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you could always post the cubs record, that's pretty worthless. LOL..I almost posted the same thing a few minutes ago, and decided against it..glad to see other minds are thinking the same way. BTW, the Cubs web site says this is on WGN, but my television guide has the White Sox game on tonight, not the Cubs-so we might have been pre-empted.

I would agree that the chances are low for getting to the playoffs in one year-but I don't think it's impossible. Here's a best case scenario Trade One or Two of the rookie pitchers with another prospect for A. Jones Sign Soriano Sign Schmidt Sign Platoon Partner for Jacque (2-3 mil) That's only stretching the budget by a few million there (depending on what the budget is for next year, it is possible it will be enough to squeeze in those players I believe, and here is your opening day lineup: Murton Barrett Lee Ramirez A. Jones Soriano J. Jones/PP Izturis and the rotation Zambrano Schmidt Hill Prior (Whichever Young Pitcher is left) I think that team is the favorite in the National League next year-who can compete with that lineup? Now, I don't necessarily expect that best case scenario, but I believe there are other scenarios that could give us a good shot at the postseason next year.

She wasn't exactly a great singer, but she didn't completely humiliate herself up there like Ditka did-or Osborne, or Gil De Ferran (does anybody have any recording of Gil's performance? I heard it on the radio a day or 2 after it happened, and it was one of the funniest things I had ever heard).

Then turned around and gave near 7 million in combined contracts to Neifi and Rusch. Is Furcal overpaid yes. But he could have overpaid for Furcal and locked up the leadoff position for a few years, and kept 2 good arms. Instead he took the money he saved on Furcal and flushed it down the toilet. Now it appears they are going try to re-sign Pierre who will command a contract near that of Furcal plus they will need to spend money on another starter for the rotation. If they still had Nolasco he could have filled this roll at a bargain price. Hendry only thinks 1 move at a time. He would lose to a 2nd grader in a game of chess. We now also have to deal with Izturis' contract as well. If we didn't have Izturis, we'd still have Neifi. I'm not so sure about that. Hendry found a fool in the Tigers GM to acquire Neifi and his bad contract off our hands. If the Tigers weren't desperate we might have both right now. I'd agree that it was likely that we would still have both..but if we hadn't traded for Izturis, do you really think that Hendry would have said yes to giving up Neifi? The trade for Izturis made it possible to get rid of Neifi, and then the Tigers were silly enough to actually make the trade for Neifi possible.

Then turned around and gave near 7 million in combined contracts to Neifi and Rusch. Is Furcal overpaid yes. But he could have overpaid for Furcal and locked up the leadoff position for a few years, and kept 2 good arms. Instead he took the money he saved on Furcal and flushed it down the toilet. Now it appears they are going try to re-sign Pierre who will command a contract near that of Furcal plus they will need to spend money on another starter for the rotation. If they still had Nolasco he could have filled this roll at a bargain price. Hendry only thinks 1 move at a time. He would lose to a 2nd grader in a game of chess. We now also have to deal with Izturis' contract as well. If we didn't have Izturis, we'd still have Neifi.

he could spend part of the broadcast attempting to explain simple, non-sabr stats like IsoD or IsoP, the importance of plate discipline. or, as i heard pat and ron talking about the other day, the fact that philadelphia has scored more runs than any other national league team while also leading the league in stranded baserunners. if you get more baserunners, it's easier to score runs, so we don't have to hit 1.000 with runners in scoring position. i think that idea would be well received by a large audience. it's simple, easy to comprehend, and useful to the casual fan. just point out simple connections, relationships, and causations without using the name of billy beane or the term "sabermetrics". Len does talk a great deal about the importance of OBP and plate discipline in his broadcasts, at least to me.

