Soul

Starting to look like somewhere in the bowels of a backroom in Orlando, Hendry got the final word that Schmidt either wasn't interested in Chicago, or only would be if the money was incredibly high, or wanted 5 years, or whatever. I agree, *sigh*

Yukky if we only sign Lilly and then some other option like Meche. Probably tons of $$$$ too. And yukky.

So what does everyone think about Lilly? Isn't he a bit of a mismatch for Wrigley, being a flyball pitcher and all? Maybe I'm not seeing it right. Should be an upgrade regardless, albeit an expensive one.

Yeap. Yeap, it sure did. Wowza.

Who exactly exposed to the world that Sammy left the clubhouse early? Hmmmm. As well they should have. Bottom line is that he left, it all goes back to Sammy's actions regardless of what the Cubs do or don't say. For Sammy's part, he claims he asked for and received permission to leave. I have no clue. But this incident wasn't the only thing that tarnished his image anyway. On to '07.

Wow, we must have lost by 10 points. Damn. Oh wait... J/K. It is getting a little old hearing how terrible we were on a day when we won by 10 points though. Yes, there are issues, big ones. Which bad teams win through their mistakes? Only the good ones do that :wink:

That's WAY too optimistic. He's going to have to prove to me that he can sniff anywhere near those stats. He couldn't do it against a team with the 31st ranked (2nd to last) pass defense. I have NO faith in him anymore. Everytime it goes up in the air, my reaction is "Oh crap!" :cry: Come on. Muster up that last little bit of faith way deep inside :lol: Sorry, Soul. That's reserved for the defense, Good as Gould and the Windy City Flyer. Opening kickoff. Hester for the score 8-)

yeah, i'd much rather pay gil meche 4/$40 to put up a 4.50 era than pay marshall $300k to put up a 4.70 era. Marshall putting up a 4.70 would be quite the improvement. Marshall: 125 2/3 ip 1.52 WHIP 5.59 ERA Marmol: 77 IP 1.69 WHIP 6.08 ERA Guzman: 56 IP 1.88 WHIP 7.39 ERA Mateo: 45 2/3 IP 1.62 WHIP 5.32 ERA Smallish sample size, but none of their peripherals were at all impressive (other than Guzman's K/9, which still wasn't spectacular), and I don't see much that would lead me to believe that any of them would improve to even Gil Meche levels next season. They were all bad, really bad. If Guzman could stay healthy and get it together he could be good, but I personally don't believe he will. Counting on any of these guys next season would be just the type of irresponsible behavior that Hendry has been blasted for in the past. YES, a guy like Gil Meche is probably a better bet than any of the kids we saw last season, save Rich Hill. Sure Meche is no superstar, but he has never posted numbers as bad any of the four kids did in 2006. Even if we sign Schmidt (which is far from a given), the rotation would look like this: Zambrano Schmidt Hill (borderline ?) Miller (?) Prior (?) Mateo/Marshall/Guzman/Marmol (????) Unfortunately, at least one Lilly/Meche guy will have to be signed, or a Jennings/Westbrook traded for. I would like to see one of the kids get a chance, but with all the potential question marks we have in the rotation, I don't see how that would be even a remotely good idea. Is it worth 10 million compared to 370K? Probably not, but it's not our money. Pitching is at a premium right now, and unfortunately the Cubs need it. All good points. I thought Marshall looked pretty good for a few starts last year. Not saying that means he's great, but I think he's got a chance. If it comes down to having to plug in Sean or Angel in as the #5 guy, then I think we're alright. If we start needing to put both in the rotation, then yeah it starts to look pretty thin.

Not necessarily. It could mean that both Miller and Prior suffer setbacks, and that there was little else to choose from after Zambrano, 2 new guys and Hill. In other words, he could win the job by default without having pitched all that well. Alright, let me amend my statement... I really hope to see Guzman outpitch several other viable candidates to grab a spot in the 2007 rotation out of spring training! :D Love to see it. I'm just a little down on him right now because it seemed to me last year he displayed some poor attitude out there when things went wrong. Hopefully he corrects that and grows into a decent starter. He's 25 now (I believe) so it's getting to be that time where he needs to show it.

That's WAY too optimistic. He's going to have to prove to me that he can sniff anywhere near those stats. He couldn't do it against a team with the 31st ranked (2nd to last) pass defense. I have NO faith in him anymore. Everytime it goes up in the air, my reaction is "Oh crap!" :cry: Come on. Muster up that last little bit of faith way deep inside :lol:

Really? I thought Marshall might have a chance to be serviceable at some point. Maybe Gooz, but I'm starting to lose a little faith in him.

Maybe that's the case, but if it means overspending to get that innings eater, it may not be worth it. Personally, I'd offer the world for Schmidt and be happy with that. Zambrano, Schmidt, Hill, Prior, Miller, Guzman and one of Mateo, Marmol or Marshall is enough to get started. If Jacque Jones and one of Mateo, Marmol or Marshall isn't enough, I'd be just as happy with keeping Jones. Yeah, I tend to believe "Schmidt and done" is a viable strategy too. The reason I think that, though, is because I really believe Rich Hill is going to break out next year.

When I saw that I thought to myself, "bout damn time."

