Sammy Sofa

Heh, they'll need to be sure to have Zambrano pitch when Blanco starts.

I'll always be a Kerry Wood fan. You just can't help but pull for the guy. Agreed. The bolded part is especially cool. Between that and the steep hometown discount Aramis took to resign, it's cool to see players like that on the team showing that they love playing in Chicago and for these fans. I can only hope Big Z is thinking the same thing...

Who would you suggest the Cubs attempt to get? Howry has had success as a closer and is projected to do so again if put into that role. Wuertz has been very impressive and ideally could also slide in there. Theoretically, Wood could be one of the most dominant closers of all time. It's even thought by quite a few that Dempster could succeed there again if used on a more regular, less Dusty-esque schedule. The Cubs have a ton of very good closing options, at least compared to most other teams. Who are you possibly suggesting the Cubs could get who is actually available and won't cost an arm and a leg and the rest of some good prospects to pick up? It's ludicrous to spend that much, money or trade-wise, on a spot on the team that ideally is beyond locked up by 4 different players.

Attn: Bear's defense Re: Stopping opposing teams' 3rd down conversions Message Body: Please start doing that again. Thanks.

I'm so glad I was wrong about how I thought this game would go.

fine. but none of that indicates that hill is hendry's pet or that he favors him or that he has a "thing" for him. t also doesn't indicate he's out to get him or in the doghouse or Lord knows what other conspiracy theory of the week is being tossed out in the great "Cubs vs. Rich Hill" battle. i never said the cubs hate him or are out to get him. nothing like that at all. someone said that hendry has a "thing" for hill, and i said i didn't think he did. that's all i've said about it. my original contention was that if everybody was healthy, hill could get pushed out of the rotation. I think the only way that happens is if he pitches bad to worse. If anyone is on the short end of the rotation no matter what, it's Miller. If he's pitching well enough and there's no starting room, it's likely he's moved for maximum impact. If Hill pitches anything like he did at the end of last year, they're finding room for him. They can't possibly be THAT dumb.

fine. but none of that indicates that hill is hendry's pet or that he favors him or that he has a "thing" for him. t also doesn't indicate he's out to get him or in the doghouse or Lord knows what other conspiracy theory of the week is being tossed out in the great "Cubs vs. Rich Hill" battle. I highly doubt there wasn't anyone who wasn't high on Hill when his minor league numbers were blazing...but that was inevitably going to be cooled when he repeatedly came to the bigs and sucked big time. We simply witnessed the timeline that, in my opinion, should be expected with the way things played out. Hill got multiple shots...maybe not for as long as he should have, maybe mercifully short since he hadn't "figured it out" yet...and he tanked them hideously until the second half of last year. He got his chances and they finally paid off. I don't understand the big deal as to whether or not he's a "favorite" or whatever.

If the Bears get a bye they won't even play in the 1st round. Fine, the 2nd round, which would still be the 1st round for them to play in. I just don't see this at all. Have you seen the NFC? We're going to likely have HFA through till the Super Bowl, and I just can't imagine an NFC coming in there and beating us assuming that either Rex turns it around, or Griese is in there. And I don't think it's a stretch to say one of those will happen. I don't think we'll see either the Cowboys or the Saints until the NFC championship game...so who do you see beating us in the first game? Anyone. Like I said, it's nothing really concrete, I just feel really nervous about this team. I'm not even sure why.

If the Bears get a bye they won't even play in the 1st round. Fine, the 2nd round, which would still be the 1st round for them to play in.

I know it's doom & gloom, but really and not optimistic at all for the Bears to get past the 1st round of the playoffs. Short of Grossman reverting back to what he could be or Griese inexplicably doing great, something doesn't feel right. I can't put my finger on it, but I'm not confident at all. I hope I'm proven VERY wrong.

Wait, wait, wait...with all that their respective teams have been pitching-wise, Mazzone and Duncan are "overrated" and Rothschild is the one that'll make it work where they failed? I'll give you that some of those pitchers were going to be good no matter what and that Rothschild had a rough go of it under Dusty, but to think he's going to have huge success where both Duncan and Mazzone didn't is both incredibly optimistic and very unlikely.

