Yestheydo

The Cubs could easily afford to sign Dusty Baker to a 10 year $50 million contract, that doesn't make it a smart move. If you're dying of thirst in the desert, and someone offers you an ice cold water bottle for $100, is it a dumb move to "overpay"?

Yes, cause that trade is totally why they're in the playoff race. No, but that GM definitely is. And if they don't make the playoffs, it won't be because they don't have Lopez and Kearns.

All right; I give up. You guys win. It was a horrible trade, and Krivsky is a horrible GM. I guess those poor Reds fans will just have to wipe their tears with playoff tickets.

You guys do know that Dusty really believes this team can make the playoffs, right?

Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez for middle relievers....GO! Okay, then. First, they're both starting to become pricey. Next, the thing that each provided best -- Lopez' leadoff skills and Kearns' defense -- was easily and cheaply replaced by Ryan Freel. Their offense hasn't suffered one bit since the trade; in fact they now have a more or less set lineup for the first time in years. The point here is that as good as the two players were, they could easily afford to give them up. And considering the fact that Krivsky has spent all season tirelessly dumpster-diving and turning over rocks to add players, it seems unlikely that he passed up Johan Santana to get Majewski and Bray. Bottom line is that it was the best he could do. I'm sure he would have liked more, but nobody was offering more. The guys he did get haven't helped much yet this year, admittedly. But they're both young and cheap and the trade was designed to help solidify the bullpen for years to come. Whether or not they will do that remains to be seen, but I do know that they see Bray as a strong closer candidate whose "makeup is off the charts", whatever that means. What I like about Krivsky is that he immediately identified his team's weakness (pitching) and is absolutely determined to improve it any way he possibly can. As a Cub fan, I would be pretty happy if Hendry started behaving that way. That's all I'm really saying.

Okay, I'm sorry but I can't take it anymore. Listening to Cubs fans make fun of someone else's GM is like listening to William Shatner criticize someone else's singing. It's hilarious. Especially when the GM in question has taken a team EVERYONE picked for last place and made them contenders without even the benefit of an offseason. I'd be happy to provide justification for all the moves Krivsky has made if anyone wants to hear it, but the short version is that they really really need pitching.

What do they have to trade? Don't know; prospect or two, I assume.

Thats exactly why you do trade him. He's having the stats of his career, but is going to cool off. Trade now, while the value is high. He's way overpayed for a platoon quality player, and if there's a team out there that will give up value for him, trade him. And replace him with whom? Be careful what you wish for. You replace him with somebody good next year. It really doesn't matter who takes his place for the rest of this season. Yeah, I hear Burnitz is going to be a FA.

Thats exactly why you do trade him. He's having the stats of his career, but is going to cool off. Trade now, while the value is high. He's way overpayed for a platoon quality player, and if there's a team out there that will give up value for him, trade him. And replace him with whom? Be careful what you wish for.

Wow. . . . . Wow. I read somewhere that Colorado was interested in Pierre. I bet he stays though.

You are sick. But this season is WAY BETTER than the last two. At least they're not teasing us with occasional mediocrity. I may get banned for saying this, but a player who never walks can still have offensive value. I wasn't nuts about Jones, but that's cause I really really wanted Abreu. I agree with that guy who compared him to Shawon Dunston with less power. At the end of the lineup, he's fine. If Prior pitches well and finishes the year healthy, it's a perfect opportunity to trade him while his value is high. Every year it's the same with him. Get over it. There are other pitchers. See #4 above. You'd have to be out of your freaking mind to want this fool back. THAT'S RIGHT I SAID IT. What if Milwaukee extends him first? I'd like to see someone like Trot Nixon to platoon with Murton. If he would do that, he would've given them an option year. He has yet to throw a pitch for the team, so wait and see. The year is half over. He's getting valuable experience right now; who knows how he'll be by the end of the year? He wants to be traded. I don't blame him. I think we can count on that. I predict Murton will go the way of Corey Patterson, complete with a career rebirth once he's with a team that doesn't have a staff of micromanaging buffoons assaulting him daily with helpful conflicting "advice". Even the best closers struggle, especially when the team struggles. If the team ever gets it together, Dempster will too. At last we agree on something.

I know they're not dying to give him away. But over the past couple seasons, he's been their only "real" leadoff man, to the point where they absolutely had to find a way to get him in the lineup. Now, when everyone's healthy, they put Lopez and Phillips at the top and Freel doesn't play much at all. If they didn't have him, they'd be fine with Aurilia, Denorfia, Olmedo filling in. Having Freel would be better, but if he gets them real bullpen help, they can afford to move him, where they really couldn't before. All I'm saying.

I've wanted Freel for a long time, and with the emergence of Brandon Phillips, he's more expendable to the Reds than ever. He's signed through 07 and cheap (2mil or so a year, depending on plate appearances). But he does have a problem with one of his toes (seriously) that apparently prevents him from being effective when in the lineup every day for extended periods of time. I'd absolutely love to see the Cubs send a reliever or two over to the Reds for him, platoon him with Pierre (to get Pierre's OBP up some), then trade Pierre and find out for sure if Freel can play every day or not. But I'm not holding my breath.

