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wastra

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Everything posted by wastra

  1. wastra
    getting on base (not making an out) does very little to hinder a team's chances of scoring. some baseball insiders like mccarver are just completely ignorant when it comes to seeing the forest for the trees. baseball is a game that cannot be completely understood unless you have outisde observations. Damn straight, Sulley. The bottom line is that the team that makes fewer outs per plate appearance tends to score more runs. that's been shown on thousands of studies I've seen posted here and is also pretty much common sense.
  2. wastra
    I'm all for him making $10 million for the Cubs next year... ...so long as it's based upon performance incentives. I'd love to see him PROVE he wants to be a Cub his whole career. take the 2 year, $14 million base contract with lots of incentives for innings pitched.
  3. wastra
    I actually didn't think we'd get as much as we've had from Ronny Cedeno, so he's relaly been the one to exceed expectations. Considering I didn't even expect Marshall to be in the majors, I think you have to include him, too. Everyone else has been disappointing on some level or another, or exactly as mediocre as promised. Some due to injury (Lee, Prior, Wood), some to stupidity (Barret), some due to suckiness (Pierre, Rusch, Neifi, Ramirez, etc.)
  4. wastra
    You'd have to start at the soruce of the problem: Hendry. Replacing anyone else or bringing in anyone else only puts a band-aid on the symptom without fixing the cause of the hurt. We have a bad roster. That's on Hendry. We have a bad fit for a manager for that roster. That's on Hendry, too. So if you truly want change within the organization that is lasting and meaningful, you don't leave the man in charge of setting the tone for the organization as it stands to remain in place. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. The problems we have now can be fixed in the short run, but they're all going to re-occur in the near future if we don't address the guy who could have and should have avoided them in the first place.
  5. wastra
    LOL. The pitcher sure thought so as he had time to stretch 5 feet off the mound to his left side for it.
  6. wastra
    Well, i certainly think the post season is out of the picture. At this point, not onyl would we have to seriously outplay the leaders, but also EVERY OTHER TEAM in the NL but one or two...by a BIG margin. But I like the way we've played recently, and that's good because it makes it fun to watch the games when the team plays well. In baseball, it's still fun to take it day-by-day when the post season isn't really a viable option. Right now, our goal should be .500. Once we reach that, we'll see what's possible.
  7. wastra
    Does everyone remember when of the two, Juan Cruz was considered easily the better of the Cubs' pitching prospects? :shock: :D :shock: :D 8)
  8. wastra
    In all seriousness, I don't think just cutting ties with Wood is a great idea. I'd at least check out his willingness to be a Cub by offering a short, cheap, heavily-incentive laden contract that can escalate into big bucks for him if he throws 200+ innings. Small base salary, lots of bonuses for 150 IP, 180 IP, 200 IP, etc.
  9. wastra
    I don't think we should move Wood to the pen...I think we should move him to the outfield. :shock: :wink:
  10. wastra
    I meant he will play basically the same role...corner infielder off the bench with some pop and the ability to spell the corner outfield spots in a pinch. He SHOULD be a better version of Mabry, obviously (or hopefully), and right-handed. We don't need another "Mabry", the one we have now can't hit.
  11. wastra
    This is a move that doesn't b other me in the least. He's going to be a right-handed John Mabry...something we need. he won't hit for average, but he's got very good power. And even when Lee returns, we have no idea if he'll be able to play everyday or not, so we'll need a better backup than Mabry anyway. The problem is that I think he'll be grossly misused. I envision lineups without Todd Walker, and with Neifi at second. I envision him starting instead of Murton, rather than platooning with Jones. If used correctly, this is not an awful deal. I just have little faith he will be.
  12. wastra
    With any other organization, I wouldn't mind giving Womack a shot...he has the potential to get hot and make things happen (he also has the potential to royally suck it up for months at a time). But this just scenario has "Gary Gaetti Part II" written all over it. Who else thinks that if Womack hits .270 or higher for us, he gets a 2-year deal?
  13. wastra
    My biggest concern with Womanck is that he'll be decent for the rest of the year. We all know he'll get a two year, $7 million deal from Hendry if he hits .260 or better. :roll:
  14. wastra
    2 innings, two walks from Marshall. I'm getting sick of seeing our pitchers walking 7-9 guys per game.
  15. wastra
    I wouldn't get in too much of a dither over the sac bunt...it's better than the likely alternative: Hairston getting down 0-2 with 7 foul balls before grounding weakly to the shortstop.
