jmajew

I honestly don't remember what I did for the entire 4th quarter and postgame. My friends tell me that I just sat there on the couch saying "I can't believe we did it.....super bowl....i can't believe we did it....wow....super bowl" for like an hour. And the Bears mean maybe half as much as the Cubs do to me (although its still an awful lot...the Cubs are just below God and family for me :)) That day at the time was the best day of my life. However, in retrospect it brought upon the single worst experience of my life. I'm not an emotional man but I wept following that experience, just as I wept in 2003.

If we aren't going to give Pie a chance we better trade him. What a waste of a top prospect, (what we are doing is only hurting his value).

Lets say the choice was between Nick Swisher and Hideki Matsui, who would you choose?

In 80 ABs at the end of 2005, Cedeno hit .300 with a .356 OBP In 54 ABs at the end of 2007, Soto hit .389 with a .433 OBP I don't get why a small sample size like that tells you much of anything. I agree with the sample size issue, however, one thing Soto has shown throughout his career is very good plate discipline. Which Cedeno never has. We can reasonably expect a 350 obp from Soto this year. For the past 4 years it has been over 350. IMO I'd rather put the faith in a small sample size on someone with good plate discipline than someone without. You don't suddenly learn plate discipline.

So if you don't buy Cedeno's numbers in the PCL, what do you think of Soto this year? Didn't Soto get himself in great shape for the first time last season? I thought that was what the majority of people attributed his huge jump to last year.

I'm of the belief that Theriot can be an average to slightly above average SS in the big leagues. He has an very good SO/K ratio, plays adequate defense, is an efficienct base stealer, and in his only full year in the big leagues played pretty admirably (other than his fade down the stretch). He deserves the chance again this year so lets give it to him. If it is true that pitchers have figured him out he will struggle again fairly quickly, if that is the case Lou will do what has to be done. At this point in time I think we should give Theriot the benefit of the doubt, and work with the belief he faded down the stretch. Now if we were talking about trading for a starting SS or moving DeRosa to SS then I would say, let's bench him. But unfortunately it does not look we will be doing either. I think we can expect at the low end for Theriot to put 265/330/350 this year and at the high end 290/360/400.

I agree that swapping Soriano and Fukudome would seem the most obvious move, and would improve the lineup. See, I disagree. While I don't really like Soriano in the 2 hole, I would HATE having him bat 5th. "Protection" in the order is usually overrated, but if Soriano was batting 5th, he would see a very steady diet of breaking balls because no one is afraid of pitching to DeRosa or Soto. He would likely rack up an obscene amount of Ks because of his free-swinging nature. Batting him in front of Lee and/or Ramirez should ensure Soriano seeing many fastballs. If Lou is adamant about batting Theriot #1, I would like to see Fukudome or Lee #2 followed by Soriano and then Ramirez. Ideally you could easily just bat Fuk #1, Lee #2, Sori #3 and move Theriot to the bottom. I was thinking Fuk, Soriano, Lee, Ramirez, DeRosa, Soto, Pie, Theriot. Soriano needs protection so he can hopefully see a steady diet of fastballs. Ramirez has proven he does not need protection so I see no need to emphasize getting some for him, if Soto can put up a line of 270/350/475 he could be the perfect remedy for that anyway. Fukodome is an ideal leadoff hitter. He drives the ball very well and takes a lot of pitches, he may not steal bases but he does everything else that a leadoff hitter is "supposed" to do.

If we sign Reed Johnson my guess is Murton will be traded prior to opening day. DeRosa will still be the super-sub eventhough he will be considered the starting 2b. Fontenot can back up Theriot and Patterson gives us more versatility than Cedeno since he can also play the OF. Pitchers Zambrano Lilly Dempster Hill Marquis Lieber Wood Howry Marmol Wuertz Hart Pignatello Catchers Soto Blanco Infielders Lee DeRosa Theriot Ramirez Fontenot Ward Patterson Outfielders Fukudome Pie Soriano Johnson

