Little Slide Rooter

So what does Tyler have to do for people to believe hes for real again?

We did have a chance to pass Heilman on to the Giants, but nope.

Is this even something that's coming up? Who is on the Cubs now or was on them in recent history who was openly or busted as being racist? And how is Bradley a "distraction" to anyone besides the fans and the media? Are people really thinking that other players on the team are somehow doing poorly because they have Bradley or his comments on their mind? Now thats one thing Ive never understood, the concept of a "clubhouse cancer", they guy who causes other players to do bad because of his off the field personaility. I dont care if you are an investment banker or a fry cook at WHite Castle, your going to work with people you dont like, but that shouldnt stop you from doing your job.

At least someone gets it

I guess we just got him off waivers for nothing. I find it hard to believe that if he had anything left in the tank, the perenially pitching starved Rangers would give him up for nothing, but you never know.

Wow, I misread it to be 10th round pick, not 10th overall pick. I know hes a while removed from that, but TJ can set a guy back a bit. Im actually very intrigued now. Other teams are able to pick up former top prospects and make them stars, why cant we?

Danks turned out pretty good, and Volquez was doing great before you know who got to him, so hopefully theres hope for Diamond. Plus he sounds Jewish, and weve been without ever since Jason Marquis departure, unless you count Rothschild. Sam Fuld is Jewish. I did not know that. Between Kinsler, Youklis, and half of Ryan Braun, its a golden age.

Hopefully for Aaron Miles. doubtful though.

Danks turned out pretty good, and Volquez was doing great before you know who got to him, so hopefully theres hope for Diamond. Plus he sounds Jewish, and weve been without ever since Jason Marquis departure, unless you count Rothschild.

Looks like he had some solid numbers back in his A ball days, but its been downhill since.

I thought he was already planning his retirement. Read somewhere he's starting a dairy farm in Georgia, so he must still have most of his money. I suppose he would be the first black man to start a dairy farm, so that has to be worth something.

thread title changed due to the fact that Im now intrigued by this. heres his career numbers http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=diamon001tho

I have nothing against C Patt. Im glad that Latroy finally overcame Dusty almost derailing his career, and I hop C Patt can succeed. If nothing else, theres always the Newark Bears.

Another reason why I would be trying to get someone from the Red Sox chain in here. No way anyone from an organization that treasures OBP. is going to let Milton go. But, if Hendry is still here that will happen. Just like after '04 when we had to get rid of both Moises and Sammy. Then we will repeat '05 next year. With '06 not too far away. I'm absolutely convinced Bradley is gone at this point. Under normal circumstances I think you are right, but the wild card is Ricketts. There's no telling if he would squash any notion of paying Bradley to play somewhere else. I really cant imagine them just flushing 20 million down the toilet with a new owner coming into power. That would not look good.

There's a chance at this point. 2009 Fuld OPS: .739 2009 Sori OPS: .732 Fuld last 2 weeks OPS: .458 Sori last 2 weeks OPS: .921 Defense certainly plays a part and widens the gap in favor of Fuld, but offensively Soriano has been comparable, at least. Problem is, your 18 million dollar superstar shouldnt be comparable to a 28 year old AAAA player. I understand the knee issue, but I dont know why they arent shutting him down. we have 5 more years of him, so they should want him as healthy as possible, not limping around the bases and the outfield. Maybe it has to do with Soriano not wanting to shut it down? That shouldnt be his decison.

I disagree in a way. Miles is the problem in that it shows our GM would rather throw away money on some garbage veteran as opposed to filling out our last parts of the roster with some young, league minimum kid from the system. Maybe had we done a bit more of that, we could have afforded to upgrade the offense this year at the deadline. Thats the point. But that doesnt make Miles the problem. That makes Hendry the problem. Was Miles supposed to just say no to the free 5 million dollars? Hell no, but it should have been Andres Blanco from jump street. Had Blanco, Darwin Barney, or whoever proves in spring training that he couldnt do the job, then they could have gone out and gotten an Alex Cintron or Esteban German type for league minimum or less, and they couldnt possible have been worse than Miles, but no, Hendry jumped all over Miles like a house wife on the last Tickle Me Elmo at chrismas time. Which is why I don't get how anyone can think Hendry deserves more time here. Sure the next guy could be worse, but it's reached the point where Jim needs to go. He doesnt, but there are some who feel that he shouldnt be fired as a punishment if they dont have something better lined up. Im all for sending him packing, because this entire season has been inexcuseable, and the offseason is a huge part of that. All of his moves, it seems have been to help immediately with no thought of the futurre consequences. I was all for signing Soriano after the 2006 season, but I dont think there was a soul on earth who thought that 8 years was a good idea. There is a part of me that just wants him fired publically, but theres also a part that wants them to amke sure they have something better in the wings. If they really do have someone from the Red Sox regime in mind, by all means make it happen, but if its Coletti or something, hed be no better than Hendry. Also, we should remember that Miles wasnt so much signed as a utility man, but as a platoon partner for FOntenot, and during spring training, it was looking like theyd be a pretty good platoon batting 7th or 8th before the wheels promptyl fell off of both. Hendry just has no patience and likes to get his guy as soon as possible and not wait for a bargain.

