Sammy Sofa

18 innings. Yowza.

I couldn't agree more. It's clear Hendry and the Cubs are making real efforts to improve, but it still feels "off." I think that's why I wanted this rumor to be true because such a move would have made this offeseason seem so much more productive and solved so many frustrating problems at once...who's playing where in the OF, where's that OBS we need in front of Lee and Aramis, how can the OF defense be improved, etc.. They really seem just one decent move away from really seeming like something has changed...as it stands now, there's still too many "if's" and "maybe's" and "hopefully's."

I couldn't agree more. It's clear Hendry and the Cubs are making real efforts to improve, but it still feels "off." I think that's why I wanted this rumor to be true because such a move would have made this offeseason seem so much more productive. They really seem just one decent move away from really seeming like something has changed...as it stands now, there's still too many "if's" and "maybe's" and "hopefully's."

Someone send up the Bruce signal! I'm curious as to whether this rumor hopefully has some legs...

In a perfect world, Ichiro. Then either Murton, Barrett or, if he continues to play well, Theriot at #2 with Soriano hitting 5th. Sadly, Soriano doesn't seem able to hack it hitting #5, or really anywhere except at leadoff.

Where was this heard?

I never watch the halftime show...but I'm sure a sit going to watch Prince.

And he never physically unprepared for a game. He's was never lazy. It's going to be interesting. I bet he has a decent shot at having a good year. Decent shot at having a good year? What is defined as a"good" year? He wasn't very good in 2005, and then he took a year off. I think there is an extremely small chance he has a "good" year. Agreed. I think his best shot of getting to 600 is showing he can still hit lefties like he did in 2005 and being platooned or being the first bat off the bench. I think there's little to no chance of him being a starter for anyone except the most hopeless of teams...so in other words, ironically, the Cubs.

Yeah, we all said that last offseason when everyone in the world except for Will said Prior was healthy and would be able to start the season...guess he really does know it all. He has proved himself to be the foremost baseball injury expert. No matter how much we want to think he is wrong, he knows what he is talking about and is right a lot. I agree that Carroll is often right, but I also agree he sometimes comes across as somewhat of a pompous ass.

:pukel: :pukel: :pukel: :pukel: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: Gee...this sounds familiar. Good thing i've always penciled this staff together w/o counting on him...man this is frustrating. I hope Carroll is wrong again. And I'm wondering...how can the be "going well" but Prior not be "throwing with confidence?" I think maybe a chill pill is in order. He's been injured the past couple years, of course his confidence isnt going to be sky-high at first. Its still January, he has another 2 months and nobody has said anything about him not being completely healthy. This isnt anything to panic about. True, but it's understandable to be on edge when it comes to new about Prior. I second the curiosity over what Carroll said...if he's pitching without confidence, how is anything really going well? Is he looking good when he pitches, but maybe he's unwilling or unable to pitch as much as he should/needs to?

Prince is neither man nor beast. We are blessed by his deeming the halftime show worthy of him.

I think "Cubbie (ech) blue" is great, I just don't like the solid mass of blue with nothing else a la the A's green jersey. I wouldn't mind a uniform that has the blue being dominant...just not where one piece is ALL blue. It's looks cheesy and unprofessional. Damn those A's. I would like this version of a blue jersey much more, even though it's still mostly blue...at least it has something else to offset it: http://mlb.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pMLB2-1660932reg.jpg

This just isn't true. A single hole? Maybe. Over eighteen holes? Highly unlikely. Over a tournament? Never. I'm saying that as unlikely as it is, it's far more likely for the "cinderella story" to happen in professional golf than it is in professional tennis. And besides, in golf, nobody can make you lose. In my mind, that automatically puts it below any sport where you have a direct opponent, like tennis, in terms of difficulty.

Preach it! I move that we officially change the name from "alternate blue jerseys" to "ill-fitting, dumpy-looking, won't stay buttoned batting practice atrocities" Seconded. Carlos needs to appreciate the slimming power of pinstripes. Maybe that can be motivation for him to stay in shape...he's banned from picking the blues until he stops letting them make him look so fat by the end of the season.

