jersey cubs fan

I think the Ramirez thing is more about how much he sucked the year he was traded and the perception of him being fat, lazy and not caring about defense.

I'm fine with it. His shortcomings were the result of his own decision making. He also refused to accept any responsibility for bad things and expected nothing but praise for the good. That's different from booing a guy for the specific reason that he's just not a good baseball player. Agreed on all counts. Though, I think I booed Bynum during a game in '06 when he made 4 errors. He may not have been charged for them, but he should've. Jacque Jones was in RF laughing at him. Not to go on forever about booing, but the Bynum thing is bad baseball, and it makes sense to boo that. What I find most odd is booing a guy returning to the team a couple years after he was last on the team and playing poorly. And on another booing note, Philly fans hate Bruntlet. He's filling in for an injured all-star and they are brutal to him. The next time somebody whines about mistreating Theriot, point them that way. He'd do well in one at bat and they'd still kill him. Utley throws the ball away and they were all over Bruntlet. I kept saying, "that was Utley." But they didn't care.

I'm fine with it. His shortcomings were the result of his own decision making. He also refused to accept any responsibility for bad things and expected nothing but praise for the good. That's different from booing a guy for the specific reason that he's just not a good baseball player.

I don't really understand it either. I always liked Corey. He was the poster boy, if only for his awful approach, which management encouraged for years, and when they finally decided to try something different they tried preaching nonsense like more bunting. The warning signs were quite clear with him for years, guys like Rob Neyer repeatedly talked about how unlikely it would be for him to develop. But I still held out hope. I really don't get the booing. I understand booing a poorly performing team, or a jerk opponent, or even a very good opponent that kills your team. But booing Corey seems rather pointless. I don't see the point in booing guys like Neifi either. Jacque Jones is a little different, since he made the foolish mistake of whining about fans from the opening week. But I still wouldn't boo him.

Was he facing the 2005-2006 Chicago Cubs?

SS - Theriot 2B - Fontenot 1B - Lee 3B - Ramirez RF - Fukudome LF - DeRosa C - Soto CF - Pie I'm guessing he keeps Theriot and Fontenot in there tonight, but flips how they hit last night. Patterson was probably called up for his versatility moreso than his leadoff abilities. He will most likely see some action tonight though.

If Lee keeps up what he's done so far, you could make the case that the injury cost him a legit shot at the HOF. If he duplicates that 2005 season, it would be reasonable to think he would have done that, or come close, from 2005 through this year. He lost out on a good 50-60 HR, and, coupled with the absurd use of extremely low OBP players in front of him, he's lost out on 200-300 RBI. Not to mention, stuff like gold gloves and MVP votes, which writers take into account when voting for HOF. Granted, he would have had to carry those numbers through for a couple more years, due to a relatively pedestrian start to his career.

This is why: .175/.230/.298

Do people think he gets a lot of pub? Compare him to other NY stars, or other young baseball stars and I think he's actually under publicized.

That's kind of kewl..... because that's where we were sitting on Friday night !! Section 135, row 1. Not many foul balls, although the guy next to me got one, and the kids to the other side had a few handed to them. Then, on Sunday, there were at least a dozen hit in that area thanks to Moyer's slowness and over anxious righties.

The fact that he wasn't taken in this first round only indicates that the people who made the picks didn't think he was worthy of the pick they had, not that "no one here thinks he is a first round." Personally I think he's a step below Mayo.

The Giants don't have any glaring needs, but could use some depth on defense. They also might need a little help at WR. While the secondary is potentially the biggest defensive question, the players still available don't exactly scream out to be taken here. So, with the last pick in the first round, the New York Giants select, LB, Jerod Mayo, Tennessee.

The same reason they had such an easy ride to 16-0, they play in the pathetic AFC East.

That is the plan Andy said they were going with at the time. And it sure seems to have worked out that way. It's not that they were going to go exclusively with pitchers, but the focus was clearly on pitching and that's how the new and improved Cubs farm system (compared to the previously non-existent one) failed to produce any hitters. The theory was, draft and develop a surplus of pitchers so you don't have to buy them, then trade for hitters later.

