Jon

I can't remember the name off the top of my head, but they had a baby boy sometime in the weeks after the convention.

Who is accepting low standards? Hendry isn't accepting low standards, either. He just has no idea what he's doing and actually believes he's buidling a winner. Standards are too low if anything other than a Championship is acceptable. Hendry may have convinced himself he's building a winner, but he's put himself in the sweepstakes for better players than what we have. He just settles for less and the Trib, being the board room faceless owners that they are, don't allow him to spend whatever it takes. We could build from the minors and save alot of money; that's an alternate route to spending a ton of cash. Other teams have done it. But Hendry has built a farm system of crap with no emphasis on fundamentals, no emphasis on OBP. It's terrible. Those are low standards. Takes alot of work to build a winning franchise. Ours has never shown---and I mean NEVER shown----the gumption to do the damn difficult work and the long hours and the digging in the dirt that it would take to turn this thing around, either from the FA perspective, or the development perspective. Those are low standards. Where is the teaching? Where is the commitment to acquiring the best, no matter the cost? Where is the accountability? Don't hand me the payroll figures, either. I'm so sick of that argument. Trib bloats it's payroll on junk players so it can claim it wants to win. Bull-pucky. They care like a millionaire cares when he buys his 15th Mercedes. Some may think they're going to live forever so they can handle a few more years of terrible baseball in the hopes that it works out. I did this in the '80s. I'm too old now. Seriously, I've bled Cubbie blue for 40+ years. I want to see a Champion before I die. I watched my Dad die without ever having seen one just last year. I'm sick of this nonsense. Everyone has a clever argument why this stuff is all going to work out, or it isn't as bad as it seems. Meanwhile, we continue to tank over & over. Enough! I want some accountability. Who among us would have a job with this kind of performance? I can think of maybe one team that spends no matter what the cost and they haven't exactly been living up to their expectations (a championship every season). And I don't think giving Hendry more money would solve the problem. Think of what a good GM could have done with just the Jones/Neifi/Rusch/Dusty money. I just don't see why failure means they have low standards or don't care. Winning from ownership on down means more money and more security, so it's not like they have an incentive to lose. I think the trends throughout the organization just show that they don't know what it actually takes to win and refuse to rethink their own philosophies.

Is Kaplan still a huge Dusty supporter?

It would be a bad time for that, unfortunately, because they're sucking at everything. Of course, I doubt he'd say anything other than blame things on the lack of clutch hitting. But he does need to be taken to task, especially once Lee comes back so he doesn't have that excuse.

Who is accepting low standards? Hendry isn't accepting low standards, either. He just has no idea what he's doing and actually believes he's buidling a winner.

"Hendry, this is God...frey Jones from the TV magazine show 'Rock Bottom.'"

I'm surprised that it looks like they brought him to Chicago early with him not playing last night. Don't want him to lose his stroke...

Brandon, As a high walk, high strikeout, high power hitter who doesn't hit that many singles, what kind of advice and feedback does the organization give you? Has there been any emphasis on trying to cut down on strikeouts at the risk of lowering your walk total in order to make more contact or did you go into this season with the goal of just doing what you've been doing the previous two seasons? Thanks and best of luck the rest of the way!

Well Williams' night didn't last long. He got the final out in the 6th, but here's his 7th: But Watson manages to get out of the bases loaded, no-out jam with a 3-pitch force at home and a 2-pitch 4-6-3 DP. I-Cubs down 5-1.

Not a great end to the night for Guzman. He loaded up the bags with 1 away in the 6th and couldn't get out of it. Williams came in to get the final out. And that was after he gave up a pair in the 5th on a HBP and sac fly. His final line: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 6 K, WP, HBP, BK, 109 pitches - 64 strikes

Guzman's line so far: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 68 pitches - 42 strikes. I-Cubs still tied at 1-1. Pie is 0-3.

Well, Hendry ignored Pierre's atrocious 2005 and now it's biting the Cubs in the behind. It's hard to ignore .276/.326/.354. And he had an even worse OPS in 2002 with the Rockies. Pierre was anything but a sure bet. On the plus side, he's actually been good on the base paths. If Hendry had ignored Patterson's 2005 numbers he would have been vilified even more than ignoring Pierre's 2005. Pierre was a better bet than Patterson for the Cubs in 2006 and folks are telling tales if they say otherwise. I would have liked to keep Patterson under different circumstances (namely with a different coaching staff). If that change had been made, they would have been better able to upgrade one of the corner spots. The Pierre trade cost them 3 pitchers/trading chips. But since that change wasn't made, I didn't mind the move as much. Patterson wasn't going to succeed with this coaching staff. Pierre may have been a better bet, but he cost a lot more and wasn't likely to help the team out much.

