lumafia

After his move to the bullpen, I don't think I'd be surprised with anything the Cubs tried to do with him. So, Steve Stone is saying that Zambrano sucks as a pitcher and has no more value (which is close to being accurate), so you might as well get the most out of him by letting him try to hit on a team that can't drive in a run to save their collective lives? I'm not sure I have a problem with that. I think Steve is trying to take a little jab at the organization, which it deserves.

What a nightmare. There are so many things wrong with this team, and so many horrible decisions being made by so many people that it's hard to tell where the fuse was lit and where it ends.

Lee seemed to just stand there and take Z's yelling. I especially appreciated Stone's comment about Lee not being like Barrett. That brought back some happy memories. The fun part about this whole debacle has yet to come. The same fans who've been whining and crying about Lou Piniella not showing any fire, not caring, and not screaming at anyone for their poor performances will be all over Zambrano for this. Imagine if it was Lou instead of Z, what would people be saying instead? They would be saying, "I wonder how Lou pulled that off without falling over dead?" Lou just wants the season to be over so he can move on to some kind of office job with the Yankees. I think he's excited about his chances in the 2010 Bingo draft at the local YMCA in Tampa, FL. Word is, he's a lottery pick.

Lee seemed to just stand there and take Z's yelling. I especially appreciated Stone's comment about Lee not being like Barrett. That brought back some happy memories. The fun part about this whole debacle has yet to come. The same fans who've been whining and crying about Lou Piniella not showing any fire, not caring, and not screaming at anyone for their poor performances will be all over Zambrano for this. Imagine if it was Lou instead of Z, what would people be saying instead? They would be saying, "I wonder how Lou pulled that off without falling over dead?"

Well, probably not the case at all, but ok. It would sure seem that way, no? In what way do the White Sox have a better lineup or rotation than us on paper? I was referring to caring - both care. As far as the rotation goes; if you can't realize how much better the Sox rotation is there's no helping you. Actually, the Cubs starters, and entire pitching staff, has outperformed the Sox this year. And their offenses are virtually identical. Yet, somehow, the Cubs are 8 (soon to be 9) games under .500 and the Sox are 3 (soon to be 4) games over .500. Crazy.

Zambrano's antics were cute at first. It's 2010 now. The guy still hasn't grown up and he's regressed considerably. Jackass might be too kind to describe him right now. I'm not condoning Z's actions, but I would condone it from somebody with a little more credibility. Nothing would make me happier than to see Lee, Byrd, Dempster or Lilly go nuts on the team in the dugout after another 0-10 with runner's in scoring position performance. Of course, coming from Lee it would seem pretty hollow, considering the fact that he's a major contributor to the team's woes.

Z may be a jackass alot of the time, but I have no doubt that he cares about winning. I can't say that for most of the other guys on this team. If we had more guys getting p!ssed off because the team has been sucking, maybe we would have played our way out of this mess already. Most of them look like they are just walking around collecting a paycheck.

more like Village People construction worker :banghead:

What is your non-looking baseball player all-star team? It could be somebody who's body type isn't typical, or someone who throws or hits funny. And what profession should they really be in? My team is going to be heavy (no pun intended) in ex or current Cub players. 1. Lastings Milledge - RF (Rapper) 2. Cal Ripken Jr. - SS (Politician) 3. Prince Fielder - 1B (International Federation of Competitive Eating) 4. Cecil Fielder - DH (International Federation of ADVANCED Competitive Eating) 5. Mike Piazza - C (Truck Driver) 6. Glenallen Hill - LF (Bodyguard) 7. Gary Gaetti - 3B (Car Salesman) 8. Mike Fontenot - 2B (Jockey) 9. Hunter Pence - CF (Badminton) Randy Johnson - Starter (Barber) Walter Young - Reliever (at 6'5, 315 pounds - Professional Wrestler) Fernando Valenzuela - Reliever (Chef) Rod Beck - Closer (Hell's Angels)

Steve Nash considers himself a soccer player who plays basketball, so I guess anything is possible. Sometimes I wonder if anybody on this Cubs team is truly playing baseball. Maybe they are confused and that is why they have sucked. Quick, SOMEBODY TELL THEM IT'S BASEBALL! HURRY!

I think some fans like the sound of an owner who loves the team as much as the fans do. I know that if I had the monetary means, I would be at nearly every Cub game. That being said, you don't have to present to be a fan.

He sucked in July and August of 08, in June of 09, and in June of 10. In reality, it's just too small of a sample size at this point. If he sucks in July and/or August of this year, you may be on to something.

Let's see. Silva has thrown 70 pitches, and the 7, 8 & 9 hitters are due up. Why would you pull him for a guy who was just released because his ERA had eclipsed double digits? Is Lou intentionally sabotaging this team? He better be hurt.

Every pen is "any good" against the Cubs, unfortunately.

