soapy

so what's the deal? any news on where/when he's pitching next?

i think Marquis will be gone and I think one of Dempster or Lilly will be gone before next season.

They might be a vintage Favre year away from the Super Bowl, if the line is at least above average. If the line is above average and if the defense plays incredibly and if Favre has a "vintage Favre" year. It's not likely. The defense would not have to be incredible if Favre had a vintage year, just good. But that was my point in saying vintage Favre, of all of those things, I think vintage Favre is least likely. I think this defense could be among the best this year, and the line has a chance of being above average - not much above, but above nonetheless. well i hope you're right because its starting to sound like this thing might happen after all.

you should probably put this in your sig or something. can't be said enough as far as i'm concerned. ok ok ok i see the light, nevermind on wolf... damn hahaha...didn't mean to be piling on you or anything. several have mentioned both Maddux and Wolf, including journalists.

you should probably put this in your sig or something. can't be said enough as far as i'm concerned.

just shove 'em in. no twisting, dipping, etc. i don't time for these kid games. i want the yummy goodness in my mouth (that's what she said).

They might be a vintage Favre year away from the Super Bowl, if the line is at least above average. If the line is above average and if the defense plays incredibly and if Favre has a "vintage Favre" year. It's not likely.

I can tell you that right now: absolutely nothing. probably, but i don't think bringing in Favre is the answer. if you don't think Grossman/Orton can do the job, bring in someone else that isn't 57 years old and playing his final year, particularly playing behind what looks like a suspect o-line.

Yeah, it's starting to look like it. He's done a tremendous job overall and really helped with Soriano out. However,'s he's got a 640 OPS in July, just 318 over the past 7 days. He probably needs a long rest. Hopefully he's got another spurt in him, but if he continues on the recent trend his overall Cubs numbers are going to fade quickly, and it may become necessary to callup Pie in a few weeks. he's really looked bad lately. i'm hoping for one of two scenarios to play out: 1. some rest when Soriano returns gets him re-energized and he finds it again; or 2. Pie keeps hitting as he has lately and takes his spot my fear is that Lou will only remember the good from Edmonds and stay with him too long. similar to what he did with Theriot last year when he was clearly worn down.

i said "no", but not based on my personal dislike of Favre. i'd just rather see what Grossman/Orton can do at this point. it's not like the Bears are a Brett Favre away from the Super Bowl. it would be kind of pointless, especially considering that Grossman is on a one year deal. they need to figure out what he can do this year.

Padilla just went on the DL and Millwood has been hurt (not sure if he still is). Now is as good a time as any to let Texas know they have options. Expensive options, but options nonetheless. Heck, if Texas would pick up most of Marquis' contract, that's all I'd ask in return. Then we can read in the transactions page tomorrow that: Cubs trade Marquis to Texas for nobody. Wouldn't that be fun? Moving Him would help ease Hardens salary as well or make it an opening for a good bat. and you still have Marshall, Hart and Gaudin available for depth. hopefully R. Hill soon too.

no offense, but that' not perpective at all. would you say it would be smart for the Rangers to keep running Millwood out there if they had a more effective option in-house? of course not. but that's the situation the Cubs (theoretically) face. They have a likely better option on hand and are choosing (if Sullivan is accurate) to use the worse option instead. these situations are not at all comparable. besides, how does the Rangers having a bad rotation make it okay for the Cubs? i don't have a huge problem with going with Marquis for now, though I wouldn't. i just don't like your comparison here.

i'll be at the game saturday. excellent timing.

yes. rest edmonds, please. the cubs face three RHPs this weekend so now is as good a time to rest him as any. i'd also give soto the day off like you said. not opposed to a "forfeit" lineup today.

