jersey cubs fan

I would never have confidence in Marquis, because he's inconsistent. However, he certainly has the ability to throw a gem, so it's not a complete lost cause. The important thing is not letting it get to the last game.

then i don't think you understand the question The question posed by the OP is pretty clear: It's a ridiculous question - why do we give a rat's ass about this type of "fan"? Who cares? It's not the case for 99.9% of the posters on NSBB. i don't think people "like" that the team hasn't won in 99 years. however, i think that once the team does win, you won't see a ton of support for the team if/when they tank again. the comparison to the Red Sox doesn't hold water, as Boston was a perennial playoff team before 2004 and since. the Cubs have showed no ability to put together two straight postseason years much less a decade of them. do people really think that Wrigley will be filled to the rafters every day if the Cubs put up a 95 loss team after winning it all? I don't Wow, I thought you were being sarcastic in your first response. Now it looks like you actually believe this nonsense. Were you one of the people who thought it wasn't in the Trib's best interest to field a winner? If the Cubs win, they will only get more and more fans. Any thought process that it will shrink is completely absurd.

if that were the case, I would think it would show up in P/PA and IsoD. P/PA v. lefties - 3.73 v. righties - 3.73 IsoD v. lefties 61 v. righties 62 they are not appreciably more patient against righties than they are against lefties. And that's the problem. Unless I'm reading that wrong, aren't they about the same? Yes, that's the point. They are impatient against everybody. It kind of works a little against hard throwing righties. It does not work against soft tossing lefties. And its' not true at all that the entire league is this way. If it were, all soft tossing lefties would have great numbers. The NL has a 770 OPS against LHP, and it's just 750 against RHP. The Cubs rank 8th, at 751 against RHP, but rank 13th at 733 against LHP. This was also a problem last year, when they were middle of the road against RHP but dead last against the lefties. I think the problem is a couple things. 1, they are impatient, so guys who make their living my staying out of the zone (soft tossers - often lefties) can thrive against the Cubs. The Cubs thought the strikeout was their biggest enemy a couple years ago, so they stressed putting the ball in play for a while, and that leads to a bunch of weak swings at bad pitches that result in easy outs. 2, the Cubs often try and fix the general offensive problem by going after lefties. They constantly try and find lefty power, as opposed to just guys who can hit. This has left them with some serious issues with guys who just can't hit lefties at all, like Jones and Pierre, and when they tried to fix it with a platoon, they relied on guys like Pagan and Monroe, who didn't hit lefties either. That also goes along with the tendency to load up with righties against LHP, which meant relying on many backups to start, which just weakens the lineup in general.

And what I'm saying is this is ridiculous. "True fans" is a stupid phrase. The theory that many fans find the team trendy because they lose is stupid. The theory that marketing would decline if they won is asinine. It's a stupid topic that should be deleted.

Toews is apparantly not that hurt and should be back by the opener.

I think this is an incredibly ridiculous topic and question.

There's talk of them changing up the schedule in 2008, doing away with the unbalanced version and going back to having teams playing every team every year. I'd prefer to see them go to the home and home with everybody, but this would be a start. It's nice to have a chance to see them in NY, NJ or PHI every year. And often times the only time I can see them on TV is when they play a NY area team.

I would say it's definitely a concern, although as I've said in the past, it's one I prefer to ignore and hope for the best.

I didn't even THINK about that. :D Besides Marmol can't pitch all the time every game. Lou begs to differ.

He doesn't look angry. He looks creepy, like he just chopped up a couple prostitutes a little while ago. Yeah, he definitely appears detached whenever he pitches. And even when he's not pitching.

I know this isn't the most popular topic on the board, and there's a lot of other stuff going on right now, with baseball coming to a close, football starting up and even some fall TV premieres. But I'm still interested in the NHL, and I'm looking forward to seeing the young Blackhawks take the ice in October. The media following the Blackhawks have been really high on guys like Kane and Toews (who just broke his finger) and even Skille and a few others. There's very little expectations for playoff hopes, but if these two start out with a little success, I'd have to think the team stands a chance of at least flirting with that 8th spot. Then again, they'll probably finish at the bottom again and get themselves another top 5 draft pick.

I have no desire to even consider signing a free agent reliever. I'm definitely talking about in house options.

It's not hard at all to fill the role. Nobody though, is gonna be as good as Marmol. But the Cubs have to weigh their options. If the Cubs can get a huge upgrade in the OF will it be enough to overcome the likely downgrade in the rotation and bullpen? I think it's worth a shot. I doubt Marmol in 2008 will be as good as Marmol in 2007, too. It would be incredibly rare for any reliever to have years that good back to back. And I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility that they find somebody who, while not as good as Marmol, surprises heavily on the upside in 2008.

The satellite is supposedly over Texas, right? I'd be curious if you get a signal down there.

Yeah, there's no telling where the standings will be by that series. There's no way of being sure the games will matter. Odds are the last game won't matter for at least one of MIL or SD, if not both. And it's possible the last two will be meaningless as well. Things are tight for everybody right now, but that can all go out the windown in 2 days.

I don't understand what people don't get about the loss column thing.

