Sammy Sofa

Someone in the crowd at Wrigley dumping a beer on a player or throwing something at them as that player is about to make or is making a play? Please list some of the "many, many" times this has happened.

So back it up. PS-Aramis has been terrible in the playoffs, too. If you're going to condemn one player's entire season because of their playoff performance, why not another?

Hate to tell you, but he didn't suck last year. he actually did suck last year minus 4 weeks of hot hitting. Ridiculous. If you think he sucked in 2008 he must have sucked in 2007, too.

The reason for that the last two years were the injuries that limited his playing time. I'm not saying he would have matched or exceeded what were obviously career year numbers, but he would have been damn close if he had played the same number of games. In both 2007 and 2008 the value of his playing significantly outweighed what he was paid, as has been shown here numerous times. You're not going to find anyone here that "likes" his contract, but to talk like 2007 and 2008 weren't worth what he was paid and that he fell off the map compared to Washington simply isn't being realistic at all. You drop "regression" like it was unthinkable that he wouldn't repeat his 2006 numbers and it was of course since he came from the Cubs he sucked. He didn't suck the last 2 years. He was one of the very best players on the team and only technically regressed from what was clearly a career year.

It's amazing how many people want this. So why do you think this would be a bad thing? Please give some legit reasons Plenty have been given. Yeah, it's really been beaten into the ground ad nauseum. I'd bet serious money that if Hollandsworth kept up the TV stuff and replaced Bob in the booth people would be clamoring for Todd after a couple crappy season under Brenly.

A very broad summary, but it works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_manager_(baseball)

And once again, you're overstating/estimating the GM's role in those areas, and even if you weren't the Cubs' drafts and farm system have looked much better over the last 2-3 years. Maybe, but that's one area Hendry has been reasonably strong in which means it wouldn't be a bad idea at all to hold onto him until the payroll can be expanded. I'm just saying we need to look at this realistically: if the payroll can't be expanded then replacing Hendry isn't something that needs to happen this offseason if the Cubs fail to make the playoffs. It would just be change for change's sake. If Hendry actually was "a bottom 5 GM" as some here love to repeat, fine, there would be some urgency even with a limited or frozen payroll, but he's not so there really isn't since anyone replacing him would have their hands tied.

If he's open to the bullpen, the K/BB ratio might do him and a team some good. However, I seem to recall Smoltz saying he'd never pitch in relief again... The limited sample size of strike outs did indeed mean he was throwing strikes, but in general they were very hittable strikes. He's essentially looked like a feast or famine guy with those pitches.

Not sure if that was directed at me, but I can say that I understand some of the disgust over the doom & gloom that is pronounced here almost every day. Speaking for myself, I DO get "down" within gamethreads, but mostly it's me being sarcastic/tongue-in-cheek. Sometimes I do a poor job of relating that in my posts. I seriously haven't given up on the season. I DO give up on certain games, because this team has been so frustrating this year. But as far as the season goes, I think any rational poster here would agree that a fully healthy team could still make a serious run at the post-season. And if we can sneak in, anything is possible... Not really directed at you, more in general to those that seemingly bemoan the being a Cubs fan more often than not. Any real fans arent going to give up. Very true, which is why the "why am I a Cubs fan?!?" crying over and over again is such a pet peeve. It either means they're a short term bandwagoner or they're just being annoyingly hysterical and and melodramatic ad nauseum. It gets to a point where it's baffling why some people here claim to be Cubs fans since seemingly all they do is complain about being one.

It's amazing how many people want this. I'm just curious, why is everyone so opposed to this? The guy has won a World Series ring, and as far a I can see, really knows the game and the Cubs personnel. How many times have you heard him suggesting sac bunts in the first inning? He won a WS ring riding Schilling and Johnson all the way... he's not a good manager. I don't really remember him suggesting that in the 1st inning, at least not consistantly. Evens so, I don't agreed with sac bunting in the 1st inning, but if that is the only example of him being a "bad manager", thats not much of an arguement. He's a big time small ball manager. That's just as dumb and as shortsighted as a manger that lives for the longball.

The money issue of the Cubs likely having little to no payroll flexibility this upcoming offseason and through 2010. I'm not talking about that in terms of affording a new GM: I'm talking about in terms of no GM, Hendry or otherwise, having the means to make significant changes. It's arguably redundant to fire Hendry just to fire him when whoever replaces him won't have the means to change anything. Why not wait to fire Hendry until there is more payroll and whoever replaces him can actually do something?

