goonys evil twin

The general festivus thread belongs in social, the airing of grievences should be in rants, discussions about the aluminum pole belon in the June Ameteur Draft section, while feats of strength goes to rivalries.

Calling people silly and insane for criticizing a GM who is a complete failure for not getting it done is completely absurd. His job is to get it done. I don't care if a guy preferred the west coast, like the AL, prefers warm weather or anything else. Winning GMs get the job done. Winning GMs convince good players to play for them.

He's signed through 09 at Izturis money. If this team is going to be a $115+ million payroll team, I've got no problem with a guy making 4 million as a productive 4th OF, if/when Pie comes up.

The bottom line is, the Cubs brought it on themselves. If somebody is complaining, it's most likely justified. They've lost all rights to the benefit of the doubt. They'd made the same mistakes over and over. If a Cubs fan is pissed off and venting, he's most likely completely justified. This board isn't being overrun by irrational, unfair, hypercritical stat geeks.

Really? I see it as close to 100% that Pie will suck offensively. How will that increase his trade value----when he's posting .280 OBPs and whiffing more than once per game? I don't get it. I don't see how you can see it as close to 100% that he'll suck. If Pie played regurlarly in the bigs next season I would put the over/under at .260 / .315 / .425 for his stat line. No real formula, just my best guess. So on par with Izturis. Can he play SS? I think we'd have to consider ourselves extremely lucky to get that out of Izturis.

On the other hand, everybody in baseball seems convinced the Cubs were ready to call-up Pie in 2005. I'd play Jones in CF as of now, but depending on how the chips fall, I'd like with Pie out there.

Really? I see it as close to 100% that Pie will suck offensively. How will that increase his trade value----when he's posting .280 OBPs and whiffing more than once per game? I don't get it. I don't see how you can see it as close to 100% that he'll suck. If Pie played regurlarly in the bigs next season I would put the over/under at .260 / .315 / .425 for his stat line. No real formula, just my best guess. I don't think that's entirely unrealistic. Do you think that qualifies under "sucking offensively"? I wouldn't, which is why I doubted the absolute declaration he'd be terrible. I think there's a very small chance he'd be good, but also a sizable probability that he won't be terrible. I would say that would not suck, given the circumstances. It's all relative. Such a stat line would be entirely acceptable from a very young 1st year CFer with as much upside as Pie. Likewise, a good team could absord such a stat line into the lineup without crippling the offense. On the other hand, the Cubs don't have a good team, and the lineup may not be able to make up for what that line lacks, especially if they get even the slightest decline out of their bigger producers. You've alread got the SS black hole to deal with, and question marks at 2B and LF. Without a Pujols or Cabrera type season from somebody, that line could hurt. If you traded Murton in a package deal for Cabrera, I'd definitely be fine with Pie in CF.

Ah, finally some sanity. That's ridicilous If this place is so insane and the people who post here so unrealistic and unknowledgable why do you or anyone else who is bitching stay here? You are really overreacting to my post and completely missing the point. My point is that I appreciate measured criticism based in fact (like stats) rather than pure speculation such as, "That Hendry stinks because he didn't trade for Chruch. I know they were only asking for (names of players)". I also prefer criticism based on actual results (such as guys we have actually acquired, the team's performance, etc.) rather than "Hendry sucks - he didn't sign Schmidt!" EDIT: For example, many of us (myself included) took shots at Hendry for the contracts he gave to DeRosa and Lilly. I don't have a problem with that. What bothers me is when people slam Hendry for things he cannot control, such as the fact Schmidt apparently preferred to sign on the Coast in spite of the fact that the Cubs offerred him more money and an extra year. Nothing he can do about that, IMO. EDIT No. 2: Please show me where I referred to anyone here as "unknowledgeable". I don't get why the criticism has to be so limited in scope. Getting the job done in the big picture requires getting the job done on specific moves. Under your rules, we can't complain that Hendry went after guys like Perez, Rusch, Burnitz, Jones etc instead of getting a player like Vlad, Tejada or Beltran when they were available. Why can't people just let fans react how they want to the ineptitude of Cubs management?

