jersey cubs fan

Berrian has been pretty good.

It's hard to get offensive players into a pro bowl without a QB (not to mention an offensive line).

It's not even that for me. If you told me the Bears are going to make a Jay Cutler like move and get an affordable young superstar in the making and never pick in the 1st 2 rounds again, I'd be fine with it (generically speaking). But a move for Jackson would be falling into the Cubs trap of spending big money and failing to continue to infuse young talent in to get better. The lack of that continued influx of young talent is what scares me, especially on defense. The mid-decade drafts really caught up to this team in a hurry.

I definitely do not want to go big after this guy. Sure I'd like to have him, but he is not a true elite receiver, and in my opinion, those are the only guys you go hard after. The rest depend on the team they play for. If he was a free agent, sure, but giving up high picks + the contract just is not enticing.

Soto has roughly 59 PA and a 950 OPS in June, Hill is at 35 and 688.

Fair enough. We have a ton of young and/or mediocre options for the rotation next year. We have so many squeaky wheels on this team...Lilly's money probably should be spent elsewhere. Unless one of Cashner, Diamond, and Jackson steps up and performs at a very high level, our rotation next year could be really bad. If they put that Lilly money towards a difference making bat, fine by me. But if not, I think you have to seriously consider bringing him back. It's not like this is some stud pitching staff that can just afford to let guys get away and still rule the NL. It's basically a middle of the road staff, and this year we had the same argument about all the guys who should be able to fill roles.

Are people really saying LBJ6?

TOYOTA!!!

As a spectator, I would have to think, "what real sport are you practicing for?"

He's made $3 million as a pro pitcher, I'd say it's worked out quite nicely.

I don't want to argue semantics, but most people that have listed a roster have him as the back up catcher. And I don't see it as arguing semantics by saying that does not mean everybody is so high on him. He's a logical choice for a position that doesn't require all that much.

They have no control over rumors. yeah, i don't undertsand the anger towards the players on this one. Um, they aren't human, what else do you need to understand?

Kane isn't a top 15 player.

Most everybody. Agreed that he sucks. But I'm sick of the overpaying 2nd tier players in an attempt to fill the stadium and get fans excited when you're just crippling your team long term. If we would have just taken the rebuilding approach before going buck wild in FA with Soriano, Fukudome, etc... we wouldn't be in such a dire predicament right now. Granted, we had a great year in 2008, but outside of that, we haven't gotten anything out of the Piniella/Soriano era yet (2007 doesn't count because the division sucked so bad) because we're paying 5 or 6 guys as superstars when they're just good supporting players (Bradley (now Silva), Lee, Soriano, Zambrano, Fukudome, Dempster, and even Ramirez to an extent even though he's a top 3 at his position when healthy). When the Yankees overspend, they get great players like ARod, Teixiera, and Sabathia. When we overspend, we get guys who are a bit over league average but paid like superstars. Why would we start that all over again by overpaying a guy like Carlos Pena instead of just taking our lumps for a year with a guy like Hoffpauir? I know it's been 102 years, but why not allow for a rebuilding year? Unless you're going to spend $200 million every year and/or draft & develop extremely well, you need to have intentional rebuilding years. Maybe if the Cubs understood that, we wouldn't be like 1-7 against the Pirates with the 3rd highest payroll in the league. But, you're right, starting Micah Hoffpauir for 1 rebuilding season would be the worst thing that's ever happened to the Cubs. Don't be an idiot. I didn't say it was the worst thing to happen. I said it's a stupid idea. Starting Micah Hoffpauir at 1B accomplishes nothing if what you want is to rebuild. The Cubs don't need to tank a season and/or save a ton of cash one year to try and get better three years later. They have the means of fielding a competitive team any year and still get better down the road. Micah Hoffpauir is an old crappy minor leaguer. There's just no reason for his name to be mentioned for potential 2011 Chicago Cubs openind day rosters.

That was his career OPS before this year. It's a bit better now. He's a fairly young guy, and catchers at least have a reputation of developing offensively a little later than most. Plus, we're talking about a backup catcher option here, the guy doesn't need to be a stud. Also, I'm not so sure "everyone is so high" on him.

Most everybody.

major league teams should not give starting jobs to 30 year old first basemen hitting .239/.338/.433 in the pcl. i don't care if we're going to be bad, there's still no reason to waste a spot like that. But why spend $10m on Adam Dunn or Carlos Pena when you're going to suck anyway? I'd rather wait a year and go after Prince or Adrian Gonzalez. Also, I said to offer Lee arbitration and he could accept and you have him on a 1 year deal. Whatever you do, don't deliberately field a team with Micah Hoffpauir as your opening day 1B. It's not like they would carry over that $10m in savings to the next year.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5339757 Sounds like Cedric Benson got in a bar fight, was thrown out, then punched a bouncer.

Drafting 9th right now, but just a half game back from possibly drafting 6th. Also just 7.5 games seperate the Hendry era Cubs from the Marlins of the same time frame.

yes, followed closely by hall of fame

My wife and I have decided not to have kids anyway, so I'll put both of mine on the table for a World Series win. You should hold onto one in case your next wife feels differently about children.

that may be true, but the statement that it just rewards stars and ignores the players who are most deserving has no basis in reality. It has a basis, it's just not totally accurate. It's a mix of hot players and big names. But what it often is is a mixed bag of guys who don't fake an injury.

I have a hard time thinking he'll make next year's team out of spring training, and I really don't want to burn an option unnecessarily on a guy like him. That, and the fact that the OF is packed with good but not great players just makes it less intriguing to me to give him a callup. Let him try and dominate AA for half a season.

i see the cubs less as "fun bad" and more as "stop paying attention to the team and don't watch the games bad." i'll probably be mad at myself for tuning out on this season come january, but it's really not even a question. this team isn't fun at all. So far I don't see the fun. They just suck. Thankfully I haven't been sucked into watching too much of it.