Not sure if that was directed at me, but I can say that I understand some of the disgust over the doom & gloom that is pronounced here almost every day. Speaking for myself, I DO get "down" within gamethreads, but mostly it's me being sarcastic/tongue-in-cheek. Sometimes I do a poor job of relating that in my posts. I seriously haven't given up on the season. I DO give up on certain games, because this team has been so frustrating this year. But as far as the season goes, I think any rational poster here would agree that a fully healthy team could still make a serious run at the post-season. And if we can sneak in, anything is possible... Not really directed at you, more in general to those that seemingly bemoan the being a Cubs fan more often than not.

If only even just a fraction of all the promises to give up were true.

That wouldn't be a stretch. I seem to recall the hamstring injury that moved him from CF to LF occured pretty early that April.

Neither has Soriano. Very true. Has Soriano been 100% healthy since he signed with the Cubs? He was initially in 2007.

At the time? Yes. Both of those years he was worth much more than he was actually paid.

So then explain why hiring someone new when they can do almost nothing (smart) of significance to make changes for the forseeable future makes any sense? They can't do anything. Hendry can't do anything. It's Hendry's team/mess, so what's the point of hiring someone new to do basically nothing? Fire Hendry and hire someone new when the team actually has money to make changes. i would think that if hendry were to be fired and a new GM hired then there would also be some other changes in the front office...not saying for certain, but i think they would bring in a couple of new guys to flank them... also...the GM, i thought, was the headmaster...in charge of the final decisions in relation to acquisitions (both statewide and foreign) and also in charge of final decisions on draft selections, as well as managing the farm system... why in the world would you not someone new doing this very important job? The drafts and the farm system have noticeably improved over the last 3 seasons, so even if the GM was as hands-on in these matters like you describe that rather effectively counters your argument. And you keep dancing around the money issue like it doesn't matter: it doesn't matter how much you shuffle the staff if the money is not there. That's the crux of my suggestion in keeping Hendry through next season: there likely isn't going to be any money for major changes to the team for him or anyone new that would be hired. There's no point in firing Hendry and having to pay him and hiring someone new who is also going to effectively be paid to do nothing. Fire Hendry when the means are there for someone to come in and make changes. Change just for the sake of change in this situation doesn't accomplish squat.

Or they could have let Dempster walk AND traded DeRosa since the latter was actually a smart move given the player's age and cost. You're looking at this through wishful thinking that acts like DeRosa would have automatically been immune to the cold stretches this team has gone through. DeRosa is not a gamechanger along those lines. When this team went cold in the 2 years he was here he typically would as well. Besides, the Cubs would have signed a new pitcher regardless and that's far more important than holding on to someone like DeRosa. If you truly think he was traded just to make money for a pitching contract then he would have been gone no matter what.

Holy God. What a weak arm.

I predict it will be the team with the highest OBP Get outta here.

Yeah, he was [expletive] horrible in 2007 and 2008. Oh, wait.

Neither has Soriano.

So then explain why hiring someone new when they can do almost nothing (smart) of significance to make changes for the forseeable future makes any sense? They can't do anything. Hendry can't do anything. It's Hendry's team/mess, so what's the point of hiring someone new to do basically nothing? Fire Hendry and hire someone new when the team actually has money to make changes.

Which is completely different than he "he traded Derosa so he could resign Dempster and sign Miles." Disagree. There was a number of reasons as to why DeRosa was traded (some of which were and are very smart). To say he was traded simply to resign Dempster and sign Miles simply is not correct. Dempster would have likely been resigned regardless of whether DeRosa was traded or not. Miles was signed BECAUSE DeRosa was traded. DeRosa was not traded so Miles could be signed.

I understand some people have this irrational fear/hatred of Hendry, but do you honestly belive that given the limited money available and the circumstances that if he did trade Zambrano his only move would be to then overpay for someone as historically bad as Aaron Miles? The odds of some whiz kid being hired who can make magic with the very limited resources the Cubs will likely be facing this offseason and next season aren't pretty slim to nil. I'm not at all opposed to Hendry being replaced, but I'd rather it be when someone new coming in would actually have something to work with. Irrational? He traded DeRosa to save $5 million so he could give Dempster $9 million for 4 YEARS and Miles $2.2 million. He brought in a player that can't handle the pressure to play in RF at Wrigley. Don't get me started on Soriano. That's not the reason why DeRosa was traded. Bradley has been very good at home. Soriano is a major reason the Cubs made the playoffs the last two years (albeit with a terrible contract). He needed to save money. He traded DeRosa. This created a need at second base. He signed Miles. So, Miles + $2.5-$3 million for DeRosa. Then he gave that money he saved to Dempster/Bradley. I'm sure there have been other options that would have lifted the Cubs to the playoffs that wouldn't have strapped them for 8 years. Which is completely different than he "he traded Derosa so he could resign Dempster and sign Miles."