jersey cubs fan

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.

Care to make a bet? I'll put a Bears logo as my avatar for all of Feb and March next year if the Bears have a better record than the Saints do at the end of the season. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. This isn't about the Bears. It's about the fact that New Orleans wasn't as good as some remember, and aren't as good as some thought they would be. I'm disappointed in the direction of the Bears right now. And with the apparent improvement by the rest of the division, I'm not all that confident in the Bears racking up the wins this year. However, I'm fairly confident the Saints won't have a better record.

I understand what you are saying and the media circus certainly boosted them quite a bit, but pointing to the 10-6 season is a bit disingenuous to try and prove that they weren't all that good because 2 of their losses were to the Ravens and Bengals, pretty good teams last year. Another loss was AT Pittsburgh, and in our final loss of the regular season, to the Panthers, our starters only played one series. The reason I pointed out the 10-6 record is because I'm pretty certain most people forget they were just 10-6 last year. They weren't nearly as good as people gave them credit for. Everybody picked them to beat the Bears, and when they got their butts handed to them, people chalked it up to the weather and decided the Saints would be the sexy pick in 08. They lost to some good teams, but it's not like any of those teams were elite and unstoppable.

Theriot is not good in any way shape or form, but he is adequate if he's still making minimum wage. The day he starts making money is the day he loses any value. If the Cubs solidify other spots this offseason, I'm fine with Theriot starting at SS and hitting 8th. But they clearly need to improve offensively, and if they can find that improvement at SS, I'd be more than happy to see Theriot move back to a utility role.

I think a lot of people got caught up in the emotion of the Saints season, and their decent playoff showing, but they forgot New Orleans was just 10-6 last year, and not some unstoppable force. Peter King and many others got a bit overzealous in their praise of Payton's boys, and the first two weeks have shown they just aren't that good. On the other hand, Dallas has looked a bit better than I gave them credit for, and so have the non-Bears NFC North squads. Dallas has a chance to vault themselves into the top of the pile this weekend, and the Bears' next 4 games suddenly look a bit tougher than I thought they'd be.

If we get 16 more outtings like Trachsel gave us last night we will win the Central. 5 innings, 7 hits, 3 walks, 2 HR? More often than not the opponent is going to score more than the 2 he gave up last night. I wouldn't want that outing every game. Any 2.0 WHIP game is bad, especially when you give up 2 HR and last only 5 innings.

I like Harris, but I'd much rather have Murton.

Floyd is definitely capable of getting red hot over the next 6 weeks, but regardless of how he ends, there's no way the Cubs should consider bringing him back.

I'm not sure a 2nd New England team would work. Where would you put it? Boston itself is actually quite small. The Boston metro area is roughly the same population as Detroit. Philly, Houston, Atlanta and Dallas are all bigger and aren't even the best supporters of their 1 team each. The Red Sox dominate because they have a monopoly on the baseball loyalties of 5 states, most of a 6th and parts of a 7th. There isn't another large enough city in New England to put a team, and Boston can't support another.

Oh how I would love that...I'd be putting my Nevada liscense to use a LOT more often.... I don't think any of the four major sports will ever have a team in Vegas. Even if you ban betting on the games they play in, fixing games would still be way too easy. Fixing what games, the ones going on in other cities? The truth is the only reason they wouldn't is perception. The reality is there wouldn't be an actual problem. The Marlins play in a suburban football stadium. Baseball is an every day sport, there's simply no way you can get people to drive that far out into the boonies on a daily basis. There is a reason Baltimore moved back downtown and Boston, New York and Chicago constantly draw such good crowds. Going from Miami to Pro Player would just blow. It's bad enough on Sunday, without rush hour traffic. I can't imagine why anybody would try it on a weekday. Hudson county NJ could easily support a team. They'd have the corporate support, they're surrounded by mass transit and several roadways, and it's the most densely populated area in America. Put a ballpark on the waterfront (looking across at Manhattan) and it would thrive. On the other hand, if you put it in the Meadowlands, they'd struggle.

Their success started long before Mauer made an impact. Not sure how Santana fell into his lap, they traded for him when he was young and far from a proven commodity.

I'd be surprised if Soto starts tonight with Kendall being 18 for 38 against Woody Williams in his career with a couple of doubles and a home run. Too bad the good part of his career was a long time ago.

How many FAs at any position are worth half of what they end up getting? FA is a bad investment. Thats why it is pivotal to develop players within your system. The last step of development is the majors. Players need to play to get better in the majors. This is why Pie should be playing. this is completely untrue. In most cases Free Agents are signed at the end or past prime. They will in most cases get paid more than they were getting paid for declining production. Young players coming up get paid less while there production is improving. I know there is individual cases where players are still improving after free agency, but there are cases where it was better to not where a seat belt in a car accident. I would contend that the percentages tend to show free agency as a bad tool to build a winning ballclub(unless you are willing to spend like the Yankees). As for the part of young players need time to develop in the Majors, I dont know what to tell you. For every Pujols and Braun there are 20 DLees and ARams. Most players dont have ROY numbers right off the bat. They need to play to get better. once again, this isn't true No, it's true. The thing that isn't true however is the insinuation that you shouldn't sign any free agent. You have to, there's really no way around it. You have to overpay for some of your production, because it's simply impossible to get it all, and get enough, strictly from the cheap youth. There's no room for error doing it that way.

http://www.northtonorth.com/pages/soundclips/santoohno.mp3 At the time, 660 WFAN in NY was going live to a WGN feed whenever Sosa would come up to bat, and sometimes whenever something big was happening with the Cubs. Mike and the Mad Dog were on and they went live to this game late. They were laughing their butts off at Santo and the Cubs, but mostly Santo.

If you ask any teams' announcers, players, coaches, gms, or owners, the problem with the team is that they aren't hitting in the clutch. Any team. Yeah, for New York teams, the biggest problem in general is that guys' just aren't doing the right thing when it matters the most.

They are all just part of the hilarious picture that is Ron Santo. Equally as funny most of the time is Pat's ability to block out Ronnies convulsions. Ron reminds me of Will Ferrell as Ron Burgandy. I could see Ferrell playing Ronnie. No way. Burgundy was dense, but he was mostly poised and coherent. He was prepared for his job. Santo is much more like Brick Tamland, a blithering idiot who makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, but he still manages to come across as somewhat lovable. Plus, I could definitely see him yelling "Loud Noises!!!!!!!" and killing a guy with a trident. Or, he's a combination of Brick and Champ: I'm Brick Tamland. People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks. Years later, a doctor will tell me that I have an I.Q. of 48 and am what some people call mentally [expletive]. Champ here. I'm all about havin' fun. You know, start a fire in someone's kitchen, maybe go to SeaWorld, take my pants off... Anyway, I've become kind of famous for my signature catch-phrase ? whammy. Like, Gene Tenace at the plate... and whammy.

They clearly need another bat somewhere, I think the easiest way to afford one is to play a guy like Pie in CF at minimum wage. But I wouldn't hesitate to trade him in a package for an impact bat instead.

This is what KenTremendous wrote at the end, and he's right. Plaschke is an idiot and a horrible writer. It was clear throughout this was about ripping on the overly dramatic crap Plaschke was putting out there.