Sammy Sofa

I could swear that the sausages have been to Wrigley before.

We'll see. He's so far away from career norms I expect it will get a lot worse. And you think that's primarily due to it being a cold/mild spring/summer and simply more hot weather is going to bring his numbers crashing down? Just look at his data on fangraphs. I did. You think that his data can be attributed almost totally to the weather?

We'll see. He's so far away from career norms I expect it will get a lot worse. And you think that's primarily due to it being a cold/mild spring/summer and simply more hot weather is going to bring his numbers crashing down?

Actually, it's very feasible given the FA available after this season and 2012. There's nothing wrong with a big money team like the Cubs "throwing cash" at FA. The key is usually throwing it at the right FA instead of usually overpaying for middling talent. Like Julio Lugo, John Lackey, JD Drew and Marco Scutaro? The Cubs, like the Red Sox, can afford the hit of guys like that. The key is also at least once in a while getting the slam dunk of a David Ortiz and a Manny Ramirez while also developing players internally that can be at least useful everyday starters.

Sure, but that's still having a GM's first year clouded by a lame duck manager and giving the impression of starting from scratch one year later. If you are a new GM coming in this year, you are either going to look at Quade as a longterm option, or hire your guy. Letting him be a lame duck is pointless. Depends on the GM. If the manager they want isn't available for next year I could see whoever it is letting Quade finish things out instead of forcing in a candidate they don't really want simply for the sake of change.

He fits exactly into what the Cubs need. A team the size of the Cubs doesn't need to go into full rebuilding mode ever. It's not an either/or proposition of only going with players developed internally or only improving via trade/FA. Garza's trade was a smart move precisely because it looks to the future and not just this year or the next.

Right. He's made some questionable decisions with SPs, but he's far from Dusty territory. He's not doing a bunch of micro-managing, from what I've seen. So if he's not causing undo harm to pitchers and not bunting in the first inning, for example, who cares. I wouldn't be surprised if a new GM kept him on, at least in the short term, unless there's a specific manager available that the new guy wants. Yeah, pretty much. Given that he'd only be here the first year and doesn't have a reputation as being a "problem" it wouldn't surprise me at all if a new FO just let him rid out the first year of transition and then lets him walk after his deal is up after 2012. I think he's done a horrible job managing his starters, pushing them too far from the start and foolishly risking injury after an hour rain delay. On top of that, I think he's completely in over his head. I also don't see any possible way that a new GM would hold onto Quade for his lame duck season. That's a bad way to start off your regime, and once you fire the guy a year later you've already used up one of your GM lives. Technically they wouldn't be firing him a year later if they just opt to not re-sign him.

Right. He's made some questionable decisions with SPs, but he's far from Dusty territory. He's not doing a bunch of micro-managing, from what I've seen. So if he's not causing undo harm to pitchers and not bunting in the first inning, for example, who cares. I wouldn't be surprised if a new GM kept him on, at least in the short term, unless there's a specific manager available that the new guy wants. Yeah, pretty much. Given that he'd only be here the first year and doesn't have a reputation as being a "problem" it wouldn't surprise me at all if a new FO just let him rid out the first year of transition and then lets him walk after his deal is up after 2012.

Definitely. Go with something like a Baker/DeWitt platoon at 3B as a placeholder next season.

Nice to see a bit of optimistic news in regards to Vitters. Thanks for the stats.

He's been brutal offensively for at least a month now, so they won't be missing much in that area.

Just caught it as a news update on Comcast. Apparently due to him hurting his knee on Monday.

What does the number of words in a response have to do with anything? What does the number of threads started by someone have to do with anything?

Actually, it's very feasible given the FA available after this season and 2012. There's nothing wrong with a big money team like the Cubs "throwing cash" at FA. The key is usually throwing it at the right FA instead of usually overpaying for middling talent. I was more addressing my impression that some people think that's what should have been done day one of the Ricketts regime and angst over unrealistic expectations over where people think we should be right now. Coming in and just throwing money at the problem in 2009 would have been neither prudent or particularly effective. Ah, gotcha. I agree.

