DivineBovine

Right. This is just another reason to suspect that this is only a posturing move by the MLBPA to avoid looking negligent in the matter. I see no way this thing goes anywhere. The MLBPA has every reason to look into it. Regardless of how they or anyone else feels about Bonds, if there is any sort of foul play going on that is preventing Barry from signing, it is in the best interests of the Player's association and all players they represent to figure it out and make sure it doesn't happen. This is what unions do. Maybe they turn up nothing, but of course they are going to look, and they're probably going to look pretty hard. And personally, I don't understand the double standard. A lot of people used illegal substances. Barry just also happens to be a prick, but why should that prevent him from having a fair shake at a job. If nobody wants him because he's a prick who used steroids, that's Barry's problem. If nobody wants him because there is collusion occurring, then it is absolutely the MLBPA's problem, and they should address it.

Yes, if they feel that will lead to a greater revenue stream in the long run. If they feel that it'll be more profitable by some math I don't understand, then no. Owning the stadium gives the owner flexibilty to control the revenue. If some third party owns the stadium, then there will have to be a predetermined lease that the Cub owner has to honor, because nobody is buying Wrigley without it. Also, think about it- if there is a third agent who makes a profit from the operation from Wrigley, then that's profit that doesn't go to the Cubs ballclub. If there is no profit to be made from the Stadium, they why own it? Having the right situation with a stadium can be very profitable, and having the wrong situation with a lease can be a money drain. Look at all those teams that have been in bad financial shape and have blamed their lease situation. Forget it. I don't want a Cub owner who doesn't own the stadium. Period.

I can't wait to see how much money the Cubs actually made all those years the Trib was trying to claim that they were losing money of broke. Good riddance Trib.

I was waiting for someone to start this thread. Almost did it myself, but I realized it is a pipe dream. Too bad.

Strangely enough, it's not non-sense. Wrigley's worth is in the tens of millions of dollars, if not hundreds of millions. Wrigley also requires constant fees for maintenance, upkeep, construction, and so on. I don't know how profitable Wrigley is, but if credit is tight, potential bidders might not be able to get the financing needed to acquire Wrigley. I could understand wanting Wrigley without the Cubs. It's an incredibly old stadium, and it's falling apart. There are legitimate concerns with the cost of upkeep and possibility of a lawsuit if a chunk of concrete falls on someones head that would go along with buying Wrigley. By selling Wrig to the state commission, you put the risk end of that in the hands of the government without taking the Cubs out of the Mecca of Baseball. Me personally, I would want Wrigley included with the Cubs. I'm only saying I understand why someone might want one but not the other, not that I'd agree with it. Nevermind the intrinsic value of Wrigley. The reason a prospective owner would want Wrigley is that they can have more control over the finances of the team. No owner wants to be locked into a stupid lease for years and years that they can't renegotiate or break. Any owner would want control over that revenue stream. And nobody is buying Wrigley without some assurance that they will have a tenant. It's a shame that the Trib wants to break the 2 assets. The greedy bastards think that they will fetch more money that way. As a fan, I hate the idea. Because another profit driven entity making money off Wrigley means less revenue for the ownership of the Cubs- the ones that are writing the payroll checks. I'd hate to see the Trib screw us again on the way out, as they have for years. Obviously, Zell and the trib know a lot more than me and they must have their reasons for wanting to break the 2 assets. But I can't help but question that this strategy would actually net them more cash. After all, I would think that Wrigley would be most valuable to the owner of the Cubs and not some 3rd party who leases it out. If this is true, then the Trib will probably realize it and sell the assets together. I hope that in the end, the team and the stadium end up in the same hands. Anyways, the books will really be interesting. Because for once, the Tribune has incentive to report revenues honestly. This is in stark contrast to all those years where they tried to claim that the team lost money or barely broke even, meanwhile maintaining a pitiful payroll given their fan base and support.

Yes there is reason. Those guys should have used up a decades worth of goodluck winning it all in '06. Yet, here we are. They kinda had that one coming for all the years they were legit good and lost in the playoffs, I figure. That's crap. It is supposed to be hard. Good teams lose in the playoffs. A team like there's was a joke. Well, once in the playoffs, anything can happen. This years Cards team has no business in the playoffs. If all their journeyman scrubs continue to play out of their minds the whole year, then the Cubs should just blow up Wrigley and give up.

It's not even worth it to get hot and bothered by the Cards. There is no way they can keep this up. It's not like 04 because they don't have that kind of talent. They will fall back to earth. If they are still doing this at the All Star break, I'll be shocked.