People are wasting their time talking about this shortstop thing and Giles. The Cubs, whether you like it or not, are happy with Izturis and are not looking for a shortstop. They signed DeRosa for three years to be their second baseman. They are not going to sign Giles. I cringe at the thought of Murton being platooned. There's no reason to take away at-bats from this promising young player. His splits don't warrant it, either. Unfortunately, Jones is horrible versus lefties, and should almost never face them. I don't think the Cubs have a "straight platoon" planned for Murton. They know that if they sign Floyd, he'll miss a lot of games (he always does), and Murton will get most of the at-bats. The outfield picture has a ways to go before it takes shape. The Cubs got 685 PA out of the 5 spot last year and 680 out of LF. On the low end in both categories due to their low OBP (which means the lineup turns over less often). If the OBP is any better they could get 695-700. Give Murton 500 PA as starting LF, another 40 as a PH when he's not starting, and then 200 to a guy like Floyd, with another 50-60 as a PH, and you'd be giving Murton plenty of opportunity, and when he does sit, having a guy who's a legit threat in his place. You'd also have a solid bat on the bench, and much better depth in the OF in case of injury.

People are wasting their time talking about this shortstop thing and Giles. The Cubs, whether you like it or not, are happy with Izturis and are not looking for a shortstop. They signed DeRosa for three years to be their second baseman. They are not going to sign Giles. I cringe at the thought of Murton being platooned. There's no reason to take away at-bats from this promising young player. His splits don't warrant it, either. Unfortunately, Jones is horrible versus lefties, and should almost never face them. Platooning Murton is far from ideal. But the Cubs need more offense. If they don't improve the blackhole at SS, or get something in center, a LH bat that could provide greater production against RHP than Murton could, might be the next best thing.

you guys are so slow

Tank surrendered, 6 counts unlawful use of a weapon.

No big deal, TB can't pass. Hillenmeyer can play all game again.

Rex had a list of fans and media who had "dissed him" and was prepared to go postal on Sunday. It's a good thing the Gurnee police were on the ball. If they weren't, Rex would have fumbled it.

I hope B&B weren't rude to him though. God forbid. That had to be a joke by the caller, in reference to all the calls to make Mark Anderson either an OLB or DT. Somebody made a Hester to DT joke, but this didn't sound like a joke. He pumped up Tait's high school all-american status as a DT. One of the B's asked if he was serious and he said yes. He could have been kidding, or the call could have been planted, but it was not an obvious joke.

The Clubhouse is plenty veterany as is. If you want to argue they need a veteran for the bench because none of their young guys are good enough, okay. But they don't need veteran presence, they need production. What's Shea Hillenbrand doing?

guy on radio asked if they could just move John Tait to defensive tackle. my god people are dumb.

Tank has been about as useful. Seriously? Tank has actually contributed. The other guys have been a black hole of terribleness. Well I'm exaggerating, but he's been as big a 2nd round disappointment as anybody. I gotta disagree with you here. I think he's been alright. He's been alright at times. He's been inconsistent, a non-factor at times and okay at others. I'd want more out of a 2nd rounder.

These points are all true, well made and well argued. But Ryan Church is not a free agent. The fact is, the Cubs have talked with Washington about him (as have other teams). Perhaps the Nationals are asking way too much (this is what I hear) for Church from the Cubs and other teams. This goes back to my point about taking two sides to make a deal. The Cubs aren't alone in not being able to pull off a trade, either major or minor. I was at the winter meetings, and there was virtually NO trade activity. All these GMs face to face, and the most that was going to happen was that somebody was going to catch a cold. Getting a trade done assumes that the team wants to move the player and is asking for a reasonable amount in return. I don't know if the Nats want to move Church. I do know they've fielded calls and have asked for a lot from everybody who has called. So it isn't as easy to trade as it is in fantasy baseball? Surely Bruce you must be wrong, Hendry's just an idiot. When will you get this? :lol: (back to the pub now...London rocks!) Couldn't they just turn off fair trades and force it through?

Yeah, why? The person who was arrested was 26. It's probably Rex.

Tank has been about as useful. Seriously? Tank has actually contributed. The other guys have been a black hole of terribleness. Well I'm exaggerating, but he's been as big a 2nd round disappointment as anybody.

Tank has been about as useful.

Lovie sounded really weird when he started this press conference.

As we all know, the Manning, Jr. suspension was ridiculously drawn out. Hopefully the same thing happens here, if at all. If there are weapons and major drug charges, I think the Bears would go ahead and suspend them before the league had a chance.

But if he's in serious enough trouble to go to jail, he still could be out. If he left Halas Hall with Bears security people, my guess is the police requested an audience with him and the Bears wanted to make sure he was represented.