rawdog20

All I can say is WOW, what the hell happened to these Cubs. They played so well against St. Louis and Pittsburgh and then just [expletive] the bed with the Mets. If they were getting beat straight up, I could handle it, but they look atrocious out there. I don't even recognize this team, Bryant and Rizzo have been absolutely horrible offensively among many others, and Bryant has even been worse defensively. I never thought the day would come that I would trust Castro more than Baez and Bryant defensively, but I do. The bats have been terrible all around, the only thing I have to say about that is STOP TRYING TO HIT A HOME RUN AT EVERY DAM AT BAT!!!! Just get on base and trust the guy behind you, I know it may not be easy, but lets face it, you don't have any choice. Choke up on that bat and go for easy hits, put some pressure on these clowns! I was pissed after game 2 but I have to say game 3 was even worse, I thought I lost my damn mind screaming at the TV like a jackass. This isn't the team I've been watching all year, this is some scrub 2007 or 2008 playoff team. The sad thing is I thought the bullpen were the ones to worry about going into the playoffs, and they are the only ones that are playing well. All I ask from the Cubs are two things, #1. Stop playing scared but rather play angry. #2. Which is more important to me, if you're going to get knocked out, at least burn out the like 2003 Cubs, and for the love of God don't fade away like the 2007 and 2008 Cubs. One last thing, I guarantee without a doubt that Daniel Murphy is roiding like a madman. Dude averages a dozen home runs in 162 games a year, but he gets into the playoffs and turns into some golden boy that can hit off the best pitching in the league? COME ON MAN!!! Dude is on a contract year, he's roiding and everyone knows it, but nobody wants to acknowledge it, it's disgusting. Come on Cubs, just win that damn world series already so I can retire from here and stop ranting like some idiot!!!! Yours Truly, ****RAWDOG 4 EVA!!!!****

That's right, Rawdog is in Pittsburgh and has tickets to the game. It's a nice city and the people have been friendly, but it's time to show them who's the boss. Arrieta is on board and he's not backing down one bit. All I ask is get his back, this guy is a godsend and he is going to destroy the Pirates. He's pumped, I'm pumped, and everyone's pumped, so let's get this. I mean, why the hell not this year? We got the momentum and have been killing it. We have excellent team chemistry, and have the best Cubs manager of all time. Have a little faith and let's show them we are no longer pushovers but rather the tyrants!!! Long live Jake "Longshanks" Arrieta!! The tyrant himself! And I swear if I hear another bandwagon fan complain about not bringing kris Bryant right away, they will be sorry!!! ****RAWDOG 4 EVA****

I love how every other kris Bryant thread remains in cub discussions but the one I posted yesterday gets moved to rants. Which ends up getting lumped together with people talking about their Comcast bill and hemroid problems. Thanks for trying to censor me nsbb, now blow me you communists.

Yup

Well first thing first, I'm excited for this season for the first time in a loooooooooong time. Not because I think we are going to win the world series, but because I believe the Cubs will play some competitve ball. The potential for this team is through the roof, and even though I have some doubts, they will be fun to watch MOST of the time. I sincerely hope Maddon can get these kids fundamentally sound though. I know that's an uphill battle, but if he can't, then who can? I also would like to take the time to say thank you to my boy Ricky Renteria for his time spent here. I thought he did a pretty decent job considering the circumstances. It was kinda shady in what the Cubs did to Renteria but you can't really blame the Cubs when they had the opportunity to get Maddon. I'm pumped to see Rizzo, Hendricks, Arrieta, Soler, and Bryant play. I think people will be shocked by how well Hendricks and Arrieta pitch this year. These two are studs and will prove that to us when they get hot in May/June. Bryant is the most anticipated player to see play this year for obvious reasons, and I think he will do pretty decent this year. And yes, I did forget Castro and Baez on this list on purpose. These two.....where do I even start. I think we all know how I feel about Castro, he's not necessarily a Jay Cutler by any means, but I would say close to a D Rose. He has the talent but is broken and will probably never reach anywhere near his potential. He will not be an all star in my book however I believe he could be a contributing piece to help the Cubs win the WS. As for Baez, he's risky business, I honestly get nervous every time he is up at bad. I love that violent swing he has, but my god the swing and misses. He has a A LOT of work to do with his plate discipline and strike zone. It's like watching Sosa in his final years in Chicago. He is high risk but could pan out to be high reward if the coaching staff can get through to him. Fortunately for the Cubs, they can afford to see what he can do this year without it costing the Cubs anything significant. Because they aren't going to to make the playoffs this year but they will be close. And the Cubs have enough prospects, they could afford to see if Baez is boom or bust. Finally, all I have to say is F#$ the [expletive] about the 107 years without a WS and the stupid goat curse. SCREW the goat! It's time for the Cubs players and fans to stop worrying about losing. It's time for this team to have that killer instinct in where the other teams fear us. And I believe by the end of the season, this team will be dangerous. So lets stop worrying if the Cubs are going to make mistakes but rather expect them to do the right things. The Cubs need a William Wallace to lead them into battle, and I believe the Cubs finally found him in Joe Maddon. AND HOW BOUT DEM CUBS THO! Rest easy, EAZY-E-BANKS Your Truly, $$$$RAWDOG 4 EVA$$$$

