jersey cubs fan

If it's terrible, it won't be because of those things. Or will it be because we are relying on a 2nd round draft pick RB and another RB with 2 major leg injuries? Or a rookie starting at one of the most dificult positions to play as a rookie(LT), on an offensive line that was brutal last season and made no major upgrades other than the draft. Well, I think they clearly upgraded at RT with Tait's move over there, and I think they may have upgraded LT with Williams replacing Tait who never should have been a LT to begin with. That's potential upgrades at 40% of the group. This team is difficult to judge right now. I could see anything from an absolute disaster of Wannstedtian proportions to a surprisingly impressive 10-win season. The TE are going to be good, but the line, QB, WR and RB could all be bottom of the barrel or slightly above average. The defense should prevent them from being a 10-12 loss team, but it wouldn't take a whole heck of a lot of negative surprises to see this team go 5-11. On the other hand, their offense is probably going to prevent them from being a 12 win team, but it wouldn't be that crazy if they returned to their 05/06 level. Anyway, I just don't have a good idea of where these guys are right now, but I'm down on the team as a whole. I fear another 7-9 season is on the horizon.

I think he's clearly a good commish with horrible pr skills who is insanely roasted no matter the topic.

From what I've read they are going to slightly decrease his return work in order to allow him to focus more on offense. But he'll still be back there most of the time.

what?

Hate how his was managed after the leadoff double. Should have bunted w/ Dero. Now we wasted multiple guys and Marquis is forced out. a sac bunt doesn't change the outcome of that inning at all. It does if you squeeze... only if you squeeze successfully. Knowing the Cubs propensity for making outs on the basepaths, there's no sure thing.

Hate how his was managed after the leadoff double. Should have bunted w/ Dero. Now we wasted multiple guys and Marquis is forced out. a sac bunt doesn't change the outcome of that inning at all.

very true

freaking outs on the basepaths piss me off. I don't care if he was actually safe, the gosh darn risk faw outweighs the unlikely reward. They just let the freaking pitcher off the hook when the opposition gave them an opportunity. GD I hate when they make freaking outs on the basepaths. Aggressive equals stupid!

Nice 1/3 of a game so far for Marquis, 5 GB outs and 2 K.

Well, a) there wasn't a whole lot of hard data to indicate what Kosuke would do. There was some, for people who made an effort to find it, but it wasn't all that easy. And it's hard to blame fans for not finding it. Not everybody can spend all day online researching ballplayers. And b) it's not a matter of salary making us think what a guy will do instead of what the hard data indicates. Everybody knows teams have budgets. When they spend X on a player they can't spend that X on somebody else. So anybody making a lot of money is going to be expected to pull his weight. If he doesn't, he's going to take heat. It's part of the game and I can't understand how anybody can pretend it's invalid.

They might be a vintage Favre year away from the Super Bowl, if the line is at least above average. If the line is above average and if the defense plays incredibly and if Favre has a "vintage Favre" year. It's not likely. The defense would not have to be incredible if Favre had a vintage year, just good. But that was my point in saying vintage Favre, of all of those things, I think vintage Favre is least likely. I think this defense could be among the best this year, and the line has a chance of being above average - not much above, but above nonetheless.

Wuertz? He's had plenty of weekends off, and weekdays, and extended rest.

Huh? The CBA setup inevitably leaves you with greatly underpaid young players, and we all know there are plenty of overpaid players. However, your best players are generally the most compensated, and the highest paid players who aren't that good are usually the most disliked. I don't see what's so dumb about expecting highly paid players to perform well.

That sounds logical. I'd like to see Wuertz get 3 games in a week to get a better feel again before he comes up and I think he'll be fine down there...do well and be in a good groove when he's called up. It sounds logical until you remember the AAA all star game is wednesday, so he's not going to get a chance for regular work anytime soon.

Thanks for checking goony but this is the last round. You're done. well that was quick :D

Well his usage is out of whack because Lou is using him in extremely odd ways. No, it's not that big of a deal, in and of itself. But it's symptomatic of annoying things. First off, everybody, including Lou, says walks are the thing that will put you in his doghouse. But Wuertz hasn't really been walking many hitters. And also, he never pitchers, and then proves ineffective when he is used, just like Lieber. If this was just a case of needing a fresh arm because the bullpen has been battered recently, it would be reasonable. But Wuertz was already in the doghouse and couldn't do anything to get out, and the bullpen is hardly taxed, as a whole.

I'm just one opinion, but it's one thing to admit you did steroids and apologize and another to deny it even though everyone knows you're lying. Roberts had his best season at age 27, which coincides with a lot of other players' best seasons. That's considered their prime year. Roberts only admitted to trying them once or twice and said he didn't like it and stopped. Did steroids impact his production at all? Hard to say, but he's having a pretty good year this year. True, there is a difference. But I think the issue is that some people are saying they don't want Bonds because he cheated, and that would somehow stain the team. People don't want Bonds because he's Bonds. Plenty of people have cheated and many of the same people would have no problem with them.

After yesterday, we need a long reliever in case/for when Marquis gets pounded? Thats my best guess. Marshall Yeah, it probably has more to do with the rule that says Wuertz can't pitch any sooner than 10 days after his most recent outing so he's useless through the ASB.

I wonder if Lou understands that rarely pitching will have an effect on your location. Wuertz has not been good, but he's given up 3 walks in the last month, and his BB rate for the year is 3.55 per 9, not good, but certainly not terrible. Kevin Hart was much worse while up.

Missed 24hr cutoff. Bronx is on the clock... Where are we in the order? I'm going to be off the grid for a few days.

They might be a vintage Favre year away from the Super Bowl, if the line is at least above average.

Other. Only occasionally. Oreos have never done it for me. The cookie part just isn't all that good. I don't hate them, but I've never craved them.

I know there were rumors of the Cubs being interested, even going back to when he's a Oriole, but if the team has interests in Erik, they need to back out now. I believe Brenly once said, managers loves pitchers who fight them over the ball. Managers loves pitchers who don't want to come out of the game (I believe he made a comment like this, in Z's first start off the DL, when he pull Z, and on camera, you can see Z fighting to stay in the game). And Bedard is the kind of pitcher, who won't fight the manager. So, if the Cubs do indeed continue to shop for another starter, I would stay away from Bedard. I don't care if managers like guys they have to fight for the ball. Prior and Wood said they could stay in games and Dusty let them and that didn't work out too well. I have no problem with a pitcher who knows his limits. If you can only give me 5-6 strong, fine. I read something from a scout saying Bedard (or maybe it was Harden) isn't the type of guy who can finish a game for you. To that I say, so what? The only people that finish games are Roy Halladay and closers. 6 innings is pretty standard. 6+ is well above average. Give me what you got for however long you have it, then get out of the game. I don't need you being a hero and coming out to get another guy in the 7th, then surrendering a couple runs.

It's the rat right? http://www.pictureitdigital.smugmug.com/photos/175885160-M.jpg http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/players/mugshot/ph_488787.jpg

Yeah, it's starting to look like it. He's done a tremendous job overall and really helped with Soriano out. However,'s he's got a 640 OPS in July, just 318 over the past 7 days. He probably needs a long rest. Hopefully he's got another spurt in him, but if he continues on the recent trend his overall Cubs numbers are going to fade quickly, and it may become necessary to callup Pie in a few weeks.