As others have pointed out, Simon rarely K'ed. A better comparison on this team is Aramis, who can hit bad balls and not K too often. If Simon had Fukudome's eye, he would have hit like 400 and have been a hall of famer. Too bad that getting a clue about the strike zone is one of the hardest traits to acquire in baseball. Soriano is looking more like Patterson at this point. Unfortunately, he seems to take a lot of strikes lately, and then flail at a lot of balls. I hope it stops soon.

I love how we can outscore teams in series yet still lose the series.

When Sori swings at the first pitch, its a ball, and when he takes, its a strike. That's Pattersonesque.

Great. Soriano is leading off the inning.

What? Now those are strikes?

It's inexcusable not to be able to score runs on this former Cub reject with this umpire and his microscopic strike zone. We're supposed to be a disciplined team now.

Man, Albert is having a bad day.

At least Soriano made contact. Nice. That would've been a bad time for a K.

That ump set a precedent with a puny strike zone. He better stay consistent with it. At least for us.

YEAH! F@#$ YEAH! After those bogus walks, that would've hurt.

Wow, Pujols looked like Soriano in that AB.

I just can't understand why Lincecum is even mentioned in trade talks. Sabean is not so stupid as to part with a young pitcher with Cy Young potential. It's not like he's about to become a free agent. And it's not like the Giants=the Marlins. The Giants are rebuilding and he's the type of player you'd want to rebuild around, not the type of player you'd trade in order to rebuild. And if I were Sabean, I'd want more than Soriano for him.

Someone explain go me what prevents Longoria from deciding that he wants more dough in the last few years of his contract and just not showing up to spring training. Maybe it just happens in football, but why not in baseball? If this is even on the table, then its not a bad deal for him, its a bad deal for the Rays- because it becomes a one sided deal. If the trend of locking up young players continues, then this will occur sooner or later. There's no way agents and players in today's sports environment will continue to stand idly by while the player is underpaid millions no matter what the contract says. And at the very least, he can decide he can use re-signing with the club as leverage- you sign me to another extension now, or I'm leaving no matter what.

Sarcasm? It doesn't seem like it - and if I'm right, and it's not, then who said anything about a problem at leadoff? I'd feel pretty conflicted about Bonds on the Cubs, but his monster bat would sure go a long way to assuaging my concerns. Yeah, its sarcasm. It would be a dream to have Barry, IMO. He would help this team bigtime. Too bad it will never happen.

Goodness guys. The man has no speed whatsoever anymore. He is NOT the answer to our problem at leadoff. Geez. Get a grip people.

There are a lot of different types of irregular heartbeats that someone may get, some more serious than others. It sounds like your friend either had an ICD placed- which is designed to shock the heart out of an irregular rhythm if it goes into it. This doesn't necessarily fix the problem, it just corrects the problem when it happens. It's also possible he has a pacemaker- which is designed to instruct the heart to beat regularly, Derosa can have any number of different irregular heartbeats that can vary in severity. It is reassuring that he has had this before and still managed to be a productive player. Therefore, I am less worried. it sounds like he had catheter ablation, which is a procedure meant to destroy certain irregular electrical pathways, as svt is sometimes caused by an abnormal or "unauthorized" electrical channel that interferes with the hearts primary one, causing the heart to beat out of rythm. doesn't sound like he had a procedure to shock his heart back into a normal rythm, at least, that's the way i interpreted it. you may be right about that. i don' tremember all the details Derosa had an "atrial arrythmia" per the Trib. These are tend to be more benign than ventricular arrythmias. He has never been on meds, which means he may have atrial flutter, which is often treated with an ablation without necessarily requiring chronic medications. I guess that Derwood's friend may also have had flutter also, and actually undergone an ablation and not actually had a device permanently implanted. I guess I misunderstood the original post.

There are a lot of different types of irregular heartbeats that someone may get, some more serious than others. It sounds like your friend either had an ICD placed- which is designed to shock the heart out of an irregular rhythm if it goes into it. This doesn't necessarily fix the problem, it just corrects the problem when it happens. It's also possible he has a pacemaker- which is designed to instruct the heart to beat regularly, Derosa can have any number of different irregular heartbeats that can vary in severity. It is reassuring that he has had this before and still managed to be a productive player. Therefore, I am less worried.

As much as I think that Roger is guilty, the whole congressional dog and pony show just makes me sick. It makes me sick that our elected officials can waste so much time on something that in the end won't affect anyone in any way. It's not like we have a war or possible recession going on now or anything.