don_kessinger_was_good

With six weeks of the season now gone, I think we can begin to clarify a few of the protection choices. IMO, Brownlie and Connolly do not look to be protected. Nolasco and Hill have replaced them on my list. Sing, Petrick, Pie, Murton, and Dope are locks. Because of injuries, Blasko and Hagerty must be un-protected. Neither has shown anything beyond high-A, and neither has shown the ability to stay healthy. The tough choices at this point I think will boil down to JK Ryu, Carlos Marmol, Sean Marshall, and Angel Guzman. How can you use up a valuable protection spot on someone like Guzman who is admittedly talented, but simply cannot stay healthy? Marshall is not making the progress his talent suggests either, though again, injuries play a role. For this reason, I think you use Marshall and/or Guzman in trades, to get something of value for them. Which leaves Ryu and Marmol to be protected, that's 9 minor leaguers in all, plus your 25-man big league roster, and 6 slots to spare on tweeners like Wellemeyer or Leicester, new talent acquired via trades, or other options.

Do not bring up the Madlock trade in my presence ever again. Ever.

Of course on the bright side, the Sisco autograph I got in ST 2004 may actually end up having some value. And it wasn't that I didn't think that the Royals intended to keep him, my view was based on the history that very few guys stick (and I'm sure many of those teams intended to keep the guys they drafted as well) and that I thought he'd perform so erratically that he'd create some interesting roster decisions that would likely lead to his return. His performance as a reliever changed everything. Now, regardless of anything else, he's earned his keep. I'm no wondering if they'll even put him in the minors next season or continue to let him perform in the majors. The talk here has been they want to turn him into a closer, and maybe sooner rather than later. Unless he suddenly blows up, there's no chance he sees Omaha, much less Wichita. He's here to stay.

Relax Vance, not calling you out. I was just ribbing you back then, that I was listening right from the horse's mouth here in KC that Sisco was staying, but you were adamant he'd be back based on no contradictory information you had. You seemed impossible to convince that a team really would go into the Rule 5 process intent on keeping someone, no matter what. And that's exactly what the Royals were doing from day one. It was obvious to anyone here in the offseason that the Royals were going to be really REALLY bad this year, Sisco is something they can hang their hat on for the future. I've seen him now, and he DOES look good. He must have really burned some bridges in Lansing for the Cubs to give up on him so easily. Dude looks like a mountain out there.

Where's Vance to lecture me again that he's "confident" Sisco will return to the Cubs? :roll: As I said in March, Sisco was gone for good, KC has been excited about him since they got him and had no intention of returning him. The best we could have ever hoped for in this situation was maybe KC would give us a player for Andy, and now that doesn't even appear likely to happen. Why do the Cubs deserve ridicule and scorn on this matter? I've made the points before, so no elaboration necessary. 1. Sisco was a Cubs 1st round pick, Cubs had $1MM and three full years time invested in him. 2. You don't grow 6 foot 9 inches tall southpaws on trees. Especially ones with a defensive lineman's physique and a mid-90s fastball. 3. You don't protect zeroes like Koronka and Vazquez in preference to a 1st round pick--period. 4. Would it have been too tough, too much to ask, of the Cubs organization to make a few inquiries and phone calls last fall and gauge what level of interest there'd be in Sisco were he not protected? I mean, wouldn't that be the minimal degree of caution the Cubs should have used? Not Hendry's finest hour, squandering a top pick for absolutely nothing to show for it. It's either inexcusably poor judgment or nonchalance or downright negligence, and while most prefer to think it's the first reason, I think anymore it was actually nonchalance. They just didn't give this matter the full attention it deserved, and you see the consequences. Doesn't exactly inspire confidence considering there will be a dozen good prospects that need to be protected THIS coming offseason, huh?

This is a lovely post. Too horribly true to contemplate, but a lovely post. Dusty has pitched many guys into surgery. I hope they relieve him of his duties before we see another one. Tonight I feel very, very bad for Chad Fox. And very, very angry at Dusty. Robb Nen comes to mind. Yeah. He's the only one that comes to mind from the past 12 years. Do you still think it's a coincidence that both Wood and Prior have been injured more than healthy since the 2003 season?

the reason why I hadn't is because I knew you'd do a much, much better job. Congrats, you're the Lewis Black of this message board, and I mean that as a total compliment (though, if I remember correctly, you're a Republican and probably won't take it as such). But you do have a way of angrily, somewhat funnily, and still sincerely making a point. Naw, I'm a Republican yeah, but I don't take politics very seriously. Lewis Black is a riot, I like him a lot more than Stewart, I have to say. I'm also crazy about the blonde, I forget her name now? Smart, funny, and cute.

