Little Slide Rooter

Whatever on Bradley. Just call up Colvin. The season over and were playing for draft picks, so Id like to see what the youngins can do. Colvin would be a great call up. It would also be fun to see Castro, but its way to early to start his arbitration clock ticking.

IMO the handling of th Bradley situation should hold a huge bearing on Hendrys employment. Any GM for a big market team can throw a big wad of money at a player and sign him, but it takes a good GM to be able to handle this type of situation. Its not every GM who can say that they took the best team its fans have ever seen and completely restructured it into this, mainly to sign a player, 1 many advised him against, and then dump that player the very next season for next to nothing. I really dont blame Hendry for everything thats happened this season. He couldnt have predcted Soriano and Soto to play they way they did, although he should have been more careful when dumpin DeRosa and having an unestablished player take the job. He couldnt have pedicted Bradleys season. While I do blame Hendry for the financial issues this team will likely come upon in the next few years, as for the 2009 team itself, it looked like he put together a pretty good team and nobody could have predicted how little production would come out of some key players.

was Colvin called up? No, but it was mentioned at one point, I think maybe by Bruce Miles that once the Smokies were done either Colvin or Adduci might be called up, and Colvin was the logical choice as he'll be placed on the 40 man in the offseason to protect him from the rule 5.

Fuld CF Baker 3B Fox RF Hoffpauir 1B Colvin LF Scales 2B Blanco SS Hill C Were going to lose anyway, so who cares whose on the field?

Is this his last year in Chicago? I have to believe that it is. So what do we get for him? Salary relief? prospects? another player with a bad contract like Magglio Ordonez? just kick him out of town and eat the rest of his salary? If the final option comes to be, Hendry better be right behind him on his way out of town because this is the guy he completely restructured the team around aquiring. Considering every team in baseball is familiar with the situation, even those interested in Bradley will know they can low ball the hell out of us. I think the best case scenerio is trading Bradley+prospects+cash to Washington for Adam Dunn.

I don't! But he played 658,345 minor league games and worked hard to get here and substitute teaches in the off season. That alone should earn him playing time, right?

Smokies lose 7-3, so thats the end of that. Maybe we see Tyler Colvin tomorrow. It would be a pleasent surprise to see a new face.

I think he means right now, Soriano is done for the year and Bradley is always in flux, so the spot spots are "up for grabs" for the remainder of the year. Thats what I meant. Soriano on the DL and Bradley day to day, but Bobby Scales and Micah Hoffpauir seem to get the start everyday, and Fox get an AB once ina while. Seriosuly, we all love the Bobby Scales story, and Id love to see him get a job as a utility man somewhere next year, Fox is the guy who should be playing, be it to see what he can do for us next year or showcasing him to other teams.

Considering the fact that both corner outfield psotions are up for grabs and Fox isnt starting suggests to me that Fox has no future with this team, not as long as Crazy Lou is at the helm. He'll probably part of a trade package in the offseason.

It seems as though every off season, no matter how their season went the Marlins have the philosophy that no player is untouchable. Well, lets see ifn they'll back that up and offer them the keys to the farm for Han Ram. Maybe a package of Vitters, Castro or Lee, 2 of Cashner/Jax/Carpenter/Coleman and maybe someone like Colvin or Burke could do the trick. Thats a lot of prospects, but were talking about 1 of the 4 best position players in the game. While this is a pipe dream, and I highly doubt it happens, I do get the distinct gut feeling that we not only aquire Dan Uggla, but end up well overpaying for him, possibly with a similar package as that I mentioned above.

Im really fed up with the half assed play of the regualrs and would just like to see more Jake Fox, Andres Blanco, and Sam Fuld. The regulars just arent into it anymore by any means and should take the rest of the season off.

Hardens an easy decisoon. offer arbitration, and if he accepts, good, if not, we get draft picks. Greggs a tougher decison as far as Im concerned, While we dont want him, he is a Type A, and if we did offer arb, and he declines, then we get some draft picks. However, if he accepts, were stuck with him for another year. Miles is a no brainer. Bye bye. Baker, Blanco, and Scales are all better palyers in every aspect of the game. Blanco and Scales are both switch hitters. Admit the mistake and let him go.

Ive never seen Castro of Lee in action, so what current players would the compare with most offensively, ceiling wise? Judging from the stats Ive seen, Im going to guees that Castro would be a Chone Figgens type with Lee measuring up to Brian Roberts.

So does this mean the Bears play the Cardinals? Id love to see Lance Briggs break Chris Carpenter in half.