First and foremost, I would like to start off and share my new years resolution, which consists of posting a lot more in 2014 and calling out all the bums on these discussion boards. One thing I can't stand about people who pretend to know baseball on here, is that they regurgitate some random bs baseball statistic that probably shouldn't even be recorded in the mlb anymore and act like it's a crucial statistic. They think they know more because a normal baseball fan may not know what this statistic means or how it actually factors into baseball. But in reality, these statistics are pretty much meaningless and a waste of time to even evaluate. I think these people actually think they are going to be Billy Beane's next assistant but in reality they are nothing but a bunch of hipsters of baseball. Or even better, the "Joe Bucks" of baseball who probably watched moneyball one too many times. These are the same people who called me out when I said Theriot is a better SS than Cedeno, Rameriz sucked, that I wasn't buying into Castro, and Sveum was lost when it came to managing. I'LL I GOTTA SAY IS I TOLD YOU SO!!!! Well lets see, Theriot was a better SS than Cedeno, Rameriz did suck, Sveum was a terrible manager, and Castro was awful last year. If you ask me, Castro is well on track to be the next Rameriz, perform when it doesn't matter and only hustle when he feels like it. I think he seriously picked up every possible bad habit from Rameriz that he could pick up. But the main habit I can't stand is his apathy and terrible work ethic, he could be good but he just doesn't care. And with Rizzo performing terrible as well, Epstein had to fire Sveum. It had nothing to do with the record, no body could make this team win, the problem was that Sveum wasn't respected in the club house and couldn't get through to these young guys. Especially princess Castro, which they had no choice but to fire Sveum before it's too late to get through to Castro.(who still has potential) Oh and I'll beat you to the punch and bring up how I was wrong about Big Z. But Big Z could still be playing baseball if he wasn't mismanaged throughout his whole career. He had the right stuff, but he never had the right manager who knew how to talk to him. Now let's discuss Ricketts and Epstein. Ricketts is a an idiot, he is turning Wrigley into a circus with these jumbotrons and bringing in a mascot. THIS ISN'T DISNEYLAND, this is baseball and all we want to do is win! As for Epstein, I'm still 100% behind him. I love the signing of Renteria, Renteria and Epstein are on the same page, and Renteria will have the respect of the club house. Renteria knows how to get through to these young guys and is the best chance to get through to Castro. And if Princess Castro doesn't comply? He'll discard him out the window like a cigarette butt. As long as these young players have a good work ethic, Renteria should be able to get through to these players.. And if he cant get through to players like Castro, well I guarantee it wasn't because of Renteria that the player didn't live up to there potential. My boy Ricky should be able to right this ship and start getting this team where it needs to be. Yours Truly, ****RAWDOG 4 EVA****

I don't get how Brenly is getting thrown in front of the bus for telling like it is. Someone had to call those overpaid bums because nobody else was going to. If anything you should appreciate that we actually had an announcer who was brutally honest. This isn't the disney channel, their should be no catering to the players and sugar coating everything. They get paid millions to play this game and if they stink it should be known to them. if they don't like it then they need to grow a pair. ****RAWDOG 4 EVA****

