UK1679666180

Still waiting to hear about Morris and see how long he's suspended for. I'm looking forward to UK on more fast breaks, maybe one or players have as much quickness as Rondo. Sims has done well in the exhib. games, but as they adapt to a quicker tempo the turnovers have increased as well.

If anyone could throw or kick the ball today, I'd be shocked.

I've been promoting Dayton Moore as the best GM candidate avail. for quite some time, he's been gaining some steam as far as possibly becoming the next GM in Boston. He'd be great choice in my opinion. This is from the Boston Herald.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-051112cubs,1,7925414.story?coll=cs-cubs-headlines There appears to be some dispute between the report and Furcal's agent as far as the dollar amount and not the years. I see the years being a greater hurdle than the dollars. I feel comfortable with Cedeno starting at SS as well. I don't know the leash he'd put on if he gets off to a slow start, but if he's the 8th best hitter everyday that Blanco isn't out there, you'll score some runs. Glad to see Corey working with the best hitting instructor in the system (Joshua).

The question with Bradley and his attitude is whether or not it can be fixed and if not, do you still go after him and how much damage would his bad personality hurt the team? Personally, he needs a character adjustment and I think he has ability to change. Now, if the Cubs did get him (which I highly doubt) and he conts. his poor behavior, do I fault Dusty? Of course not, regardless of his rep. as far as dealing w/players. But, it is worth the risk to find out if Bradley can become a teammate that won't rock the boat, since his production will be there despite potential behvaior problems.

It's more important that the hitters in front of Lee and Ramirez improve their OBP compared to overall improvement. Of course, getting better OBP from the 1/2 hitters will improve the OBP overall (assuming the other 6 spots in the order remain similar to last year). The Cubs offense was hurt by having Perez, Macias, and Patterson hitting in front of Lee and Ramirez. They would've been hurt if they hit 7 or 8 as well, but the pitcher would not have been driving them in as frequently as Lee. No, the team OBP wasn't a big factor as far as the actual #, just where it was weak that made the difference. Imagine if it was slugging % we're talking about, could you imagine if your 3/4 hitters had the lowest slugging % of all the 8 position players on the field and yet were being put in the lineup everyday hitting 3rd/4th. The Baseball world would think that whoever put that lineup together has no business putting one together. I feel similar about a lineup that has the 2 lowest OBPs hitting 1-2.

UK is up 34-10 as the second begins against Vandy. C-A-T-S Cats Cats Cats! I still want Brooks fired!

When you have a team with a large finanical backdrop and that same team isn't willing to commit the years most FAs are looking for, trades are often the best route to go w/out looking to change their ways. I wish they'd be willing to roll the dice more as far as years (especially position players in their prime) and FAs, there's risk involved in everything w/MLB. Suck it up and see what happens.

There aren't too many good restaurants in STL though, that should be more important than fans. Especially when you have more width than height. I'm trying to figure out what made him decide to drop a few pounds now rather than before? He was overweight when he pitched for the Cubs.

Pierre isn't a bad choice considering what they have, but he certainly isn't the best choice. I'd rather see Bradley or the name I keep mentioning (Michaels) over Pierre.

As much as I like Pie, it is still too early to let his future impact dictate what they do in the present. If the Cubs get a chance to obtain a CF'er who's contract might run into Pie's arrival to the majors then you have a luxury, not a problem. I wouldn't trade a CF'er (if he is productive) on the hopes Pie comes in and does well. Nothing is certain and while everyone is aware of Pie's ceiling, I'd like to see what he can do in a large enough sample to where Hendry can say "our current CF'er is expendable b/c we're confident in what we've seen from Pie at the MLB level" and not making a move before doing so. I wouldn't do anything premature, they need a CF'er for '06 and the length of that contract should not factor into the decision.

He avg'd about a .290 EqA and his splits come out 18 HRs and 68 RBIs per 500 ABs over the last 3 years. He'd be fine in RF depending on who else is out there and with Lee/Ramirez, Bradley would be fine in RF. I'd rather see him CF as he becomes a greater advantage, but Burnitz had higher power numbers, but I'd much rather have Bradley over Burnitz despite character flaws.

These awards have proven to be a crock so far, I'll assume, they'll cont. to be a crock. Wins determined that Colon deserved the Cy over Santana and Rivera finishing 2nd for saves? Typical awards garbage. Lee deserves the MVP, won't be upset if Pujols deserves but, doesn't take away the fact that Lee was the most productive and production=value. I hate the awards in general but, Cox and Guillen deserved the MOYs though. As much as I like Shapiro, Williams deserved over him, if only for one year.

Even I was about 4 games lower than Pecota's projection last year.

I can't rhyme on time, I'm not good at spreading the word or guiding the herd.

