jersey cubs fan

Ryan's definition of a prospect, anybody who has ever received any form of compensation for playing baseball.

If Wood was offended by this request, then he's insane. For all Hendry's faults, I have no doubt in his ability to skillfully inquire as to Kerry's interest in playing for a title this year. There's no way such a request would piss him off. Not only should it not piss him off to be offered a chance to play for a title, but what do the Cubs have to lose if they did piss him off? Access to a fairly decent reliever?

There was nothing to gain from acquiring more filler prospects for an organization filled with filler.

I have no idea where you are getting that Kreutz is 38. He just turned 34. And what I've read of the other guy it says he's 29. That is not young. That is a minimal gain in youth. But it's still a guy who has probably seen his best years and is a guy who has suffered a significant amount of significant injuries. Of the 2, Kreutz is probably the better bet to start 16 games this season. He's a respectable placeholder, but I can't consider it an actual improvement, and I have big doubts about his ability to stabilize the position for the intermediate term, let alone the longterm. Regardless, the line was bad, and via free agency all they have done is held steady. That is not a good thing. The draft picks are just making up for all those lost years where they routinely ignored the spot, but it is a group that requires 5 starters and an additional 2 useful fill-ins, and they are still lacking.

The fact that they got more scheme friendly TEs is kind of meaningless to me because I don't see Martz or his scheme staying here much longer. Either they have a good year and he gets a better job, or they continue to struggle and they have to strongly consider making changes. Plus, we saw what a scheme friendly TE was last year and they had to cut the guy and waste millions. I've heard the same complaints about the new guy from Steelers fans. Yes, they got younger at center, but not in any meaningful way. They still got an old player with miles on his beat up body who is very doubtful to be any sort of longterm answer. Gholston is a pathetic joke. Barber is kind of worthless. There is some hope that Williams can rekindle some of his Martz-led ability, but he's a huge question mark. I'm very disappointed because they have literally added zero in terms of guaranteed upgrades. The defense is still led by the same aging group that has been on the decline for a few years, and the offense is still going to rely on Jay Cutler covering up for the weaknesses of the rest of the group. I applaud the concept of holding strong on the Kreutz situation. He didn't deserve the $4m, let alone the 4.5m. But when you have the opportunity to save money on a change away from legacy lineman, then you better utilize that savings in the form of actual upgrades elsewhere. The Bears had plenty of money to spend and plenty of spaces to fill, but with the vast majority of real upgrades now off the table, they stuck with the status quo.

I'm just disappointed

Why is this an issue you have? A very good team has been very good for very long and look to stay very good in the near term + they have the resources to reload in a heartbeat.

Being awesome for a decade would suck. There's no such thing as a window with a big market organization. If the cubs can theoretically bounce back and contend in 2012 Philly can just as easily bounce back from a bad year, if they ever have one. Future? The cubs tried that a dozen years ago and failed miserably. You win when you can.

Zero chance you are correct. Olsen was disappointing at times but this is a move based on a stubborn coach and not player ability/value. Just idiotic.

Pathetic personnel management by bears. Just awful

Biggs gets really hung up on stupid crap like this. He spent like three weeks last year lamenting the James Starks draft day thing. Yeah... That's a great package for the 37th pick. I would've done it as well. It just happened to be where none of the picks for the Bears made an impact really so it looks bad NOW 4 years later... It certainly didn't take anywhere near 4 years for that to look bad. It was essentially a bust within the first season. The point us not that it was a bad trade, but bad drafting. Angelo's quantity over quality mindset screwed the bears then, and it might bite them again this offseason.

Front office talent is not the problem. Henrys stupid thoughts are the problem.

This is so stupid. Hendry had been here for a decade of disappointment. Not two years. This organization has performed as poorly as possible given the resources spent. Soriano sucks and is overpaid today, not jus two year from now. Hendry has been horrible and keeping him is a stupid idea.

Wow that is just a whole bunch of ridiculous unsubstantiated nonsense right there.

And that entire promise is probably absolutely wrong. Soriano going balls to the wall on defense would probably be a much worse fielder and would probably get injured immediately. Soriano going balls to the wall on offense really doesn't mean anything. He's a brittle old player who started playing OF in his 30's. He relied on his speed and power as a young man and doesn't have much speed left and only has some of his power left. Effort isn't the issue.

Deadspin guide to getting back into the football part of football http://deadspin.com/5823361/your-guide-to-the-post+lockout-nfl-world As with all Drew Magary articles, assume dirty words.

Soriano didn't lose it in the sun, it was night time, I was there, it was pathetic. (wait, sorry, was thinking of other game, it was sun) And no, you are still wrong about the irony. People are defending Castro against HIS MANAGERS IDIOTIC ATTACKS in a game they were blown out in during a lost season while explicitly defending the veterans. There is absolutely no comparison to fans getting pissed at a player who made a terrible play that lost the game during a pennant race.

Philly's payroll was fairly flat through the era of Gillick's tenure when the team became a dominant force. It didn't skyrocket until after they won a world series when the higher ups chose capitalize on a resurgent fan base by telling them they weren't going to pull an Arizona and fall apart. Winning a world series doesn't make you a great GM. Being well over .500 every year and winning 90+ with regularity sure does. Kenny Williams has barely outperformed Jim Hendry but he got lucky with one title to sooth the masses and his boss. Other guys were pump and dump GMs but that is an entirely different scenario.

Running through the wall would be a terrible idea, as would trying to replicate Reed Johnson.

Actually you are noticing an irony that doesn't exist. People are blasting Quade for his idiotic statements, not defending Castro. The problem is Quade would never do the same thing to a person like Soriano but he has repeatedly called out Castro. Soriano isn't perfectly capable. He's not as bad as some paint him, but he's a problem. If he could hit you could easily ignore that problem, but he hasn't hit worth a crap either.

Colvin. ;) Colvin is actually not a bad platoon idea. Soriano's splits are terrible, but he's still hitting lefties. Colvin can sub for him on defense in the late innings. Brian LaHair is hitting well. I think maybe next year Colvin/Soriano makes sense. It's not like Colvin has been raking this year and I'd rather he play everyday through the end of the AAA season before putting him into a platoon situation. As for assuming Soriano will OPS over 800, that's a terrible idea.

I wouldn't say few years. Probably the rest of this year, maybe most of next year. But by 2013 I'd be shocked if he was close to an everyday guy on this team. It won't take much to validate a benching and/or release.

It's somewhat similar to Lovie's first coaching staff, which had very little NFL coaching experience. Nothing wrong with going with a guy like Quade, but you should probably have more legit coaches on the staff. The complete bed crapping of this pitching staff kind of validates some of Silva's diatribe this spring.

Exactly who should he be replaced with? I took that as a follow up to the Castro and Barney get ripped for missing a ball in the sun........, but Soriano is still in left field.

This isn't really the issue, however. It is perfectly acceptable to point out to Castro and Barney that they must communicate more effectively on infield fly balls. What galls people is the fact that Quade went on to publicly castigate those two players, placing a 9-1 loss (and more broadly the trajectory of the season) at their feet while absolving the vets. While at the same time he has refused to blame any vets, went out of his way to defend and support vets and has repeatedly done this with Castro.