apete6

Would you guys trade Marmol for Renteria?

Just out of curiosity, why do you say that? my guess is that they aren't doing well enough financially to throw that kind of cash around Not a financial reason, really. But, CVS sponsors the Rhode Island University basketball court and our senior management has made a few wisecracks about that as well as the giant CVS sign on the green monster at Fenway. We have a logo on the Comiskey outfield wall, but other than that, most of our sponsorships/advertising have an air of "generosity" or "giving" like sponsoring all of the Cubs walks for JDRF and the Bat Boy/Bat Girl thing that gives kids opportunities. Also, our company is notoriously cheap on things at corporate, instead deciding to "put all of the money back into the stores". For a fortune 50 company, our corporate HQ are pretty barebones. No nice lobby, the executives offices are very small, no corporate gym/workout center, etc... So, if they decided to spend $400 million on a sponsorship on Wrigley, every single employee would be surprised and most would be pretty angry.

Nope, the Orioles come to Wrigley in June. Brian Roberts will be in the house either way in that one...

Tickets on sale NOW! I got tickets to the Friday and Saturday night games \:D/ \:D/ Got Infield Gallery seats pretty much right behind home plate. Good times!

0% Chance its Walgreens I work at corporate. It wont happen.

I think this would be a decent deal, fair enough for both teams. Here is your 25 man if that's the case: Rotation: Zambrano, Lilly, Dempster, Hill, Lieber Bullpen: Marmol, Wood, Howry, Eyre, Wuertz, Lahey, Ascanio Starters: Roberts, Lee, Soriano, Fukudome, Ramirez, Soto, Pie, Theriot Bench: Blanco, Ward, DeRosa, Cintron, Payton If Lieber/Dempster suck, you still have Marshall and Hart at AAA starting, not being the long guy wasting away in MLB. If you want another lefty in the pen, you can use Pigniatello instead of Ascanio. I think Neal Cotts is pretty much out of the picture. The bench is pretty weak, but you have a nice mix of lefties and righties and DeRosa could get 2 or 3 starts a week if Ramirez and/or Fukudome need a day off. Ward will likely get 1 start a week in place of DLee, and Payton will be in there vs. tough lefties only to give Pie a break. The thought of Cintron getting any meaningful PT is putrid, but whatever.

No audio? What the F!

Does that mean we get someone better (Aramis), but lose to the Orioles in the WS? Sign me up for Chase Utley... Roberts hits a pinch hit, game winning HR in game 1 off of Eyre, Cubs go up 3 games to 1, but lose in 7.

Honestly? Be prepared to be thoroughly unimpressed with Yankee Stadium. I thought it was a POS when I was there. Beers were like 9 bucks and that was in 2003, I would imagine its like $12 now. The ramps leading to the upper deck are all enclosed, so they smell like urine/beer/bad hot dogs and you get no wind through there or any view of outside. The neighborhood is a POS, so the before game options are limited. And you have to deal with 55,000 New Yorkers--pretty knowledgeable fans, but generally a bunch of d-bags. Get there early to check out the monument park thing which is pretty cool. Oh ya, don't sit in the bleachers if you plan on drinking at the game, they are alcohol-free. Shea is an even bigger POS. I went to the bathroom about 1 hour before the game and the floor was completely flooded from toilet/sink overflow. Although Mr. Met is prominently featured all over the place in the stadium, so that is pretty damn neat. Also, near Shea is the US Tennis Center where they have the US Open, so if you are there around late August/early September, you could check that out. The tailgating at Shea was pretty decent as well. The Met fans weren't nearly as d-bag-ish as the Yankee fans, although that could change since they are good now. Try and check out Coney Island and the minor league Brooklyn Cyclones stadium. That is one hell of a good time. You can go to the amusement park (kind of lame, but cool) and beach during the day and go to a game at night.

I wouldn't be so quick to judge one team to have a superior line up over the other: 2007 Orioles runs scored as a team: 756 2007 Cubs runs scored as a team: 752 2007 Orioles AVG: .272 2007 Cubs AVG: .271 2007 Orioles OBP: .333 2007 Cubs OBP: .333 2007 Orioles SLG: .412 2007 Cubs SLG: .422 (switch Soriano with Roberts, and you can probably reverse the two teams SLG's) 2007 Orioles team hits: 1529 2007 Cubs team hits: 1530 2007 Orioles BB's: 500 2007 Cubs BB's: 500 The Cubs do have a slight advantage if we only look at the 2-6 hitters in the line up, but it's not that much of a difference. But, Soriano also drives in more runners with his bat, as well as driving himself in. Soriano scored 97 times in 2007 Roberts scored 103 times in 2007 Soriano had 99 less plate appearances than Roberts in 2007 In 99 less plate appearances, Soriano drove in 13 more runs than Roberts, and Roberts had the benefit of an actual hitter batting 9th for most of the season. Orioles also had the benefit of the DH, so the team stats are pretty much useless. You could have Neifi DH every game for an NL team and still add 75 hits/season over the pitcher.

Not writing off the season, but not giving Lou the benefit of the doubt on every decision just because he made the playoffs last year. I got burned by giving Dusty the benefit of the doubt on every decision until "I'd rather see Guthrie vs. Lowell instead of Veres vs. Lenny Harris" and I'm not making the same mistake again. "In Dusty We Trusty" was a bunch of garbage and so is all of the man-love for Uncle Lou. I recognize that he is light years ahead of DB in terms of changing course or going with the hot hand, but there are still several bad decisions that Lou is on the verge of making to start the season and I'd rather not be 10 games back in May again. Cubs will still make the playoffs barring some unforseen circumstance, but I'd rather do it because of Lou, not in spite of him.

