sure it could. But based on the amount of misfortune the Cubs had last year I'd expect '06 to bring significantly less. In saying this I am by no means trying to diminish what the Cardinals have done, or excuse the self created poor play the Cubs have perpetrated. What I am saying, though is that the gap between the Cardinals and the Cubs isn't as wide as people think it is. Just think what would happen if both teams fortunes reversed themselves next year. Carpenter goes down. Mulder misses significant time. The Cards bullpen (which may be the BIGGEST reason for their succes the last few years) goes up in flames. Molina regresses. Edmonds (in Madduxesque fashion) declines. The second base option is a disaster. Reyes torches his shoulder (in Guzman fashion. Definately a lot of ifs, but it COULD happen (as it did to us). You can't tell me a team with this amount of attrition would finish with anything more than 84-85 wins (which would be EXTREMELY lucky). On the flip side look at what our team would have. Wood and Prior healthy. One of our rookies blossoms while the other is serviceable. At least one of our ? (RF and 2B) are solid. Our bullpen, for the first time since 01 (and the single BIGGEST reason for this teams failure) isn't a complete disaster. Corey (if still here) plays to even half his potential. Again a lot of ifs, but you couldn't tell me this team (under this scenario) wouldn't easily attain 92+ wins. With the improved pen we'd have at LEAST 3 15 game winners. Our 1 + 2 hitters would score a lot of runs. Lee's production numbers (RBI and runs) would surge because of it. This would be a very good baseball team. Now I definately wouldn't bank on this to happen (whit this team I don't count on anything), but I wouldn't be shocked (or even surprised) if it did. Great post. And surprisingly un-bitter sounding. I agree completely.