Sammy Sofa

If the Cubs actually target a reliever in a trade using players like Pie, Cuban buying this team couldn't possibly come any faster.

Smoltz started pitching in relief in 2001. Bobby Cox did the smart thing by letting him prove himself in middle relief and then close. For the first two months: 17-Games, 18.1-Innings, 1 Earned Run, 3-Saves, 0-Blown Saves and 5-Holds Sham Closer 13-Games, 14-Innings, 5.15 ERA, 4-Saves, 3-Blown Saves and 0-Holds Wood also pitched middle relief before becoming a closer.

Yes, one of the most valuable players the Cubs had last year played "horribly" for most of it. Delusional.

It's his first game back from the DL. And are you really talking like the Cubs lost because of Soriano?

It's amazing that you seem to be implying that 2 appearances negate or equal an entire month's worth of pitching.

I honestly cant remember my last Cubs game that I wasn't hammered. I rarely get drunk when I go to the games these days, and actually don't drink at all for a lot of them.

I was at the game, and it was going so fast I got the drunkest I've been at a Cubs game for years. I didn't plan to...I just kept remembering the 7th inning cutoff and ended up racing and forgetting I had only had a bowl of cereal to eat/drink for the whole day. Now I'm in my 3 hour evening computer class until 9 PM...I managed to get food and water after the game, but this is agony. AH-GO-KNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

For a "speedy guy," Theriot seems slow as hell.

Wow, now it's not supposed to rain until tonight...score! I'm off to the game...

I'd be doing the Fred Sanford chest clutch if I saw a Cubs prospect do that. Fixed.

Also at the risk of the same trap, I hope Cedeno keeps on making a Greene trade look less and less necessary.

Meph is banned. You've been talking to me. Of course, given your demonstrated attention span thus far, this comes as no surprise. In no way can a healthy Soriano not be considered a solid leadoff hitter. No, he doesn't fullfill the ideals of a certain type of leadoff hitter, but his obvious skills more than make up for it. The only way you can say he's not "solid" is if over a season he doesn't produce as a run maker. You can't say that now and be serious. You should...we have much better hitters on this team besides Reed Johnson. There's a good chance his split numbers will show up again and he'll be mediocre or worse against righties. And check the leadoff OBP for the Cubs since Soriano went down. Yeah, it's nuts "catering" to a guy that's shown he can hit 30+ HR's and 70-90 RBI's out of that slot. How stupid of Lou to tolerate such a performance. Ridiculous argument. Nobody thought it was terriby likely he was going to have another 40+ HR year. What has been expected, and wisely so, is that he'll still have 30+ HR seasons. Talking like he's suddenly useless because he probably won't hit 40 HR's or more is laughable. I didn't say aything about his stealing in this thread, but I will now...I don't give a damn if he never steals another base. I don't care if I never say ANY Cub ever steal another base. It's a largely outdated aspect of the game that in no way is required or necessary of anyone in the lineup. So your solution to deal with Soriano is to structure the lineup so that the two biggers threats in the lineup see less AB's. Brilliant. OBP ISN'T EVERYTHING. Good Lord...it's an incredibly valuable stat, but stop acting like anyone who has less than a .350 OBP is automatically a detriment to the team. The only reality-based thing you've ever posted here. Congratulations.

Wood pitched on Sunday. Marmol hadn't pitched since Friday. Thanks. That makes much more sense and makes me much less worried.

I like giving Wuertz some stretch work, but when was the last time Wood pitched? Unless I missed him, hasn't it been as long as Marmol (before he pitched tonight)?

Of course, I have tickets for tomorrow. It better not rain, and they better not have used up all of their dominance today. Insanity.

Are you asking me or wrigley23? If you're asking me, aren't the Burrell numbers off from his career numbers? Or is this strictly a hypothetical season comparison? I'd probably go with Dunn based on career numbers and that he's younger.

It's highly unlikely Lieber would last most of the season without ending up on the DL if you try and stretch him out as a starter, and then you have him able to do nothing. The best bet for bumping up the starters is to either work in someone in-house like Marshall or Gallagher to replace Marquis or trading for someone to replace Marquis. Lilly already seems to be working out of his craptacular start and there's little reason to assume Hill won't do the same...and in the worst case scenario that he can't, again, Marshall or Gallagher. Marquis is the only one right now they should be looking to replace in the starting rotation ASAP.

Fixed.

Any team can always use more power. It's asinine to say otherwise. Greene would replace Theriot and Cedeno. Likely no great loss there at all as that Greene's projected numbers in terms of scoring runs well outproduces anything they would probably accomplish. Soriano is also likely not kicking out anyone. Johnson is obviously going to still get a ton of playing time in CF. So who is the OBP machine being removed from the lineup? Lee, Aramis, DeRosa, Soto and Fukudome are all obviously staying in the lineup. You're full of it on this one, and basically making up phantom players that don't exist. To top it off, in an ideal lineup, Fukudome is batting 2nd with Green batting 5th or 6th. He wouldn't be setting tables...he'd be here to clean them off. He'd be batting behind the OBP guys to help bring them home. How is that a bad thing? Ah, so Dunn's HR's count more because he takes more walks. Gotcha. That makes complete and total sense. This team does not need Soriano? Yeah, the guy that hits 30+ HR's a year, 40 doubles and 70-100 RBI's with around a .900 OPS is "not needed." You may not want him hitting leadoff, but to act like he's somehow hurting the team when he's playing healthy is one of the most absurd things I've ever seen posted here. You're like the logic that makes OBP a smart thing run amuck into some ridiculous extreme where you think HR's, run, RBI's and hits accomplished by someone with a sub .350 OBP somehow don't count or "hurt the team." Then, to top it off, you cling to OBP, but then constantly toss out batting average like it actually proves anything. And you somehow think strikeouts are signifiantly "worse" outs than anything else. Incredible. Listen to yourself. If a productive Soriano is a "problem," I wish this team had a lot more problems.

Cuban is gonna be there? These bums better powder up and show off the goods.

If you think a QB here would succeed with the wreck of a line the team had, go right ahead. I'll be waiting for you in reality.

It makes plenty of sense. Both have shown they can have success if they have even halfway decent protection. With as weak and porous as the Bears line was, plugging almost any QB would lead to them facing the same damn glaring weakness. Shore up the line, strengthen the running game and Orton and especially Rex can succeed.

NOW I DEMAND THEM. And a whole chicken.

CAUTION: Small (though not quite as small) 56 PA?

Probably because the Padres aren't stupid.