Nonsense. Lee was nearly just as bad from May 2008-April 2009. He's had a very unspectaculiar career for a 1B, with a couple stand out years. Hogwash. Didn't Lee finish 09 with a .972 OPS? His numbers have been better since the extension. Based on 162 game averages, his OPS prior to his extension with the Cubs in 06, his career OPS was .847. After the extension, his career OPS is .877. It depends on how you would define "spectacular", but i think he has been very good, and deserves the contract he got. Also, he has had a .908 OPS in a Cub uni, which puts him among the top 20 active OPS in all of baseball right now. If you remove his 2 worst years and his 2 best years, he still has a career OPS of .871, which is very respectable. Also, having the 122nd highest OPS in the history of MLB baseball is spectacular. Lee sucks this year, but he also sucked from May 2008 - April 2009. This is not unprecedented. I'm not saying he didn't necessarily deserve his contract, but he's been a second rate 1B the vast majority of his career, and should not be a high payroll team's three hitter year in year out. Well, why didn't you just say "I can't believe the #3 hitter on a $150 mil payrol team is a career .870 OPS 1B"? Then you could have saved me some typing.

Absolutely. Ramirez is a fabulous second banana. Lee has on occasion been a star, but he's usually just an also ran in the 1B department. The really good lineups have ARod or Manny or Pujols or Utley. If you are a huge budget team, you should have one of that type of player, plus the Aramis type. I agree. As I said earlier, the biggest mistakes Hendry has made has been who he has chosen to spend the big money on, and who he has chosen to spend any money on. I guess we have to live with Soriano and Z to be our A-Rod and Sabathia.

Nonsense. Lee was nearly just as bad from May 2008-April 2009. He's had a very unspectaculiar career for a 1B, with a couple stand out years. Hogwash. Didn't Lee finish 09 with a .972 OPS? His numbers have been better since the extension. Based on 162 game averages, his OPS prior to his extension with the Cubs in 06, his career OPS was .847. After the extension, his career OPS is .877. It depends on how you would define "spectacular", but i think he has been very good, and deserves the contract he got. Also, he has had a .908 OPS in a Cub uni, which puts him among the top 20 active OPS in all of baseball right now. If you remove his 2 worst years and his 2 best years, he still has a career OPS of .871, which is very respectable. Also, having the 122nd highest OPS in the history of MLB baseball is spectacular.

Lee and Aramis are like the last guys I think of on this team in terms of having bad contracts. My point is that the teams with big payrolls tend to lock up most of their money in good players whereas the Cubs seem to love spreading it around too much overpaying for the wrong guys time and time again. Yeah, but Lee and Aramis fit the description from your previous post pretty well. I disagree. Yeah, Lee had 2005, but wrist injury or not that didn't make him a sure thing. The Cubs shelling out after one (admittedly amazing) year for a guy expecting him to be THE guy as the #3 hitter is indicative of how they've spending their payroll poorly as its expanded. And even Aramis isn't what I'm talking about. You look at the teams typically spending at or above the Cubs and their idea of at least one "sure thing" is going and getting someone who is basically a HOF lock. Aramis has been great for this team, but for the money they had available they should have been able to find someone better than him (though I'm not saying instead of him) and definitely better than Lee. No team is going to spend smart 100% of the time, but for the money they had available the Cubs should have been able to come away with someone better than Lee or Soriano or even Aramis. I agree that Soriano's contract is way over the top, but the Lee and Aramis contracts were reasonable. A 5/75 contract for a 27 year old 3B who was averaging a 930 OPS in the 3 years prior to the extension is a fair contract. Nobody could have foreseen the shoulder injury, or its lingering effects. The Lee contract was a little less excusable, but not by much. In Hendry's defense (I can't believe I'm saying that), when healthy, Lee has been more productive since the extension. This year has certainly been an unusual year for Lee, and if he were on his career averages from the past 5 years, we wouldn't be having this discussion. The Soriano, Zambrano and Bradley contracts were inexcusable. The Grabow and Samardzija contracts deserve some criticism as well.

Because the laws of physics do not allow a left-handed hitter to hit off of a left-handed pitcher. It would cause a temporal rift in the space-time continuim and we would all cease to exist. Unless of course, the left-handed hitter was carrying a flux capacitor, in which case we would probably be fine.

He must have the goods on Lou and Cubs management. It's all about the grit and being a throwback ballplayer. :roll: He does lead the league in grit, I think. Also, in his defense, since the club has asked him to start taking more pitches and being more selective, it is taking him longer to make outs.

And guys who don't clog the bases with walks, and are aggressive at the plate.

The more I review his website and read about this situation, the less I care about this hiring. Having a guy with a high capacity for developing relative statistics when you have an organization full of people who are unable, or unwilling, to apply them is completely pointless.

Doesn't sound good for Hendry. Apparently, Kaplan has his eye on a GM position. “Kaplan's dream of becoming a GM is not as far-fetched as it once may have seemed. Many a baseball manager has spent seasons learning statistics and scouting before heading to the dugout…Making sense of players and their stats is probably the single most important job of the manager.” v Contract Professional cover story

Yeah...some of it is interesting. I think we just have the other side of the spectrum. You have baseball guys who think they know everything and don't need those silly ol things called stats, and you have stat guys who can't be told anything that doesn't come from a spreadsheet. The reality is that you need someone who falls in the middle....or....moreso to the stat side. ;) I particularly like this article: http://ariball.com/news/alfonso_soriano.html He uses his expert Cal-tech trained expert analysis to determine that Alfonso Soriano wasn't performing as well after he hurt his knee as he was before he hurt his knee. :-k

http://ariball.com/