Soul

Wait. So first it's an 'abysmal offseason' and then a couple paragraphs later it's 'somewhat disappointing' ?? Which is it then? The media said we had a terrible offseason last year too. We didn't add any offense, and the Lions & Vikings were therefore going to catch us. Did that happen? Nope. We'll see about this year, but I wouldn't be too keen on taking to heart comments from CNNsi, who apparently can't even decide what kind of offseason we even had.

Isn't the Mariners' ownership from Japan, too? That must have played into this, or at least I would think it did.

CARD FIGHT!!! I like it.

That's alot of buckaroonies. I can see why Seattle did it, Ichiro means alot to that franchise. I wonder how many Mariners unis they sell over in Japan because of him.

Correct, there's no malice, per se, but there is definitely a blatant disrespect there, and I really hope this gets noticed by league officials. A player doing that to an umpire would result in a suspension for sure (at least, if the ump noticed and made a stink about it), and if there are any rules against general d-baggery, this ump should definitely be held accountable. That's stupid, pointless, rude, and disrespectful. I agree as well. There's plenty of grass behind the umpire, why did the umpire for whatever reason, decides to throw it right towards an area where there are alot of players are located at? Why not toss the gum out by the foul territory, away from the players, like right behind him? Not sure about the depth perception on that shot. He could have been way far back -- if so, I wouldn't expect him to turn around and throw it toward the foul line (which would also take his eyes off the field, too). Not necessarly. All you have to do is put the gum in between your thumb and your finger, and just flick it away behind you without having to move your head/face/eyes just to see where it goes. Now the depth perception, it can be argued that if the gum truly went past Michael, wouldn't it be safe to say that he would had looked back to see where that gum came from? Personally, I wouldn't make any assumptions about it at all. I can't tell what really happened in that shot. I know what it looks like, but as I said the depth perception in some of those shots can be tough to gage.

I was pissed too. Maybe it will cause further bad feelings between them, that would be good.

Grif pegs out ARod @ home. All those leg injuries, but the arm is still ready & willing for Grif :)

HIS OBP IS LOWER THAN NEIFI'S AVERAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What kind of new Cub hell is this? Someone please wake me from this nightmare!!!

I never considered Stone a serious GM option, but yeah I'm also not keen on him being our GM, because he's never done it before. We need someone who knows what he's doing, not a deadbeat like Ed Lynch, and not a rookie like Hendry was (and still is by many people's reckoning). Just my 2 cents. I'd still like to see Stone back in the booth at some point, I always enjoyed his color commentary. I don't understand why people think first-time GMs are a bad idea. There's enough retread GMs out there to convince me I'd be more than happy with a guy who has never done it before. Theo Epstein was a first-time GM and brought a title to Boston. That should convince anyone that a first-time GM is no worse than an old veteran. Really, why should our attitude about GMs be any different than players. Just because a guy has experience doesn't mean that he doesn't suck. Because we've been down that road before and have proven we can't pick a rook who has a clue. Who's "we"? New ownership means different people making those decisions. Are you sure McDonough will be fired when the team is sold? Maybe, maybe not. McDonough has never picked a GM, so that's not relevant to what you were saying. The relevance is that he's still a product of the same old Cubs, which hasn't picked a solid GM since Dallas Green.

Correct, there's no malice, per se, but there is definitely a blatant disrespect there, and I really hope this gets noticed by league officials. A player doing that to an umpire would result in a suspension for sure (at least, if the ump noticed and made a stink about it), and if there are any rules against general d-baggery, this ump should definitely be held accountable. That's stupid, pointless, rude, and disrespectful. I agree as well. There's plenty of grass behind the umpire, why did the umpire for whatever reason, decides to throw it right towards an area where there are alot of players are located at? Why not toss the gum out by the foul territory, away from the players, like right behind him? Not sure about the depth perception on that shot. He could have been way far back -- if so, I wouldn't expect him to turn around and throw it toward the foul line (which would also take his eyes off the field, too).

BS, nobody noticed 70 bats being taken out of the home locker room? Beware 4-year late 'revelations.' Shame on you, Fred. You're paid to be better than that.

I never considered Stone a serious GM option, but yeah I'm also not keen on him being our GM, because he's never done it before. We need someone who knows what he's doing, not a deadbeat like Ed Lynch, and not a rookie like Hendry was (and still is by many people's reckoning). Just my 2 cents. I'd still like to see Stone back in the booth at some point, I always enjoyed his color commentary. I don't understand why people think first-time GMs are a bad idea. There's enough retread GMs out there to convince me I'd be more than happy with a guy who has never done it before. Theo Epstein was a first-time GM and brought a title to Boston. That should convince anyone that a first-time GM is no worse than an old veteran. Really, why should our attitude about GMs be any different than players. Just because a guy has experience doesn't mean that he doesn't suck. Because we've been down that road before and have proven we can't pick a rook who has a clue. Who's "we"? New ownership means different people making those decisions. Are you sure McDonough will be fired when the team is sold?

