Sammy Sofa

Nice double play!

Can't Theriot find a way to translate his freakish hitting power to his doll-like throwing arm?

Even big fat Glendon Rusch pitched a gem or two. Let's relax here.

This game is boring as hell but you guys are a delight.

No, it isn't. There's no psychological hump that automatically stops the Cubs from being good once the postseason starts. That hump exists in the minds of ignorant fans who can't wrap their minds around the concept of sample size and probabilistic anomaly. It's 6 games over 2 years. What makes his ideas even more ridiculous is he's now lumping in the last two seasons with the other 99 years that Cubs didn't win the WS as if they're ALL the result of this "choking attitude" or "failing mindset" or whatever the hell he thinks it is. No doubt Arnold thinks that dropping ARod in the order or benching him in the playoffs would be a good idea since in recent years the limited sample size of his playoff numbers are pretty bad. That he wants to totally upset the Cubs lineup well beyond Lou's usually daily tinkering once the playoffs hit is something so overreactionary and nonsensical I can't wrap my head around it. He also refuses to answer any direct questions about just what his lineup would be and how he would construct these "playoff teams" he keeps going on and on about. Arnold, you have access to all the same player data as everyone else...name the players the Cubs should be signing with Dempster's money. Put together a playoff team. Reconstruct the Cubs' current roster by your standards to be best suited for playoff victory.

Not a reliever, but Ray Durham. I still don't get how he's unsigned. That's not to disagree with anything you said, though. Yeah, he was the glaring exception I was thinking of, but pretty much the only one. His idea of signing relivers as if there are good options waiting out there unsigned and that that's a wise way to spend salary was mostly what I took issue with.

Walking one guy like Manny is just fine. It's a shame what Ryan Dempster did in game 1 though. Repeatedly walking a guy over and over again in the middle of good hitters is not fine. It doesn't. Oh well. Exactly. Doing the exact same thing and expecting different results is even more stupid. I really have to assume you're joking at this point. You honestly think doing the same thing, which has been a huge part of of the Cubs making the playoffs in the first place, is stupid? You actually think that teams should totally mix up their lineups when they hit the playoffs? Weren't you just going on about consistency in an earlier post? Make up your mind. Yeah that's kind of my point. Maybe have a leadoff man in the post season who is a touch more consistent. I'd rather take the "hope" out of it and replace that with "likely". But we Cubs fans sure like our hope, don't we? Regardless of who is htiting leadoff you can only hope they do well in the short first round of the playoffs. Any player can go cold during that time. Granted, Soriano's streaks are more pronounced than a lot of players of his level, but it's ridiculous to act like playoff success hinges on him or anyone else batting leadoff. A team can still win with a cold leadoff hitter. ...and that brings us back to why Hendry isn't a very good GM. Not necessarily. If his recent good starts are any indication then having Dempster will be very valuable again and you won't want to trade him. Besides, you talk like freeing up his money would allow the Cubs to sign bullpen and bench players to help the team. Who are these mythical valuable insigned players (relievers especially) that all the other teams have somehow ignored?

Or it might be the really obvious reason.

Wait, this happened in both wrists at seperate times?

So cut the [expletive] and explain how you put a playoff team together.

The path to the world series in 2009 will include the Dodgers, and Manny will likely be in the lineup. Walk him or be destroyed. And once again, he's not the only dangerous hitter in their lineup. Walk more guys than you have to as often as possible and be destroyed by really stupid baseball. They can't win the first game. How do you stop the give-up afdter that? Winning the 2nd game. Or the 3rd. It either happens or it doesn't. Because he isn't effective in the post season when you need your lead off man to get on? Do you want a guy with a .125 OBP getting the most AB's in the post season? I want the players hitting where they've had the most success over the course of the season. Suddenly changing everything up after 6 months is beyond stupid. Yeah, I do. The Cubs don't compete in the post season with Soriano at #1. Sure they do. Soriano doing poorly doesn't make the whole team do poorly. You just hope he hits his one of his hot streaks at the right time. No. Focus, video and coaching. So common sense stuff that they do anyway. Because he's nowhere worth his contract. I'd use the money saved for bullpen help at the DL. But as you said yourself you're not trading him without paying part of his contract, so you're not saving much money, so it's a moot suggestion to begin with.

