Backtobanks

i don't think the voters could resist a fact like "3rd among switch hitters in career homeruns". plus he has the all star appearances, playoff appearances, and an mvp that voters love. i'd be shocked if he didn't make it easily on the first ballot. the only holdouts would be the "i'm not putting in anyone from the steroid era" morons. I agree, he will be in on the 1st ballot.

MLBTR pooints out there's a market for DeJesus, so I would think that there would be a market for Fukudome if the Cubs eat some salary.

The problem is you can't change the core of the team because of expensive and/or no-trade contracts. Another problem is that I can't believe Ricketts wants to go into a rebuilding mode after paying a ton of money for the team. A fire sale would involve eating hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts and probably getting back mediocre prospects or getting back other bad-contract players.

So what happens when he has a 28 days that's something like .300/.375/.600/.975 and has 5 outfield assists, does that mean he's worth the money? Look everyone knows its one of the 3 or 4 worst contracts in sports and that it should result in Hendry not only being fired, but never hired in an important position again, but it doesn't mean that he's a useless player that would only get a minimum contract if he were a free agent. What is so hard to understand about that? We all agree that Soriano's contract is terrible, but if owners fired and refused to hire every GM that signed a player to a ridiculous contract, there would be a lot of GM jobs open to all of us "experts" at NSBB.

The real question to ask is whether Reynolds or Jackson are willing to listen to the hitting coach or do they think they can fix themselves.

Looks like Wells may get sent down: #Cubs new addition Mitch Atkins was 4-2 with 2.63 ERA in 14 G (6 starts) with 33 Ks in 48 innings pitched. This is second callup for RHP

The obvious problem with Wells in the bullpen is that he can't get anybody out in the 1st inning he pitches. Personally, I'm wondering if Wells was a fluke last year. He's never had great, overpowering stuff so he has to be near perfect to get people out. If he can get back to respectable, I would use him for trade bait in the off season because he's easily replaceable by one of many prospects. I would like the Cubs to keep Gorz to replace Lilly (assuming he's traded or signs elsewhere).

Fixed

Let's hope so. Soriano is amazing when he gets in one of those streaks.

Yeah, DLee and ARam have been the biggest failures this year, but putting ARam on the DL earlier and using Baker/Fontenot/Tracy (for ARam) and Nady (for DLee) more often would probably have given us 2 more wins. Combine that with more Colvin and Soto and you probably add an additional 2 wins.

I disagree with your comment about the roster. The biggest problem this year has been the underproduction of two proven stars (DLee and ARam), which could not have been predicted, and the handling of the lineup and bullpen by Lou. As I posted earlier, we have 4 OFs in the top 18 in OPS, a deep/solid rotation, a closer that's "lights out", a tremendous set-up man, 3 rookies playing important roles, and a good bench.

Lou's job is to manage the roster he has. It's Hendry's responsibility to put the roster together. Lou did plenty of dumb stuff in 08, but there was a lot more talent on that team. They're both failing. The biggest Hendry failing is hamstringing this team with high-priced, long-term contracts that can't be moved without a significant cash loss to the team and/or player permission. Way too many no-trade clauses and back-loaded contracts to go into fire sale mode or make improvements. The Cubs are theoretically in the same kind of place as the White Sox where they have pieces that would be attractive to other teams, but the key difference is that the Sox could actually move them because of shorter contract terms and lower costs. Personally, I place the blame directly on the players. Lou has been the same manager for the four years he's been here. It's the players underperforming that is to blame. I agree about the contracts, but I disagree about Lou being the same manager. Lou looks like he's totally disinterested this year and the players are sleepwalking. Of course the players are the ones to blame, but who puts them on the field and in the lineup? (Did Lou even know that Theriot went a month between walks?) Using Colvin more often, Hill less often, moving ARam and DLee down in the lineup, using a platoon of Fontenot/Baker instead of Theriot, using Baker/Fontenot/Tracy at 3B by DLing ARam earlier, quit using Grabow in tight situations, etc. None of those decisions involve Hendry and probably would give the Cubs 3-5 more wins now. Hendry's job is to put together the best roster possible "on paper" and it's up to the manager and players to execute. The roster "on paper" should be competitive, while the team has failed on the field.

