Sammy Sofa

It's not that simple. Yes, I think the Cubs can contend in 2010. I think they can contend despite having a rather underwhelming because they are in a bad division. I think that's a terrible reason to cling to a player like Theriot IF (and that "if" is a huge caveat because maybe the demand for him simply isn't there) they can move him in a good deal that potentially helps the club in the long run. I don't want them to move Theriot just for the sake of moving him. My parts of this discussion have been with the idea that I think they should move him only if they can get a good return on him and teams are actually looking to pick him up while he's still cheap and before he gets too old. If the interest isn't there then you're right, there's no reason to force the issue. I don't think anyone on the 25-man should be "safe" this season regardless of their relative ability to contend simply because they're in a bad division. If the deadline is approaching and they're more than 5 games out then I think they need to seriously look at who they can move and who maybe can be talked into waving their NTC. 5 games might not be much in the grand scheme of things, but that's pretty sorry given how much money is sunk into this team and how craptacular this division is. Desperately holding onto a player like Theriot and negating his ever-shrinking window of value in that kind of scenario doesn't strike me as being in the club's best interests when it comes to the big picture.

Bron Bron is just fun to watch.

I don't think anyone's determined anything. It's simply one suggestion. I've been saying "platoon" while thinking more in the sense that the Cubs would likely have both of them up since they need a SS backup.

How bad a team where all of their best players have been hurt can be.

Oh no. This must stay forever.

I simply disagree with this. Trading Theriot is not the makings of a fire sale or a "sad sack" team. I understand that the Cubs are presenting the idea that they are a "win now" team, but the reality is that they're not a win now team. They're a "maybe we'll win if our old team doesn't have another off-year or gets hit with injuries and if this crappy division stays healthy." The reality is that the Cubs are not in any kind of situation where they NEED to keep Theriot because of the small margin of wins he might give them vs. a Barney/Blanco platoon. I agree, it would be helpful if Theriot could be part of a package that got the Cubs a player that could impact them since there is a a decent chance they could contend despite their halfassed construction, but it is in no way a necessity that trading Theriot would have to mean a return of a player who could be plugged into the team right away. The Cubs are at a crossroads with the contracts that are coming up this year and the next and I would not mind at all if Ricketts' rhetoric about building for the future meant that players like Theriot were moved for prospects.

Whoa. Just to clarify, I'm not saying "the season is over before it's begun," nor do I think that if the team opted to trade Theriot it would necessarily indicate that mentality since Theriot, quite frankly, is not making or breaking this team. I would not be opposed at all to them trading Theriot sooner than later since getting a better return on him hinges more on sooner since as he gets older and more expensive his trade value will plummet...though I understand also why the Cubs would opt to not trade him at this point (popularity with fans, useful in his limited capacities, relatively cheap for the time being, SS prospects not ready yet). That said, I do not think something along the lines of a Barney/Blanco platoon at SS is "giving up on the team."

You mean windmill? I enjoy that show. Different Thursday night NBC show.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f19/TheMojoPin/191914.jpg It's all I'll ever need.

IT'S A PINWHEEL!!!

Given Urbina's habits of attempting to kill people with both fire and machetes, I don't think you can automatically jump to the conclusion that a fight involving him is a case of someone "walking all over the manager" so much as it's "hey, that crazy guy who wants to murder people is getting into fights."

Right. I'm just nitpicking saying that they have a small market when it's actually a case of them so far not being able to capitalize on their team's decent-sized market, which is definitely different than Pittsburgh's situation (in terms of market size).

NY, LA, Chicago, Philly, Houston, Atlanta, Dallas and maybe Miami probably rank higher. That would still make it a pretty big market.

DC is a "small market" I guess in the sense that they're not drawing the numbers they could or want to be pulling, but the area itself is a pretty decent sized market. I don't know how it translates over to baseball, but I believe with radio and TV it's usually ranked somewhere around 6th or 7th in the country, or at least it was.

If it could double as a Jumbotron I'd like to marry it.

Hopefully they end up just buying the property.

It is when the new hideous ad space provides money that can be spent on the team.

Sexy Rexy signed a 1-year deal with Washington.

Good. If it brings more money to the team and blocks out the hideous ad roof I'm all for it.

So then why do you keep bringing up the idea of him teaching guys how to bunt?

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

There is a reason that the stats for his August posted here did NOT include HRs, RBI and RISP. Go look that up! The man had 40 HRs in July and ended with 49. You like 9 HRs in 2 and a 1/2 months from your franchise multi gazillion $ slugger? He hit worse after he got his "protection" from Holiday. He hit 13 home runs after July. He also only hit 4 in July, whereas he hit 7 in August. July was actually his "worst" month last year (Only a .900 OPS, NO!!!!!!) by far, yet you keep insisting like he "fell off" AFTER that month. He also had more hits, doubles and RBI's in August than in July.

Most people kept right on "hating on" him because he cost way too damn much. The value of a 5th starter is pretty quickly negated when they're vastly overpaid.

You're mixing up optimism with the hand of death.

I think we have to wait and see. Today was definitely encouraging, but I think it's overstating things to lump his start prior to this latest one in as looking as good. Yeah, it was a drastic improvement to that disaster of a first start, but he still got pretty lucky. I don't think any of us can really say what this last start potentially means at this point.