FJM would have written a classic demolishing that one.

So the Jordan era Bulls were flukes? The 90's Cowboys? The 96-2003 Yankees were flukes? The 80's 49'ers? Nonsensical strawman. He was talking about how great players are pointlessly branded as failures or flawed due to the extremely limited sample size of postseason performances. You can't construct a team around the idea of "playoff grit." Not when your competition is the Pirates, Astros and Reds. The Cubs played weak teams and got mauled when they faced real competition. You might want to take a look at how the Cubs did against teams above .500 last year. How did they end up with the record they had if they were "mauled" every time they played good teams? Sounds like you are more interested in players than in teams. Another ridiculous strawman. I'm starting to think you're some kind of clever message board character.

About the only thing you've said that I agree with. The Cubs' scouting, on all levels, needs to be improved. I don't understand how you think this fixes anything. Zambrano pitched the first playoff game in 2007. He declared Dempster to pitch the first game and it was so. Where is the inconsistency? He picked his starters and went with them. The Cubs don't play Manny Ramirez every playoff series. It's also not like the Dodgers didn't have other good ideas. It's generally a bad idea to reguarly walk players at will if you're trying to win a game. Teams in the playoffs are there either because they're a really good team or they're a decent team that got hot. You don't want to give them more baserunners. Win the first game. Or the second. Or the third. This is a horrible idea. Why are you going to suddenly pull him out of the spot where he's been most effective over the entire season? You expect him to suddenly take over a new role in the playoffs, and another player to suddenly end up hitting #1 when they haven't been doing so all year? So pep talks? You honestly think they just told the players they could relax on the plate discipline? Or that the players forgot? Yelling at a player doesn't accomplish squat. They're either going to perform or not. Why trade Dempster?

As great as BD is, Tim Robbins as a pitcher is one of the least convincing movie athletes ever.

Yeah, it was an unfortunately horrendous way to start, but I think he can be a really useful part of the bullpen. A trio of Marmol, Guzman and Ascanio on their game would be nasty.

What were you going to sign him to do? Play him in LF, play Sori in RF. I'll live with the defense for the epic production.

Carlos Lee is great. I'll always regret not signing him.

If the Cubs make the playoffs and get swept again, what would your reaction be? "Oh well, it's just a crapshoot, go get 'em next time fellas..."? No, ideally you want to make improvements where possible, but drastic sweeping changes aren't needed given the regular season success this team has had for the last two seasons. 6 games do not outweigh 324. Please, since you've yet to do it, spell out what steps you would take to make this team playoff ready.

No kidding. He's talking about the playoffs like they're radically different from the other 162 games. You can't plan for a player to do well during them so much as you could plan for a player to do well during a single week at any other point during the year. Teams have bad games. Players have bad games. The Cubs have had the misfortune of playing bad games during the last two playoff runs. That's really all there is to it. Changing the players doesn't lower or raise the odds of it happening again.

You can find plenty of stretches during the season where the best Cubs hitters put up "disturbing" numbers or "don't show up at all." Sometimes those stretches fall at the worst possible times. Not too much you can do about it except to keep putting together a team that can win the regular season and then set them loose in the playoffs. You can't train or order a player to do well in the tiny span of games that is the first round. They either do or they don't. So far they haven't, but that has little bearing on how they'll do if they go again this year.

The curve was looking mighty fine on BT.

But he actually hasn't been awful game after game.

And then...? You keep dancing around it, but you're essentially suggesting that the team needs to be rebuilt or that the Cubs could target guys who would be locks to succeed in the uniqueness of the Cubs' postseason situation. Neither is practical or realistic at all.

I would have been overjoyed by that line from him towards the end of his time here. Hope he can keep it up and get back in it.