98navigator

Grrrr, settle down Z

Sit down Adam!

Lefties get big hits on Z. No walks please

Gotta love one pitch=one out

lol Our lineup is definitely small ball, I think we might actually do okay today. Seriously, what's our payroll? Isn't it approaching $200m? The Royals probably have a more threatening lineup today. 100M is the approximate payroll

This is the first we have heard of this, correct? I'm not sure if it was mentioned but I do remember seeing Aramis getting his wrist taped in the dugout after an at-bat. I also remember seeing him shake his wrist after fouling off a pitch...

Cubs pregame: The right wrist injury occured early in Spring Training. Lou doesn't think it's serious. Aramis was sent to a specialist as a precaution.

The Cubs should still score runs today. The key will be Z's pitching. Hopefully, he can shut them down and pitch deeply into the game.

lol, you got me there; Floyd can't play 3B!

Poor Murton... If Aramis is out for an extended period, Floyd is the logical choice to replace him IMO.

Murph is back on. I wish it was dead air. LOL, yeah I hear. They were off the air for 13 minutes.

In related sports news, The Score is apparently having some problems. There has been dead air on their dial for over 5 minutes.

My guess is the Cubs are going to leave Soriano in the leadoff spot. They may chose to bat Murton 3 and DLee 4 or keep Lee in the third spot with Floyd at cleanup (and Barrett behind him).

I do. Obviously, it takes away some of their power but unlike last year, when DLee went down, they have other power bats on the team. There will be a larger burden on the pitching staff and the offense without him but it can be done.

Zambrano has to pitch well today. Not only does he need to be the "stopper" he also has to help to quell any internal concerns that may exist about injuries. Winning today will go a long way to settle down anyone on the team who may secretly be fearful that the they can't win without Aramis in the lineup. It's time for the Ace to be great today. I'd like to see him pull a "Harang" and not give up more than 1 run in this game. On another note, Aramis' big bat will be missed, today, in the middle of the order but adjustments to the lineup can be made. I'm not jumping to the conclusion that Aramis' injury is serious. However, if he is lost for any period of time, this team should still have enough offense. EDIT: Harang didn't allow any ERs in that first game against the Cubs. It would be nice to turn the tables.

Aramis is expected to be out for a few games.

Theriot at 3B and Cedeno at 2B Aramis is seeing a hand specialist because a chronic wrist problem caused swelling last night. DeRosa has a sore back.

Stone is arrogant but his sphere of influence, as related to MLB, isn't imagined. Chris DeLuca / Suntimes I don't think Stone's influence is imagined either, but that final quote from him sounds very much like a campaign speech, as vance aluded to earlier. Not that I'd mind a group with Stone involved buying the team, depending on who the other people were and what their intentions were. Actually, Stone has publically said he will not be apart of any Cubs ownership group. He is lobbying to be a senior advisor within the new managerial infrastructure. I think he's talking about himself here:

Stone is arrogant but his sphere of influence, as related to MLB, isn't imagined. Chris DeLuca / Suntimes

It happened with the Red Sox sale; The owners and commissioner rejected the highest bidder for the team because they didn't agree with the makeup of the group. MLB ownership isn't up for public debate. As such, the owners can make their decisions with autonomy. Cuban (or anyone else) can try to bring about public pressure but that isn't going to influence the vote of the 29 owners--actually, a move like that is bound to be nothing but negative for him.

I can understand your position. All I'm saying is we can't deny that people with an inside perspective, on the type of owner that is likely to be approved, say that Cuban has no shot. Wasn't it Rosenthal that said the Cubs had signed Pudge Rodriguez a couple years back? I can understand that Rosenthal's information needs to be factored in, but I wouldn't take it as gospel. He's only human. He can be wrong too. Rosenthal is just one more name to put in the pot. Others have echoed his sentiments about Cuban's chances of becoming an MLB owner. Add Steve Stone to the list of those that think Cuban's chances are slim to none. And everyone knows Steve Stone is the authority on everything. Stone doesn't want Cuban in there because Cuban isn't one of the groups that has contacted Stone about being involved in some fashion. There's no argument from me! I don't even like Stone; since he has parted ways with the Cubs, he's been very nasty. Now that the team is in position to be sold, he has nothing but glowing things to say about the future of the team. It's hypocritical. My point in mentioning Steve Stone's name is to add another well connected person to the list (who is against Cuban). Like it or not, Stone is very influential because he is very good friends with Selig. Steve Stone will have some influence, direct or indirect, on who will purchase the Cubs. He's heavily lobbying the local airwaves to make sure that the new buyer is local (or made up mostly of local people). Bud Selig echoed those sentiments (about preferring a competent local buyer) last week when he was here for the White Sox Opening Day game.

I can understand your position. All I'm saying is we can't deny that people with an inside perspective, on the type of owner that is likely to be approved, say that Cuban has no shot. Wasn't it Rosenthal that said the Cubs had signed Pudge Rodriguez a couple years back? I can understand that Rosenthal's information needs to be factored in, but I wouldn't take it as gospel. He's only human. He can be wrong too. Rosenthal is just one more name to put in the pot. Others have echoed his sentiments about Cuban's chances of becoming an MLB owner. Add Steve Stone to the list of those that think Cuban's chances are slim to none.

You're correct, I didn't create a new thread. My first comments today, about the injury, went into the existing thread.

I took that comment as a joke, not a statement on what Zell really thinks. And Zell has nothing to say about it anyway, since the Cubs will be sold before he takes over ownership of the Trib. The Cubs will not officially be sold until after the season. Zell can certainly prevent the Cubs from signing Zambrano, at an in-season discount, if he so choses. If he reaches free agency all bets are off.

I don't blame Hendry nearly as much as I do MacPhail for the issues with Paul Sullivan. In his position, Hendry had to feel obligated to go along with his boss/president of the team. The larger conflict was MacPhail confronting Sullivan; and he said as much on the radio... It was an obvious conflict of interest because they were all employed under the Tribune Company umbrella. However, MacPhail had no jurisdiction over Sullivan (which is why Dan McGrath, his boss, was brought into the feud).