RegulusBlue

If we had signed the Gladiator, we'd have a DH, but smart moves really don't have any effect on the Cubs brass.

I badly want to get swept out of town, so to speak. Three consecutive shutouts of five runs or more, including a 13-0 blowout on getaway day. That would get Dusty fired, and that's what I desire. Also, less fans would come to the games, and the Trib would be compelled to sell while before the club loses value from reduced ticket revenues.

This team and franchise are really beginning to get a black eye from their dealings with the media, the fans, and their mismanagement of players. This ship is sinking slowly, I think.

Rusch would be picked up, and so would Bynum, as long as minor league deals count. Bynum is just too young and fast for many teams to let slip by, and Rusch is a lefty. A lefty! He throws with his left hand! Let's lock him down through 2022!

I Just hope we get embarrassed so badly that Dusty gets canned, although I am losing hope that that will ever happen.

Good call.

Speier would be a good double whammy for us. Not only is he a guy that should be able to manage a team at least as well as Dusty (like everyone alive), but he also doesn't hit the Cubs in the oh so important pocketbook this season, and even if we gave him a contract after the season, he wouldn't be making 4 mil, that's for sure.

I remember when I was in little league, my dad was the coach. At the beginning of every season, my father asked the entire team whether they wanted everyone to play an equal amount, or if they would rather have the better players play most of the time in an attempt to win. My teammates nor I ever had any doubt that we'd rather win more often, and the bench guys sat the bench, while the stronger players played. It seems as if the Cubs have either chosen equal playing time (except for Theriot and Dempster), or Dusty has decided to be fair to all the kids, so nobody's parents get angry.

I heard the wscr report today that Barry Bonds is getting man boobs. I checked it out later, and discovered that Barry is getting tubby. That makes me laugh.

We have the fastest team in the majors, most likely. We have tremendous athleticism at many positions, and it has impacts all over the field quite often. Cedeno and Pierre are all over SS and CF constantly, and Jones mans RF quite effectively, aside from some gross tosses to the IF. Hairston makes good plays often as well, using his versatility to his maximum ability. We have also developed many tools-oriented players in hopes of harnessing their rare physical talents, while focusing their plate approach and game sense. Patterson and Pie are the latest of our phenoms, and they are tools superstars. Both run like the wind with great arm strength, they can hit, although CPat has more pop, they can steal bags, etc... The sky is the limit. The problem is that these guys aren't natural ballplayers. Their bodies suggest that they are, but their minds don't hold up their end of the bargain. CPat was uncoachable and his plate approach and swing were hard to watch. Jones can't adjust enough to hit lefties, and Pierre is a pure leadoff hitter that somehow can't take a walk. Hairston victimizes us with a bonehead play nearly everytime he hits the field. The Cubs have been signing free agents and drafting prospects based on tools for much too long, and its time to recognize that the most valuable thing present in any ballplayer is his mind. The hitter's eye that makes Brian Giles' IsoBB unfathomable, the patience that let Bonds take the strike that wasn't quite good enough to blast out of the park (probably a bad example), the game sense that tells Jeter to cut off an errant throw to save the Yankees against the A's are the really valuable qualities. Matt Murton is a good example of this kind of player. Despite Satan the batting coach screaming in his ear to swing, his approach at the plate lets him take pitches and remain focused in big situations. He doesn't have blazing speed or a great arm, but he rarely has mental errors (other than reaching into the vines), and you can expect production consistently from him. Physical skills are a necessary part of the puzzle, but I would take a Bellhorn any day over Hairston, or a decent OBP guy any day over the handful of webgems that Jones will give us instead. The 'gamer' model of team is currently in full swing across town from the Cubs this very moment. A team with still not close to the top talent level in the league is just filled with winners and clutch guys, now with even more pop and reinforcements, and they have the best record in the majors to show for it, as much as I hate them. Maybe after we get swept this weekend, we'll wake up a little and try their formula. We used to wait on the three run homer, and it almost worked once, before failing horribly the next year. Then we overreacted massively and lost all power in favor of speed. Initially, we benefitted, but then reality fell on us like a ton of gross fat chicks. I'd like to propose that we go after guys who may have less athletic ability, but the gamer mentality. It just so happens that all the Sox players that I crapped on over and over last year are wearing rings, while our faster, better guys not only watched from their couches, but sink into oblivion this year as the Sox look more than ready to repeat. Note: I mentioned Pie, but this is no indictment of him as a player. I have not seen him play, nor has he any MLB experience. This post only mentioned his toolsy nature. Take no offense.

