JC

Wow. Dunn almost dropped that. The heel of his palm probably doesn't feel great.

He was probably just hold the citizenship papers Bush gave him in the clubhouse next to his heart.

Was that an unearned run due to Lee's gaff?

Relax, Howry is coming in. I guess he doesn't need to relax after all...

Attention, Cub pitchers. Walks are bad. Seriously.

That wasn't the best thing Lee could do considering how the media has been playing up his comments about intensity at the end of last year.

Kearns doesn't look as thick this year. I wonder if he lost weight due to his 2005 struggles? (Not meant as a steroid implication.)

Juan should have to do 20 pushups for every lazy fly ball a la Willie Mays Hayes.

Why is Hatterberg playing first? I thought they traded Casey to make room at first for Dunn? Then they traded Pena to Boston for pitching. Dunn's defense sucks at first base too. BeerPrediction: Dunn gets traded to the AL at the break He"ll be an Astro by the end of July.

While it may be wildly premature to state, here goes: Eyre > Williamson.

He hasn't had a great day. I found his comments about Murton getting to know pitchers at this level odd. While Murton hasn't had a full year, the comment came off as if Murton has never played in the bigs. To me, at least.

Anytime threads are started for the singular reason of dumping on any generalized group of members to this site is self-indulgent and absolutely worthless.

Link Sorry if already posted. The articles mostly just says that Selig will announce next week the investigation. It has yet to be determined if it will be conducted by MLB or outside personnel.

Was it an open-view MRI or the traditional tube? Was it with contrast or without? While none of this information is relevant, you still don't want Sullivan scooping you, do you? While off topic, Bruce, can give me your assessment of Pie's spring so far? Thanks in advance if possible.

Garciaparra played in 43 of the 58 games the Cubs played in 2004 after they traded for him. He hit .297/.364/.455, and the cost to the Cubs was in the region of $1m, plus the prospects, minus Alex Gonzalez. Nomar's brief 2004 stint with the Cubs was also quite probably a factor in him deciding to spend 2005 in Chicago. As a result, I have absolutely no idea how you can describe the Garciaparra part of the Garciaparra trade a "complete bust". Do you need me to quote for you Alex Gonzalez's career line? Now, obviously, due to the groin injury, Garciaparra returning in 2005 didn't work out for the Cubs as they might have planned. That though does not necessarily mean that the decision to bring him back was a bad one, unless you want to argue that the Cubs had any knowledge that Garciaparra would injure not the Achilles that had troubled him during 2004 but his groin. Make no mistake about it though, there was nothing wrong with Garciaparra's bat last year - if you count spring training, Nomar hit .306/.336/.541 in 122 PA before he got injured, and .318/.347/.531 in 190 PA after it, which comes to .314/.343/.534 in 312 PA overall. His career numbers? .320/.367/.544. His defence is another matter, of course, and it wasn't particularly good, but it would have needed to have been twenty times worse than it was for your labelling of him as a "complete bust" to be even remotely accurate. In all, Garciaparra cost the Cubs three prospects, minus Alex Gonzalez, and cost the Cubs just under $10m. He played 105 of a possible 220 regular season games with the Cubs, hit .289/.339/.453 and was poor defensively. And that was pretty much the fulfillment of the worst case scenario. If it's 31 July 2004 again, and the same trade is on the table, you take it every single time, each time being a fleecing, and as with any trade you just hope that ill-fortune doesn't nix the best laid plans. Care to explain how that works, or maybe provide a source on this? The Expos demanded Brendan Harris from the Cubs, so the Boston GM insisted upon sending a decent prospect of his own to Chicago? The reason I called Nomar a complete bust is because he did not create the impact on the team necessary to get the Cubs into the playoffs. The Cubs brought him in to put them over the top in 2004. He didn't accomplish that goal as the Cubs fell apart down the stretch. So, while I certainly concede that his offensive numbers were solid, he didn't put the Cubs over the top as you expect from a deadline deal in the middle of a tight playoff race. Knowing what Hendry did at the time regarding Nomar's health, I don't think I would have made that deal. And, mind you, I'm a HUGE Nomar fan. With respect to Murton, the way I understand the story (which may have come from Hendry himself in an interview) was that the deal was pretty much dead because the Expos wanted Harris. Epstein didn't want Nomar, and desperately wanted Cabrera, so he pushed Murton as compensation. The Cubs had to look into Murton as he was never a component of the deal. Obviously, after review, Hendry was satisfied as the deal went through. I don't have a site or a link, so if that is necessary, I guess you can simply accuse me of lying or making the whole thing up.

