jersey cubs fan

I doubt it will go a long way, but it would help. Not sure he can be counted on to get healthy though. Three straight years of leg injuries entering his mid-30s, that may just be who he is.

I'd bet that if he contributes to the big league club next year it will be in the bullpen. Well yeah, but 4 months in the rotation in AAA followed up by 2 months in the big league pen would still be a big jump in innings. Assuming he goes beyond the 4-5 inning pace and doesn't come to Chicago until August. I think there's a good chance they will be hungry for bullpen arms much earlier than that and Cashner could be in that group depending on how much he impresses in March.

I'd bet that if he contributes to the big league club next year it will be in the bullpen.

I was looking at the baseball cube which is missing some innings. Either way, he hasn't had a huge workload this season, and I agree that as long as they aren't reckless with him in the AFL it's not that big of a deal. He does need to get some innings under his belt.

Right now Cubs are drafting 16.

He's sitting at 79 innings pitched this year, and last season, between college and the pros he was over 70. I don't see the need for concern about him being in the fall league. He's been treated cautiously throughout the year.

That's exactly what I'd fear, and exactly not what happened. Everybody knew Jacque was wrong for the team, he sucked in the field, on the bases and at the plate right from the beginning, and people were on him from the start. People were excited about Bradley and gave him much more of a break to start. But he had just as bad a start, including whining about unfair treatment.

That is completely BS. I was very scared with how the fans would treat Milton. I was worried they'd jump on him early and contribute to a meltdown. But that did not happen at all. They gave him all sorts of leeway even during a horrendous start. People took a while before they started jumping on him. And really, they didn't even do that. His biggest critics have been Stone and Kaplan. He hasn't really been hounded by those who follow the Cubs closely and the fans have not come close to treating him like public enemy #1 even though people insist on pretending they have. Soriano takes so much more heat (as well he should), and plenty of others have taken the brunt.

You don't need Sullivan around to realize Milton is a jackass cry baby. I think he's a passionate person who wears his heart on his sleeve. Yes, and when things go bad he makes excuses, cries about how he's treated, exaggerates about how poorly he's treated. You can be passionate without being a jackass cry baby.

You don't need Sullivan around to realize Milton is a jackass cry baby.

I'm just not sure what he could possibly say that would make his potential departure more important than Jim Hendry's. While I can't stand Hendry, that is mostly founded upon what he has done the last two offseasons. I think Kenney staying means that the number in the profit column will be more important than the number in the W column. He does understand that winning makes it easier to make money, but I don't believe his number one goal is to win a WS. I don't question Hendry's intentions. I could be wrong, but wasn't Kenney hired by Zell? I thought he was brought in to squeeze as much out of the team as possible for the Tribune. If that meant making the team or the stadium more valuable or whatever, that's what his job was. Again, could be wrong, but that has been my impression. You're way off. Kenney was with the Tribune and took over when McDonough left. He was basically the last suit standing. And the payroll skyrocketted under his watch. Being overly tight with money is the least of his issues. And it shouldn't just be what Hendry has done lately that has you concerned. Do you not know what happened in 2005 and 2006? He inherited a very talented franchise that was primed for success, enjoyed financial dominance over the competition, and came away with one lousy 90-win season (out of 7 so far). I was wrong about when and why Kenney came, as I said I may be. This does change my perspective on him, at least somewhat. I do know what happened in 2005 and 2006. Keyword in my post before would be "mostly." I'm not really standing up for Hendry. I want him gone as well. It's funny you chose 90-wins as a benchmark. While he may only have one 90-win season, he does have three 88-win seasons... 90-wins is kind of a low threshold for a great season. And back in 2003 I was expecting this team to have multiple great seasons, not every year, but multiple. There were 16 NL teams with 90 wins between 2003-2008, more than 2.5 per season, and there are 4 NL teams on pace for that this year. In a league that does not have a Yankees/Red Sox duo to dominate play, there's no good reason why the Cubs, at the top of the NL food chain, could not have had multiple 90 win seasons from 2003-2009. The Cubs are a .518 W% team since the beginning of 2003, the equivalant of an 84 win team (a little less than 84 wins). That is mediocre performance for what should be a top dog team, whose suits have provided more than enough resources to be a top dog team.

I'm just not sure what he could possibly say that would make his potential departure more important than Jim Hendry's. While I can't stand Hendry, that is mostly founded upon what he has done the last two offseasons. I think Kenney staying means that the number in the profit column will be more important than the number in the W column. He does understand that winning makes it easier to make money, but I don't believe his number one goal is to win a WS. I don't question Hendry's intentions. I could be wrong, but wasn't Kenney hired by Zell? I thought he was brought in to squeeze as much out of the team as possible for the Tribune. If that meant making the team or the stadium more valuable or whatever, that's what his job was. Again, could be wrong, but that has been my impression. You're way off. Kenney was with the Tribune and took over when McDonough left. He was basically the last suit standing. And the payroll skyrocketted under his watch. Being overly tight with money is the least of his issues. And it shouldn't just be what Hendry has done lately that has you concerned. Do you not know what happened in 2005 and 2006? He inherited a very talented franchise that was primed for success, enjoyed financial dominance over the competition, and came away with one lousy 90-win season (out of 7 so far).

