jersey cubs fan

if launching 500 foot HR's during BP isn't baseball masturbation, I don't know what is ask david cone

Why do you care about sound bites? And how many sound bites provided by others are actually meaningful? The guys that talk the most have nothing to say. I don't care what Urlacher thinks about the world, I just want him to play football well enough to help the Bears win games. I don't think anybody can reasonably call what he did as holding the team hostage.

I wouldn't rule out adding a bat. It would have to be a significant upgrade though, which limits the options and eliminates names like Rich Aurilia. Where though? He's not going to supplant Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, or Kosuke with their production and contracts. Theriot, DeRosa, and Soto are about as good as it gets for their position, and two of those are young guys with the other being under contract for another year(not to mention Fonteneaux's capabilities behind DeRo). That leaves the Edmonds/Johnson platoon, which like I mentioned is torching the ball better than anyone on the team(save for the aforementioned Fonteneaux). I just don't see where it could happen. I'm not advocating any specific move nor am I demanding something be done today. All I'm saying is I wouldn't rule out adding a bat, if you can get a significant upgrade. Also, I wouldn't cross a position of need off a list solely because the player(s) hitting there is currently doing fine.

If a player appears tired, rotate in some bench players for a spot start here and there (not all at once, but you get the idea). Eliminating batting practice for the purposes of rest doesn't seem like it would help all that much. These guys don't take BP 162 times a year. I don't think it's about rest, it's about mixing things up. It's not a serious effort to fix things, but there's not much you can seriously do to fix a slump. Players generally don't just work and practice their way out of slumps.

That's Fontenot. Edmonds is like our 2nd best hitter right now.

You need to do better at something so I'm not letting you practice it anymore. Maybe he is seeing a pattern of just "putting on a show" in BP instead of actually working on their games? Perhaps he is "taking away their fun" until they show they have come out of this slump in actualy game action? It almost like Lou saying: " No X-BOX or PS3 kids until your homework is done". Maybe he doesn't know what to do so he's trying something random. Not a real comforting thought, but that's what occurs to me. Yeah, taking away batting practice when the offense is slumping doesn't exactly sound like the greatest idea. If you don't like the approach your players have during batting practice, address the issue. Don't just take it away. To me, that's like saying, "Zambrano didn't throw strikes today, so I'm not going to let him warm up before his next start." Actually, I don't think it's anything like that. Not allowing a pitcher to warm-up is inviting injury. Not having batting practice is no big deal.

I wouldn't rule out adding a bat. It would have to be a significant upgrade though, which limits the options and eliminates names like Rich Aurilia.

Who cares about the timing of a thread. Howry has been terribly inconsistent this year and has sucked so far in July. He pitched in a close game and gave up another run late and somebody expressed concern. What's the big freaking deal?

why? because the Bears will draw fans wherever they play (even Champaign) while the lack of attendance to Sox games is credited (partially) to the location. the theory is that if the Sox had a lakefront ballpark that more tourist/casual fans would attend games. 8 Bears games on the south side vs. 8 on the lakefront would make zero difference in attendance But why should the Bears have just given up the prime location?

why?

In terms of W/L last night? It was most certainly unimportant. He didn't factor into the result of the game at all. I said if we're talking about whether Howry will be OK from here out that's definitely in question. This is crazy logic. Anytime a pitcher gives up more runs than his own team scores he doesn't factor into the result of the game? This is good news for all crappy pitchers around the league. Cool! A pitcher's W/L record means something then. Harden, for example, gave up more runs than his team scored last night and hence got the loss. What does that say about Rich, in your estimation? It says he pitched great whereas Howry once again sucked.

I have some confidence the Cards will hit a rough patch. The Brewers though? I'm not so sure. They may have a streak of 10 games where they only win 5, or something like that. But a prolonged losing stretch of games? Anything can happen, but I'm not convinced it will in this case. They've now got too many starters that will go deep into games, covering for that bullpen. And they've got the offense to simply blow away most opponents. So you think the worst they will do from now on over any 10 game stretch is .500? I'm sure they'll do worse than that at some point.

Lou doesn't like batting practice.

what are the odds any of those 3 would be considered for a playoff roster? Impossible to determine today. It all depends on how they pitch over the next two months. I would put Ceda slightly ahead of Samardzija and Guzman at the bottom. But if the current bullpen remains questionable, and any of those three is lights out for the remainder of their minor league seasons as well as during a September call-up, I'd say the chances are very good they would get a spot.

