goonys evil twin

With Cubs announcers instead of White Sox! I think it might be interesting to watch a Cubs/Padres game announced by the White Sox announcers.

The best way to make better decisions in the future is to know how and why you went wrong in the past. We know that they used them, we know why they used them, we know how they used them. I really do not care who used them. It's over and done with. Just get steriods out of the game now and let's "play ball". If the players were so upset that some of their peers had as advantage over them, then why did they not speak up when all of this was going on? So we should just ignore it, and then pick on the non-users? You don't care. Fine. Other people do. And it matters.

I just heard on XM that Cox is probably going to keep Brian Jordan on the roster over some younger guy that hit over 400 in st (forgot his name). Because he looks at his bench and doesn't see any veterans there. He must have a veteran fetish? Everybody is going to have some level of faith in veterans over kids. Bobby Cox has enough history of putting faith in younger players to excuse him from occasionally going with a guy like Jordan. I wouldn't be all that interested in that kid's spring training numbers, as opposed to his career numbers as a pro. But for what it's worth, Jordan is having a great spring, so if you want to use that as your excuse, it doesn't make much sense. Plus, what is the kid's storyline? Is he a 22 year old solid prospect who can use some more seasoning playing everyday, as opposed to being on the bench. Would being a major league bench player slow his progress? And I don't know many people who have advocated benches with zero veterans, so if most of the guys are younger and Brian is the sole aged one, that's not that big of a deal.

I did notice that most writers did not make a big deal of the quote. But I've feared for quite some time that Ronny will be on an incredibly short leash. And while it's true that most teams operate this way, that doesn't make it a sound practice. So it doesn't take much to start worrying. Ronny has to be given a chance to fail, and fail badly, then get the chance to play through it and rebound before being replaced by such dead weight as Neifi.

this post makse little sense to me. Moneyball=Oakland. most of the MLB does not follow Moneyball... What doesn't make sense? His point was that most teams don't follow the efficiency model that Oakland uses, even though Oakland has shown it can do a lot more with a lot less than other teams, for a long time. His point was that most teams don't operate that way, and it's stupid that they don't.

The best way to make better decisions in the future is to know how and why you went wrong in the past.

And you are an idiot. PERIOD! I will absolutely NOT blame Dusty Baker for this if it happens. That man gave all the opportunities in the world to Ronny Cedeno. He fricking GAVE him the job outright, and told him to relax. What does Ronny do? He lays eggs at the plate and commits 4 errors in the field in the spring! He doesn't deserve the job if he's going to commit errors like that. I want Ronny to succeed badly. Awesome skills, and a lot of potential. But I want to win too. And let's just get this straight now. NEIFI. PEREZ. IS. NOT. THAT. BAD! Now shut up and learn a little bit about baseball. Neifi Perez is bad. Telling the guy he has the job and actually giving him a chance to fail in the major league season are very different things. Laying eggs in the spring and making some errors should not lose somebody their job. And calling that person an idiot was completely uncalled for.

I don't think there is any way they could rebuild on the same location. The city would not allow it, or they would make it so difficult, that they would almost be forced to go elsewhere. I don't mean to pick on Naperville, I just picked a name. I just hate the idea of them moving to any suburb. It would be a boon to whichever town they choose, but a bummer for me, and probably most other Cubs fans.

Oh goody, more Barry crap.

I think I read this a couple days ago. Not a good article: Why does he have to rip him? There's no reasont to write an article about Prior that rips him, because he hasn't done anything worth ripping. This looks like the quintessential, "treat the good quote well, and pick on the guy who won't talk to me" column. It's like a less brazen version of Jim Rome, who will kiss the butt of any player who calls into his show, no matter how bad, but will rip to shreds so many others.

No, I'm saying I don't see the renovations as turning it into a terrible ballpark, and as long as they can keep it viable, I prefer it where it is than in the suburbs. I only go to a few games a year. I'll still watch games wherever they are played, and be the same fan. But it will be a lot less fun to go out there for a game or two if they are in the burbs. I think the uproar over the changes is just the typical fight against change of any kind. I think it will actually end up better, and a few years later people aren't going to be longing for the days when it was something else. I think the location is much better than the stadium itself, even though I love the stadium. I'd rather they build a whole new park on the current location than move the current park to a different location. But first and foremost on my mind is always the team.

It's called a platoon slick. No matter how you cut it, Boston's RF is much better than Jones. Their offense runs circles around the Cubs. Any comparison is absolutely absurd.

Shouldn't? No. But that's where we are. And the only reasonable optioon is to stick with Ronny as long as possible, and yes, that could mean two months of really bad production. You simply don't choose to lock-in futility, which is Neifi, when you have a kid who could be much better (even if he currently is not). As an aside, would people stop pretending Neifi was an average SS last year. He was only average if you consider all the hacks who got any time there (and even that is doubtful). The Cubs, as a team were 10th in the NL in OBP and OPS from the SS position. That is below average. Neifi's OBP was .010 below the team OBP from SS, while his SLG was slightly higher. Neifi, just like the Cubs, was below average for a SS. Also, last year was just one year. He's been awful for a long time, even worse than 2005. They got lucky to get a couple great weeks out of Neifi, which slightly offset his truly miserable numbers the rest of the year. Neifi's 3 year total is even worse than last year's bad numbers. You have to expect him to be even worse, because you can't assume he'll have another 3 week stretch that was so out of the ordinary from his career.

