Bruno7481

I don't think Piniella has much support here. My theory on Piniella. He was an awful fit in TB with that kind fo team. Low-payroll and very young, and a terrible team. I know he took the job because he is from the TB area and wanted to be close to his parents I believe. In Seatlle, with a mix of some young guys and established players he was pretty good. The payroll was larger, therefore leading to more opportunity for development and player acquisition. If he got the Cubs job, and the Cubs went out and improved this ballclub I don't think he would do a bad job at all. He proved in Seattle that he can win with this type of team. I don't think you would see terrible results like his TB tenure if he took the Cubs job. It goes back to Hendry getting the players to make this happen though. We have late 90's Griffey, A-Rod, Big Unit, Buhner, and Edgar Martinez? Sweet. I can bold things too.

I don't think Piniella has much support here. My theory on Piniella. He was an awful fit in TB with that kind fo team. Low-payroll and very young, and a terrible team. I know he took the job because he is from the TB area and wanted to be close to his parents I believe. In Seatlle, with a mix of some young guys and established players he was pretty good. The payroll was larger, therefore leading to more opportunity for development and player acquisition. If he got the Cubs job, and the Cubs went out and improved this ballclub I don't think he would do a bad job at all. He proved in Seattle that he can win with this type of team. I don't think you would see terrible results like his TB tenure if he took the Cubs job. It goes back to Hendry getting the players to make this happen though.

Ehhh.... Wake me up when someone is hired. There are going to be so many reports, often conflicting, on who has been interviewed or is being considered. I think Girardi is getting a bit of a bum wrap around here. There is no real evidence to support any of the things being said about him expet the Loria confrontation. I'm not in love with the guy, but I don't think he is a bad choice either. Brenly, no opinion really. He's been around the team everyday for the past two years. Don't know if that is a good or bad thing though. Lou, he has done some good things, outside of TB of course. I'm not as anti-Lou as most around here, but I see the concerns. He managed one of the better teams in the league from 2000-2002. I'm just sitting back and waiting for it all to unfold. I beleive the manager position is important. But I'm more looking forward to player personnel moves.

The Padres have looked a lot like the Cubs in this series... Un-freakin-real. The Cardinals will be in the WS

I have this strange feeling that St. Louis will somehow make it to the World Series.

Blum was running Pujols back to first but let go of the ball way too early. Should have runned him back a little further before he made the throw to Gonzalez. Of course it didn't help matters that Branyan was nowhere to be found.

You're still counting on Prior or Miller to be healthy April 1st and exceeding the payroll. Did you lock Zambrano up? Probably the best line-up yet, but your rotation ends up schmidt and Z and pray for D. You're strongly discounting Hill. I think the money is there to lock Zambrano up as well. I'll crunch the numbers and be right back. I like Hill, especially how he finished the year. I hope he continues it next year, but I'm not counting on him as a sure thing. His HR rate worries me a bit, he gave up quite a few, 16 in 99 innings.

I doubt it. As much as I have read on this message board about that debate I just can't agree with it. I beleive the manager can and does make a difference. Certainly not as much as the players do, but they still have an impact.

I don't put a lot of stock into any of these date deadlines. I think Hendry is just covering himself in case it would happen to take that long. If a candidate is interviewed and things go well I think you could see a hiring before the playoffs end.

Considering his boss said there were issues, I think that supports it right there. I wouldn't expect Beinfest to outline all the issues. Those are personel matters. I don't call it rumor when the one who makes the hires says that he wasn't cooperative. I think that's getting it from about as close to the source as you can. Certainly, you might argue that Beinfest is lying, but wouldn't that be speculating as well. Sure, it is all speculation, thats the problem. It is my opinion that Beinfest has to "sell" this firing. Would you agree? Girardi, didn't set the world on fire, but he had a lot more success with that team than anybody would have ever thought at the beginning of the year. There was a blowup with loria and it has all been downhill from there. I tend to think that was the main issue and Girardi didn't have a chance to save his job after that. All of this other talk can support the firing. It is all speculation though.

I'm not saying there may not be issues there. I was just wondering if there was anything to support that besides all of this rumor and speculation, thats all.

What controlling tendencies? I have to ask again. In another thread you refrenced some quotes by Beinfest. What do you think he is going to say? He has to make this firing look good, because a lot have/will continue to question it. I'll give you the blowup with Loria, which I think was justified. That is the only thing we know of for sure. All of this other stuff is merely speculation, all from the guys who did the firing and need to make it look justified. Whether you want to believe Beinfest or not, his comments are part of the record. You choose not to believe him, I choose to lend some credence to his statement which certainly implies that Girardi was not willing to cooperate and collaborate with the front office. Maybe it's spin, but maybe it's not. Maybe his lashing out at Loria is proof that he has issues with authority, maybe it's not. But it is certainly enough to cause reservations. Do you beleive Hendry when he praised Dusty?

