soapy

haha...of course

keep it going, Milton

Hill starting again today. Day game after a night game. Wasn't this supposed to be a split or something? Lou can eat it.

Hill again. Day game after a night game, no less. eff u, Lou.

I can't believe there's as much support for this move as there is, really. In his last 623 MLB PAs before this season Geo went 296/371/520 after putting up 353/424/652 in AAA in 2007, and with reasonable success before that (though with far less power). Could 2007 and 2008 be a fluke? It's possible. But there's a damn good chance he's capable of recapturing that success (particularly figuring in some of the bad luck he's had this year). One thing I do know, Koyie doesn't have a chance in hell at coming close to what Soto has done. Even in an absolutely abysmal season by Soto, Hill hasn't really been any better than him. Even if you think Geo isn't likely to do better down the stretch, it's still more beneficial for your team in the long-run to get him as many PAs as possible finishing up the season. Hill is absolutely no more than a back-up and you already know that. At least Geo may benefit from the extra playing time and potentially end the season on a personal high-note. This season is lost so I suppose it really doesn't matter, but I don't believe for a second there's a better long-term option available that would be better than Soto. I was amazed last night that Len and Bob were wondering whether Geo would assume the starting role in 2010. If the Cubs do something stupid like trade him or something, I'll freaking lose it. It's reasonable to be disappointed that Soto seemed to come into camp overweight/out of shape since that was one of the reasons credited for a big improvement from him in 2007. But I don't see any reason why he can't get back to that this off-season. He should have plenty of motivation with the season he's about to wrap up.

Thank God this didn't happen (Harden. I couldn't care less about Heilman).

Most of those players don't get back into the fold until training camp though. I can see why the Broncos didn't want to have that uncertainty with their QB situation and then potentially have to trade Cutler for even less than they did. Especially when he would be working with a new coaching staff that he was refusing to meet with. Still though, it's the Broncos fault in the first place. If they had wanted him, then they would never have tried to trade for Cassell, and Cutler would have had no reason for wanting a trade. The Broncos made a horrible mistake trying to get the player the coach wanted and it has backfired on them. He refused to meet with them (which he denies) for, what, a week? In February/March? I'm not saying Cutler handled it properly, or maturely mind you. Regardless, I'm happy things worked out the way they did, of course.

Players get upset and "demand" trades all the time. Seems like most of them end up back-tracking and getting back in the fold if you just give them time to cool off and show you aren't going to trade them. Seems like that's how the Broncos likely could have/should have handled the Cutler situation if they were really interested in keeping him. Instead, they traded him (which they seemed fairly eager to do anyway) and got to blame it on Cutler being a crybaby.

To be fair, on the postgame NBC show, they gave Rodney Harrison a lengthy spot of airtime which he used to pretty much thoroughly trash the Broncos for how they dealt with the Cutler situation. Collinsworth did that a bit in the 2nd half of the game as well.

He mentioned that during the Fox game on Saturday. I remember because I threw up on myself a little at that thought.

Finally had a chance to see a game last night. My man-love for Jay is at an all-time high. And just as big (bigger), seeing the big pieces avoid injury was great.

hahahahahaha....... This thread is absolute garbage. Hill over Soto? Give me a effing break. I can't believe people actually think this is a good idea. Especially Lou. This has to be a joke. The only stupid argument that hasn't been used in support of Hill is team record while he's catching. Get on that cubstitlelives.

