wastra

At least the TBS video quality has improved? The high def broadcast on Directv is allowing me to watch this trainwreck in excellent HD.

Really? Makes complete sense to me. You can bet Hendry will be in contact with his agent this offseason, then.

He doesn't get much chance. Unless they hit a lazy fly RIGHT AT HIM, he can't get to anything anyway.

Seriously. I COULD try to become a Reds fan. they're much closer than Chicago. At least with them, I'd never even get my hopes up.

get hill out.

Kill me. Please.

of course.

Classic Cubs. Way to bunt it to the pticher, moron.

Why do we swing at the borderline sliders at the knees and always let the heaters down the middle go right by????

Error Drew = Karma is a b!tch

I mentioned it the other night - I'm convinced we have a good number of hitters who decide before the ball is thrown whether they're gonna swing at it or not. I have been convinced of that for 3 years. I agree - how the rest of of the major leagues and the majority of fans can see that and the organization can't (or worse yet, promotes it) is beyond me I don't know how you spend as much money as we have and still have someone like Cliff Floyd hitting cleanup in an elimination game. But hopefully this trainwreck of a front office is soon to be gone.

Die, Steven Drew, Die! Laces out!!!

I mentioned it the other night - I'm convinced we have a good number of hitters who decide before the ball is thrown whether they're gonna swing at it or not. I have been convinced of that for 3 years.

No other player in the world lets that pitch go by in that situation. Our best player did it. *sigh*

It's 5 years, $91.5MM with a player option for the 6th. http:// http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7130616?MSNHPHMA

Of course every team in the NL Central is at the bottom of that... And I can't tell...is that overall schedule or just what's left? And no American League team has an easier schedule than anyone in the National League... That's exactly what I was wondering. I really wish I knew how that was calculated, but I imagine he considers his formula 'proprietary' and doesn't want to just give it away. I would guess it is recalculated based on the records of the teams played and yet to play. My thoughts: 1) Strong teams are at a disadvantage because they win more games, thus making their schedule 'weaker' by simply playing better. Conversely, weaker teams make their schedule 'stronger' by simply playing worse than their opponents. 2) Strength of schedule in baseball only has limited, if any, value when attempting to determine how strong a team is compared to their record. Pythagorean record is a much better indicator of how well a team has played, IMO. If any of the resident experts could chime in that would be excellent. Not to mention that a weak team can't play itself, and neither can a strong team...hence by nature, their schedule difficulties are at least slightly skewed.

I really can't find too much to complain about with Lou. First, there will enver be ANY manager who I agree with every time he makes a decision. But more importantly, his tactical decisions are on a few occassions a little questionable, he's the firey type of guy we need. Changing organizational mindsets is difficult, and I think the laid back "just relax, Dude, and play some ball" approach from Dusty Baker was doomed to failure. to change a whole organization's way of thinking, you have to rock the boat, and actively do it- both with the players and the entire organization from GM on down through minor league marketing folks- in order to turn around any organization of this size overnight. Granted, $300 million doesn't hurt, either, naturally.

Who were the people who actually thought they were good in the first place? I was fooled..I admit it. Tsk. Tsk. Thou shalt not buy into NSBB hype. Wait a minute, we're writing off Fontenot (or even Theriot, for that matter) after 41 career ML ABs, in which is OPS is over 1.000? I just want to be clear about this. B/c if Fontenot is disappointing some of you with his performance so far, you really should turn off the TV, shut down the computer, and walk away from baseball forever. He's not going to OPS 1.000 for his career. He might end up being the worst player to ever play the game. But he's been fantastic in his very short ML career. To say "the honeymoon is over" b/c he's 0/2 today is the dumbest thing I've read in a while. If you really think that based on a couple good weeks after his callup that he is an everday player, that is the dumbest thing I read in a while. He is a backup utlility player at best. There are hundreds of guys who were "decent" in AAA who get called up and have a great couple of weeks. There are probably only a handful of mediocre-to-decent AAA players who get called up to the majors and are suddenly good for the long haul. Theriot and Fontenot= "okay" at the AAA level. Nothing to suggest they would be adequate major league everyday players in the majors. And for the record, we're have 3 utility players in today's lineup (Fontenot and Theriot- utility IF and Pagan- utility OF), a backup catcher, a backup 1B, and an emergency rookie callup (Pie). one of those is a DH and one is in for an injured player. What are Jim's excuses for the other 4?

Who were the people who actually thought they were good in the first place? I was fooled..I admit it. Tsk. Tsk. Thou shalt not buy into NSBB hype. At this point, I've become so jaded that I really don't ahve any faith in a Cubs minor leaguer simply because they've playedi nthe Cubs' minor leagues. I also don't ave faith in other teams' major leaguer if Jim hendry has shown any interest in signing them/trading for them. That doesn't leave me much to root for.

This is the only orgainzation in baseball that could have a $100m+ payroll and STILL have to rely on a lineup with 3-4 planned backups and 2-3 emergency callups.

By my count, this team today has 4 guys who were planned to be backups (granted Ramirez is out, but still...) Theriot Ward Bowen (?!?) Pagan Plus two emergency callups: Fontenot Pie If we give them the benefit of the doubt and say that Ramirez' injury is the reason for one, and the DH is another, that's still 4 guys who shouldn't be starting for a team intent on winning a division right now. Strike 32, Jim. You're way out of here. Why is Jim Hendry still employed with this organization? It's utterly incomprehensible.

By my count, this team today has 4 guys who were planned to be backups (granted Ramirez is out, but still...) Theriot Ward Bowen (?!?) Pagan Plus two emergency callups: Fontenot Pie If we give them the benefit of the doubt and say that Ramirez' injury is the reason for one, and the DH is another, that's still 4 guys who shouldn't be starting for a team intent on winning a division right now. Strike 32, Jim. You're way out of here.

First off, I don't think the Reds would trade the only guy that still brings fans out to see that horrid excuse for a team. Second, I'd be really leery about trading one of our starters. Hill is struggling, God only knows if Marquis will have another of his sudden relapses into suckiness as he's had so often. Offense is a problem with this team, but I don't know if creating one hole to plug another is going to do us any good. If we had to trade a major leaguer for another corner OFer, we would need to dump either a middle infielder and/or a Jones or Floyd in order to improve the team without hurting the roster too severely.

I understand that Derosa may be one of htem ore easily tradeable guys on the roster, but I don't think he's SO tradeable that you'll get back anything that would turn out much better than he is now. At his cost, and for his abilities, he's the type guy we should KEEP, imo. He can play 2-4 positions at either an average/adequate level or even solidly. He gets on base, hits the ball fairly hard, and seems like a great clubhouse guy.

GRRRRRAAAAAAAANNNNNDDDD SALAMI!