JC

A warm body. Seriously, you have to be asleep at the wheel to bat Neifi Perez in that situation. He was signed as a defensive backup. You're telling me that we traded Sosa for a player who isn't even going to be the FIRST PLAYER OFF THE BENCH. Kill me if every game is like this this year. That statement was from the April 6 game. Lucky for you that you said "every" instead of "most".

I find it increasingly difficult to contemplate Dusty Baker's impact on the Cub organization. I find it equally hard to believe that such well respected baseball men like Andy MacPhail and Jim Hendry seem to have such undue confidence in the man. Finally, its likewise amazing that the beancounters and suits in Trib Tower don't have one person in a position of power that has watched a game and said, "Jose Macias again? Huh?" Baseball decisions need to be made by baseball men generally. However, when such decisions are so plainly wrong, I expect people to sit up and take notice. BBB's post above is simply terrific. The beauty of it is that it isn't complicated information to process. I would wager that most of us likely had a good idea about those numbers without dealing with the specificity. Seeing it laid out like a Christmas goose just made it easier to grasp. Nice job, once again, BBB. I am somewhat bracing myself for something I don't want to address. Why should I give any money to this organization by way of a ticket? I know that a JC boycott won't bring the Cubs to their knees, I just have a difficult time forking over money when I know its being spent unwisely and not necessarily in a manner that will improve the team. I'll always be a Cub fan. But, the leadership at present has made me a fan in the name of loyalty only. I am no fan of this front office or its managerial staff.

I think its great, Tim. I wouldn't care if you stuck it in between the forums and the listed members on-line. Its unobtrusive enough that it doesn't detract at all from the premium membership. Since my suggestions are going over so well, perhaps its time for a letter to Mr. Hendry...

Maybe I missed it, but I haven't witnessed anything suggesting that Hendry had one iota of interest in Kent at any time. I know Hoops and some others called for him, but Hendry's FA radar was busted most of the 2004-5 offseason.

The Cubs have A LOT of money to spend this offseason. I don't want to see another significant dollar spent on the pen, the IF and C besides SS should be set. I want Murton to take one of the OF spots. That leaves a hell of a lot of money for 2 OF positions and SS. Dropping 5M on the potential for the best SS in the NL is not flushing down the toilet, it's a smart move. 5M could be spent on Nomar and Giles and whomever is the latest CF of choice can still be fit in the budget. The $8 million investment for this year was a killer. Nomar's fools gold. If the NL had a DH, I wouldn't mind him coming back as much. How was the $8M a killer? Who did it prevent Hendry from acquiring?

Dusty is an enormous component of this team's failings. I have never, never, seen any manager/coach/boss/leader so flagrantly disregard common sense and reason. This inability to consistantly place this team in the best position to succeed is more telling than any accolade you can bestow upon him. I have been among the harshest of Baker critics and stand by every word. While he may be a good person, I detest his excuse making and the atmosphere of no accountability he creates. There is also a growing record of Dusty stating things to the media which is later refuted by one of the parties involved. Such does not speak too highly of his character. That being said, of course there are multiple reasons for this team's failings. It just so happens that the bulk of the criticism gets laid at Dusty's feet during the season because he is the one poorly managing the team. Hendry had a terrible year, IMO. But, the GM isn't at the forefront of conversations like Baker is. Despite the injuries, I think this team would have been a helluva lot closer to the playoffs without mangerial ineptitude. There once was a Dusty Bad Managerial Moves thread that was a seering record of incompetence. I have a difficult time blaming players that suck when they suck between the lines. When they fail, you must look at the way they were used. When a Lee or Aram or Nomar has a questionable approach or make a bad decision, they deserve blame. But, by virtue of their status and their resulting numbers, its hard to blame them. Thus, while there is blame to be shared, I place most of it at the feet of a hapless Dusty Baker. He failed repeatedly strategically and motivationally, for both the short term and long term. While I place less blame (but still a significant amount) on Hendry, it is Jim Hendry that I am more worried about. Baker can be a quick fix for the organization and can't really harm it too much beyond a current year. Hendry has the long term health of the organization at his manic and impulsive fingertips.

The Cubs have A LOT of money to spend this offseason. I don't want to see another significant dollar spent on the pen, the IF and C besides SS should be set. I want Murton to take one of the OF spots. That leaves a hell of a lot of money for 2 OF positions and SS. Dropping 5M on the potential for the best SS in the NL is not flushing down the toilet, it's a smart move. 5M could be spent on Nomar and Giles and whomever is the latest CF of choice can still be fit in the budget. Ronnie Cedeno drasticly limits the risk of paying $5M for Nomar. Offensively, I take Nomar over Furcal anytime. Of course, I don't need a spunky little speedster at the top of the lineup like Dusty does.

How about go sweep the Cubs? Hold it... (Man, did I hate that series.)

I've tried to avoid the "Hate Everything Yankees" mindset. This didn't help. What a bunch of freaking rods. ARods, that is.

