jersey cubs fan

Seriously. Why does anyone even read her columns? We're all smart enough to know what she's going to say. Reading her articles and then complaining about them is just a waste of time and energy. I have a bad Cubs addiction and read just about anything that is written about them. Regardless of whether we know the motives, the fact is they/she tries to pass the stuff off as journalism and it bothers me. I don't read much of the stuff, unless I see a link to it elsewhere or am really bored/desperate for crap to read. Call me a fool for reading it in the first place (you'd probably be right), but I can't help but react to the ridiculous stories. And to top it off, it's an opinion that's often shared by many. If she was a rogue voice, that would be one thing. But she pretty much echoes the sentiments of the majority. And that's troubling.

The issue with that is, you pick a neutral site, let's say Phoenix, in advance. Then, you wind up with a Seattle/NY world series. So the teams finish up the LCS, then fly to Phoenix for 1 day, then fly to NY for 2, then Seattle, then NY and back to Seattle. It's impossible. You can't start with 1 and end with 1 and 1.

He also referenced a LH hitting bat in the middle of the lineup. While it would no doubt be nice to have a bat like Dunn's in the middle of the order, the Cubs have to realize their biggest struggles were against LHP. They were a much better hitting team against RHP than LHP, and that's been an issue for a few years. They need to focus on getting bats though, not necessarily a guy who hits from one side of the other. Production is what matters, not L or R.

The Bruce chimes rings again Bruce thinks they'll be some trades, and that Jones may be shopped, while the Cubs could look for a backup, as opposed to a replacement for Ryan Theriot. If they can find a LH hitting SS who can provide some offense, it's possible the two players could combine for adequate production. But I don't believe that Theriot just needs rest to make his numbers better.

Friday's an off-day for the Series. I think that's why the Yankees are announcing it that day. Didn't Selig institute a silent agreement that no major announcements regarding baseball personnel would be made during the WS? Or am I thinking of the All-Star game? It's an unwritten rule, but it's an incredibly stupid one. And it's been ignored in the past.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/ps/y2007/boxscore.jsp?gid=2007_10_24_colmlb_bosmlb_1 No.

I don't hate the idea. I don't see it working if they play the first two in Europe or anything like that, and I don't really think this would work. But it's not a completely terrible concept, on the surface.

That's so not anywhere close to the truth. This team needs more offense first and foremost. It's blatantly obvious.

If we didn't have DeRosa, I wouldn't mind his .368 career OBP in the 1/2 spots. But we do have DeRosa and I wouldn't be willing to give up what it would take to get Castillo anyway. But "sucks" is a little harsh for a 2B with a near .370 career OBP. He's not worth the player cost, and his career OBP is nice, but he's old, declining, has a bad hip, has no power, and has lost at least a step. Isn't he a free agent? I honestly have no idea, but if he is, given our unclear financial situation, he's not worth the money his name will likely command, either. I agree. If he was a shortstop, he'd be the type of guy I'd be willing to go after in lieu of one of the more significant improvements, as he's likely to be much better than what the Cubs have at SS. But he's not a SS, and doesn't fill a need.

Maybe not if he hears the Yankees and Mets are about to go on a bullpen spending spurge.

If we didn't have DeRosa, I wouldn't mind his .368 career OBP in the 1/2 spots. But we do have DeRosa and I wouldn't be willing to give up what it would take to get Castillo anyway. But "sucks" is a little harsh for a 2B with a near .370 career OBP. He's not worth the player cost, and his career OBP is nice, but he's old, declining, has a bad hip, has no power, and has lost at least a step. Isn't he a free agent?

If we didn't have DeRosa, I wouldn't mind his .368 career OBP in the 1/2 spots. But we do have DeRosa and I wouldn't be willing to give up what it would take to get Castillo anyway. But "sucks" is a little harsh for a 2B with a near .370 career OBP. Career numbers don't mean a whole lot when a guy is a few years removed from his career years. He's got a career OPS+ of 93. His 3 best seasons were at age 24, 27 and 29. He'll be turning 33 next season and already has a fairly extensive injury history. And his OBP has been below .370 the past two years in a row. If a team was desperate for 2B help, he might not be a bad name to take a flyer on in hopes of a decent year. But he's not the least bit reliable.

I'm not sure where his numbers ended up, but I think he's slipped from his best year. He's no longer a big .400 OBP threat and he doesn't run like he did in his 20's. I really have no interest in Castillo. DeRosa is only valuable as an above average hitter playing 2B and a competent back up 3B. Castillo is basically similar OBP wise to DeRosa without any of the power. I'd rather just start DeRosa. Or trade DeRosa if you can get value and platoon Theriot and Fontenot.

I was at a dinner last night where Joe Girardi (Chris Evert and Jackie Robinson - his daughter accepted) were honored. Anyway, Joe was introduced by a typically high strung and goofy David Cone who went on and on about how great a leader Joe was when they were with the Yankees. It was pretty funny when he was talking about all the negative talk about Joe on WFAN because "all he did was keep grounding out to the pitcher". Girardi's speech felt like a tryout for the manager's position. He really got the crowd excited and basically the night ended as he practically trotted off the stage and back to his table.

The new field will not be lower than the ivy/outfield wall. The new field will do away with the old crown, which means the middle of the infield and pitchers mound will be lower in relation to the stadium, but the new field will hit the wall at the same height after they put in the new drainage system.

