jersey cubs fan

The Cubs are stuck in limbo right now, similar to the Orioles about 9 years ago as far as generally declining with aging, regressing, and overpaid players absorbing most of the payroll and little from the (while slightly improving) farm system. Oh god no, please don't say that. The Orioles of 9 years ago, ouch. Look at the O's of 96', 97', and 98'. I don't have to look to know what you are referencing. And it makes me cry.

The Cubs are stuck in limbo right now, similar to the Orioles about 9 years ago as far as generally declining with aging, regressing, and overpaid players absorbing most of the payroll and little from the (while slightly improving) farm system. Oh god no, please don't say that. The Orioles of 9 years ago, ouch.

He is not on the 40-man. Given the slow way they have acclimated him to starting again, and the likely length of time it will take him to become an established big league pitcher, I'd rather not burn his option, or start his arbitration clock this soon. Plus, I don't really trust Lou and his staff to use him all that smartly.

The weirdest thing is, none of these injuries lately seem to happen while playing. Dempster hurt jumping over a fence, Soto hurt in batting practice, Lillys injury disclosed between starts, etc. Dempster is the only weird one. Soto was still playing baseball, and just because they disclosed an injury between starts doesn't mean it didn't happen during a start. Odds are he was hurt while pitching, and in a game where his knee was bothering him it wouldn't be strange at all if that led to different mechanics screwing him up. On top of all this is that it makes it harder to give extra rest to Harden. I think they will still try and have him go Monday night on extra rest. They should go ahead and use Samardzija with Marshall ready to fill-in as needed.

Which AL East team is Oakland going to trade Wallace to in 2-3 years?

A few years ago, while they were in the process of getting themselves into this situation, there were solutions to make things better. But as time went on Hendry spent more and more like a drunken sailor and now they are more or less stuck with what they got. The only real solution is for the new owner to raise payroll even further, and replace Hendry.

That's nothing like how the Cubs fans did with Sosa. He left the team before steroids talk even heated up. But from what I've seen most fan bases have been cool to a returning abuser until time heals the wounds, so to speak. Yankees fans didn't welcome ARod or Giambi back with open arms. And on top of this, Dodger fans have always been Bonds's biggest hecklers. And it's not like they just started cheering again when Manny returned, they absolutely worship the guy. It's a very LA kind of thing to do though.

Bruce hits on the topic that bothers me the most about the Cubs, the incredible waste of money at all levels, from the highest paid guys, to the second tier, to the little guys. Soriano's is most likely going to be the single biggest anchor on the payroll, but all those Aaron Miles type deals probably piss me off the most. Insisting on wasting money on proven veterans who do absolutely nothing better than AAA players, and they do it year-in-year-out. At least with Soriano, at his best he was giving you something nobody else could really bring you. Too bad his best is most likely long behind him.

I understand that sentiment, but that's what makes golf majors pretty cool. 3 of the 4 majors rotate between courses, while one stays traditional and at the same spot. It's a good mix in my mind.

trib says "few months" Just read 4 months somewhere. Gotta think media is gonna pile on this. I'm ok if we knew this. Still a good deal, but why not have surgery after the cup ends? Hawks management getting a big black eye this offseason all around this summer, justified or not. Because he was a free agent and free agents don't like having surgery before they sign.

trib says "few months"

this couldn't have been handled much worse.

I'm not up on all the rules, but I think I remember reading somewhere that MLB clubs are allowed to have their position players play in 10 minor league games before they need to be activated. I would imagine Miles is close to that number. I also think David Patton will be activated after he max's out his number of minor league appearances (I really thought they would try to hide him on the DL until September). I thought the rule was something like 10 games until the player can demand to be called up. So, if you have an agreement in place you can go longer. But maybe I'm wrong.

Choi was better at the strike zone recognition, no? Theriot and Soto had more recognition as well I think, no? He's got a 49/9 k/bb ratio this year, how exactly does he have strike zone recognition that's better than anyone we've had in the system for awhile?

So much for editing. Seriously.

they have a history of late season runs, and the financial abilitiy (if not necessarily willngness) to spend on upgrades. To the extent that none of these teams are all that good and it might be a first to 85 wins race, yeah, I'm worried about another team being in that race.

They weren't really projected as an all-star infield, as most realized it was likely that 1 or more would not even make it, and nobody assumed they'd be all stars, but the point stands.

Expand upon this. I'm going to guess it has to do with the demonzing of Bonds/worshipping of Manny situation.

