jersey cubs fan

Barring a trade there isn't a starting spot available. That ship has sailed. A different bullpen role, maybe. Barring a trade, or injury, and all things considered, an injury is a relatively good bet. I still fear Dempster could become the go to guy if/when Marshall goes down.

Wait, do people really think that? I have to say I'm in-line with your line of thinking then, I don't think there's anything shutdown about either of them.

I've left both Mets and Yankees games in the 8th inning. I left a Cubs game in the 5th, once, to catch a flight.

It's not about the fans, it's about the team. Every series is big becuase they suked ass so bad for most of the first half. If they go into the ASB less than .500 we shouldn't expect much for the rest of the year. Their play for 7 games should not determine our predictions for them for the rest of the season, since there will still be 75 more games to be played. It will, since sports fans tend to have a what have you done lately mindset, but it shouldn't. This stretch is no bigger than any other. They ought to win both series, but I fail to see how this series matters more than any others. It does matter, we can agree, but it won't determine the Cubs place in the final standings, just how some fans feel about them over the break. It won't determine their placing, but it will go a long way towards doing exactly that. 6.5 games is already a pretty tough gap to close, a sub .500 record in these 7 games in which the Cubs should be favored every time would more than likely leave them at 8-10 games out of 1st. And the wild card is likely to move from 5 to 7 or 8 games away. It's not that this 7 games is more important than any 7 others, but the fact is that a couple weeks ago it became clear the Cubs needed to right the ship before the all star break. They've begun to do that, but a step back here really hurts. 5-2 doesn't win the division and 3-4 doesn't lose it, but if they can't win 4 of these games it does tell us a lot about their chances. There's only 82 games to go, 75 after the break. If they go into the break at 43-44, it'll take a 42-33 record just to get to 85 wins, and that's not even guaranteed to sniff you the division or wild card. The goal at this point has to be closer to 90 wins, with the way things are going, as both the division and wild card leaders are on pace to beat that numbers. They've got 55 games against bums and 27 against contenders in which to win 50 more games if they want to win 90. 36-19 (.655 W%) against the bums and 14-13 (.519 W%) gets them there, but that may not even be enough. A stretch of 7 against those bums in which they only win 3 would really hurt their chances.

I would agree with that-although they are playing 7 games this week. They need to win 4 at the very minimum, and 5 definitely shouldn't be considered a stretch. The thing is though-these are the type of teams that the Cubs play most of the rest of the season. Other than the occasional series against a good team, most of the rest of the year is filled with series against the Pirates, Reds, Astros, Cardinals, Nationals and Giants. 55 of their last 82 games are against those 6 teams, and those are the teams they need to beat up on the rest of the year if they are thinking about the playoffs. 7-0 would be amazing. 6-1 would be nothing to complain about. 5-2 would be a nice way to go into the 2nd half. 4-3 would be "okay" but would leave a sour taste after the recent run. 3-4 would be a huge disappointment. 2-5 or worse would be a disaster, likely moving to 9 or more games out of the division and losing valuable ground in the wild card hunt. I'd lock into 5-2 right now if it was offered, but I think they have a legit shot at 6 wins this week.

Complaints about the Bears owners and management are based on last decade's missteps and a Chicago based misperception that all bad things are due to ownership. The McCaskey's are far from some glorious bunch, but there's very little to complain about their work, in relation to other owners, in the past 5-6 years. Once they kicked Mikey upstairs, elevated Ted Philips status and got on the course to the Jerry Angelo Bears, things started running smoothly. Michael Silver is a bit of a blowhard himself though, he's got Snyder ranked 5th. I wouldn't trade places with that franchise ever.

If the Cubs were to go into the all star break at 47-40, or even 46-41, my excitement for the 2nd half is going to go through the roof.

