Handlebar McSkullet

Just so everyone knows, being a diehard bears fan living in the metro detroit area is an amazing perk!!! considering I have offers from two different season tickets holders to take their tickets!!! Bear Frieking Down!!!

The Cubs gave Pie a big boy number this year, the problem is it is 17!!! Mark Grace's old number. And while im not saying it should be retired, I feel like it is a cursed number. I remember the last prized prospect who wore 17, Bobby Hill, and he didnt work out that well.

What a joke, did he forget Ram was a FA?

His point wasn't just that this is a normal fluctuation, but that park effect had a lot to do with it. Please explain EQA

Not sure. But if you want to mail it, send it to: Jim Hendry Chicago Cubs 1060 W. Addison Chicago, IL Cover Letter Dear Mr. Hendry I am a life long Cubs Fan, and would very much like to be considered for the Assistant General Manager Position. I watch baseball everyday on television and occasionally partially drunk in person. I have excellent player evaluation skills. During a house party in 2002, I told a random person that Mark Belhorn would be an MVP candidate in two years. I am also very proud of my baseball playing career. I played pitcher and outfield on my town's 7th grade B team. In two innings I once had 5 strikeout, along with 6 walks, 3 wild pitches, and I cried in front of everyone when the ball was hit back to me. I also have wonderful decision making abilities. I gave my fiance a Neifi Perez jersey for an anniversary present. She said she wanted a diamond heart pendant, but Mr. Hendry, I know women as much as I know baseball. Please call me to set up an interview Sincerely, Nik Nadkarni

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I'm a copyright attorney. I am confident the above post complies with all copyright laws and nsbb.com and its principal cannot be held liable by the NYT for any type of infringement. http://img342.imageshack.us/img342/3769/dreddwt3.jpg :lol: ! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Does anybody else think Andre Ethier is an absolute stud. Im not sure but I would probably trade any prospect for him.

Didnt Soriano himself say that he was not going to play because of his obligation to the team? I saw his press conference, and he said that the Cubs told him not to, and he obliged.

Why don't you just stop worrying about labelling other fans as pessimistic, and just take their predictions/assumptions for what they are worth? That is predictions/assumptions of other fans. Normally I agree with you but the title of this thread is optimism v. pessimism, if i didnt care I wouldnt write in the thread. If you dont care then dont comment. Its a discussion about the terms and I put my two cents in. Ok, you make a good point. I was under the impression that this thread came about from a split from another thread where this tired topic took hold. That being said, the whole debate is silly, and telling people they are pessimistic if they feel the current roster is no more than 10 games better than the roster on opening day 2006 is absurd. It's virtually the same roster with Lilly replacing Maddux, Marquis replacing Marshall and Soriano replacing Pierre. The only guaranteed improvement is with Soriano. And 10 games is a lot for any one man to make up. Now that I think of it... I totally agree with you if you break it down like that. I think what they do with CF is big, right now I vote for jock to play CF.

That's not saying much,eh? :D thats true, but Eckstein is very fast at releasing the ball. Doesnt he lunge toward first base when he throws? I never played competitive baseball but does he do that because of his arm strength?

Why don't you just stop worrying about labelling other fans as pessimistic, and just take their predictions/assumptions for what they are worth? That is predictions/assumptions of other fans. Normally I agree with you but the title of this thread is optimism v. pessimism, if i didnt care I wouldnt write in the thread. If you dont care then dont comment. Its a discussion about the terms and I put my two cents in.

So if you don't believe this roster is capable of 85-95 wins, you are being pessimistic? I would say it's more like 81-86, the way it's currently constructed. I don't see how you can call such a prediction (a 15-20 game improvement over last year), pessimistic. That was not what I was saying and I made that very clear, I believe no matter how you view each individual addition, this team has improved by ten wins. I believe if you do not agree, your reasoning will be pessimistic in reasoning. The question is what the 2006 team was capable of, which by no means has anything to do with pessimism. I believe the 2006 team without injuries but no counting wood or prior was an at worst 75 win team. What you believe the team was capable of is your own opinion. I stated 85 was the lowest win total. Where are you getting 15-20 wins, on the actual 66 win total? As a stated in the begining, I dont believe you can base the possible improvement on results of last year because of injuries. And even it was the case then I would state that if you dont believe this team is a 19 win improvement, you are being pessimistic.