I compare it to what Larry Meyer writes about the Bears on their website. He's by no means a neutral observer, but he doesn't come close to the lap dog acceptance of everything management does, like Muskat. My point is, I'm pretty sure she got the job because they knew exactly what type of stuff she'd write, as opposed to her switching her writing style to fit the job description. She really thinks Theriot at SS is a good idea. She's not just talking it up to hide management's intentions.

Um, yes? That's not her job. She's not a journalist, she's a PR puppet. It's no different on any other team website, anywhere. And it would be better if she just avoided the question entirely, rather than make up lies that make people look silly. You can sit there and say that BigbadB would be an excellent choice for the Cubs organization at SS going into 2008, but it doesn't make it true. And the more you write goofy stories like that, the less likely anyone will believe you later. Oh, by the way....... Neifi Saved Us. :D I don't disagree with any of that. Personally, I'm not a fan of her writing. I just dont understand why anyone goes to cubs.com looking for any reputible writing. She will never write what she really thinks, because she would lose her job if she did. It's all fluff, so take it for what it is worth. I did notice that the whitesox and royals both have openings for that job. Anyone interesed? "Ryan Buckvich is FINE." See, I disagree. I think she's writing exactly what she thinks.

Yeah, I don't accept that she's part of the Cubs org. I believe she's just a typical all is well writer who fails to utilize any sort of objective analysis to inform her opinion. And the people who run mlb.com thought she'd be a great mouthpiece for the website. But if she were writing for the Daily Herald, she'd probably say the same stuff.

theriot is good enough at ss if we improve a lot at rf and cf. In theory, Murton in RF instead of Cliff and Pie 2008 instead of Pie/Pagan/Jones 2007 SHOULD be a big improvement, but I have little confidence that a) the Cubs will be smart enough to do it and b) that Murton and Pie will be what they should be just because we're the Cubs. What? Neither of those things should be a big improvement. At best, they will be minimal improvements, but more likely than not, they will be a net unchanged, which means, if they stick with Theriot the offense will continue to disappoint.

any bat that's a good bet to outperform Theriot/Cedeno at SS, Jones/Pie in CF or Murton/Jones in RF.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-071022hawks,0,7422622.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout Will wonders never cease? Rocky is trying to get home Hawks games on TV this season. It's amazing that this truly qualifies as big news with this franchise. They've got so far to go to become a legit presence in the league, but at least they have a strong history to build on. I might actually buy the center ice package midseason if it looks like they will stay competitive and show some more games on tv. When I did have it a few years ago, there were too many games that I couldn't see, thanks to the Hawks keeping half their games off the air and many teams keeping multiple games off tv.

Moronic. 5-fold? Winning? Let's have a look at Texas' record while ARod was with the club, Roz. Explain to me how the dynamic would be any different with the Sox. It's identical. ARod would be *ALL* they would have. And they'd lose. Not necessarily. ARod, Konerko, Dye and Thome could be a solid core for a couple years. Texas's record doesn't say a thing about what would happen to another team that took him on. Texas didn't make a mistake by paying ARod, their problem was wasting millions on much lesser players and having no pitching. But you are right, I don't see them getting $1.5b in revenue off of ARod.

You can't seriously call RF an automatic out this year. Second highest team AVG in the NL, highest team OBP in the NL. RF was lacking, but it was in no way, shape or form an automatic out.

Because of his SLG? I've got to disagree. I'll tell you what, you take 05 Freel (.271/ .371..371) and I will take 07 Soriano (.299/.337/.560) as my lead off hitter. Which team will score more runs? Soriano's obviously... So would 30 points of OBP be worth 200 points of slugging? Of course not. Nice false choice. False choice? I did exactly what you're saying....replacing Soriano with a better OBP but not as high SLG. You see if you choose an = (or similar OPS) where the difference in OBP is 30 points you're going to find that their EqA is higher than Sorianos. We have to keep Soriano's EqA higher by 10 or so points, otherwise you're saying we should bat a superior hitter ahead of him which is what we should do. We SHOULD NOT replace him with an inferior overall hitter who has a higher OBP. We'd hurt our run output. You are replacing Soriano with Freel. That wasn't the request. It's a false choice.

I don't want to get rid of DeRosa, I think they should consider trading him if somebody gives up value. He's basically an average hitter (probably will be right around 100 OPS+). He's going to get paid $4.75 and $5.5m the next two years. Not overpaid, but not cheap either. He will be 33 and 34 the next two years. I believe it would be possible to get similar production at 2B by using a platoon of Theriot and Fontenot. DeRosa was a nice player this year. He took a small step back from his career year last season, and will probably continue to do that the rest of the way, but he's definitely somebody they can win with. Anyway, back to the money. You clear away Jones, DeRosa and Dempster, and you've cleared $15m in payroll for 2008 (plus $5.5m for 2009). And each one of those guys is tradable. Jones bounced back, hit for average late in the year (despite a horrible season), has a decent reputation, played CF and RF, and has only 1 year left on the deal. DeRosa was a nice all around player who can fill a middle infield spot and contribute to a team in need of offense. Dempster has the "closer" label and he's "been there". He hasn't been that good, but overall, as a reliever, he's been pretty solid. I would rather take my chances that Abreu would give me significantly above average production in RF (115-125 OPS+) and the other spots would get filled, than keep spending $5m on replacable guys. I don't see 2-3 years as getting in the way as much as 2008 payroll specifically.