Sammy Sofa

Pretty close to a bad year, yes. If you compare his .254, 11 HR, and 54 RBI with players that are getting paid as much as he is ($12 mil/yr), especially at the outfield position, Kosuke did not play up to par. 8th best OPS for a CF in all of baseball last year. He generally compared pretty favorably to other CF in the NL last year. Is he overpaid? Sure, but the amount of money one makes doesn't decide whether a player is productive or not, and Fukudome was a productive CF in 2009.

Other than the fact that Ricketts has said he was expanding the player development and scouting budgets. That's the main thing that I'm worried about right now. Just because they didn't do it this year doesn't mean they never will. They have a huge initial investment they need to be able to move on from. It just seems really presumptuous for people to already be seriously worrying about their ownership this early in the game. Very true. I'm just your typical pessimistic Cub fan though, waiting to find the first thing to worry about. Hopefully you're right and this isn't an indication of future things to come. Yeah, for all I know the Ricketts will end up being terrible owners, but for now I'm wiling to wait it out.

Other than the fact that Ricketts has said he was expanding the player development and scouting budgets. That's the main thing that I'm worried about right now. Just because they didn't do it this year doesn't mean they never will. They have a huge initial investment they need to be able to move on from. It just seems really presumptuous for people to already be seriously worrying about their ownership this early in the game.

I'm not surprised at all at spending down across the board this year. I thought it was to be expected.

How could this possibly make you or anyone else long for the Tribune over the Ricketts this early into the Ricketts' ownership? Considering this year's draft budget is likely around $4m (which is bad), I'm beginning to wonder. You're kidding, right?

How could this possibly make you or anyone else long for the Tribune over the Ricketts this early into the Ricketts' ownership?

This is a great bit you've got going here.

Ugh, what an idiot. Real smart decision to take yourself out of the game when your team has just played 13 innings the day before. Not that Z would have necessarily lasted too long with the way he was pitching, but what a stupid decision on so many levels.

And played CF, no? For most of it, yeah.

Out of curiosity, of those of you who seem "anti-Fukudome" (a broad term, but I have no idea how else to sum it up), do you look at Fukudome's 2009 as being a bad year? He basically performed excellently 4 out of 6 months. Yeah, those other 2 months were really bad, but it seems difficult to dismiss that season when he produced far more than he didn't.

Hes one of those Augie Ojeda/Craig Counsell/Aaron Miles/Jeff Keppinger types who the Cubs can never get out. Great point. His career .264 .301 .342 .642 line in 436 PA against the Cubs show that he's a force to be reckoned with. Keppinger: .252 .299 .273 .571 in 155 PA. Augie: .243 .333 .243 .577 in 43 PA. Counsell is the only one that comes even remotely close to being a guy they can "never get out", and that's with a line of .256 .362 .379 .740 in 356 PA, so yeah, these guys all suck and nowhere near being "Cub killers." Hyperbole hy·per·bo·le  1. obvious and intentional exaggeration. I'm sure he understood that Craig Counsell doesn't have a .1000 batting average lifetime against the Cubs. So what. He claimed they can never get them out, when in fact they usually get them out. If they had a .400 OBP his claim would make some sense. But the actual numbers don't come close to supporting the claim, so there's no reason to make it. Exactly. It's just a completely pointless thing to say since it has no basis in reality. If it was just hyperbole you'd think there'd at least be something to base it on. It makes sense when someone says someone like Biggio was a pest, but trying to claim any of these guys were or are is just bizarre. I have no idea what the hell anyone is remembering if they think Jack Wilson vs. the Cubs and don't remember a stretch of terrible, terrible baseball. It just comes across as more of that "oh, woe is the Cubs fan" self-pitying [expletive].

Unfortunately for you 2009 wasn't the only summer he has played. And his numbers June 2009 were brutal. Looking at his three year splits his June/July/August OPS numbers were .654/.808/.729 and his Sept .603. He clearly wears out and becomes less productive as the year progresses. We'd have to wait and see what he'd end up posting when this season is done to have better idea of how he's trending. While he almost steadily trended downwards in 2008 he bucked that trend the next year and posted two excellent months after a bad June. So far, yes, we're seeing a trend that once he hits June he slumps, but it remains to be seen whether he rebounds like he did last year or has another 2008. It's more likely that we see something similar to last year than 2008. Your intentionally broad final statement simply isn't accurate given the data we have so far. He had one year where he did what you said, but then the next he posted two months later in the year arguably better than the much vaunted first two months people talk about with bated breath. Trading Fukudome without having to pick up too much of his salary and/or getting a decent return is more important than playing Colvin right now. You might as well flush those outcomes down the toilet if you effectively bench Fukudome for Colvin.

We have already. Looking at those 3 months for Fukudome in 2009 doesn't even come close to showing that he sucks in the summer.

Hes one of those Augie Ojeda/Craig Counsell/Aaron Miles/Jeff Keppinger types who the Cubs can never get out. Great point. His career .264 .301 .342 .642 line in 436 PA against the Cubs show that he's a force to be reckoned with. Keppinger: .252 .299 .273 .571 in 155 PA. Augie: .243 .333 .243 .577 in 43 PA. Counsell is the only one that comes even remotely close to being a guy they can "never get out", and that's with a line of .256 .362 .379 .740 in 356 PA, so yeah, these guys all suck and nowhere near being "Cub killers." But the reason people think of them as "Cub killers" is because they remember the two or three big hits they got against the Cubs. They don't remember the multitude out of outs they have all made against the Cubs. Right, and there's a gigantic difference between that and being someone that the Cubs can "never get out" or have trouble facing.

Hes one of those Augie Ojeda/Craig Counsell/Aaron Miles/Jeff Keppinger types who the Cubs can never get out. Great point. His career .264 .301 .342 .642 line in 436 PA against the Cubs show that he's a force to be reckoned with. Keppinger: .252 .299 .273 .571 in 155 PA. Augie: .243 .333 .243 .577 in 43 PA. Counsell is the only one that comes even remotely close to being a guy they can "never get out", and that's with a line of .256 .362 .379 .740 in 356 PA, so yeah, these guys all suck and nowhere near being "Cub killers."

Hey, no errors!

[expletive], was that Ray Boy's 3rd hit of the day?

WELCOME TO THE FUKUDOME.

Is it just me, or has this baffling situation occurred rather frequently? Too often.

Sah-weet.

So despite still having 2 other arms in the bullpen Lou is going to go with Howry no matter what.

Wait, what? Lou PH's for Hill...and he uses Soriano even though Soto is going to have come in anyways? GUH?!?!

Go go Grabow, watch him go go go.

Very nice inning for Grabow.

Wait, is Colvin hitting clean up?