jersey cubs fan

I truly enjoyed the 70's. Cardinals were 13 games under .500 for the decade, with no playoff appearances. i liked the 70's because of The Electric Company and preschool Don't forget Land of the Lost. That show freaked me out.

Could this foreshadow how the Cubs handle Marquis next year?

Probably very high. And if/when the Cubs lost, people would have said at least they were playing the game the "right way". I definitely enjoy Lou's go for the big inning mentality.

It's hard hitting analysis like that that shows why ESPN is #1. I had an argument with Stark in my head after that statement.

Hopefully this will kill all that "Aram is lazy" crap certain Chicago writers like to spew. The AZ announcer shredded him for not running all out on a groundball to 2nd. Rozner still takes a potshot whenever he can. This isn't going to kill any of that. People have known he's not 100%, but they don't care.

Why do you constantly focus solely on his splits vs RHP?

You're right. People booed because they all hate Bob Uecker and think he's the devil. It had nothing to do with the fans wanting to uphold a tradition and think it's wrong for a competing team's broadcaster to sing the stretch. it's only a "tradition" because the Cubs marketing department fooled most cubs fans into thinking it is. it's usually just a stop on "celebrity X's" press junket or politician's campaign trail. it doesn't honor Harry at all anymore (if it every did post-1998) It's tradition to say "root root root for the Cubbies," which he didn't say. In the Cubs' home ballpark. And he said the name of the team we were playing that night. With whom we were in a close division race. And he's the announcer of that team. I don't see why this is hard to understand / how it's classless / why anyone cares. Uecker didn't cry himself to sleep that night for any reason other than his team blowing yet another 3-run lead. Are you saying what Uecker did was classless? The "tradition" of outsiders inserting their team's name over Cubbies has lasted as long as the "tradition" of allowing outsiders to sing the stretch. Cubs fans routinely yell out root root root for the Cubbbies in road stadiums, and it typically drowns out the home crowds cheer. Is that classless? Ummmm where did I say that? I asked because that bolded sentence was unclear.

I really enjoyed the little smirk he had after they lost the lead. It was either a fake smile trying to pretend everything was okay, or him laughing at his own team's floundering.

You're right. People booed because they all hate Bob Uecker and think he's the devil. It had nothing to do with the fans wanting to uphold a tradition and think it's wrong for a competing team's broadcaster to sing the stretch. it's only a "tradition" because the Cubs marketing department fooled most cubs fans into thinking it is. it's usually just a stop on "celebrity X's" press junket or politician's campaign trail. it doesn't honor Harry at all anymore (if it every did post-1998) It's tradition to say "root root root for the Cubbies," which he didn't say. In the Cubs' home ballpark. And he said the name of the team we were playing that night. With whom we were in a close division race. And he's the announcer of that team. I don't see why this is hard to understand / how it's classless / why anyone cares. Uecker didn't cry himself to sleep that night for any reason other than his team blowing yet another 3-run lead. Are you saying what Uecker did was classless? The "tradition" of outsiders inserting their team's name over Cubbies has lasted as long as the "tradition" of allowing outsiders to sing the stretch. Cubs fans routinely yell out root root root for the Cubbbies in road stadiums, and it typically drowns out the home crowds cheer. Is that classless?

Goony, you can take the fun out of almost anything; do you like ice cream and pizza? :wink: I don't see how I'm taking the fun out of anything here. I just don't buy into the "deserves praise" thing. Praise is a pretty strong word. I'm not going to praise any player who has a hot streak. I'm going to enjoy it, and be happy it happened, but why does it mean the player deserves praise? It's a bit melo-dramatic if you ask me. What matters is what the guy does over a full season, and in the case of free agents, the full, or at least most of, the contract. I didn't praise Alou for what he did in 2004 because it was too little too late in my book, as he crapped the bed in his first free agency year, when he was making what was at the time really big money. And he was, in my opinion, also a bit disappointing in 2003 (especially when compared with what he did before and after being a Cub). If Jones were to somehow significantly outperform my expectations for him, then I'd be all for praising the guy. But the fact remains that as a Cub, Jones has basically been a .280/.330/.455 guy. His overall OPS is weak, especially in OBP, and the SLG hasn't come close to outweighing it.

