MSG T

I might be wrong, but he has managed in the Cubs organization, I think Iowa, in the past. Oh, and he's originally from Chicago and a former 2B.

Exactly what I said. Some therapy is in order for some of these "classy people". For the record, my problem isn't with Sandberg himself, my problem is with all of the people who want him hired for all of the wrong reasons. Though I doubt it would work out, for the reasons gooney stated, I absolutely wouldn't have a problem with him on staff in Chicago, theoretically (because it wouldn't work).

Bingo. Then that's a horrible reason to select him.

Which is why, other than a couple of managers or former managers, the most popular choices are bench coaches. Who, btw, have more experience coaching than Sandberg. Let me ask you this. If the Cubs hired some no name who had the same level of coaching experience as Sandberg over people with far more experience, would you like the hire? If you honestly say you'd be fine with it, why? You'd rather have some guy with 5 years experience over guys with 8-10-or more years experience, and much more varied experience at that? Or are you wanting Sandberg because he's a Cubs icon that now has a little bit of coaching background?

Welcome to the forum. Because there are much better candidates available?

I'm loving the comments section under Muskat's column. Gawd there's a lot of really stupid people out there.

I'd actually get a pretty good laugh out of it, moreso if Theo/Hoyer hires Martinez. Yeah. It would basically be the equivalent of Theo taking the #23 flag down from the flagpole, wiping his butt with it, and running it back up there. Thanks for playing Ryno, but instead of a lifetime of sac bunts, we're going to hire the guy who banged your wife, but isn't a high school manager. Peace. I thought it was Palmeiro that did Ryno's wife. Rumors were that it wasn't just Palmeiro. Evidently she really liked Latin lovers.

I thought that was sort of a foregone conclusion. I don't think Riggins is under contract for next year anyway, is he?

I'd actually get a pretty good laugh out of it, moreso if Theo/Hoyer hires Martinez.

Is it telling that I only saw two Cubs listed? Pena, who was actually ranked, and Soto, others receiving votes.

That or we're making one hell of a run at the #1 pick. Can you imagine this lineup without Aramis and without either of those guys? Considering that since 1980 the only non-strike/lockout season that they had a worse offense was 1992, I'm going with a pre-steroid level of ineptitude as an answer. (1992 they scored 593 runs). Do you mean this year? It was a league average offense. I find it hard to believe that none of those other awful 90s teams had worse than average offense. Or the 02 and 06 teams... Actually, considering league average, 1992 was the worst I could find. Unless my math is wrong, they scored 9.4% below league average that season and 9.2% below in 1997 and 2006. Edit: My original point was without Aramis and Pujols/Fielder they'd be that bad, not this past season.

Stupid double post.

If you ask Todd Hollandsworth, he sure did. He left his teammates high and dry or something. FFS. Ugh. Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but wasn't he suspended almost immediately? Like before he even had a chance to quit pouting, clear his head, think about it and come back. Either way, TH is a knucklehead.

That or we're making one hell of a run at the #1 pick. Can you imagine this lineup without Aramis and without either of those guys? Considering that since 1980 the only non-strike/lockout season that they had a worse offense was 1992, I'm going with a pre-steroid level of ineptitude as an answer. (1992 they scored 593 runs).

I think it's pretty awesome too, but I'll bet none of these "kids" were considered cool when they were in school. I'm glad we have the not "cool" kids running our team rather than the meathead athletes who would've have been "cool". This whole discussion reminds me of this.

No, that would be Pujols. Fielder is still relatively young. While there's definitely an argument about whether the cost difference would be worth it, I'd bet that Pujols outperforms Fielder over the next five years, assuming they are in similar hitters parks.

Looking at the picture posted earlier, though, many of those rooftops you have identified don't actually have a view onto the playing surface anyway, particularly the one's in deep RC. I don't know how the current scoreboard is attached and anchored, but, what about sliding it left and putting up a similar sized jumbotron to the right? From the playing surface view above, it appears it could be done, at least from an aesthetic viewpoint. Though admittedly, maybe not when considering what and where they would need to attach, or where the current one attaches and is anchored.

Football has so many more fast moving parts. Things like possession before a knee hits with three tacklers obscuring the camera makes it very difficult. But baseball replays are so cut and dry it's easy. Fair or foul, safe or out, catch or trap with nobody obstructing the view. Replay technology is so good with the HD picture that it lends itself to complete accuracy. It should work great and not hurt the timing at all, given the times that arguments and umpire huddles already take and how much time it takes between batters anyway. What I wouldn't want is the umpiring crew all leaving the field to watch. That is unnecessary. Agreed. Just look at how many times a replay will be shown between pitches now, and how many angles they can get in. The only time-consuming part would be once a call was corrected, where the runners end up. And with basic guidlines laid out in the rules, that wouldn't even take that long. And add me to letting computers call balls and strikes. They already use things like K-Zone anyway to show pitch location immediately after the fact, not sure how there would be a hindrance... other than losing the old-timey feel to the game.

So that means Theo won't be listening to people who think Castro should move to 3B in the near future? Good.

"Soriano swings at sliders low and away even though he can't hit them, do that even with Pujols behind him."

Can't wait for @thekapman to comment about Ramirez being the exact opposite type of player Theo would want on the Cubs.

Yes, this. That was very very cool to hear. I believe his words were along the lines of "We saw it and said 'Wow, they're really going for it this year'" or something to that effect. I think it was "wow they really get it", basically that the Cubs now understood how this draft thing is supposed to work.

Considering Prince is either just entering or has just entered his prime, depending on how you define a players prime, I disagree. He could easily pay for Prince's best performance going forward.

Wasn't it pointed out fairly early that everything having to do with baseball operations is Theo's responsibility and he reported directly to Ricketts? Seems pretty cut and dried, of course I'm not obsessed with Kenney.

I don't know if I agree with that. The guys he mentioned are a step above role players. Epstein is a guy who should be able to change the face of a franchise for years to come. I know that he only had a year left with the Red Sox, and the relationship had expired, but it's all about supply and demand. Say you have a car you plan on junking. All of the sudden, some guy comes to you and says hey, I really want your car, how much? Unless it's a close friend, chances are you're going to try to get as much for it as possible, but hopefully not getting too greedy. It's reasonable to ask for a few thousand for it, assuming it's still in good shape, but if you ask for $10,000, then that's just greedy. What if your car told you he didn't want you to drive it anymore, and the perspective owner already filled out the paperwork to move the title into that new person's name, which is perfectly acceptable because you gave them permission to talk to the car. The bottom line is that Theo was under contract with The Red Sox for another year, and whether or not he would be let out of it was up to Henry. I'm not saying that he should be doing it the way he is, but he has the right to do so. To be honest, I think he's doing it more to spite Theo than The Cubs. They shouldn't be doing what they're doing, but they have the right to, so they're trying to juice us for whatever they can get. I'm sure they planned it this way from the moment they granted Ricketts permission to talk to him. It's capitalism. If you read down the comments section in Tango's article, he later realizes that Theo would be owed $7 mil (had he stayed) by the Red Sox for 2012. At that point he says no compensation should be necessary and the Sox should thank the Cubs for taking him off their hands.