They're starting a 23 game stretch where they play 22 games against teams with losing records, 17 of those games are at home. They could very easily pull off a 17-6 stretch. If the Cardinals cool down to a slightly less torrid 13-8 during the same period, the Cubs will pick up 3 games on them, and be only 5 games out for the last 3-game series against the Cards in St. Louis. No one ever could "very easily" play almost .750 ball for four weeks. A good team probably could. I would think most of your best teams will have a .750 win% over 4 week stretches relatively frequently, especially when playing the dogs. Unfortunately the Cubs aren't in that class.

He is the chairman of the Chicago Cubs. If he's being brought back in the same capacity, there's going to be some issue when trying to find a president of the team who would then go and hire a GM.

He must have done a great job kissing ass during the negotiations, because I can't imagine one good reason why a new owner would want to retain Kenney, unless it's temporary. If he's strictly working on the business end, I don't really care, but he shouldn't have any input on baseball decisions, including hiring the new GM.

Manage expectations.

He must have done a great job kissing ass during the negotiations, because I can't imagine one good reason why a new owner would want to retain Kenney, unless it's temporary.

How could you think this year is a fluke? It's pretty much what you would expect. He spent some time injured, but when healthy he's pitched great. He did the same thing last year, and that's pretty much what he's done throughout his career. Even if you call his relative health and durability a fluke, it's not like he's on pace for 30 starts and 200 innings and it's not like he's outperforming past seasons either.

I know. But personally I never held that opinion of him before he came to Chicago, as I didn't see it on the field like with those other two guys. I think his issue has been a few questionable words comparing himself to Elway and coincidentally, Rivers. Now that he's a Bear, I don't care about how he got here, and I thought the new coach was mostly to blame by foolishly trying to replace the incumbent franchise QB with "his guy" who hadn't done a heck of a lot in comparison to Cutler. Had Rivers become a Bear I probably would have grown to be fine with him, but that's a different story. I do find the depiction of Cutler as the emo kid among NFL QB's amusing. But to me it's more tolerable than the loudmouth douchebag that is Rivers.

I'm talking about the way he carries himself on the field. He's really good, and that's the shame because I hate jackasses that are also really good. Some people get off on jerks who can back it up, but I find it very annoying. Rivers and Delhomme (with the constant whining) are the two QBs I least enjoy watching because of how they act on the field. On the other hand, I want to hate Brady because I can't stand the Patriots, but there's really nothing to hate about Brady.

Are the Cubs using this or are they just happy somebody is bringing it up? Yeah, it's probably the latter. But it's definitely something they can use to get improvements in Mesa or find a new venue in Arizona. I can't imagine them really wanting to move to Florida; there are more benefits to staying in Arizona (which have already been mentioned). There are cost savings on travel. But the gulf coast hosts most of them already, with a couple teams having left for Arizona, that cuts down a bit on the travel. Plus, there's more competition in Arizona now than there was before, maybe they feel there is more to gain in Florida than lose in Arizona. And is there really that much difference in rain outs in February and March? It's not like Mesa has been rain free in recent years. It's also possible that after years of growth and spending on sports stadiums, Arizona has just lost the taste for doing so. While the big money private investors in the Naples area might be more willing to take that risk. I hope they stay in Arizona, but it's not a complete no-brainer for the Cubs, depending on how the plans look. And hell, it could come down to a personal preference of the Ricketts family.

I really don't think the move to the Bears will make all that much difference. If he stayed in Denver and had a similar season in 2009 he was going to get a market rate contract. He might wind up making more if he turns into a super bowl winning and/or HOF caliber QB in Chicago rather than Denver, based on other sources of income, but not football contract. Then again, it's not like Elway lacked for outside revenue sources.

I'm not a fan of overly aggressive hitters, but you are being completely disingenuous when you try and pretend they had similar K rates, and that producing in high A and AA at 19 is the same as sucking in A ball at 19 and 20. It has nothing to do with rewarding anybody. It's just saying there are significant differences between Castro and Cedeno.

Are the Cubs using this or are they just happy somebody is bringing it up?

Similar tool-wise doesn't mean much. They are toolsy shortstops, all toolsly shortstops are similar tool wise. How does the fact that Castro is 19, doing well in AA, compared to Ronny being 19 and sucking in A ball not make a difference? Yeah, the similarities are much more than if we were comparing Castro to some left fielder, but other than the fact that they are SS and have similar low walk rates, there are meaningful differences. Contrary to what you said, they don't have similar minimal strikeouts. Ronny struck out a lot, Castro does not. In Daytona Castro struck out 41 times in 358 AB this year, when Ronny was in Daytona he struck out 82 times in 380 AB. That's a fairly huge difference that you not only gloss over but actually contend is a similarity.