jersey cubs fan

That's an interesting definition of darn good.

I wonder how significant the timing of Jim Hendry's visit to Iowa and reports that he was trying to trade Fox all spring, are to Joshua's gushing.

I doubt that's it. I've been a passionate follower of Cubs minor leaguers for a decade now, and have always had a few guys who I just had to see what they were doing. Indifference would be a poor description. If I was indifferent I wouldn't be disappointed in the status of the system. Maybe it has something to do with being less fascinated with low level numbers and with Vitters being the only good prospect, but still at a very low level, I'm not obsessed with it. Or maybe it's because I would have preferred Weiters and hold it against him. I guess as the season goes along I might get more interested in him, or more interested in some other standout that emerges.

Actually, the idiot is Ochocinco for not changing his name to the right thing. But that wouldn't be nearly as funny or cool had he done "ochenta y cinco" or "ochenty cinco". Technically his name isn't wrong. He doesn't call himself number eighty-five. He calls himself eight five. So, technically his name is correct in being Ocho Cinco (two words, both capitalized). Did he ever call himself eight five? I've heard plenty of people referred to as the individual digits, and not the actual number, but how did that go with Chad? On second thought, I don't give a crap. Why am I talking about this?

we all knew our bullpen would suck before the season. should die hard nat fans not worry about their rotation after one week? I'm actually not that concerned about our pen. Marmol and Gregg are obviously darn good. I'm a huge Heilman fan. If Gooz keeps his arm intact, I have no doubt that his performance will be fine... hell, even Vizcaino aint half bad, provided he never faces a lefty. Patton is a gamble, and Cotts sucks. That's still a good deal better than most teams. I don't get how Gregg is obviously darn good. He's a fairly questionable bullpen arm.

This clearly includes the home town fans. Oh, note, too that the game was held up by rain. And, even though they were off last night, I'm sure the Pens series had an effect, too. Yeah, the weather sucked and they were facing Florida. But it was still pretty amazing how empty it was when they panned over the entire stadium, and seriously, maybe they shouldn't have shown that angle at all. Entire sections were empty down on the field level, all the way to the front row.

Anybody notice how few people were in PNC Park last night?

I read that as "not fielded", which is technically correct. :wink: Uh..yeah. Dude, that's totally what I meant... 8-) Not seeing the field definitely implies not playing in field, regardless of pinch hitting duty.

shouldn't it be milb version? ml is major league. I am honestly not excited about any minor league Cubs. Maybe it's a matter of having less time to pay attention to them, but there isn't a guy down there whose numbers I just have to see in these box scores. I guess Vitters might become that guy. Colvin is going to have to do much more than OPS a shade over 800 as a 23 year old back down in A ball.

And yet his season stats remain putrid. I don't see how that is at all "curiously timed". It's an article about which early trends are likely to continue. So the "trend" is one terrible week? That he followed up by tearing the cover off the ball? The trend is the first two weeks of baseball, after which Derrek Lee's numbers look as bad as they did the last 5 months of 2008. The fact that he "tore the cover off the ball" for a couple days and yet that was unable to prop up his season-to-date stats shows just how bad he's been overall this year. Seriously, "curiously timed" doesn't really make any sense. It wasn't an article about Lee. It was an article about various early numbers, good or bad, and whether some people think that trend will continue.

Probably since it became his real name. Actually, it's been since before it became his real name.

And yet his season stats remain putrid. I don't see how that is at all "curiously timed". It's an article about which early trends are likely to continue.

Maybe, but that brings us back to who are you willing to release to make that happen? Lou seems to like Cotts for some reason. It seems like they are going to give Marshall a few starts before they relegate him to the pen. It's probably a matter of waiting out the first DL stint moreso than preparing to release somebody. One of those guys is bound to go down sooner or later.

