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wasn't it hendry that said that? i'm hoping that with both hendry and quade done, we at least give him the chance to come back and create a little more leverage for a trade. Ricketts has all but ruled out any chance of keeping Zambrano. i really hope ricketts isn't planning on running the team. I can't see a new GM sticking out his neck to keep Zambrano. There's so little upside for a guy who had his worst strikeout rate, worst K/BB rate, worst HR rate, second worst LD percentage, and worst swinging strike percentage of his career this year. And with his history, it could very well be arm related damage and not just an off year. If there was potential for Z to be still be great, then maybe he thinks about it. But when you're hoping for acceptable and could take a big PR hit in year 1 if it doesn't work, then there just isn't a big reason for a GM to fight to keep him.

Also they signed DeRosa that year which was the best of all the second base options. It was a horrible strategy to spend that much money in that manner, but the Cubs did a really good job of scouting the FA market that year. And a contract like Daisuke looks even worse when you consider that the Red Sox paid 51 million dollars as a posting fee in addition to his contract.

I think the decline Ramirez's option camp is working off a few premises: The Cubs want to get either Pujols or Fielder The Cubs need to upgrade their starting pitching in some way in order to compete in 2012. Ramirez will want a multi-year deal after 2012 that the Cubs will not (should not) want to pay so basically his last year in a Cubs uniform if they choose the club option will be 2012. Does anyone dispute any one of these premises?

It really isn't that smart to bench Soriano and Byrd too often either. Those are guys that the Cubs are counting on next year as well and getting them upset isn't the right way to do that. Soriano has had 4 days off already in Septmber and Byrd has had 3. That's a lot for them. Colvin's in a tough spot. His at-bats against right-handers have been taken by LaHair, and it doesn't do him much good to play mostly against left-handers. Add to that he hasn't really proven that he deserves more at-bats (he had time in AAA to prove that and failed) and it's just been hard to get him in there.

This is all correct except the Rams-Ravens will be on CBS. Thanks for the correction.. I accidentally switched CBS and FOX in the last sentence. Bears/Packers on Fox, Rams/Ravens on CBS for the secondary market.

I think Butters will get it in Columbia, but we'll be blacked out in St. Louis, since it's a home game. Can they do that? It's the Fox national broadcast. If so, that BS. Yup. Under NFL rules, the Bears-Packers game should be blacked out in St. Louis this weekend. They'll show games on FOX and CBS at noon and then show the St. Louis game at 3. In the secondary market for the St. Louis game, IIRC they'll show Fox games at noon and 3 (the 3 oclock one almost certainly will be Bears/Packers) and then on CBS show no game at noon and the St. Louis game at 3.

I think there could be more of a case made for Beane over Friedman if they were just in different parts of the life cycle. If Beane had been rebuilding the farm system over the last few years and Tampa Bay was in the period where they have major league success and a declining farm system, then it could be argued that they are just both small market franchises at different points. But TB has a much better major league team and a much better farm system. TB has managed to have a very good major league team and still have a ton of extra draft picks. Beane however has traded away some great major league talent while it was still cheap. And who knows what type of players Beane actually values? He valued OBP when it was undervalued. Now he values speed and defense because it is undervalued. What types of players will he try to acquire when he has money?

The point I've been making this entire thread is that we should let Aramis walk to (hopefully) free up the money to sign Wilson and one of Pujols/Fielder. Wilson is a better short and long term investment than Aramis at this point. And that isn't a very smart point to try and make. Your solutions to fill the position are garbage. My solutions are salary-based - you shoot a little higher if Ricketts bumps payroll up at all. If it stays as is, then you make do with what you have. Baker is extremely productive against lefties and as long as Flaherty/LeMaheieu is decent, we'll have above average offense at third. Why do you think an aging, injury prone 33 year old slugger is a better 3 year investment than a 31 year old elite pitcher who only has 2 years of ML starting experience under his belt for 4-5 years? Your 3B production would blow. You are talking about guys who might have a chance to be backup middle infielders. Flaherty has a good chance to be better than a backup middle infielder but handing him the job right now would be incredibly risky IMO. Keeping Ramirez isn't a great option either. He's barely been worth his contract this year even with his hitting and being more healthy than he's been just about every year. He has considerable downside risk. You're basically hoping he has a year like this year and is just worth his contract, but he very well could decline or get hurt. The Cubs should consider the club option, but signing him to anything beyond that is asking for trouble unless they sign him to a ridiculously team friendly deal.