This is the theme of the 2009 season.

I disagree in a way. Miles is the problem in that it shows our GM would rather throw away money on some garbage veteran as opposed to filling out our last parts of the roster with some young, league minimum kid from the system. Maybe had we done a bit more of that, we could have afforded to upgrade the offense this year at the deadline. Thats the point. But that doesnt make Miles the problem. That makes Hendry the problem. Was Miles supposed to just say no to the free 5 million dollars? Hell no, but it should have been Andres Blanco from jump street. Had Blanco, Darwin Barney, or whoever proves in spring training that he couldnt do the job, then they could have gone out and gotten an Alex Cintron or Esteban German type for league minimum or less, and they couldnt possible have been worse than Miles, but no, Hendry jumped all over Miles like a house wife on the last Tickle Me Elmo at chrismas time.

The thing abou Hawk doesnt sound so much like an annoucer but some random fan that they let into the booth. I bet if we let Ronnie Woo Woo do a broadcast, it wouldnt be much worse than Hawk.

The problem with the likes of Aaron Miles, Joey Gathright, and Paul Bako is they should have never been given big league contracts. One of the points of spring training is to see what your minor leaguers are capable of, and give them a chance to land those backup jobs. Miles, Gathright, and Bako should have been Blanco, Fuld, and Hill from the get go. If you get deep into spring training and find out that you dont have the right guys to fill out your 25 man roster then guys like Miles and Gathroght will be out there for cheap, or other teams willing to trade them. When Miles was first signed, I didnt mind him as an addition as a cheap utility man, but the 2 year 5 mil deal perplexed me. This being said, as bad as Miles is, hes not the problem. Granted, he shouldnt be on the team, but a utility player has never been a make or break for any team. He should have been DFAd months ago, but he really cant accoutn for the failure of our big guys in the clutch.

There's a chance at this point. 2009 Fuld OPS: .739 2009 Sori OPS: .732 Fuld last 2 weeks OPS: .458 Sori last 2 weeks OPS: .921 Defense certainly plays a part and widens the gap in favor of Fuld, but offensively Soriano has been comparable, at least. Problem is, your 18 million dollar superstar shouldnt be comparable to a 28 year old AAAA player. I understand the knee issue, but I dont know why they arent shutting him down. we have 5 more years of him, so they should want him as healthy as possible, not limping around the bases and the outfield.

Our team isnt good. The good thing about the 2008 team is that there were no easy outs on that team. Soriano Theriot Lee Ramirez Edmonds DeRosa Soto Fukudome(OK, he was an easy out at the time) That lineup was a thing of beauty. Now you have Lee, Ramirez, and Fukudome and then find a way to stack the rest of the turds around them.

If 2009 is any indication of the remainder of Sorianos Cubs career, it could end up going down as the worst MLB contract ever and one of the worst things to ever happen to the Cubs.

1 guy thats starting to intrigue me is Austin Bibens-Dierx. I know he came from an indie league, but at age 24, he practically a grampa in A ball standards, especially low A. Hes doing well at that lvel, but hes a guy I wouldnt mind them rushing straight to Tenessee or Iowa.

They were a good baseball team that lost in the playoffs. The teams I talked about were an embarrassment by spring training. If I was going to be ashamed to be a Cubs fan, it was in the 90-97 timeframe. A) I was young enough to maybe be so irrational that I would be ashamed of being a Cubs fan, B) They were an embarrassing and god awful team. this. When I was younger, I didnt think in terms of palyoffs. Not even stats. I just assumed the big name players/fan favorites like Sandberg, Dunston, Dawson, Grace were the good players no matter what. I didnt follow stats as a kid, and never paid attention to what kind of hot or cold streaks the team or players were on. If Andre Dawson came to bat, Id automatically expect something good to happen. If not, he'll get em next time. I wish I still had that frame of mind, but its gone forever.