So I was at game 3 of the Cubs/Sox game last Wednesday, and we all witnessed the Cubs get spanked 6-0. Now I wasn't necessarily upset with the loss, but rather the few plays I had the opportunity to witness while I was there. In particular, I recall a play where there was a RBI bloop single to right field. Now at first I was at upset with Dejesus because he couldn't get there in time to make the catch. But then I asked myself why did Sveum have those players playing so deep in the first place? I mean the wind was blowing in at an exceptional rate, and you have outfielders playing only a few steps away from the warning track? There is no reason you should have these players playing this deep when the wind is blowing in unless maybe you have Dunn or Konerko at the plate. Now I told myself at the beginning of the season that I wasn't going to pick on Sveum because he is a brand new manager on a bad/young team so I let it go. I even held my tongue when I would completely disagree with the way he handles the bull pen, and I mean I thought I caught a few glimpses of Dusty out there this year. But that was until I witnessed the second bloop hit in shallow outfield shortly after the first bloop single. I thought I was having deja vu, I mean he didn't make any adjustments after mismanaging the outfielders the first time. I'm not a manager by any means but isn't your job to make adjustments and manage your players? People may say I'm blowing this out of proportion, but honestly this is what exactly is wrong with the Cubs. Sveum was so scared about the ball getting hit over the outfielders heads and playing it safe that he didn't use the wind to his advantage and just manage. And that's the problem, this team is more concerned about not losing the game rather the trying to win the game. And there are quite a few players on this team with this same mentality. I mean how many times did we see Soriano play the ball off the wall rather trying to catch it. How many times did Soriano, Lee, Ramirez, and Soto do absolutely nothing in the playoffs because they were outright playing scared. How many times did we ignore Ramirez's lack of effort and see him ignore his batting coach even if he was batting .100 for 2 months. How many times did we ignore Marmol's wild antics and watch him not listen to his pitching coach. How many times are we going to make excuses for Castro's mental errors. These players are more scared to make a mistake or just are complacent than they are about playing to win the game. Other teams feed off this fear and complacency and that's why we haven't won a world series in over a 100 years. Ron Santo played the game to win, and he wasn't scared to fail or make a mistake. Santo didn't tolerate poor attitudes and complacency because he wanted to win more than anybody, and this obviously continued into the broadcast booth after hearing how upset he would get with the team at times. I'm not saying Sveum is going to be a bad manager because it's too early to tell and he's learning as he goes. But Sveum definitely needs to change his attitude and approach on how he manages the team and play to win rather than not to lose. I do believe the Cubs overall are heading in the right direction. And I do believe that Epstein has what it takes to bring a long overdue world series to the Cubs organization. But he needs to remove the cancers of this team first. He made a great move on finally getting rid of Ramirez last year, but that was only 1 of many much needed moves. I mean Ramirez always had good stats, but never came through when you needed him the most. He would only dive for balls when he felt like it, and he never was clutch in the playoffs. The guy had a poor attitude, work ethic, and refused to play through pain. I know people will crucify me for saying this, but it wouldn't be the first time. Unfortunately I see a lot of Ramirez in Castro. Castro puts up nice stats and has a strong arm but I don't see him coming through in the clutch offensively or defensively. It's not that I doubt him physically, but rather the mental aspect of his game. He just doesn't seem to be in the game mentally whether he is walking off the field with 2 outs (lets not forget Bradley did the samething) or making an ill-advised throw to first. You can't force a player to change his attitude from within the organization,but rather the player is the only one that can change his approach to the game. I don't think Castro is the cornerstone of the Cubs like the organization hopes for. I don't see him being a leader or a significant difference maker for the team. Don't get me wrong, he is a good player but I don't see him being anymore than another Ramirez on the team. He puts up nice stats but he will never be a hall of famer. I'm not saying trade him for nothing, but if you could get some significant players (especially young proven pitching) for Castro, I would trade him in a heartbeat. Heck maybe he will change and grow into a Ron Santo, but I'm skeptical. I know people will call me crazy but I rather have 9 Campanas out on the field rather than 9 Castros. Campana may not have the prettiest stats or hits, but at least I know he will have nothing left in the gas tank after the game is over. I know most of you will disagree with me and that's fine, but for those of you who understand where I am coming from, throw Rawdog a bone because hatas gone hate. Yours Truly, ****RAWDOG 4 EVA****

