srbin84

Its not that weak, even if he's dominant, he doesn't even give you the requisite starts to get over 15 wins. Exactly. Either he isn't good enough to win 15 games or he isn't healthy enough to win 15 games. Whichever way you go, there is a problem. And like I've always said, when you have guys that miss a lot of starts, no matter how good they are, their numbers are tainted when you average in all the bums like Rusch that take their place.

The realities of being a cubs fan. Players drop for little to no reason. Its madness. That's why I think we need to cut the problem out like a tumor.

Spanish doesn't have the letter Č, so it has to be NO-SEE-ONI.

They've been near the bottom in attendance for about four years.

We'd probably have to get him healthy and pitching well for a month, and I think then his value would be pretty good to do better than getting one good player and shedding a contract or two in the process. I'd hate to see the Cubs get drunk with his potential again though.

If you wait that out and it turns out he leaves, the Cubs we'll be set back a lot. It doesn't seem like a good gamble to me.

Because we'd be getting ripped off? Horribly? That's not the point. We'd have a better record.

They don't go to the games anymore.

I agree that it's ridiculous. The only rational reason I can come up with is that it's really the only meaningful rivalry in the AL. White Sox and Indians fans are apathetic. Other than that, there really isn't anything there. In the NL, Dodgers-Giants, Cubs-Cardinals and Braves-Mets are always strong.

That's how I feel. If these guys have value and can be traded, do it. Wood is probably untradable because of the no trade clause. Even if Prior comes back this year and pitches well, there is a good chance the season will be lost because of his time missed. Even if we could trade him and Jones straight up for a guy like Kevin Mench or anyone good who would help the team now and in the future, I don't see why we wouldn't do it....I really can't. If Baseball were a poker tournament, the Cubs have like 20 percent of their money locked in a CD that can't be used. It just seems so stupid to let that go to waste. If he was healthy the last two years or we had a player acquired in trade for him, we would have made the playoffs in 2004 and maybe 2005. I just want to see the Cubs make the playoffs and have a chance to win to the World Series and keeping him seems to be hurting our chances of doing that every year.

Many of you know I want the Cubs to trade him, but objectively thinking about it from his perspective, I can't see why he would want to stay with this team. He's from California, and all of the teams there are pretty decent if not good and have money. His time with the Cubs has been miserable, from Bartman to the injuries, the autograph law suit, he gets bashed in the media on a regular basis for being "soft", etc. It's doubtful the Cubs would come close to match a potential offer from the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Dodgers or possibly the Angels, Rangers. He didn't seem decisive in when asked about changing teams on BBTN. I like Prior as much as anybody...when he is pitching, but even those who like him despite his faults and bad luck, is it really worth keeping a guy who seemingly has no reason to stay here? My best hope would be for him to come off the DL soon and never go on it again until free agency. If that were to happen, and he pitched closer to 2002 and 2003 than his last two years, I would probably be in favor of keeping him, but nothing would be worse for this franchise than for him to leave for nothing. The closer he gets to free agency and more he gets hurt, the more his value decreases, and I think Hendry realizes this. Make a case for why he would stay with us.

There's about 30 picks left, they're in the 7th round. Smith was taken by the Jets in the 4th round, he's the only Mizzou player drafted thus far. New York huh? Wow, that will be a culture change for him. I'm really happy to see that he got selected though. He's apparently a super nice guy and is very into his faith with God. Good to see nice guys like that finding success. I thought Jason Simpson might have been taken, but I guess that drug bust was hanging over his head. If that didn't happen, he probably would have been selected. I met him a few times and he's really cool, talked to me like a regular guy, not a star.

Yeah, Berman sucks. He needs to get back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back on a diet.

