Sammy Sofa

Terrible decision, Pena.

Coleman, you 'tard.

NO, I DON'T WANNA.

http://www.pollsb.com/photos/50/47005-code_red.jpg BAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRFFFFFF. And God bless this cavern of a ballpark.

Yes, half of his salary is deferred to 2012. BR says it's to be paid "1/2012."

Whoops. I jinxed it.

All 3 Cubs hits are doubles? I'll take it. Coleman looking good so far.

Eh, they split it between this year and the next, so it works for me. I have no problem with Hendry taking 1 or 2-year shots on a guy like Pena as a placeholder. I mean, it's not like the Cubs would have an extra $5 million (or however it's specifically split) to spend next year if they didn't spend it on Pena this year. And look, they sign a guy like that for a reason: the hope that he rebounds a little and manages to hit a ton of home runs. There's people here that wouldn't mind if the Cubs had signed someone who was complete garbage for next to nothing to man 1B with the idea of just killing time until Pujols or Fielder takes over in 2012, but there's zero chance that a team trying to sell tickets is going to do such a thing. It was pretty much a given they were going to go for a name even just for 1 year, and that's pretty much a lock to cost between $6-10 million for that season.

He did dumpster dive for 1B.

Nice.

Well, I think the financial restraints have dictated a lot of that.

Any recent updates on Cashner or Wells? Are either close to starting rehab assignments?

First test he ever got a positive score on. YOU'RE WELCOME, SSR.

The sad reality is that while Hendry has often been bad, he's been "averagely bad." In short, most GM's are adequate at best (with scattered moments of success) at their job. Again, this isn't an argument to keep him, but it's should be readily apparent why he still has his job. The Cubs simply have not been a continual failure under his tenure (look at this from a technical/business standpoint and not the "ANYTHING LESS THAN A WS IS A FAILURE"-type of mentality) and given that you have new owners still getting their feet back under them in terms of the money that can be invested in the team it makes sense that they'd be apprehensive to overhaul the front office, especially when Hendry is generally well-regarded amongst "baseball people." I think that last part is key for a number of reasons, namely in explaining why the new owners would want to stick with him him for the time being and why I'm not optimistic that his replacement will likely be much better.

I don't think so, because that's just the nature of sports fans. The bottom line is that most people look at it as something they enjoy, whether its because their team is good or they like griping about them when they suck or whatever, but it's ultimately something that they enjoy relatively casually peppered with periodic insane emotional outbursts. If their team is good, it's good and if it's bad it's bad and they have only a few passing ideas/theories as to why that is, and they're usually wrong. I really don't think the Ricketts need to see that having a bad team consistently is going to drive their profits down; it's just common sense. Again, I think people need to have more of a wait and see attitude given how new the ownership still is. It's going to take at least a couple more years to "fix" things based on what FA are available, what contracts are coming off the books and as well as seeing as how this latest group of promising young players plays out.

Eh, I'm still willing to give the Ricketts time to right the ship. They've had the team for a very short while, and while I've wanted Hendry gone since '05 I can see why they didn't just rush in and clean house when they took over. I also understand why the team was largely in a holding pattern from 2010 to 2011: the FA market was not very impressive at all and the Cubs are, hopefully, in the process of seeing several young players break out. Yeah, I would have loved to have landed Gonzalez, but I really don't know if the Cubs could have swung a deal similar to what the Red Sox offered. I kind of assume that getting a really promising corner IF prospect was critical to what the Padres wanted, and the Cubs really have nobody to offer along those line besides Vitters, and personally I think someone like Rizzo would be much more appealing from that standpoint. I just don't see how they could have landed Gonzalez without a deal similar to what it took to get Garza plus Castro. I also really wanted the Cubs to get Dunn, but I'm willing to wait and see if the Cubs can land Fielder or Pujols. If they can do that (and there's no reason they shouldn't also be eying Kemp for 2013 if the Dodgers' financial woes prevent them from re-signing him) while giving guys like Vitters and Brett Jackson a really shot and not the Patterson/Pie treatment and keep making more smart signings like Byrd and Pena (yeah, I'll still stick by both right now) it'll go a long way to restoring my faith in this team. I was and am fully prepared to give the Ricketts a good 4-5 years of grace when it comes to "fixing" the team given the mess they took over.

That"s what kills me. I've never seen someone wearing a "Busch Stadium" shirt. You brought up the average fan angle before. Are we more dedicated fans just supposed to acquiesce? People are going to do what they want. If you don't want to support the product on the field then don't. Personally, I haven't been to a game since April of '09 despite living 10 minutes away from Wrigley because of my frustration with the team. I also can't think of any Cubs merchandise I've bought in that time, either. I'm not saying this to brag or boast; it's simply been my response to an underwhelming team. I'm not going to fault people who are spending their money on Cubs' gear and tickets and so on. I also can't really fault the Cubs organization for courting/"exploiting" casual fans of the Cubs/Wrigley; yeah, there's the competitive aspect, but it's also a business. If they've found an avenue that enables them to make money without having an elite team I can't really fault them for generally following that path. I don't agree with it and it frustrates me and I'll respond by closing my wallet to them, but that's just me.

Yes, we should...but we don't. And that's not going to turn around on a dime. Yeah, I agree, I'd like to see a turnover when it comes to Hendry and co. (and it should have happened already), but even when it does there's an excellent chance that things don't get better or even get worse. And the ticket prices are indicative of demand for Wrigley, not the Cubs.

"Old" doesn't automatically equal "premier." A premier team wouldn't have been so notoriously bad and cheap for 60+ years.

No. He used two hands.

Yeah, but this is a crappy team following up a crappy season and it's the weekend. That's a team we had high hopes for coming off of an awesome season.

Holy [expletive]; Soriano's HR was an absolute monster. Nice to see Garza keep on mowing them down.

Most of the people showing up to get drunk are probably planning on spending at least, what, $40? You can already usually get 6 beers out of that. If someone wants to pound back a dozen, hey, more power to 'em.

I don't know why people think this is 10 cent beer night all over again. Though with inflation, hey, maybe it is.

Your expectations seem a tad unrealistic.