I don't think there is a ghost of a chance that the players have given up on the team. In the MLB, you put so many days of the year into baseball, it wouldn't be realistic to suggest such a thing. That said, its very possible that they are in a funk that they lack the leadership, skill, or guts to dig out of. They apparently cannot convince themselves to take a the first strike every AB, or what most slumping good hitters try to do. Maybe it just isn't registering that three pitch innings aren't what this team needs. On a very direct level, its clear that team leadership is at an all time low, because not one player not named Neifi, Bynum, or Mabry is benefitting under the regime. As it happens, those three players are the worst three on the team, so the thinking by our coaches has a flaw or two, to say the least. This also speaks to the lack of professionalism rampant in our stalwart veterans, charged with holding the team afloat. The complete inability to change their approach at the plate is disgusting. How many times have Barrett or Aramis swung at a first pitch, ending a rare scoring chance immediately? Along with a new coaching staff, this team needs to turn over a few of the players. Just hold on to Murton, Cedeno, and Walker, and trade a few big fish to give the team new life. Rarely is blowing up a team the right answer, but rarely are we in danger of setting an all time offensive futility stat, either. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and 2-14 and 1-11 certainly fit the bill.

There are no words to describe the visions of blood and destruction that fill my head when Murton gets benched in favor of Neifi or Hairston. It's clear that Dusty just does not wish to win ballgames anymore. He had to sit today because he went 2-3 with a walk yesterday? Or was he punished for the outfield antics that are continually dwarfed by the Jacque Jones Comedy Trifecta?

Thank the F Christ. Murton should be batting directly ahead of ARam, if not leading off. Cedeno doesn't walk, and was bound to slide a bunch, even though he is still good. Pierre is just another name on the list of free agency catastrophes in our history so far. To score runs, you try and put your best on base guys directly ahead of the best RBI guys. Its fairly simple to anyone not in the Cubs dugout.

Its common baseball sense to put your highest OBP guy at the eight spot. That way the pitcher and leadoff man can hit them in...

Well bud, you got your answer. In a game just a step below a must win, we have failed in every fashion so far today. This team is a mish mash of terrible baseball sense and injuries to the actual players on the team. I hate the bench guys, and I feel like they have cost us so much. We just don't have the answer this year. We have our best on base guy batting eighth, and our "lead off man" isn't making any excuses, but he isn't making any consistent good contact, either. Barrett, Jones, Mabry, and Cedeno all get way too excited and swing on first pitches constantly, which usually results in popups and weak grounders. Murton and Ramirez have to be placed together in the lineup to maximize our run potential, and please god don't listen to Dusty ever, Matt. He's the devil. Ramirez is walking more, and driving the ball alot, he is just getting really unlucky. He'll be back very soon, because the law of averages demands it.

Still way way way better than Pierre's garbage, even against RHP. I say bat him first or second, especially against LHP. Then maybe Ramirez and Barrett will have an opportunity to hit some guys in for once. The power spike hasn't come yet, and I don't expect it until next year, so he is a top of the order type of guy, rather than an sixth or eighth hitter.

We are not a very good bays ball team.

No, its Dusty's fault. This team would not have lost its last 8 games if Neifi and Bynum had seen no time during that stretch. Same goes for Gas Can Novoa. There is no way in hell we would have won all or even half of them, but 2-6 or 3-5 is alot better than 0-8. The decision to play the worst players on the team smacks of tee ball where the parents are livid if their kid isn't out there for every pitch, except Dusty is Neifi's dad. Hendry inked the deals for these terrible bench (at best) guys, but its Dusty's insistence that keeps Neifi on the team, because anyone alive knows that he doesn't even belong in AAA. Dusty is at fault for reacting to an offensive drought by putting in the worst players. Can you imagine losing a footrace, only to challenge a rerace with steel-toed boots on rather than tennis shoes? He's also at fault for making Clines and Matthews the hitting coaches. What a bunch of terrible baseball guys. Firing Dusty is the answer. Any of us could roll out of bed and drive to Chicago this week, and manage the team to a better record than 0-8 with 11 runs in 10 games. Book it. The proof will be in the pudding if Dusty gets canned, and a new manager resurrects the offense.

I'll take the under, due to the fact that we only scored a run because of a solo HR, which barely counts as offense. Psst. We are really bad.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Rusch and Williams in the rotation again after Hill and Guzman get traded in a futile attempt to salvage the season. As long as they don't trade Murton, I'll take it in stride. If they trade Murton, I'll stop being a Cubs fan.

*psssst* Its because he is a bad manager. Plus, Hairston is the worst ballplayer on the team, just because of failure to execute in any situation, plus having maybe the lowest baseball IQ of any player ever, save for CPat.

As a pinch hitter, only Hank White is a worse choice than Bynum. What a joke.

I totally hate Barry Bonds. I supported him until about two years ago. I really wanted to believe that someone with as little respect for the media as I have could be innocent, but I was wrong. I hope his knees burst into flames before he passes Ruth, because he only is doing it because Ruth is white. Reverse racism at its best.

I don't know if we need any more power pitchers. Currently, two of them are living on Medicare benefits and the other is struggling while our two finesse guys are having great years. I am just really getting scared of these guys who throw so hard any more. I guess I'm scarred from Wood and Prior.

I love it when I have faith in a kid, and he comes through for me. Really makes me happy. In Murton I trust.