Are they serious? Will it really take that long for Vitters to develop? If he goes one year at each level, yes. 2009 at Peoria 2010 at Daytona 2011 at Tennessee 2012 at Iowa/MLB Are ETAs literally when they expect a guy to make his first big league appearance, or are they when they expect a guy to stick? Like you guys noted, 2012 isn't all that conservative for Vitters, especially if you are talking about when you expect him to stick. When will be his first/most likely option year? Is it 4 years after being drafted for a high school guy before they have to be added to the 40-man?

Europe

oh man that would be awesome harden, BJ, wood, fukudome All we'd need to do after that is trade for Fred Fellatio and we'd be set. Nice work.

The Cubs are getting the 8th best production out of the 3-hole and 9th best out of the cleanup spot.....that's in the majors. Lee and Ramirez are and have been fine. They've been fine, over the course of the season. But as the person who started the thread noted, they are hurting the production right now. They've both struggled since May. Why are people jumping all over those who make threads expressing frustration at bad streaks? Does anybody really think it's reasonable to expect fans to just sit back, relax and calmly take in the season? I'm so sick of the absurd storyline that Cubs fans get so up and down during the year. Really Lou, maybe that's because you are used to managing in areas where nobody has any emotions regarding the local baseball club. Don't pretend the Yankees fans aren't the same exact way. They prepare to hang guys like ARod the first time he pops out with men on in the 9th. There's nothing wrong with ventings some steam when the team goes through stretches like it's going through now. The Cubs are last in the NL in OPS since the ASB. They are 10th in the NL in OPS in July. They are back to the bottom of the barrel in the NL in OBP largely because they aren't taking walks anymore. It's frustrating, and considering how crappy the offense has been for several years, it's a little disconcerting, and completely understandable why some would think it may be a sign of things to come.

what a selfless act it is to sacrifice his own dream of winning a superbowl for a virtual feather in his cap. i really hope this new contract assures his continued cooperation with the media and openness with the fans who have helped make him the face of the bears franchise. he's such a thoughtful person, kudos to you, brian, you steaming pile of excrement. i hope age doesn't begin to restrict your amazing ability to shed blocks. I semi agree with this post I don't really agree with any of it. Brian doesn't appear to be an enlightened person, but he doesn't seem to be much of a bad guy either. He's ruined his own marriage and made a baby or two with a stranger, but it appears he's holding up his end of the bargain with those situations. I don't recall him getting into any meaningful trouble. I don't give a crap about his openness with the media or fans. He's been an elite player with the Bears for several years, and has only been slowed by the occasional injury, while playing probably one of the two most physically punishing positions in the game (RB being the most).

Yeah, it's puzzling because it doesn't appear to me that he's actually been given a chance to fail on the field. He must either be the worst practice player of all time, or just a complete jerk. Moose and his old wise man act grew tiring very early, and he was given repeated chances after several no show games and lackluster efforts. But I guess that's part of the contract. Anyway, I'd have to list Bradley as a favorite to get cut as of now, going by all the rhetoric coming out of Halas Hall regarding the other guys.

The Cubs have outscored their opponents by 111 runs, the widest margin, by far, in MLB. The Cardinals and Brewers have outscored opponents by 33 and 27 runs, nice, but good for 8th and 12th in baseball. The Cubs are pretty clearly the most talented team, by a significant margin. They have the highest Runs scored in the NL and highest OPS, with the 2nd best ERA and best BAA. Neither Brewers nor the Cardinals are capable of matching up in both the pitching and hitting categories.

Bears agree to terms with Urlacher

I think almost all of them are. Off the top of my head, the only one I'm really doubting is the 06 Marlins. Maybe the 03 Angels, too. I remember them having a sort of a disappointing year after the WS. The '03 Angels were sub .500 and had 3 starters with 10 wins.

Its the same comments, year after year. Like last year when they finished under .500? Prior to last year they weren't a roster of scrap heap players, they were damn good.

July 12. They said at the break they'd wait through the weekend because the rest of the pen was rested. But now that they've gone through the weeekend and it doesn't look like he's ready yet, the time-frame may get bumped up.