If the new FO was adamant about hiring a new manager, fine. If not, meh. Quade is nowhere near being a dealbreaker.

Actually, it's very feasible given the FA available after this season and 2012. There's nothing wrong with a big money team like the Cubs "throwing cash" at FA. The key is usually throwing it at the right FA instead of usually overpaying for middling talent.

What's the point?

I like the idea that not creating yet another pointless thread is seen as a bad thing by UMFan. How the hell is not creating threads "hiding?" Less is more. Elegant simplicity.

They got 2 injuries in the opening week. And a few more in late May. They didn't have an abnormal amount all at once. Having two young starting pitchers simultaneously go on an extended DL stint during/after their first starts of the year is an abnormal amount at once.

Nah, we'll just wait and see how DivineBovine explains how LeBron scores through osmosis or some [expletive].

http://www.oocities.org/yomamajoemama/mj/mj_2003.jpg That's so depressing.

So you said that LeBron isn't a scorer/shooter earlier in the series, now you're saying he can't get to the basket. How exactly is he managing the 4th best scoring average of all-time with all these offensive faults? Hahahahaahah!

To a degree, but he was never a guy that was mashing hits left and right, and this year he's going to be mostly dealing with bottom of the order hitters who effectively lucked onto first via the walk or a single (and likely are not going to score on double).

I'll take a wild guess and say it has something to do with playing amongst terrible baseball players. Also consider that he has hit leadoff most of the time so that means lots of Koyie Hill, pitcher, and a mix of montanez/colvin/campana/whatever not getting on base in front of him. Oh also baseball is a long season and that pace will certainly change and probably soon. Right. It's indicative of him actually hitting where he should have been all along...and being on a bad team. Kosuke has driven in 4 of the 46 baserunners he's seen (0.087), or slightly more than half of the teams' rate (0.161) which is still pretty bad. This isn't about Kosuke being on a bad team..... it's about him being the worst of the worst. Is it? Given where he's batting in the order how often has he come up in those situations where there was someone in scoring position? He's not hitting for as much power as he has the last two seasons so if most of those baserunners are on 1st he's less likely to drive them in since his OPS seems mostly fueled by singles and walks.

You're all over the place, and as others above have just pointed out the numbers don't stack up to what you're claiming. If the highlight of your evidence on financial matters is Peter Gammons then you've taken a wrong turn somewhere. That's Ricketts playing the PR game. There was absolutely nothing wrong with what they attempted to do in getting money from the state, and not getting the money now isn't something that "blew up in his face." It's what owners and teams try to do all the time, and often they don't get the finds they're seeking on the first go-around. It's not some kind of one-and-done situation, and it's not indicative of them being short on funds. It's simply smart business. The Cubs are in the top 5 in attendance. And you're simply refusing to believe that a bad team on the field holds more impact on ticket sales than the prices. The Cubs having expensive tickets is nothing new. They didn't just suddenly cross a magic threshold of people not being able to afford their tickets. Tickets sales weren't down as much last year because they were only one season removed from 2008. As you get further away from the last winning season and the team gets worse, then sales and attendance will drop. It doesn't take a rocket scientist (or your much-vaunted "many journalists") to figure that out. Basically unless you think the ticket prices will still impact their sales even when the team is good, then no, the ticket prices likely are not a significant reason for the downturn in attendance and sales over the team being really, really bad with no really superstars. Like what? Again, I'm talking about doing something that makes the 2010 or 2011 teams significantly different. Any other GM would have been dealing with the same "wait until the inherited contracts are coming off the books" situation. This isn't a defense of Hendry so much as it it's attempting to get you to realistically look at the situation the Cubs were mired in going into 2010 and 2011. Most of whom are sports analysts commenting on business matters.