Backtobanks

Everything I ever heard made it sound like everybody loved Tommy LaSorda when he was managing.

You would think that the bandwagon Sox fans alone would fill up the stadium three times over. It is interesting how the fans quit the White Sox when their owner took them off of "free" TV and yet the fans still follow the Cubs even though most of their games are now on cable. I guess the difference is that now everyone has cable (or dish) and when Reinsdorf did it, quite a few less people had it.

This morning's newscasts were reporting that Sox tickets were readily available last night and that scalpers were doing no better than face value for the tickets they had. As pitiful as the sports history has been in Chicago, you would think that all of those big-time Sox fans would be lined up for ALCS tickets at any price. Can you imagine if the Cubs were in the NLCS? Tickets would be going for $1000.

I heard somewhere that Betemit seems to be getting heavier and the Braves might think that a different position might fit his body frame better.

I love it. He's no Sojo. No, he sure isn't. And Matsui is no Paul O'Neill.20 03 NYY 163 623 82 179 42 1 16 106 63 86 2 2 .287 .353 .435 .788 2004 NYY 162 584 109 174 34 2 31 108 88 103 3 0 .298 .390 .522 .912 2005 NYY 162 629 108 192 45 3 23 116 63 78 2 2 .305 .367 .496 .863 Total -- 487 1836 299 545 121 6 70 330 214 267 7 4 .297 .370 .484 .854 I'd do my best to live with them as Cubs, however. Matsui may not be a Paul O'Neill, but I would love to have him playing OF for the Cubs.

I disagree. Winning 95 games doesn't mean squat to Steinbrenner. He bought this team to win the WS and the fact that they're not even going to the WS will drive him crazy. Also, I wonder whether Steinbrenner will sit back and assume Small, Cano, Wang, and Chacon will be dependable enough to win next year. It's kind of driving a dependable Chevy, when you can afford a Rolls Royce. I look for Steinbrenner to go after Burnett, Millwood, and Damon.

Well, now that the Yankees have lost, all of us Cub fans have more ammo for the off season. Not just Giles, Manny, or Abreu for the OF, but maybe Sheffield or Matsui. Not just Furcal, Nomar, or Cedeno for SS, but maybe Arod. Of course, when it's all said and done, we will be predicting the WS with the likes of Preston Wilson and Austin Kearns. That is what being a Cub fan is all about.

Dempster (like Borowski) is not a lights-out closer and certainly has a tendency to worry me, but what would have happened if the Cubs low-balled Dempster and he signed with another team. Now you have to get in a bidding war over someone like Wagner that will end up costing $8-9 million per year. Is Dempster worth $5 million...... NO, but 99% of the players aren't worth what they're paid. At least it's money being paid to someone who has an important role on the team and not a bench-warmer.

Dempster (like Borowski) is not a lights-out closer and certainly has a tendency to worry me, but what would have happened if the Cubs low-balled Dempster and he signed with another team. Now you have to get in a bidding war over someone like Wagner that will end up costing $8-9 million per year. Is Dempster worth $5 million...... NO, but 99% of the players aren't worth what they're paid. At least it's money being paid to someone who has an important role on the team and not a bench-warmer.

The Tribune stated that his first move would be to hire Don Zimmer as bench coach. Zimmer has always been one of my favorite baseball people. Let's take a vote: Girardi & Zimmer or Baker & Pole. I'd go for Girardi & Zimmer in a second.

I don't think that's the way you have to look at it. The way to look at it is would I rather: Nomar 3b Furcal SS Beltran CF or would I rather have Aramis 3b Furcal SS Preston Wilson CF Beltran could probably use a change of scenery about now. Bad move by the Mets. They still have Cameron, so they could put Floyd in LF and Drew in RF. Beltran is a much better player than his 2004 season. He's what we hoped Corey Patterson would become. It's not a deal that is likely to happen, but I would make that trade. One problem with your scenario is Nomar is a health risk, so who is your sub? The 2nd problem that I see is that Beltran is a wonderful player with one of the worst contracts in the history of sports. I don't want that albatross on the Cubs future spending.

Congratulations to the White Sox for the success they have acheived this year. They have played exceptional baseball and have combined very good pitching with timely hitting to get this far. That being said, I do think that the Sox will have trouble repeating their success next year. They have had "career years" from 6 or 7 players who are not likely to repeat those numbers. There is a very good chance that they won't resign Konerko, who I think is one of the keys to their success. Also, this was a year when the perennial champs (Twins) had a horrible season in a weak division. The Indians showed signs of promise, but their youth caught up with them. So congrats to Guillen & Williams on this year, but things could get ugly pretty quick.

Furcal, at the price he is going to command, doesn't excite me. I think that Cedeno might be able to produce Furcal's number within a year or two for one-twentieth the cost. Signing Nomar for a low-base salary with incentives and moving Cedeno to 2B (trade Walker) would be my first choice. By 2007 or 2008, Cedeno becomes the SS.

