A New Era

Which means nothing. There are 2 decent offensive players available this winter. There are 2 decent FA pitchers. NY is going to need a pitcher. LA is going to need one. Soriano and Lee are going to be wildly overvalued in that market. There is ZERO guarantee we'd be able to sign one of Zito, Schmidt, Lee or Soriano, and even if we did, niether of Lee or Soriano are better than Ramirez. Zito is okay. Schmidt is so-so, and is an injury risk. And if you were going to overpay one just to make sure you got one, why not overpay to guarantee you keep Ramirez, who's again, better than Lee and Soriano are? Ever heard of trades? Those happen in the off-season as well. IMO I would be happy with this trade. We need good SP NOW!! Add santana to Zambrano, Prior, Marshall, and Marmol and things are looking better. JH is pretty good at trades. And TRADES is the way I think Jim can redeem himself and really improve this team for next year.

I doubt we'll ge Ethier. I really doubt we'll get anyone. But as a fan I don't sense a PR nightmare at all. Not with Greg coming out and saying he loves the cubs, loves the fans, but if it helps the cubs, he will be ok with being traded. I don't know how it could be a PR nightmare when the player himself says he wants to help the cubs in any way he can. If anything it will just be somber, all cubs fans will just be sad to part ways. But I think most people will understand it's for the best.

That's...interesting. If true, more than they;ve been rumored to be getting. One more day folks. Less than 24 hours. Here we go! Hope we see something happening. (for the better ofcourse). .

Oh man. Good times. Memories of earlier in the season when there still was hope. 15 game winning streak = cubs back in the WC race, believe it or not. I beleive in the mathematics. I don't beleive in the posibility.

Basically when he was coming off the mound he took off his hat and tipped it to his left, then directl in front of him, then his right, put his hat back on, and waved to the crowd and said "thank you" or something along those lines as he went into the dugout. EDIT: go here: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=20060729&content_id=1581693&vkey=wrapup2005&fext=.jsp&team=home Click top plays, and it shows it at the very end. at least, most of it. I see it. Freaking hilarious. It wasn't in the individual top plays, not in the whole condensed game, but it was in the clickable "TOP PLAYS"? Confusing how that works. It's in there but not in the 'longer' condensed game (I watched all of it) Funny how the respected Will Carrol mentioned "emails" from several fans in his article today, thanking them for pointing out Maddux mouthed "goodbye". . It looked more like he just sort of opened his mouth to acknowledge the fans. You know how sometimes you do that? It could be seen as mouthing "mmBa"? Haha stupid people thought he was saying BYE. I doubt they thought he was literally saying the word "bye." I think what they are saying is by the way he acknowledged the crowd and seemed to be saying "thank you" he seemed to know something might go down. Maddux typically doesn't respond to the cowd and by doing so today, it seems like he is saying thank you anf goodbye to Cubs fans. Hmm, funny. The text on the BP link has changed. But it said something like this. . Accoring to many fans, Maddux appeared to be saying the word "bye" (thanks for the many e-mails). . .

Not exactly. The further tutoring of Marshall, and possibly Hill/Marmol. There is something to be gained.

Agred. Indications don't mean crap. To me this is a business bluff. He knows that Philly now has an opening at 3rd base, and so does SD, and perhaps a few other teams. IMO, all he is doing is trying to bluff his way into a more secure deal. Nothing more/nothing less. And yes, ARAM will be a CUB in 2007. Hopefully so. Because I want to say ARAMABOMB!!

Basically when he was coming off the mound he took off his hat and tipped it to his left, then directl in front of him, then his right, put his hat back on, and waved to the crowd and said "thank you" or something along those lines as he went into the dugout. EDIT: go here: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=20060729&content_id=1581693&vkey=wrapup2005&fext=.jsp&team=home Click top plays, and it shows it at the very end. at least, most of it. I see it. Freaking hilarious. It wasn't in the individual top plays, not in the whole condensed game, but it was in the clickable "TOP PLAYS"? Confusing how that works. It's in there but not in the 'longer' condensed game (I watched all of it) Funny how the respected Will Carrol mentioned "emails" from several fans in his article today, thanking them for pointing out Maddux mouthed "goodbye". . It looked more like he just sort of opened his mouth to acknowledge the fans. You know how sometimes you do that? It could be seen as mouthing "mmBa"? Haha stupid people thought he was saying BYE.