Yeah, if we didn't have Pie, I'd be perfectly fine having Jacque as our CF for the last year of his deal. Being that Pie is here and has little left to prove in AAA, I hope Jacque gets traded in the offseason. I wouldn't be shocked though to see the Cubs move Jacque back to RF, have him platoon with Murton, and have Pie play full-time in CF. That wouldn't be awful, but it would be far from the best option. If they can't find a legit RF, then it might be the only option. I think the Cubs are going to have to trim some fat where they can, but ridding themselves of some mid-tier contracts, like the ones Blanco, Jones, Eyre, Howry, DeRosa and even Marquis have signed. The first three I listed are probably the ones I'd deal first, with Marquis also thrown in. I would also not hesitate to include Pie in a deal for a true difference maker, and just run out Jones there for one more year in center. Then you can probably go with Colvin in center by 2009, and even if he's lacking you could have some serious production out of your two corners.

His OPS in the second half is .851. Please find me CF'ers we could have had with a better second half OPS. His OPS over his last 30 games is .924. It's clear that his abhorrent start is affecting that OPS greatly, so comments like yours are clearly disingenuous because they look at his numbers in a vacuum. It's clear he's been a different Jock since the break. Posting those numbers wouldn't help you though.l So only posting his good numbers is more genuine? Jones has been awful this year. But he's been great for much of the 2nd half. Good for him. It's always fun to see a hot Jacque, because hot Jacque really hits the ball hard and can rack up the XBH. It's just unfortunate that he's so rarely hot. It's just that we're in the middle of the season right now. Jacque got criticized plenty for his play in April-June. There was even a 50 page thread where everybody was really happy he got traded, and rightly so. At the same point, he deserves to be praised for his recent play. Let's analyze the full season after the year-right now Jones deserves praise because he has kept this team in first place the past month. Let's put it another way-did Marquis not deserve criticism in June and July because his overall numbers still looked quite good? Of course he did, because he was struggling. By the same token, Jacque deserves praise for his recent play even though the full season numbers still are slightly below average for a CF. btw-this post isn't a complete direct reply to you, it's more of a general reply to a few posts in the thread. I don't really buy into your "deserves praise" theory. Jacque's job is to produce. He has done so at a very good rate for a fair amount of time, and at a very poor rate for a longer period of time. Personally, the fact that he regularly shows the ability to produce like this, but is unable to maintain it over the long haul provides me with more frustration than justification for praising the guy.

Maybe if he was 25. The problem with your theory is JJ has been around long enough, and has a long enough track record that people know there isn't any upside to his game. So unlike with Pie or Murton, where we expect significant improvement, and therefore can accept some short-term struggles, there's no room for error with JJ. At his age, you know what you are going to get, and that's unacceptable OBP and overall too little production for a corner OF.

He could be right, but Mike Golic knows exactly 0 about baseball. He was saying we'll win the Central when we were hot too. Before that it was the Brewers. He just rides the current hot team and says they'll win it all. Eventually, at the end of the season, he'll be right -- and he'll ignore the 10 other predictions he made before that were all wrong. Golic is the epitome of the "I know more because I'm an athlete" commentator. He is a relatively smart guy, but he's so close minded and uninformed it's ridiculous. That being said, I'm all for the media falling all over STL.

