A New Era

God himself could descend from heaven directly upon Wrigley to manage the Cubs and wouldn't be enough for some around here. Coming from a man -or- woman who just got done critizicing our new manager. Ironic this comment was just a few posts after what you were ciriticising. .

You've named just one positive. Not mentioned that fact that in his fits he has he also happens to run out to the feild and defend his players at the same time. Something baker didn't want his baby boy to see. He also would be a stark contrast to Baker's "buddy system". I think he can get more out of our players than Baker ever could. I don't think we will underacheive as much as we have once we get him at the helm. .

I was never anti Piniella so nobody can say that I'm just jumping on the bandwagon. One thing I look foward to is him covering the plate with dirt or throwing 2nd base or something, and then wrigley going crazy. You all know you are gonna love it.

Pitch and Ditch Hit for Errors?

God, why do these threads always turn into arguments of who's better than who. Including long thesis paper like messeges including BPPIP, ERA+, OPS, and Neifi?

Someone do Mitsuzaka in cubbie blue!

Who said we want to siwn Schmidt, Zito, Clee, AND Soriano? (which BTW if we did that, we WOULD win the world series, no matter how pessimistic you want to be) Z Zito Schmidt Hill Prior SS Theroit LF Murton 1B D Lee RF C Lee 3B Ramirez 2B Soriano C Barret CF Pie You'd have to be OUT OF YOUR MIND, if you thought that rotation and line-up wouldn't depant, whip, and embbarass the ENTIRE national league and have a high % chance of winning the world series. OUT OF YOUR MIND. But beside that point. We couldn't even sign all 4 even if we had a $200 mil payroll. It just wouldn't happen. However many of us beleive we have some strong youngsters like Murton, Hill, Theroit, Pie who could contribute. A CORE of Zambrano, Lee, Ramirez, Barret, Murton who are all very good. All you simply have to do is sign EITHER CLee or Soriano OR get one top player via trade -or- salary dump trade. And EITHER Zito, Schmidt, or Matsazuka and someone to pitch #4 like Miller. And even with 2 to 3 SMART moves like that you would still be under $115 mil payroll and seriously kick the NL central's azz next year. I'm sorry but you'd have to be crazy to think we couldn't compete if we made the right moves this off-season. .

A 115 million payroll would give the Cubs roughly 35-40 million to spend this offseason. Even if five million were eaten up in Ramirez's extension, there's still plenty to improve the team. :) I love this set of quotes Serena. \:D/ here are some snippets from Mcdunough. "JH will be given all the resources to do that" "We possibly haven't been prodent in that department" (FA signings) "The goal is to win the world series" Piniella: Interested in winning. If he is, then he was probably told in secret about the increase in payroll and the huge drive this offseason to bring in some major talent. Bruce Miles and Sulivan both hinting about whispers of raised payroll. . It ALL points to the Tribune raising the payroll. And honestly, and truthfully "wanting to win" (for the fans). .

The changes feel nice.

They've always wanted to win, and they've already opened the wallets. The problem is Hendry's ability to use money to acquire quality players. Exactly. Hendry wastes about $10-15m in budget per season on players whose roles could be filled for far less. He's spent his budget poorly. Baker helped Hendry waste that money by reccomending certain players. The question is, will Piniella help Hendry waste that money on crappy "role players". Or will he pressure Jim to go out and get guys like Soriano for a change. I eagerly await the outcome of that answer. That Travis Lee, man, that guy is a ballplayer. Did he say he wanted him on his team?

Likes walking or doesn't like walking? Oh geez the conflicting reports. That's good if he beleives that maybe he can stress to his batters to be a little more patient. I am starting to sweeten on Sweet Lou. Can you imagine Wrigely when he goes on one of his temper tantrums? The Wrigely crowd would just go crazy.

They've always wanted to win, and they've already opened the wallets. The problem is Hendry's ability to use money to acquire quality players. Exactly. Hendry wastes about $10-15m in budget per season on players whose roles could be filled for far less. He's spent his budget poorly. Baker helped Hendry waste that money by reccomending certain players. The question is, will Piniella help Hendry waste that money on crappy "role players". Or will he pressure Jim to go out and get guys like Soriano for a change. I eagerly await the outcome of that answer.

If only Harry was still around to try to say Muthusela... :D Spelled backwards is...... Incase anyone hasn't said it. Alesuhtum.

I don't see how Piniella is a really "bad" idea (not targetting anyone specifically but it's been said). . Because if Piniella really wants to win perhaps that means JH and owner ship want to win too. And this is a clue, that they are willing to open up the wallets to bring in some real nice talent. If that's the case. GIVE ME Piniella AND GIVE ME TALENT!!

