XZero771679666304

the cubs have been building for the future for 98 years, its time to win right now I hear you. I wish it were possible, but Hendry and Baker have sent this team into such a tailspin we are now miles away from contention. There's always Murphy's. And HiTops. And the CubbieBear. Enjoy Wrigleyville, because the "L" flag will be flying often for the forseeable future. I don't agree entirely. With a core of Lee, Ramirez, Prior, Zambrano, Barrett and Dempster, a smart GM with a 100 million dollar payroll could turn this mess into a serious contender in short order. It's the philosophy that is the problem here.

Regardless of what Hendry could/couldn't have done with Hill prior to this point, he should trade him ASAP. I thought this after seeing hIll last year, and not much has changed. If Hendry can get some value for Hill, he should do it, because I don't think Hill's value is going to be getting any higher.

Barrett was probably thinking he could kill 2 birds with one stone. He'd be the guy that finally got to hit AJ, and he'd get the next 7 or so days off instead of playing on this ridiculous team. I think the home plate ump saved Pods from a good beating as well. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v365/XZero77/23524995.jpg

But not when the likely outcome is going to be losing a player the Cubs absolutely cannot afford to lose for several games. I'm a Barrett fan, but the cost of his actions to an already decimated team is high enough he simply HAD to turn the other cheek and keep himself from getting suspended. I think things are going to get worse before they get better, behavior-wise. We may see a circus atmosphere that would make P.T. Barnum envious before it's all over. Not that it will make much of a difference one way or the other.

I don't see what all the fuss is about. Is there ever a bad or inappropriate reason to deck AJP? I think not. But seriously, the Cubs are so bad, I'll take my entertainment wherever I can get it.

Listening to 720 all game, Hughes said AJ was walking to pick up his helmet. That's pure speculation. He may have, he may not have been, Pat Hughes certainly doesn't know any better than anybody else that watched it. Whether you believe it or not (and I am not sure I do), AJ said that's what he was doing on the Fox postgame. The Helmet WAS behind Barrett though. Yeah, i think it's safe to give AJP the benefit of the doubt on this one. BTW, AJP was just interviewed on ESPNews, and apparently Barrett said this: "I didn't have the ball b----" Then jacked him. :lol: At least Barrett addressed AJ with a level of respect commensurate with the status AJ has earned in the league.

Buehrle isn't unlikable. He's one of the few I like on the Sox. If you were to create a pitcher, Mark Buehrle would have most of the qualities desired: left-handed; smooth delivery; quick-worker; great control; doesn't walk batters; great pickoff move that gets outs and prevents many baserunners from even attempting to steal; great defense; a reliable horse who logs lots of innings; pitches efficiently, going deep into games while minimizing his pitch count; and even saves a game in the World Series on short rest. Mark is also a loudmouthed ass. He is VERY worthy of vitriol. Being a good player does not equate to being likeable.

That's happened a lot lately Todd. They all look like buzz saws against us. Gotta tip your cap, dude. Well said Chip. I also tip my cap to: Chris Capuano Brad Hallsey Zach Duke Bronson Arroyo EVERY OTHER PITCHER IN THE NL EXCEPT AARON HARRANG I think Halsey is in the AL. He's an A I'm pretty sure. But Clay Hensley gets a tip of the cap. We had to tip our caps to Halsey last year.

That's happened a lot lately Todd. They all look like buzz saws against us. Gotta tip your cap, dude. That is the one thing that I have heard far too much over the past few seasons. No, I do not have to tip my cap to a garbage pitcher because the Cubs' offense sucks.

No, bit I can blame Baker for doing as little with it as humanly possible. Baker is not just a victim of circumstance doing the best he can.

Whoa, come on now. A bad manager, yes. A rotten human being, no. Yeah, I actually what I have seen of Baker's personality. I think he'd be a great guy to hang out and conversate with. Horrible, horrible manager, though. Conversate ???? You're beginning to sound like Dusty, dude !! :wink: It's late, forgive me for my Dusty-ism. :lol:

Whoa, come on now. A bad manager, yes. A rotten human being, no. Yeah, I actually what I have seen of Baker's personality. I think he'd be a great guy to hang out and conversate with. Horrible, horrible manager, though.