I never considered Stone a serious GM option, but yeah I'm also not keen on him being our GM, because he's never done it before. We need someone who knows what he's doing, not a deadbeat like Ed Lynch, and not a rookie like Hendry was (and still is by many people's reckoning). Just my 2 cents. I'd still like to see Stone back in the booth at some point, I always enjoyed his color commentary. I don't understand why people think first-time GMs are a bad idea. There's enough retread GMs out there to convince me I'd be more than happy with a guy who has never done it before. Theo Epstein was a first-time GM and brought a title to Boston. That should convince anyone that a first-time GM is no worse than an old veteran. Really, why should our attitude about GMs be any different than players. Just because a guy has experience doesn't mean that he doesn't suck. Because we've been down that road before and have proven we can't pick a rook who has a clue.

I never considered Stone a serious GM option, but yeah I'm also not keen on him being our GM, because he's never done it before. We need someone who knows what he's doing, not a deadbeat like Ed Lynch, and not a rookie like Hendry was (and still is by many people's reckoning). Just my 2 cents. I'd still like to see Stone back in the booth at some point, I always enjoyed his color commentary.

From what I've seen of Hill, he's at least marginal defensively too. Probably better than Barrett, but I think it's a stretch to say Hendry went with obvious defensive advantages. It seems more to me that he made a knee-jerk, desperate move and prayed Hill and/or Bowen would give him something. We all agree getting Blanco back will be a good thing for this ballclub. Stop and think about that for a moment -- that, my friend, is how bad it's gotten.

Not that I really care about Bonds -- he's spit to me -- but I find it interesting that his final act as an All-Star in this league is to crap on the fans who got him in. Bonds won't be doing the HR derby, not even in his house, not even for the only fans on the planet who care about him, not even in a season where he has nothing else to play for other than a record which he will break regardless of whether he competes or not. He remains the biggest ass in sports history -- a characteristic I will always associate with him, and not the home run record. The fact that Selig has allowed this All Star Game to become a tribute to a cheater and a malcontent is a disgrace to the history of MLB. Victor Conte should throw out the first pitch. And all Selig is worried about is banning ESPN since they had the nerve to broadcast publicly available information and promote his sport. What a complete moron. Selig hasn't made his decision yet whether to attend Bonds' faux coronation. He could at least do something right before he retires by not attending. But I'm not holding my breath.

Pujols starting to look thinner, and his skin is clearing up.... Just sayin'.

Not that I really care about Bonds -- he's spit to me -- but I find it interesting that his final act as an All-Star in this league is to crap on the fans who got him in. Bonds won't be doing the HR derby, not even in his house, not even for the only fans on the planet who care about him, not even in a season where he has nothing else to play for other than a record which he will break regardless of whether he competes or not. He remains the biggest ass in sports history -- a characteristic I will always associate with him, and not the home run record.

It's got to. The stink coming from behind the plate is unbearable.

Yes, but he didn't actually get 300+. He got 100, and has been in the minors for weeks now. You're dealing in projections. Murton got ABs at the very beginning, but then started to get subbed out and eventually just got the boot. He's had nowhere near the play time we figured he would get. Also, he had 455 ABs last year, so even if by some miracle he did wind up with 350 that would still represent quite a dropoff. Not what most around here were hoping for.

The Goat forgave us long ago. I asked him 8-) Now we're living on the curse of dunkin' donuts Hendry and 1950's stats analysis. I can't immediately criticize Canning, he was part of the ownership group that emphasized building the minor league system for Milwaukee. Look what it's done. Christ they bring up some guy like Braun as an afterthought and he hits better than anything we've seen from Iowa in 20 years. We could use that kind of fresh attitude around here. I'll definitely be reserving judgement on this guy for now. For the record, though I'm with Vance -- I'd still like to see Cuban. Hope against hope, I'll hold out until the end.

He's one of several opposing players that has expressed dislike of some aspect of the stadium. I don't get why this is such a big deal. Maybe the visitors locker room smells like crap. I have no idea. And if it does and some player doesn't like it, why can't they say so. How is it disrespectful? I realize that Wrigely, to Cubs fans and some other baseball fans, is a place worthy of honor and respect. But for many people, it's just a stadium. And if they think it stinks, big deal. I think there's a strong possibility it's the visitor's locker room. I've never been in there, but I've heard more than once that it's amazingly bad. I doubt Ichiro was walking around finding bathrooms in the concourse before or after the game. He probably stuck to his hotel room, the bus, and the visitor's locker room. I really don't care what opposing teams think of their accomodations anyway.

For some reason during saturday's game I was thinking that I missed cheering for Kerry Wood. I don't think i'll ever see him pitch again in the majors, but oddly I missed him. Its strange how the focus of this teams talent have both disapeared. Disappeared because of Dusty and his insane clown posse pitching them 140 per start!

LMAO umm I think you forgot to say who was pitching. Greg Maddux enough said Just about every throw by Barret has been there tonight but with Maddux the catcher has no chance. Oh and Barret had a single tonight, I wish we could say that about our own catchers Incredible that someone would say bases are being stolen 'off Barrett' when Maddux is on the mound. Far be it for me to claim Barrett's good at throwing out runners, but yeah -- it's Maddux.

I wouldn't mind it. Gagne '07 G ERA WHIP 28 1.32 .951 Small sample, but still.