Backtobanks

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.

Lowell might be a decent option if the Red Sox eat 80% of his contract and take a low-A prospect. Otherwise, Baker (if healthy), Fontenot, and Tracy should be able to fill in.

If he stays hot until the trading deadline and we were pretty significantly out of it, I could actually see Hendry offering him up. I don't know what interest there would be, but it could be there if we footed some of the bill. I'm pretty sure I remember that Hendry was trying to deal him in the offseason, but there was no interest in him. I'm not sure there would be much interest in him even if the Cubs paid 75-80% of his contract because of the years involved. Yeah, but I don't think that'll keep Hendry from offering him up. It'd have to be a pure salary dump, but somebody might bite if we paid half or more. I doubt it. Half would mean paying Soriano about $40 million over the next 4 1/2 years and I don't see any team throwing that much at an aging slugger. If the Cubs paid 80%, the other team would pay about $16.2 million over the 4 1/2 years.

If he stays hot until the trading deadline and we were pretty significantly out of it, I could actually see Hendry offering him up. I don't know what interest there would be, but it could be there if we footed some of the bill. I'm pretty sure I remember that Hendry was trying to deal him in the offseason, but there was no interest in him. I'm not sure there would be much interest in him even if the Cubs paid 75-80% of his contract because of the years involved.

I'm sure throwing off the rubber changed his 80 mph fastball into a 95 mph fastball.

I've been suggesting that ARam get his eyes checked, not Baker.

I see what you're saying, but would you turn Gorzelanny into a closer? Or Randy Wells? Those guys are much more valuable as starters because, even though neither is a top of the line type starter, both will put up quality numbers for their team. I'd probably only look at guys who can't cut it in a major league rotation (Gagne, potentially Shark, etc.) to move to a closer's role rather than significantly decrease the number of innings a quality starter will throw. I think the original point was a hard throwing pitcher, which is why I mentioned Shark. Most closers usually have one overwhelming pitch(often a fastball) and one other pitch. Gorzelanny and Wells don't have that dominant fastball, but they do have 3-4 decent pitches.

And the top 12 starters (by salary) average $17 million this year. Jason Marquis makes nearly as much as the average salary of the best closers. There's more money to be made as a #4-5 starter than there is as a closer - unless maybe you're in the truly elite closer ranks (Rivera). Some guys move to the bullpen because they don't have the stamina to go more than 2-3 innings at a time. Others move to the pen because they just weren't good enough as a starter to cut it and they were able to magnify their stuff in the pen (Gagne). However, if you've got a good, quality starter, he should stay in the rotation ideally. With Marmol, his stuff has looked much better to me in the pen than in his short (MLB) stint as a starter. It's pretty clear to me he's dialing it up a little extra knowing he's only throwing, at most, 25-30 pitches. I totally agree with most of what you're saying. If you have the stuff to be a solid starter (#1-#3), you should remain a starter, but if your potential is to be a #4 or #5 starter maybe you ought to try being groomed as a closer. Samardzija is an example of what I'm talking about. I don't think he's ever going to be a great starter, but he might develop into a good closer. As others have pointed out, the top 12 starters are a small percentage of all starters while the top 12 closers are a significant percentage.

Like goony said, there are very few closers in the league in comparison to the number of starters and even fewer closers who make even average starter money. Mariano Rivera is one of the top closers in the history of the game and his salary for this year is $15 million. Derek Lowe is a pretty good pitcher with a strong track record and he's making $15 million this year. There's far, far more money in it for a starter than for a closer. And I'm not saying it's easy to be successful in the pen, just that there's less overall stress on a pitcher's arm when he throws an inning at a time rather than throwing 100+ pitchers an outing. And because of that, the pitcher doesn't have to tone down his stuff at all. The top (in salary) 12 closers average $9.6 million this year. Also, there are more than a few closers who will get that kind of money when the time comes (Marmol, Corpas, Feliz, Soria, Broxton, etc.). I'm not saying you take your #1 starter and turn him into a closer, but many of these pitchers might end up being a #3-#5 starter in the ML. My point is that there are many hard throwing prospects who might be better off by being groomed to be closers rather than being a #5 starter.