When Andy and Jim went about overhauling the organization in the mid 90's, they explicitly talked about focusing most of their developmental attention on pitchers, while trading for bats later. They thought that was the best way to emulate the Braves, ignoring how many quality position players that franchise developed. Quite frankly, I don't think any of us can really complain about the number of pitching prospects the Cubs have produced who have had some amount of success in the major leagues over the past ten years. Their plan worked. Off the top of my head, the following guys have pitched with varying degrees of success and exposure in the majors after spending some time in the Cubs' minor league system in the past ten years... Mark Prior Kerry Wood Carlos Zambrano Rich Hill Sean Marshall Jon Garland Carlos Marmol Dontrelle Willis Sergio Mitre Ricky Nolasco Renyel Pinto Carmen Pignatiello Michael Wuertz Ryan O'Malley John Koronka Todd Wellemeyer Will Ohman Andy Sisco Francis Beltran Sean Gallagher Juan Mateo That's just off the top of my head, to boot. A) I didn't complain about the number of pitchers. B) The plan has not worked. The plan was not just to develop pitchers. The plan was supposedly to be just like the consistently great Braves by developing your own pitchers and trading spare parts for position players. Clearly they haven't been close to great, let alone consistently great. It was then, and still is a stupid plan. You can't just develop pitchers. You have to develop position players as well.

When Andy and Jim went about overhauling the organization in the mid 90's, they explicitly talked about focusing most of their developmental attention on pitchers, while trading for bats later. They thought that was the best way to emulate the Braves, ignoring how many quality position players that franchise developed.

How close can you zoom in on the tarp along the leftfield line? If you go in far you'll see me.

It's tough to say whether or not "any other" would have. But the facts are that Dusty did, and he was the worst offender. It really doesn't matter if other idiots make idiotic decisions, that doesn't excuse Dusty's choices.

I don't know what this means. What it means is that Baker appreciates this type of hitting and the less inside of Corey's head the better. Except Baker had a long-term lease inside Patterson's head for years.

To be fair, Adam Dunn will likely hit one so far, it might as well be counted as to. As you already know, "He's country strong." Dunn for Hill Has there ever been a Cubs vs Reds series where Dunn didn't hit a home run. It seems like he always hits at least one. Dunn and Burrell always seem to be able to cut through the wind when Cubs teams struggle to hit for power.

I searched this post for "Theriot" and "Neifi", or even remotely indirect references to them, but came up blank. As to the topic: a somewhat unfortunate choice of role model by Theriot, IMHO. Yeah, why is that long rambling post in this thread? Am I missing something?

This guy was born 20 years after Fidel. At the time of the revolution, he was a young teenager. If he was still on the island, my guess is Fidel was busy with other things to bother meeting young ballplayers. He signed with Cleveland in 65, and I assume was out of Cuba by then. So, if he met Fidel, it would have had to have been in the middle of the revolution or just after Fidel took power and was in the middle of completely overhauling the country. I'd bet they never met, regardless of how big a baseball fan Fidel was.

Yes, it's a vast conspiracy to prevent you from getting good seats. What a bunch of nonsense. If they charged "what the market would bear" the average joe would whine about how high the tickets are. You would still end up paying the same amount. If you want the seats, you can get them, it's that simple. Are you suggesting they should not be able to offer season ticket packages?

Ask Oscar Acosta, he claimed he'd been hearing big things about Zambrano for years when he was about 20. Zambrano took a back seat to Juan Cruz, but he was well known as a prospect. Some had him becoming a dominant closer. Others had him being a top of the rotation starter. Perhaps he's outdone his prospect expecations, but he was far from average. He was a pretty big prospect in what was at the time a great system.

no, he was highly-regarded in the minor leagues. geovany soto is a good example, if he pans out. i'm guessing that you'd find the greatest number of candidates for this list in major league bullpens. It's tough to say with Geo, by the time he came up to the majors, he was considered much more than an average prospect. I would think the question would be more about a guy who was never highly touted, but got a shot, stuck in the majors and was pretty good. And while it's been glossed over, the nomination of Ryan Theriot does not fit, because he's clearly not above average.