I believe that Len knows a lot more about stats and the game and what constitutes a good player than he lets on over the course of a broadcast. And I think the Trib probably has something to do with that. i don't know why the trib would stifle kasper's use of sabermetrics during a broadcast, i really don't. if they do, just to listen in on that conversation between he and his producer would be baffling. In other interviews, Len shows more knowledge about the game than he does during Cubs games (like that interview with the Milwaukee guys a few weeks ago). I think he tones it down for games because the audience won't care to hear what he has to say. I don't think the trib stifles him, but he does it on his own. I think it's a personal thing as well. Look for example on how many people on this board try their hardest to not listen to Joe Morgan because of how extreme he is in the other direction. If Len was too far on the numbers side, he realizes that some people would turn him off in much the same way-so to be a good broadcaster, he tries to present a balanced view that represents some part of all the people who listen to him.

Well, with that news, there is no way Hendry picks him up. Hendry is a big believer in chemistry, and would be very reluctant to bring in a "growing cancer"

--Joe Paterno If he, or anyone for that matter, believes that Penn State has half the history of Notre Dame then he really is completely senile. another golden domer crawls out of the woodwork Well, the statement of half is stretching it, but Penn State certainly does not have the overall history of ND. Overall Record ND-811-266-42 (75.3 win percent (excluding ties)) Penn State-771-339-42 (69.4 win percent) Overall Titles ND-11 Penn State-2 Titles Since Paterno took over ND-4 Penn State-2 When comparing overall history, Penn State has been a very good football team-not in the class of ND though-Penn State has the 3rd best overall winning percentage in the Big 10. Now-does that give ND an advantage on Saturday? Of course not-but there are significant differences in their overall histories.

Nice analysis on the teams. It looks like I'm Gabriel crazy, but it's just a guy who can sit on the end of my bench, and has a possibility of breaking out this year that is sitting on the waiver wire-I haven't picked him up on the teams with good wideouts already though. I like team 1 a lot. It's my favorite team, as I drafted RB heavy and made a trade to get Holt and Gates, which made a bunch of top picks on my roster. I've decided to abandon the trade offer on trade 2-I think I could talk him into it, but with the games going now and the couple days it takes for trades to go through it just becomes too complicated, especially for the time it will have to take to get the deal to go through in the first place. I'm not too worried about getting a backup for a player who is a 4th RB already, so no problem there. I am worried about backup QB on team 3-thanks for confirming my suspicions. I don't think QB's will be highly valued on the waiver wire early, so I am going to be watching it closely in the first 2 weeks. I didn't want to break up my dynamic WR set, that is true. I forgot though when listing my wideouts that I have Darrell Jackson also. With Jackson, I feel I have enough to compete-and if Rudi had gone down in the first couple weeks, I didn't really have any starting RB's to replace him-now I'm starting McGahee in the RB/WR slot and he can move to RB at times. The QB is Peyton-I have 3 TE's because there are a few weeks I might consider starting 2-especially since the Brady-Watson connection is supposedly getting much better. Also, there just really isn't anybody I really would want to drop one of them at this point on the waiver wire for-I can use that spot later to drop and add as I need later in the season though. My 4th team is my least favorite team-it kicked me out for 3 picks in the middle of the draft, and one of the picks it gave me was Ron Dayne, which of course was a player I never would have drafted-and really left me weaker at RB than I wanted to be. Again, thank you for the insights-I really enjoyed reading them, and especially where your thought process differed from mine-it's always wonderful to read another perspective.

Jones is already major league average for right field-adding Murton to the mix would make RF decidedly above average.

weird...i read in more than one place that hill broke the record of 10 held by steve wilson. Maybe you're thinking of the stat that Hill is the first Cubs lefthander to record 10+ strikeouts in a game since Steve Wilson in 1990?

If by "group," you mean the front office, then I agree. If you mean the players, I disagree. They didn't quit on anything; they just aren't very good. I would agree with that-I've seen many people say that the players look like they do not care whatsoever. To me, it looks like they are trying hard out there-the talent level out there especially at this point is just pretty bad.

I was going to say Marmol hitting a HR is worse, but he was a position prospect for like 3 years before moving to the mound, and had a 648 OPS in the minors (albeit with only 1 HR). So yeah, allowing Bynum to reach base twice is rock bottom. Two teams this year have allowed him to reach 3 times in a game :D Which two? Split squad games between the Cubs don't count. the Indians and the Cardinals-one game he was 3 for 4, the other he was 2 for 4 with a walk.