I think most smart GMs would overpay by quite a lot to increase their team from a .500 team to a 89-90 win team. It's worth it. It's not worth it to increase from a crappy team to a mediocre one. Overall, it seems like a last ditch effort to make the playoffs. At this point I don't think the team is near good enough to do that without a lot of luck. If we don't get that luck, we're saddled with another lousy team and the next GM is stuck with a bunch of horrendous contracts to deal with. I don't post here often so I don't know if my reasons are why people are pessimistic, but I know it's why I'm pessimistic about the season. The problem with this logic is that you are assuming last years talent level at the start of the season was a 66 win team. That simply isnt true. The talent they had last year was AT WORST a 75-78 win team. The best way to see my point is look at April's record with Lee. They were above .500. Im not saying they would have stayed that way the whole year, but certainly the team with Lee played like a team that was capable of winning the central. Lee was the conduit to the failure of the team. I simply see a team that on paper in 2006 was capable of winning 75-85 games. Now with all the spending this offseason, I truely believe the Cubs gained, at least, 10 wins. And if you dont agree with me then I think you are being......PESSIMISTIC!!! Why? because going through the entire lineup/bench you can see extreme improvement, thus possible justifying the spending. The outfield is much more powerful, and nothing has decreased its defensive ability. the infield is a wash in my opinion, (I actually prefer walker for this lineup), the pitching staff is deeper and the younger players are more experienced, and I think this is one of the top bullpens in baseball or at least the NL. This roster, as is, is capable of an 85-95 win season.

See this is what bothers me. You (sorry im going to pick on you for right now) give Hendry an F for signing, arguably, the best free agent available. 8 year contract-- yes too long. 17 mil a year-- possibly too much. But He is 2 mil a year better than Drew, and easily 200k a year better than Carlos Lee. I giggle at the pessimism. They didnt sign Furcal last year, and paid a huge price for it. Now they are getting every free agent under the sun, and people are having hissies over contract terms. The bottom line is they have a better roster this year then they had last year, and with all the arms in the bullpen, I doubt they are done.

Link Not cool. Not cool at all. :wall: So this is what it sounds like when doves cry.

It will be interesting to see how Tank does when he doesnt have Tommie taking the double teams all the time. But I agree he has been amazing the last 5 weeks.

Eh, after reading some Dodger forums, sounds like his arm is about as weak as Pierre's, in addition to probably not being able to play full time. I'd rather have Church. I'd rather have Church too, but last I heard the Nats wanted the farm for him. Is he that much more valuable than a year of Lofton and then Pie to give up as much as it sounds like the Nats want? I'd love him, but I'm very unsure about the cost. I think they wanted marmol instead of marshall... Pay up Jimmy!!!

Maybe dominating the WAC then?

Im totally with you guys on this one... Church looks like an absolute stud. Career 527 20 83 .269 .347 .461 thats a full season of at bats... that is worth a marmol/marshall

We all agree that our main focus this offseason is signing starting pitching. I know its important to get people who can drive in runs and such, but starting pitching should be at the top. The top names in FA are Zito and Schmidt. Both have pluses and minuses and both will get a good amount of money. However from what I have read and heard, Daisuke Matsuzaka is probably the best of them all, and its not even close. Im not going to go into his numbers because they are impressive(however, I dont know what that means in translation to MLB). He is 26, and while posting will cost them a bundle, he can be signed long term and a contract that might considered cheap in three years. With the success of japanese stars, I would think with Zito's era and Schmidt's age and health, Matsuzaka would be the most appealing. Here is his wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisuke_Matsuzaka

Our bullpen wasn't a strength last year either. It was very mediocre. How are you measuring mediocrity? Its clear that the cubs have a strong bullpen then most teams in the NL if not MLB. Watching the game last night, I thought I would rather have wuertz than grilli. You take out Dempster's terrible season, then this is a very deep bullpen.

hilarious

worst purchase ever Well, we can agree to disagree. Sorry got to go, UPS just delivered my Mark Belhorn Cubs Jersey.

I just cringe everytime I think of that team. Absolutely the best lineup in the NL. [/i]