No matter how you phrase it, if you justify the benching of Cedeno, you are arguing that Neifi deserves the starting SS job. A benched Cedeno means Neifi is starting. We know management screwed up the offseason. That already happened. There's nothing you can do about it now. So, in the current situation, you either advocate going with Ronny from day 1 even if it means enduring some tough stretches. Or, you advocate starting Neifi. You can't sit there and say it's fine to bench Ronny, but then say you don't want Neifi starting. It's one or the other.

The difference is those teams can afford to take on such a bad bat. The Cubs can't afford a black hole like Neifi in their already weak lineup. Boston has major holes in their lineup also. They're awful at SS,3B, and RF. And they're not overly strong at first. They led all of freaking baseball in runs scored last year. They'll be fine. They can handle a bad bat or two because the group as a whole is great. And RF is not awful for Boston. I'd take a platoon of Nixon and Pena (or either one individually) over Jones in a heartbeat. And their 3B situation has a chance to work out very nicely.

The difference is those teams can afford to take on such a bad bat. The Cubs can't afford a black hole like Neifi in their already weak lineup. Houston won with unbelievably great pitching, the Cubs are probably not getting unbelievably great pitching this year. Neifi guarantees Cubs failure. Put him at 2B for the Yankees, and they'll still have a great offense. Put him in the Cincy, or Philly, or STL lineups, and they will be fine. But the Cubs don't have a good lineup. Those teams do.

If Cedeno can't earn a job based on one good year, why can Neifi earn the job by default based off of several terrible years?

Who are the 3 guys?

A struggling Cedeno at least offers the chance for success in the future, which could be the very near future. Neifi only guarantees failure, because he's done it so often and for so long, we know he's not a capable starting major league baseball player. Even if Cedeno is performing below what you would expect for Neifi, you have to give him plenty of time to possibly get back over the Neifi line, which shouldn't be that hard. You don't lock yourself into no produciton (Neifi) if you have the opportunity to get much greater production.

In what way is Lugo an older Cedeno? Lugo is a moderately priced productive SS. He's very similar to Furcal. Cedeno might one day be as productive as Lugo, but we sure as heck don't know for sure. I think you just answered your own question -- a moderately priced productive SS. I know you're not sold on Ronny, but I most definitely am after watching him in Des Moines a few times. I think he's going to be just fine. No, I didn't answer my question. You can't just say you saw him in Iowa a couple times and therefore he's just a younger Lugo. Ronny is very much an unproven commodity. He doesn't have a strong track record of productivity in the minors to fall back on. You can think he's going to be just fine all you want, but that doesn't mean you can wave off the fact that Lugo would provide something Ronny cannot, which is stable productivity (as opposed to Neifi, who is stable crappiness). I most certainly can wave off that "fact". In my opinion (not yours) Lugo is not a significant upgrade over Ronny. He might not be a significant upgrade over successful Ronny, but he's most definitely a signficicant upgrade over struggling Ronny. The question here is what happens if Ronny fails. If you take the option of replacing him with Neifi, then you should have gotten a guy like Lugo. If you aren't willing to risk failure with a young guy who can be good, then you better guarantee production with a guy like Lugo, and not guarantee failure with a guy like Neifi.

In what way is Lugo an older Cedeno? Lugo is a moderately priced productive SS. He's very similar to Furcal. Cedeno might one day be as productive as Lugo, but we sure as heck don't know for sure. I think you just answered your own question -- a moderately priced productive SS. I know you're not sold on Ronny, but I most definitely am after watching him in Des Moines a few times. I think he's going to be just fine. No, I didn't answer my question. You can't just say you saw him in Iowa a couple times and therefore he's just a younger Lugo. Ronny is very much an unproven commodity. He doesn't have a strong track record of productivity in the minors to fall back on. You can think he's going to be just fine all you want, but that doesn't mean you can wave off the fact that Lugo would provide something Ronny cannot, which is stable productivity (as opposed to Neifi, who is stable crappiness).

That didn't work with Corey Patterson. Giving someone playing time does not insure progress. Giving Neifi playing time will ensure losing.

between Daley/city counsel and Wrigley being listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, the coy disguises are necessary. there are many politicians telling them what they cannot do with their building, so they have to jump through the hoops and do what they can. Exactly, and if they ever did build a modern stadium, they'd have to do so in a boring suburb somewhere. I don't care about the physical structure of Wrigley nearly as I do the location. I love that the stadium is in a great neighborhood in the middle of the city. So many other ballparks are glorified rest stops on the side of a highway, or part of a city's industrial area, surrounded by abandoned or broken down buildings. I hope they keep improving Wrigley bit by bit in it's current location, because I don't want to drive to a McBallpark in Naperville in the future to see the Cubs.

In what way is Lugo an older Cedeno? Lugo is a moderately priced productive SS. He's very similar to Furcal. Cedeno might one day be as productive as Lugo, but we sure as heck don't know for sure.

I don't have a problem with replacing Cedeno, I was never 100% sold on him in the first place. I have a huge problem with replacing Cedeno with Neifi. Neifi is not an average SS, he's a really bad one. The Cubs can't afford another year with Neifi production in the lineup. First off, if you give the kid the job, you have to give him more than a month to lose it. Young players struggle, and sometimes they struggle badly. However, when the alternative to that struggling young player is a player as terrible as Neifi Perez you extend it even more. Neifi might be more stable, but all he provides is stability in the failure department. Cedeno might look terrible at times, but at least he gives you the chance for improvement. Neifi won't be improving from his awful self.