This is ignorant. Because people disagree with you about Hendry, they must have something personal against him? Please. Talk about tired, old arguments.

Count me among those who don't understand why this concept is so difficult to grasp. I'll part ways here. I don't want Hendry in a position to make any Cub related decisions next offseason.

I can. Baseball in general is loathe to players who are outspoken. I like Walker, but I'm not a fan of his mouth a lot of the time, particularly his recent comments about being given the 2b job. However, while I wouldn't get rid of him or hold it against him because of it, I don't think MLB works the same way.

I wish Neifi would work with Larry Rothschild a little more.

Indisputable? Hardly. The economics of the Ramirez and Lee deals can't be ignored. They were components of the deals that factored in what the Pirates and Marlins could demand in return. As such, its hard to see how Hendry can receive all the credit and the "Jason and the Argonauts Golden Fleece Award". As far as Nomar goes, he was a complete bust for the Cubs, in part, because Hendry waived the Cubs' right to require a physical. Instead, Hendry merely took Boston's reports and knew he was getting damaged goods by acknowledging that Nomar wouldn't be playing with regularity. As for Murton, he was a throw in, thanks to Theo Epstein's insistence when the Expos demanded Harris. Grudz and Karros turned out much better than I expected. I give Hendry credit for that. Other than Grudz/Karros, I hardly see an objective "fleecing" being had in each of these other instances.

That's pretty much the reality of the situation. As a Cub fan, it's not a whole lot of fun to be on the other end of the lies. I don't think it's too much to expect honesty for the money we give to this franchise. If they want to protect injured players' rights to privacy, I'm fine with that. Make a blanket policy statement: We will not discuss player health unless league rules dictate we must. Don't come out on the radio & in the newspapers with blatant lies: "He's fine" "There's no injury, he's just building strength" yada yada yada. Just report the truth, or state it is not club policy to disclose. There's no excuse for lies, over & over. Other teams don't do this. Pretty much it's only the Cubs who have institutionalized lying about player health. Or, of course, there is the possibility that he really wasn't hurt and they were just using a gradual buildup program like Rotschild had been saying he would do this year since last ST. But I guess since you have decided that them lying is the "reality of the situation" it is since you have so much proof that he was really injured. I love conspiracy theories but this one makes no sense because no one involved in the so called conspiracy had anything to gain from a cover up. I'm not sure they have nothing to gain. Keeping injuries quiet prior to selling tickets is a good reason, even if Wrigley is usually a good bet to sell out. Keeping additional heat off of a management which has been racked with questions regarding its forthrightness and early identification of injuries is certainly another advantage. The Chicago Cub management over the last 3 years or so has been inept with every aspect of injuries to its players. Keeping that discussion out of the papers is beneficial to everyone involved. For anyone to even suggest that the Cubs have been competent in the area of injuries is ridiculous.

I just saw it on ESPN's bottom line. No other information.

I like the Cuba shirt. I miss Harry. Orie looks like he has on Zubazz (sp?) pants.

Do you think the high-fived when they passed each other? I doubt they'd shoulder that kind of irresponsibility.

He just had an AB for Houston in their ST game against the Yankees. Based on that effort, I don't really expect Kev to be making the trip to Houston when camp breaks...