Soul

We'll need career years/return to past glory from quite a few players, combined with poor luck for our chief rivals, just to climb into contention this year. I suppose it could happen. Anything can happen. I'm officially classifying the 2006 season as suspect until I see differently though. Hopefully I'm wrong. As for Giles: the guy loves SD. Good for him. What I don't understand is, why do Cubbie failures always boil down to the failure of one or two signings, or one or two players? Why do other teams overcome their difficulties while we are always destroyed by them? There's one reason. Bad organization. This team is run poorly from the top down. It's the *only* possible explanation for 100 years of consistent failure. Until that changes, we can look forward to more decades of wallowing in mediocrity with an occasional good year in between.

Fair enough. I know for my part I will lose exactly zero sleep if this whole thing fades away and is forgotten sooner rather than later.

Good point. Look at these 2nd half numbers too: July: .330 .377 .557 August: .277 .314 .411 September: .265 .317 .368 What a dropoff. At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, there have been steroid allegations as well----from none other than Raffy himself. Canseco has said he's suspicious of Tejada.... Plus he's a malcontent. That's enough for me. Stay away.

If Prior for Tejada isn't good enough for them, then these things must inexorably be true: 1) They vastly overrate Tejada's value 2) They don't really care whether they have a disgruntled player in the locker room or not 3) Tejada won't be traded because they'll never get better value for him than Prior.

I think if it was going to happen it would have happened. Count this one dead unless significantly modified. This is the kind of deal that has less & less of a chance of becoming a reality the longer it sits on the table. Why? Very risky for the Cubs, who are just as desperate to keep or acquire starting pitching as they are hitting. The longer a big risk like this sits around, the larger doubts will loom in the mind of Hendry. I say deal dead, unless it comes through in a significantly modified form.

And what makes you think Prior won't bolt the second he hits free agency? And what makes you think he will? Besides, the Cubs have Prior under control through 2008. Tejada can demand a trade one year after being traded. Because I've heard that Prior doesn't like the way that Dusty handles his pitchers. Is is that unrealistic to think he might want to go to a team that ... you know, wins? I would if I were him. Are you saying you think Dusty will be Cubs manager in 2008? Doubtful, unless he wins. I consider it doubtful Hendry will be here either, unless he......you know, wins. 8)

Our starting pitching is already pretty shaky. I'm not sure how we replace that big a hole in the rotation? He's our best, or 2nd best pitcher and we really have nothing else after Z & P? What good is Tejada putting up 120 RBIs when you can't stop anyone from scoring? Is Prior really hurt worse than anyone has said, or maybe Hendry has lost confidence in his ability to stay healthy now? I've got lots of questions about this one. Whenever that happens, I usually shy away. We'll see though. This is the kind of deal that has "RISK" written all over it in big, bold, red letters.

There is some improvement over last year that I can see. But I think we need to do a little gap analysis here. Is the team we are assembling enough to overcome a 21 game deficit with the Cards? The answer is clearly no-----not even close. Once we've established that, we should also look at the future prospects of the ballclub. That is to say: even if we can't overcome the gap in 2006, is this team likely to improve and overcome that gap in future seasons? Looking at our minor league system, it's not good. And salary-wise, it just seems as though we are spending alot for relatively little. I would have to say this ballclub will likely NOT improve and overcome the gap with our rivals in future seasons. So, while the improvement is good, it really isn't close to enough and it doesn't seem to be a "building" process as much as a "plug the holes in the dam with your fingers" process. The obvious conclusion being----unless the Cards and Stros come back down to us, it's not very likely the team Hendry is assembling will overcome these deficits.

Must be nice to be the Cards. All they have to do is reach out and sign some underachieving position player, or another shaky pitcher, and watch as they magically turn to gold playing in St. Louis. I like Jocketty, but he lives the life of Riley. If the Cubs signed Encarnacion there's just no question he would suck the entire season. But as a Cardinal, I'll bet he puts up decent numbers.

Jones will be useful in 75% of the games and it will be nice to have a good glove in RF. He's not garbage or some "homeless home," but Hendry needs to find a right handed hitter who can replace Jones from time to time in RF. This signing isn't good, but the sky's not falling either. No need for hysteria. Definitely no need for hysteria. We weren't a contender before this acquisition, and we still aren't. Status quo.

I don't see why its nauseating. People aren't just making up stats. They are using stats that have been shown to be far more reliable describers and predictors of production than tired old cliches. And it's not true that people are relying exclusively on them. People have seen Jones play. He's a known commodity. I don't think it's "nauseating." But the team that won the World Series this year supposedly had shaky stats up & down the roster. At least, that's what plenty of people on this board tried to sell us. Yet, they still took home the prize. So then, perhaps naked statistics don't tell the whole story of a ballplayer or a team. I do agree they are an excellent tool for evaluation and there's a good reason why people rely on them. Sometimes though, teams & players come along that just defy logic.

