dalgreen

I never understood the fascination with Hairston when we got him other than many absolutely hated Perez. That isn't a reason to want to play him over Perez. They both sucked and they both still suck. It's like choosing mono over chicken pox. I'm glad they're both gone. We never should've acquired either one in the first place.

Regardless of how he does the rest of this year, I might give him a chance next year if the Cubs hire a new manager and hitting coach that teach a different approach to hitting. However, I'd want to be sure that they have someone else capable of starting as a Plan B in case he can't improve significantly even with a different approach. I don't like Baker or the coaches, but I'm also one who doesn't blame everything on them without giving them credit when it may be due. I'm not going to say Cedeno needs another manager and coaches when Murton has seemed to turn it around and I'm sure he didn't do it alone, so I think Cedeno is going to have to make the adjustments as Murton has. After all, it just be that Cedeno may end up being yet another young Cub player who put up good minor numbers but wasn't able to transfer that to the major leagues. I also think this is just another example of the poor Cub management and decision making. Ronny was rushed. This time last year, I don't recall anyone, whether it was on here or the media or Cub brass, this time last year talking about Cedeno as the starter. I think the Cubs were thinking that Nomar or Furcal would be our SS and didn't have a good plan if either one of those two didn't play for the Cubs in 2006. There was even more talk about Tejada possibly being at SS back in December more than Cedeno. Just as Patterson was rushed (sorry for bringing that name up), I think Cedeno was rushed.

Baker probably was only asked about Theriot, though. If someone had asked Baker if Pierre was smart stealing third I bet he would've said, "It's smart if you make it." Although it's a dumb play, period.

This will likely tick a lot of people off, but I still think there is a bias for young home grown players. I hate the contracts and what we gave up to get Jones and Pierre, but I don't blame them for signing contracts they knew they'd only get from the Cubs. Should I be hated because I signed a $5 million a year contract even though I've not played competitive baseball since I was 12? Again, I hate what we gave up and the contracts they have, but I think they'd be stupid for not signing any overpaid contract. Hendry seems to have a fixation with this.

Personally, I like basebrawls. If MLB really wanted to end this they'd implement a rule similar to the NBA rule regarding those who come off the bench. This brawl wasn't all that good. The best brawl I saw on tv was between the Braves and Padres in 1984.

You're sure because of what? I think his problem was strictly rushing back from a broken wrist. All baseball players will go through rough stretches where mental struggles play a role. Derrek Lee included. Glendon Rusch is the same. All Mark Prior did was admit it. If he wasn't affected by his poor play, something would be wrong. Rough stretches? Yes. Rough years? No. There have been many,many people questioning Prior's heart and mental state from game 6 thru today. Maybe they're right or maybe they're wrong. But I believe Prior admitted to it last year, as well.

You're sure because of what? I think his problem was strictly rushing back from a broken wrist.

Because the pitchers are young and for some reason many people can't get to the point to criticize young pitchers, especially if one is named Prior. Most are likely being more critical of an organizational philosophy rather than a player(s). Especially when the player you brought into question has been hit w/numerous injuries, I can see how someone value the potential organizational lapse more than one player. If you blame Prior, then you have to blame Lee. Lee has never admitted to some of the problems being mental. So what? You haven't even come close to presenting your stance. 1st off, I do believe that Prior is injured that his shoulder is not right and hasn't been from the start. 2nd, you still can't dictate whether or not a player or not will get injured, higher frequency for some and to compensate for that depends on roster construction. 3rd, if some believe the Cubs have a org. weakness as far as addressing OBP in part. drawing BBs and allowing them by their pitchers, that holds more weight as far as what might be a problem for a team rather than some random injured player. What about Wood? Injured player, and maybe we're in the race. Injured players, particularly to three of our most important players, and you see what happens. Regarding the lack of pitching. I think our OBP sucks and contributes to our poor performance this season. However, better pitching might be able to overcome our bad OBP and kept us in the race (albeit because the NL Central sucks) see Oakland. My stance, going back to my post, is that people conveniently leave out our sucky pitching when trying to pinpoint blame on this poor season. Yes, I put more blame on Prior than Lee (you brought up Lee) because you can't necessarily control physical injuries, but Prior has said on at least a couple of occasions that part of his problem is mental. And that's the reason why I said I don't place the same amount of blame on Lee as I do Prior. Can you imagine how much criticism "whipping boys" like Rusch would've received on here if he stated part of his problem was mental?

