Soul

Agreed. He pitched to just one batter in the game against the US and just one other inning the entire WBC. There was something wrong with his arm and his time in the WBC had nothing to do with it. Speculation. The fact is, he incurred the injury playing in the WBC. Nobody can say what would have happened if he was pitching warm-up innings in Spring Training as opposed to going full-bore in the WBC. He may have had better supervision in Spring Training too---which may well helped lessen the severity of the injury. Or maybe not. Impossible to say, but he got injured playing in the WBC so it's a WBC injury. It's also speculation to say he wouldn't have died on the field if he was in ST. Dumb speculation, but speculation nonetheless. The Nats are covering their ass since they overworked him last year, and now they can just avoid all blame and push it on the WBC. Call it what you want. Facts: 1) He was playing in the WBC. 2) He got injured while playing in the WBC. 3) Therefore, it was a WBC injury.

I'm worried about Illinois today.

He's a leadoff man who has had success in the league AS a leadoff man. That right there makes him an upgrade. The last time we had that was the 2nd half of 2003---which was also, perhaps not coincidentally, the last time we went to the playoffs.

Agreed. He pitched to just one batter in the game against the US and just one other inning the entire WBC. There was something wrong with his arm and his time in the WBC had nothing to do with it. Speculation. The fact is, he incurred the injury playing in the WBC. Nobody can say what would have happened if he was pitching warm-up innings in Spring Training as opposed to going full-bore in the WBC. He may have had better supervision in Spring Training too---which may well helped lessen the severity of the injury. Or maybe not. Impossible to say, but he got injured playing in the WBC so it's a WBC injury.

yes, but is Lee projected to miss any regular season games? He may be banged up, but Ayala is a full year deal (maybe longer depending on his recovery time from Tommy John...) True. Lee's injury was more of a ding. But it will push back his training schedule, as any injury would.

I don't really have a strong feeling for him, one way or the other. I think it's interesting that not ONE critic of Pierre commented on these numbers. The main reason is because those stats have no bearing whatsoever on the converstation. They were illustritive that Pierre saw pitches and made contact, nothing else. No, it's because the massive, wideranging anti-Pierre conspiracy made sure the truth was squelched.

You do realize Steve Stone isn't a doctor, never gives any real solid baseball information when interviewed, usually gives vague answeres to specific questions and has a Paul Bunyan sized axe to grind with the Cubs, right? And he is negative about everything so considering he is commenting about the Cubs has a better than average chance of being right even if he has no clue what he is talking about. Does Stoney speak different on the radio than he does for say his ESPN games? I watched an ESPN game last year and he had nothing but positive things to say about the Cubs -- AND they weren't even playing in the game. There is no doubt in my mind that Stoney is one of the biggest Cubs homers around and it is pretty pathetic that both sides can't let it drop. The Cubs do themselves no good by trying running out of town an analyst who was simply frustrated with a bad team and spoke his mind on the air. There also seems to be a pattern of publicly disgracing anyone who disagrees with them or whom they don't like. My guess is that once Walker is traded we will hear every negative thing that he has done since donning a Cubs uniform. Maybe they even have video surviellance of him leaving a game early, etc. Oh, do not get me wrong. The Cubs have become a PR joke, with the way they tend to handle news and react to things. To answer your question about Stone, he is on WSCR about 3-4 times a week, and is generally critical, snide, and smart alecked about it. I can understand the critical, but it's in the tone of his delivery that smacks of sour grapes and immaturity. Maybe he's playing to his audience/host, since they all tend to be pretty negative about the Cubs. The other thing I don't like is that he typically doesn't offer much insight when he answeres a question. Well, in Stoney's defense, when he's on WSCR its with Boers & Bernstein. Their whole schtick is to be snide and sarcastic, so Stoney falls right into it each time. I, too, have had occasion to listen to Stoney's analysis in other forums and he isn't nearly so caustic.

I'm glad some people are enjoying it, don't get me wrong. But we knew it would cause MLB teams to lose some players, and that has now happened. It will be interesting to see what happens next year. If I'm a GM, I start looking at building "no WBC" clauses into some players' contracts, if possible. BTW---he's not the first WBC casualty. Derek Lee was also injured playing in the WBC.

No, that was just really expensive take out. Chinese.

Yeah, I think there's probably something to be said for the fact that Sosa was able to get away in the offseason to do what he wanted away from the prying eyes of the big-time media. Still though, if he juiced he would have to have continued during the season because 6-months is too long to be without...

Here's the rundown of proof, as it stands right now IMO: Canseco: celebrates the fact that he took 'em. Gotta love a guy who just doesn't give a damn. Well, you actually *don't* have to love him, but Canseco is the most refreshing of the bunch IMHO. Proof by confession. Palmiero: proven through a test. Caught red-handed. Proof beyond all doubt. Bonds: proven through his testimony, in which he admits they were in his system but claims someone rooked him into thinking it wasn't steroids. The new book pretty much yanks that rug out from under him. It's proof beyond a reasonable doubt. McGwire: proven because he pretty much took the 5th (not total proof I understand, but we're not talking about prison here and when you take the 5th a preponderance of evidence now shifts against you. Which incidentally is why you are not allowed to take the 5th in a civil trial where only a preponderance is required......but I digress). Proof by a preponderance of the evidence. Sosa: no testimony proving he took it (had a lawyer speak for him in Congress, which in retrospect was very smart), no positive drug test, and he did not take the 5th. There is anectodal evidence he took it; the stats, and his change in body weight. But not proof (yet). I will wait for the PROOF before I condemn the guy. But all the while, I fully recognize there is a liklihood Sosa took 'em.

