goonys evil twin

Aside from the rare Bears Sunday night game, I'm asleep by 10 or 11 anyway, so absenteeism isn't much of a problem.

I think it's an interesting theory, but I'm not so sure it's true. Every year people lament that the Yankees will get everybody who is any good, and while they do get good players, they don't get all of them. Just a couple years ago nobody would have talked about the Mets as a team that veterans were really wanting to go to. The Cubs could get virtually anybody they wanted. Worrying about players who will always choose the White Sox over them isn't very reasonable.

You make some good points, but with the explosion of sports like soccer, basketball, and even football, and the specialization of all of these sports that may diminish somewhat, the expansion of the population. It would be interesting to see if there has been any studies that have taken all of these things into consideration. you have to remember that those sports dilute hitting too. plus, baseball is now a global game. it's growth globally is probably more than any other sport. soccer was always an international game, football hasn't really expanded, and basketball became popular globally 30-40 years before baseball. IMO opinion, if there is any dillution, it is through the growth of non-ball sports...TO THE EXTREME!!! Football hasn't expanded? huh. basketball has exploded both in the U.S. and globally only probably since the height of Magic and Bird and continuing with MJ and into the present, probably only the last 20 years in the U.S. and less than that globally. Plus 20 years ago kids played multiple sports, now you see kids concentrate predominantly on one sport year round. I don't necessarily disagree with your points I was just looking for a little more concrete info behind it, and maybe there isn't any as I don't have any to back up my assertion. there was a long discussion on these issues last winter. I don't know that there has been any comprehensive study or it would have been linked in that thread. football hasn't expanded beyond North America, Europe, and places here or there, and I may be wrong, but the only other major professional league, NFL Europe, plays to half empty stadiums. football couldn't put together a WBC or a world championship like we see in hoops. eastern european nations were playing basketball at a high level as far back as the 60's. the sport has been hugely popular globally for decades. even latin american countries didn't produce the caliber of player to regularly make MLB until the 80's. the best international players didn't come to the NBA sooner only because the best international players were behind the iron curtain. baseball did not catch on in Europe or the Mideast or Australia until long after basketball took off. although I do agree that basketball got an extra boost in the 80's and 90's. You can't claim that eastern europe played high level basketball as far back as the 60's, then claim latin america didn't produce much until the 80's. Latinos have been a part of major league baseball for decades, and baseball has been huge in Japan for nearly as long. Basketball's global growth has trounced baseball's.

That what if scenario ended in October 2003. People are claiming he was considered gold from 2003-2005. That what if scenario doesn't matter.

for some guys the price is always right True. But, with any player of real value I would think they would receive offers similar to what the Cubs would offer. Simple, Chicago is a big market and players like to play in Wrigley. I can think of worse places to play then Chicago in front of 40,000 people everyday... Yes, but for the players of any value I would think teams such a the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Angels, or White Sox would come calling. (I would think at least one of those teams would be interested). From a player stand point these are better options because of the opportunity to win, in my opinion. For example, take LF. Kenny Williams might be intested in a LF for next season. Are they going to stick with Podsednick/Ozuna in LF? Is Josh Fields being moved to LF and will he be ready for that position next season? If Kenny Williams looks to the free agent market for a left fielder as opposed to trade, then which option is more attractive? Most likely winning in US Cellular or losing in Wrigley (using the past 2 years as the gage)? If this were true, then no player of value would ever sign for a team other than the current best teams.

5/65 or higher.

Does this sound like I thought he was a genius until a couple of months ago. You pick and choose what you want to believe instead of actually reading what I said... If that's true, you didn't read much but cubs.com headlines then. Hendry has been questioned throughout. You never read anybody question the Baker hiring? His infatuation with tools? His ignorance of patience/walks/OBP? His insistence on overpaying for mediocrity and garbage? I said Generally as said here: And once again here: You're talking about "gold from everything I read" and generally overly positive by the majority. Those are two very different things. Hendry was generally considered a good GM, but never gold from a national standpoint. He's had his doubters from day one, and many of the people who were accused of just being negative even though things were "going positive" have been proven right in their criticisms.

That's a pretty big leap of faith, but it's probably also our only hope for success the next couple of years. The problem with that idea is how do you get him to hire a manager who will ask him for the right things?