Bench him in week 14 though? See, this is the problem with the whole bench Grossman scenarios. I don't necessarily disagree, but at this point in the season I don't care if you're Johnny Unitas, you need more than 3 games against tomato cans to get ready for tough playoff games. If Grossmen fails to improve, I would not have a problem giving Griese a 3-game warmup before the playoffs begin. He's not a rookie. He's not in virgin territory. I like that Grossman brings a potential for big plays. And as long as he was bouncing back from bad games, I thought they'd be fine with him as QB. They've already beaten playoff caliber teams, both home and away, with Rex playing less than stellar. But back-to-back disaster games erodes my confidence in his ability to bounce back. 3 in a row would be unacceptable. Rex is no longer a "virtual rookie" with 21 games under his belt (including playoff). I was fine with the occasional setback earlier in the year. I was fine with how he came out of the NY trip. But I am not fine with tolerating prolonged very bad play. He absolutely has to show up Monday night. I'm not fine with it either. I just see Detroit, Tampa, Green Bay on the schedule and think to myself, I wouldn't feel prepared for anything if I played those 3 teams and that's it.

Hahaha. And now we want to throw him to the curb :wink:

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=NFL&id=2776&line=83686&spln=1 Here's to rotoworld being right. Edit: the source for that article is the Sun Times: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/159069,CST-SPT-bearnt04.article And it has more details that the rotoworld blurb. Vasher's injury is hoped to be minor as well.

The good thing about it is, it's like playing in the National League in baseball. It's never that bad because the rest of the league is so mediocre you can jump back in it with one decent offseason. Not that I want to see competition from the Packers, mind you 8-)

Bench him in week 14 though? See, this is the problem with the whole bench Grossman scenarios. I don't necessarily disagree, but at this point in the season I don't care if you're Johnny Unitas, you need more than 3 games against tomato cans to get ready for tough playoff games.

He did, he said it's impossible for them to determine which one loss team deserves to go over another. He predicts there will be a playoff system. What I really hope happens is Florida wins by 1, and Michigan destroys USC by like 25. Split National Championship. BCS collapso-matic FAILURE. TILT!! TILT!! Florida would have a win over a previously zero loss team. I see no scenario with a split championship. Probably. You just want to pee in my wheaties this morning don't you? 8-)

i'm certainly not willing to trust an interpreter to the extent that his failure would result in my conviction of a serious offense. if you are, well, fair play to you, i guess. No criminal charges pending for Sosa. But I'll bet he & Big Mac will be tied to each other forever. In other words, no Big Mac in the HOF? No Sammy either. Sammy should not return. It would be bad----he knows he can't play any more. He'd be stooping from his current level (which admittedly is pretty low) to that Barry Bonds level where you play well beyond your years just to stick it to the world for a record you don't deserve. Sammy doesn't deserve 600 HRs. He didn't earn them, and his playing usefulness is long gone. If I were a major league baseball player, they'd have to forcibly remove me from the game. If I could get a contract offer, I'd play another year because I love the game so much. I wouldn't care what it did to my stats. If the team offered me a contract and the manager put me in the game knowing the level of performance I could currently offer, that wouldn't really be my fault. I'd go out there, do my best and enjoy, "one more year in the sun." Are you saying that's wrong? No. But I don't think you can say Sammy feels that way about it. He says he's living his dream life right now in DR. BTW, Sammy was already basically forcibly removed from the game. He's gone because nobody wanted him anymore.

Good Lord, that sounds like no limit poker to me. This is reaching epic insanity proportions. I've got to think most other teams are pretty shocked at the Cubs' suddenly changed behavior this offseason. I know it's shocking the heck out of me. Again, I think this is further proof that the change at the "top" was more significant than initially thought. Not necessarily. Most insiders over the years have said it was the Tribune's board, not MacPhail, that instituted a strict salary limit. Hendry's spending, in my mind, is a sign that the Cubs will be sold in the near future. So they are spending tons more with the hope of attracting investors? I am not an economist, but that makes little sense. Maybe the pool of potential buyers is such that a winning club more attractive even if the payroll is super-high. That's blind speculation. It's so difficult to say.

Every mock draft I've seen have the Cardinals taking him with a top 5 pick. Then I think the goal is to be worse than the Cardinals. ;) Given the Packers recent performance, futility is on their side... Don't forget the Texans could use OL help. I think the Texans have two more wins in them. I think the Pack will be lucky to win one. We will beat the Lions and 'Queens. I only wish we already played them. I don't think we will draft an OL in the 1st round. Tackles usually go in the first round and we already have a couple of good tackles in Clifton and Tauscher. Guards go in the later rounds. Our line needs 2 good guards and I think we will then have a decnt O-line. And yeah Raisin, I was talking about Steve Smith. For some reason I also forgot about Ginn. This year's WR class is a pretty good one, at least at the top. Clifton won't last much longer. He's been losing steam this year too. I'd grab a WR somehow because as much as I do like Driver, he should be the 2nd. Every time I watch the Pack it seems they have trouble in the secondary. The whole Ahmad Carroll thing really hurt----I think you need to find another CB, maybe a safety. A big beefer DT wouldn't hurt either.

Good Lord, that sounds like no limit poker to me. This is reaching epic insanity proportions. I've got to think most other teams are pretty shocked at the Cubs' suddenly changed behavior this offseason. I know it's shocking the heck out of me.

Maybe the Rockies get more desperate to trade Jennings during the season, too. I does almost sound like the Rockies pulled out the "Rich Hill card" as a way of saying they don't think Hendry's offers are close. But the Rockies don't have the luxury of too much time since Jennings' contract is coming due. So it's hard to say. Certainly nobody can blame them for trying to get the best package for a decent SP.

He did, he said it's impossible for them to determine which one loss team deserves to go over another. He predicts there will be a playoff system. What I really hope happens is Florida wins by 1, and Michigan destroys USC by like 25. Split National Championship. BCS collapso-matic FAILURE. TILT!! TILT!!