ALFONSO SORIANO DOES NOT HIT WELL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LINEUP. ALFONSO SORIANO DOES NOT HIT WELL WITH RUNNERS ON. ALFONSO SORIANO DOES NOT HIT WELL WITH RUNNERS IN SCORING POSITION. Seriously, the mod already warned you a bout thise "I refuse to acknowledge others points" nonsense. It has nothing to do with babying Soriano or making him feel comfortable, it about making him perform best. Like badnews said, an .890 ops hitter is always better than an .810 ops hitter, no matter where in the lineup they're hitting. This overvaluing of the leadoff spot is ridiculous and has to stop. Alfonso Soriano should have never been signed by the Cubs. It was a makeup signing for not making an honest run at Beltran or Vlad years earlier. Might as well make the best of his signing, but the points you made in all caps underline why he is such an overrated POS. $18 million for a guy who can't handle the pressure of batting with runners on base? Great decision, Jim.

Is anyone else starting to get worried about all of the moronic things Lou is seeming to do in ST? There are some very Dusty-like decisions being made. Like: Batting Mr. Grit Theriot #2 (or anywhere but 8th for that matter) Not making SS an open competition with Theriot and Cedeno Batting Pie 8th (where he'll get nothing good to hit in front of pitcher) Fukudome batting 3rd, moving Aram (probably our best hitter) to 5th Making Demp his "#3" Seemingly not giving Marshall or Gallagher a chance to win a rotation spot. Hell, Hart either. Essentially not giving Marmol a chance to be the closer Making comments devaluing Cedeno & Murton in terms of trade value There were a lot of bad decisions last year as well, but no one really remembers because they made the playoffs, just like Baker in 2003. Main difference is that Lou seems to be able to change his mind and adjust on the fly, but if Milwaukee didn't fold like a lawn chair, we don't make the playoffs last year. If we are 10 games out at any point this year, I'm saying we don't make the playoffs.

I'll be there as I'm visiting my friend that weekend. Probably going to Friday and Saturday night games. Tickets go on sale Tuesday, March 4th and from what I hear, the Nats are expecting a sellout for all 3 Cubs games and have made them "premium games". Looking forward to seeing the new stadium.

DePaul blows ANOTHER double digit lead in the 2nd half and loses @ UCONN 65-60. I hope Wainwright gets gonorrhea and dies...or just gets fired and lives a healthy and happy life.

Something tells me that a group of 24 year old kids and a hot tub probably also included enough booze to kill a troop of midgets.

Has anyone in the media had the insight or balls to ask Uncle Lou if he has thought about giving DeRosa a serious time to play a majority of the time at SS? I mean, this doesn't even have to be based on a potential acquisition of Roberts. From what I've seen out of Theriot and Patterson, I can't see DeRosa/Patterson being worse than Theriot/DeRosa. Obviously DeRosa/Roberts would be an upgrade on both, but that's probably never going to happen until they have the spotlight all to themselves. Or is everyone bowing down to Piniella and trusting his man-love for Theriot?

The stadium idea itself sounds nice with the retractable roof and whatnot. Never having been to Miami, however, I don't know much about the location. Whenever the OB was shown on football games, it seems as if its in the middle of nowhere. Is this true? If so, is it convenient only to Miami or will the Ft. Lauderdale area people be able to get there as well. Also, will there be anything to do around the stadium or is it going to be "destination only"?

If I was an Orioles fan, I would have already set Angelos on fire. That guy is a world class douche. MacPhail deserves all of the BS he's going to have to deal with over the next few years, however. I can't wait until the Nationals get their crap together and field a new team with a brand new stadium and blow the Os out of the water in the Battle of the Beltway.

Ya, 200 level is a bad place to see a game most of the time. May day games won't go for much over face unless they are playing the Cards or it is on the weekend. I was going to get the Starting 9 pack to sell only, but figured that by the time I got all of my money, just putting the money in a nice savings account with ING would have made me almost all of the money once you subtract all of the effort that goes along with selling tickets. A nice gesture from the Cubs for actual fans, but not allowing them to make money off of their generosity. Overall a pretty solid business move by the Cubs.

In fairness, that came right after he said they need a balance of guys that can "get you a lot of runs and drive in a lot of runs". That line was pretty much BS, but for the most part, he still seemed to acknowledge OBP as being important.

You think the earth would end right after the final out or would we have a night to celebrate? If we get to celebrate, it might actually be worth it.

You guys think Cedeno could get some of the CF duty against tough Lefties? I have no idea if he's any good in center, but if he's serviceable, that would further the chance of Cedeno being a valuable member of the team.

Uh, there's been at least 3 IU fans just in the last page say that IU is a deeply flawed team. How is that arrogant or delusional? I do think IU basketball fans can be very arrogant at times, but that was the wrong time to put that comment in. Most of the posts lately about IU have been anything but arrogant. Maybe he was making a reference to the post that claimed IU is as talented as anyone in the country, when in fact they are not. I would venture to say they are not the most talented team in the conference, a very bad one this year. Exactly what I was referencing. Overall, MSU probably has more talent. Outside of Gordon & White, there's nothing special there. If Gordon is actually injured, that makes them even more vulnerable. I don't like Illinois, but I can't wait to see the business EG gets in Champaign next week. That's going to be awesome. FYI: I have no opinion on Indiana basketball in general. I think Bob Knight is/was a great coach and its unfortunate that he wasn't able to finish his career there and have the court/stadium named after him and all of that stuff. I guess a lot of it is his own fault though.

If any more evidence exists that Indiana basketball fans are arrogant & delusional, go no further than reading this thread... If Sampson can't make the Sweet 16 or Elite 8 with this bunch, he'll never make it there...either because of the sanctions or if he's just fired after the season for all of the violations and whatnot.