Derwood

A few more wins and we'll be as good as the D-Rays! :shock:

how about it's the players' faults? Millionaires need an old man to motivate them?

We don't actually disagree. I was only defending him on the two specific points I made. Everything you said is true.

I'm pretty sick of seeing 2000 posts a day blasting Jim Hendry. Believe me, he has done a lot of bad things as GM, but there are two points that I wish to defend him on, if only because no one has made the case for him. In the spirit of any good debate, both sides should receive equal time. 1. "I can't believe how bad this $95 million team is playing" Let's be fair here. The team that has been on the field the last month is NOT a $95 million team. Since Lee's injury, your basic starting lineup has included Murton, Pierre, Jones, Ramirez, Cedeno, Hairston/Neifi, Walker, Barrett. That's approximately $30 million. The starting rotation has been Maddux, Z, Marshall, Hill, Guzman, around $16.5 million. Another $5.5 mil for the bench and $13.5 for the bullpen and you have had a $65.5 million team on the field for a month. It's not fair to compare this group to other $95 million teams because the big money guys aren't on the field. It is fair, however, to criticize Hendry for overpaying many of these players. So in truth, it's actually a $65 million group of players who are only worth about $50 million. 2. "Injuries aren't an excuse/Hendry should have had more depth" Yes, injuries are one excuse for poor play. Little could be expected with 3 rookies in the rotation. An MVP candidate is out of the lineup. These things do matter. Three of the injuries (Miller/Wood/Prior) were known in the off season, and many here bash Hendry for not doing more to compensate. But let's be realistic. The Cubs have over $16.5 million invested in those three pitchers (or about 17% of the payroll). It's unrealistic to expect Hendry to invest that much more money to insure solid starters 1-5. Particularly when it was thought that Wood and Prior would be back in the rotation earlier than they have turned out to be. The Lee injury was a freak thing, not Hendry's fault, and no one in baseball has a bench full of starter quality players that can plug that sort of hole in the lineup. What do people want? By all reports Hendry has tried very hard to trade for a 1B but other GM's aren't stupid. They know the situation we're in here and they can ask very steep prices for marginal players. I'm not a Hendry apologist by any stretch. I think he values the wrong attributes in players, I think he bids against himself, and overall this just isn't that good a team. But I thought these two points needed to be addressed. I"m putting my suit of armor on in preparation for the bashing I'm about to take :lol:

nor was he fired. He was interim

Yes, that's about the dumbest thing I've heard in a while

NO way he doesn't lay down a bunt in at least one of those ab's :evil: all bunts

unlike past years, losing to the Soxdoesn't bother me this season. They are in so many ways superior that it's nearly a foregone conclusion we'll lose.

May I suggest that the Cubs simply don't show up tomorrow? The forfeit will go down at a 9-0 loss, but that's probably better than the blood bath that would happen if they actually played

Dusty will never be fired

he's a lefty starter. someone would sign him right away

Yeah, I don't see it. You aren't allowed to talk about Dusty in a thread that doesn't have Dusty in the title? Dusty and Neifi are tied at the hip. It's hard to discuss either one without bringing up the other. I meant that it has veered entirely away from Neifi and into JR's opinions of Dusty (and other people's opinions about the opinions)

the one run will be a neifi perez inside the park bunt

Topic says Neifi Recent posts discuss Dusty (again) Thread freefalling towards a lock

Yes, the entire left side of the infield (plus the left fielder) were in the bathroom at the time

I'm sure you realize, of course, that this won't happen. Yes, I do. They'll do whatever they can to get 15 second basemen involved in the game. but not Theriot

$100 every time someone starts a thread about Jones, Dusty, Hendry or Neifi

You do know that Maddux won't be batting today, don't you? I'd rather have him hit that Neifi :D Chicks dig the longball. Maddux hits for himself (instead of using the DH) and bats 5th. 2 for 4 with a HR and 5 rbi

and people were surprised by how Alou and Mercker acted? Apparently this reaction is indoctrinated at the Welcome to the Cubs player orientation

I have a theory. Perhaps the Cubs have an Intellivision in the clubhouse where they play Major League Baseball. On that game you could bunt a home run. No joke.

If Maddux goes yard on Buehrle it would make my year.

Um, didn't Neifi stroke an RBI single up the middle in his previous at-bat? That wasn't enough to help his confidence?

I'm glad we miss Vazquez, and who knows how Contreras will do coming off the DL. Is the second game Garcia or Garland? Clearly Jon would be better than Freddy

HR Derby update anyone? I can't wait to know I'm down by 40 to Truff

Dusty already said "It wasn't a bad play" so no heads will roll