Lame, but that's just Sullivan's speculation. I'll hold on to a very small nugget of hope that Marquis is the one bumped from the rotation, though I know it isn't likely.

my preference would be to dump Lieber. He's redundant with Gaudin and Marshall available as starters/long-relievers. actually, my real preference would be to dump Lieber, move Marquis to the pen and insert Marshall into the "5th" spot. i'd be shocked if the did that, but: Rotation: Zambrano Harden Lilly Dempster Marshall Pen: Marquis Gaudin Wuertz Eyre Marmol Wood Howry Or take it a step further and just get rid of Marquis all together and insert Cotts in the pen.

that's kind of how i look at it. i'm not going to apologize for criticizing moves that were stupid. really the only move i can think of that i was very critical of that has worked out wonderfully (so far) is Edmonds. certainly i was wrong about that. i guess i wasn't too fond of the Derosa signing because of the dollars, but that's been great. other than that, i think most people have been critical of stupid moves and have praised his good moves. certainly Hendry has been pretty good the last two seasons with signing Derosa, Lilly, Wood, re-signing Ramirez, re-signing Zambrano, signing Fukudome, to a lesser extent maybe you throw Soriano in there. the Marquis signing is still bad, IMO, and of course picking up Trachsel last season. the good has out-weighed the bad though lately. as far as this trade is concerned, it's about as good as i could have hoped for. despite the injury concerns, it was definitely worth the risk.

very good job by Hendry. even if Harden continues to have injury problems, the Cubs didn't give up any future stars (IMO). it's a great gamble. very happy about this. unfortunately, my expectations just shot up a bit so the let down will be that much more difficult in the end.

if the cubs still have a lead in the division after the four game series in Milwaukee July 28-31, i'm going to start feeling really confident about their chances. i'll be on edge until then.

i don't like it because i'd prefer Gallagher over Marquis in the rotation, but i don't think it's a huge deal either for a couple of reasons: 1. aside from 6/21 and 6/26 Marquis has been decent since about mid-May. 2. Gallagher is 22 and i'm not opposed to the idea of getting a guy's feet wet in the majors by pitching him out of the bullpen, if of course you actually use him (which will be a big "if"). 3. it lessens the work load for a young pitcher. 4. i'm somewhat hopeful (though not exactly confident) that Marquis will be yanked from the rotation if he starts tanking again (which is likely). like i said, i wouldn't do this, but i think there are some possible advantages.

i'm trying not to get too excited here, but it's not going to be easy.

i'd divorce you too if you didn't like The Big Lebowski. Too much?

Because in a sport like baseball when a guy has all the physical tools to succeed and isn't its something with his brain. Marmol's stuff is just as nasty as before so it's not like he just lost it. It would be like LeBron struggling next year. It wouldn't be because he all of sudden lost all his athletic ability. Except that Marmol hasn't struggled for the whole season. He's in a bad stretch. Look at Kerry Wood. He had a bad stretch, but came out of it. Lebron is a bad example, as he plays the entire game every night. Relief pitching doesn't translate very well to basketball. Try not to take things too literally. LeBron is a good example because he is a freak and has more ability than anyone other than maybe Kobe. Marmol is a freak as a pitcher and has as good of stuff as anyone. It has nothing to do with playing time and has nothing to do with a whole season. It's a simple example of someone else with ridiculous ability. And Pedro is still effective when he is healthy he is just not healthy any more. He tried to pitch in a couple games this year while injured so his ERA is ridiculous but last year came bak from injury and had a 2.57 ERA. Lebron is a horrible example because he is a superstar baseball player. Marmol, like all relievers, is a specialist who does one thing very well. Relievers are inconsistent. They struggle from time to time. Marmol had a ridiculous streak, but he was never going to maintain that unprecedented level of superiority. Relievers simply do not appear in 80+ games with 100+ innings and perform flawlessly. which, often, is why they are relievers in the first place.

don't want to start a new thread, mainly because i'm just spit-balling here, but what about Harang? my guess is he's unavailable, but i wonder if the Reds have soured on him because he's struggled (relative to past seasons) this year and he's now 30. He's owed $11 million next year and $12.5 million in 2010 when he becomes a free agent (there is at $12.75 M team option for 2011).

maybe. what do you mean by "as talked about"? generally speaking, this is one of the few times i would be more inclined to say yes, i'd do it (depending on what you're talking about). the Cubs have a closing window and are quite possibly a front-line starter away from being head and shoulders above everyone else. I meant the Cedeno, Gallagher, 2 top prospects suggestion by Levine. yes, I would probably do that.