goonys evil twin

I get that feeling as well.

I think the answer to the question in the title is pretty clear, it was the only option. Rusch got a job ahead of any kid, but there weren't other old guys to take rotations spots. There isn't one decent corner OF option on the team, so there's no way you can start one ahead of Murton. The Cedeno over Perez situation must have come about from the Cubs finally realizing how bad Neifi was as a starter last year. They tried to get a different veteran SS to take his place (although that possibly would have meant Cedeno at 2B anyway), but when it fell through they stuck with Ronny, as Hendry has been a big believer for quite some time now.

I know I watched Huston a lot (since I watched a lot of Ohio State) but I don't remember much. I can only hope he's better than Gould. If they want to improve special teams, they should improve the part that actually scores points. Gould was awful.

It's a combination of many things. I would say it's mostly due to their hitting philosophy, which boils down to swing early and swing often. It's partly about the draft, which has focused on pitching. But they've also spent some high picks on guys like Patterson, Montanez, Kelton, Harvey, Dopirak etc. In that Harvey draft they also selected a bunch of catchers and SS. In some of those late 90's drafts they selected a bunch of bats relatively early as well. Last year's draft was probably the most pitching centric of the group. It's also about the type of player they look for, which is the toolsy player that is high risk high reward. They seem to try and hit the lottery with athletes instead of just supplying the roster with productive baseball players. When you play the lottery, you usually lose. I also have doubts about the quality of their scouts, or at least the ability of those scouts to scout hitters. And I question the ability of the organization to develop hitters, both due to that philosophy which promotes a bad approach, and with the quality of coach.

Youn don't understand the timing complaint? Guys were not even close to on schedule. They completley overhauled their routine this spring. They started in February like they normally do, but completely changed things for the tournament. Normally they'd be in there throwing half-assed spring training innings. They aren't going balls out, national pride doesn't hinge on a 3-2 count against some AAA player in the 3rd inning of a spring training game. So instead of just trying to get your work in against live hitting in meaningless outings, you're trying to keep your country alive in a poorly thought out tournament. So you are saying overthrowing can't have any negative effects in the future? Overthrowing in early March when you are normally just getting your arm lose is exactly the type of thing that can have an effect down the road. The emotions of the moment can cause you to throw caution to the wind and throw like it's a pennant race instead of throwing like it's spring training. There's an enormous difference. Everyone of these guys is used to just loosening up in February, then tossing some meaningless innings in early March, dialing it up a little bit more in late March and then starting off the season. By late in the season they are already into the pattern their bodies have all been trained to endure. I just find it completely irrational, and so typically baseball, to ignore that there could be a problem here.

Wait a minute, decades upon decades of pitchers pitching 300-400 innings, finishing dozens of games per year is not enough evidence that pitch counts may be overrated, but a small number of pitchers who participated in the WBC struggling this April is enough that the tournament has a negative effect on pitchers? And how many young talented arms were blown out and never heard from again in those decades upon decades of men throwing up hill in 2 feet of snow both ways? I never said it was absolute proof. Personally I believed all along that it would negatively affect some pitchers, and I believe it has. But I'm not claiming it's a proven fact. I just think it's foolish to pretend the theory holds no water.

Why would he honestly say this? Doesn't he want to further the MLS and have it become a more world renowned league? I don't want all of our good players leaving to play in Europe. I want them to stay in the US and play. I know people have differing opinions on this matter but you would think that a former US National Team player and former MLS player wouldn't want all of the good American players to leave the US. I don't know much about futbol, but what is wrong with him saying that? Isn't he just making predictions? I don't see it as him advocating they abandon MLS or USA Soccer, or him dissing the America game. He's just making a prediction about what people will do.

soulmates. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what "dead arm" entails, but he has as much zip on his pitches as ever. He's just not locating them well. "dead head" maybe, and not the Jerry Garcia/Freddie Garcia type" I don't know how anybody could try and claim Zambrano has had the same zip. I've watched several games and not one time did I see a high reading on the gun. It's true that guns vary in their readings, but we're talking about several stadiums. Anyway, not being able to locate is also something that could come about when your arm isn't right, or when your routine was broken up in preperation for the season, or when you have to give a little more effort than normal to get that zip on the ball.