The manager's job is to put the best players on the field in the best position to succeed. Lou hasn't even done that. Theriot and his .315 OBP is in the lineup nearly everyday, and at the top of the lineup at that. This includes his .626 OPS starting over Jeff Baker's .961 OPS vs LHPs and Mike Fontenot's .785 vs. RHPs. Hill apparently is the starting C over Soto, when Soto has a 200 point OPS advantage. When Soto is in the lineup he hits 8th the majority of the time w/ a .404 OBP wasted in front of the P and Theriot. The Cubs are 8-1 with Castro in the 2-hole, yet Lou keeps him 8th because he doesn't want to put pressure on the kid. He hits Soriano 6th because that's where he decided he was going to hit in January. Zambrano to the pen. Gorzellany to the pen. Grabow in any type of close situation. And it's not just this year. It's been every year he's been here. The Cubs have previously been good enough to overcome his poor choices as a manager. Not saying that it would make much of a difference but Lou's only job as a manager is to put his team in position to win games. He hasn't done that by being stubborn and old school. Jaramillo has done a poor job also, but ultimately, these are the hitters he was given. He's done well with guys he's worked with before (Byrd, Soriano). He's done well with guys that are still influenced by teaching (Castro, Soto, Fontenot, Colvin). He hasn't done well with players that are veterans and stuck in the way they do things (Lee, Ramirez, Theriot). I don't know that any other HC would have had any more success with this group. Raw, I know you didn't mean for your post to be a defense of Hendry, but I am going to use it that way. Right now this team is sleepwalking and that's the fault of the manager. The daily handling of the lineup and the bullpen is Lou's responsibility. With 4 OFs in the top 18 in OPS, a deep/solid rotation, an incredible closer, a great set-up man, 2 other rookie phenoms, and two of the best coaches in baseball, this team should be much better. Playing the right players and using the right lineups could have negated the lack of offense generated by ARam and DLee.

I would think that Rios is one of the guys Williams wants to keep. Of course, if some team offered some really good prospects and took his whole contract then KW would trade him in a second.

I do wonder what all of the "experts" saw in the WS before the season that made them think this was a contending team. I will agree that their rotation looked good on paper, but the lineup was really ugly all season.

I don't know why you're low balling Soriano's chances with the voters. You're talking like like he wasn't voted an AS 7 of the last 8 years and isn't having a good season and doesn't have a ton of name recognition. My point is that I think Soriano's only chance of making it is as a starter (by vote) because of name recognition. The latest results show him 11th and about 300,000 votes behind the 3rd place OF. I think that Byrd has a better chance of being selected as a reserve than Soriano. Name recognition is basically all that matters with how this is decided. Name recognition is all that matters with the fans' votes for starters, which is what I said. The manager picks the reserves and I don't think Soriano has much of a chance to be selected as a reserve.

I don't know why you're low balling Soriano's chances with the voters. You're talking like like he wasn't voted an AS 7 of the last 8 years and isn't having a good season and doesn't have a ton of name recognition. My point is that I think Soriano's only chance of making it is as a starter (by vote) because of name recognition. The latest results show him 11th and about 300,000 votes behind the 3rd place OF. I think that Byrd has a better chance of being selected as a reserve than Soriano.

The Cubs have been so bad this year that I can't believe they would get much consideration. With Marmol and Silva as the most obvious choices and Byrd as an outside choice, I would think Soriano and Marshall have no chance. That being said, Soriano does have the name recognition if by some miracle he was voted in as a starter.

And then we can hire Cal Ripken to manage. :-))

Byrd, Silva, Marmol. Marshall will probably be bypassed because he's a set-up man and there are 1-3 more worthy choices from a really disappointing team.

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The wife of St. Louis Cardinals batting coach Mark McGwire has delivered triplets. Stephanie McGwire had three daughters on Tuesday. The former slugger was away from the team, and manager Tony La Russa didn't say whether McGwire would rejoin the Cardinals for Wednesday's game against Cincinnati. Coach Mike Aldrete will fill in during McGwire's absence. The 46-year-old McGwire now has five children in his second marriage. (Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Associated Press

I'm sure Hendry is nowhere near giving up on the season. I wouldn't be surprised if DLee is re-signed (assuming he gets his numbers back to respectable).

Lou is saving Colvin for the playoffs. =D>

Forget all those posters who want to sell high on Silva.

I think some of you haven't been watching the economics of the game lately. As rawaction pointed out, there's a lot of aging sluggers who aren't getting the big money or the multiple years. Also, look at the big money/long term contracts that teams are desperately trying to dump. The days of the $10+ million per year contract for 3+ years are reserved for the superstars or solid rotation starters are gone for now. It became obvious when the Yankees started cutting back (Damon, Matsui, etc.). Everyone on this board knew Soriano's contract was terrible the day he signed it.