abuck1220

i remember at the end of '04 when the 'the cubs hit too many homeruns' hysteria was at its peak. fox flashed a graphic of the five teams that scored the highest % of runs via the hr (as if to say it was a bad thing)...and every team, except the cubs, was well over .500 and in the playoff hunt.

I'd like to see Prior be forced to pitch the next 500 innings or until his arms, legs and head fall off. you must not have been around in '03. they tried that.

yeah...i'm gonna need cbs to add the points that harang and clemens scored last night...

pagan should really never start.

i'd be more surprised if he said it about somebody who he wasn't trying to rationalize benching. this is the guy that limited cedeno's PT because his throws tailed funny. i'm not so sure he wouldn't say anything to get neifster out there.

yeah, i'll have paps, street, fielder and martin to keep points free. not a ton, but better than nothing. i could have enough room for four of lee, aj, vlad, soriano, tejada, teix, sheets, etc. you'll have some competition for those trades this year, my friend.

that must have been some hug.

dusty, is that you? i'm actually shocked cedeno hasn't been benched already.

benched bush, who went from being a top 30 SP to the brewers mop up guy...he won't get his scheduled start this week. put sheets, who was activated from the DL, into the lineup.

i'm not trying to turn this into another hill debate. i was focusing more on the "we don't make snap judgments" line, which is exactly opposite the truth.

awesome.

where you moving to? i've been a pathetic i-cub fan this summer...i'm ashamed of myself.

ok, why the f are the brewers bringing in their second best SP to take losses in relief?

nice.

first of all, that's not true. second of all, it's fairly amusing to have johnny .500 talk about people being "completely unrealistic."

oh boy, speaking of awful. have you ever heard that guy on xm? he needs to take a few public speaking classes at a local junior college...he stutters and stammers around like he's a fifth grader giving a speech. his interviews are too awkward to even listen to. as a whole, the guys on xm are possibly worse than the guys on espn. the only guy worth a crap is the guy who does the fantasy baseball show in the mid-morning.

ugh, what are you guys talking about...ravech is awful. i've never seen a guy try to force so many spur of the moment puns into a sentence.

I actually like the idea of holding out for something significant, even though he's not really worth much. Teams get stupid when going after name pitchers. You never know. well, yeah, hold out as long as you can. but if he's left to rot on the cubs' roster 8/1 because hendry couldn't get a top of the line prospect for him, i'm going to be kinda upset. if the cubs were in the dodgers position and they traded murton (who is half the prospect ethier is) for a guy like maddux, i'd be irate. i can't get too excited for the cubs being in sell mode for the first time in a while anyway because of how hendry and co. judge prospects and draft picks. i'm not getting my hopes up. Sort of contradictory: you don't trust Hendry to do the right thing in evaluating other teams' talent (a legit criticisim, IMO). But now Hendry is apparently willing to do the right thing and go after a good one, but you are killing him for shooting too high. Can't have it both ways, no? no, it's not contradictory. i don't think it's worth the risk of holding out for a top prospect because a) i doubt maddux will net a top prospect and b) i doubt i'll think much of hendry's idea of a top prospect anyway. now, if he's really after ethier, then i'll give him some credit (as far as talent evaluation), though i'm not 100% convinced that's the case. OK, but if he is in fact after Ethier (as is being reported) and is holding out in an attempt to get him, wouldn't that be a good thing? How can you criticize him for that? because he's not going to get him. on one hand, i'd be glad that hendry appreciates ethier's ability. but at the same time, there's no way he's going to get him, so he's wasting his time.

is it so ridiculous to at least consider the possibility that soriano's just gotten better?

I actually like the idea of holding out for something significant, even though he's not really worth much. Teams get stupid when going after name pitchers. You never know. well, yeah, hold out as long as you can. but if he's left to rot on the cubs' roster 8/1 because hendry couldn't get a top of the line prospect for him, i'm going to be kinda upset. if the cubs were in the dodgers position and they traded murton (who is half the prospect ethier is) for a guy like maddux, i'd be irate. i can't get too excited for the cubs being in sell mode for the first time in a while anyway because of how hendry and co. judge prospects and draft picks. i'm not getting my hopes up. Sort of contradictory: you don't trust Hendry to do the right thing in evaluating other teams' talent (a legit criticisim, IMO). But now Hendry is apparently willing to do the right thing and go after a good one, but you are killing him for shooting too high. Can't have it both ways, no? no, it's not contradictory. i don't think it's worth the risk of holding out for a top prospect because a) i doubt maddux will net a top prospect and b) i doubt i'll think much of hendry's idea of a top prospect anyway. now, if he's really after ethier, then i'll give him some credit (as far as talent evaluation), though i'm not 100% convinced that's the case.

OPS Home/Road - 1.042/.879 Doesn't seem to be bothered by the size of his home park. exactly. imagine how he'd be doing if he was hitting in a good park. Yeah, just imagine him in a place like Arlington. if he were hitting like he is hitting this year in arlington, his numbers would be even better.

I actually like the idea of holding out for something significant, even though he's not really worth much. Teams get stupid when going after name pitchers. You never know. well, yeah, hold out as long as you can. but if he's left to rot on the cubs' roster 8/1 because hendry couldn't get a top of the line prospect for him, i'm going to be kinda upset. if the cubs were in the dodgers position and they traded murton (who is half the prospect ethier is) for a guy like maddux, i'd be irate. i can't get too excited for the cubs being in sell mode for the first time in a while anyway because of how hendry and co. judge prospects and draft picks. i'm not getting my hopes up.

hendry's dreaming if he thinks he can get ethier for what's left of maddux's old bones. and the cubs are foolish if they refuse to move maddux unless they get something great in return. opening up his spot in the rotation is return enough.

While I agree with your thought process, I find it hard to lump Maddux (a hall of fame 300+ winning pitcher) in with the rest of those scrubs. Pierre has been playing really well as of late and Maddux numbers aren't bad for a projected 5th starter. pierre was absolutely worthless the first three months or whatever of the season. it's so nice of him to turn it on now that the cubs are 25 games under .500 so he can salvage a nice contract out of the whole ordeal. maddux is not being paid like a 5th starter, and his performance over the past three months has fallen below what you'd want out of a fifth starter. no matter how you slice it, those two have hurt the cubs this year much more than rich hill has. yet baker is acting as though he's at the end of his rope w/ hill. Even if Pierre played well I highly doubt it would have had much of an effect on the Cubs record this year. Maddux has the 29th best ERA in the NL this year which would put him in at a low #2/ high #3 and the 16th best WHIP in the NL. I would hardly consider that to be numbers "below what you'd want out of a fifth starter."

You would have to point that out. :x if it makes you feel any better, it may be the most points you can score when your SP gives up 7 runs in 5 1/3.