Backtobanks

That would project the Cubs to about 95 wins, if they can do that I think they win the Central without a doubt. As with any team but especially the Brewers, they are one injury to their starting rotation away from being a totally different team, and with Ben Sheets' history I don't think it is a jump to think this could happen. The Brewers do not have the depth to sustain a major injury to their starting rotation. If the Cubs win 95 games they will run away with the division. There aren't many teams that win 95 games in any division most years.

Murton should get some playing time in the next 3 days because the Pirates are starting 2 lefties. Here's hoping Murton takes advantage of this opportunity to earn more playing time.

The reasons Pie is still with the Cubs are that Jones is playing great and Cedeno was totally clueless. Keeping Cedeno on the team served no purpose because he couldn't help offensively or defensively. Pie has shown some spark offensively in very limited duty and has been great defensively. You summed it up when you said Pie is helping the Cubs win while Cedeno wasn't doing anything to help the club win.

In Today's Tribune, there was a mention of the Mets needing a 2B. How about sending Izturis to the Mets? I would assume we could get a prospect for him. Also, with their glut of injuries (especially in the OF), I would think the A's might be interested in Jones.

That has been discussed. The guys in Mississippi mentioned it as well. But he really is a good defensive catcher. My guess is that he'll be traded, but it won't happen unless the Braves get what they really want. He definitely won't be moved for Jacque Jones. The Braves might take Pie and Ohman for him. Thanks, but no thanks. I am amazed how posters build up other team's prospects and tear down the Cubs' prospects. I would think Pie is pretty much untouchable, especially for an unproven prospect. Now if you're talking about Cabrera, then you might mention Pie's name.

Why should you try to fix it when one of the top pitchers in the league has turned into the team's worst starter? One reason you might want to fix it is that the lower arm angle makes breaking balls break horizontally (staying in the same plane) instead of vertically. Also, it's pretty obvious that Zambrano is walking quite a few more batters than he used to. Maybe you need to work on it Larry.

It would be great if they could invent a car with a sensor that wouldn't start if the driver is impaired. Another feature would be a cut-off switch on the ignition when it senses cell phone use. With those two features you could probably reduce accidents by 80%.

I'm not a religious fanatic, but it's people like you that prove there's a higher power watching over us. Of course, the veteran potheads that you are mentioning aren't the ones that were killed while "lighting up, and in many cases doing something else in addition." It's a tangent, but I partially blame the harsh anti drinking and anti pot laws that are out there, that force so many kids, who are going to drink and going to smoke to go into hiding when doing it. Many adults conveniently forget when their drinking age was 18, and how they still broke the laws. Kids are going to drink, and many kids are going to smoke. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, on it's own. You obviously don't get it and that's the scary part. I don't care how much or how often you get high or drunk, just don't drive a car while you're doing it. I'm trying not to make this personal, but to brag about driving while lighting up and doing numerous other things at the same time is insane.

$5m is decent if he produces at last year's clip. It sucks if you get what you got in his worst years. "This market" has been pitching heavy anyway. Mediocre hitters are not nearly as overpaid as mediocre pitchers. I would disagree-5 million is market value if you get Jacque's bad years, and better than market value if you get some of his good years. Here are the right fielders making around 5 million (between 4 and 6) and last year's OPS: Randy Winn-.720 Eric Byrnes: .795 Jose Guillen: .674 Juan Encarnacion: .760 Jay Payton: .743 Jacque is one of the best mid-range guys out there. I agree, I wish people would quit raggin on Jones. I hope they can trade him, but he has done at least as much as anyone expected and probably much more than most expected. As you mentioned, $5 million per year for a mid-range OF isn't a bad deal.

I'm not a religious fanatic, but it's people like you that prove there's a higher power watching over us. Of course, the veteran potheads that you are mentioning aren't the ones that were killed while "lighting up, and in many cases doing something else in addition."

Are you suggesting that Larry may have found and fixed something the great Dave Duncan and Cards coaching staff didn't find or fix? Isn't that against the law or impossibility? And don't forget Leo Mazzone and the Braves coaching staff.

It's never a good idea to extrapolate using April's (or any one month's) numbers. Otherwise you will have people hitting 100 HRs, winning 30+ games, and teams winning 105+ games.

I'm all for it as long as the Cubs get first shot at Cabrera.