Well, he has physical skills and that's why people have trouble letting go. But he doesn't appear to be very coachable.

His work at the end of this year and in the AFL are pretty sufficient proof that he still has his stuff. Really? I don't think it's enough yet. We still don't know if he can sustain it, or if he will suffer further injury. I would need a couple years to convince me.

It remains to be seen if Guzman will ever really recover his pitching ability, as far as I know. Hopefully he will, but other teams aren't stupid either. Well, most aren't.

Yes, I agree. The boos will be louder and earlier than ever. I don't sense Corey has the makeup to handle it either. It's tough. He needs a change, and we desperately need to get some kind of value for him.

Sez who? Well, Baker said we can't count on him, although he also said he's making progress.

Thats the problem with having an inconsistent offense; we need all the good pitching we can get. That being said, I think Jerome Williams is a fine 4th/5th starter option. I hope so. It makes me nervous though. If everything worked out perfectly, Wood would be back by May and be good in the 3rd spot, Prior/Z will be great, Maddux will have one more good year, and Williams will find his consistency and our starting rotation will be solid. But that's alot of question marks. *sigh* I guess we'll just have to see how it plays out.

I certainly hope so. I think we really need Walker at this point. He's a veteran, and while his fielding can be spotty at times I like him better than other potential options unless something really wild happens.

I just don't see Maddux as a starter who will provide an entire season's worth of quality starts anymore. He's taking until July/August to ratchet it up now. Don't get me wrong, I hope he does well. If we have to rely on Maddux as our 3rd starter though, I'm thinking it's trouble. Thanks for trying to talk me off the ledge. I am very worried. Most people around here know be to be a worry-wart though :lol:

With no movement on several pressing issues with this team. This is sooooo like last year, is it not? Do nothing, do nothing, do nothing. I understand it's difficult, but the silence is becoming very worrisome. I want competitive baseball next Summer. Don't we all? We currently need: SS 2B (assuming Walker's really gone) RF 4th Starter (Williams not consistent enough) 5th Starter (Rusch really not good enough) I count 5 real holes on this team. 2 more if you count these factors: LF -- Murton's just a half-season removed from rookie status, not really a solid option no matter how good we hope he'll be. And I do have hopes for this kid. 3rd Starter -- Wood won't be ready until June, May if we pray and God grants a miracle. So we can go ahead and say we've got 7 holes or positions we need to address. I'd be happy if we would just address RF and 2B, and consider us "competitive." I guess at this point the question should be raised. Are Hendry and the Cubs brass going to address these issues? Because it sure feels like they aren't going to at all. Before you all go jumping on me for being too negative, I certainly like the fact that Hendry signed a couple bullpen arms. Much needed, even if we did overpay. And Pierre, while not the greatest, at least gives us a someone who we can honestly say fits the mold of a leadoff guy, even if does have flaws. It's not that there has been NO movement, it's just that we have so many holes all of a sudden, and I'm wondering if the Trib is privately conceeding that '06 is a lost cause. It does seem that way to me.

Once the Cubs see Wrigley packed for every game in '06 even though they never even tried to build a winner, the Trib execs are gonna go "Ooooohhh, yeah. Now I remember, we're the Cubs. We don't have to try!"

I think we need to prepare for the idea that Prior & Wood will not be able to provide 2, 3 years in a row of injury-free pitching. If they can, then that's wonderful. But this is madness, just counting on it to happen when the track record clearly shows they aren't likely to do it. Has Hendry ever heard of a backup plan? How about the term "safety net?" Because the way he runs his offseasons, it doesn't seem like he does.

I'd argue that the Bears are FAR more exciting. The defense (last Sunday aside) is incredibly fun to watch. The Bulls are alright. I was really excited when they had Curry in addition to all this other talent. I'm still excited about them, but those feelings have been tempered a bit. Deng is starting to show signs of taking the next step. I like what the Bulls are doing, but the whole Curry fiasco was a major step backward for the franchise IMO. They can still continue improving if they find some kind of solution down low. And I think they'll continue to search. I'll usually watch the Bulls when they're on, unless it's a terrible matchup. I will rarely miss a Cubs game if they are on, no matter who they play. And I plan my entire Sunday around the Bears. That should let you know where I stand with each team.

The trouble with this theory is, we have 3 holes to fill in the outfield, not just 1. It's not like Pie couldn't come up and play LF or RF, depeding on whether Murton succeeds or not. Or, Pierre could shift. The original quote seems to assume that if Pie is ready in 2007, there's no room for Pierre. This is just simply not true.

Pie in the minors playing everyday is better than Pie in the majors to "fill the gap" in RF by being Macias' backup 4 or 5 days out of 7. I can't believe anyone is even considering Macias as an RF starter.........on ANY day. But it appears we have sunk to that low a level.