I was going to say Marmol hitting a HR is worse, but he was a position prospect for like 3 years before moving to the mound, and had a 648 OPS in the minors (albeit with only 1 HR). So yeah, allowing Bynum to reach base twice is rock bottom. Two teams this year have allowed him to reach 3 times in a game :D Actually, seriously though, Bynum has been pretty good since May the 8th (of course, he had a month and a half of injury time in there also). .278/.321/481-doesn't make me want to jump up and down, but he certainly hasn't been terrible for most of the season.

I was going to say Marmol hitting a HR is worse, but he was a position prospect for like 3 years before moving to the mound, and had a 648 OPS in the minors (albeit with only 1 HR). So yeah, allowing Bynum to reach base twice is rock bottom. Two teams this year have allowed him to reach 3 times in a game :D

Very good AB by Bynum there

It wasn't a pinch hit..Marmol pitched last inning, and they wanted him to keep pitching.

That Blanco play was actually quite comical.

I thought Theriot was caught stealing third with two outs??? If so, it's a completely different situation than JP trying to get to third w/ 1 out. If this is the case, then these are two completely separate situations and should be viewed differently. I do believe that is the scenario - you never make the 1st or 3rd out at 3rd base. The 2nd out can be lived with, but obviously not great. But you could make the argument that since JP was the tying run with 2nd, 3rd hitters up, he is already in scoring position. The only reason why you do that is to score then on a sacrifice (fly most likely). And I doubt that Theriot is your primary sacrafice fly candidate. Agreed that Theriot is not your primary fly ball candidate-they may have tried a squeeze there though. Also, the number 3 hitter was going to be a little worse than usual-remember that Ramirez had been thrown out of the game (the pinch hitter the next inning in the 3 slot was Soto to give you an estimate of the caliber of hitter we had left). So it was a good chance that it was Theriot or nothing, and giving him a chance with the infield in might have been worth the risk-it's a tough call.

Agreed with this-most teams have 2 places where they have hitters that struggle-C, and 1 of 2B, SS, or CF- a few teams don't, but pretty much every team has 1 and most teams have 2. We have the catcher position covered with Barrett-the problem is the other positions. A big bat at second would overcome that deficiency, and allow Murton to stay in left. (Let's say we added Soriano-Soriano's SLG make him a pretty good offensive LF, and Murton's OBP would make him a good offensive 2B-their positions would just be switched from the traditional roles). Find a platoon partner for Jacque, and even if he likely comes down from his numbers this year you still could be getting an 850 OPS out of RF. That offense will be much better, regardless who is starting in center at that point, and even with Izturis. Of course, you could go the other direction and try to trade for somebody like A. Jones, but I think the big hitting second baseman is much more likely.

Entering the game Howry-67.2 IP Dempster-64.2 IP That's certainly not a huge difference at all. I don't think he was necessarily advocating that Dempster should be the one being brought in for the ninth. True-the rest of the bullpen is right behind though. Most of them would be right there, if they weren't in the minors part of the season (which adds to their innings also) or on the DL.

1 start in June (0 ERA), Average (for a MLB pitcher) in July (4.30 ERA), bad in August (5.00 ERA), and back to normal in September (3.45 ERA). His ERA was definitely higher after his injury, yes, but it was still 3.89 Post All Star Break-I'd still take that.

True, but Furcal would be absolutely hated if he were here as well. He's the same offensively as Murton this year making 13 million dollars, and his defense at shortstop is not exactly considered the greatest. Would he have been better than the current options signed for 2006 that made up that 13 million? Yeah-but at least we get to try again here in the offseason, while Furcal would have resigned us to having a player that was overpaid by at least 5-6 million dollars for 2 more years after this one.

Mark Prior made 27 starts in 2005 with a 3.67 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. I'd hardly call that a handful of games, or a bad year. This year was miserable-I don't think anybody would deny that, but before this his worst year of his career was 21 starts with a 4.02 ERA. I don't want to throw out a guy for one terrible year-if he repeats his 2005 and misses some starts, then he'll still be extremely valuable for the team.