Sammy Sofa

I'm just repeating what I thought I heard. Pardon me if I don't remember every different article/post/discussion/rant about this issue off the top of my head. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I'm not "dismissing" anything.

If you are going to use Corey as the poster child for horrible coaching and managing, you also need to point out the success stories that the Cubs coaches and managers have had. Just to name a few players who have developed into better players since joining the Cubs in the past few years: Barrett Lee Grudz Dempster Borowski ARam Murton Could it be that some players simply play better in a different atmosphere? Was Dusty responsible for turning Barrett into one of the best offensive catchers in the game today? Was Dusty/Sarge responsible for DLee's incredible increase in power and average? Was Rothschild responsible for taking Dempster and making him into a good closer? I highly doubt that Baker had anything to do with Corey's lack of success. Corey was sucking equally before Baker came and after Baker came. There was a reason that hardly any teams were trying to trade for Corey. I'm glad that he is having success right now and hope that it continues, but to blame the coaching staff for his suckiness is quite a stretch. Corey is a massive warning sign as to how the Cubs deal with their rookie players. All the guys you listed, with the exception of Murton and A-Ram, had established careers in the bigs. I'll fully concede that the coaching staff with the Cubs may have helped them adjust to new roles or develop new skills, but I'm just as likely, if not more likely, to believe that most of those improvements came more from the players themselves. Lee studied films of hitters he admired and worked with his trainers to improve his swing. I'd lay money he would have done that no matter where he was at that point in his career. Dusty went out of his way NOT to use Dempster as a closer until it was absolutely necessary. Borowski flamed out spectacuarly due to injury...something that might be a tragic and running theme with Cubs pitching under the current coaching regime. Aramis is proving that unless he has a monster hitter in front of him, he's heartbreakingly average...or worse. Grudz is Grudz...he's decent, but nothing to call home about. And Murton...we are witnessing the tearing down of Murton by these monsters in front of our very eyes. At this point, his biggest asset at the plate is his patience, and the Cubs are telling him he needs to swing at more pitches and be more aggressive. And now he's wailing away at 1st and 2nd pitches he would have never swung at before, and getting nothing done offensively a LOT more. The Cubs' coaching staff is even worse than being bad...they're successfully RUINING players long term, or maybe even for good, if they keep their claws dug into them for too long. They can't all be sent packing too soon for my liking. Until they are, I have NO hope for Pie, Patterson, Guzman, Murton, Cedeno, etc., etc., etc..

Just to spite CubbieRich, I want my girlfriend to have Pujols' babies... ...and I'll then sell them to the Cubs, who will breed them to be an unstoppable army of uber-Pujolsesesesesesessssss!!!

Ozzie doesn't screw up his team half as bad as some other MLB managers do. Hey may be a jackass, but a complete moron doesn't randomly win the WS with the White Sox team he had. They were damn good, but they weren't world-beaters.

"GodHatesFoggs?" Heh...sacrelicious!

Trading Rich Hill for Craig Wilson is so far from being "pricey" it's not even funny. Though I agree, another player would have to be involved.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/images/2006/05/20/vQpqzcjK.jpg Mabry has some Tobias Funke-esque catlike agility going there.

So his average doesn't look as terrible when he's playing on grass, in the open, during the day. Welcome to Wrigley! *Leaps off of a bridge*

Nobody gives a steaming heap of crap about the Cubs right now.

I remember hearing that he technically had a tear waaaaaay back when this mess all started, but pretty much any kind of strain along the lines of what he had is always technically a "tear"...the difference is the severity of it. Apparently that muscle(s) always tears when strained or injured. The difference is whether it's minor or not, and the Cubs claim his is minor enough to not require surgery.

Is it really that a big deal if the Cubs are last? At the VERY best, this team is a 4th place team in the NL Central. 5th or 6th are interchangable in my book...in fact, I welcome 6th at this point. Just yet another colossal failure that McHendust can't hide behind...and a decent draft pick! GO PIRATES!!!

Or maybe he just needed to be coached by people who know what the hell they're doing at least every once in a while. Corey himself said he thought he should be batting lower in the lineup, specifically as a #6 hitter. Well, the Orioles are doing just that, and letting him work there. And look at the results. Wow, what a radical approach...nobody could have EVER thought of that! Corey definitely had some ego "issues," but if what he's doing now with the O's continues, it should prove he was VERY far from being uncoachable, or terrible or a headcase, or whatever other excuses want to be made. His success should be one of the most scathing indictments of how bad the Cubs' management and coaching staffs are right now.

If teams will be willing to pay a lot for him down the line, wouldn't the Cubs have to outbid all those same teams to get him now? I should have expanded on that...he'd help net a lot if you package him with other players. On his own, not too terribly much. But the Cubs have more to package him with for ideally maximum return/gain than the Pirates do, IMO.

Lose to whichever team the AL puts into the WS. Probably get swept, too.

Picking up Wilson makes so much sense it's almost sickening when I think about how Hendry probably won't even both with the idea. The relationship between Wilson and the Pirates is completely in the toilet, he could be had for SO cheap...he's easily a starter, would be dynamite off the bench if moved there, and could get the Cubs a LOT if they opt to trade him down the line.

I won't front, I thought getting Pierre was infinitely better than going for Lofton. Damn, how wrong I was.

He should. Go for Wilson, play him in left and platoon Murton against lefties with JJ in RF.

That's pretty much EVERY team right now.

Oh man, that play was SO Taguchi.

Or Kerry Wood.

Alright, you jerk stores, if you have to win, WIN BIG.

Anything that highlights the dangerously bad teaching skills of the Cubs coaching staff is fine by me.

It's like Christmas! Except when you open your present, there's a weakened, withered wrist inside. WORST. CHRISTMAS. EVER.

I was watching the Cubs game tonight and kept switching over to the O's game on EI, telling my dad about how well Corey's been doing. Sure enough, the first at bat I actually make him watch, Corey hits that 2nd HR. We've officially retired the "c-patt" nickname around the house for the time being. Good for him!

Unless it focuses solely on making his ass freakishly large, I remain skeptical.