UMFan83

That's quite a bit to expect from a man who described Samardzija's two best attributes as "stuff" and "heart". I thought he said his 3 best attributes were "stuff", "heart" and "Notre Dame"?

I'm a little late, but if the Cubs won a World Series, I would accept what happened in 2003 to happen the next 10 years, and I could care less. Cardinals fans just don't understand and I don't expect them to. Right now even MAKING the World Series would be like winning it.

I've always seen a little Rex in him in terms of style of QBing, but in terms of talent and skillset, he's much different. But since they both have strong arms and like to throw the ball deep into coverage people will keep making that comparison.

I would say the odds are even money that Chone Figgins finds his way onto the Cubs roster this offseason. Switch hitter with speed and versatility. Hendry would give him Soriano money to get him on the team (of course he'll fail to look at the fact that figgins ops's .887 vs. lefties and .633 vs. righties)

Yeah but those turds are definately getting a good laugh at us over at gwrb. We'd be laughing at them over here if the tables were turned. Yeah I could care less who is reading this forum and what sort of entertainment they are getting out of it. I sure had a lot of fun at their expense the previous 2 seasons.

The Cardinals are good...but they are also so damn lucky. Unless there is a skill to make their opponents commit a ton of errors. I swear half of their runs are aided by an error. Their offense hasn't even been that good...it's mostly pitching.

I really hate them. We have gotten one season that good out of any pitcher this decade, and he basically never had a full season again, and they're getting two of them at once. I really, really hate them. The only saving grace is that at least these pitchers are supposed to be good. Joel Piniero on the other hand...

It's unreal how good of a 1-2 Carpenter and Wainright are for the Cardinals this year. I am not trying to talk up the Cardinals (you know me), but look at these numbers. Carpenter: 13-3, 2.27 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 105 K, 5.25 K/BB, 185 ERA+ Wainwright: 14-7, 2.62 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 149 K, 2.81 K/BB, 161 ERA+

I'm trying to figure out if I'm more shocked that Bradley homered or that he got an RBI

Fuld, CF Theriot, SS Soriano, LF Fox, 1B Baker, 2B Fontenot, 3B Miles, RF Hill, C Harden, P

But...but...the Cubs are the luckiest team in baseball.

They lost a game in the WC though.. Yes, you are right, but I suspect they are already out of the WC race... I know there are 4-5 teams ahead of us in the WC race, but we are closer in that race than the Central. Plus the top 2 contenders, the Rockies and Giants will beat up on each other over the last month, as well as the 2 contenders below them the Marlins and Braves.

They lost a game in the WC though..

5 games out of the Wild Card, 6 out of the division. Impressive boys.

Yeah we got swept here back in May

Marlins swept San Diego in this park a few weeks ago, and their starting lineups' average line drive percentage is about a point and a half lower than the Cubs' lineup tonight. They have guys that actually have power tho....we just have guys that swing for homeruns and never hit them Fukudome and Bradley seem to be more line drive hitters than upper cut swingers.

Good start for Guzman

I was just thinking, maybe such a humbling embarrassing year for Soriano might cause him to work out and train like he has never trained before in order to come back strong and prove he's not finished. Soriano seems to be a very proud person, and would want to prove naysayers wrong. Meh, just a thought.

I know I pointed that out awhile back. Funny that they are promoting their team based on a first round series they ultimately lost, with several big moments that were made by a player that bolted for one of our big rivals after the season. I guess their 2009/10 motto can't really be, "We're putting all our eggs in one basket for the 2010 offseason." I heard they were going to do that, but the Knicks already took it.

Yeah, we're probably not gonna win. Colorado already won today too. Looking grim.

I know I pointed that out awhile back. Funny that they are promoting their team based on a first round series they ultimately lost, with several big moments that were made by a player that bolted for one of our big rivals after the season.

the 98 or so Orioles might have had one of those Let's see here...its hard to figure out all their offseason moves, so I'm just using baseball reference's transaction lists. -Resigned Lenny Webster (had better year than 97) -Resigned Scott Kamieniecki 2 year deal (ERA went from 4.01 in 97 to 6.75 in 98 and demoted to pen for 09) -Resigned Brady Anderson to a 4 year deal (coming off his 'interesting' 50 HR season, was never close to the same player again) -Signed Doug Drabek (ERA went up 1.50 runs in his final season of career) -Signed Joe Carter (was retraded in July to SF. Put up a .724 OPS with the O's) -Signed Norm Charlton (ERA was 6.94 in 36 appearances for O's. Traded midseason) -Resigned Harold Baines to 2 year deal (numbers were pretty consistent with 97 numbers) -Signed Doug Johns to a 2 year deal (had a 4.57 ERA in 31 appearances - 10 starts) Rotation went from: -Mussina (3.20 ERA) -Erikson (3.69 ERA) -Key (3.43 ERA) -Kamieniecki (4.01 ERA) -Various 5th starters (mostly awful) to: -Mussina (3.49 ERA) -Erikson (4.01 ERA) -Ponson (from minors...5.27 ERA) -Drabek (7.24 ERA) -Kamieniecki(6.75 ERA) -Key (moved to pen during season...4.20 ERA) The only major change in the pen was Myers (and his sub-1.50 ERA) not resigning with the Orioles, and SU man Benitez taking over closer duty (ERA ~3.80) Changes in lineup: Catcher: Hoiles (.794 OPS) ---> Webster (.749)/Hoiles (.833) platoon Right Field: Hammonds (.809 OPS) ---> Eric Davis (.970 OPS) DH: Berroa (.750 OPS) ---> Baines (.819 OPS) Interestingly, Palmeiro went from a .815 OPS in 97 to .945 OPS in 98, however Alomar lost about 130 points of OPS, and Anderson lost about 100 points of OPS. Basically pitching is what failed them in 98. They scored just about the same amount of runs, but went from giving up 681 runs to 785, and their resuffling of the rotation and pen was a big part of that. They went from 94 wins in 97 to 79 in 98 (although their pythag was 84 wins). The conclusion is, they did have some terrible signings and decisions, but they also had some that worked out. Pretty much every move made last offseason for the Cubs has failed miserably. Wow I wrote way too much.

2006: 0-4 2007: 1-2 2008: 2-1 2009: 0-4 (2 to play) So 3-11 in this park over the last 4 years, with a chance to go 3-13 (or 5-11). What's funny is... 2005: 3-1 2004: 3-0 So we started out 6-1 in this ballpark and have gone 3-11 since.

If we lose this, is that 0-6 in this park this year? Didn't we go 0-4 here back in 2006? What a house of horrors. Edit: nm, just 0-5

Wow Dempster with 4 ERs in 4 innings against the hapless Padres. Historically bad offseason. I would love if someone could show me a worse offseason by a team looking to improve immediately (i.e. no firesales).