He's probably talking about Dusty's "nothing hurts. nothing, nothing, nothing" Was that a lie or did Baker think the discomfort was normal Spring Training soreness? I think it was the latter. I think you're right. But I'm pretty sure that's the quote the previous poster was so steamed up about. I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt here. Thanks for the benefit of the doubt, friend, and yes, the Dusty quote was one of the "blatant lies" I was referring to. The other was from GM Jim Hendry, who said something like, "This is the first we've heard Prior was hurt." ..and there was also this from the original Will Carroll article, which brings Larry Rothschild into the mix:

Yay :D Now we can get back to preparing for the season without fear of losing another player to a WBC injury.

They wanted a stud, so they raised a wuss. This is so Cubs.

Good for them. Now hopefully they knock the USA out before another one of our players goes down with injury.

So basically: Zambrano Maddux (2 months away from his best pitching) Junk Junk Optional Junk Get ready, it's going to be a long April.

First of all, I am unable to take any news on the health of a Cub player at face value. So I'm not sure I believe the report. Sorry, it's been too many lies... Secondly though, the end result is the same: he can't/won't pitch. Even if it's just the Cubs treating Prior with kid gloves---if in the end he doesn't take the mound regularly, then there is no point to any of it anyway. Prior's star is fading rapidly. He needs to put in 2 or 3 seasons of injury-free, stellar pitching to recover. Everyone's calling him injury prone now. Maybe that's not true. But if he's just too wimpy to pitch with pain what's the difference? You can't be a star from the bench/DL.

Healthy pitchers pitch. Those who are throwing with towels instead of pitching, or engaged in other rehab-type activites *instead* of pitching, are injured. That's just simple logic.

Um, yeah. All I'm gonna say is Marte is on the Cleveland Indians. Other than that fact, his overall point makes some sense to me. It may be only March, but it's clear this is not a contender. I'm not sure what sense there is to throwing guys like Neifi and Grissom out there day after day. What purpose does it serve on a 3rd or 4th place ballclub? Sure, there could be some miracle and the Cubs could win some games. But it's a real outside shot now with the injuries. Doesn't a youth movement at least need to be put back on the table as an option? Not a youth movement. Just smarter spending. We may need to get rid of Hendry, Baker, MacPhail after this year. I just hope we get some good minds running the show if we fail this year. Yunno. Minds that won't pay $2.5-$3.0m for the likes of Neifi, Rusch, Jones, ect. . . EDIT: It CHANGED M.c.f.a.i.l to the proper spelling??!?! Smart messege bored. LOL. :lol: I have had the MacPhail spelling changed too :) McFAI.L!!!!

why do you keep using wins as a stat that a pitcher should have? for the most part, he can't control that. zambrano is an elite starter and to say otherwise shows ignorance of the facts. Z has elite ability. 1 elite pitcher then Maddux doesn't come close to making us a competitive ballclub. uh....wow. please show me where i said we were going to be competitive. without wood and prior, we're not going to be. Wasn't trying to refute you, man. I was agreeing with you, then adding an additional point. Sorry for confusion.

Um, yeah. All I'm gonna say is Marte is on the Cleveland Indians. Other than that fact, his overall point makes some sense to me. It may be only March, but it's clear this is not a contender. I'm not sure what sense there is to throwing guys like Neifi and Grissom out there day after day. What purpose does it serve on a 3rd or 4th place ballclub? Sure, there could be some miracle and the Cubs could win some games. But it's a real outside shot now with the injuries. Doesn't a youth movement at least need to be put back on the table as an option?

I think you start thinking about the unthinkable: Trading Wood and/or Prior. We need to somehow build a rotation that will be able to take the mound regularly. Z should be the anchor. I say give Wood & Prior the rest of this season to see if they can become more reliable. If they both spend the season on & off the DL? Blow it up.

A baseball team is definitely for life. I can't even understand people who have changed teams, or are able to root for more than one team with all their heart. It's like they are from another planet. There's no going back. We are made to suffer. We are Cub fans.

I'm not saying it's a bad article. But the pitch-count argument against Dusty Baker is extremely old news. It was insightful in early 2004 when we were experiencing the results of Dusty's handling of pitchers for the first time. But in 2006 its old hat, we all know about it and its a strike against Dusty. The only real question regarding Dusty Baker is why has he been allowed to continue as manager of this ballclub in the face of such failure combined with causing harm to the heart of our franchise? In short, the horse Rogers is speaking of left the barn long ago.

He's been trying to leak the truth to us for years, and the Cubs have been trying to unload him for fear that the TRUTH will be known!! Todd Walker power to the people!! 8)