Sammy Sofa

Huh? Lilly made 4 million and Prior made 3.6 last year. How do you figure Prior makes more. He barely even pitched last year? Because Prior is Prior and Lilly is Lilly.

That's just sad. Don't forget Ted Lilly. Pays to stay healthy I guess... Or have been a free agent. Health is more important. You think Lilly would have gotten a bigger deal than Prior if Prior were a FA this year? Even with his injury history, I think Prior would have made more. No way! Do you honestly think so? I don't think he would even pass a physical. I don't think he would have gotten more than Lilly, but I have little to no doubt he'd make more than the Cubs are paying him right now or might be paying him after this little bump.

Bears are on the cover of the latest SI for Kids...what the hell does THAT mean?!?

Z is going to get paid. I'm talking $140M+ paid. I completely believe you, but I don't think we have the space. Why not?

I think people are fussing because they don't know what is wrong with Prior (I honest to god haven't heard anything about his condition in a long time) and aren't confident he'll be ready for spring training. I think his injury history warrants extreme caution and skepticism from fans. Nobody said people can't be skeptical or frustrated over Prior. But there's a huge difference between that and repeated posts and threads by a decent number of posters here bemoaning how he isn't traded or released or how it's outrageous he's paid almost 4 million and generally acting like he's some great plague on this team and seemingly responsible for its woes since 2003.

I hope we fire Lee or at least dock him his pay. That lazy bum. your argument doesn't fit with what he said. lee was hurt for four months last year and played in 158 and 161 games the previous two years as a cub. prior hasn't pitched in 30 starts since '03 (21 starts in '04, 27 starts in '05, 9 starts in '06). derrek lee has been much healthier than mark prior over the course of three seasons. None of these arguments make sense. This is baseball, not ACME Widget Manufacturing, School District 62 or Goldman Sachs. There is a system in place, agreed upon by the owners and players, that severely underpays players in comparison to the open market early in their careers, but then rewards the guys who last with great riches. I guarantee Prior would make more in the open market than he'll make via arbitration this year. All this nonsense about "how could he ask for a raise" is just completely naive. Well put. This past year is the only year where Prior has missed anything close to this amount of time due to anything besides a fluke injury a la Lee's broken wrist. And he barely makes more than Ohman. Boo-freakin'-hoo. I really want to be civil, but the nonstop chicken little-ing of Mark Prior's really not all that horrible and still very young career is beyond tiring at this point. Nobody is saying people can't be frustrated, but infinitely continuing posts acting like he's some huge burden on this team or like the baseball criminal of the century are beyond annoying and juvenile.

I hope we fire Lee or at least dock him his pay. That lazy bum.

This. I don't want to say it, but I sorta feel like people that are fans of teams from all over the place aren't really... as good fans as those that are from the hometown team. I get into this hometown thing really strongly. Conciously thinking about it, I know that people are big fans even when they aren't from a certain place, but it just doesn't feel right to me. I don't want to disrespect anyone, but thats how I feel. EDIT: I don't want people coming in here to defend their fandom, because I know you guys are true fans. But it still don't feel right. Not everyone lives in the same area their whole life, and not everyone has the same amount of interest/passion for different sports. That's kind of the point of my posts...I've moved every 2-3 years of my life, yet the idea of not rooting for my hometown team seems bizarre. If anything, living elsewhere so much and moving so often has solidified my love and loyalty to the teams that play where I'm from.

This. I don't want to say it, but I sorta feel like people that are fans of teams from all over the place aren't really... as good fans as those that are from the hometown team. I get into this hometown thing really strongly. Conciously thinking about it, I know that people are big fans even when they aren't from a certain place, but it just doesn't feel right to me. I don't want to disrespect anyone, but thats how I feel. EDIT: I don't want people coming in here to defend their fandom, because I know you guys are true fans. But it still don't feel right. Yeah, same here. I'm really not saying people like that can't be fans...just from my perspective, if I'm not from there, I really don't see the point. I was born outside of Chicago, but I've only lived there about 2 years of my life. I've spent more time living in places like Panama or Thailand than back in Illinois, yet I can't imagine seeing anything besides the Chicago area as home and rooting for teams anywhere else outside of the state. A big part of that I'm sure is having parents who were both Chicago fans all the way, especially my dad. I've lived around the DC area for a total of a about a decade over various points in my life, yet it never even occured to me, not even when I was little kid, to root for the Redskins or the Bullets (who I always assumed, when I was wee, were just ripping of the Bulls with their name). Sure, I've lived here a lot, but I'm not FROM here. I don't see myself as having a personal stake somewhere just because I've there compared to somewhere that I'm actually from...if that makes any sense.

Alexander Haig.

