Benchwarmer

Jed Hoyer was on with Kapman on CSN @ 5PM. Said the team needs to grind out more at-bats, take more walks, give up fewer walks and throw strikes. Pleased with team's atttitude of not giving up. Sveum is not being judged by wins, as he admits they gave him a flawed team. Castro will stay at SS, although he noted mental lapses. Future is based on getting young pitching. Not ruling out FA in coming years, but noted many are in their 30's and they perceive them as on the down hill of production. Would not put a year on when the team will be competitive. Clarified his responsibilities and said he deals with GM and agents on deals. Theo is his boss. Theo is his boss. Hendry would never sit down and have questions asked of him on CSN. I like the new FO group, but it will be a few years before we're competitive.

Said it last year when Ricketts extended Wilkens and Fleita before Theo got here. It was a bad decision on both. Tommy just can't help himself to micro-managing. Let them go elsewhere and screw up someone else's system.

Soriano went from $9 mil in year one to $13, 16, and then 18 each year following. Pretty standard backloading, I think. I don't think averaging the differences (as benchwarmer did) is very accurate either, because it eliminates the fact that the White Sox did have a higher payroll than us 5 of the past 7 years. Even if Hendry had huge advantages in other seasons, that still doesn't change the fact that Kenny had advantages in most of the past 7 seasons - that's significant. And the backloading in the 2006 offseason wasn't that dramatic - I already addressed Soriano and Lilly jumped from 5 to 7 to 12. If you want extreme backloading, look at Cliff Lee going from $11 mil in 2011 to $21.5 mil in 2012. That's a far more dramatic jump than anything Hendry signed in his tenure. The fact the WSox won a WS and spent $91 million less to do it is quite significant. You had years where the Cubs spent 38M and 39M more and still did not win. Which GM would you want? Hendry was terrible at drafting young talent, developing young talent and bidding against himself for vet contracts. He wasted alot of $$$$$.

@thekapman has no more insight than anyone else. Guess bringing donuts and polishing the GM's shoes won't work this time. I like the FO approach, no leaks, no trial balloons, no media pals.

Show your work. Here you go. Format: Sox/Cubs/Diff. 2011 129/125/(+4) 2010 108/146/(-38) 2009 96/135/(-39) 2008 121/118/(+3) 2007 108/99/(+9) 2006 102/94/(+8) 2005 75/87/(-12) 2004 65/91/(-26)

I have this rock, which keeps tigers away...interested? I suppose you're gonna want my signed Mia Hamm jersey in return? BTW..Since '04, Cubs have outspent WSox by approx. $91M. That's $10M+ per year. I've got a bracelet that protects you from sharks in Lake Michigan. No deal.

Many people don't consider 'just making the playoffs a success' like you do. They did win the WS and that's still something we can't say. The failure of Hendry still hangs over this club and will until we dump Soriano, etc... I'm no fan of Kenny but he's managed on a smaller budget and is apparently a better judge of value than Hendry ever was. I've bolded the incorrect parts of this, just to save time. And again, Hendry-built Cubs teams made the playoffs 3 times. In that same timeframe, the White Sox have made the playoffs twice. They're basically the same GM. Same GM? One has a WS ring and is still employed. The other..outside looking in. You're incorrect again.

Ninth straight win. When Votto was hurt, everyone said the Reds would go down. Looks like they're looking for a lead-off hitter/CF and not a rental. Wonder if DeJesus + pitcher gets us Hamilton(2nd baseman in waiting).

Many people don't consider 'just making the playoffs a success' like you do. They did win the WS and that's still something we can't say. The failure of Hendry still hangs over this club and will until we dump Soriano, etc... I'm no fan of Kenny but he's managed on a smaller budget and is apparently a better judge of value than Hendry ever was.

Kane's been called a 'purse-carrier'. He hangs back waiting for someone else to dig the puck out and flip it to him. If he's not scoring(and he's not) then his value to the Hawks is diminished. The Hawks can maybe get alot for him, doesn't hurt to ask the question. Maybe Buffalo would overpay?

I am so on board with this lawsuit. I know the blackout rule is supposedly protecting the local team's advertisers and hometeam, but that's crazy. If a Cubs game starts at 1:20 and there are no other games until 7PM EST, which franchise is losing money or fans because of telecasting the game? CSN shows more games than WGN and if you're a CSN subscriber, aren't you paying for the privilege to watch the Cubs anyway. Bud is wrong on this. Don't try to sell me a MLB package, when I could care less about the Mariners, the Rays, etc..

He's not a 2-way player and never will be. He doesn't play defense at all and of course his scoring has dropped for 2 years. Not saying they should dump him, but see if someone will overvalue him and we could get some players. Kane's scoring dropped this year because he was asked to play center rather than wing. That was a huge adjustment for him, and naturally affected his scoring. But his defense was much improved -- when Kane started in the defensive zone, 54% of the time, play ended in the offensive zone. That's 37th among forwards in the NHL. For comparison, Toews was 13th with 56.2% and Sharp was 14th with 56.1%. For a guy you say isn't a two-way player, that's really damn good. I didn't have that stat to back it up with, but that was just my feeling from watching him at center. Sure he had his lapses, but for a guy who isn't a natural center, that's understandable. But I saw a whole lot of instances where he busted it to make a strong defensive play. The way the Hawks play you can't have a shy, tentative winger who is afraid of going in the corners. Kaner just hangs back too much. He's not a center but heard that Stan Bowman is pushing Q to leave him there. Big mistake. Oh well, time to get to Lawrence some time-get some Joe's donuts.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--brand ... s-say.html Not with his bad knees. Wasn't he forced to retire two years ago because his knees were shot. Who are these league sources anyway-his agents?

I didn't hear any Chicago accent there I think what he's hearing is a lack of a terrible jersey or ny accent. No, seriously, she's got a very strong Chicago accent that is obvious to anybody who is not in the midwest, at least compared to your typical tv personality who do their best to eliminate any regional accent so as to further their career potential. The terrible Jersey accent is actually south jersey, which is a philly/delaware valley accent, and it is abominable. Staten Island/Long Island is a much stronger land of accents around here. I was actually surprised when I first started meeting Jersey people who didn't really have noticeable accents. Kustok sounds like a slightly toned down version of all my female cousins. She does alot of work with CSN and the Hawks. She does have a monotone voice and could stand a voice coach. Tragic about losing a parent. Her brother played QB at Northwestern and she's dating another former Wildcat QB. The Cubs used to be sponsored by Bert Weinman Ford on tv and Linn Burton would do live commercials from the WGN studios of Addison. There's your Chicago accent. Immediately following the game, they'd switch live to WGN again and Debbie Drake would do exercises for the ladies. Do a YouTube search for her and you'll find a great Chicago accent, amongst other attributes.. No wonder my Dad would yell at Jack Brickhouse to hurry up with the post game.

He's not a 2-way player and never will be. He doesn't play defense at all and of course his scoring has dropped for 2 years. Not saying they should dump him, but see if someone will overvalue him and we could get some players.