Unless you're getting Arod, Cabrera, Pujols, Santana, or the like, I stand by my statement of not trading Lee, Aram, Prior, Zambrano, or Pie. Since none of those other teams would think about trading those guys, I can't see trading any of the Cubs mentioned.

I still think "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." You have 2 of the top players at their positions in baseball and you "consider" a deal that might improve the team while you have at least four other holes on the team and a poor excuse for a manager. I understand when people say nobody should be "untouchable" on this team, but I would think that Lee, Aram, Prior, Zambrano, and Pie ought to be darn close to untouchable.

With all of the problems that the Cubs have, I don't understand people suggesting trading Aram or Lee. I understand the fact that their value is very high, but these are two of the players you should build the team around. Using that logic, we should trade Zambrano, Prior, Barrett, and Dempster too. It took a long time to fill that black hole called 3B, let's not mess with it. Nomar at 3B for the whole season.....who's the backup? At least with Nomar at SS you have Cedeno to back him up.

I don't think it's that complicated. Sign Furcal. Move Cedeno to 2B. Trade Walker for a relief pitcher. Waive goodbye to Nomar. As for the other moves: Sign Lofton. Sign Giles or trade for a corner OF - Floyd, Abreu, Burrell. Sign (Millwood, Byrd, Weaver) or trade (Zito, Hernandez, Schmidt, Vazquez) for a starting pitcher. All those moves should easily fit into Hendry's budget. Trade Walker for an OF bat. Preferrably a middle of the order hitter, who's lefthanded. Agree w/ the other ideas. Oh and bring back Hairston and Rusch. Hoops, I agree with most of what you said. People are making this way too complicated and expensive. (1.) Resign Walker & Rusch (either or both made be used for trade bait) (2.) Go after Giles, Lofton, and Millwood as free agents. (3.) If Giles doesn't sign, go after Floyd. (4.) The fate of Cedeno and Walker depends on Nomar signing a low-base, high-incentive contract. If he signs, Cedeno plays 2B and Walker is traded. If he doesn't sign, Cedeno plays SS and Walker plays 2B. (5.) Any other needs to be filled by trades using: Patterson, Rusch (possibly), Williams, Hill, Walker (possibly), Mitre, Welly, and other prospects. Lineup: Lofton (Hairston as sub) SP: Zambrano Pen: Dempster Murton/ Cedeno/Walker Prior Novoa Lee Wood Wuertz Ramirez Millwood (possibly) Ohman Giles or Floyd Maddux Van Buren Barrett Rusch (possibly) Trade (??) Walker or Murton Williams (possibly) Trade(??) Cedeno ( or Blanco if he's catching)

Great job all season. NSBB has become my addiction. Sometimes I think all of the media reads NSBB because all of the ideas we kick around are then "suggested" or "reported" by the media. If we only had some influence over the Cubs' GM, we could solve most of the problems with the team.

Patterson's value couldn't be lower unless he had one of his legs fall off. I don't see him as an attractive trading chip. And for $12m per, I'd rather sign Kevin Millwood via FA and hang onto whatever prospects we'd have to give up. I agree that Patterson alone (or as the front person in a trade) is not much of a trading chip, but I would bet that Hendry is going to hear Patterson's name quite often as the throw-in in trade talk. I think there are a lot of teams out there that think they could "heal" Patterson or are willing to take a shot at him as the throw-in in some deal. He could be one of those players that needs a change of address.

What is your take on the rumors surrounding Hendry/Baker extending their contracts. So far, I would say thru the media it appears that Hendry will get offered a two year deal next Spring and Baker as well. The only difference is that Baker might not accept unlike Hendry. Stating a good start is needed, runs perpendicular to recent hints that Baker would be offered before the season. If you were to put odds on the situation, what are the odds of Baker being offered 2 more years before the season? I think that there is no way Baker doesn't sign the 2-year extension. For all of the griping and complaining, I think Dusty knows a good thing when he sees it. Dusty knows that the Cubs have a chance to compete every year with a large payroll and if the Cubs win their division, let alone the WS, he will be more popular than Elvis. As for more than 2 years being offered, the Tribune article made a big deal that Dusty always had 2 year deals until he signed with the Cubs. Obviously, 2 more years after 2006 will say a lot about Baker, Hendry, & MacPhail.

All of this was put into place so that nothing upstages the World Series.

I totally agree and I have posted often that I think Baker's managing and stubborness cost this team about 10 wins. That's not competing with the Cards, but it puts us in the playoffs as the WC. Also, don't forget batting Neifi, Corey, and Macias at the top of the lineup for much of the season.

Annoyed that they are taking so long or annoyed because he would rather leave? Annoyed that there is discussion about it. It seems to be a foregone conclusion that he will get a 2-year extension by spring training.

When I mentioned Kearns or Pena, I didn't necessarily mean for RF. Giles is what we need for RF, but we need to be prepared for the possibility that he won't leave the West Coast. I wonder whether Murton, Kearns, or Pena can play CF. It couldn't be much worse defensively than Nomar in LF.

Tribune headline states "Baker annoyed by contract extension talks". If he is annoyed, just think how annoyed all of the Cub fans are.