NO. Why would you want Lieber/Demp/Marquis taking starts away from Zambrano or Lilly? Let the odd man out throw simulated games every 5 days or something if you don't end up actually using them in the games. Obviously you chose not to read the entire post. I was throwing out 2 options to help keep those 3 fresh. So we can actually get the best out of them. How exactly would you choose to "keep all of them fresh" without taking starts from Z, Lilly, or Hill? You can't send them down to the minors and just bring them up whenever its time to make a start. 2 out of the 3 will get regular work and Lieber will have to get his work on the side to ensure that if he has to start, his arm will be able to go 5 or 6 innings. My Prospoal works something like this. We keep 12 pitchers on the roster. You will have each one pitch 2 in a row then pull them for a week and do a 3 man rotation. The one out of the rotation at the time will be in the pen available certain days for some relief work. Or we trade one of them and if another of the pitchers gets hurt, we move Marshall into the rotation. Yes lets trade Marquis for a low level prospect and have to pay 60% of his contract. Marquis is valuable. What we need to do is trade Dempster to Detroit.

NO. Why would you want Lieber/Demp/Marquis taking starts away from Zambrano or Lilly? Let the odd man out throw simulated games every 5 days or something if you don't end up actually using them in the games. Obviously you chose not to read the entire post. I was throwing out 2 options to help keep those 3 fresh. So we can actually get the best out of them. How exactly would you choose to "keep all of them fresh" without taking starts from Z, Lilly, or Hill? You can't send them down to the minors and just bring them up whenever its time to make a start. 2 out of the 3 will get regular work and Lieber will have to get his work on the side to ensure that if he has to start, his arm will be able to go 5 or 6 innings. My Prospoal works something like this. We keep 12 pitchers on the roster. You will have each one pitch 2 in a row then pull them for a week and do a 3 man rotation. The one out of the rotation at the time will be in the pen available certain days for some relief work.

NO. Why would you want Lieber/Demp/Marquis taking starts away from Zambrano or Lilly? Let the odd man out throw simulated games every 5 days or something if you don't end up actually using them in the games. Obviously you chose not to read the entire post. I was throwing out 2 options to help keep those 3 fresh. So we can actually get the best out of them.

Would anyone else be content with going with a six man rotation for the first 2 months of the season? Or atleast come up with a schedule that rotates all Lieber, Marquis, and Dempster equally? Seems like it would be a good way to keep all 3 of them fresh for the entire season. Although I guess you could say that Lou's plan of using Lieber as a long reliever could do a very similar thing. However, wouldn't have made more sense to use Dempster in the long relief role?

How long ago was this conversation? Lou's been in Arizona the whole last 3 weeks, and Jim probably has been as well. Before that, I don't know of any reason they would have had to go down to Florida together after the winter meetings, and that was 3 full months ago. This was last week and it was in Arizona. Had a mental fart.

They flew to Floride for dinner? Fancy. Sorry meant Arizona, I was just in Florida so it is still on my mind.

I will probably get ripped for posting this because my sources aren't what you say the best, but I'm going to post anyway. (That is my way of saying take it with a grain of salt). I was on the phone with a my fathers friend today, he is also my mortgage broker, and he told me his friend who went down to Arizona and had dinner with Billy Williams and Lou. While they were eating Jim Hendry stopped by the table and they BSed for a little bit. At one point after some ribbing Hendry said that he wants Roberts so bad and before opening day, that he knows he is going to get ripped off a little bit. I know this has been passed down the food chain a little so this may not be exactly what happened, so take it for what it is worth. Edit: To fix brain cramp that said Florida in place of Arizona.

I found this a bit interesting regarding Julius Jones on ESPN. This could solve our RB problems. Now only if we could figure out what to do with the O-Line.

Probably not. Yes you can always count on a Tribune employee to give you their true feelings on the topic.

I don't think anyone has a problem with improving the stadium as long as it keeps the same ambiance and feel. However, I emphasize this, the things that everyone b*tches about are part of what makes Wrigley so unique and so special. If you take away all of those problems its not going to be Wrigley anymore. I'm all for improving the stadium if it is falling down, which is why I understand the upperdeck has to be redone. However, I don't want change just for the sake of change. I believe people are overestimating how horrible of condition Wrigley is in.