1. soriano has stated that he knows he's not playing well and hasn't gone blaming the fans for booing him for any other reason than he wasn't playing well. alfonso gets it. bradley on the other hand seems to want to be as antagonistic to the media as he can get. if he didn't want all this media attention, he never should have signed with a team in the third largest media market in the country on a team that is either the first, second, or third most popular in the country that is broadcast nationally almost every day to that high a deal. sure at the beginning he has said that he never starts out that slowly, but lately going around saying that waiters were talking bad about him behind his back in restaurants or that he hopes the game only goes 9 to be out there the least amount of time because of the fans is getting dangerously close to todd hundley territory imo. the difference being at least milton is hitting, which is why i don't think the fans are all over him. you were the $10 million man in the offseason, and guess what, the media is going to come to you more often than not. you can't just show up, do your job, and go home, not in that town on that team. if he didn't expect that kind of attention, he's the idiot for not doing his research, or he should have signed a deal for less. i can guarantee that if he hit more home runs or had knocked in more runs (like twice as many in both categories) he wouldn't be getting all that negative attention. like i said, it may not be fair, but my disapointment is based on the contract he signed against what he has done this year. and i'm not one of those fans blaming him on this horrible season, it's been a collective FAIL all around except from the starters. we are leading the majors in quality starts this year but are hanging around .500. starting pitching has not been the problem, but the offense and pen have been atrocious. if both were better and we were 10 games up i'd still be on his case for being massively overpaid for what he is doing on the field. 2. i know, that's why i was against the offseason moves. good pitching beats good hitting and trying to get more left handed was a horrible cya excuse. Seriously, I just wish Bradley would come out and admit when he's played bad (you know, "own it"). Maybe something like: Oh...wait. He did say exactly that. Having said that, he did finish that thought with this: Is that asking too much? Maybe, but this was back in late April (I believe) when he was asked by a reporter about being booed.

For some reason, I'm missing this whole "accusing people of racism thing". The only thing regarding race that I saw come from him the last few days was where a reporter asked him if the "hate" he feels is because of racism and he had a somewhat smart-ass response of something like, "This country doesn't believe in racism." I don't get what is so horrible about this. Bradley has said some stupid things the last few days, but I haven't heard him accuse Cubs fans of being racist.

yay

yikes. looks like i didn't miss much the first few innings.

What's the right deal? Hell, I'd trade anyone on this team for the right deal. I don't see Zambrano's "ego" as a reason to look to shop him, which is what Wojo seems to be suggesting. He said something like "if the right deal comes along", but I think he really means actively look for a favorable scenario to trade him. I would actively look. Carlos has a big contract and a ton of innings on his arm. After 5 straight 200 inning seasons he's going to finish back to back years of sub 200 innings and have his lowest workload since his rookie year. He's a good pitcher, he's done a lot of good things for the Cubs, but I don't think he's worth the $73m they owe him the next year and believe they can do better. There are always pitching starved teams out there and the Cubs have shown year-in year-out and ability to have pitching depth. I doubt Zambrano's reliability going forward and would love to find an impact bat for him, and possibly even come away with a young arm in the deal. You're supposed to say you're tired of his act (ego, softball games, "skipping treatments", etc.). But all valid points. I'm all for trading one of Dempster, Lilly or possibly Zambrano (though less so) if they bring back Harden. Essentially, they're probably only on the hook for $53.75 million thru 2012. His 2013 player option only vests if he's top 2 in Cy Young voting in 2011 or top four in 2012. I think his numbers are likely worthy of the contract he has, if healthy. That of course is the big question and I concede there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical.

What's the right deal? Hell, I'd trade anyone on this team for the right deal. I don't see Zambrano's "ego" as a reason to look to shop him, which is what Wojo seems to be suggesting. He said something like "if the right deal comes along", but I think he really means actively look for a favorable scenario to trade him.

this

I disagree with most of his suggestions, particularly not firing Hendry and trading Zambrano.

hahaha the Cubs are going to lose to Livan Hernandez.

Don't worry, they'll put Fuld in CF full-time for the extra spark!! (Fukudome moves back to RF)

actually, i think he said recently that it likely won't need surgery, but i may be mistaken.

hahahahaha......fantastic

Mostly, its a lie. He hasn't been seriously booed since the All Star break. He get stray catcalls and maybe 5% of the park boos when he strikes out, but otherwise, he's just making excuses. He certainly doesn't get booed as much as Soriano. Or Fontenot. Or Gregg. Or Dempster even. Do well, the fans will cheer. Play poorly, the fans will boo. He played poorly for the first three months of this season and got booed. He's now playing adequately and is barely getting booed. If he had done what he is doing now all season, he wouldn't be getting booed. Simple as that. i don't understand. what did he say that is a lie?