So...convenience is a problem? He doesn't want their recruiting limited to competing for midwestern kids. I don't see how having a schedule like this: Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa, Northwestern, Minnesota, Purdue, Penn State, USC, Navy, and two rotating games is going to be any worse for recruiting then a schedule of Wake Forest, Maryland, Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, NC State, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, USC, Navy, and two rotating games. I'd prefer ND goes to the Big 10, then the ACC, then the Pac 12, then the SEC. I like the rivalry possibilities better in the Big 10 and I think the non-conference schedule is easier to complete than if they were in the ACC.

I hope so. He's the better QB from what I've seen. Rees is a turnover machine.

ROFL...I'd really like to see this. Fun fact: Pulaski Academy is an 5 minute drive from my house. Okay, so it wasn't all that fun. But yeah, this coach is definitely has a unique outlook on football. I definitely think there's merit to his position on punting at the high school level, but as the average talent and execution level increases, I feel it would become less effective. From what I remember from what the statistics say, in college and the pros that you should almost never punt on 4th and short (3 or less) from anywhere on the field, although I've only seen a few coaches ever do it deep in their own territory (Bill Belichick being the most famous one). As you start to cross midfield the amount of yardage starts to go way up from when you shouldn't punt, and you should almost never punt from any down and distance inside the opponent's 40. Of course the rules are predicated on average offenses-the better either your offense is or your opponent's offense is the more often you should go for it, and the worse either one is the more often you should punt.

The season isn't over. Next game is tomorrow night. And I doubt the Cubs put Clevenger on the 40 man roster this late into September. Dolis might come up but they might decide it's just not worth the hassle (by the time he could get to Chicago they would have less than 10 games left).

Geez. The rest of your team must suck. Or you have a small league. McFadden and McCoy. Ride the horses. 8 team league. I'm getting offers for both McCoy and Hillis. My WRs are Bowe, DeSean Jackson and whatever on the scrap heap looks good. Oh I also have Ray Rice. Anyway, I've got an offer of Mike Wallace for Hillis that I could pull the trigger on. Anyway, thanks for the help everyone. I'd definitely take Mike Wallace for Hillis when you are that loaded at RB. Hillis will likely be the guy who sits the bench most weeks and Wallace is a huge upgrade on Bowe. That would leave you with a very balanced roster. And you still have Best to backup on bye weeks.

I can understand people's frustration with their BA with RISP. 6 points above league average overall, 15 points above league average with nobody on, and 16 points below league average with RISP (their overall OPS is 25 points better with nobody on). That's certainly been a problem this season that would have helped the Cubs score a few more runs if it was normalized (and would have helped their pitching too as St. Louis, Cincy, and Milwaukee have all done better in clutch situations then normal, although St. Louis has basically wasted it by having such horrible stolen base numbers). But focusing on that is silly when it really hasn't been an extreme variation this season, there's nothing to be done to fix it, and the lack of chances is a much, much bigger part of the equation.

The safest play IMO is Hillis (the Colts are missing Gary Brackett and Ernie Sims, their run D is poor, and the Browns won't necessarily be playing from behind as it would be during the Manning years-I'd say Hillis has at least a 70% chance of putting up at least one TD during the game) but McFadden and McCoy probably have more upside. McCoy's the best player on the best offense and McFadden and Hillis have the best matchups.