I do. I'd send Wood and Prior together to Texas for that Koronka guy, he's pretty good. Shows up, anyway.

There is no such thing. yeah there is. OK, example? The homeruns that are hit when the game is hopelessly out of reach, or when the lead is substantial. Sammy (toward the end of his Cub days) had a lot of "meaningless" homers. Did you see my post of the game logs? There just aren't that many of those. Surely not as many as people are indicating. Thanks for doing that, by the way; it was eye-opening. I may have to copy that to defend Dunn to Reds fans sometime. Again, though, the main things they tend to remember are the times they're counting on him to come through and he doesn't.

Here's the problem with that reasoning. Let's compare Dunn to some other Reds and some other Cubs, just in RBI's with RISP. Dunn has 54 AB's with RISP, and has 21 RBI's. In comparison, Edwin Encarnacion only has 3 more AB's, and has 31 RBI's. Griffey only has 33 AB's in this situation, but has 28 RBI's. Also, let's look at some Cubs. Jones has 24 RBI's in 49 AB's. Murton has 17 RBI's in 47 AB's, which means that Dunn is doing no better at driving anybody besides himself home than Murton is. In summary, the problem is not that the Reds don't get on base enough for him. The problem is simply that Dunn simply doesn't hit enough to drive anybody in but himself most of the time, which is why the guy has only made it too 100 RBI's twice, and his top is 102 even while being a prodigious home run hitter. That's true. Look up the OBP's of the guys hitting in front of Dunn. I'd kill for it. The number of times he fails not only to drive in runs but to move runners over or even try to go the other way is absolutely maddening.

There is no such thing. yeah there is. OK, example? There may not be "meaningless" home runs. But a late-inning hr that takes your team from a deficit to a lead (which Ken Griffey Jr. has already done, like, 3 times this year) is, to me, far more valuable than a solo homer in a game where one team or the other leads by 5+ runs. It's not meaningless, but it's not all that helpful. Like the way he turned a 9-2 game to a 9-3 game on Sunday. Almost all his homers are like that, and that's why lots of Reds fans are unimpressed with his OPS and want him gone.

There is no such thing. But if there were such a thing, Dunn would be the one hitting them. And if unicorns existed, Ben Kingsley would be the world's 3rd largest breeder. I hope the Cubs trade for Dunn; they really need someone with his patience. But I guarantee he'd still drive everyone nuts.

There is no such thing. But if there were such a thing, Dunn would be the one hitting them. And we all know there's no such thing as a "clutch hitter". But if there were, I guarantee the opposite of one would be Adam Dunn. Before the season began, I wanted Dunn and his .900+ OPS between Lee and Ramirez more than just about anything in the world. I live near Cincinnati and this year started to follow the Reds as much as I follow the Cubs. Now, I'd have to think twice before I'd trade Jacque Jones for him. Seriously.

Thanks everybody. And no offense intended to Swisher, Krukow, and Biittner. Or Neifi for that matter.

Thanks, yes, I wrote it. I'm actually a little young to remember Pappas but I've heard about his no-no plenty of times. The consensus seems to be the umpire was lucky to get out of Wrigley alive. Thanks again.

I put my last song parody here, and no one complained so I hope it's all right. It's best if you know the original song "Lucky Man" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, but if you don't it still reads pretty much like a poem. Thank you. He witnessed Ernie And Fergie and Santo His wish for their glory The gods did not granto Oooooooh, what a Cubbie fan he was Oooooooh, what a Cubbie fan he was He went to see Pappas When he threw his no-hitter He suffered through Swisher And Krukow and Biittner Oooooooh, what a Cubbie fan he was Oooooooh, what a Cubbie fan he was With Sutcliffe and Sandberg He thought he would party But that plan was foiled By that A-hole Steve Garvey Oooooooh, what a Cubbie fan he was Oooooooh, what a Cubbie fan he was He was Graced, he was Sammied He was Wooded and Priored Two arms sent from heaven --Some Assembly Required-- Oooooooh, what a Cubbie fan he was Oooooooh, what a Cubbie fan he was (Good place for hilarious soundbites of Ron Santo going "Oh no!" and stuff) His faith will reward him In one season of beauty After blue monkeys cha-cha Out of Neifi's patootie Oooooooh, what a Cubbie fan he was Oooooooh, what a Cubbie fan he was

Claussen almost had to give up this start to Joe Mays. If he runs his pitch count up again, we could see Mays by the 3rd or 4th inning, no matter what the score is. This matchup looks as lopsided for the Cubs as Thursday's did for the Reds.

It isn't over, but we're 11.5 games back, and not really all that good. Unless Prior, Wood, and Lee all come back and play 100%, and the Cardinals run out of organization-wide accountability that makes career minor leaguers .300 hitters, we don't have a shot at the division. Fixed

I think that's about right. Back to mediocrity we go. Woo hoo.