His OPS in the second half is .851. Please find me CF'ers we could have had with a better second half OPS. His OPS over his last 30 games is .924. It's clear that his abhorrent start is affecting that OPS greatly, so comments like yours are clearly disingenuous because they look at his numbers in a vacuum. It's clear he's been a different Jock since the break. Posting those numbers wouldn't help you though.l So only posting his good numbers is more genuine? Jones has been awful this year. But he's been great for much of the 2nd half. Good for him. It's always fun to see a hot Jacque, because hot Jacque really hits the ball hard and can rack up the XBH. It's just unfortunate that he's so rarely hot.

no. The way he looked at the plate tonight, I have to disagree. His timing seemed off. I think a few games in the minors might have helped. Isn't that pretty much how he looked at the plate before he went down? Soriano wasn't doing much of anything in the 2nd half.

I would think so. By the way, I've read a lot of comments that the Cubs would like to see Vitters get up to Boise (they finish a week after Mesa and they have a chance at the playoffs too). I think the Cubs will change their mind on that given how Vitters struggled in Mesa. yeah someone said something about that but doesn't look too good. He's batting what .045 or something with 3 errors? 30 AB: .067/.094/.067, 1 BB : 9 K, 3 errors. He supposedly hasn't played since June which hopefully explains a lot of his struggles. What would be the possible benefit of getting him a week in Boise.

They are what now, 2 or 3 games over .500? They are barely above average. That's not good. They are okay. They are lucky to be in a terrible division where there record equates to first place, but that doesn't mean they are good.

There is very little a new GM can do next year other than fine-tuning. Next year is not the only year his work will matter. So it seems to me that your basic defense of keeping Hendry around is that he spent so much money this offseason, that the team doesn't have much flexibility to maneuver in the near future, so there's very little a new GM could do right away, and therefore Hendry should stay. This is rather backward logic. The Cubs are a $100+ million team that's barely breaking even this year. They should be a 95-100 win team, given the resources. And over the course of 5 seasons, Jim Hendry has shown no ability to bring about such performance. Another GM should. It probably won't happen right away, but that's no reason not to get started right away.

why? Not sure if this is a serious question or not. Generally, it has to do with who has the last opportunity to win the game. If you play it safe at home and get a tie, you guarantee yourself another opportunity to bat. And this is generally how Lou has played it this season, or at least it seems to be the case.

When I read that this morning I was a bit taken aback. He's really putting it on the line here.

See, this is what good teams are supposed to do to bad teams. They don't lolligag, letting the other team hang around. They smell blood in the water, knock the opponent down, step on their throat, and then twist their foot. Cubs could learn a lot from the Red Sox. The problem is the Cubs aren't that good. They don't have the throat stepping ability that the Red Sox have, so, unless they learn from them how to field a better team, I don't think there's a lesson here.

Just because his fingerprints are on the team, doesn't mean he deserves to stay. Saying all a new GM would need to do is fill the bench also doesn't factor in. Besides, I think it's untrue. Seriously, that's a terrible reason to keep a GM around. Who cares if his fingerprints are on the team. That's the point. His fingerprints are all over the team and the team isn't good. That's exactly why you get rid of a GM. +1 So explain to what a new GM could do? Sit as a mostly lame duck? What? A lame duck is a guy who everybody knows is going to be leaving the position in the near future. A new GM would clean up the mess that Hendry created. They would have to fine tune a roster that's ridiculously expensive for the quality of product on the field. There's plenty to do for a new guy. This isn't some rock solid roster that doesn't need changes.

EDIT - Harvey is going with Samson per Oneri. ...Adduci, Canzler and Carter are going to Dominican for an OF instructs deal. Lansford going to Arizona Fall League with Fuld and Simokaitis....and I'M sure others but those are the only 3 Oneri announced on the air with me last night beacuse they have Chiefs ties... Are there leagues that take place in Hawaii? http://www.hawaiiwinterbaseball.com/about_hwb

Marmol was called up almost 2 months into the season though. He missed the first 6 weeks (42 games). I think he is alright provided Lou limits his back-to-back appearances the rest of the way. I'll be as concerned as everyone else by season's end if he's out there 5/7 days in September. He didn't miss 6 weeks. He was starting in Iowa, racking up innings. It's not like those don't count just because they were in AAA.