Soul

I think it's still a bit premature for that. There's nobody who is going to replace him now who is going to be significantly better, whether that ends up being Pagan (I know, he's up right now, but Ward will probably replace him when he comes back), Cedeno, or Fontenot. Jones isn't necessarily completely washed up yet-trade him for absolutely anything you can get, but just releasing him doesn't really help the Cubs right now without a great option to replace him on the roster. Right now, he can be a pinch hitter and backup CF. A month ago I may have agreed. But time's a wasting, and this roster needs fixing. They need backup IF help ASAP. An OF of Soriano, Pie, Floyd/Murton, with Ward and Pagan on the bench is as good or better than one that has Jones in the mix. At the very least you cut down substantially on veteran whining, by getting Jones out of here and Floyd more playing time. And Jones has shown no signs of hitting his way out of this funk. Last year's slow start didn't last in May, let alone June. Jacque and the Cubs are like poison to each other at this point. There is no value in having him on the team, and it's quite possibly there is actually negative value. Indeed, removing Jones = addition by subtraction It only improves the team if we replace him with a better player. There is no such thing as addition by subtraction, unless you get to dump the player's salary too. Jones has been terrible this year, and probably isn't about to turn it around, but there still isn't any point in replacing him with someone as bad or worse than he is. I don't buy any of the clubhouse chemistry "Chicago is bad for Jacques" or "get rid of the whiner" arguments. If the first were true, he wouldn't have had one of his best seasons last year, and the second is the sort of intangibles argument that wouldn't hold any water around here, if the team wasn't playing so badly. Replacing him with more ABs for the better players we already have on the team isn't good enough?

I think it's still a bit premature for that. There's nobody who is going to replace him now who is going to be significantly better, whether that ends up being Pagan (I know, he's up right now, but Ward will probably replace him when he comes back), Cedeno, or Fontenot. Jones isn't necessarily completely washed up yet-trade him for absolutely anything you can get, but just releasing him doesn't really help the Cubs right now without a great option to replace him on the roster. Right now, he can be a pinch hitter and backup CF. A month ago I may have agreed. But time's a wasting, and this roster needs fixing. They need backup IF help ASAP. An OF of Soriano, Pie, Floyd/Murton, with Ward and Pagan on the bench is as good or better than one that has Jones in the mix. At the very least you cut down substantially on veteran whining, by getting Jones out of here and Floyd more playing time. And Jones has shown no signs of hitting his way out of this funk. Last year's slow start didn't last in May, let alone June. Jacque and the Cubs are like poison to each other at this point. There is no value in having him on the team, and it's quite possibly there is actually negative value. Indeed, removing Jones = addition by subtraction I'm in an agreeable mood today, and I certainly agree with this. Too bad, I had hoped Jones would hit his stride with us in his 2nd season as a Cub. Instead he's just laid a big fat egg, and needs to go.

You guys need to get in step with the 21st Century man. He's tough! He's shrewd! He's not afraid to cry (provided it scores points with women and/or fulfills some other worthy ulterior motive)!! He's the modern male!

Agreed. Yep. Titans and Chiefs would be a good place to send Brown though. Not even within the conference. It just makes more sense to send guys to teams you might only play once in the next 5 years, if it is at all possible.

Link Haha, then maybe that's telling you something Ferg. Maybe Ferg should do what Ryno did and get his feet wet at a lower level first. Might not be a bad idea. Fergie probably not all that willing to do what Ryno did at this stage of his life. Interestingly enough -- there's another connection between Ryno and Jenkins. Both were fleeced from the Phillies very early in their careers. I guess we aren't the only ones who lose hall of fame players to other teams.

Interesting. I thought the idea was for Soriano to be a good influence on Pie, but it looks like just the opposite. Actually, no, not a surprise at all. Felix is a winner and a very special kid. I've yet to hear from anyone that has played with Pie that didn't absolutely LOVE the kid as a teammate. And of course, you know that Felix has played in the league championship for every team at every level he's ever played for, right? World Series, here we come!! Hehe, to think all these years we only needed Felix to break that damn curse :wink: Felix is a baseball Leprechaun. He eats goats for breakfast. The anti-curse, lucky Felix!

what a load of idiotic BS. he gets moved to the pen and gets hurt shortly thereafter, and it proves the cubs were right to move him to the pen? seriously, what a stupid post. Abuck, I think he was kidding. It's hard to believe that someone with that long a history of posting here would, in seriousness, produce a post as insipid as that one. I mean, the board has gone through the Wood/Prior debates so often, and so clearly, that only absolute retards could continue to insist that a talented and cheap pitcher should be considered valueless just because he's often injured. Only a few weeks ago, this board- not to mention almost every respectable baseball analyst- crucified the Phillies for the Myers-to-bullpen move. When Myers broke down, the issue was even more widely discussed. It is difficult to think of a time in recent memory when the already obvious dangers of moving a pitcher from the rotation to the bullpen were more readily apparent. To believe that Soul was serious, you'd have to believe both that he doesn't follow major news stories in the National League and that he's one of these posters who thinks that his feeling such as disappointment or frustration or disgust at hype should be given significant weight in personnel decisions. Neither of those seems particularly plausible, and since, together, those claims amount to the suggestion that Soul is a remarkably stupid baseball fan, it seems far more reasonable, not to say generous, to conclude that he was joking. More like.......attempting to get a rise from some of the folks around here who are so very easy to get a rise from. Alright, I do that from time to time. I realize it makes me an insufferable jerk.