The Philly broadcast showed an update on the Angels game, displaying GMJ's 2-4 game on Tuesday. Sarge is their analyst and he said, "finally getting some playing time." Then went on to compare it to Juan Pierre finally getting a chance in LA and proving he can play. It's his dad so you can understand Sarge being stupid about GMJ, but he's a baseball guy so that's the explanation for him being stupid about Pierre, who has sucked more the more he's played this season.

Pie wasn't in the group. Here's off the top of my head who I remember us having. Corey Patterson-he flopped it happens. Mark Prior-I would say his '03 and '04 made him worth the hype. Bobby Hill-He turned into Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton. That worked out well for us. Hee Seop Choi-He turned into DLee. That worked out well for us. Carlos Zambrano Juan Cruz-we should have been more patient with him. David Kelton-He flopped it happens. Angel Guzman-having a great year, really wish he would have stayed healthy. So basically even though you claim that whole group of guys flopped, we actually got productive 3 and 4 hitters who play plus defense at the corners, an ace, and a great bullpen arm. It seems like all the "he flopped it happens" guys are all hitters who never developed plate discipline, correct? Pretty clear to me we have been deficient in developing great hitters in our farm system. Pitching has been a better endeavor. So we need to get some better hitting instruction on our farm. I don't see why 30 years goes by and we don't do this. I agree, I'm all for a new regime. But, to say everythign cub was overrated is a bit much. When we had that highly reguarded system it was warranted. How is it a bit much. The fact that the Cubs got Ramirez and Lee for a couple guys who have done nothing does not support your argument that the Cubs system was not overrated. In fact it strongly supports the idea that it was very highly overrated. Also, Pie was signed in 2001, and he was playing in their system in 2002 and 2003, probably the last times the system was highly rated. He's at least as much a part of that era as Prior.

We were one run from winning a series in Philly against a scorching hot Phillie team. With our pitching I'll take our chances. "we" scored 2 runs in 22 innings against mediocre pitching (missing their best starter) before getting to face Jamie Moyer. color me impressed. i don't dispute that pitching isn't the problem and is the only reason the Cubs are close. i just don't think it's enough. If the Phillies don't make a big trade though, odds are we would still see Moyer and Blanton in a short series. Yeah the offense is bad right now, but the pitching will give us a punchers chance. The offense isn't just bad now, the've been bad all year. And considering last year was the first time they were actually good in several years, it's not like that was the "real Cubs" offense that we can expect to return. Also, while the Cubs might face Blanton and Moyer in a short series, they only actually scored off one of those two and they have others that are better. Philly is a better team. They've beaten the Cubs repeatedly in short series. Everybody likes to say "crapshoot" but it's not just a matter of chance. The better teams still have an advantage. It's possible for lesser teams to win but I'd much rather be the better team going in than just "taking my chances" (especially when there's still going to be a struggle to even get there).

I forgot they had 4 with Houston coming up. I feel like every time there's a stretch of games that could be huge, the teams either split, or the one that wins the series goes out and loses 6 of 10 while the loser wins 6 of 10 and they are right back where they started from.

One run for a team that really sucks at scoring runs isn't all that close. The Cubs were outscored 19-12, an average of just 4 runs per game, which is below average in normal situations, let alone in CBP when you don't even face their best pitcher.

I have a problem with them reporting the b/a level. What's the relevance? Where does legitimate journalism end and gossip-mongering begin? If his b/a level is a factor in the incident, fine. But otherwise, it's just tabloid garbage. Facts are facts though. The fact that he was drunk and passed out on the couch could tell investigators something about what happened before she shot him. When celebrities die these facts come out. If you die choking yourself to death while jerking off, and you have meth in your system, it's going to come out. Whether we need to know that is beside the point. This would come out in a normal case, but it wouldn't be spread all over the media if you were a nobody. But being drunk is just being drunk. What doesn't make sense is calling it twice the legal limit. I don't think it's a matter of them trying to say he deserved it, as much as it's just irresponsible sensationalist journalism. Twice the legal limit sounds more catchy, even though it's an irrelevent phrase.

Well it's not like somebody came and stole picks from them. When you hand multi year deals to Typa A free agents that are middle relievers (Latroy Hawkins) and thus lose a draft pick, that's your own damn fault. Also, it mentions the Colvin/Samardzija draft when they were missing the 2-4, and basically stated how crappy it was to waste that 1st on Colvin and then grossly overpay for Samardzija.