Why doesn't someone here have the guts to point out that Baker's complete mental malfeasance has gone beyond costing the Cubs a ballgame--now it has perhaps cost a guy his CAREER. Does anyone doubt what they were saying in San Francisco now?? This jerkweed needs to be run out of town TONIGHT. Not tomorrow, not later in the season, not after the season, but TONIGHT. It shows how the top brass completely lack control of the situation, in that they do nothing instead. Hey morons, the manager you hired just pissed away $2MM of your investment money, what, there's no culpability here? Take control of your team back, or watch your $$ slip slip away. You say, oh hell, it's just Chad Fox, big deal, he'd of eventually got hurt anyway? Really?!! That's a lovely way of placing priority on the health of the ballplayers under your employ. If you're going to be selective about it, why not just throw other flotsam like a Cliff Bartosh or Jon Leicester let's say under the train. What the hay, it's not like they're important or anything. In Dusty We Trusty!!!! Let's hear how you whine when it's Carlos Zambrano or Mark Prior walking off the mound holding his elbow in four pieces.

Here's a thought: instead of pinch-hitting Macias--ever--in any situation, why not PH Zambrano or Prior when they're not pitching? Both those guys are better hitters than Gremlin. As is Rusch, though since he's now a bullpen guy, you can't use him as a PH. Over the last two years, Z has averaged a .230 BA and .335 SLG, and .600 OPS. OK, not so great, but is Gremlin matching that? Prior hit .250 with a .617 OPS in 2003, his numbers were much poorer last year but we know he was injured. And of course, Wood has pop with the bat, with 7 career HRs, though his lifetime average is only .169. I'm just sayin'........

At this point, I wish we could convince the Royals that they can just keep Sisco, who they completely love, and send us Eli Marrero to give up our claims on Andy. We could really use Marrero for our bench. He kills LHP, and we need a good RH batter for our bench with Hairston pressed into the starting lineup, and Dubois (hopefully) about to get regular time in LF. Plus, Marrero is a much better emergency 3rd catcher than Gremlin, giving Hendry even one less reason to keep the turd on the team. Shoot, at this point I'd be willling to renounce all rights to Sisco if the ONLY thing we got out of it was to be rid of Gremlin.

Actually, there WAS one year there, and I'm too lazy to look it up (1977?), when Paul was actually a pretty decent middle reliever. He had a few bad outings leading to a higher ERA than was really indicative of how he pitched that year. It was his one brief moment of non-suckage. But both the Reuschels are just the nicest and coolest guys, I've met them both, grade A dudes.

Oh certaintly I would point that out, except the fact that Dusty was not here in 2001 and I would have assumed that this was a Dusty thread. My Bad. Agreed Talent is at a higher level, however the "trend" that we are speaking about is the Dusty trend. You can't argue those results. 2 Years, 2 winning seasons. Baylor had similar talent and didn't get anywhere in '02. Remember also that last year the talent that you speak about that Dusty had was hurt. The only talent that didn't get injured in some way last season was Alou & Lee. Even Zambrano had forearm issues. You have to say that Dusty did a pretty solid job last season adminst the team turmoil and injury issues. Most other teams with issues like that end up a major disappointment, like the 1st half Houston Astros of '04. Your continuing comments that someone critical of Baker or other aspects of how the Cubs are run, is somehow not a "real fan" and is worthy of derision. I find this insulting. One does not need to be a cheerleader to be a Cub fan. But thanks for your concern.

That's my fervent hope DJaxx, that fan (and eventually, media) pressure will push things to the breaking point. It will take a while, but if Dusty continues his maddening ways--and we all have seen enough of Dusty to know that he will--then it will happen. Unless the team does surprisingly well and overachieves, for which Dusty gets undue credit. That seems most unlikely with this Cubs bunch though. I would like to know Jim Leyland's status, if someone knows for sure. I heard something about a non-compete clause through 2006? That sounds bogus.