This whole thing is Larry's idea. I have a whole host of feelings about this, but none of them are suitable for NSBB. :x Wow. How big do his cajones have to be to think he can succeed where Duncan and Leo-freakin'-Mazzone failed?

i disagree. if hendry really wouldn't trade hill for dunn, i think it speaks more of hendry's dislike of dunn than it does his like for hill. remember, this was during hendry's, i've decided i like guys who catch the ball phase (during which he also, of course, didn't like strikeouts and didn't see the value of a walk). hendry has never said anything to indicate support of hill. the most the organization has spoke about hill was when they trashed him after the white sox game. that, coupled with the reluctance to give him a prolonged shot in the rotation, lead me to believe that hendry does not have a "thing" for hill. Hill was talking out of his ass after that game. "Rookie rules" debate aside, he should have just said "no comment" and moved on. It was a mistake on his part since after the game both sides were generally keeping quiet and not trying to blow the whole situation up. Let Ozzie be the jerk in that situation...we don't our rookie pitcher who just got blown out of the park sounding even remotely like that guy. And I'm not saying Hill was necessarily treated "roght" after what he said, but I also don't think he was "trashed." Beyond that, not falling over themselves to praise him doesn't mean they're not "for" Hill or somehow "against" him. That's a purely subjective assumption on your part.

I am Rich Hill's father.

Yeah, but he wasn't just bad during the first part of the year...he was abysmal. And his previous, albeit brief, stints in the majors were pretty ugly, too. By the time of "the game" with the White Sox, Hill was potentially looking like a real royal "AAAA" bust. There wasn't a whole lot ot get excited about with him...yeah, his numbers in the minors were fantastic, but that just made it all the more frustrating that he was stinking it up SO bad every time he came up. I'm not saying he was handled right or wrong...I'm just saying there wasn't a whole lot to get excited about with Rich Hill through the first half of last season. Yes, we all saw his minor league numbers...they weren't even coming close to translating over every time he came up for the show. If Hill was treated "differently," it's probably because he showed so much more potential than anyone around him and wasn't able to make anything happen for what seemed like the longest time. That can't help but be frustrating. The hindsight notion that Hill was being held back seems great now, but at the time there seemed very little hope he'd make it "click." I'm certainly not convinced that him staying up in the majors he would have turned it around. There's a pretty good chance that going back down and doing whatever he needed to do finally got him to step up. Hill NOT being sent back could have very easily resulted in a hideous and epic implosion.

Sweet merciful crap, that's just...just...just... ... I don't have the words. They've basically replaced Rusch with a slightly less awful, more expensive version of himself.

Well, I believe it was Bruce Miles who mentioned that Dusty supposedly ignored or overruled a lot of Rothschild's input and suggestion. I'm not saying he's totally off the hook with what's happened to this club pitching-wise since he showed up, but there is that talk plus a number of guys on the team going out of their way to talk him up. Didn't Hill credit him in a big way with helping him turn it around last season?

NEDM

"GET YO' ASS TO CHURCH, BOY!"

Thank God.

Would the White Sox want him for anything other than a DH?

This is, what, the 8th thread about this? I never thought Bynum being gone would get more love then Neifi's departure.

I'm all about heading to Church.

I don't. I think the focus is Lilly and Meche, like we've been hearing all along. Zito will be choosing between the Mets for 5/75 and the Rangers for 6/100. I think he's going to get either Lilly or Meche not both. Meche is a backup to Lilly. Then Hendry will try like hell to pry another starter from a team. Which is a much better idea. I'll settle for Lilly, but Meche is a mess. Sign Lilly and try to trade for Westbrook, Penny or Jennings.

Sign me up for Jews for Church. He can hate my matzah eating arse all day as long as he puts up some numbers. I think this is getting really ridiculous. Someone told him that Jews are going to hell and from what i can tell, his heart went out to them. How does that turn into him hating Jews? If he would have said, "good, let 'em burn" that would be something you could get on his case for. Some Christians think all Jews go to hell, some Jews think all Christians go to hell (and yes, many Jews do believe in a hell or something similar). Thats the situation we're in. Sorry to go off on a rant, but the Church-mocking is getting out of hand. I'm sorry you're going to hell. *Looks around* We're not already there? not until we sign Gil meche I just made an inhuman noise.