You've listed 4 pitchers out of probably about 40 guys that pitched in the WBC. I have no clue how they're doing, they may all be terrible too. But 4 pitchers' stat lines is proving nothing. Most of the pitchers that went deep into the WBC, don't pitch in the majors (Cuba/Japan), and there were only a few that got significant innings. Furthermore, we know the number of names doesn't prove anything. The whole world of understanding baseball injuries is still in the infancy stages. But it's also true that nobody has proven the WBC didn't cause any harm. It's like pitch count. Just because nobody has proven that 140 pitches is extremely dangerous doesn't mean a smart man would throw guys out there that long. I think there's enough evidence now, and there was enough concern going in, and there is enough logic behind the idea that pitching "meaningful" innings in early March, completely out of sync with normal preperation routines for pitchers, could be a bad thing and could have a negative effect on several pitchers. If 4 out of every 40 people who take a certain drug suffer severe complications, you wouldn't scoff at the correlation. Nobody is saying pitching in the WBC will hurt you. They are saying it's very possible that pitching in the WBC can hurt you, and there's not enough benefit (there's really no benefit actually, has anybody heard a thing about the WBC since the regular season started?) to justify that rather high risk. It didn't take years of studying pitchers to think that throwing in the WBC could be bad for guys, given the timing and the emotional tug of doing your best for your countrymen. It was a concern going in, and so far, multiple star pitchers are having bad starts to the season.

There's no way he would start over a healthy Lee, but I'm not sure if you can definitively say that'll be in 2 months.

People had problems with Dusty long before injuries. And Dusty may have played a significant part in some of these injuries. He can't be considered free of any blame for Prior and Wood.

Although I'm not sure if any of the responses came from professionals.

Actually, the regular season series hasn't been important at all, since both teams make the playoffs each year.

The Lugnuts are a Blue Jays affiliate. He was traded for Hinske.

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/newsDetail.jsp?id=15298 They signed 2 undrafted free agents, and have 3 on the roster. I think they can get adequate TE production if they have the QB and the OC use them properly. A major problem in the past has been the combination of weak game planning and bad QBs.

If you want to go by strict definitiions, fine, he negotiated against himself for those guys. The difference is, those guys were good and there would have been a big market. Not so for Rusch, who was a NRI for a reason a couple years ago, he sucks, and baseball people know it. There certainly was no reason to sign him to a 2 year 6 million dollar deal.

http://www.chicagobears.com/uploads/photos/perm/main/JPEOAEOGEJHF/DManningLovie_inside.jpg Lovie looks like a man who knows what he wants and how to get it.

There's a Cubs pitching joke in there somewhere.

http://image.weather.com/web/radar/us_ord_closeradar_medium_usen.jpg Looks quite scattered, I assume they'll get it in.

For what? I didn't even notice who I was responding to until I saw the personal rip at me. I never look at who the writer is, unless the name is really odd and catches my eye or I'm in the middle of a discussion. I can't remember the last topic you and I have even weighed in on at the same time before this. I didn't put words into your mouth. You can't say somebody put words into your mouth unless they said something like "well, you said.....". I never claimed you said anything other than what you said. And I disagreed with what you said. It's not personal, I just think you're wrong, and not providing a very good defense for your argument.

But the very fact that they screwed up so much in the past is why they've had to be more cautious now, and they've said they were going to be this cautious the whole time. The knee thing set him back 11 days. Optimism was looking at early May. That setback puts him at mid-May. He should be in a rehab start relatively soon, at which point you would reasonably expect 1 more start before his return. I don't see that as babying. I just don't get why you feel the need to perpetuate a silly personal battle. I don't look at the names of the people I reply to, I just read a post and reply if I feel like it. I don't know you. I don't care about you. I don't care what you think. If you write something I find interesting, or feel like following up with words like "I agree" or "good point", I'll do that. If you write something I disagree with, I'll respond. Unless I'm in the middle of an ongoing conversation with somebody on here, I rarely realize who exactly I'm talking to. I just read a bunch of "Kerry Wood is being babied" stuff and felt the need to chime in. It has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with the fact that I completely disagree with the sentiment that Wood is being babied through his recovery from shoulder and then knee surgery. If this was Prior, maybe I would agree. But the Wood situation does not equate to babying for me.

I don't think I've given up on Williams, but I've never had a great deal of faith in him to begin with. And it's not a reaction to the Cardinals game. I just don't like his game. However, I agree he deserves a shot over Rusch. And he should be in the discussion for the rotation now (and deserved a better shot than he was given).

How did I put words into your mouth? The Cubs knew Wood needed shoulder surgery last year, yet they kept using him. And now you think they are babying him. He seems to be on the pace that has been talked about most of the spring. Yet you think they are babying him. I don't get it. They overused the guy all the time in the past. They threw him well past reasonable thresholds. They threw him after they realized he needed surgery. And now they are on the pace that everybody has talked about and suddenly it's babying? Your claim doesn't make any sense to me.

He wasn't negotiating against himself? I thought he signed Glendon before Glendon talked to any other teams.

Uhh... No. The only casino game I might ever consider playing would be blackjack, but you should never approach any of those games expecting to come out ahead. The house never loses. The house loses a lot. They just win more often than they lose.