Now some of you may be bewildered after reading the topic, but I will explain shortly. But first I would like to say that I used to be a fan of the Red Sox prior to this whole Theo signing. But the Red Sox organization have shown there true colors this month with their greed and classless antics. I understand that the Red Sox organization may feel upset that you are losing your prized gm who has done wonders for you, but that doesn't give you the right to try to exploit and take advantage of the Cubs. I mean you honestly have to be insane to demand Castro or Garza for Theo. Did you honestly think we are that stupid and naive? I would have no problem waiting another year for Theo's contract to expire in order to hold onto these players. It's not like the Cubs are on the brink of winning a world series anytime soon. It has already been over a 100 years of waiting so I don't think anybody would care to waste another year in order to hold onto Castro or Garza. I have lost all respect for the Red Sox organization after this debacle, and I can't wait for The Curse of the Great Theo to begin. The last time the Red Sox traded away a cornerstone of their organization for cash they didn't win a world series for 80+ years. So all I have to say is that their September meltdown is only foreshadowing the Red Sox future, and I will have no sympathy for them after the way they tried to screw the Cubs with their outrageous demands. Second, I would like to give a shout out to Ricketts who finally pulled the trigger and applied some of his knowledge from his business 101 class. Which is if you keep producing the same awful product with the same people then it is time to take control and make some major changes. So thank you for finally cutting off the head of the snake (Jim hendry) who only poisoned the Cubs organization with his awful signings and decisions. I mean I gave him a pass with the Soriano signing, but he should have been fired immediately after that Milton Bradely disaster. But I'm glad to see that you did go out and get the best gm out there. Now Theo has an amazing resume after winning two world series in such a short span, but I'm not going to worship like some god and make his head bigger then it already is. I haven't seen him do anything yet so I'm not going to give him any praise until he proves himself with the Cubs and starts winning. I'm tired of getting all hyped up over a Cubs signing, and then watch the Cubs fall flat on there face like we did with Piniella. Theo has his work cut out for him after having to clean up Hendry's mess from the past decade. I just hope Theo will either find a way to trade Soriano or just eat the money and cut him. He is too much of a liability in the outfield with his bonehead little league fielding. If Hendry was smart he would have added a clause in Soriano's contract where it becomes void after making too many errors in the outfield. I find it humerous that Soriano couldn't stay healthy when he first signed with the Cubs when people wanted him to play, but now that he sucks it seems like he can never get hurt. Theo has a lot to prove to impress me, but if he gets rid of Soriano before spring training and puts the Red Sox logo at the bottom of the urinal at wrigely it would definitely be a step in the right direction. Yours truly, ****RAWDOG 4 EVA****

First of all, I don't have the time to make multiple accounts in an effort to amuse you like some sort of birthday clown. Second of all, I will no longer encourage your efforts in shifting this topic from Big Z to your 5 seconds of internet stardom on my behalf. And that's all I have to say about that. Yours Truely, ****RAWDOG 4 EVA****

That's right, RAWDOG is back baby, you know it's that time of the year again. And this year I'm not holding back, and I'm calling out all of those haters, especially you wagon jumpers. Last year everybody jumped on Big Z for his bad temper and implosions, and talking about trading him away for garbage. All I gotta say is you ignorant baseball fans better not even try to come back to the Big Z support wagon when he tears up the league this year, and is a cy young candidate. I don't know how you can't blame him for going off on his lazy, defense challenged team last year. That defense and offense was a joke last year and I would be pissed to if I worked my butt for only my team to suck it up. So I'm drawing the line in the sand right now, you are either with Big z or against him. Because once the season starts I don't want to see you crawling back to my side you fair weather fan, we don't want you. This year is a new Z and he is energized, motivated, and on his game more than ever. He will be a top pitcher this year, and will make all you haters eat your words. Zambrano will no longer be your scapegoat, if you want one go after someone go after A-ram who is lazy and the only way you can motivate that bum is thru contract years. Now thats a cancer that the cubs must get rid of. Give Zambrano the respect he deserves you spineless fair weather fans, he is the MAN. By the cubs will win it this year, call me crazy if you like, I dont care. Yours Truely, ****RAWDOD 4 EVA****