Does this sound like I thought he was a genius until a couple of months ago. You pick and choose what you want to believe instead of actually reading what I said... If that's true, you didn't read much but cubs.com headlines then. Hendry has been questioned throughout. You never read anybody question the Baker hiring? His infatuation with tools? His ignorance of patience/walks/OBP? His insistence on overpaying for mediocrity and garbage?

Did you not say this? The pitching abuse responses are because of this post. Where is Hendry's name mentioned in this post? Dude, what are you talking about! You are saying that Hendry should have a crystal ball and known that Prior and Wood would go down in 2004? That's what I meant. And where in that post did I mention the pitcher abusing was Hendry's fault? Lord knows we have enough threads about Dusty's abusing our pitching... Dusty's abuse was known to the public prior to Hendry hiring him, and he hired him anyway. Furthermore, he did nothing to prevent the abuse. He put a tank of gas and a books of matches in a wooden house occupied by an arsonist. If you can't see the correlation between Hendry and pitching abuse you aren't looking. The Cubs decided to put this team's fate on the arms of some very young pitchers. They put in charge of those players a guy with a reputation of overusing pitchers to an extreme degree. It was a match made in hell, and that fact was pointed out long before 2005.

Rick had a belly that he could pull some reserve out of when he needed the extra power. I think it's a combination of things. The small strike zone, can't throw inside, batters are more patient now, and the fact that if something hurts now players see that their future money may go away so the slightest ache they are more careful than before. I'm curious on how many pitches Rick threw a game because if memory serves me he had pretty good control or the very least didn't have to throw as many pitches per game with that sinker of his. I would also submit that pitchers have to work much harder to get guys out now than they did in the 70's and points previous. Your average MLB hitter is stronger and quicker at the plate than your average 1975 era hitter. Agreed, as OBP has become more important in the mind of some organizations, the amount of pitches per plate appearance has probably risen over the years. Also with the advent of the 5 man rotation and the amount of money invested in these guys they don't throw as much as they used to. In the past, and with fewer teams in the league, most pitchers threw a lot more innings in the minors where they either persevered or flamed out, so their probably were a lot more guys with injuries, they were just out of baseball before they ever made it to the bigs. With expansion and the dilution of pitchers you are seeing guys in majors that probably would have never made it in years past. This could be true. I don't buy the OBP argument. OBP only came into vogue in the last few years, but this injury problem has been going on for far longer than that. Moreover, as we have discussed ad nauseam on this bd., the majority of teams still do not value patience at the plate as much as they do aggressive hitting. OBP has been in vogue for several years, it's just taken more time for some to accept its value, while others refuse to accept it. The Yankees started their run of greatness as a very patient team. For as many arms as he's ruined, Baker has probably saved several others by forcing his players to swing early and often so guys can get in a nice like 79 pitch complete game. A lot of this is perception. You list some random names because those are the ones you can remember. Guys like Mark Buerhle have gone a long time throwing 200+ innings per year, Mussina went a decade. Schilling has several years like that. The thing people don't remember are all the guys who flamed out with arm injuries from the past. By only acknowledging all the guys who pitched a lot, they ignore all the guys who got hurt and disappeared. The fact is Kerry Wood would have been a footnote in 1965. He wouldn't have had the hype coming in, because there just wasn't the media saturation, and because every prospect was a suspect. After his first injury he would have disappeared from the game, so you never would have heard of his 2nd or 3rd stint on the DL. And there were lots of guys that had that very thing happen to them. It was simply easier to pitch back then. You didn't run the risk of giving up a homerun to anybody who came to the plate, millions of dollars didn't ride on every pitch. Patience was not a virtue for hitters. Strikeouts were the absolute worst thing to happen, so guys swung early and just tried for contact a lot of the time. That makes the pitcher's job easier.

I read it a lot, and wrote much of it myself. Hendry has been a tools-hungry fool forever. He ignored the OBP problems forever, and his biggest move ever, signing Baker, was a disaster waiting to happen for a team that was going to rely exclusively on the fragile arms of young pitchers. People who paid attention pointed that out long ago. See you are talking about when things starting to go down hill for the Org. when you say fragile young arms, because in 2003 they weren't fragile. And who knew in 2004 they would all start breaking down. Hell in 2004 SI front cover had us winning the World Series. Who knew? Nobody knew. But a lot of people predicted it would happen, including myself. The pitching injuries should not have been a surprise because people knew how Dusty treated pitchers and how inconsistent and fragile young pitchers can be. Who cares what SI predicted? You act as if nobody questioned anything Hendry did before 2005, and that's simply not the case. He had his detractors long before this past offseason.

