Soul

Understood. Although, as I have been saying, if you hire a manager who can't get the job done, then at some point that also has to come back on you.

You knew Nomar was going to be injured for the season? Wow you have some amazing talents. No closer? We have a solid closer in Dempster. Hendry was intent on making him the closer all winter. At some point during spring training either he or Dusty decided with the injuries of Prior and Wood he should be shifted to starter. What middle relief did you want him to sign? Middle relievers aren't worth giving big dollars to because they're so inconsistent. Remlinger and Hawkins were two of the top relief options when we signed them. Honestly who else were you going to sign to backup Nomar who was willing to be a backup? Please, give me one example of someone who would have been a major upgrade on Neifi that was willing to play behind Nomar. You wanted him to re-sign Clement and also make those other upgrades on the same budget? How was he going to do that? Besides, Matt hasn't exactly been pitching up to that contract this year. Hollandsworth is fine as a 4th OF. Hendry doesn't pencil in the lineups everyday. Where was he going to dump Remlinger without eating almost his entire contract? Macias is fine as a 25th man. Again, Hendry doesn't fill in the lineups. For all of your complaints, I'd like to see what you would have done on a similar budget to counteract the poor decisions that you think Hendry made. Yes, I knew Nomar was going down for the season in February. And I wasn't the only one. Didn't take any talent at all----he always goes down. He's made of glass. Solid closer in Dempster?? How about having a solid closer coming out of spring training for a change, instead of blowing leads in April & May until you figure out what to do? There's a novel idea: have a good team coming out of spring training!! Oh, wait, it's only a novel idea in Wrigleyville. All the other winning teams have already figured that out. Middle relief---wow, there were plenty of guys available. I'll give you one: Dustin Hermanson. He's done very, very well on the South Side. Yet Hendry didn't even give him a look. Why? As for a backup to Nomar---how about signing a decent shortstop who isn't made of glass in the first place? Other than that, there is a massive laundry list of players who are better than Neifi Perez. He's junk and everyone knew it. Are you saying no other teams signed a backup shortstop who was better than Neifi Perez last offseason? That's a big glass of Cubbie Kool-ade!! You're allowed to drink it if you want to, of course. And I'm allowed to call it what it is. Hendry already did dump Remlinger. So why wait until now? So you're saying Macias is good for a guy with half his butt back in the minors? OK, I'll give you that. I expect more from my bench though. Especially when our bench is as woeful as it has been. Budget? The Cubs have the biggest budget in the NL. Teams with less than 1/3 of our payroll are beating us in the standings. This isn't about budget. How can you possibly even bring that up, when the Cards are 20 games better than us on many, many millions less budget? How about the Stros? What's their budget----20 million less? 25? Again----yes, Baker fills out the lineup cards. So who hired Baker? Yep---Hendry was the guy who wanted him. So sorry dude, but that one isn't going to fly either.

Except that there's no way Baker would come here for anything less than four years. And Jim Hendry wanted him badly enough to give it to him. Right. So again: how is Hendry escaping the axe? I never hear any media on his case, nobody ever examines the endless train of bad moves he has made to get us in this position, the incredible ignorance of players who were obviously not capable of staying injury free, the blind seeking of Dusty Baker without knowing anything about his lack of actual managerial skills. In my view this whole debacle rests right at the feet of one Mr. Jim Hendry. Every season has been worse than the last. Every year a deeper nightmare. Sure he made a couple good moves in 2003. Good for him. GM's with TALENT make great moves every single season. Witness Jocketty and Beane. Hendry couldn't touch their jock straps. It's time for Hendry to go back to running the minor leagues and bring in an actual talented GM. Talent-wise, the Cubs are probably not as bad as their record indicates. They sould be a couple games over .500 unstead of five games under. I really don't have a problem with most of the Cubs roster as it stands--which is Hendry's job--but I don't like the way it's being used--which is Baker's job. I see. And who wanted Baker to be his manager? Case closed.

Except that there's no way Baker would come here for anything less than four years. And Jim Hendry wanted him badly enough to give it to him. Right. So again: how is Hendry escaping the axe? I never hear any media on his case, nobody ever examines the endless train of bad moves he has made to get us in this position, the incredible ignorance of players who were obviously not capable of staying injury free, the blind seeking of Dusty Baker without knowing anything about his lack of actual managerial skills. In my view this whole debacle rests right at the feet of one Mr. Jim Hendry. Every season has been worse than the last. Every year a deeper nightmare. Sure he made a couple good moves in 2003. Good for him. GM's with TALENT make great moves every single season. Witness Jocketty and Beane. Hendry couldn't touch their jock straps. It's time for Hendry to go back to running the minor leagues and bring in an actual talented GM. That's a completely unfair assessment. What "endless train of bad moves"? Alfonseca, Estes, Maddux, and not getting full value for Sosa (he was obviously put in a bad spot) is all I count. There are plenty more good than bad moves. You can't honestly complain about the trades he's made. You can't complain about the FA signings too much, especially in light of the money and years the non-Cubs have received. Oh come on. Unfair assessment? The Garciaparra signing---everyone knew he would be injured for the season. If you didn't, then you weren't seeing him objectively. No closer-----NO CLOSER. No middle relief of consequence. Keeping Remlinger. Keeping Macias on the team. Thinking Neifi was the answer if Nomar went down. Hollandsworth. Clement. CLEMENT! Add those to your list. It's been all downill since '03, my fellow Cub fan. And Hendry has been at the center of it all.