Managers can't do a ton of good. They can do a ton of harm, though. What would Piniella harm? Or in better words, what or who has Piniella provingly harmed in the past? Running into needless outs. Bunting when the player is a good hitter who could drive a double into a gap. Riding a starter to long or certain pitchers in the pen when up or down big. Creating a lineup by where a player plays rather than skill sets. You know all the things that Baker did while he was here. And some of the things he didn't do. But I see your point.

Managers can't do a ton of good. They can do a ton of harm, though. What would Piniella harm? Or in better words, what or who has Piniella provingly harmed in the past?

The two aren't mutually exclusive. I don't want a clueless manager on the team, even though I know it's unlikely to make a big impact on the team's final standings. Yeah I figured that was the case. I don't want him either. But I wouldn't "stop being a cubs fan", if he was hired. .

Piniella's not my choice. However I would root for him and give him a chance if he were brought here. He might be dusty like in thought. But his way of managing his players are the polar opposite. He is not a laid back dude. He will go out and chew out an umpire (alot) if he feels the call was not fair to his players. And he will not take slacking. If hiring Piniella means the trib wants to win and goes out and gets some good players Piniella needs. Then I think I could enjoy Piniella's antics on the feild. . I wonder if the lot of you that are criticizing Piniella the same group who also says the manger really doesn't matter all that much, it's the players we get that matters. Or are you two different groups?

Can someone point me to the thread where we talk about updating whether aramis wants to return or not, and progress made to get him to return. Rather than the Aramis hustling thread? I must have hit a wrong turn. .

If Piniella is "actually" interested in the job with the Cubs. Then I'm just going to take a stab at this. Jim secretly told him they are raising the payroll significantly enough to sign a couple star players. And Pinelly puts a good word out there in the media of "liking the challenge" so he looks good to Cubs fans (yeah I know I'm talking about those OUTSIDE NSBB!) :lol: That's the only reason I can think of. He does not want a loosing team. So he must have inside knowledge that the Cubs are going to add significantly this offseason. However once Ramirez hears Piniella is getting strong consideration, will he want to stay? :lol:

i would argue that a salary floor would be more effective, but neither would be particularly good (or bad) for baseball. I've often thought the same, but I think you would see some ridiculous contracts. What if the salary floor was, say, $40 million. What would the Marlins have done this year? Be forced not to play promising youngsters? Give artificial raises to people? Sign some aging vet to a ludicrous contract? I'm sure JoBo wouldn't have minded a $25 million dollar one year contract. A salary cap is alot more effective and easy to complete. You can force a rich ballclub not to spend money. It's hard to make a poor ballclub spend an extra $20 million dollars they don't have. .

Not unless the payroll is raised slightly. Because even after all that you'd still probably have $5-$8 mil leftover.

Could someone point me to the Aram thread?

What is production? 1. the act of producing; creation; manufacture. You know. Like maufacturing runs? :D

While that may be true at the professional level, as a coach it kills me to read a statement like that. That's funny, because I know quite a few football coaches who always talk about wanting the talented kid as opposed to the hustling grinder type. It's obligatory to praise the hustling grinder, but I think a lot of coaches would love the opportunity to coach a phenomenal talent, even if he has some hustle issues. "Hustling grinder type" of limited talent, otherwise known as the 'Rudy'. Everyone loves a Rudy, but everyone also knows you only dress him for one game. But I still wish Aramis had a little more Rudy in him. baseball, at every level, is about talent. hustling no help hit curve ball. I think it's funny when it's either or. Let me ask this. Do you want Beltran or Manny? I'll take Beltran. Why, because he has talent and he hustles and knows the game. If Manny did the same things Beltran did I'd take him but he doesn't. I don't see why people always compare Manny to Neifi types when it comes to hustle vs talent. I'll say this, I'll give you ARam as he is now and I'll take the one that stays in shape and hustles. I think staying in shape and doing the things you have to do to prolong your career is the direction all players should go. Goony's right about talent, no doubt about it I want the best talent out there. But, when you're in a game and the kid that hits 250 beats out a grounder because the SS bobbles it with 2 outs and then your stud pops one out to win by one, you appreciate that hustle and he helped the team win because of it. No doubt, the kid that hits it out won the game with his homer, it would not have happened with out hustle. Almost all teams are not the Yankees and have 9 guys that hit 300 and can pop it out so you have to do that extra something sometimes to win a game. Sometimes the emotional, yes baseball with emotion, uplift of a diving catch can get a team out of it's mental phase that happens during baseball. That mental lift gives or brings a different focus for the team and also for the other team. I've had teams that hit line drives at people and the mental strain of that can be very draining at times. When you have a guy in CF dive and take away a sure double that team that has been hitting line drives and getting no rewards just sank a little farther. It's a tough mental game and that curve ball you sent out earlier with a line drive that was caught weighs a little more on your mind than it would if it fell. So if it's a either or question I'll take the hustling team over the one that doesn't if they both have the same or even a little worse talent for the hustlers. I want the one who puts up more production compared to money paid.