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Hendry, Baker, and the players that were injured or underachieved responsible. Hendry should be graded on the state of the team. I also hold Hendry responsible for hiring Baker, he had to have known Baker's weaknesses as a coach would trump Baker's strengths given the way the Cubs were being built. If I could point that out before Baker was hired, someone w/Hendry's baseball IQ should've seen it a mile away. Hendry has been given more than enough resources to field a better ballclub and has not been able to. I think he deserves this final year to prove whether or not he deserves a new contract, any contract extention before that is a risk not worth taking. If this team has a similar season to last, it's time to start over and they'll have to plenty of FAs as well as expiring contracts to do so. 2-3 years ago as the stars aligned properly for the Cubs to succeed with the development of the young pitching and propel the Cubs into a decade of 90 win seasons, the stars have aligned once again to rebuild if the Cubs have another miserable season. When a GM has Burnitz and Hollandsworth as his starting corner OF'ers on a team with a payroll around 100mil, he hasn't done his job. Like I mentioned earlier, the wins have decreased, the quality of the farm system has decreased, while the payroll and the age of the team has increased. I judge Hendry on the overall state of this team, this team isn't where they need to be.

Just what we need, a Sox fan with a signature of Garland holding up the trophy. :D

C....A.....T......S Cats Cats Cats Never thought they would make 26 FTs in a game of this importance. They don't match up well vs. UConn though.

Poudre tried to kill this thread by posting random game action, but this is an intersting article that mentions contact ratio. It also has Neifi mentioned. Oh yeah, Horny too :!: http://rluzinski.blogspot.com/2006/03/contact-rate-and-ops.html

A team with a farm system like the Cubs when Hendry took over as GM as well as the payroll should have made the playoffs more than once over the last 3 years. But, over the last 2 years the wins and farm system have regressed (farm system over the last 3) while the payroll has increased. You can look at every reason why that has occured and delegate blame towards the players, Baker, and bad luck, but it comes back to Hendry at the end of the day, if things aren't getting done. Overall, during the last 3 years, the Cubs have not gotten it done.

There are going to be some good SEC games this weekend. Tennessee vs. Mississippi St. as well as Florida vs. Arkansas.

It only proved that Selig was cowardly enough to not stand up to Congress and to push for steroid testing and punishment, yet not strong enough to stand up to the MLBPA and get complete testing for HGH, etc.

Between them and BC, I almost 2 of my 4 FF on the 1st real day.

I'd like them to get a WR still in his prime, like Bryant or Givens (assuming they haven't been signed today).

If the Cards trade Pujols or re-attach Pujols' arm so he can throw the ball from the OF, I can see him sticking as an everyday player with the Cards. He's terrible defensively at 1B and some consider him an option in the OF? He's slow, stiff, and has no instincts in the OF. He's likely a worse of Jason Dubois without Jason's arm. He projects to be a below avg. 1B or a better yet, a below avg. DH in the AL.

There's no set pitch count to determine when a pitcher will or will not put added stress on his arm b/c he's fatigue. It's stupid to go looking for one magic number. Maddux at 110 pitches should've been out about 1-2 innings ago, Zambrano at 110, likely has one quick inning left before a cautious manager would take him out. It goes by a game to game basis, I've seen the same pitcher on empty after 80 pitches after lasting to 115 in his previous start, all depends on his body for that start. But, when your greatest strength is young power pitchers (one will poor mechanics) you have to protect that asset without jeopardizing the outcome of the game. 120 pitches isn't set in stone, but it is a nice number to go by as far as where and when to pull a pitcher. If a pitcher can't go 6IP without throwing over 120 pitches, the problem isn't the manager pulling a pitcher too early, it's the pitcher and his inability to throw a quick game. There's no reason for a pitcher to have a productive outing and he has to be over 125 pitches, even with the most patient teams.

Towel drills don't build up strength, they're used for evaluating mechanics.

The Cubs would never equate how they were run into the ground in '03 to their recent injury problems. They appear to be content with "injuries happen". Some teams successfully allocate more time to injury prevention (pre-hab) than others.

Bad luck isn't why these types of injuries occur. The trauma injuries with Giles as well as the liner off the elbow=bad luck. Wood's many injuries as well as the previous elbow/heel problems and now shoulder problem of Prior happen for a reason, failing to find out where the breakdown occured will only lead to further breakdowns as well as chalking it up to bad luck.

There's a difference between being sore and being injured. Being sore is normal especially with the little amount of work he has done in recent months. Being injured would be a sign of being removed from camp, a player knows when he feels sore and the difference between that and being injured. As far as shoulder injuries, most occur during the deceleration phase of the delievery, there's 2X as much stress put on the shoulder joint during that phase and the key spots of pain are in the back and the inside of the shoulder. I've thought his problems were more in the acceleration phase than deceleration. Although, he does land too stiff at times.

Unless Duncan magically became decent in the OF, he won't have shot to crack a pair of below avg. corner OF'ers. Watching him play defense at 1B, I'd be shocked if he could handle the OF defensively.

I have no idea what they could be hiding, it hard to believe that Prior is being impacted by a severe cold from last December. Whatever is wrong with him, if they're being overly cautious, it is a step in the right direction.

Different stats indicate things, I use K/9 to help judge how good is stuff is, BB/9 indicates how good his control is and HR/9 helps indicate how well he keeps the ball down. Opp. avg. against can also be used to evalaute stuff. Wins tells me how healthy the pitcher has been (like IP) and how good the team is that he plays for, it can tell you how good a pitcher is, just not as much as how healthy he has been or how good the teams have been that he's played for. Just one of many pitching stats.

That's a ringing endorsement. Andy Pratt had very good stuff, just couldn't throw it for strikes.

He throws 4 pitches, his slider is his best pitch. His 4 seamer tops out in the upper 80s, his slider is in the 82-84 range, and his change is around 80. He's developed his 2 seamer in the Rangers system, but stuff-wise he's probably a poor man's version of Andy Pratt, except with better control.

I don't think he'd get the Cubs much in return, he's not a toolsy player that found his groove. There's still some debate whether or not he'll hit for decent power as a corner OF'er and that can't evaluated in 85-115 games. Except for being a plus pure hitter, he has avg. tools across the board with an advanced approach at the plate that doesn't get much in return. Especially since the Cubs have no other options in the OF, unless they think Grissom can handle being the starting LF'er, which he isn't capable of doing in a productive manner.

So, then the SEC deserves just their auto bid, since they haven't made the Final Four since 2000. That's probably why they were on Jefferson Pilot. :D 2000 is still a lot better than 1979 and since 1979 how many SEC teams have won it all and been on the Final 4? Let me say that I have a lot of respect for the Bucknell's and Gonzaga's and they have wonderful basketball programs and have the capability to beat any team in the tournament but they can't win 4 in a row. 96' ring a bell? :)

They still need a #2 WR, they need to look at Antonio Bryant or David Givens. Personally, they're better pure WRs than Randle-EL, who adds value in the return game. If not them, then Josh Reed or Jabar Gaffney.

They already know, now for the last two years they've been reminded of the Red Sox and now the White Sox winning it all.

I don't think he should be worried about it either, whether it was his 1st year of the 4yr deal or the final year, it shouldn't change how he manages the team. This team doesn't need anymore distractions, it hasn't performed well when stressed. This team probably has a great deal of respect for Baker and any added pressure of "winning one for the skipper" will do more harm tham good.