jersey cubs fan

More like missing Steve McNair and Derrick Mason from the Ravens offense. Remember, Soriano hadn't done much this season and was hitting like crap in the weeks leading up to his injury. Ramirez had also been a bit off his peak performance.

Stewart doesn't do much for me. I guess he could be an improvement over some Cubs, like if he's subbing for Floyd or Jones. But if the OF has Stewart, Jones, Floyd I don't see much improvement.

I guess Lou likes to lose :( Huh?

No, I'm not telling you that. I'm telling you I'm not about to embrace the okayness. I'm moderately pleased with what has transpired so far. I'm ecstatic that they have a chance. I'm not ecstatic that this is all we've got.

What does that mean exactly? The other team put them on waivers but then pulled them after a claim was made? Claimed guys that other teams with higher priority also claimed.

I'm not tempering anything. This team isn't very good and it annoys me. What you are doing is saying we should embrace it because it's the best we've seen in a while. Pennant run? A pennant run is a thing of the past. A pennant run was contending to have the best record in the league. Now the Cubs are just trying to win a bad division. I can be excited about that while not being fooled by the marketing department trying to get me to embrace the okayness. I'm glad the Cubs have a chance. That doesn't change the fact I'm disappointed that they aren't very good and haven't been very good in a very long time. The blew a great opportunity from 2003-2006, and Hendry didn't do enough to make up for it this year. Sorry, I'm not going to embrace the okayness and I don't see why any fan every would.

Having read this post, I can't help but wonder how you would've viewed the 2006 season if you were a Cardinal fan. That Cards team was every bit as flawed and disappointing as this year's Cubs, and probably moreso (as 2007 is proving): overpaid, underachieving players; questionable managerial choices; finger-pointing at the GM; infighting; and horrific play late in the year that nearly led to a historic collapse. I wonder if, as a fan, their October success would have been enough to overcome all of that suffering and disappointment, or whether you would've remained miserable to the very end, frustrated that a run of good luck, and not dynastic superiority, was the key to success. You don't seriously want to compare them do you? The Cardinals regularly fielded great teams that came up short in the playoffs. Then they got lucky with a mediocre team that finally won. I'd have been happy as hell if the Cubs went on the kind of run STL went on from 2000-2006. If the Cubs won 95+ games 4 out of 6 years (93 and 85 the other two), I wouldn't be in anywhere close to the same frame of mind about the Cubs. You can't seriously be trying to compare the situations. My lord, how ridiculous.

This makes no sense to me. Sports are different now? We can't expect our favorite teams to win a lot of games in order to be defined as great? I mean that dynasties are on the way out. You defined great as winning 90+ games and contending year-in, year-out. Parity is on the rise and dynasties are a more-or-less a thing of the past. Not even dynasties are the issue, though, teams don't too frequently fit your description. It happens, sure, but not often enough to be the standard for accepting the results. I'm not asking the Cubs to win the WS every year. Oakland, NYY, BOS, ATL have all shown it's possible to win a ton of games and contend every year. You are right, as far as the NFL is concerned. But NBA is still dominated by the same teams over and over. MLB too. Regardless, there's no reason why the 2003-2007 Cubs couldn't have ammassed 3-4 90+ win seasons and been in the playoffs multiple times. Hell, just one 95 win season should have been attainable. But no, the "contend within the division" strategy has left us in a cycle of mediocrity highlighted by occasional brilliant failure. Win 95 games and the division two years in a row, and you'll have accomplished something worthy of praise. That would be great. This okayness nonsense is a joke.

A guess or a report you heard somewhere? ESPN1000 In that case, I have a bad feeling Pie's going to head back down once the DL stint is over. I'm also not sure that there's any guarantee he'll be playing much. Not if he starts to hit. Meh, he'll be back up a week later when the rosters expand. No biggie. Yeah, Pagan won't even be eligible the 22nd or so. And obliques (if this is real) often last a bit longer. There's no guarantee Pie gets sent back down for that last week before Sep callups.

This makes no sense to me. Sports are different now? We can't expect our favorite teams to win a lot of games in order to be defined as great?

They aren't a top 4 NL team by any stretch, but they could still very easily make the playoffs. Pythagoras says we are. Only to people who don't understand them.

bottom line, rhetorical question

Sorry, I can't embrace okay ness. I want the Cubs to be great. You know what I wanted for lunch today? A steak. All we had around here were hot pockets. I guess I'll just go hungry? No, I ate a hot pocket. And I'd be a fool to restrain my enjoyment of it just because it wasn't "great." Presumably you've eaten steak once in your life though, as opposed to the zero times you've seen a truly great Cubs team. I have, and I enjoyed the steak well enough to want it again. The 2003 team (greatness aside, since that's ambiguous) was very succesful and incredibly fun to watch, thus I know what I'm missing during the Cubs less-than-average years. Was that your point? by the way, the hot pocket was quite good. 2003 was an above average team that had a nice run. Great teams win 90+ games and contend year-in year-out. The Cubs have never been great in your lifetime.