I'm watching this team right now and they are just giving this game away to the Sox. This team has so many holes that there are no quick fixes this year that will get this mediocre team to make the playoffs, let alone do something if they were lucky enough to make it there. This bullpen is full of a bunch of nobody's that can't be trusted in ANY situation, even Marmol is garbage this year with his walkathons, he probably raised enough money to cure cancer by now with his 38 walks in 35 innings. And for anybody who welcomed Milton Bradley when he first came to the cubs is I TOLD YOU SO, this guy is a clown in a cubs jersey, not only has he been a distraction but he has produced absolutely NOTHING. At this point we might as well just have Zambrano in RF because I'm sure he would produce more at the plate then BOZO Bradley. And for all of you idealists out there, I'm sorry but I'm a realist and I don't expect Aramis to comeback from his injury and produce because even if he does make it back from the DL he will shortly be back on it for the rest of the season.You can't expect him to come back from an injury like that this season. So basically Hendry needs to improve a bullpen, somehow trade bozo the clown away, and find a bat that will replace Aramis because he won't be back this season. And by the way this isn't Lou's fault, Hendry is the one didn't address the bullpen, signed a clown to a 3 year contract, and traded an awesome utility player (Derosa) for nothing, for those of who have forgotten about him already. It is humanly impossible to take care of all these holes by the trade deadline, which means you can count on us missing the playoffs. And by the way Soto is nothing but an average ball player, so don't even think he will step up his game in Aramis's absence. Im not even going get into it about Soriano, his defense and bat speaks louder then any words I could say. So thank you Jim Hendry for 2009, the Team of Destruction. The only thing I will only be looking forward to this season is watching how Jake Fox, Micah Hoffipauir, Theriot, and Derek Lee perform this season. Jim Hendry takes the fall for this years disappointments, he gambled and lost, and now we have to watch this poor product he put out there. ******RAWDOG 4 EVA********** Yours truely, Rawdog

It is true that they only blew out half of the teams they played this year, but if you take a closer look, they beat teams by more than 10 points 5 out of the 8 home games they played.

Alright well I know I'm not the only person asking themselves here but what the "H" are the Cubs doing in the offseason to make this team better. To be honest I don't see this team any better then last year, but instead one year older with a proven history of choking in the post season. The latest acquisitions the Cubs have made have done next to nothing to make this team any better, I hope Jim Hendry has a trick up his sleeve but I don't know if he can pull of any sort of miracle trade to convince me this team well go somewhere in the post season. Milton Bradley is going to do nothing but cause trouble in the club house until Zambrano gives him a black guy and we'll see him packing his bags soon after that. The free agent market doesn't provide any key players out there for our offense to improve at the positions we need or unless we overpay for them, which I think having two overpaid outfielders is enough already. So my question is what kind of trade can Hendry do to make this team a threat in the post season? Brian Roberts? Don't think so, that trade is a dead horse. Jake Peavy? Having great pitching is great but the padres are asking for too much and it still doesn't address our left handed bat that we need to improve this offense. Honestly all I see is this team right now trying to roll it out next season without the positions that we need to being addressed. I DO hope Hendry will prove me wrong, but if you ask me their will be no great trade or free agent signing that will get this team over the hump in the post season and actually become a playoff threat.***** RAWDOG 4 EVA!!!!****** Yours Truely, RAWDOG

I understand everybody is worried and starting to panic because the brewers are tied for first with us, but I just think it's a little too early for us to worry. I mean if somebody told you at the beginning of the season that we would be tied for first with the record that we have at this particular part of the season, you know you would take it. I mean considering all the injuries we have had, we are in a great position. And NO we don't need to make any desperation trades cause the team we have now is good enough to win. Right now our hitting is garbage but we are in a slump, and slumps happen in baseball. Its frustrating to watch but everybody knows it was a matter of time before it was going to happen. In the past, soriano has carried the team when we have been in slumps before, and I got a feeling he will do it again. All i'm saying is lets think twice before ripping players or managers for their unacceptable play, the team will get its offensive chemistry back and we will dig ourselves out of this rut. This team is too good and full of veterans, it's just a matter of time we get everything back together. WE HAVE 58 OR HOW MANY EVER GAMES LEFT!!!