Except that there's no way Baker would come here for anything less than four years. And Jim Hendry wanted him badly enough to give it to him. Right. So again: how is Hendry escaping the axe? I never hear any media on his case, nobody ever examines the endless train of bad moves he has made to get us in this position, the incredible ignorance of players who were obviously not capable of staying injury free, the blind seeking of Dusty Baker without knowing anything about his lack of actual managerial skills. In my view this whole debacle rests right at the feet of one Mr. Jim Hendry. Every season has been worse than the last. Every year a deeper nightmare. Sure he made a couple good moves in 2003. Good for him. GM's with TALENT make great moves every single season. Witness Jocketty and Beane. Hendry couldn't touch their jock straps. It's time for Hendry to go back to running the minor leagues and bring in an actual talented GM.

Wow. And because it's the Cubs, heads will not roll. Ever get the feeling you were being slowly suffocated and nobody gave a damn? That's how this Cub team makes me feel.

Thanks for editing what you originally said. Answer me this, did Carpenter return to pitching (and pitching effectively) 10 months after TJS? From the time he finished rehabbing, he joined the Cards. Immediately the guy was pitching with lights out stuff. NOT ONLY THAT---he never did that ever before in his entire career, even when he was healthy. Is your argument that pitchers should be able to return from TJS and go from being .500 to CY Young candidates? Because if it is, then where do I sign up?

Most pitchers aren't great in their first month back from TJS. Except the immortal Chris Carpenter... Exactly my point. Wow, I didn't realize Carpenter just came back from TJS in July. Did you just skip over the "first month back" part? Carpenter was great from the moment he came back from TJS. Didn't take him two years.

Most pitchers aren't great in their first month back from TJS. Except the immortal Chris Carpenter... Exactly my point.

Can't wait until Williamson gets back!! #-o

Actually, you are right. He does have very good movement on his pitches. If he doesn't learn control though, it will probably be for nothing.

He might be able to do that if he didn't have: 1) A high priced wife who sucks every last dollar out of his bank account and 2) An agent who keeps telling him he needs to hit home runs or he won't get paid. I didn't know Corey got married? Has he been married for long? And who is his agent? Is there a site that lists which players have which agents? The ironic part is that patient hitters wind up getting the HRs. Take Lee and a pre-roid Giambi (who is getting his form back - think it's "help"?). And that translates into bucks. Haha, I was just shooting off for fun. Don't be so serious 8)

He might be able to do that if he didn't have: 1) A high priced wife who sucks every last dollar out of his bank account and 2) An agent who keeps telling him he needs to hit home runs or he won't get paid.

I want to know what drugs Carpenter took to come back from a 2-year catastrophic arm blowout to suddenly become a Cy Young candidate. I don't buy that he did it naturally. Not for one second.

Yay. Carpenter vs. Williams. I know we have to play the game, but this one was decided the day the pitching rotations were chosen.

Nope. Every day, and in every way: The American public is forced to consume incessant quantities of B.S. regarding East Coast clubs they don't follow, and rivalries they don't care about.

In other words, Cub baseball.

Did you see that stat on Carpenter? 49-50 before his injury. Then 2 years off with an arm made of hamburger. Now, 31-5. How does that happen? He wasn't nearly this good before his injury. I mean, he was alright--but nothing like now. And after a massive, massive arm collapse? Something isn't right with that.

Yep. That kind of crap is why I refuse to give my money to MLB.tv You aren't going to get half the games anyway. And it will probably be the games you want to watch most. So why feed MLB.tv more of your cash just to be frustrated by blackouts?

Madison FOX is showing the Cubs right now.

The only place we should be moving Nomar is to another team.

If that's what passes for a "resurgence" these days, then I'd say our Cubbies are in deep, deep trouble.

Carpenter vs. Williams. Ouch. Maybe it would be better if the storms come back and wash us out.

Just terrible. :o I sure hope he's OK.

But how much time did Prior miss? He's still going to pitch 175 innings this year. Ramirez is having a terrrific year. What you fail to realize is that it is not the injuries that have kept the Cubs from leading the Wild Card. It is that even with a normal amount of injuries this is about a .500 team. Macias and Perez are your two best bench options; Hollandsworth logs 200 ABs as your starting LF; a confirmed mediocrity like Burnitz in right (batting 4th or 5th!); Weurtz making 80 appearances; Roberto Novoa is your 8th inning guy after Baker lost confidence in Wellemeyer. Those are games going out the back door that Lee, Ramirez, Prior and Zambrano won in the first place. That's a .500 team. On $100 million that is a poor return. Fair points all around. I completely agree with you on the bullpen situation. My original point was that it was injuries + Dusty that led us to not contending for the wild card. Playing Macias, Perez, and Holly, and overusing Wuertz and Novoa were all decisions by Dusty, not Hendry. Yes, but *having* players like Holly, Macias, and Perez on the team in the first place was Hendry, not Dusty. *Having* pitchers like Novoa & Wuertz as your only decent options for middle relief (they aren't bad, but obviously there should have been better options)----this was Hendry. Yeah Dusty misuses them and he's bad too. I'm not defending him. I'm just saying there's someone else who should be in the crosshairs as well. And his name is Mr. Hendry.