An excerpt from wikipedia: Bostock's 1978 season started off a disaster, with him batting only .150 for the month of April. Bostock went to Autry and attempted to give back his April salary, saying he hadn't earned it. Autry refused, so Bostock announced he would be donating his April salary to charity. Thousands of requests came in for the money, and Bostock went through each of them, trying to determine who needed it the most. Bostock worked the rest of the season to get his batting average up over .300. On Sept. 23, 1978, with his batting average sitting at .296 after a game with the Chicago White Sox, Bostock visited his uncle in Gary, Indiana.After eating a meal with a group of people, Bostock got in the back seat of his uncle's car. As the vehicle crossed the intersection of 5th and Jackson streets, a car pulled up along side them. The driver got out and fired one blast of a 410 gauge shotgun into the back seat where Bostock was sitting. The shooter, Leonard Smith, did not even know Lyman Bostock. His lethal wrath was intended for his estranged wife, Barbara Smith, who was along with the group as a guest of Bostock's uncle, Thomas Turner, who happened to be her godfather. The blast missed the woman but struck Bostock in the left temple. He died two hours later at a Gary hospital. It was later discovered that Bostock had known the woman in the car for a total of twenty minutes. Tried for murder, Smith was eventually found not guilty by reason of insanity. Though Smith was jailed awaiting and during his trial and confined for psychiatric treatment afterward, he was soon deemed no longer mentally ill by his psychiatrists, and Smith's total time in custody ultimately amounted to only 21 months. Leonard Smith was released from Logansport State Hospital and returned home a completely free man less than two years after having taken Lyman Bostock's life in cold blood. In a four-season career, Bostock was a .311 hitter with 23 home runs and 250 RBI in 526 games. He is interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.

Why? Personally, I think they are playing terrible defense.

I think that's a fair judgment. It's hard to critize the Stones for not making material as musically innovative as the Beatles because I don't think the Stones ever had that intent. With someone like Paul McCartney you have a man who by the time he was 30 had composed the scores to several films, and is considered by many to be the greatest melodic modern songwriter ever. With Lennon, you have someone who by the time he was 25 had written a play and 2 books, as well as pioneering sound engineering and how it can apply to Rock music. Lennon is often credited as being the first rocker to use distortion in a song: 1965's "I Feel Fine", as well as being the first rock musician to use backwards sound looping (66's "Rain"), and first to use sampling (68's "Revolution #9). All 3 of which are enormous staples of Modern Music. Then on the other hand....you've got Mick and Keith. Two men who'd probably put 17th century pirates to shame. Both men have done more dirty deeds than the entirety of Blackbeard's fleet put together. It's impossible to imagine either of them hunched over a soundboard in a studio for 10 hours a day. They used those 10 hours to go get laid and live their life as they saw fit. I don't imagine they ever took themselves too seriously as Rock'n'Roll innovators. They left that to their great friends from Liverpool. Exactly. That's why it's hard to compare them because they did completely different things, but they were both the best ever at what they did do.

The Suns deserve to lose this series.

Beatles fan personality? What, Intelligence? Artisticly minded? Those characteristics don't preclude me from being a Stones fan, but yeah. I guess we should treat that as a complement then. Sure. I think Stones fans in general are a little more wild, like to have fun, party. When I think of a Stones fan, I think of a guy wandering into a bar/club after smoking a cigarette or a joint outside. He hears "Can't you hear me knocking" playing on the juke box, gets himself a beer, spots a hot young girl with or without a man there, doesn't matter...sweet talks her and eventually the two go back to his car or to the bathroom together. There aren't many intelligent, artistically minded people who could or would do something like that. When I think of a Beatles fan, I think of a guy relaxing at home, takes out his record player and throws on Abbey Road or whatever, listens to the whole record, doesn't skip songs, listens to the music intently and tries to interpret the lyrics. I think listening to the Beatles is the experience, listening to the Stones...that's just a soundtrack to a great time.

I'm pulling for Lakers-Bulls finals. :puts down crack pipe:

Beatles fan personality? What, Intelligence? Artisticly minded? Those characteristics don't preclude me from being a Stones fan, but yeah.

This is nothing new, nothing surprising. I've always had a certain disdain for the Bears D since Angelo came here. Don't get me wrong, I like and realize the importance of a good D, but I personally feel it should be mathematically impossible for this team to give up more than 17 points. After the playoff game this past year and this draft, if we lose even one game because of D, even in the preseason, Angelo should be fired by the 2 minute warning of the second half of that game, and I am not being sarcastic at all.

People want to bail on a guy for slumping early in the season....they lose 5 bucks and they probably run out of the casino. Not to mention the odds/stats disadvantages.

I'm not surprised at the results as most of the people here seem to have a beatles fan personality, which is fine.

This was an interesting debate, but since Giles was never available to the Cubs, it's just fantasy.

I was at the game yesterday (first 5 innings), and it was pretty obvious the hitters had mailed it in after we were down 8-0. Almost everybody was swinging for the fences on the first couple pitches and flying out.