I do not agree with these statements. I would suggest that the combination of all of them in the same lineup is pretty bad, but any two of them (excluding Neifi, who should only see limited PT, as he has lately) in a better balanced lineup would be fine. For instance, Pierre has been excellent the last 2.5 months with an OBP well over .350 and 25 EBHs, yet has only scored 32 runs in 67 games, due to a variety of factors. Unfortunately things stack up such that the first 4 are likely starters next year. If we could find a way to upgrade 2 of these positions offensively (including Pierre simply maintaing his current and career paces), and see a return of DLee to at least .900 OPS, the Cubs could get back to at least the middle of the pack or better next year in runs scored. A big IF at this point, but just a couple of smart moves and good health away. You say you do not agree, but then you backup the statements with support. Of course it's the fact that all of them are here that is the problem. But we can't just pretend they aren't all here, or won't all be here next year. Just about any combination of two of those guys is tolerable in the lineup if other spots improve dramatically. The problem is improvement in other spots in unlikely to happen. Hendry still ignores OBP, and the lack of walks, which has been a huge problem for years now, is going to remain a problem. Nope. I disagree with statements that "they're ALL pretty bad" and that Pierre and Izturis (specifically) are "huge liabilities". These statements I do not support, I merely put things in a context I do support. Pierre, with his .324 OBP and zero pop IS a huge liability. He's only useful if he's getting on base. This being his second bad year in a row makes me wonder if he's capable of that anymore. Izturis, while young and theoretically capable of improving, hasn't shown he's that much better hitter than Neifi. So basically, I don't see how they're not liabilities on offense. They are liabilities, but they're liabilities because this organization's philosophy is a liability. Hendry has likely forgotten the first three months of the season and has only remembered Pierre's numbers over the last two months and will continue his habit of overpaying for mediocrity. Add in the 42 stolen bases to this point and Hendry is in heaven.

Because the pitchers are young and for some reason many people can't get to the point to criticize young pitchers, especially if one is named Prior. Most are likely being more critical of an organizational philosophy rather than a player(s). Especially when the player you brought into question has been hit w/numerous injuries, I can see how someone value the potential organizational lapse more than one player. If you blame Prior, then you have to blame Lee. Lee has never admitted to some of the problems being mental.

O'Malley pitched a great game, but let's not begin thinking that he is already in the '07 rotation. It's one start, and it was a very good one. But the majors over the years have been full of first start wonders only to have them flame out. Plus, he beat the Astros, who may be just as offensively challenged as the Cubs.

Because the pitchers are young and for some reason many people can't get to the point to criticize young pitchers, especially if one is named Prior.

Some of you appear to be all over the map as much as Rogers is. I would have no problem if Baker left and criticized the Cub organization calling it "an organization with no plan", "I'm not sure if they're commited to winning" or anything else like that because those are my same thoughts. Of course, to me, the organization would become commited to winning if they didn't re-sign Baker and fired a bunch of others within the organization including MacPhail and Hendry.

Using Dempster now or back in the 10th only puts off the inevitable because we can't execute and can't capitalize on opportunities here in extra frames. Where the hell was Izturis on that play? That ball was in the air for two days!

I was out of the room and didn't see it. chances are I would have cursed luck if the hit were lucky, not Novoa. It wasn't really either-just Burke having a really solid hit on a good pitcher's pitch. That's my point. I hate Novoa, too, but it was a good pitcher's pitch and Burke somehow got it out to left centerfield. Yet as soon as it was hit there were some on here having to let everyone know how much they hate Novoa. Yet you don't hear from them when he got out of the jam (the Astros deserve some credit for that, too). I don't get it.

