jersey cubs fan

I agree with Thom. Have a catch is a stupid phrase I've only heard in the northeast.

I always loved that Chuck Swirsky was not a made-up name. And according to wiki: He is a big fan of Dairy Queen's blizzards and cherry coke.

He would clearly be worth it but there's no chance that happens.

Chris Simms is a popular name. I don't have a problem with Kyle Orton as the backup. He's shown he can play without looking like crap. I think 2008 is going to be a sink or swim season with these guys. I don't see much value in a safe veteran backup. Such a player isn't going to be the difference.

It'll likely be one of those two. If D'Antoni's teams can play D, the Bulls can win a championship. Doesn't matter who the coach is, they'll still need to acquire a star.

I thought they were hot for Mark Jackson. He's the fan/media favorite, from what I can tell.

If Soriano misplays one with Carlos on the mound, he may get Barrett-ed. I've seen a couple misplays with Zambrano on the mound this year, and it looks like his new tactic is to laugh.

You said Cedeno and Hall of Famer in the same sentence, therefore you think Cedeno is going to become a Hall of Famer and because of this I can no longer put any stock into what you say. Good day sir.

Barring injury, Wood could have easily been a 15-22 win guy year-in, year-out, taking several K titles with a low 3s ERA and most likely several postseason victories. I think he would have lived up to expectations very easily. I doubt fans were thinking 20K was going to happen on a regular basis.

Pie went 1-3 with a walk last night. That's a 833 OPS. The average 8 spot hitter in the NL is OPSing 642, just slightly better than what Pie has done this year. There are 7 teams in the NL getting less OPS than what Pie has done this year. The Cubs offense has been pretty darn good, their defense has been spotty at best. It's mindboggling why Pie has become such a target of hate and blame by Lou. He's singled out like the most incompetent baseball player to ever step on the field. He's been bad, but over an extremely short period of time. And his replacement has been worse against RHP (the most common type of pitcher). There's really no justification or defense for the idiocy that would be needed to even contemplate this move.

Yepper. It's an oddity, but that's about all it is. This doesn't mean ERA is meaningless, it means it doesn't tell you everything. But there's plenty of other things to tell you how a guy pitched. Not that big of a deal.

In a couple years, maybe. But it's pointless to think about it in the short-term. Kerry and the Cubs came to grips with the fact that his arm can't handle the long outings. It's not going to happen. If he finishes the year healthy, maybe, perhaps, possibly he'd do it next year. But as as a free agent, I'm guessing he'd sign a deal with a team that would want him as the closer and want to keep him healthy. I would bet if he ever starts again, it won't be until 2010 at the earliest.

I wonder if there's anything to it. Either way, was there any way that Grossman was going to lose out to Orton in a TRAINING CAMP battle of all things? Rex is a god in practice. On the field, during the actual games, the gap might be a bit narrower, but I don't think it's even close on the practice field (at least, not from what I've seen the few times I've been to TC)... I don't think this is all that meaningful. Rex has been the starter and is the more talented player. It's not that big of a deal to me if a receiver assumes Rex is still the starter or will be the starter. But were you talking about Biggs or Briggs?

The three you mentioned are and were better prospects than Vitters. A lot of people were projecting Josh to fall after a terrible senior year. How the heck does a team with our money let great prospects drop past us because of signability? On draft day, not all 3 of them were better prospects. Porcello certainly was a better prospect ("best HS pitcher since Beckett") and only fell to Detroit because of signability. Wieters arguably was a better prospect (but it was not a consensus amongst scouts; many questioned whether Wieters could stick at C and felt his bat wouldn't be as valuable if he changed positions...of course defense was and is a big knock against Vitters too). Parker was certainly not a consensus top 5 pick, there were a few knocks on him. He was an interesting prospect rising up draft boards and Parker was mentioned as the 2nd most likely guy the Cubs would have picked but on draft day but I don't think I saw any place where he was rated ahead of Price, Porcello, Wieters, Moustakas and Vitters. Vitters was held in high esteem by scouts for his successful seasons prior to his senior year and because he did well in the HS tournaments (especially the AFLAC game, IIRC) which scouts put a lot of emphasis on and came away with the excuse of down numbers his senior year due to the pneumonia. Whether those are good reasons to rate a prospect so highly is another conversation; those are just reasons why his stock did not fall during his senior season. To add to what CCP said, BA, BP, PG Crosschecker, etc. were all very high on him and they based many of their reports on what other scouts said. Vitters wasn't my favorite guy (admittedly, my opinion is based on reports I've read on the Internet; obviously I'm not qualified enough to argue the merits of various potential baseball draft choices) but he was a consensus top 5 guy - the Cubs didn't reach on him as they had the year before. Regardless of whether or not it's a failure based on reaching, or a failure on simply taking the wrong guy, if it turns into a failure, it's a failure, and can and should be held against those making the decisions.

The combination of Hendry trying so hard to get rid of him and Jones so openly hating his time in Chicago makes me think we will not be seeing anymore Jacque in Chicago.

IDK about that. The Bears still has there defense that went to the Super Bowl sans Chris Harris. Position by position defensively, the Bears and Vikes are equal. The Bears have the better or more talented secondary, both have very good linebackers. The Bears have the best DT, but the Vikes have a more talented DL, but the Bears is slightly deeper. The difference, the Bears went from Rivera to Babich lst yr. I expect the defense to return to glory in 2008. All in all, the Bears=Vikes defensively. Offensively, the Vikes do have a better line, and better RB. But like the Bears, the QB and WR are BIG ??? for the Vikes. Grossman/Orton .v. Jackson/Ferrotte/JD booty. No advantage. Rice/Nance/Berrian/Wade and Robert Ferguson .v. Booker/Hester/Bradley/Bennett/Davis (or whoever makes the team for both teams). So, outside of the OL/RB I don't see where you can argue that the Vikes are a better team, on paper or on the field. If they are equal on defense, at QB and WR, but the Vikings clearly have the better offensive line and RB, how can you come to any conclusion other than the Vikings are the better team?

Don'tblow Cubs don'tblowwwww Don'tblow Cubs don'tblowwwww

Simon swung at everything, Ward doesn't swing at hardly anything. Polar opposites. Well yeah but they are both big, black lefthanders so.. Randall is from the Caribbean so he can't be black.

Well to be fair a ton of rookies have gotten a chance and stuck. Soto, Marmol, Theriot, Font, etc... Which shows the only way to stick is to produce immediately. There's no room for adjustments to the major league game. Get a big hit or record a bit out in your first game, and you are golden. Lou is all about first impressions and taking forever to change those impressions.

Relax, he drafted Alex Rios, or somebody.

I was thinking this primarily when he struck out on a low and away pitch early in the game. He was down 0-2, and I sat there thinking that the next pitch was going to be way low and away. That's exactly what happened, and he swung, missing badly. He did take a couple yesterday, but his second at bat against Wellemeyer seems to be more the norm every time I watch him. He's swinging at way too many bad pitches, even when they're predictable. But that's always been the case with Soriano. He's like Sosa before he decided to take a few pitches. Simon was actually difficult to strike out because he made contact with those bad pitches. Soriano does not.

Film him having sex?

I've seen a variation of the following statements all offseason: The Bears can't win with Rex (or Orton) at QB. Rex has proven he can't compete in the NFL. It's obvious the Bears could never have success in the postseason with a QB like Rex at the helm. While it's perfectly sane and rational to have doubts about the Bears, Rex and Orton, and it is not out of the realm of possibility to imagine the Bears struggling to win 7 games next year, why do people have to ignore the simple facts in this case? The Chicago Bears have won 21 NFL regular season games with Grossman at QB, losing 11. They have won multiple playoff games including an NFC championship game with Rex at Qb. They have won 12 games, and lost 6, with Kyle Orton at QB. When discussing the Bears QB situation it is fairly obvious that they have struggled. There are major questions and no sure things at the position. But the suggestion that it is not possible for the Chicago Bears to enjoy any success with these 2 QBs in charge is simply contrary to any and all facts available. They have enjoyed success under these guys, and therefore, it very clearly is possible for them to enjoy future success. Whether they won because of, or in spite of these two players is meaningless. This is not meant as an endorsement of either player. I would love to get a real improvement over both Kyle and Rex. But it is absolutely ridiculous to go on pretending it's impossible for the Bears to win NFL games, regular season or postseason, with these guys playing. It's happened before and can happen again.

One month into the season and Tyler Colvin is hitting .216/.272/.353 with a 29/7 K/BB. He's played 92 games in AA and has 16 doubles, 3 triples and 12 HR. The walk rate has increased this season from non-existent to occasionally, but he's still striking out frequently. Not a great start to the professional career of the former first round pick. He's a couple years older than Pie was at this level, and less likely as Felix to be able to remain in center. Given how quickly Lou and the organization appears to have soured on Pie, I have to wonder what kind of rope Colvin will end up getting.

It's scary how quickly Lou can decide who he trusts to play and who he doesn't trust, and then how steadfastly he will stick to that initial assessment.