Only 2 of 10 Urlacher's similar players through year 10 on football reference are in the hall of fame, and only 3 of the 10 of his career similar players have made it. I don't think he's a lock at this moment. As for Lewis, through year 14 7 of his 10 comparables are in the HOF and 7 of his 10 career comparables are also in the HOF. I'd consider Lewis a lock and players like Brooks, Urlacher, and Thomas as probables. One of those three could easily get left out though. by and large i see the same names from year to year for both of them. and, as i stated, Urlacher has primarily played in a system where he was under a considerable more amount of pressure to cover area. Urlacher has essentially been playing a hybrid safety/linebacker combination position that a lot of those guys couldn't play. you also conveniently failed to mention that one of those guys whom Lewis is compared to through year 10 is not in the hall of fame because he's Brian Urlacher. That's because I didn't look at the comparables for Lewis through year 10. I looked at the final year for both of them right now-Urlacher through year 10 and Lewis through year 14. I appreciate your point about Urlacher's position, but I doubt the HOF voters will get that nuanced. They're more likely to see Lewis's ring as a point in his favor rather than consider Urlacher playing a harder MLB position...especially because the perception of the Bears is they play Cover 2 where the MLB isn't that important (of course, the Bears don't play a traditional cover two precisely because of Urlacher's talents). If Urlacher has four more Pro Bowl seasons in a row he'll be where Lewis is now. There's nothing to indicate he can't do that right now, but I'd still bet the chances are less than 50/50. It's just hard to predict any non-quarterback to sustain a high level of play that long. Really that's the only main thing Lewis has above him though is longevity.

Indinapolis can't show a FOX game at 1:00 because of the Colts being at home. That's why you see little pockets of green also in Detroit, Nashville, Buffalo and NYC. The Dallas game is the only option for those markets.

Only 2 of 10 Urlacher's similar players through year 10 on football reference are in the hall of fame, and only 3 of the 10 of his career similar players have made it. I don't think he's a lock at this moment. As for Lewis, through year 14 7 of his 10 comparables are in the HOF and 7 of his 10 career comparables are also in the HOF. I'd consider Lewis a lock and players like Brooks, Urlacher, and Thomas as probables. One of those three could easily get left out though.

right on both accounts I was thinking Bruce Matthews but he only played 19 seasons.

April 5th is late? didn't they open up on like April 11th this year? Game 1 was on April 1st this year.

I have a hard time seeing how this team competes in 2012 without Ramirez in the lineup. The drop off from Ramirez to the next best available 3B in the free agent market is enormous. Nick Punto or Jose Lopez won't cut it. It's possible someone like Vitters steps up in the next year or two, but there's absolutely no guarantee Vitters will even stick in the majors. Plus, trading for a 3B would be a dicey proposition, considering how much a team would likely have to pay for someone like David Wright or even Maicer Izturis. If the Cubs could trade for a good 3B and/or upgrade at another position (2B or RF) in addition to landing Pujols or Fielder, I'd consider letting Ramirez walk. Otherwise, retaining Ramirez needs to be a priority for the Cubs in the offseason. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to get all three salary wise simply by backloading the FA deals handed out a bit. Make the first year for Wilson/Fielder/Pujols less like the Soriano deal and when their salaries go up for the 2013 season, Z's $19M will come off the books. I'm not sure that will even be enough to keep payroll from going up. That would partially depend on if Pena's 5 million is on the 2012 budget or not and it would also partially depend on if the Cubs are planning on keeping relievers like Samardzija and Wood.

Nope. If this was a different organization I'd probably be cheering for it just for the fun of it. But I don't like having a guy with patience issues trying to get to an arbitrary number of hits by year end. Production isn't about a specific number of hits and Castro still has a lot of learning to do. But oh well, he's good enough to not get screwed up by it. He's probably good enough not to get screwed up by it. Still, it makes me nervous that he's taken exactly 2 walks in September. 2 walks is pretty much on pace with the rest of his season. It's his 3rd highest walk rate of the 6 months. And September is his lowest strikeout rate of the season.

I guess I don't understand the question. You can recover the ball if it doesn't cross the line of scrimmage, but you still have to make the 1st down after you recover to keep possession. Otherwise people would get their punt blocked as a strategy.

If the Cubs aren't going to roster him this winter then they shouldn't roster him now. Rostering him and then de-rostering him makes it more likely to lose him than exposing him to the Rule 5 draft.

If the Cubs keep him on their 40 man roster than he'll be under team control this winter. I can't quickly find if he used all his options with the Mariners (he used at least two) so I'm not sure if the Cubs would have the ability to option him to the minors next year or not or if he would have to stick on the major league roster.