Give me a break. MLB ought to hire chaperons for these players. How about some adult responsibility? Can you imagine the tabloid stories and the lawsuits involved when all of these "adult" players (MLB, NFL, & NBA) have "babysitters" following them around. Let's not forget the motion picture studios need to hire "babysitters" for their actors. Let's be honest, probably 80% of the people leaving a bar at 1 or 2 in the morning are driving home drunk. Drunk driving is an epidemic in this country and I surprised more people aren't killed in drunk driving accidents. Let's not forget that "macho" athletes are convinced they can handle themselves in any situation. I feel sorry for Josh Hancock, but I feel sorrier for the innocent people that end up getting killed by drunk drivers.

If Floyd wasn't here and Pie wasn't up, the OF would be Soriano, Murton and Jones, and I don't think many people would be clamoring for another guy. And if it was, it wouldn't be the redundent Floyd. Hendry bashers blame Hendry for the sub .500 record during his tenure because he is responsible for everything. Excusing him for one bad signing because he made another good one makes no sense. Exactly. The Floyd signing was unneccessary because we had sooo many guys that could play the corners. The fact that Jones can play CF made him more valuable so had I been in Hendry's shoes, I'd have passed on Floyd altogether. If you subtract Floyd and Pie, you still have 6 guys that can play the OF in Murton, Soriano, Jones, Theriot, DeRosa, and Ward. At the time though, the team didn't know if Theriot could play the OF or not, and I don't think anyone was counting on Ward to play OF. The Floyd signing looks poor now only because Pie came up so quickly (which was partly due to the Soriano injury). If Pie had been held off until June or July (which looked very possible in the offseason) and Floyd had not been signed, the bench would have been Ward/Theriot/Pagan/Cedeno/Blanco. That's not a strong bench at all, and there would have been plenty of complaints that the bench was not producing whatsoever. When Hendry signed Floyd, it basically was a signal that Pie would not be up until Jones was traded. Pie's hot start, Soriano struggling a bit in CF, and Soriano's injury changed all that. That was my point. As I've stated before hindsight is always 20/20. The situation you mentioned above about the weak bench would have had Hendry bashers howling about the fact he did nothing about the bench. The numbers have shown that the Cubs should have a much better record than they do now, so let's give them a chance to become more consistent at the plate and see what happens. Being in the NL Central, if they're at .500 at the All-Star break, they will have more money and trade bait at their disposal to contend the rest of the way. My "defense" of Hendry is based on the fact that all of us armchair quarterbacks think building a team and making trades is easy. Sure I get frustrated and don't agree with Hendry's handling of many things, but we only get second-hand information as to who's available and at what cost to the Cubs. For all of the criticism on signing Lilly and Marquis, look at Schmidt (1-2, 7.36, 2.0 whip and probably out for the season), Zito (2-3, 3.73, 1.28), and Daisuke (3-2, 4.36, 1.21) who aren't doing any better. Look at some of the hitters that were mentioned last year: Sheffield (.200, 2 HR, 8 RBI, .369 OBP, .306 slugging), Carlos Lee (.250, 5, 22, .290, .498), and J.D. Drew (.278, 2, 8, .376, .392). How about developing your own youngsters? Everyone raved about Alex Gordon (.173, 2, 5, .316, .296). Looking at all of this brings me to a few conclusions: 1. It's still early and things can change. 2. None of these players is worth anything near what they get paid. 3. The job of GM is a lot harder than any of us want to admit.

That's why they play the games. A lot of teams look better on paper than on the field. As for a team that "looks like a lock for 95 wins", tell me how many teams in all of baseball have won 95 games in the last 5-10 years.

So basically, since the Cubs were completely terrible last year we should feel better about being merely bad so far this year. No you should feel better because: 1. The Cubs have legitimate starters in the rotation at #2, #3, #4 and aren't running out AA pitchers for 80% of the rotation. 2. Soriano and Zambrano will improve during the season. 3. Lee and Soriano have proven track records as power hitters, which they haven't shown yet. 4. The Cubs have a deep bench and bullpen. 5. The Cubs have the means (players to trade and money) to improve their team more than any other NL Central team.