Bidding against yourself, that's when you overpay for a player that has limited buyers or hasn't been avail. for other teams to bid on. The Cubs overpaid on Perez and Rusch before gauging a more accurate market for both these players. Another topic... Some people think the increase in payroll is directly from ticket sales increase from '03. They're wrong! The increase in payroll is from the depletion of the scouting budget especially with International FAs (not Matsui) but players from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela as well as the Pacific Rim. Going from Leon Lee to the MLBScouting Bureau, what kind of garbage is that? Leon Lee was very successful at what he did and while he left to coach in Japan, why not fill his position instead of using the MLBSB? What has happened to the Venezuela program, Pie was signed in July of '01 I believe, who was the last top prospect since then to come from Latin america? Even though it's an arbitrary system, how many of BAs top 30 prospects are International (of course, I'm talking about the Cubs top 30)? How poorly has the farm system regressed? It isn't b/c of a lack of a top 5 pick either, more so a severe drop-off from Latin America and the Pacific Rim. The Cubs aren't trying to become the Yankees, the Yankees still spend a boatload in the DR and overseas. The Cubs are trying to become the Cards without a GM who spends wisely. It simply won't work like that. No one has been able to explain why the International FAs well has run dry. It has had a far greater negative impact on this team than the positives from spending more.

Looking @ it from an optimistic perspective, it gives the Cubs the ability to use Jerome Williams, Rich Hill & Cedeno in a trade or trades, which can net a starting pitcher or OF. Combined they'll likely make about 1/5th of what Rusch/Perez will. Overpaying and bidding against yourself doesn't excuse anything. You want to use Williams, Hill, and Cedeno for trade? Great but, that doesn't excuse kicking yourself in the groin in the process. Everyone focuses on which role they play under Baker, look at what they are making and what their past production merits. To me, they're both severely overpaid, regardless of roles.

The ability to move runners over, steal bases, and sacrifice outs isn't as important as getting runners on in front of Lee and Ramirez. The Cubs didn't fail last year b/c of their defense, they failed b/c of poor health in the rotation, poor bullpen, no LF'er (until Murton), CF'er, and a below avg. RF'er and SS for most of the year. I'll wait and see to judge to see what comes out of it, but this team appears to be failing to fix what it needs most.

Some teams use the off-season to progress or regress, these two moves point to stagnation. Could it be part of a master plan? Sure, face value tells me these two moves whether Rusch is a 6th starter or Neifi as the utility are extremely overpaid for their production. There would have been no teams willing to spend that type of money for those two and as they did with Maddux, the Cubs end up losing bid wars against themselves. Regardless of their potential roles, they are way overpaid in both years and dollars. My beliefs towards a building and maintaining a productive team and the Cubs beliefs run completely against each other and it frustrates the hell out of me.

I fail to see the irony or whatever cute point you were trying to make, one will likely be correctly paid for his production (Eyre) and one likely won't be (Furcal). Eyre is one of the better LOOGYs in the League and will get paid accordingly while Furcal will likely follow the trend of last year's crop of SS and be overpaid.

Let's see a LOOGY who over the last 3 years has held LH hitters. 81.2IP 59H 5HR 26BB 73K Oh the irony of wanting someone who has almost struck out as many batters as he allowed to get on base. Yeah, they're almost the same. Where's the irony?

Since Sauerbeck has been inked, change it to Eyre. Hendry will make a huge listake by overpaying for Furcal, I wouldn't Castillo or Giles, but Furcal's speed and strong arm can't hide the fact someone will overspend for him. I doubt he'll be as bad as Renteria or Cabrera, but you won't get you money's worth by anything near 9 or 10 per.

My dream scenario... Michaels-CF ® Walker-2B (L) Lee-1B ® Ramirez-3B ® Bradley-RF (you can flip Michaels and Bradley as far as CF/RF) (B) Nomar-SS ® Murton-LF ® Barrett-C ® Blanco C ® Hatteberg 1B-Emer. C (L) A. Nunez 3B/2B (B) Hairston CF, 2B, 3B ® Cedeno SS/2B ® Sweeney LF/RF (L) Zambrano ® Wood ® Prior ® Burnett (I keep changing my mind on him) ® Maddux ® Dempster ® Howry ® Sauerbeck (L) Ohman (L) Williamson ® Wellemeyer/JVB/Leicester ® I'm certain it would be under 100 mil.

Polanco wasn't a FA though, he was someone I wanted last year at SS, but somehow accepted arbitration and went back to Philly despite Utley and Rollins.

Brian Baldinger told me that Haslett has faced the Cover 2 many times an he knows how to beat it by going with a run when the defense is thinking pass and vice versa. Maybe not the same Brian, but it didn't tell me much.