I doubt it. I'm pretty sure he just decided to start showing up every day now that the team is in the race. Those tickets didn't exist a few years ago. He probably just has cash and connections. His name is Jim Anixter and he has a large block of season tickets in what was formerly the first row before they put in the dugout seats. He wears the pink hat so that people will see him on TV now that he is no longer in the front row. And he is allowed to purchase a certain amount of dugout boxes directly from the Cubs as a compromise to his losing his seats in the front row. Anixter was a part of the group who wanted the purchase the Cubs in 1982 when they sold to Tribune. They would have probably sold to anyone but him. And yes, he has applied to purchase the team again. This Anixter is a very wealthy individual who had his own business for years. So you're saying he's an attention whore? He wants to purchase the ballclub and he liked the status of being in the front row behind home plate. Dugout boxes took that away from him. Therefore he now acts obnoxious and wears the pink hat to make sure people see him. Back in 2003, FSN Chicago did a piece on him being a superfan of the Cubs. Well, the stupid hat trick sure has worked. I've never noticed the guy before and now I do all the time.

I doubt it. I'm pretty sure he just decided to start showing up every day now that the team is in the race. Those tickets didn't exist a few years ago. He probably just has cash and connections.

He probably has a job. He looks more the type that has an absentee job with a construction company or Daley croney to me. Seriously though, this guy is the story of the stretch run for me. I remember in the 80's the Mets always had this same woman sitting behind home plate (before they added those newer closer seats), and she would constantly do the "illegal procedure" or "travelling" arm rolling thing while the visiting pitcher was on the mound. But I don't remember ever seeing the same person behind the plate at Wrigley as often as I've seen this guy. And how the heck can you wear the same ugly hat and shirt every day?

Never happen. One of the more poverty stricken nations in the world would never be able to support a major league baseball team. And if you think it's hot in Florida, try Mexico. Yikes. Mexico could easily support a mlb team financially. Sure, there is poverty there, but there is also a ton of money, and a very large middle and upper class. The problem is where would you put it. The best chance for success is going to be in Mexico City. The problem there isn't necessarily heat, but the elevation. It dwarfs Denver. Offense is likely to be crazy while pitching is likely to suck. If they could figure out a way to design the park possibly to offset these issues, and keep pitchers alive, there's more than enough money and eyeballs there to make it work. The other issue is transportation though. MC is very far from every MLB team but Houston, and that's not even an easy jaunt. Monterray is another option. It's smaller, but financially viable. It doesn't have the elevation issues and it's a bit closer to the states. But, it's also hotter, so you're looking at a dome or retractable roof.

I think he's hilarious to watch on TV. I love how he jumps from his seat, arms waving, and yelling stuff at the ump after he called a close pitch a ball, instead of a strike. He also refuses to participate in any 3-2 2 out everybody on your feet clapping moments, and generally never moves other than when he's yelling at the ump. The other night he seemed to have his arm around some sort of trophy girlfriend for about a half inning early in the game. I think the Cubs have a bad record whenever I've seen him behind home plate.

I wouldn't have a problem trying to stretch him out for the rotation next year. But I'm not convinced he can translate his relief success into starting success. He's had an insane K rate this year that far exceeds his minor league norms. And he's been virtually unhittable in the limited duty. He's always had control problems, including this year, and I see that haunting him more in longer duty. I would have to be convinced the Cubs had a solid plan to harness hit talents as a starter before agreeing with this move, and given this team's long standing desire to find a real closer, including almost forcing Zambrano into that role, I can't envision them being 100% committed to making Marmol a starter. I could see them bailing on the project quickly, or hedging their bets in some way, which may end up doing more harm than good in the end.

Big difference between SS and RF. Theriot's SS or 2B production is acceptable in a lineup that has big production elsewhere, and has some compensation production at another non-traditional offensive spot. Burnitz's hustle in RF didn't mask his production shortage. Why do people keep responding to my original point like Theriot has matched Burnitz's offensive output or projects to even come close to matching Burnitz's offensive output? Ryan has had his bright spots, but his career up until this point and his age is likely indicative of his offense being well below his high points. I can live with him as a backup utility guy, but to want him hitting any higher than 7th or 8th or on a regular basis simply because he's cheap and has been decent for short periods in a very small sample size strikes me as not being good for the team at all in the long run. And no, I'm not trying to argue that Burnitz was the right RFer for this team, but I think straight up comparing his output with the bat to Theriot's definitely weighs in Burnitz's favor. Go root for the Yankees Are you seriously equating pointing out the shortcomings of a mediocre player to Yankees fans who demand an all star at every position, or are you poking fun that those who use this ridiculous tactic to brush off comments by those who are interested in seeing the Cubs get better?

What's that now?

I mostly agree with this. The only thing that makes me wonder is that it seems pretty obvious to me that Blanco is going to retire after the year. If Blanco retires, Kendall will likely be signed back, and then it will probably be an open competition in ST next year. Do you think so? Clearly he should, and there does seem to be some signs that he will. I'm just not sure I see any reason for him to throwaway that money though. Guys usually wait until they no longer have any guaranteed money coming to them before they retire. And while I could see the Cubs and Henry agreeing to some sort of buyout, I could just as easily see Blanco stick around to keep drawing the check.