Hooray mediocrity!! I'm surprised by the reaction to my comments. Why are we even Cubs fans, guys? Why even follow a team if you can't get caught up in the (positive) excitement of a pennant chase? I didn't choose to be a Cubs fan, it just happened, so I can't answer why I am one. However, it's one thing to be excited about being in a race for the title, and embracing the okayness. The Cubs are in a great position to win the division, because they are lucky to be in the Central. But they aren't a very good team and that bothers me. I want to be a fan of a very good, preferabbly excellent, baseball team. Since I can't just start being a fan of another team, I need the Cubs to be that excellent team. And they aren't. It's annoying. I don't take solace in the fact that it's better than what they've done in most years. If I'm a slave who works for a jerk of a master who beats me daily, I'm not going to be thankful if he starts cutting back to once a week. I know it's an over-the-top metaphor . . . but seriously, this may be the crux of our disagreement. If I'm in that situation, I consider two realities: the one who gets beaten daily (past), the one who gets beaten weekly (present). I sure as hell am thankful to be in the present. Last year, Neifi whipped us daily; this year, Marquis whips us weekly. Maybe that'll resonate. :) I never have, and hopefully never will, embrace the okay-ness. Sorry, none of this resonates. I'm glad they are still in the race, but I'm still very disappointed at what a poor job the front office has done over the past several years, when they had every opportunity to construct a truly great team and chose to blow it on crappy veterans who don't fit the profile of player they actually needed. When I go to the game, I can enjoy myself. When I sit back and think about the season as a whole, I have a little hope they can make the playoffs and get lucky. But I'm still disappointed I have to hope for luck.

Sorry, I can't embrace okay ness. I want the Cubs to be great. You know what I wanted for lunch today? A steak. All we had around here were hot pockets. I guess I'll just go hungry? No, I ate a hot pocket. And I'd be a fool to restrain my enjoyment of it just because it wasn't "great." Presumably you've eaten steak once in your life though, as opposed to the zero times you've seen a truly great Cubs team.

Hooray mediocrity!! I'm surprised by the reaction to my comments. Why are we even Cubs fans, guys? Why even follow a team if you can't get caught up in the (positive) excitement of a pennant chase? I didn't choose to be a Cubs fan, it just happened, so I can't answer why I am one. However, it's one thing to be excited about being in a race for the title, and embracing the okayness. The Cubs are in a great position to win the division, because they are lucky to be in the Central. But they aren't a very good team and that bothers me. I want to be a fan of a very good, preferabbly excellent, baseball team. Since I can't just start being a fan of another team, I need the Cubs to be that excellent team. And they aren't. It's annoying. I don't take solace in the fact that it's better than what they've done in most years. If I'm a slave who works for a jerk of a master who beats me daily, I'm not going to be thankful if he starts cutting back to once a week.

Sorry, I can't embrace okay ness. I want the Cubs to be great.

Agree. If anything, Fontenot takes over to 2B when DeRosa moves to the outfield due to Jones piss poor bat. Also, I think Lou will try Pagan against LHP to try to ease Pie back in as a regular. Lastly, Theriot looks like the more consistent out there out of all players that have been shuffled around, so he's not going to sit for Cedeno. The issue of course is that leaves them with no backup shortstop. Teams rarely go without a backup shortstop.

what?

I cannot for a second support this "It's better than what we've seen in the past so let's just be happy" mindset. I couldn't support the "back to back .500 seasons was awesome" mindset either.

They aren't a top 4 NL team by any stretch, but they could still very easily make the playoffs.

No, I really didn't think he'd be the one. May be though. I'd think they would want a guy capable of swinging from the right side and play CF, but who knows. Maybe Lou is sick of him.

Any platoon involving Cedeno is bad. He is a bench player. And DeRosa is a RF. that's probably why he listed him that way Mark DeRosa is no RF. He needs to rest some.

It's hard to blame Soriano's injury either, since he hadn't been hitting for a while before he went down. It's a bad offense put together by a bad GM. It's been a bad offense throughout hit time with the Cubs. At it's peak, it's been average. That's what happens when your front office ignores the changing of the guard.

He's hitting well, What?