jersey cubs fan

lolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll right on cue He has a blister and he's going to miss a week. It's not the end of the world. We've seen this before. I'm not saying it's the end of the world, and I'm not saying it's anything serious. But we've seen little "minor" injuries before with Prior and Wood turn into big things. But whatever. You've already got your mind made up as to what I meant, so I don't know why I'm even posting this. We have? I don't remember every seeing a blister turn into something serious with Prior and Wood. I do remember seeing things like sore shoulders, triceps, biceps, broken elbows and achilles issues becoming something serious. But claiming a blister is a sign of worse things to come doesn't make much sense to me.

There haven't been very many multi-year stretches of stink. 96-97 were stink fests, and it was incredibly easy to find tickets to games. 98 changed things with the Sammy fest and playoff run. Expectations were high in 99 and 00, but because the teams stunk it was still easy to get tickets. The decent record in 01 once again increased excitement for the team and there was a palpable sense of better things yet to come with what was a highly rated farm system and an ownership group that was spending among the highest spenders in the NL. Back to back over .500 seasons was a big deal to some people, but what was also true is that they stopped going 3+ years of sub .500, something they did with regularity before the 90's. Multiple years of sucking will sap the energy right out of that ballpark. But in addition to this, attendance isn't the only factor. People stop watching the games on TV, they stop watching pre and post game shows, they stop buying merchandise, they stop handing over money to the team.

I don't know how I follow most games. I follow weekday games on XM radio and mlb's gamecast, although I'll DVR some of them from extra innings if something about the matchup is particularly interesting. I watch most weekday night games on extra innings, sometimes DVRd and watched in fast forward. I follow a lot of games on my blackberry or phone if I'm away, especially weekend games when I'm out and about. And I've already seen 6 games in person this year and will be seeing 4-6 more. I guess the most frequest way would be via extra innings.

I disagree. He loves playing for the Cubs, so I think he'd accept a reasonable contract. If Hendry wants him back he'll be back; Hendry always succeeds in re-signing the players he wants back. That's a little too presumptuous. If he keeps this up and makes it to FA, he's going to love playing for whomever gives him the most money. That said, all this talk seems a bit premature. This guy's racking up more miles on his arm than he has in half a decade; if he succumbs to fatigue/injury, he won't be in a position to dictate terms. That would depend on how badly he succumbs to fatigue/injury. The pace he has set has provided a serious cushion if he does suffer setbacks. He won't need to end the season with 35 starts, 218 innings and a 1.16 WHIP and 3.05 ERA to garner tremendous interest from pitching hungry teams. Always fear the Yankees who get a lot of money off their books this year and would love to sign a guy and keep their prospects if at all possible. The only hope would be if they truly fear NL pitchers after going through some disappointing Pavano/Johnson/Brown years. Hendry might have to offer a 4/44 contract before the season ends to prevent him from testing the market - because if he does finish the year close to in-line with where he's at now, he'll probably end up making much more.

The question in the thread title is my guess. Ahhhhhh, after reading through the thread I actually forgot all about the title. I would agree extended time off is not necessary. But some time off would be a good idea.

There's an ivy covered brick wall in my backyard where my dog Wrigley runs around, that's the nearest one to me. Man, Samardzija has surprised the heck out of me. How funny would it be if he becomes the late season reliever added to a playoff roster who comes up huge in October?

What's this in response to? The previous post was 11 hours earlier, and there did not seem to be an question asked for which yes or no would be a possible answer.

That's actually the exact opposite of reality. There are Ryan Theriot shorts?

Except Bradley never did anything noteworthy as a pro was never all that highly thought of and never had a chance of becoming an all-time great. He's more like Angel Guzman.

Terrible isn't nearly a strong enough word to describe his performance for the first 50 at-bats or so after his demotion. But, as he's done at almost every level, he made an adjustment and completely turned it around he's hitting .355/.403/.558 in April. That's a .394 improvment over May. :lol: So he went back in time?

very true I gave most of that fifth round a run through on baseball cube and it's filled with .500 OPS shortstops and 23-year old 5.00 ERA guys in A ball. We gave Samardzija a lot of money, but it doesnt look like it has effected our overall budget and, for a fifth rounder, he's a decent prospect. At this point it looks like, at the very least, we're going to get some decent major league innings from him, how many other 5th round and beyond guys from 2006 can you say that about? Not many, i'd bet. I know it's not exactly a ringing endorsement, but it could be a lot worse. You can't really judge him as a 5th rounder. The Cubs took Colvin, in part, so they could afford Samardzija in the 5th. It's like drafting a guy who wants 1st round money in the 20th and still giving him that money. You can't say they got a steal at 20, and here, they didn't even wait until the very low rounds to risk the pick on him.

