Sammy Sofa

Nice.

If they're not going to get motivated to show up for the White Sox series at Wrigley, what's really going to "bring them back to life?" The only thing that would shake it up is a major trade and Ram comes back in full form. Right, but unfortunately they don't have the money for a trade and Aramis is a big question mark.

fixed. It appears as thoug the last of the eternal optimists has thrown in the towel. I love how I'm an "optimist" because I don't wallow in moronic hyperbole every time something goes bad.

If they're not going to get motivated to show up for the White Sox series at Wrigley, what's really going to "bring them back to life?"

Barring a miracle trade AND Aramis being able to contribute by August, I think I've pretty much given up on the idea of this team being able to win the division this season after this series.

Blargh.

Agreed.

This is so boring.

So you expect him tp DP because of one season despite this only being his second all year?

Come the [expletive] on.

Nice throw.

Ugh.

It was a shot up the middle that would have been a single but Floyd managed to get a glove on it and it died for the 2nd baseman. Okay, but it was still a DP. There's two teams on the field. Obviously, but there's a difference between a poorly hit weak shot right to a fielder and a good single that the pitcher basically stabbed his glove at and luckily got a piece of. I know this team is playing bad, but it's not like we have act like everything is the result of poor play on the Cubs' part.

It was a shot up the middle that would have been a single but Floyd managed to get a glove on it and it died for the 2nd baseman. Wait, no. What I meant was "ONLY THE SUPER COBS."

Is Lou even trying anymore? I know he's not the one swinging the bats, but at what point does he get the blame here? If they are 10 out after the Brewers series July 4th weekend, would they consider canning him? I think Hendry is safe until the new owner takes over, even though he shouldn't be. Lou's not getting fired this season even if they end up in last place.

Im not going to lose any sleep over not being able to sign Pedro, but if we cant afford a prorated 5 mil, which at this point is around 3 millish, than were kind of screwed. Those monster contracts have really caught up to us. No, the sale has caught up to the Cubs. Nobody is going to argue that Soriano's contract is a good one, but the financial hangups are due to the sale being in limbo, not the payroll flexibility provided by the owners, whoever that ends up being. While dishing out monster contracts isn't something I'd personally prefer, I certainly can't expect any GM to know years in advance when his team is going to be sold and how that is going to play out.

Hasn't Bradley had the reputation of typically being popular with his teammates regardless of his conflicts elsewhere over the years?

Thank the Lord. Does that mean the stupid Monsters whatever show is also off Comcast?

It bugs me when I hear on sports shows people saying the 2003 list needs to be releeased so it can "end speculation," not just in terms of who is on the list but also to definitively close the door on the "Steroid Era." It's a frustratingly absurd idea to think that four decades of PED use can be dropped on the back of 103 players (and the handful of others caughter after the fact) as if it was relegated to them and not the at least hundreds of other players that also used them.

Further. You're preaching to the choir. I personally think they showed up in baseball in the 60's.

and I think you're wrong. Except for all the Juicers on Tony La Russa's A's teams from the late 80's to early 90s? Steroid era most definitely extends to at least the early 90's, sorry OleMiss, you can be as obstinate as you want to be Yeah, it hits it peak later in the decade, but PED's very likely stretch back into the 70's.

I'm with you. The guy was a freakin' giant the second he came into the league. I'd be surprised if it came out that he roided. Thomas had a very consistent and typical career arc for a traditional power hitter. He never hit over 43 HR's in a season and during the "height" of the steroid era from 1998-2003 he only averaged 26 HR. He did however have a brief power resurgence in 2006 when he hit 39 HR. Nevertheless, he never had an out of character spike in power like most of the known juicers did. Not to mention he was a tight end at Auburn in the mid 80s. He was 6'4" 250 back then. Dude was always a beast. (Disclosure: I have always been a big Frank Thomas fan). Big Frank was practically running around screaming and demanding that people test him. I'd be stunned if it came out he was usuing.

Sammy Sosa was an excellent ball player who is hated on by buffoons who don't appreciate what he did for the Cubs organization. Sammy Sosa was a ball player who's stats were aided by performance enhancing drugs. There are "buffoons" who will still ignore that fact. The fact that he plays for "your team" does not make it acceptable. He is a cheater, plain and simple. Alll the scorn and hateful comments directed toward McGuire and Palmiero and Giambi can now be applied to everyone's favorite RF. I forgot about the corked bat, also. But that was just a batting practice bat that happened to make it into the game supply. Oh that's right, it doesn't apply here because he played for the Cubs. This has never been a "protect a Cub" issue. I'm an "apologist" because I'm a realist: the 90's and early 2000's are called the "steroid era" for a reason. With or without Sammy, going back and trying to figure who used what after the fact is a fool's errand because you cannot possibly catch the vast majority of players who used PED's during that time and before. It unfairly demonizes a select few players and makes them take all the scorn while the hundreds of others that used, and baseball itself, get off relatively or even totally clean. It's the equivalent of trying to go back and find all the players that threw games after the White Sox got caught throwing the series. It's a pointless witch hunt that serves no actual purpose in a game that has had cheating as part of its very identity basically since the day it was created. Baseball's typical M.O. has been tolerate things until it cannot be ignored, they set down rules and move forward. Steroids has been the exception. Instead of saying what's past is past and moving on to crackdown on anyone breaking the rules AFTER they're actually created, people are acting like they can "catch" anything even remotely resembling a significant number of PED users from the last 40 years when that's essentially impossible.

Gee, what a shocker. I'm as ambivalent to this as I have been about every other "revelation" about steroids that has come out after the fact.

My positivity is tempered by this news coming from the gaping source of despair of awfulness that is WC.