goonys evil twin

I'm not trying to get into a "The Cubs suck at teaching" debate here. All I'm saying is you should have more faith in your ability to teach a guy like Sisco than to simply let him go. The logic behind the decision makes sense on certain levels. That doesn't excuse it from being wrong though. It was a mistake. Instead of making excuses and saying he'd never have made it if he stayed here, I hope the Cubs realize it was a mistake and do what they can to learn from it, and improve their system so they won't make it again.

That is just a hard one for me to swallow. You aren't the only one who has speculated that Sisco would just be the same old mess this year. I suppose some will think this is ironic, but I'm more optimistic that it was simple immaturity that he could grow out of. Zambrano is afforded growing pains. Sisco should have be allowed the same, IMO. I don't think he's implying that Sisco would be some egomaniacal jerk his entire career, just that his turnaround from this offseason to this season wouldn't have happened had he not been left unprotected. And I'm not arguing that Sisco would be pitching for the Cubs with a sub 2 ERA out of the pen right now if they kept him. But if the organization had any developmental ability at all, they'd be able to get some of what KC is getting out of him for their A ball team. If you think the only way to motivate a guy is by letting another team have him for free, then you don't have much of a developmental program in your own system.

The difference is something versus nothing. The Cubs are likely to get absolutely nothing out of a huge asset, that's indefensible, and inexcusable. The option clock thing is a cop-out. You don't just let a guy go for nothing when he was so highly regarded. You know he has value. So he had a setback. Big deal. Few prospects avoid setbacks. 3 years isn't exactly a brief moment in time. If you couldn't develop him into somebody who could stick, at least in the pen, in 3 years, then maybe you should look at your developmental people. The fact is the Cubs screwed up. It isn't the first time and it won't be the last. Hopefully they can overcome this screwup, and win without that asset under their control. But that still wouldn't negate the fact that it was a screw up. After last season, do you honestly think Sisco would stick on a ML roster all year? It doesn't matter. You knew he'd get selected. You knew there were teams bad enough that could justify hiding him even if he sucked. This isn't complaining with hindsight. People have been blasting this move from day one. It was pointless. It was self defeating. It wasn't necessary. How can you not protect the pitcher with the highest upside in your organization? And how do you justify always overspending for mediocre lefties when you just let the one with the most potential just leave for nothing? You can't defend this move. There was always hope that it might not blow up in their face, but the simple fact is they never had to light that fuse in the first place. They could have, and should have protected him. Risk losing the mediocre guys, that's fine. You just don't risk your top prospects, in any situation.

The difference is something versus nothing. The Cubs are likely to get absolutely nothing out of a huge asset, that's indefensible, and inexcusable. The option clock thing is a cop-out. You don't just let a guy go for nothing when he was so highly regarded. You know he has value. So he had a setback. Big deal. Few prospects avoid setbacks. 3 years isn't exactly a brief moment in time. If you couldn't develop him into somebody who could stick, at least in the pen, in 3 years, then maybe you should look at your developmental people. The fact is the Cubs screwed up. It isn't the first time and it won't be the last. Hopefully they can overcome this screwup, and win without that asset under their control. But that still wouldn't negate the fact that it was a screw up.

I can't believe some people are still trying to defend Hendry for this move. It was a mistake. A clear mistake. Sisco was one of the Cubs highest rated prospects last year, and right now he's gone for nothing in return. It was a mistake. There's no reason to pretend otherwise.

He was nearly in line for the win, but KC wasted a bases loaded 1 out opportunity in the bottom of 6. Now he's gone.

When I saw Dunn was out after being spiked I figured Rocket put the date rape drug in his gatorade.

This should go under his good moves then. The lineup won't have to face Jake Peavy today.

Hey coach, I was just noticing the picture in your signature. Do you really think it was a mistake to let Moises Alou walk this offseason?

He was 1 for 3 with a sacrifice. It's hard to rail on him for making an out when he was ordered to sacrifice. I too would expect Hairston to outdo a 333 OBP throughout the year, but Eaton was on today, I'm ecstatic that Neifi managed a hit. There's no excuse for Macias over Dubois. But why extrapolate one game into 162? There's so many more variables to consider in 1 real game as opposed to 161 imaginary ones, and Dusty pulled the right string with Perez over Hairston. Despite the nearly 2 pages of anti-Perez posts Perez was one of our more successful hitters today. That's just the facts...Those who hated on Perez for this game got shown up. Oh yeah, I forgot cuz Dusty didn't do it, I bet Hairston would have gone 4 for 4 with 4 grand slams. Jesus Christ. Playing Neifi was the wrong thing to do, regardless of whether or not he got one measly hit. Yippee. Cause you said so :roll: Because it's obviously true.