They've been showing the ovations on Baseball Tonight. I'm sure SportsCenter is also replaying it. I'm talking about online, at my leisure. Probably too late to see it on TV now.

Oh man. Good times. Memories of earlier in the season when there still was hope.

Uh, pretty sure that would be Z. Who is Z? :wink:

I just wish I could see the damn thing again. I'm blackout on on mlb.tv and it's not like fox is replaying the damn thing. Stupid freakin blackout laws. If you aren't going to show it on your network via replay then let me see it on my PAID account!!

(copy and paste from my maddux trade rumors post) Well Baseball prospectus said many fans emailed in that maddux was really saying "goodbye" during his ovation. They think maybe he does know something. And then breifly mention something about a multi team deal. . And we all agree BP is pretty respectable. Who knows. . . maybe something is up! http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5358&PHPSESSID=cd37d39313b3cebf357f4fbf7ac2bdf7 (it's just a partial article).

Posted in the maddux trade rumor thread in the trading forums.

Well Baseball prospectus said many fans emailed in that maddux was really saying "goodbye" during his ovation. They think maybe he does know something. And then breifly mention something about a multi team deal. . http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5358&PHPSESSID=cd37d39313b3cebf357f4fbf7ac2bdf7 (it's just a partial article).

The Cubs are good at evaluating talent, they are just terrible at developing it :D Um, then why are Rusch, Williams, Neifi, Pagan, and Bynum here? :shock:

Amazing how he just found his stroke at the plate as soon as he left the Cubs. Yeah, he's hitting well. Still can't get that OBP up there though. He started very well, but he sort of fell off. I wouldn't call .281/.313/.417 finding his stroke. It is better than what he was doing with the Cubs, but that line is not very good. But an improvement. Something many posters swore would probably never happen. Now, there is even a small chance he could improve a bit more next year.

Clearly, he decided to go after more than one heckler. ;) Also, in past games where the weather was like this (heat warning today!), typically players from the Cubs come out with hoses and use them on the fans in the bleachers. It's a surprisingly good way to cool down. If you look closely at the two pictures, he's spraying down the same fan. Yep, same people around him. Probably wanted to get sprayed in that heat, so kept holding up different signs. Dempster, oblidged him.

IF is not something I want to take a chance on. We've had enough IF's we've suffered through, with Wood and Prior, wouldn't you agree? Anyway it's a mute point with nolasco because he's in florida now. But I don't think anyone here can say they don't want Jim Hendry to go out and get one calibur starting pitcher. Add him to Mr. Ace Zambrano. And 2 very promising and stable looking Marshall and Marmol. And for the first time in a few years, we can say, these are our guys, and they'll be pitching the whole year.

Really doesn't look that great. Why? because the 3 rookie pitchers are still going to have bumps and bruises. You really don't want 3 like that all at once. Now if we were going to say, we are not competing in 2007 only developing. I agree that looks great. I'd rather have. . Zambrano Schmidt Marmol Marshall Prior I think Marmol could handle the #3 spot next year. And I am not ready to rely on prior until he proves to me next year he can be here IN APRIL, and pitch all the way until October.

i would say that 1,100 of your 1,200 posts have been about hill becoming a relief pitcher. I'll up you and say 1,105

Fixed. Huh? Shouldn't you have changed kept -to- sent? Is that what you are trying to say?

We've had a # of good SP prospects for awhile. Atleast we've kept some of the good ones too.

Still don't want to give up on Hill. Give him several more tries. If he shows NOTHING by then. Then fine, good-bye. But don't give up already.

Heard it too. Shucks.