Interesting. I thought the idea was for Soriano to be a good influence on Pie, but it looks like just the opposite. Actually, no, not a surprise at all. Felix is a winner and a very special kid. I've yet to hear from anyone that has played with Pie that didn't absolutely LOVE the kid as a teammate. And of course, you know that Felix has played in the league championship for every team at every level he's ever played for, right? World Series, here we come!! Hehe, to think all these years we only needed Felix to break that damn curse :wink:

If that's indeed the case, then I'd sell it immediately.

No kidding. You'd think they'd get tired of kissing his arse after a while. They're back to questioning him after last night.

He's had less than 75 ABs in his major league career, and he's only 22 years old. To add to that, he's hitting between Alfonso Soriano and Derrek Lee. I doubt the opposing pitcher is going to be too careful pitching to Pie. You can't force the opposing pitcher to walk you. He's had some very nice ABs so far. The broken bat RBI hit into right field a few days ago was probably the best AB any Cub has had this year. He worked the count to 3-2 then fouled off about 8 pitches before finally muscling the ball into right for the RBI. He then proceeded to stretch the single into a double on one of the best arms in the league. The kid is going to be good. At worst he'll be an average offensive CF with excellent defense and speed. Now that's not what I want from him, but that's the floor with him. Just calm down and let him play. i just said that despite his defense, despite his speed, despite his "clutchness", if he doesn't take some walks, he'll never be a consistent productive player in the league. and that would be a failing. there are plenty of players who hit between 2 excellent hitters and still draw walks. and the plate appearance you're speaking of, he fouled off plenty of ball 4's. you can't be afraid to strike out as a major league player. i don't care what the results are right now, they're bound to be negative over the course of a major league season. Hopefully he'll prove to be more coachable than CPatt was. Then again, that would require we have actual good coaches too, which given our lack of positional talent developed in the minors, is probably questionable.

Alright, now he has an injured arm too. This means the following: 1) Guzman would never have survived as 5th starter 2) Lou was correct trying to preserve him in the bullpen 3) Many on these boards who exploded over Lou's decision were dead wrong. Dead, dead wrong.

Glad you're excited, but let's see how we feel after the Cubs face the better Braves pitchers over the weekend.

Cardinals are losing in the 9th, White Sox just collapsed against the Yanks. *GIDDY* Why can't all baseball evenings be like this? 8-)

Rich Hill is the mega bomb dudes. 8-)

*Heart begins to pound*

Barrett makes a play without looking like a fool. Details at 10

He's like 1 for his last 16. Something like that. Put Ramirez out of the lineup and follow it up with a Lee slump -- I fear a power outage.

striking out 17 percent of the time isn't anything out of the ordinary It doesn't really portend future success when combined with walking 1.4% of the time. Pie is capable of maintaining the strikeout rate. Do you really think he's going to continue to walk only 1.4 percent of the time? his career isoD in the minors is .54 or .55 Nope, I expect him to start walking more soon. I just don't think he's done anything in the majors yet to justify the building excitement. I fail to see the excitement beyond that which would normally follow a young player having a great game.

DLee starting to struggle.

Rich looks like he's got good control tonight. Ahead in a lot of counts. Too bad that homer, but oh well just continue on.

No idea if the Bears are one of the Culpepper suitors, but I would think the Bears of all teams are acutely aware of what happened to Culpepper when he started to suck without Moss. Those last couple games against us, Culpepper was so inept it was bordering on comical.

Well in fairness to Lou, he did say Guzman needed to go to the BP because of cramps. Now he's on the DL because of a cramp. I think it was premature for this board to explode on Lou the way it did. His move didn't turn out to be all that bad, for now at least.

Really? If the Cubs are well into terrible territory at the deadline, I was thinking Hendry would become a total lame duck. How can he prove he should remain with the club under new ownership other than making the playoffs? I would think any new owner would look at our payroll, and if it's not a playoff team Hendry is gone moments after the ink dries. Maybe I'm dead wrong. A lot of it depends on who the new owner is and when they come in. The later in the offseason they take control of the team (before free agency or after free agency makes a huge difference), and the less experienced they are in baseball (because they'll have less vision on who to hire immediately as a GM), the more likely it becomes that Hendry stays the GM through the end of his contract at the end of 08. Well damn. Maybe I have to readjust my expectations. I was looking forward to some real change starting in November.

Really? If the Cubs are well into terrible territory at the deadline, I was thinking Hendry would become a total lame duck. How can he prove he should remain with the club under new ownership other than making the playoffs? I would think any new owner would look at our payroll, and if it's not a playoff team Hendry is gone moments after the ink dries. Maybe I'm dead wrong.