Cool. Knocking Reggie Miller out of the playoffs one last time would be an excellent cap to a wonderful season. I heard somebody on the radio yesterday talking about the Bulls' postseason chances, and he said he thought the Bulls "had a chance to pull off the upset in the first round". Assuming they are the 4th seed, would they really be the underdogs? I was under the impression that they had about the best record in the league since January 1 or something like that.

You only 764 posts to go then... It's a long season. No comment on the 0-3 2 Ks yet?

I'm pretty sure you are correct. Macias's ability to play multiple positions is similar to my grandmother's ability to drive. He's done it a lot, but that doesn't mean he's any good at it. I don't disagree. But, I don't think Dusty sees it that way. Nor does ESPN/Stats Inc.: I don't see anything that says he's any good at playing third.

I'm pretty sure you are correct. Macias's ability to play multiple positions is similar to my grandmother's ability to drive. He's done it a lot, but that doesn't mean he's any good at it.

Are you gonna keep this up? It's borderline insanity. No kidding. Put this in baseball discussions where it belongs.

Neifi is alright as a backup shortstop. Just as long as he doesn't have to start, they can win with him on the team. But there's no reason why he's the 2nd bat off the bench. The Cubs have 3-4 "25th men" yet they seem to want to use them all the time.

Hendry has to know that the dipwad he has running this team has no clue what he's doing. He has got to get rid of those guys, because that's the only way Dusty will stop using them. The problem is Hendry apparantly likes Macias and Neifi. He traded for Jose. He gave him 2 raises. He could have replaced him, but he didn't.

Part of that may be due to him knowing he last to last later in the game, so he's holding back early. He was showing signs of being a decent reliever last year when he knew he was only going to be in for 3 batters at most. Now he has to hold back so he can throw 100 pitches instead of 15. He may never do it, but he has a lot of similarities with the typical failed starter with good stuff who makes it as a reliever. I still can't believe they spent that much time and effort turning him into a reliever and convincing people he could be a good reliever, and then put him back in the spot he's always sucked at.

I think last night's start was a perfect example of why he was an intriguing option out of the pen but a terrible option to be a starting pitcher. He was dominant for short bursts, but he just does not have the ability to consistently get people out 2-3 times through the order. The funny thing is he could have a good outing next time and some people will say, "see, that's what we knew he was capable of all along". Well sure, with his talent he's capable of being good from time to time. But his history shows he will not be consistently good enough to be a starter. And as a starter, you can't merely be good every other game, then get lifted early having given up more runs than innings pitched. It kills the bullpen when you have guys going out there getting pulled in the 3rd and 4th. As much as people rag on Wood for not going 7-8 every game, at least he almost always goes 6+. He doesn't go 8 one day and 2 the next. Maddux and Dempster are both at risk of going back to back disaster starts, as evidenced by the last two days. Put Dempster in the bullpen right now. Go with just about anybody else in the starting rotation. Make the switch now. Don't wait a month to see how he adjusts. The decision was wrong from the start. It was obvious.

It's not a good spring to be an ankiel.

Give one example. Nothing like replying 4 pages later. Sorry for my slowness... I can think of 2 teams off the top of my head, 1985 & 1999. Also 2001 has a point as well. All 3 teams finished behind the last 2 years. Don't misunderstand me, I believe that these past 2 years and this year's team is incredibly talented and probably would beat those other teams, but you can't discount the fact that Dusty has made these teams successful. Just because you are talented doesn't mean that you will win just by showing up or in spite of yourself. Look at the late 60's team. They were loaded but fell flat. I guess it takes more for me to lose faith in a leader then a bad PH decision. 88 and 89 wins man. It's not that big of a deal. That's relative success, at best. And Dusty didn't bring it. The pitchers did. If the late 60's teams were loaded but fell flat, how can you describe the last two teams as anything but falling flat?

I don't quite get how Dusty only had "one questionable" move, he made a few absolutely terrible ones. But I'm sick of Greg Maddux already. I though he had far too many disaster games last year, and he had another last night. 5 runs in 5 IP is inexcusable. Hopefully he can find a way to limit these terrible starts, and can improve on last season. It seemed to me most people were complaining about macias and neifi. That's probably because the thread was about that. I've avoided the board most of the day, so I don't know the sentiment. Personally I think ignorant managerial moves are less forgivable than bad pitching performances. You can avoid stupid moves by just thinking. Maddux's tendancy to give up a run per inning is more of a case of him just being old and not that good anymore. It's hard to get pissed at a guy for following the laws of nature. It's easy to get pissed at a manager who refuses to come to grips with the fact that Jose Macias and Neifi Perez cannot hit.

I don't quite get how Dusty only had "one questionable" move, he made a few absolutely terrible ones. But I'm sick of Greg Maddux already. I though he had far too many disaster games last year, and he had another last night. 5 runs in 5 IP is inexcusable. Hopefully he can find a way to limit these terrible starts, and can improve on last season.

Perhaps Dunn should have quit on his team like Kruk before his record setting K.

Until he stops striking out he's worthless.