I'm not aware of his injury history outside of this past season. Is it that bad throughout his career? And in my previous post, I meant best available at WR, not just best available. Now that we have a quality QB, we need to give him the necessary tools to be as effective at his job as he can be. He had a reputation for being more interested in his music career than football, and for sitting out unnecessarily for relatively minor injuries. I don't think that reputation was challenged last year. And I disagree that they have to sign others and draft best available WR in the 2nd. Part of the value of getting Cutler, as well as investing heavily in the line, is that should make the wide receivers better. If Orton was still here, then I would agree it's absolutely necessary to give him the best possible weapons, to offset his lack of talent. Hester should be better with Cutler than he would be with Orton. Bennett should be better than he would be with Orton. Olsen should be better, Clark may even be better, and quite honestly, I expect some marginal 3rd receiver type to be better with Cutler instead of Orton. If they see a WR available that they'd love to have, who is worthy of the pick, then take him. But this is still a team whose defensive talent in slipping on a weekly basis, a team with some questions now, and in the future, on the offensive line. Bottom line, it's a team with needs everywhere but QB and RB. They can't narrow their search in the draft to best WR available. That's how they ended up over drafting guys like Bazuin and Wolfe, when there was clearly better players available at other positions.

The end of the game is why I don't understand why the league and refs get praised for "just letting them play" in the playoffs. Calgary was taking cheap shot after cheap shot in the first two games, and were seeing very little repercussion. They continued that into game 3 and when the Blackhawks stepped up their chippiness, things got out of control. That may get some people all excited, but it makes the hockey boring as hell.

Yeah, I'd seriously consider bringing back Lloyd. I think the coaching staff, like other staffs before them, may feel his committment to football is significantly lower than their demands. But he's a halfway decent talent who could potentially have a big year with a Pro Bowl caliber QB throwing to him.

Well, it's mid-april, the Cubs are in first place, and some other big bats, Bradley/Soto, have yet to show anything either. I think he needs to see more prolonged decline by Lee as well as the team struggling, before he will make a move. I think you can go back to the 2nd half of last year to see DLee has started a prolonged decline. Soto and Bradley are different situations because they both had solid seasons last year. DLee started off hot last year, but started to decline from about June on. Oh no doubt, we're going on about 6 months of weak performance by Lee. But my point is I don't think Lou will feel the need to move him with the team winning and the potential leap froggers not hitting the ball either.

He needs to get out there and play. I hate to say it, but Kaner is gaining a reputation for being soft and that's not good. He's still really young and physically a kid more than a professional athlete. But it could be difficult to overcome such a label if he does sit out. The playoff games have really shown just how much more valuable Toews is to this team than Kane.

Well, it's mid-april, the Cubs are in first place, and some other big bats, Bradley/Soto, have yet to show anything either. I think he needs to see more prolonged decline by Lee as well as the team struggling, before he will make a move.

Coke. Yeah raw, that is a good point. It's certainly possible to find the right fit at WR in the 2nd. But that would also entail the Chicago Bears scouting and coaching authorities to find and develop the right guy, not exactly their best skill. And if it is just a matter of giving Cutler somebody with decent talent, that could make it unnecessary to spend a 2nd rounder on one, especially with multiple needs.

Florida still needs to go 79-72, a .527 W%, the rest of the way to get to 90 wins.

I'm not. I'd be happy for two more at the UC right now... If this team is ever going to take the leap into elite status, they are going to have to win in hostile environments. The first 2 games were great for getting them playoff experience, but playing with the crowd on your side is probably a help.

Otherwise they jeopardize their chance at the pennant?

I agree with what Ditka said, it won't change our offense alot, but I disagree about the significance. Ron Turner is an idiot. It doesn't matter who his quarterback is, he's going to try to run a Favre-style offense. He's not capable of tailoring his offense to the guys he has on the field. What Angelo has effectively done is tailored the personnel to the kind of offense that Turner runs instead. So, I think the addition of Cutler will be significant. Turner will try to push it downfield now. It's what he really likes to do, as you can see from his time with Illinois when he had some weapons, and in '95 when he had a couple decent receiving targets and a passable QB in Kramer. The one misperception that I think is out there is that Turner is like Shoop. He's not. He isn't very imaginative, but he does like to throw downfield if he can. Defenses in the NFL can adjust and stop a passing game if you don't put anything in there to change it up though. I'm not sure Turner can actually do that consistently, so I also view next season as a big test for him. They did it last year, only Orton missed his guy most of the time.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this team play on the road, especially in a Canadian venue.