Soul

Of course it is. But the point Pompei was making is that after watching Peppers light him up for a month, and then Williams having a bad game against the Raiders he didn't look like the guy everybody had assumed he was. It does not say the season is over find another tackle no need to play the regular season. I think you people are overreacting to somebody pointing out a potential negative. The fact is Williams has to be really good out there for this team to have a chance. He has not been very good in practice or in the only preseason game the offense has played so far. There should be some doubt and Williams has to come back and be what everybody expected him to be. It's not doom and gloom or apoplectic. It's not calling his game the worst thing that has ever happened. You're calling out one article, but Banedon mentioned more than one source where these doom & gloom comments are coming from, and I am hearing it from more than just Pompei as well. Maybe you don't realize that.

I don't know about that. But the entire premise of the season has been that the only real question on the line is at a guard position, as LT is settled, center is stable, and Omiyale has to be better at RT. Williams not being a stud is a huge problem for this team. They can't afford for him to just be okay, let alone bad. If he struggles just a bit, Cutler could die. Eh, still overblown even taking the last part as hyperbole. We have seen Williams play 7 games at LT as a Chicago Bear. 5 to end the 2009 season and the 2 preseason games this season. He has had 1 bad game of those 7. All that was shown is that he will have trouble w/ speed rushers. So, 2 games against Clay Matthews and one against Ware/Spencer in Dallas Martz needs to give him help. He'll need help with speed rushers, but that's going to be the case with several LTs around the league. He did fine against Minny when they gave him a little help in the regular season last year. I'll take that as my basis for wanting to see him again in regular season action, rather than judging him as incapable based on a couple preseason games. You guys are completely misrepresenting at least what the Tribune is saying. I assume the reference is to the Pompei article. Nobody is judging him solely on one preseason game or suggesting they don't want to see him in the regular season. The point of the article is that Peppers has destroyed him in practice and that could have either good or bad effects. Also, he played poorly in the last game and didn't look like the guy we've come to expect. That can be a problem. The Bears need Williams to be really good in order to have any chance of having an offensive line that is effective. It's pretty damn important for this season and the team's future. All of this came to a head when he gave up 2 sacks on Saturday to a speed rusher with no help. It's completely fair to say that this is highly based on last Saturday.

I don't know about that. But the entire premise of the season has been that the only real question on the line is at a guard position, as LT is settled, center is stable, and Omiyale has to be better at RT. Williams not being a stud is a huge problem for this team. They can't afford for him to just be okay, let alone bad. If he struggles just a bit, Cutler could die. Eh, still overblown even taking the last part as hyperbole. We have seen Williams play 7 games at LT as a Chicago Bear. 5 to end the 2009 season and the 2 preseason games this season. He has had 1 bad game of those 7. All that was shown is that he will have trouble w/ speed rushers. So, 2 games against Clay Matthews and one against Ware/Spencer in Dallas Martz needs to give him help. He'll need help with speed rushers, but that's going to be the case with several LTs around the league. He did fine against Minny when they gave him a little help in the regular season last year. I'll take that as my basis for wanting to see him again in regular season action, rather than judging him as incapable based on a couple preseason games.

Peterman's going to get an injury settlement and be released. LaFevor seems destined for the practice squad or outright release. Guitierrez - who I liked when he was briefly at Michigan - also won't be around. I am guessing Cutler-Hanie-Collins. Gutierrez is one of the QBs who was part of that HS team that didn't lose for a decade. Not that it matters, but I saw his name and that's what immediately came to my mind. I remember he was all set to be Michigan's QB when he went down with injury.

Not saying this is the way it will go, but I am a little concerned with a guy like Sandberg coming in to a bad situation and failing, which turns a lot of people against him. I know -- not hiring him because of this is tantamount to running your team based on fear. Ryno is one of my favorite ballplayers of all time. Let's just say I'm not all that excited about developing a 2nd piece of his Cub legacy that is perhaps not as stellar as the first. Part of this is also that I'm not convinced he would be capable of doing well, and especially not with this club. And Cub fans & the media aren't going to hang with him in year 3, year 4 just because he's Ryno if the team still blows. I don't know. I'm not real excited to see Ryno become manager. I'd prefer someone else.

WHY Hanie must be in bad shape or they plan to release La-Fla-Fla. I'll take a stab and say they want to release LeFevor, put Hanie as the #3.

Biggs starting to make some noise that Gilbert & Melton might be in trouble: http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/08/bears-gilbert-melton-facing-increased-scrutiny.html It would be pretty damning for Angelo if both of those guys washed out, given our OLine situation and the players who were available who have remained in the league.

Are they really going to use the likes of Fuld & Barney as some kind of extrapolation tool for the pre-evaluation of Sandberg, as Rogers' comment seems to suggest? That sounds pretty bizarre to me. I would think they have better ways of evaluating a managerial candidate who is in their own system than using marginal prospects as a benchmark.

That's my favorite part of the story. Clemens' defense is, "Andy's got it all wrong. I was talking about the movie Cocoon, and he somehow misunderstood me and thought I admitted to using HGH." LOL.

I guess I'm a contrarian too, because I never hated Sosa and still don't.

