RegulusBlue

Lovin' the Meyers avatar, by the way. At least a few of us recognize it.

Well they aren't. Time to bitch.

I got this one. As long as the "tradition" of Wrigley lives on, the Ricketts family has effectively installed a floor on their investment. Just as we harp and moan that they are paying attention to the wrong things, they are installing insurance. In the long run, the presence of fair weather fans keep this team as a viable big market entity in lean years.

I bet Magic Johnson didn't say that. Magic is HIV. Also, South Park already showed that he injected concentrated cash into his bloodstream to cure AIDS. /thread

Technically, he still is. He's just reliable for something else now. Anywho, here's a list of players we should shop: Byrd- Having a great year, relatively cheap, sell high type. Some AAA guy can play OF in this lost year. Silva- Money or no, pitchers having great years are all the rage at the deadline. You dump this guy on ANYONE. Free's up tons of money next year, and we get a youngin', too. Fuku- Contract isn't bad, someone will take him, and we'd have to resign him soon anyhow. I like more draft picks, but this team needs sooner aid than the five-year plan, IMO. Get a AA/AAA guy for him to help in 1-2 years. Lilly- Hugely hot property right now, but has that dang NTC. Its pretty easy to get a fiery guy to want to leave town, I'd think. THERIOT- So, I despise this guy anyhow, but he's a gamer, bro. I swear you can tack Theriot to Silva and some reliever nobody for an Alex Gordon type to solve our 3B woes. Chump edit: Fontenot and Baker could sweeten the pot for a deal, as well. Fonty particularly is having a good year. Trade them all! Start over!

Another gem, another win, 7 IP 1 R. I hope we deal this guy so badly. Without some new blood, our aging nucleus will drag us downward for two to three years yet. If he's 10-1 or 11-0 in two weeks, we may be able to grab a serious prize for this find. Just have to keep losing three or four out of five to make the Cubs do the right thing.

Pretty please? Just a few more losses and we can be out of the playoff picture far enough that we may get a chance to sell very high on some pitchers that don't factor into the future of the team. Seriously, Silva is lightning in a bottle. Cheap pitcher who's figured it out again (gotten lucky or something) that we can flip to some contender or foolish other guy. I haven't rooted against winning this hard in a long time, because we could really stock up the farm system and give Castro some younger fellas to play with. In addition, if we grab a couple corner INF types, we may even be able to make some run at the division, given that Lee and Aramis have quite literally cut the heart out of this team's offense. Could you imagine turning some good luck in those three pitchers into 3-5 prospects for a change? My heart is practically fluttering at the thought. How about Silva and Theriot for Gordon? Heard that one here yesterday, loved it.

Yeah, usually its the Cubs devaluing their prospects, but Gordon is just sitting there collecting dust and who can turn down a great pitcher like Silva :D)

Sha-zaam.

Current line: .361/.439/.528 BABIP .364 Looking better on defense. The boy is playing well.

Current line: .364 .417 .636 Still working it at the plate. Lou put him at the two spot, but today he's relegated to the 8 spot again... [-X

I like that his BABIP isn't crazy high at the moment, as a matter of fact its .333. I want to see his walk rate go up (10% at the moment). Mix in some power and the sky is the limit. Line going into today: .333/.400/.667 So far there are three reasons to watch the Cubs (IMO) 1. Castro 2. Soto 3. Wells

He's the only real reason to have any excitement for the Cubs this year, I believe. .286/.375/.714 as of 5-11-10 pregame. Gotta love a 1.089 OPS from SS. He only went 0 for 2 with 2 BB yesterday, so I'm sure Lou will give him a few days to watch true veterans like Baker and Fontenot and learn from their expertise.

You know, unless we exit April with an atrocious record and miss the playoffs by a game or two.

Yes, but that doesn't include a hit with a man on 2nd that does not score. I have witnessed that plenty of times this year. According to baseball-reference.com, the Cubs have four players who are above league average in runners that score during a player's at bats. Player RS% Opp Kosuke Fukudome 22% 37 Marlon Byrd 22% 55 Carlos Silva 20% 10 Ryan Theriot 19% 53 Alfonso Soriano 15% 34 League Average 15% -- As you might expect, ARam and Lee lead the team with the most opportunities, but come in at 13% and 11% respectively. I guess a lot of this team's struggles arise from DLee and Aramis struggling badly at times, or just all the time for Ramirez.