I read it a lot, and wrote much of it myself. Hendry has been a tools-hungry fool forever. He ignored the OBP problems forever, and his biggest move ever, signing Baker, was a disaster waiting to happen for a team that was going to rely exclusively on the fragile arms of young pitchers. People who paid attention pointed that out long ago.

Oh, if we're talking about the average call-in radio fan's opinion in Chicago, then I've got nothing to respond with. I was talking about nationwide perception, which I never pegged as anything close to giving him the genius label. Genius, no-up and coming star: absolutely. Especially after the Nomar trade. I specifically remember Bill Simmons (ESPN writer) lauding Hendry for getting "not only the best player, but the best prospect" in that deal, and using that to point out, along with a number of other points (Lee, Ramirez), that this guy was going to be one of the best GMs in baseball. Bill Simmons is an absolute moron when it comes to baseball. He's as stuck on the conventional wisdom of a bygone era as any other neanderthal baseball man in the game.

I see fat more than age.

Oh, if we're talking about the average call-in radio fan's opinion in Chicago, then I've got nothing to respond with. I was talking about nationwide perception, which I never pegged as anything close to giving him the genius label.

Oh man, the kid's already doing the towel drill. Lookout Prior.

Agreed! I remember a time when Hendry was a Genius and Williams was trading away his farm system for worthless players. All my Sox fan couldn't stand the guy before 2005. I don't remember Hendry as Genius. I think he meant the general perception of him as a genius. After the Hunley for Karros and Grudz deal, the Hill and Beltran for Ramirez and Lofton, the Choi for Lee deal, the signing of Hawkins, Walker, and Maddux, and the Nomar trade (the Barrett trade was one of the best during that time, but doesn't factor in to this because no one knew how to judge at the time)-Hendry was widely considered to be one of the up and coming best GM's in baseball-of course, now that perception has done a 180. Thanks and that is what I meant. I never heard claims of him as an up and coming best GM. His critics were numerous from day one, even though I chose to ignore them and only focus on the bright side. I think people thought he was capable of being a good GM, but there was never a general perception that he was a genius or close to the elite.

Everyone is over-reacting. 120 pitches for Zambrano is not a big deal. 120 pitches for Wood is a big deal. This idea of a fixed pitch count ceiling for all pitchers without regard for the specific pitcher is silly. Every once in a while it is good to push to build endurance, each pitcher should be taken as a completly different creature. Not agreeing with Dusty, but every once in a while you have to give those guys in the pen a rest. I was starting to get dicouraged seeing BP come in every 6th inning. this would suck if Z went to the carribean league after season and pitch. Then I would worry. If this was an "every once in a while" situation, then you'd have a point. But it happens every damn time, not every once in a while.

The problem with all this is they didn't need the guy and they never should have targeted stereotypical leadoff hitter in the first place. Losing out on Furcal did not force them to overpay for Pierre. It was Hendry's choice to foolishly overemphasize a secondary, or really tertiary, component in speed. He didn't have to focus on speed.

Pride has been the downfall of more than a few humans throughout history.

It's almost a full 4 years, and already well over 800 innings of Dusty time. And he's 25 now. His ERA+ peaked in 2004 at 23, I'm guessing it will not be back to that level this season. He might return to that level someday, but with Dusty and Larry in his corner, the odds aren't great.

So the NFL set is going to be more like college gameday, on location at the site of the game of the week so that Joe can go straight from that job to the playbyplay. NFL pregame shows are just background noice for me on Sundays. They are all awful, offering nothing to the viewer. It's just a combination of butt-kissing interviews, melodramatic sob stories and half-assed analysis. This is the time when I'm prepping the meat for the grill, testing the bloody mary's and checking the keg. NSBB Super Bowl party at goony's place! Every year. Every weekend actually, except half the weekends a big chunk of the usual crowd is at the Jets game. Each Sunday's menu is a pretty big project for me and the wife. Last year we averaged a keg and a half per week, with some going during college games, but most going during Sunday football/guys pass out girls watch whatever those shows are at night. Super Bowl Sundays are just a gluttony fest. We always have way too much food.

Agreed! I remember a time when Hendry was a Genius and Williams was trading away his farm system for worthless players. All my Sox fan couldn't stand the guy before 2005. I don't remember Hendry as Genius.

They do plan around them, they just don't plan to make do without them. I believe the Bears have in this instance.