Well, Hendry ignored Pierre's atrocious 2005 and now it's biting the Cubs in the behind. It's hard to ignore .276/.326/.354. And he had an even worse OPS in 2002 with the Rockies. Pierre was anything but a sure bet. On the plus side, he's actually been good on the base paths.

He didn't actually say "it's just a game." That was a misquote.

Having an owner who really wants to win, noticing Hendry, MacPhail (F A I L), and Dusty are dumb. Would fire them all and get people who knew what they are doing (along with wanting to win). MacPhail doesn't want to win. To sum up. If EVERYBODY in the "higher-ups" wanted to win. Things would change, RIGHT NOW. apparently, all steinbrenner has ever done is provide money. Steinbrenner is a great example of someone who spends a ton of money and has the desire to win but doesn't know how to go about doing it. The desire to win, which everyone working in baseball has, means nothing if you don't have the know-how. The Cubs want to win, they just have no idea how to actually do it. Steinbrenner's the perfect example of an owner who holds his employees accountable. The Trib lets MacPhail run this into the ground. Dramatically over-reacting to one bad loss doesn't help the team, either. The Tribune Co. also let MacPhail build this team up, so it can be expected that they'd be more patient. For George, there wasn't a recent building period. It's either maintain success or you'll be gone after not too long. Eventually they'd replace Andy if this keeps up because it'll cut into profits. But they both have the same standard: winning. Whether it's Steinbrenner losing money in desperation to win or the Tribune spending money so wins will bring in a profit (and losses will lower profit), changes are made if there isn't improvement. Still, though, the main issue is knowing what it takes to win. Despite Steinbrenner being so committed to winning and willing to make changes if that doesn't happen, his team hasn't performed up to the standard that you'd expect from a payroll of that size. It's not because of how much the owner "cares." It's not because of having a payroll around $200 million. It's because of not learning from mistakes.

If the reason you're singling out Cedeno and Murton is because your expectations were higher for them, why include Hill and Guzman, two pitchers who were brought up after the season started, were not being counted on, and only pitched with the Cubs out of necessity? And how does their failure to meet someones expectations mean that they've killed the Cubs? Hendry certainly relying on them exclusively to boost the offense (a lot of that goes towards the Pierre trade) and Dusty isn't relying on them exclusively post-Lee injury. And while Walker might be playing first, he would still be a regular in the lineup. How does value to the team change based on what people say on a message board? If I had really low expectations for them, I wouldn't argue that they were less of a factor to these losses than other players. You could use numbers to show their contributions to the dive this month (probably not in April, though), but they certainly wouldn't be alone. There are better ways to criticize Cedeno and Murton.

Wow. I don't think I can recall the last time I've seen an infielder leave his feet and still get the force at home.

I was talking about the hot pocket bit with a friend earlier. He's awesome. Maybe Cubs hitters have been eating hot pockets before their ABs and need to get back to the dugout ASAP. I think I've seen it about 8 times already, but it's still worth watching.

The kids have helped bring them into the toilet. What have I said that's over the top? Admitting you are wrong and then sticking to your guns anyway would just reiterate the trollish behavior. You know they haven't brought the team into the toilet. You knew that before you started the thread. You knew that veterans were just as bad. The vets haven't been as bad, but why bother debating someone who has never been wrong. What got some people so ticked was revisiting last year when some said the cubs should model the braves and bring the kids up. Well, the cubs brought up a bunch of kids and they've mostly stunk this may. The rooks have killed the Cubs. Then you do actually believe that they're the primary cause? So you didn't mean this?

Hairston's OPS dips below .530. On a lighter note, Comedy Central is reshowing Jim Gaffigan's Beyond the Pale in 35 minutes.

And Murton's SLG goes from .348 to .367 with one swing.

Barrett has knocked his SLG up from .487 to .537 today. Aside from Lee, he's the only hitter on the Cubs to have a .500+ SLG.

That probably had more to do with the inning count and HRs. But with the extra soreness after this past outing, he won't go too long.

Hendry found his reason for giving Dusty an extension. His OBP went from .324 to .340 and SLG from .449 to .468, as well, so maybe he wouldn't fit on the team. Hopefully he can regain some consistency and keep that OPS above 800.

Pie's 5 for 6 day at the plate boosted his BA from .263 to .283.