soapy

Someone asked him a question about the job (i.e. nothing).

I was all interested in diving into this topic this morning, CCP, but with the apparent Hendry news I'm just too depressed to put in the effort now. Can you imagine how much Ryne Sandberg would hate Adam Dunn?

Not the news I wanted to wake up to. sigh What a letdown.

I still can't help but crack a little smile when I start up my computer every morning and see the wallpaper of them surrounding the cup. Awesome.

It really just depends on what your goals are for 2011. If you think you can make the moves to compete next year (I doubt they can) then hold on to Byrd unless you get a great offer. He can provide good to very good production at a very reasonable cost next year. If you think next year is likely a lost cause anyway, I think you actively look to deal him. As has been mentioned, his value is probably about as high as it can get right now.

let's see you get on a roll here, raw.

I'll admit I'm disappointed the game is on WCIU so I won't be able to see it. Not sure why.

With any other GM I'd feel confident in getting value for Lilly, but I'm prepared for something like an Omar Infante + PTBNL. Not a big Hendry fan here but I do not think that is fair or accurate. I think Hedry normally does fine making trades, but the last time he was in this situation they traded Maddux for Izturis, so there may be some cause for concern. Hendry then made some sort of weird comment after the trade about not wanting prospects or something (I don't remember exactly).

The bottom line is that if DLee, ARam, and Zambrano were producing anywhere near what was expected of them, the Cubs would be right at or near the top of the NL Central. Nobody expected all 3 of them to fall apart at the same time. For those of you would will claim that you predicted 1 or more of them would suck for half a season, Hendry made sure he had decent substitutes in Nady/Tracy, Tracy/Fontenot/Baker, and Gorzelanny/Silva. If I remember correctly, signing Nady and Tracy was considered a very positive move by most of us. As for the payroll issue, I think Hendry had a lot to do with convincing the Tribune company to raise the payroll. As goony said, there are always excuses. Last year it was that Harden, Soriano and Soto were let downs. This year it's Lee and Ramirez (and maybe to a lesser extent Zambrano). However, last year they got far more than would have been expected from Wells. This year, they've gotten far more than anyone expected from Silva and Colvin (and maybe to a lesser extent Byrd). It's not like the Hendry era has been bludgeoned with terrible luck and never had good fortune with some players. These things have a way of evening out over time and Hendry has enough of a track record at this point to see that its not really a matter of bad luck or small sample size or anything like that. It can be summarized as somewhere between mediocre and failure. That's not good enough, especially if the expectations have been raised as you suggest.

We should talk about Colvin instead.

I can see why people would be hesitant to blame/fire Lou (or any manager) in this situation, I guess. But for the life of me I can't believe there are so many people willing to let Hendry to continue as GM. He raised the expectation level!? That's what he's accomplished in eight years with a huge payroll advantage!? Wow, color me impressed. Besides, I question whether he's even accomplished that. The abysmal track record of the organization's success prior to Hendry's tenure as GM doesn't excuse the fact that he just hasn't gotten the job done given ample time to do so. Let's move on. I've said before that I'm not in "anybody but Hendry" mode, but there are plenty of possibilities out there. Fear of picking the wrong replacement isn't an excuse for inaction.

Who did that wording come from though? Kaplan and/or Mitchell? Looking only at the quote from Ricketts there, I don't see anything worrisome.

you got me hahaha...obviously he got me.

What a dick. Fine, I'll do it again. 2009: Cubs back and forth at the top of the standings until the end: .877 OPS after returning from MAJOR injury. 2008: Cubs closing in on division championship: .965 OPS from Aug 1 to Sep 28. 2007: Cubs making big push to come from back in the standings to win division championship: .930 OPS from Aug 1 to Sep 30. Eat [expletive], Rozner.

Cubs record in Sept/Oct the last few seasons is as follows: 2009: 18-14 (September was their second best month after July) 2008: 12-12 (Best month was Aug at 20-8) 2007: 17-12 If you want to go back to the Dusty era: 2006: 12-17 (They had a .407 WP for the season so it's not a big drop-off) 2005: 16-13 (.488 WP for the season) 2004: 17-13 2003: 19-8 Record wise, they haven't shown a tendency to fade the last month or so of the season over the last several years, FWIW.

Not only should he not get another chance, firing him is probably the critical first step in getting things turned around. If they don't fire Hendry, replacing anyone else is pretty pointless, IMO.

I must has missed something but, why the F**K!!!!!!!! does Lou keep playing Hill? Team having trouble scoring runs -check. You have a catcher who can actually hit - check. Play the one who can't hit - ahhhh, check? Unless I missed it, I wish some reporter would get the balls to ask Lou this question. Haha question Lou? Nobody in the Chicago media has the balls to question Lou on anything they are all terrified of him. The media that cover the Cubs give Lou a free pass. No, they'll ask him but he'll get all flustered and throw up his hands and say, "What can I do!?" Then they'll back off.

I think making a change right after the trade deadline might make sense. If hasn't happened by now, doing it before the deadline might not be ideal.

Yeah. Pretty funny that this is supposed to be some sort of "make-or-break" series and two of the best hitters (this season) are sitting after losing game one.

I guess this is the lineup Colvin, LF Fontenot, 2B Lee, 1B Ramirez, 3B Byrd, CF Fukudome RF Castro, SS Hill, C Dempster, P whatever

he's probably playing because he hit two doubles last night (which is still idiotic).

I know you said this is what you think they will do, not what you hope, but: It seems like the starting rotation is actually an area that the Cubs can get some relatively cheap production in the next few years. I'd hate to see them go out and spend a bunch of money on FA starters when they have perfectly good candidates in-house with Cashner, J. Jackson and Gorzelanny. I'd be pretty disappointed if they went out and signed someone like De la Rosa over putting Gorzelanny in the rotation.

Aramis' return I guess, yes?

I have it on pretty good authority that Jeff Samardzija looks like a baseball player, does that help?

I'll definitely take that lineup considering what we have been seeing.