That's true, but everything I read said he was the most capable of stepping in and starting at LT from the outset.

why?

No, they should've built it in the South Loop. Where exactly would you propose building it there? There's not a whole lot of open space there. It'd be pretty cool to have there - I just don't know where they'd put it. EDIT:There there there there. There was a heck of a lot of space around the time they built new Comiskey. A tremendous amount of building in that area started in the mid 90's or later.

If I had to guess, I'd say Philly prefers a warm body who can give you a chance every 5th day, and doesn't want to take the risk that a guy would break down. They are willing to go toe-to-toe with lineups, and just want their pitchers to keep them in games - kind of like when Hendry was hot after Lilly and Marquis.

Dunno. Looking at google maps, it's 2 miles east of where 55 and 294 meet, and is north of Burbank, if that helps. Isn't it the brand new futbol field for the Fire? When he first mentioned the concert I was thinking that new place they put up when Daley razed Meigs Field. A car may be necessary for going out there, although I'd still probably take cabs for DUI prevention purposes.

I wouldn't bother with a rental car myself.

Why wouldn't he? I don't see St. Clair beating him out, thats for sure. Ideally it would be nice to be able to give him a little time to get up to speed before thrusting him into LT in the NFL. Nobody knows what his learning curve will be yet. Maybe he's awesome day 1, I don't know. I find it likely he'll struggle a bit early on though. I don't know how ideal that is. Maybe for a QB that's true. But I have no problem with a first half of the first day draft pick starting at LT from day 1.

25-5 OK then, how about the Bears who got through a weak NFC 2 years ago. Would it have been OK with you if the Super Bowl would have been in Chicago rather than Indianapolis? The Bears were, what, 2-2 against the AFC that year? I definitely think that Super Bowl should have been in Chicago. See clarified/edited post. Obviously its a neutral site game, but that might just be the answer then. Just play all 7 games in an empty Pro Player stadium or something. :D 1-off games are a different beast than 7 game series. I just don't think it's possible or all that rational to take away a minimum 2 games from every WS participants home crowd.

It's not more important because it's not that interesting and the MLB season is far better and more entertaining. It's also no longer going to be a part of the olympics.

25-5 OK then, how about the Bears who got through a weak NFC 2 years ago. Would it have been OK with you if the Super Bowl would have been in Chicago rather than Indianapolis? The Bears were, what, 2-2 against the AFC that year? I definitely think that Super Bowl should have been in Chicago.

The biggest problem with giving it to the team with the better record is timing. You can't just announce where Game 1 of the World Series is going to be two days before the game is played. And that could be a very likely scenario. Um, actually, you are already doing that. For example, last year, no one knew if it would be Boston or Cleveland until after the ALCS was over. They do it for every other round of the playoffs, and in every other sport. Yeah, that timing and logistics issue is just nonsense MLB uses to defend their methods.

I don't see how finding a veteran RH bat off the bench could be crucial, but if they can find one for very little in return, fine.

How are people critical of taking young kids to games? I've attended games with friends who brought their 6-year old daughter, and she definitely enjoyed herself. I've also been to a game with a couple who brought their 7 year old son and 3 year old daughter. They were perfectly fine. And although they did require a lap around the ballpark it was more than worth bringing them. The son has probably already attended 50 baseball/hockey games in his young life - I wish my dad had access to the free tickets his dad has. If a kid hates the games it would be stupid to force it down his throat, but nobody can pretend there's no way they can enjoy/appreciate going at that age.

well if jocks in a locker room say it, it must be okay did you edit this comment before I hit the quote button? Anyway, 16-17 year old boys in a locker room isn't remotely close to this message board. Most people should strive to grow up and move on from that level of discourse.