I wouldn't mind the A's winning it. I'm not a Beane fanatic, but I think he does a good job. I do think he gets a lot of unwarranted criticism, and a lot of unwarranted over the top praise as well.

What controlling tendencies? I have to ask again. In another thread you refrenced some quotes by Beinfest. What do you think he is going to say? He has to make this firing look good, because a lot have/will continue to question it. I'll give you the blowup with Loria, which I think was justified. That is the only thing we know of for sure. All of this other stuff is merely speculation, all from the guys who did the firing and need to make it look justified.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-061003cubssearch,1,5074110.story?coll=cs-cubs-headlines

:)

Exactly. The all-time favorite bus trip film in my playing days was "Joe Dirt" Don't know how it came to be, but we must have watched that thing 500 times.

Good. People like to run with that crap. Even if they don't have any factual evidence to support it.

Bellhorn up with bases loaded, one out. Wanna guess what he did? .. .... .... ..... ...... ....... ....... ........ ........... ...... Strikeout! Shocking.

It sounds to me that he was implying that Girardi was not good at collaborating with the rest of the baseball people in the Marlins organization. I'm not sure that is the type of person who would make a good choice. I'm also certain that these issues will likely keep Hendry from pursuing Girardi. I'm not saying he didn't have issues, but Beinfest isn't exactly an unbiased source. Like I said before, they Marlins organization will have to do a lot of spin control to promote his firing as a positive thing. based on only on his better than expected record and support of players. Hendry said great things about Baker, did you beleive him?

I just don't get all the "my way or the highway" rhetoric you use when speaking of Girardi. There not much proof to base that on. The only thing we know for 100% is that he confronted Loria about yelling at the umpire. Thats it. Who knows for sure what else has gone on. Not even sure if Girardi would be my choice either, but I don't think he would be a bad choice.

I'd probably go with Brenly. I don't like the issues and baggage that belong to Girardi. I'd hope that some of Len's knowlede had at least rubbed off on Brenly and that he might consider things like run expectancy in making decisions. What issues? Him telling Loria to quit yelling at the umpires? It's Girardi's job to communicate with the umpires, not the owner. thats not necessarilly "baggage." I'd also have to have a stronger endorsement of Brenly other than he's sat with a PBP guy the past two years. It probably won't be either one of these guys anyway. No. It seems pretty well known that Girardi didn't listen to suggestions or directives from the GM either. . What didn't he listen to? Maybe I just haven't seen confirmation of this, I believe you. Is their hard evidence of this? Or just speculation with the firing? I don't have specifics, but after the Loria incident, there were reports that he had feuded with the GM as well. I don't think the Marlins ever released a laundry list as part of the press releases, but I think there's sufficient reasons to believe that Girardi was going to do things his way regardless of what his superiors thought. Well then, I think it is a little unfair to claim he has "baggage", without any specifics. The organization will leak anything they want, in order to justify the firing. Without knowing for sure I just think it is all speculation.

I'd probably go with Brenly. I don't like the issues and baggage that belong to Girardi. I'd hope that some of Len's knowlede had at least rubbed off on Brenly and that he might consider things like run expectancy in making decisions. What issues? Him telling Loria to quit yelling at the umpires? It's Girardi's job to communicate with the umpires, not the owner. thats not necessarilly "baggage." I'd also have to have a stronger endorsement of Brenly other than he's sat with a PBP guy the past two years. It probably won't be either one of these guys anyway. No. It seems pretty well known that Girardi didn't listen to suggestions or directives from the GM either. . What didn't he listen to? Maybe I just haven't seen confirmation of this, I believe you. Is their hard evidence of this? Or just speculation with the firing?

.263/.374/.397/.771 Is this the beginning of a decline? The OBP is good, but thats about it. Considering he's making twice as much as Jones, I think I'd rather keep Jock. It's not the beginning. The beginning was a couple years ago. But even still, he provides the one thing the Cubs need above all else and will probably continue to provide that for a couple years. But I think it's pointless to discuss at this time. True, they do need OBP. But does the difference in the OBP outweigh the larger SLG disparity?

I'd probably go with Brenly. I don't like the issues and baggage that belong to Girardi. I'd hope that some of Len's knowlede had at least rubbed off on Brenly and that he might consider things like run expectancy in making decisions. What issues? Him telling Loria to quit yelling at the umpires? It's Girardi's job to communicate with the umpires, not the owner. thats not necessarilly "baggage." I'd also have to have a stronger endorsement of Brenly other than he's sat with a PBP guy the past two years. It probably won't be either one of these guys anyway. The owner can pretty much do whatever he or she pleases. It is not up to the coach to do anything. Nor should he. The owner signs the checks and gets to yell at whomever he pleases. Yes, but the owner hires a manager to handle on field duties. It still isn't his place to do that, whether he signs the checks or not.