LOL-you at least let him throw the pitches he wants for a while and see if he has success doing that before you release him. The Cubs don't seem to care about his numbers right now-they are convinced that his secondary pitches are going to come around, and they don't care how bad statistically his first year is as long as they develop. I'm greatly concerned about their progress though-I would think one of his pitches would be getting better by now (which it is possible that it is without showing results yet, but somewhat unlikely). For an organization so oblivious to the importance of numbers, especially the numbers that matter, I don't find much solace in the fact that they don't mind. I'm also not convinced they think it's all fine and dandy that he sucks, what with the move to the bullpen, however brief it was. I think all this "we're forcing him to throw offspeed stuff so results don't matter" is just brave talk in the face of what has been a disastrous first full professional season.

Not really, we better pray he has some sort of enormous recovery from his abysmal beginning to his pro career. But, thanks for playing.

Al Bundy disagrees. Uh, no Peg. (sound of toilet flushing)

The worst part about the Samardzija situation is we don't even get a couple years where he's a very valuable trade chip. Throw Pawelek into that group, but typically you'd at least like your expensive draft picks to retain some value for a couple years so they can be considered, at the very least, sweetener to a potential deal. The really need him to have an awakening of some sort before next spring.

yeah, I was confused when I saw options for both freakishly often and weekly -- aren't they the same thing? I would assume weekly meant once a week. yes, which is freakishly often when married Heh. I get it now. :D I thought he meant weakly.

I'm not a big Buerhle fan, but I do think Kenny is cutting off his nose to spite his face a bit here. I believe Buerhle will have 10/5 rights after 2009, depending on how they count his 2000 season. So you're talking about 2 years to get a trade done anyway. If you resign him this season, there's very little chance you are going to trade him until sometime in the 2009 season anyway. So basically, not giving him the NTC is giving you a 6-month window to deal him, which is most likely not going to happen.

Free agency hasn't even started - we don't know what the final product will look like. Your slow :D Who is a big scorer available in free agency? Who is anybody that can make a difference that's available in free agency? I think we'd have to get one through a trade. I was under the impression that one of the biggest trade chips they had was the pick. Once the draft actually happens, the value of those picks typically evaporates.

HeeeHeeeeHeeeeeeeeeee. Roger. What a dope. I'm not proud of it but I get great joy out of Yankees losses, not to mention the possibility for significant financial gains if things keep going this way.

Free agency hasn't even started - we don't know what the final product will look like. Your slow :D Who is a big scorer available in free agency? Who is anybody that can make a difference that's available in free agency?

I'm not against trading Marmol, and I wouldn't mind a catcher upgrade. But I don't think a Marmol+ deal for Hernandez helps the Cubs much. He's older than Barrett and has logged considerably more time behind the plate than him. It's likely his best days are well behind him, and he's owed pretty big bucks. I think I'd rather pay the minimum to a Soto, Bowen, Hill combo and spend that $7-8m on upgrades in other spots, and keep the talent it would take to trade for the upgrade of Hernandez.

So are Bulls fans satisfied with a team that's basically the same as last year plus Noah? I thought they needed a big scorer.

Go Samardzija. Start turning things around so, at the very least, you become a valuable trading chip this offseason or next.

AZ Phil has posted an excellent and thorough recap of what transpired during the Mesa game at the Cub Reporter. Wow, sounds like a little league game.

That also means the Cubs have the least amount of opportunity to leapfrog teams with head to head meetings. Plus, while those teams might beat each other up, it might be just as likely that one or two emerge well ahead of everybody else. The wild card isn't out of the realm of possibility. But I think the division is still the more likely goal. I'd take either though.

Cubs hitters: 8th in HR hit, 13th in BB taken Cubs pitchers: 13th in HR allowed, 9th in BB given up. It really shouldn't surprise anybody why this team isn't atop the rankings.

I could see them doing it because it's the Cubs and they do stupid things. With Guzman injured/in the bullpen, Cotts worthless and no other obvious 6th starter at this point, I could see them thinking Dempster would be a good fit. But I'd hate to see it. He's been a decent reliever, but an awful starter in his career. I'd have less faith in him than I had in Marquis this offseason.

Since I'm getting screwed out of this trip I've given control of the tickets to a friend of mine because I don't want to be reminded that I'm not there. So, sorry to anybody who was hoping for tickets.

it's getting good baby