Don't forget, folks. It was Jim Hendry who said it didn't matter when Wood had his surgery, that he'd be ready for ST regardless. Could be the single dumbest thing I ever saw written that was attributable to Hendry.

While flipping channels, I saw three Corey ABs today. (Inexplicably, he was again inserted to leadoff the game.) Anyway, in each of the ABs, Corey saw only one pitch. And, Macias lined out to end the game with the tying runs in scoring position. Goodbye, Cub 2005 baseball season. Good riddance.

Kind of pertinent. When I was a freshman, one of our seniors who went on to play college soccer had a unique way of heading the ball. He would always know where the ref was and bring both hands up, clenched in a fist. While shielding the ref, he would punch the ball with the hand on the far side of his body, while making it look like he headed it. He always got away with it. Don't ask me how. you played with maradona? No. My teammate was Asian.

Kind of pertinent. When I was a freshman, one of our seniors who went on to play college soccer had a unique way of heading the ball. He would always know where the ref was and bring both hands up, clenched in a fist. While shielding the ref, he would punch the ball with the hand on the far side of his body, while making it look like he headed it. He always got away with it. Don't ask me how.

I think Murton, Hill and Mitre might do it. Unless Billy has had his fill of pitchers, then it might be something like Murton, Sing and Hill, possibly with Fontenot thrown in somewhere. I wouldn't want to see that move, but if they went out and traded or signed for impact OF bats, I wouldn't object too much. Given our outfield situation, there's no way I'm letting go of Murton now. As much as I would love to have Zito fill out our rotation, isn't there someone else we could send along? My plan wouldn't call for a trade of Murton. But if the Cubs can get Chipper in a trade and sign Giles, I'd have no problem dealing him. In other words, if you fill the OF spot with production, go ahead and trade Murton if you have to. Yep. I assume the Cubs are going to go into the offseason trying to get big bats for the corner OF. Personally, I'm skeptical that adequate talent is available for the money. But, I also have my doubts that Murton will be embraced for his talents because he isn't a prototypical power hitter. That is the only reason I'd consider such a move.

Unless he is sleeping for 35 hours and 59 minutes, I say under. It's a road game, so he should be able to get proper rest finally, you never know. Sweet Houston clean livin'!

Unless he is sleeping for 35 hours and 59 minutes, I say under.

I'm not necessarily advocating this, but would Murton and Hill land Zito? If both guys are going to be used sparingly/stupidly, I'd rather see them moved for a guy who could potentially help (avoiding signing Burnett or Millwood) than have them rot on the bench.

Hey, Tim. Can you make links to the banners and retail sites on the Premium pages? I forget about it or I would click on it daily. Maybe a small link at the top instead of the big banners? I don't know if its possible, just a thought.

What about an 89 win season? How is 88 a fluke if followed by 89? It was a fluke in the sense that the Cubs managed to win the division and get into the playoffs with only 88 wins. Houston and St. Louis did not play to the level they could have. Perhaps "fluke" wasn't the right word. I don't want to derail this thread arguing the merits or the value of an 88 win season. That has been done enough.

Ah-ha! Bruce has succumbed to mocking bitterness. Meetings are at my house at 8:00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Bruce. Bring beer and Doritos. Seriously, the last line is exactly right. Everyone sees this ineptitude except the Cub front office. And I mean, EVERYONE. (Except maybe Peter Gammons and Paul Sullivan). The Cubs organization is a joke right now, bouyed hopelessly by a fluke 88 win season that receives entirely too much credit as being a monumental success.

Link Strawberry gets arrest for filing a false police report that his rented SUV was stolen. Its shocking how screwed up his life is.

Does anyone else get offended at this point with the crap Dusty is shovelling? Honestly, who believes this stuff outside of Jim Hendry and Andy MacPhail? So, the Cubs have 81 games a year at Wrigley. How many night game this year? 18? Thus, lets knock that number down to 63. I haven't looked thoroughly at the schedule, but lets assume three game series were generally played. Thus, about 27 series were played at Wrigley. Most, if not all of those series end with "Get Away Day", that is, games played during the day so either the Cubs or the opposing team can travel. Therefore, that means 27 games have to be played during the day, and at least 18 are played at night. That leaves 36 games that are electively played at day. But wait. Games of the week on Saturday national broadcasts or played during the day. Yet another unknown set of games that aren't due to the Wrigley Curse. Lets arbitrarily say that is about 6 games. So, at the most, we are talking about 30 day games that have been attributed to Wrigley's daytime tradition, at the most. In addition, the number of night games gets boosted dramatically next year. Finally, other teams are subject to the exact same temptations as our beloved Cubbies. The excuses from Baker are like stripes on a bass: too many to count even if you could catch the slippery bastards.

I'm glad I read the whole post. I really wish I had some confidence in his creativity, but I have none.

I noticed he didn't critique his free agent signings. Those would have been the toughest to defend.

Actually, Macias is decently fast. he just has no baserunning instincts. Macias isn't skinny. He is like a short little bowling ball. as opposed to a tall bowling ball. Emphasis is found in redundancy. Or something.