Or Ohman. Why would we want to trade the less expensive, more effective one? Especially when considering the fact that Eyre's market value is well above his actual value, trading Ohman instead of Eyre would most likely be foolhardy. Well, the question is which player the other teams would prefer. Maybe Eryre doesn't tickle their fancy, but Ohman does. In that case, you trade Ohman without blinking an eye, if it involves a player that can really help the team. Now while I see that a loogy is intregal part of the bullpen, but what kind of player do you expect to recieve for a loogy? I know they are hard to come by, and IMO, the Cubs have four guys who would qualify as potential loogy (Rapada/Cotts/Ohman/Eyre), but even for Ohman, you're prolly not going to get anything more then a decent bench player (ala Mark Sweeney caliber) or a couple of solid B prospect. So, if it came down to it, I would rather keep three lefties in the pen (with Cotts as the long man/emergency starter) with the possibility of moving either Eyre/Ohman at the deadline this yr, or after the 07 season. I think the ideal trade options people are talking here that would be most effective would packagae a guy like Ohman or Eyre with other players and not have them be the centerpiece or only player the Cubs were giving up.

I would be shocked if they gave Prior more than 1 year at this point. There's no reason to offer it, unless he's willing to take peanuts in the 2nd year. I could see him getting a 2nd year, but that's it.

Hey, I'm still not optimistic about the Bears winning. I had to be convinced they won last week even after Gould's kick was good. The Saints are far from perfect and I love the Bears, but it's the playoffs...the Bears have a ton of really glaring flaws that can potentially bite them in their behinds hard this time of year. I'm not saying the Saints can cruise, but they don't have the same QB issues and their defense hasn't plummeted from superhumanly awesome to "thank God for this schedule/home field advantage!" over the course of the season.

If they can get Prior in a similar "pay back the fans/team" deal a la Wood (though I obviously expect him to get more money and more than one year), I'd be happy. Hendry has actually drawn up some pretty good re-signing deals for the players we already have so far. Z, however, should get the moon. Literally.

OMC, it's wrong someone called you out like that, but jeez, can we put away the cross-building kit?

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/cs-0701160133jan16,1,6744403.story?coll=cs-football-print Preach on, Mr. President!* *Hey, as long as he's making bold declarations, I want in!

I'm not saying this to attack anyone or slight anyone but I am absolutely baffled by people who have favorite teams in different sports all over the country. It's not like I'm saying it's not possible...I've just never had anything besides that hometown mentality. Even with me moving away from Chicago very young, I could never see myself rooting for teams anywhere else, especially in multiple cities, and I've lived somewhere different pretty much every 3rd year of my life until now (I'm 27). I understand the varied regions of college fandom despite my college sports inertest being next to nil...I don't know, something about being a fan of the Cubs and then, say, the Spurs and then the Chargers and then the whatever just seems so weird. It probably has a lot to do with me being a "3rd culture kid" and growing up pretty much anywhere (often overseas) except where I was born. Most of my American friends up until high school grew up the same way. Most of us latched onto a single city or state were born in or lived in early as "our place" and then glommed onto the teams from that area.

The flag was out so early, that I didn't get myself very excited about the runback. I didn't see the flag, so I was way too excited about a non-touchdown. I know Reggie Bush brings the sxcitement, but to me, Devin Hester has been "The Rookie" in terms of excitement all yr. He has done things as a punt returner that nobody has EVER done before. And I hope Lovie puts in some trick plays that uses Hester speed (reverses, etc). I really hope the Bears use Hester in the way the Steelers used Randel-El (who is glad the Bears DIDN'T say Randel-El, NOW?). I mean, using Hester more on offense against the Saints, would totally confused the Saints, and they would have to account for Hester, as the Bears will with Bush. I think Hester could totally impact the offensive side of ball, if Lovie choose to. Hester is awesome, but he might want to master that tricky "catching the ball consistently" thing before they start getting too complicated with him.

I was driving back home to DC from Florida with the family after getting home from a week-long cruise today, so we stopped at some Godforsaken Applebee's in the middle of Nowhereville, SC to watch the 2nd half after a failing battle with AM radio. Thank you, Jeebus.

Yeah I read that in the Tribune too. Seems like they're preparing harder than they have in over a month. Hopefully it pays off. And it's not too little too late. *Crosses fingers...and toes...and other things*

[dripping sarcasm]I hope he gets his playing time. I never get tired of seeing players make the brilliant decision of sliding headfirst into 1B.[/dripping sarcasm]

I'm really glad the Cubs don't cave and do that. It's right up there with Wrigley not having a video screen for me. Every time I go to a game where they're blasting "theme music," it suddenly feels less like baseball and more like wrestling. Pass.

That's probably because you didn't see any of their dominating performances. I saw them dismantle the Seahawks, Bills, and Niners first hand so I know what their ceiling is. If they're on, no team in the NFC is within a touchdown of them. They have not, however, been "dominant" in a good 2 months. We're clearly not seeing the same team we saw clearing teams aside in the first 5 weeks. I don't think it's hopeless, but I'm pretty sure any playoff wins are going to be some victories they need to fight REALLY hard for.

Now that hurts. Why do I feel like the guy in the GEICO commercial? Well, I'll be 50 in April, and the guy who asked about OPS is in his late 60s. The guy that said I was "carrying on" about on-base percentage claimed to be a Cubs fan for 60 years. "He was wearing a onion on his belt, which was the style at the time..."

Man, how much did he pay the creators of that game? Well played, Mets...stealing away our chance at a World Series yet again!