Who wants to take odds that in Wednesday's DH, Dusty trots Perez out there for both games, gets Macias a start, but Dubois and Fontenot sit on the bench? This is so maddening and frustrating, I feel helpless and pissed off all at the same time. Dusty has to GO!!!

GO DUSTY, GO GO, YAY, YAY, YOU ARE THE MAN, IN DUSTY WE TRUSTY, BACK-TO-BACK WINNING SEASONS, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! LEAVE DUSTY ALONE, HE IS BETR THAN ANY OF U CAN EVER BE, IN DUSTY I TRUSTY, YAY!!!!!

ME LOVE YOU DUSTY! IN DUSTY, WE TRUSTY! YAY CUBS, YAY DUSTY, YAY YAY!!! Oops, my cell phone is beeping, hold on a sec....have the Bud man set me up there hon. Hey, who's that guy at SS, did the Cubs trade Gonzalez or something? Um.....YAY CUBS, YAY DUSTY, YAY YAY, WE LOVE YOU DUSTY, YOU AM GREAT!!!! {please fire this man}

More love for Connolly, please.

PS to my above post--if they do go back to 11 pitchers, I think Ice Man's tough outing on Friday gets him a ticket back to Iowa. Bartosh is out of options, and he's the only other guy who conceivably could be on the bubble. No way does Wuertz go anywhere.

The Cubs will need an IF. That would leave only 2 IF backups. My guess is Cedeno, because Lewis is coming off an injury and he has a huge defensive edge on Fontenot. If Todd goes on the DL, it would also be a good time to get Grieve on the 40-man, get a LH bat off the bench and gets rid of the unnecessary 12th pitcher. If Walker is out for an extended time, they can 60-day DL him to get Grieve on the 40-man and bring him up, that move makes the most sense. If Walker is only 15-day DL'd though, there's no room for Grieve unless you waive someone, and I don't see that happening. They COULD put Borowski on the 60-day, IF the 60-day DL can be back-dated into spring training like 15-day DL stints can (re: Prior). Anyone know the answer to this regarding the 60-day and Borowski? Wellemeyer is sure to get optioned to Iowa with Prior coming off the DL. But with Walker now out, I see the Cubs (very) quickly going back to an 11-man staff to get another guy on the bench, even if Grieve comes up to replace Walker. Because Grieve's defense is so atrocious, you really need another OF on the bench, not an IF, so this suggests Kelton (who as we know, can play 3B or 1B in an emergency). Given what Kelton showed the Cubs in Arizona, I've gotta believe they go to him before they'd bring up Fontenot.

He looked very good. Considering he was brought into a game with the Royals already trailing 7-1, it appears they are going to ease him in with mop up duty. I'm pretty sure at this point he's as good as gone. I wouldn't be so sure. There's 157 games to go and he has to stay on the roster for all of them. While he looked good tonight, he may not the next time he's used. :roll: :roll: Must be February 2nd, I keep seeing the same poster with the same comment over and over again.

This thread is about Baker. I'll let you know when there's anything worthy of praise wrt this doofus and how he manages the Cubs. Here's a hint though: Don't hold your breath.

:lmao: :roll: :roll:

Agreed. It wasn't enough that Dusty overthrew both Wood and Prior in 2003, leading to serious injuries, no, he won't be content until Zambrano gets his own TJS. Zambrano should have been done after 7. Sending him out there for the 8th is borderline criminal. Sore forearm, indeed.

Cubs lose in extra innings the home opener. So many Dusty mistakes it boggles the mind. Does he throw the games on purpose? Is he incorrigibly mule-headed? Or just mentally [expletive]? I'll pick just one, what the hell. Dusty goes to Hawkins again, who starts dirtying his drawers before he even hits the mound. Predictably, Hawkins blows the save. Of course, Baker had no other options besides Hawkins and Leicester, since he burned his best reliever (Wuertz) in a one-out appearance earlier in the game. Oh, what the hay, here's some more. Walker sits on the bench until the 12th; but oh sure, both Macias and Neifi get their time in well before that. Always smart to take your best hitter (Nomar) out of the game early. Does the double-switch ever work? Please let me know when it was that Todd Hollandsworth became a defensive specialist and replacement, I'd like to know that. Baker sucks. So do the Cubs so long as he's at the helm. Go nuts apologists.

Ugh, I certainly remember those.... :roll: