goonys evil twin

From 04 to 05 perhaps? Even if Edmonds does decline, he'll still be among the elite for his position on the team, and better than any Cubs outfielder. Anyway, as for the other stuff, one thing to remember is it's not just OBP. The Cubs are still a team that doesn't walk, even if some of these guys get on more frequently than the ones they are replacing. But they have other offensive weaknesses as well. And the guys you list will not be playing 162 games next year. You can't compare the 2005 SS OBP with Ronny Cedeno alone, because Ronny will not play all season every game. Neifi will be a significant drag on the SS OBP, whether he's starting 20, 50 or 80 games at short. Likewise, Murton will not account for 650 PA from LF. Somebody else is going to get significant time out there, 100, 200, maybe 300? PA. And that person will most likely be a bad OBP guy. When you take into account likely changes in OBP for the 650-700+ or so PA from each position, CF is the only one that is almost a guarantee for significant improvement. SS and LF should increase a bit, but probably not by an enormous amount. Meanwhile, 2B could easily decline (.346 in 2005) as could 1B and C (positions where primary player is coming off career year). Overall, the team OBP should be a bit better, but not by a very wide margin.

More failure by Hendry's team has to result in his removal from duty. He put together the team. It's failed under his watch, if it keeps failing he is responsible.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview06/index http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview06/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&id=2385486 As Stark writes, the Cubs are not devoid of talent. They can make some noice. But why do so many people insist on referring to Jacque Jones this way. Not only Jones, but lots of guys fall in this category. Yeah, Jones is another bat. So what, it's not like they were going to start games with only 2 outfielders. They were going to have a guy who could hold a bat no matter what. The key is what the new bat is replacing. Jones is replacing a guy who was just as bad as him. No reason for optimism can center around the idea that Jones is now in the lineup. Jones wasn't the missing link from year's past. If they went from Jose Macias to Jones, then you have a reason to expect improvement. But this was stagnation. Anyway, ESPN has a bunch of Cubs stuff up on the MLB page. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=2381441 http://espn-att.starwave.com/media/mlb/2005/0703/photo/g_lee_412.jpg

Why? It's a spring training game. Texas was using a DH the other night when the Cubs let Zambrano hit. The result of this game is meaningless. All that matters is getting your work in. Cubs pitchers need to see some at bats, and the White Sox need to get their DH out there.

Are you seriously making Daryl Kyle jokes?

You have the right to boo. You have the right to do a lot of things. Just because you have the right to do something doesn't mean you should. And just because lots of people are complete clowns at games doesn't mean anybody should stop from pointing out their ignorance. I don't get that upset when players are booed. I get annoyed when people talk about how it's their right and how they are accomplishing something by booing. When I'm at a game where the home player is booed, usually I just laugh at the immature fans who can't get some perspective. The best is going to a Yankees game and hearing guys rip ARod to shreds, then later applaud like mad when he does well. I once sat a row in front of one of the most ignorant jerks to ever attend a baseball game. It was the Diaz HR game that pretty much ended the Cubs 2004 season. This complete moron yelled and screamed and insulted his hometown Mets, and went on and on about how much money he paid to this team and how much he deserved the right to act like the dirtbag he was. A truly classless piece of trash, who was probably related to the "worst bracket ever" guy from a different thread. He hated everybody and everything, was vulgar, and didn't care one iota if he was negatively affecting other people who just wanted to enjoy the game. And I'm pretty sure he was sober too. Anyway, after the Diaz HR, of course, he loves his Mets and can't get enough of them. I think of people who boo their own players at games as people related to this guy. Sure, most of them don't take it nearly as far. But some of them do, and the others are just enablers to the extremists. Sure you have the right to boo. Just like that Mets fan had the right to be a jerk. But having the right doesn't justifying taking advantage of that right.

That's odd, because most people can. Then I should get my ears checked because I remember many a Hundley and Patterson AB precluded and followed by a roar of boos. A roar does not mean everybody is taking part. I was at a Hundley game when it was at its peak, and while it was a loud roar, I'd say about 1 in 5 was taking part in the booing. I never attended a home game when the Patterson booing was at its worst, but I did see a couple games in Wrigley last year when there was some mild booing before he came to the plate.

That's odd, because most people can.

Yeah, that's what we needs, crowds determining personel decisions. Augie! Augie! Augie!

It's an emotional reaction when you boo a bad play that just happened. It's a premeditated act of immaturity when you boo the name being announced in the starting lineup, or as the player strides to the plate or after every move me makes. Sorry, still not buying your "poor Corey" argument. As a major league player he has got to take the good with the bad. Booing a player who is performing poorly is no worse than getting on a message board and complaining constantly about Dusty, Neifi, or Rusch or no more immature than calling a player "slappy" or "gremlin" etc. In fact, booing a player at a game probably accomplishes more, as Corey was finally run out of town. Neifi and Glendon are still here. I'm not making a "poor Corey" argument. I'm making a "it's stupid to boo your players as they come up to the plate" argument.

i didn't go out of my way to boo them before they even did anything on the field. So you never booed them before an AB? No, why would anybody who wants the Cubs to succeed boo one of their players before he bats? It's absurd. I can't stand seeing Neifi Perez in a Cubs uniform, let alone at the plate. But I'm not going to boo his worthless butt, I'm going to hope he does something to help the team.

I like to see Murton in that 5 hole. I'd prefer he go top shelf more often, but, whatever works.

It's an emotional reaction when you boo a bad play that just happened. It's a premeditated act of immaturity when you boo the name being announced in the starting lineup, or as the player strides to the plate or after every move me makes.

Doesn't this say a lot? Boo the team when they play poorly as a group if you insist and think you're accomplishing something by booing. But picking out one guy and booing him mercilessly, before he even gets to the plate, as his name in announced before the game, during every single pitch of every single game is just plain stupid.

uh, hi, my team sucks and I have no idea why I have 592 reserves, what did that auto-draft do to me while I was in Zona?

That's a lot of background information. That sucks. I have a couple friends who we joke with on topics like this, but I doubt I could handle it with such a calm demeanor if it happened to me. I think this stuff will continue to get better. The baby boom generation was raised by pre-civil rights era parents. I have older relatives, and friends with older relatives who still harbor some pretty disturbing feelings on race. More recent generations have been raised in completely different environments. I think racism is decreasing each time an old bigot dies. It'll never disappear, but it'll keep decreasing for a while.

We sure are executing with men in scoring position and less then two outs this spring, be it hits, contact, or sac flys. I don't know if what should have been a groundball out is really executing.

That's not success in my book. They'd be better off trying to have him pull the ball.

And all by May 1 It'll all be meaningless if we tank in April. What was Houston's record at the end of April in 2005? They're the exception, not the rule. There was also a recent (2003) team that was below .500 at one point as late as July, and still won their division. What team was that? :D I really don't want to go through another 3 months of "it's still too early to worry about the standings."

I can't fault the Cubs for extending his deal even if they did intend on trading him. He is a valuable asset.

You called out one single post and said it was Chicken Little. I don't understand how you can deny that.

I think that's a rather arbitrary and subjective claim.

Not until spring training started at least, when he couldn't pitch and had to go on an extreme caution delayed start to the season.

I thought Steve Stone and Kerry Wood each suffered from something like this before.

You did say: "I don't have much problem with Alph's decision here either. " I think Bowden was foolish for making the trade (even if Soriano was to move), but Soriano is still a dirtbag of a player for pulling this crap. If Soriano was drafted by Washington, and refused to sign, that's one thing. But when you sign that contract that starts guaranteeing you money, you relinquish the right to choose when and where you play until you hit free agency.