Im so honored that a 35 year old with a bad wrist and .255 avg/.761 OPS will consider coming back for the right terms. DeRosa would have been great to have this year, but as for next year, like you said, Id just assume go with Baker or a Baker/Font platoon.

Prepare to dance with the devil.

pixie dust.

refer to the thread title.

Now that the sweep is inevetable, after a decent stretch against bad teams, another .500+ team comes in and reminds the Cubs why they are where they are. The Cardinals have just been better than the Cubs in every aspect of the game and deserve to be where they are. More importantly, why am I even watching this crap anymore? Its like watching Titanic over and over. You know its going to be boring and you know the boats going to sink.

I hate you Lou.

Gotta go with Dennis Quade. he's pitched in the bigs and he's won a National title while helping break down racial lines. He's our man for player manager. How about James Gammon? In 1989, he took a rag tag bunch of misfits and made them into a contender. imagine what he could do with this kind of payroll. Of course we might need to sign Tom Berenger as a club house leader, and even back then, he looked like he was toward the end of his career. I want Shark nowhere near a major league mound, at least for the Cubs until he proves he can do something other than give up runs at a comical rate. As for Marmol, hes actually been steller in actual save situations since he became the closer. So you don't want Shark to pitch in the majors until he....proves he can pitch in the majors? With regular use, instead of being the 7th guy in the bullpen, he should be fine for next year. And Marmol has not been stellar in any situation this year. His walk rate is atrocious, his K's are down, and when his HR rate normalizes his ERA will balloon up. Yes. Theres no reason the keep the guy around as a mop up man when we have better options. He looked nearly untouchable when he first came up in 2008, but since then he cant so much as check the mail without giving up 3 runs. If you have a guy who you only trust with a 5 or more run lead, that guy shouldnt be on the team, its that simple. Id give him 2010 to get ti together, and if he doesnt show any improvement, its time to cut the damn chord.

Gotta go with Dennis Quade. he's pitched in the bigs and he's won a National title while helping break down racial lines. He's our man for player manager. How about James Gammon? In 1989, he took a rag tag bunch of misfits and made them into a contender. imagine what he could do with this kind of payroll. Of course we might need to sign Tom Berenger as a club house leader, and even back then, he looked like he was toward the end of his career. I want Shark nowhere near a major league mound, at least for the Cubs until he proves he can do something other than give up runs at a comical rate. As for Marmol, hes actually been steller in actual save situations since he became the closer. I don't know if the whole naked owner thing will work with Ricketts though. Plus we got rid of Willie Mays Hays back in May.

Gotta go with Dennis Quade. he's pitched in the bigs and he's won a National title while helping break down racial lines. He's our man for player manager. How about James Gammon? In 1989, he took a rag tag bunch of misfits and made them into a contender. imagine what he could do with this kind of payroll. Of course we might need to sign Tom Berenger as a club house leader, and even back then, he looked like he was toward the end of his career. I want Shark nowhere near a major league mound, at least for the Cubs until he proves he can do something other than give up runs at a comical rate. As for Marmol, hes actually been steller in actual save situations since he became the closer.

I prefer this Heckler article

I really dont want to trade Lee. Hes far too valuable offensively and defensively. Id be willing to live with a Foxpauir paltoon in RF if we could get enough salary relief for Bradley, but not if it meant getting rid of him for no reason. I mentioned in another thread, I wonder if the Marlins would swap Uggla for Bradley, Sure, it would be a brutal defensive middle infield, but wed have Andres Blanco as a late inning defensive sub if needed. I could see the Cubs opening day roster looking like CF Fukudome LF Soriano 1B Lee 3B Ramirez 2B Uggla RF Fox C Soto SS Theriot SP Zambrano SP Lilly SP Dempster SP Wells SP Gorzalanny Bench 1. Hoffpauir 2. Baker/Fontenot 3. Blanco-need a backup SS 4. Fuld/Reed/maybe even Colvin-need a backup CF 5. Hill Pen Heilman Marshall Gaub Stevens Caridad Marmol Diamond/Berg/Grabow Maybe we aquire another starter, pushing Gorz to the pan. Assuming we hang on to Bradley, and keep the Font/Baker platoon at 2B, either Fox or Hoffpauir is likely gone. Id love to have a spot for Scales, but unless theres an injury, I dont see it happening. Hopefully hes been showcased enoguh at enough positions that some low level team would offer him a spot as utility player. Theres much worse out there.