I understand it, but I do not applaud him for it. I cannot imagine a competent football organization conducting operations in this manner, and I wish the Chicago Cubs were not run like a beer league team. Do you think he would have resigned from a first place ballclub? Would he have quit in August 2008 if an immediate family member had taken ill? Charlie Manuel. I really don't think a manager resigning from a bad team when he was going to retire at the end of the season anyway is something that wouldn't happen in any organization. Lou retiring like this says more about this particular Cubs team rather than an overall statement on how the Cubs are run. The team sucks and he was retiring anyway. I don't see any issue with this at all. In fact, I wouldn't have a problem with a manager from a first place team going to be with an ill family member (especially gravely ill). I see no problem with it. In fact, I called for this a couple weeks back. Lou doesn't need to be here. We don't need him to be here. Yes, it's because we suck. What do people want? The team blows, that's an inescapable reality. Yes, if we were a contender he wouldn't leave. So what? We're not.

I feel like there's an enormous gulf just between the lower minors and the majors. I'll admit I haven't watched a ton of minor league ball, but the games I've been to -- it has seemed quite noticeable the dropoff in basic defensive ability. And the guys who can defend at a higher level tend to stick out much more, too. At least that's been my observation. I agree, but you have to also take the low minors with a grain of salt when talking about defense. From the examples I've seen, the fields in the low minors suck. I got the chance to play on 3 different MiL field when I was in HS, and two of the three, Cedar Rapids and Clinton, were as bad as any I played on in HS. From the reports and discussions I've seen, there hasn't been a big change since then. That's part of the reason I'll somewhat ignore a guys errors if they're mostly fielding problems and not throwing. There's as big of a gulf in the quality of the infields as there is in fielding. Good point.

Yep. Exactly. Which will be a shock to the people who posted in the "FIRE LOU" thread every time there was one issue with the lineup. the high likelihood that Hendry is going to replace Lou with small-ball Ryno doesn't mean people should be content with the increasing number of bad decisions Lou made. if we have to accept stupid decisions because the GM is so bad he's going to replace an old, maybe senile manager with a younger, psycho manager, maybe those of us that want the team to be competitive should just give up and find a different team. Getting fed up with managerial decisions is a time-honored baseball fan tradition. I can't remember a manager who didn't have a core group of fans who simply point out every boneheaded decision he makes. It just happens. The next Cub manager -- same thing, there will be a "Sandberg dumb moves" thread, guaranteed. Or insert the next Cub managers' name. That's not to say Lou didn't make dumb decisions, or that he didn't deserve the criticism. I just don't see any future managers escaping the same sort of scrutiny.

I feel like there's an enormous gulf just between the lower minors and the majors. I'll admit I haven't watched a ton of minor league ball, but the games I've been to -- it has seemed quite noticeable the dropoff in basic defensive ability. And the guys who can defend at a higher level tend to stick out much more, too. At least that's been my observation.

I'm sad to see such an embarrassing sendoff. I didn't hate Lou to the levels that many did, although he was definitely good for some boneheaded decisions. Eh, we had a couple shots in the postseason under his tenure. 2 pretty good teams to point to (not that it was only Lou). It's too bad we decided to suck in those opportunities, but I can honestly say I hold no ill will for the guy. Let's build this thing back up and get back to the postseason. Preferrably without several more years of this crud.

The speed was good, but it was the cut to avoid that last defender that really impressed me. It was a fine run. And it wasn't just that one time either. He definitely looked like he had more speed overall. Good to see. We'll need him & Taylor to be solid if we're going to have any hope of keeping defenses honest.

Bonds too. There's that group of players -- even if they used, I still feel like they are HOF worthy. I don't think there's been a consensus yet on what will happen with these guys. ARod's definitely another. OK, he used some roids. Yes, it does upset me a little. That guy is a hall of famer.

A-Rod was able to go out on a baseball field every day after apologizing and earn the cheers & coverage of the baseball world. Roger can't. If Roger admits usage, it becomes a final comment on his career, with no opportunity for him to control what that comment will be by playing more baseball. There's a huge difference.

Agreed. Surely Marmol's slider belongs in the top 3 of the NL.

I don't know how I can distaste a guy more from one day to the next, but Favre manages to do that to me. Favre wanted to rejoin the Vikings before July 19, are you kidding me? I'm not even sure I trust that report. Who is this Vikings source that says Favre thinks Childress is clueless? How would they know this? So he thinks he's clueless but then rejoins anyway? Something ain't stirring the Kool-ade, Ace.

Best candy you'll find. Lucky might be an understatement. Evil stuff. Start eating them and observe what it's like to not be able to stop.

Fine, but what a thread like this tells me more than anything is that there's a growing feeling out there that Ricketts isn't particularly engaged, when we hoped he would be. I'll still withhold final judgement, but I agree a raised eyebrow or two is appropriate at this juncture.

Migraines are always tough because they're hard to nail down. They can happen any time, medications are usually hit-and-miss, and finding a root cause can be anywhere from difficult to impossible.

I feel a bit sad over this. Lee was a good Cub, IMO. :bye:

I am mentally prepared for my daily dose of frustrated baseball watchiness.