  16. wastra
    I'd rather he swap Hairston for Murton. For all Murton's struggles, one thing he HAS done is reach base far more often than Cedeno. From the look of it, I'm getting the St. Louis-San Diego game on Fox instead of the Cubs. :x :x
  17. wastra
    There was a number of us who expressed serious misgivings about trading for Pierre both before and after he was acquired. He's the wrong kind of guy- he's a very very weak slap hitter who swings at everything and runs well. His OBP is almost entirely tied to his batting average because that's the only way he can get on base. He's also a pretty poor center fielder when you consider my 2 year old nephew has a stronger and more accurate arm. Many of us cautioned that Pierre was not as good as Hendry hyped him to be, and that his 2 years prior to last season might have been the flukes, not last year's lower numbers, because of a ridiculously high BABIP.
  18. wastra
    Dusty is a terrible manager, but this loss isn't directly his fault. The only way this is his fault is if you fall back to the lack of preparedness and focus from the players. In terms of personnel decisions, I actually think having Perez at 2nd in the 9th instead of Hairston or Walker is the right move. And you gotta go with your closer in a save situation. So if there is a complaint about lack of team focus and effort- fine. If it's about Dempster throwing fewer than 3 innings in the past week, fine. But ultimately, today, Dusty didn't cause the loss, Dempster's inability to throw a strike and Neifi's inability to not * himself in the field caused this.
  19. wastra
    I agree with you. But even with Lee that seemed to be by accident. I remember when the Cubs trading for him Hendry saying he could hit 40+ homers and I (and others) were rolling our eyes. We knew he was good defensively and had a good eye at the plate, but I don't think many saw superstar status when that deal was made. So, in my opinion, Hendry kind of lucked out on that one. Again, you're right that it's inexcuseable not to have a top-flight FA or get a top-flight deal done with the payroll. I still don't understand some people getting upset at the Murton trade proposals since many of us said during the offseason that this offense wouldn't be good with Murton in left without a high OPS guy in right such as Abreu or Giles. Murton would be a great asset on this team if we had a GM and manager who knew how to properly construct a team. I agree with you totally. I don't see any way you can go into 2007 with an outfield of Jones, Pie, and Murton. If you can platoon Murton, fine. But he can't start opposite Jones. And I think, ultimately, we'd have to find a worse/more desperate judge of major league talent than Hendry to unload Jones...that's a rough task. It wasn't as if there was a line of GMs trying to sign him last winter.
  20. wastra
    The bottom line is that the cubs have to, for once, go out and get a good hitter in his prime or thereabouts. We quite literally have not signed or traded for a top-notch hitter that wasn't a gamble or "flier" in about 5-6 years with the lone exception being Derek Lee. Every other offensive player we've brought in or up has been on injury rehab, guys coming off awful seasons we're just HOPING they can improve on, or just not very good hitters before we signed them anyway. It is baffling that we consistantly have holes in our lineup, and we've NEVER gone out and paid money for a top-flight free agent since the Alou fiasco. We're not Minnesota. With a $95 million payroll, one or two key players should have been guys we jsut signed over the competition. As long as Hendry relies on reclamation fliers and "bargain basement" type of guys, we can't field the offense we deserve. For the life of me, I can't understand how on a $95 million roster, the only two good outright FA signings are setup men.
  21. wastra
    Thank goodness! But will we be able to survive with only 4 2Bs on the roster? Should we have demoted someone other than Theriot, or can Bynum be our emergency 5th 2B?
  22. wastra
    Don't forget the rest of that powerful outfield the $95+ million payroll bought us... Pagan, Pierre, Jones, Murton, Bynum Seriously. You can't make this stuff up.
  23. wastra
    Nope. No kidding. So far, Hendry's answer to this offensive offense has been to call up a no htting OFer, then exchange him for a light hitting 2B (the 4th on the roster) and then send that guy down for a career light-htting 2B he just pulled off the scrap heap. Hendry clearly gave up on this team the moment Lee broke his wrist. That has to be the explanation, but the only other possible explanations would be inability to SEE what is wrong ir inability to do anything about it...either of which are inexcusable from a GM. WOW. How can you say Hendry has given up on this team??? You have GM's in baseball saying he is always on the phone. WOW your comment does not make any sense. No teams are willing to make trades in APRIL. WOW you must be... well im not going to say it because im in shock So the answer, then, is that he's unable to do anything about having the worst offense in the NL. You're not helping his case.
  24. wastra
    Nope. No kidding. So far, Hendry's answer to this offensive offense has been to call up a no htting OFer, then exchange him for a light hitting 2B (the 4th on the roster) and then send that guy down for a career light-htting 2B he just pulled off the scrap heap. Hendry clearly gave up on this team the moment Lee broke his wrist. That has to be the explanation, but the only other possible explanations would be inability to SEE what is wrong ir inability to do anything about it...either of which are inexcusable from a GM.
  25. wastra
    Sorry, everyone. I just gotta laugh at this one. Seriously. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Sure am glad we've got Neifi locked up for another year, though. This way, no other team can swoop in and overbid us for him. :?
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