Unbelievable. A 430 foot flyout. Nice try Jacque. And Mabry decides to swing at the first pitch.

Warning: This will likely tick some people off, but someone answer me these questions, please: I hate Novoa, but I give him props for getting out of the jam (thanks should go to the overaggressive Astros, too). I figured the game was over with the bases loaded and one out, even when there were two outs I thought something bad was going to happen. Why is it that some of you have no problem ripping guys but can't give them props when deserved? Why did some of you blame Novoa for giving up a hit when the pitch to Burke was ankle high? Just curious if some of you are on here to talk about baseball -- the good and bad -- or just on here to gripe. That's all.

I don't know, but that's what trades are for. It shouldn't be hard to find a lead-off guy with a .330 OBP who is cheaper than Pierre. If Pierre had more of a recent history of a .350+ OBP, I'd be on board with re-signing him.

I can ask for a leadoff hitter who can at least work the count beyond seeing 2-3 pitches and have an on-base percentage of at least .350. How is Pierre supposed to work the count? It's not like he's heading up there swinging. In fact, he finished 8th in the league last year in taking the 1st pitch-he only swung 11.4 percent of the time. The only reason that he doesn't see all that many pitches is that he doesn't swing and miss very often and doesn't foul that many pitches off-which means that he's likely to put his first swing in play. Maybe you haven't seen as many of his at-bats as I have, but I've definitely seen him make many outs on balls that weren't strikes.

I can ask for a leadoff hitter who can at least work the count beyond seeing 2-3 pitches and have an on-base percentage of at least .350.

I'm generally skeptical of players who perform well in their contract year, anyway. Add to that, that Pierre still doesn't know how to get on base enough to justify his being a leadoff hitter. That being said, his agent will tell Hendry, "Juan finished the seaon in the top ten in total hits...." and Hendry will buy that and re-sign him, disregarding his poor OBP for the third (or maybe 4th) straight season. Just to show how total hits can be overrated, we have a player on our team who finished one year with more than 200 hits, yet finished under .300. Why? Because the idiot had over 700 official at-bats because he refused to get a walk.

??? After the year in the pen, Morris came back to win 22 and then 17 games while increasing his Ks and holding steady on WHIP. The Cubs should have done the same with Kerry in 2000, and definitely should have from day 1 this year. My bad. You're right. I forgot about his first full season back. I think the offense he was surrounded with helped his 17 win season, though.

It's funny you say that. I've followed the Tigers my whole life and they are pretty much the team Hendry wants. The Tiger team OBP is not great. They don't like to walk a lot. Their batting average is pretty high and the OBP they do have is driven by that average. The Tigers pitching is awesome, best ERA in baseball right now, and their defense is pretty solid (Brandon Inge, horrible hitter for a 3rd baseman, has a fine glove). This, to me, is Hendry's dream team. All I can do is hope the Tigers keep it up and the Cubs can find that type of success with the same plan for the next couple of years. That's just it, when has our pitching been great? When have we combined great pitching with great defense? I wouldn't have a problem with a free-swinging team, as long as the team swings at strikes vs. b.s. breaking balls in the dirt or eight inches outside or fastballs eye-high.

Unless Wood changes his mechanics, I wouldn't try to re-sign him for a thing. Over the years, I've placed about equal blame for Wood's injuries on Wood's stubborness to change mechanics, his overuse and relying a lot on the slider -- which can be a killer on the elbow. However, I wonder if the TJ surgery was partially to blame, as well. Matt Morris had TJ surgery about the same time as Wood. The Cardinals chose to use him out of the bullpen in late 2000. However, the vintage Matt Morris has never been seen since. You can also say the same for Jon Lieber. I know there have been some pitchers who were able to regain their form after TJ surgery, but it's not a given.

Looking at where the Tigers and D-backs are right now, after having recent 100-loss seasons, the Cubs should just lose 100+ games this year or next year and then we should be good a few years after that. :twisted: