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I completely agree with this statement. Hendry is very mediocre, and a big reason why is that he is reactive. He reacts to a need and tries to fill it. A great G.M. knows what his future needs are going to be and makes sure to fill it beforehand to get the best value and player. Hendry waits until the need is there without backup plans, and by then there aren't nearly as many options to fill that need, and you get trades like the Monroe and Trachsel deals. I think Hendry is overall a pretty decent talent evaluator, and everybody says that he's a good salesman. He just has a hard time seeing the big picture, and until he does he won't be able to rise above being mediocre.

I don't think that team would have won 85 games this year. You've tied up 47 million of your 100 million already in 3 players. Beltran has been close to Soriano offensively this year, Drew is identical to Cliff Floyd this year, and Schmidt has pitched 25 innings of over a 6 ERA. Your other 53 million would have to be very well spent in order to get a team that won over 75 games with that start.

They might have a good record against left-handers this year, but that might be coincidence. Arizona is 15th in the NL in hitting against LH's. In fact, look at this: Batting against LHP: Cubs: .263/.325/.431 Arizona: .250/.319/.402 The Cubs have a 16 point advantage over Arizona facing right-handers, and a 35 point edge against left-handers.

Ok, I'm going to give Jim Hendry appreciation for one thing in this thread. Yes, he did spend a lot of money in the 2006 offseason. The big thing was though, he spent it on the right players! There were a ton of horrible contracts thrown out last season. Here is what Hendry did: got the best second baseman on the market, but didn't pay him anywhere near that level. got the best outfielder on the market got the second and sixth best pitchers on the market, and avoided every disaster in the pitching market (for those who are understandably upset about Marquis's contract, think about having Padilla, Eaton, Igawa, Scmidt, or Zito's contracts instead). If you look at the pitching market and look at the 1 year deals, they either were hometown deals or they were absolutely awful pitchers. Most of the long-term deals failed as well, and the only person that you could say Hendry missed on was Gil Meche. got the best bench player by quite a bit on the market for an affordable price. A lot of teams threw around money, but the Cubs were the only team to significantly improve through free agency. The Cubs overpaid for some productive players, but they got the best players. Most teams overpaid for bad players. The Hendry mistakes are well known and some of them are still continuing. The reason they needed such a major overhaul in 2006 was because of Hendry's mistakes. At the same time, if he hadn't done a brilliant job picking the right players to give contracts to in the 2006 offseason the Cubs wouldn't be in the playoffs now. In fact, let's not even look at the total value of the players. Did any team get more value for their money then the Cubs last offseason?

I can't remember if they put her at 60'6" or not, but I know they had a little competition to see how she could do against a major league hitter a few years ago. Richie Sexon got the chance to try to hit about 20 pitches from her. I think he made contact with 2 or 3 of them and generally looked awful at the plate.

You have to protest a rule-the umpires didn't follow this rule or that rule. Subjective calls on the field cannot be protested.

Peavy said he had his worst stuff of the season last time out even though his results were good. Now his stuff is once again bad tonight, and the results are reflecting that. This year is a career high in innings for him. If he is starting to lose his stuff, that makes me want to root for SD tonight because if Peavy isn't dominant, that simply isn't a very good team out there right now.

Thanks for the info. I was wondering about that. As for why they are doing that, there are probably 4 times as many ND fans as PU fans in the Indianapolis area. I agree that the PU-OSU game will be a better game, but ND-UCLA will still draw more local viewers. The Purdue fans are going to be furious though, and I really don't blame them. That's really bad scheduling to put the two biggest programs in the state on at the same time, same channel.

Shouldn't those games start at 9:35 instead? I know a lot of you might not like the late start but for once it works for me! Well the lastest possible start on wednesday is 7:30. The 9:30 one is going to SUCK. Yup. I have the first day of a new job soon. Of course the first day is Friday morning early and I have a 45 minute drive to get there. I really wish the Cubs game wouldn't start at 10:30 here the previous night, but I guess I'll manage.

Now that I think about it, for the reason CubinNY stated and some others, I think Marquis probably will make the roster anyway for a long relief option, another starter in case of injury to one of the starters, and another option just in case some other disaster happens (Chase can be closed right?). I like going with 3 starters though because I don't think Z's stuff was affected that much by the short rest.

It depends how many starters the Cubs go with. If they go with 4 starters, Marquis will certainly make it. If they go with 3, then they probably leave him off in favor of another reliever.

I have the same feeling, and it pissees me off. If Monroe isn't the starting CF v. LHP, he's pointless. Definitely agree on that. If you're not starting him, the only situation I can think of where he would play is if the left-handed starter for Arizona is still in and the Cubs need a pinch-hitter. If that happens, Cedeno can fill in and Cedeno's versatility otherwise is worth a lot more than that one specific situation.

I think they are taking the not happy part by Piniella's actions during the game and how upset he was. By the time he was quoted, his quote was that he was unconcerned.

I think the only way Fuld gets back on the roster due to an injury is if Pie gets hurt. I sincerely hope Ward will be ready to go. The Cubs absolutely need his bat in the division series. Thankfully IIRC the Diamondbacks don't have too many left-handers down there that could nullify him in the late innings.

They traded Freddie Bynum for Hart It was Scott Moore and Rocky Cherry for Trachsel. Cherry was awful for Baltimore after the trade and is now 28 years old. The chances of him re-gaining and becoming a good reliever at this time is less than 50/50. Bynum is a low OBP above average slugging guy with great speed who plays bad defense. Moore is the key to these two trades. He was also pretty terrible in his cup of coffee with Baltimore, but he turns 24 in a few weeks so he still has time.

I'd start Z on short rest. I thought his stuff was fine when pitching on short rest earlier in the month, he was just facing a lot of hitters that really do well historically against him. I also think the adrenaline of the playoffs would help offset being tired at all. Is the difference between Lilly and Marquis greater than the difference between Z on normal rest and short rest? IMO, yes and I think he should start on Sunday. At the same time, since Z has become more of a fly ball pitcher he has been better on the road than at home (both 2006 and 2007). That probably needs to be considered as well.

TBS I believe has the rights to this game as well.

The only scenario that would likely delay the playoffs is the 4 team scenario. Every other one (including the Rockies-Padres playoff) and the playoffs should continue on schedule.

That's a signal that some of the AP people didn't really watch some of the games either. To have 20 voters change their mind on LSU-USC based on yesterday's games? I don't see it. I watched USC look really bad, but LSU looked pretty bad themselves yesterday. I really like the jump to #6 for South Florida though. For what they've done so far, they deserve that ranking for now. While I'm quite sure you're right that some of the AP people didn't watch all the games, in defense of LSU jumping USC - LSU looked bad for a half, USC looked bad an entire game. The difference between Washington and Tulane is massive though. Washington has beaten Syracuse and Boise State while losing to USC, UCLA, and blown out by Ohio State in the second half. Tulane has gotten blown out by Mississippi State, blown out by Houston, and beaten Southeastern Louisiana.

It all depends if the team wants to go with 4 starters or not. If there's only 3, they won't put Marquis on as a reliever. If 4, he'll be the 4th guy. Remember also that the roster can change from round to round so if the Cubs want to use 4 starters in one round and then 3 the next, they always could bring Marquis for one series and leave him off of another.

That's a signal that some of the AP people didn't really watch some of the games either. To have 20 voters change their mind on LSU-USC based on yesterday's games? I don't see it. I watched USC look really bad, but LSU looked pretty bad themselves yesterday. I really like the jump to #6 for South Florida though. For what they've done so far, they deserve that ranking for now.

I'm definitely concerned, but I also know it's his side session. This isn't like he was preparing for a start or a possible relief session, this was practice for him. The Cubs should definitely try to go 3 starters whenever possible in the playoffs though. I don't think they'll be able to do that in the division series, but if they make the NLCS I hope they will just pitch Z, Lilly, and Hill.

Soriano 2 run single in the second scored Jones and Kendall. Lee doubled and then Jones doubled scoring Lee in the 3rd inning.

If Arizona and SD tie, they will have won both the division and the WC. Since they would both be in the playoffs, the tiebreaker becomes head to head record which Arizona owns.

For those of you who turned off the USC-Washington game after the 4th down turnover on downs a minute ago, Washington has just blocked a punt and then punched it in with 34 seconds to go. Onside kick upcoming, 27-24 USC now. And USC gets the onside kick-it looks like this one is finally over.