I love Wrigley, but at some point the grandstand will have to be rebuilt, and I have no problem with it. In fact, the sooner the better. That is so long as the rebuild is congruous, and in the same mold as the old grandstand. I love history as well, but it is simply unrealistic to expect Wrigley to remain as it is. It is an old, decaying hulk that needs serious help. Calling it "destroying history" is a bit melodramatic, IMO. If they treat Wrigley like they treated another Historical landmark in this city, Soldier Field, it is destroying history. Otherwise it would not have been a historical landmark in the first place. I love Wrigley Field and I personally would rather have a new stadium build not in wrigleyville than alter Wrigley so much where it is unrecognizable. That is my personal preference. I believe Wrigley is one of the defining factors of this city. It is one of those things that the city prides itself on. I understand they have to renovate the stadium. I just don't want it to be unrecognizable. My feeling is if you are going to make it unrecognizable why not just build an entirely new stadium, somwhere else. If you wanted something completely different why not actually do it. Of course the Cubs want to stay in Wrigleyville and the Bears wanted to stay on the lake shore.

I had this discussion today with UMFAN83. My feeling on this is I am against purposely trying to destroy history. In my mind this is like selling the naming rights to Mount Rushmore, Mount Vernon, or the Statue of Liberty. History is what defines a country and a civilization. When you think of Italy we think of going to see the ruins of ancient Rome. When you think of Greece you think of the Parthenon. When you think of London you think of Big Ben. When tourist's come to Chicago they come to Wrigley Field. I cannot respect any man or any corporation that is willing to do this. Even more so, I think selling the naming rights to Wrigley will lead to completely renovating the stadium. Meaning they will tear down the grandstand and rebuild. Since I forsee this happening I am happy that Zell is selling the stadium and the team separately. Because if it was the same owner and he destroyed history I can honestly say I don't know if I could be a Cubs fan anymore. No I am not one of those fans who only likes the Cubs because of Wrigley. I will just despise the owner so much, that I would have a hard time bringing myself to follow the team. Don't get me wrong I'm sure I would, but that is how deep my hatred would be. I liken this to the Bill Wirtz effect. Because people hated him so much they stopped supporting a team they loved. Now that he has passed away the fans are coming back. Lastly, I'm sure Zell will sell the stadium before selling the team. The reason he would do this is because he would then make the team sign a 20 year lease with the stadium. Thus preventing any new owner from building a new stadium somewhere else. And to be honest, I would prefer to have a new stadium built outside of Wrigleyville than see Wrigley changed so much.

So let me get this straight. Zell has already said he is going to sell the Cubs and Wrigley separately. However, before he sells Wrigley he wants to sell the naming rights, so he can pocket an extra 30mil, and stick the new owner of Wrigley with the name? For some reason that seems very unethical to me...and in my mind may cause the value of Wrigley to drop to any potential buyer.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/cs-080225-nfl-combine-chicago-bears,1,4600295.column It looks like we will not be going after Faneca.

I'm very confused on this whole line-up dilemma that Lou is having. To me it shoudl be pretty simple to construct. Soriano - DeRosa - Fukudome - Lee - Ramirez - Soto - Pie - Theriot/Cedeno. The 6-7-8 spots could be a slight issue that may need to be resolved with an inseason trade. It depends on how Soto and Pie develop. If Soto is a 275/345/455 and Pie can pull a 270/320/450 out of his butt I think we will be set. The question is how much faith do we have in those 2? If it is high then we don't need to go out and get Roberts to improve the lineup.

Soriano - .293/.342/.544 Theriot - .273/.335/.355 Lee - .302/.386/.524 Ramirez - .302/.361/.550 Fukudome - .273/.380/.455 DeRosa - .277/.356/.430 Soto - .270/.340/.455 Pie - .268/.319/.465 Zambrano - 1.19/3.11 Lilly - 1.20/3.89 Hill - 1.17/3.42 Marquis - 1.55/5.12 Dempster - 1.39/4.40 Lieber - 1.30/4.3 Marmol - 1.15/2.93 Wood - 1.30/3.45 Howry - 1.23/3.33

Who would have thought that two of the worst run organizations is baseball would have a hard time completing a deal. Shocking!!!