XZero771679666304

99% of the time you lose a ball in the sun, there's nothing you can do about it. Occasionally you can lose a ball by taking your eye off of it and finding the sun when you look back for it. But those times the ball is in the same line of sight of the sun, you're just boned. Sometimes it is so bad, sunglasses won't do any good. One time in HS, I had a liner hit at me in center and totally lost it in the sun. I just froze and put my glove in front of my face to protect myself, and I'll be damned if it didn't hit square in the webbing. I was a pretty darn good defender, so no one thought anything of it, except the RF who saw the look on my face. One second you have it, and the next second you're trying to remember if you have dental insurance. Losing a ball in the sun can be a scary thing if you know it was hit hard and right at you.

I don't believe your implied assumption that it was Furcal OR Pierre. I believe it was Hendry's intention to acquire Furcal AND Pierre. I believe that's true. Hendry wanted both of them. Hendry would not have traded that kind of stock for Pierre if he would have found his leadoff hitter in Furcal. I wouldn't be so sure.

Not to nitpick, but you have me 24 homers short here. I have 126. Acrually, there are other inaccuracies in that list.

Yeah, but with all the HBP he would have an OBP that would put Bonds to shame.

10 games is exactly what I expected.

I can't take my eyes off of your avatar. :lol:

So many comments.........none appropriate for the board. I believe the word you wanted was lose.

No, the real tragedy of Lee's injury is that one of the classiest players in the game will never get back to his superstar form after signing a bank-breaking contract that the organization he felt so close to will be regretting for years to come. Sorry. Lee's contract is only bank breaking if you're, say, the Brewers.

I'm guessing it's a lame Fat Albert reference.

No, it was not the dumbest thing imaginable. The absolute worst case scenario would be for the Cubs to just hang around for the rest of the year. Clearly the philosophy of the management and coaching staff is bad, and the only hope we Cubs fans have of seeing a championship team is for change. If things go much worse, Hendry simply won't be able to extend Baker. He'd be crucified. What he needs to justify the extension are the glimmers of light you are hoping for. This team isn't going to win, that much is clear. It's little winning streaks and glimmers of light that should be feared. Hendry wants to extend Baker, and the only way that will be prevented is if the door is slammed, and hard. Getting swept by the worst team in the game is the kind of thing that can get something done. No Cubs fan likes to see the team lose, it sucks. But if anything is going to come out of the talent pool we have now, something is going to have to change, and soon. Winning just enough to remain in the picture only serves to damage the long term interests of the franchise.

I cannot imagine how hard it is to sit in that booth and spin this garbage. No way could I not say what I think up there.

You know what this team makes me think of? George Carlin's incomplete list of impolite words.

At least Baylor sucked with no-talent teams.

Yup. The Cubs are getting violated by the worst team in the NL, but hey, let's give Dusty an extension.

We were up 3-1, 2 outs none on in the bottom of the 5th, Cedeno short hops a throw to walker resulting in an IF hit (that should have been an error), and carnage ensues, the Marlins scored 5 times. So I take it everyone will be blaming this loss on Cedeno, huh? I don't blame him for giving up a triple, double, and 3-run homer. It was a tough play as is with Ramirez running down the line. Should have been an error though. This whole thing has gone beyond the point where pointing fingers at anyone not named Hendry, Baker and MacPhail is just pointless.

At this point, I am willing to endure whatever I have to endure to see some significant change made. As if being swept by the Marlins shouldn't be enough, but I have a feeling this futility is going to have to become epic before something happens.

We were up 3-1, 2 outs none on in the bottom of the 5th, Cedeno short hops a throw to walker resulting in an IF hit (that should have been an error), and carnage ensues, the Marlins scored 5 times.

I don't even know what to think anymore. I hate seeing the Cubs lose, but something has to change. This is just pathetic.

One year guaranteed, with incentives. Two additional option years that vest with IP requirements. Something like 4 million + 1 million for 150 IP and 2 more million for 200 IP. The option years would have a higher base, say 6 million, with incentives for 200 IP. The option years would vest with 190+ IP in the preceding season. I don't think that performance incentives are necessary, since we know that when Wood is 100%, he is very good. If he likes Chicago as much as it seems, he'd go for it, or maybe even less.

As for Florida, they do have Jacobs, Willingham, Ramirez, Cabrera and others, and could be a very good team in a couple of years. The problem is that Cabrera and Willis probably won't be around to help that happen.

you honestly think that getting ONE guy back is going to turn the second worst offense in baseball to an offense capable of contending for a world series? i'd trade all the players and contracts in the marlins system for all the players and contracts in the cubs system. they've almost buried themselves this year, but i think they can be a playoff team next year, w/ a major personnel move or two. floria otoh is nowhere close. Next year, sure. Lose Pierre, promote Pie, platoon Jones and Murton, sign Carlos Lee and a SP or two and we're in good shape in 2007. This year is lost, IMO.

The bottom line is that the entire team has pretty much sucked for the majority of the season. Those who were hot in April have sucked in May. Those who are hot now sucked in April. Pointing fingers is redundant and useless.

Yep. Blackjack McDowell was the guy that accused him. Well, Jack looks like he was constructed from toothpicks. When he looks around, everybody probably looks roided up.

I think it's all across the board on the blame for this mess of a team. Lots of people to blame, but the buck stops w/ the trib. they make the big decisions. No they don't. That's the whole point. They don't want to be making the baseball decisions because they're not baseball people. As has been previously stated, this really isn't anything new. I'd imagine Hendry has been waiting a while to re-sign Baker. They hired the architect of this all, MacPhail. I don't see why this is so difficult to grasp... They hired MacPhail because he is good with the books. As long as their profit margin is right, the Trib isn't going to meddle.

I don't think anyone lambasted you for suggesting the Cubs were going to be mediocre. You were lambasted for lambasting people for not agreeing with you. But to the point - Even as thin as the Cubs lineup is, it is surprising just how bad this team is without Lee. You knew it was going to get ugly when Derrek was injured, but this is just hideous. Even the most pessimistic among us wouldn't have predicted a sub-.280 OBP from Pierre or a sub-.750 OPS from Aramis. Not only is Lee injured, but most of the team is underacheiving even giving the meager expectations. In arguing with you, I said it would take something really bad for this to be a 90 loss team. This is nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. Hendry sold the team short, and he is accountable for that. Baker took what he had, and has mismanged away what little hope he had of fielding a winning team, and his laid back style has resulted in the sloppiest and most lackluster ball I have seen in a long time, and he is very much accountable for that. Hendry isn't going to be fired, but we can hope Dusty will not be here come next year (preferably next week). The infatuation with speed that built in the offseason has culminated with players like Freddie Bynum being brought in, and Tony Freaking Womack being plucked off the scrap heap. I have been a defender of Hendry in the past, but what he has been doing lately defies all logic. Things sure looked a lot better in March, and that's saying something. We can agree on one thing: this thing needs to be blown up, pronto.