I'm definitely in the "golf is a hobby, not a sport" philosophy. I respect Tiger and realize it takes a LOT of skill to be as great as he's been, but he's ultimately dominating a professional leisure activity a la fishing or bowling. Tiger can be beaten by literally the man on the street on any given day. It doesn't work out like that nearly as often in tennis, if ever. And all the talk of Federer only dealing with one opponent at a time...well, yeah, he's dealing with him directly across the court in every single play. Unless the other golfers are chipping at Tiger or tackling him on the green, that's a pretty moot comparison. Federer wins by a huge mile.

HERE COMES ONE HALF OF A POWER HOUSE!!!

Hey, where are your buccaneers? Right under my buccenhat!

Preach it!

I at least want them to lose the first game. The last few have been these big wins and that make us feel great and then season goes to utter crap. Start off at the bottom and work up, because the other way ain't working.

The shorts are a monstrosity, but the Cubs' hideous "pajama blues" in the early 80's didn't help things.

I agree it's got a good chance to be an albatross towards the end, and Hendry should have broke the bank for Beltran and not Soriano, but it is impossible to know if he had the green light to do so back then. Plus, with the way Soriano is built and the shape he keeps himself in, he might not be so terrible at 37 and 38. Unfortunately, you can't pick and choose who is going to be the best free agent in a given off season. I believe Hendry when he says that if the Cubs didn't pay Soriano that much money, someone else would have. We see it happen every year. Why should this season be any different? So given that, the choice isn't between Soriano at 8/136 or Soriano at 6/90. The choice is Soriano at 8/136 or not Soriano and who knows who else. Maybe Drew, maybe not. There was no clear overture from his camp that he was willing to play for the Cubs. If not Drew in CF or RF, then who? The drop-off was pretty steep after J.D. So it seems to me that you aren't looking at these contracts from a realistic point of view. Of course Soriano is overpaid and in comparison to other FA contracts signed last year or the year before, it looks ridiculous. But in reality, every market is different and impossible to anticipate. And who knows what a bargain will be next year or 2-3 years down the road. Plus, if you had to choose between Soriano or who knows what else, which in reality may have been the choice Hendry faced, which would you choose? Easy choice for me: use 2008 to rebuild, look to make a run in 2009. Not for one second would I have considered going 8/136 for Alfonso Soriano. This entire spending spree would been postponed for a year. Z would already have been traded for ARod. No way do I give any pitcher a Zito type deal, which is what Z will be getting soon. Neither of Lilly/Marquis would be here, especially not Marquis. IMO Marquis is purely a panic move to save Hendry's job. Aram gave us a hometown discount, so I guess I would have kept him. Pie and EPat would have all of 2008 to show us what they've got, and all the young starting pitchers would be given a chance to step up and claim a rotation slot for 2009. Obviously Pierre should have been traded for a prospect who could have helped the big team in 2009. Here's the problem with that. One of Hendry's "cards" to get Aram to stay was probably telling him how the purse was opened and they were going to be really aggressive this off-season. As Aram probably wanted to be on a team that would compete to win now. I do agree with you on Lilly and Marquis. However I am happy we are in a win now mode. If the price of keeping Aram was handing out all these insane contracts to win now then I would have let Aram walk, as painful as that would have been. He's not Albert Pujols. You don't base a team's entire future around placating Aramis Ramirez. Also, it's very possible Aram might have been persuaded to stay if he believed the Cubs were making a big push in 2009. Why would 2008 or 2009 be any better for free agents? A plentiful crop of "good" free agents rarely happens. Do you want the Cubs to focus mainly on developing players internally?

[hack]Who?[/hack]

Sleeveless jerseys are baseball cancer.

Lopez' defense would be more worrisome if this team's defense was anything even close to a problem in the first place. Defense was the one thing they were able to do right last year.

But what if you dont believe that this happened, much less is possible? It always bothers me when people say something like this. It doesnt matter if you dont believe it, it offends the people that do believe it, which there are 2 billion of. Oh, but it does. I'm going to guess that there are a lot of things you do on a day-to-day basis that would offend a follower of Islam, which has almost 2 billion members as well. Are you going to cut out all of that? Why not? Excuse me for being late to the party, but would someone mind explaining to me what this has to do with the Floyd signing? Floyd is converting to islam and changing his name to "Jesus."