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.

How is it that we consistently underperform with bases juiced and seemingly forget how to hit with nearly every run-favorable situation? I'm almost rooting for bunts just to prevent the effin' DP that is just so inevitable. I'm sure you guys can put me some knowledge here with the exact numbers, but my eyes tell me this team is much worse with runners in scoring position. I understand that part of it is that we refuse to hit anything other than singles most of the time, forcing 3 hits to score any runs, but damn, its amazing how helpless we look when up against the possibility of scoring a run. Its not all Aramis at this point, although he looks like a freshman thrown into his first action in the Final Four with 2:00 left. I fully believe that hitters don't swing harder, see better, or get stronger in tight spots, but I've seen a lot of our players go the other way when we could really be helped in a game. PS- We've really been hosed by former HR hitters that are now warning track hitters. Who'da thunk turning runs into outs would hurt an offense? Who'da thunk batting our best hitter on the year 8th and taking 9th inning ABs from him (Soto) would make our offense worse?

The worst part of the two playoff meltdowns wasn't so much that we missed the chance to go to the NLCS, but that I felt at the time that I was witnessing the peak of this roster, and that the next several years would be a downward slide. I am hoping that a young guy or two, and a decent trade will resurrect some optimism, but this year is really one of the first that in the best case scenario, I see no hope for a meaningful postseason appearance, which is what this is all about, obviously.

I think this is about right. I have felt often during the past three to five years that our roster had compared very favorably to many others in baseball, but aging and the difference between bringing in Soriano vs. bringing in Byrd (sadly, the better of the two contracts) have really changed that. Theriot- Okay player, but not any kind of star, low OBP guy for leadoff, no real power, decent SS, would have been worse if he won his arb. case. Fukudome- I actually like Kosuke, although his power never materialized. Lots of OBP, good in the OF, too much money, though. Lee- Well, used to be a monster, then really good, now getting older and untradeable due to his contract. Still great at 1B, but not the star we used to have. Ramirez- Total monster. Love having at least one player that is just great at the plate. Defense above average, not even super expensive for his production. Soriano- Old-as-hell young-player-skills guy. Used to have streaks where he carried the team, but we're doomed to watch this old banana rot on the vine for many more years. Sigh... Soto- Another ray of light, but its cloudly after his fatness ruined him last year. Please come back and be a great catcher again, Geo. I was going to do a bunch more, but its getting depressing. I still watch the games, but I almost feel like 2005 when the team just sucked so hard after Wood and Prior were assassinated by Dusty Baker.

I love the Cubs, but I just don't see anything to like this year. I suppose this is the fallout of all these horrid contracts Hendry passed out a few years back.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-08-cubs-rockies-chicago-aug08,0,1002895.story I read that as a Zambrano refuses to pitch today tantrum reference by Lou. Am I the only one who took it that way?

LOL at Z. :rotfl:

LOL Soriano is an embarrassment to humanity. I have a huge hatred for him.

Rothschild just tore up Marmol out on the mound. That was interesting to watch. Not sure I've seen fire like that from Larry.

Ignoring for a moment that Lee won't be going anywhere with that no trade clause of his, but why would the Padres have any interest whatsover in Derrek Lee? They have a guy in AAA that could provide better production than Lee, and at league minimum. I also don't mean to be rude, but do you honestly believe that the current home run leader in the NL and his puny contract (he makes a little more than twice as much as Aaron Miles) couldn't net a way better package from just about any other team in baseball? Meh, I just threw the idea off the wall after I heard someone say the Padres could be looking to move him. I'd probably move heaven and earth to take a shot. A short discussion with a friend of mine convinced me it'd be easier than I thought to grab him.

I'd be doing everything in my power to dump Lee at this moment, and subsequently grab Adrian. His power would love it here, plus he's younger, a great hitter, and we're pretty close to the apocalyptic WIN NOW mold of a team. If it takes another player as well, you do it. I'd send Guzman or any other non-starter to get this done. I think the Padres want to replenish without tanking the team outright, and Lee/Vitters is two birds with one stone. What do you think?