You know you suck when Bynum takes you yard

When/if he gets Lee back in front of him and still doesn't come out of it. As it stands, ARam isn't getting any pitches to hit, nor should he. I just think he's pressing.

How about declining Wood's option and re-signing him before the arbitrarion deadline? I think that is the most likely scenario.

Jim has been bad, but don't think for a second Dusty hasn't had a lot of input into Hendry's moves.

If the Cubs score 10 runs here, I'll probably have an aneurysm.

I would literally do the happy dance all though my house.

If Baker gets fired, but we never get back into it this year, would you still be interested? It would be interesting to see how the team responds, and what the fall out will be. It'll sure be more intersting than it has been.

Not to nitpick, but Hawkins was brought in to be the set-up man. Even before last season Hendry was pushing for Dempster to close. The only person who thought Hawk was the answer was Dusty.

That's very true, but it's more of a tremor than a big shakeup. This team needs about a 9 pointer on the Richter Scale.

It has been said before, but if a manager is doing his job, he should be hardly noticed (unless you win 6 rings or 14 division titles like Torre and Cox). It is when a manager doesn't do his job that he sticks out. Hendry has handicapped the team to a degree, but Baker has had his hand in the personnel decisions, we can be sure of that. And while the talent level is bad, it isn't losing 9 of 10 bad. The talent isn't great, but is sure isn't commensurate with the pitiful results. Baker takes bad situations and makes them worse. Batting our best hitters in the bottom half of the lineup, batting guys like Patterson and Perez at the top instead of guys like Todd Walker. Making Hawkins the closer when the whole world knows he's a horrible closer, Holla as a full time LF, not plattoning Jones when Restovich was rotting on the bench, not using Remmy the right way, double switching poor defenders in during the opponents half of the inning, largely ignoring matchup stats and splits. Freddie Bynum. Jose Macias. Playing Perez over Cedeno last year when last year was over. Riding certain pitchers like horses while completely ignoring others, leaving some rusty and others exhausted. It just goes on and on and on. And that's not even mentioning the egregious lack of fundamental execution that we have seen over the past 3+ years: baserunning, pitchers not covering first, missed cutoff men, generally poor defensive evecution and decsion making....ill advised throws and flipping live balls to the ump like we saw today. It is incumbant upon the manager and coaching staff to recognize and fix that sort of crap, but while Dusty is quick to ask for his "props", he is quicker to pass the buck on that stuff. Stuff like "Go ask Larry about that" and "I thought that is what the minors are for"...come on, what do you think that 5 million dollar paycheck you get is for? Dusty never had to teach in SF, where he had a veritable parade of solid, productive veterans. We have guys like Cedeno, Murton, Pie, Guzman, Hill and Co. coming up now, with more to come in the future. ARam and Barrett are still learning too. Can we really afford this negligent attitude regarding the fundamentals of the game with so many youngsters here and on the way? Do we want what few good young position players we have reared in this coaching staff's swing-first-ask-no-questions-later-club-med-no-accountibility atmosphere? Heck no. If Dusty was doing all he could, that would be one thing. But he's not, he's making bad things worse. Sure, firing Dusty won't intantly transform this team into division winners. But when the plane is going down, should you just ignore the dead weight, or throw it out and give yourself some kind of chance? Firing the Hendry would be good, but just because that isn't going to happen doesn't mean Dusty needs to stay. Lord knows something needs to happen.

I've said it before: I really like Dusty, I think he's affable and funny, and I would probably love to hang out with the guy. But he is a terrible manager.

The personnel isn't good, that's for sure. But Dusty consitently takes what he is given, and make the absolute least of it. .326 isn't good, but it's better than what was batting ahead of him. Pointing the finger at Hendry doesn't excuse what Dusty does on a daily basis. This team is bad, but it's Dusty that makes it terrible.

That's not the point. It may not have made a difference today, but on an everyday basis, it will cost you a ton of runs because you have the pitcher and not an RBI guy hitting behind your highest OBP guy. It's the kind of dumb thing that Dusty seems to do on a regular basis with no rhyme or reason that makes most of us insane. I didn't realize .326 was a good OBP on a regular basis. Okay, so what is Mabry's OBP this year? Or Jones'? Or Ramirez's? Or Cedeno's? Or Pierre's? Are any of them .326 or higher? No matter how you dissect it, it was stupid.