If Floyd wasn't here and Pie wasn't up, the OF would be Soriano, Murton and Jones, and I don't think many people would be clamoring for another guy. And if it was, it wouldn't be the redundent Floyd. Hendry bashers blame Hendry for the sub .500 record during his tenure because he is responsible for everything. Excusing him for one bad signing because he made another good one makes no sense. Exactly. The Floyd signing was unneccessary because we had sooo many guys that could play the corners. The fact that Jones can play CF made him more valuable so had I been in Hendry's shoes, I'd have passed on Floyd altogether. If you subtract Floyd and Pie, you still have 6 guys that can play the OF in Murton, Soriano, Jones, Theriot, DeRosa, and Ward. At the time though, the team didn't know if Theriot could play the OF or not, and I don't think anyone was counting on Ward to play OF. The Floyd signing looks poor now only because Pie came up so quickly (which was partly due to the Soriano injury). If Pie had been held off until June or July (which looked very possible in the offseason) and Floyd had not been signed, the bench would have been Ward/Theriot/Pagan/Cedeno/Blanco. That's not a strong bench at all, and there would have been plenty of complaints that the bench was not producing whatsoever. When Hendry signed Floyd, it basically was a signal that Pie would not be up until Jones was traded. Pie's hot start, Soriano struggling a bit in CF, and Soriano's injury changed all that. That was my point. As I've stated before hindsight is always 20/20. The situation you mentioned above about the weak bench would have had Hendry bashers howling about the fact he did nothing about the bench. The numbers have shown that the Cubs should have a much better record than they do now, so let's give them a chance to become more consistent at the plate and see what happens. Being in the NL Central, if they're at .500 at the All-Star break, they will have more money and trade bait at their disposal to contend the rest of the way.

OK I really understand that Piniella and Dusty are not the same manager and have several differences. That quote sounds like it came straight from Dusty's mouth without the "dude" There's one big difference. Piniella is worried about "clubhouse problems" while Dusty seemed to actually believe the veterans gave him a better chance to win. Remember that Lou has played Theriot at SS for several days now so there's some evidence that he will bench a veteran if they play badly enough. Hendry shouldn't have signed Floyd without first trading Jones. If he was going to keep Jones, there was no need to sign Floyd at all since we had already signed another lefty OF, Daryle Ward. It's that simple. Hendry continues to be one of the worst GMs in all of baseball and whether the Cubs win or lose this year, I hope the new owner this offseason fires him immediately. I agree completely. Hendry has done a terrible job and has overstocked the OF. He just doesn't get it. I don't necessarily agree. Ward was signed strictly as a pinch hitter, Derosa was signed to play everyday at 2B, nobody was sure (and still aren't) whether Pie is ready this year, and Floyd was signed to an incentive-laden contract because he has a long history of being injury prone. If Floyd's past shows up and Pie really struggles, then all of a sudden everyone is after Hendry to get another OF. The "problem" has arisen because Floyd has remained healthy and Pie has shown flashes of brilliance. Hendry bashers blame him for everything that goes wrong on the team, but what about signing Lilly and Marquis and absolutely refusing to trade Hill last year. Soriano will come around, Zambrano will straighten out, Jones will be traded and the Cubs will be okay.

Sounds like he'll be pitching for Iowa on Tuesday. They meant for the big league clubs but they could be wrong. Today's Tribune stated Guzman will be called up to pitch either next Sunday or next Tuesday.

At least it's refreshing to see a move made quickly, rather than the Dusty philosophy of letting a horrid player like Neifi start game after game with nothing being done about it. Agreed. I just hope Theriot continues his hot streak and makes it where the only part of Izturis' uniform that gets dirty is the seat of his pants from sitting on the bench. Hot streak? His line is .188/.188/.188 in the last 7 games. He probably needs a day or two off. I love Theriot, but you do wonder if he is cut out to be an everyday player. He seemed perfect in the super-sub role where he could come into the game and make something happen. A lot of players like that (Freel, Figgins, etc.) end up not looking so great when they become everyday players.

My only comment about the Langerhans trade is that there are teams out there desperate for an OF (Jones).

After hearing Kaspar & Brenley talk about the situation, it's starting to sound like Pie may go down. Piniella talked about "too many OFs" and "you gotta play the veterans because they have the track record or else you start to have clubhouse problems". Unless a deal can be made soon involving Jones, it sounds like Pie is the one to go down.

Whether you care about steroids (or HGH) or not, I agree with you. You still have to have tremendous hand-eye coordination to not only hit the ball, but to hit a fly ball hard enough to have a reasonable shot at being a HR (aided by steroids or not). That's why Bonds has to be considered one of the all-time greats whether he used steroids or not. When the smoke has cleared, we will probably find out that there were a bunch of skinny players who used steroids and hit .250 with 12 HRs per season. Bonds and Sosa are two exceptional talents that probably used steroids to complement their exceptional talent.

Izturis drove in an insurance run last night. I hope that doesn't mean he's the starter again.