badnews

The weather is hard but I actually think Minneapolis-St Paul is a pretty good urban area considering its location. I'd rather live there than Dallas or Kansas City, etc.

Fukudome is a fantastic center fielder for the Most Horrifyingly Stunningly Overpriced Outfield in Major League Baseball History.

Crap on Jacque Jones all you like. His 2006 was one good season for the money, which is one more good season than Bradley will ever have for us. 27 home runs might be more than Bradley hits over the entire life of a contract. And his arm in right was bad but at least he could get run to first base without needing a wheelchair three quarters of the way down. I'm not so much defending Jones as pointing out that pretty soon we will be talking about them synonymously. The enlightenment is going to be painful for some. It's better if you don't fight it, because, as Family Guy so wisely stated, it's like sex with Kobe Bryant, you can fight and kick and scream but it's still going to happen. So lay back, close your eyes, and pretend it's actually a right fielder you like. I'm imagining that handsome, non-threatening Andre Ethier.

Brett Jackson sounds a lot like Tyler Colvin - a lot of talk of tools and doing this and that but not much in the way of actually baseball acumen or results to show for it.

I don't like what has happened to his walk-to-strikeout ratio. But he's doing what he's doing and more importantly he's doing it cheap. Check out Nate McLouth's career minor league numbers though.

If I could magically rid the Cubs of one player and his horrifying contract it would be Soriano without question.

The playoffs are not enough of a crapshoot that this team's offense can get it past the first round. The pitchers the Cubs are capable of consistently beating up are not the ones they will face in the playoffs. This team is not close enough to be considering trades like Matt Holliday and such.

I think taking on more big money in hopes of this being the year is akin to getting the transmission and engine rebuilt on a 1991 Vokswagon Rabbit. I still don't understand what makes anyone think we're 1 or even 2 players away from the World Series. The Cleveland Indians are proof you can't wait for players to "do what they're supposed to do." You would need to replace Soriano and two other guys for this offense to get remotely close to something that doesn't crap out in the first round of the playoffs.

Well, you can take the obtuse route, but I will clear it up. _ Guys who can't stay healthy DHing are a bad bet to stay healthy playing right field for the Cubs. - .765 vs. whatever you like. The point is, with corner outfielders, you can usually cobble together a .780, a .790, whatever, OPS peformance without having to invest a lot of money. - Nobody who plays for the Chicago Cubs should have a persecution complex or pronounced emotional instability, regardless of whether it is justified. - Bits and pieces of good seasons are not substitutes for good seasons. Victor Diaz has parts of good seasons. It doesn't mean you run out and invest a lot of money in Victor Diaz. Assuming you can even view Milton Bradley as a right fielder, which is in itself dubious, start making a list of the right fielders in baseball better than him. It adds up to a lot. So great. In the end, he'll get hot for a few games against some team's #4 and #5 starters, not play enough games, and in the end we'll end up with a little less than the production we got from Jeromy Burnitz or the platoon mess of 2007 that yielded a .794 OPS. I think anyone who thought Bradley was going to be a substantial asset were probably in that same class of people who convinced themselves that by midseason 2007 Eric Byrnes was the missing piece to a Cubs World Series. To conclude, the major leagues are lousy with outfielders who don't play close to a full season but have a respectable career OPS. Now let's get out there and get Jonny Gomes. Milton Bradley goes on the same outfielder pile as Juan Rivera. Yeah, there may be a good player somewhere in Juan Rivera but you're stupid to commit any resources to find out.

So I'm a liar because I've been saying he'd be a big letdown from Day 1 and I have the posting history to prove it? And not just a liar. An expletive liar. Oh my. Well you can be the last one to go down with the ship Cap'N. Bradley never convinced me, because these .765 OPS corner outfield jokers can make parts of seasons look good and yes, a .400 BABIP in Texas is ultimately quite convincing. And nobody would have any idea he'd have injuries to his legs. Give me a break. Oh you predicted doom and gloom, I'm [expletive] stunned. Yeah, badnews wants a cookie because one of his usual vague "this is going to fail" rants came through. There was nothing even remotely vague about my dislike of Milton Bradley. I pretty clearly stated what I did not like and why I thought it was a bad investment. I will re-state again, just to be perfectly clear. The idea that "no one who says they could've seen this coming is an expletive liar" laughably wrong.

Everyone says Gammons, but I honestly thought it was Buster Olney who picked him for MVP.

So I'm a liar because I've been saying he'd be a big letdown from Day 1 and I have the posting history to prove it? And not just a liar. An expletive liar. Oh my. Well you can be the last one to go down with the ship Cap'N. Bradley never convinced me, because these .765 OPS corner outfield jokers can make parts of seasons look good and yes, a .400 BABIP in Texas is ultimately quite convincing. And nobody would have any idea he'd have injuries to his legs. Give me a break.

Team looks more like a seller than a buyer.

Lance Broadway sounds like a porn star name or a 1970s casino owner or something.

I think it is a great way to escalate the rivalry with the Brewers. Mat Gamel at 3rd vs. Jake Fox, who is the worstiest of the two defensively.

Just do what everyone else does TAKE SOME CLONAZEPAM AND MAN UP BUDDY

A large payroll has helped to mask Hendry's blatant stupidity. We'll see how charitable people are feeling as Soriano gets less and less effective, etc. Jim Hendry throws away money. That's not being a good GM. Anyone can spend money.

I think some people developed an irrational fear of Rob Mackowiak (or however the hell you spell his name) because of just one game.

The Cubs score like half of their season runs off the Pirates. According to the stats I just made up. Of course I don't know if Phil Dumatriat is still in their rotation. I expect the Cubs to win 16-5 with a whole lotta stat-padding.

I think it's just because this doesn't look like a particularly good team, a team that's going to win a World Series.

That's called battered fan syndrome, you're like a housewife deluding yourself that your husband's beatings aren't that bad and as soon as he feels less pressure at work he'll start treating you right

Go Cobs go. Go Cobs go. Hey Chicago whaddya say?

The Cubs get to face Maholm, Snell, and Duke, this is where Soriano hits like 12 home runs to make his season look respectable.

A catcher named Hundley screws the Cubs big surprise

I am doing cool stuff while posting this so my interweb reputation is still intact