XZero771679666304

a team w/ a 100 mil payroll shouldn't need platoon buddies for their corner OFer's. Good in theory, but what RF was out there that's far superior? Unfortunately, Giles & Abreu were pipedreams. Bring on Rondell White. Jones sucks, but you have a point. Abreu - Phillies wanted a front line starter, and Jim should't have and didn't offer Z or Prior. Giles - Retrospect tells us that he really wasn't going to leave SoCal. Dunn - Once Casey was traded, Dunn was off the table. Huff - Hendry probably should have offered Hill, but if Aubrey repeats his 2005 numbers, the defensive difference between he and Jones would have erased the offensive edge he had over Jones. Mench - Hendry tried and was tuned down. Wilkerson - same as Mench. Bradley - Could have had him, but not sure it would have been a good idea. Would have been better than Jones, though. Wilson - Would have been marginally better than Jones, and would probably have taken less years. So the realistic alternatives to Jones were really Bradley and Wilson. They probably would have been better, especially considering Jones got 3 years. Having said that, I never really thought we would get a huge upgrade in RF.

on the contrary, the biggest hillbilly tractor drivin' rednecks i've ever met are the ones I met in Wisconsin. Because they can afford nice tractors in Wisconsin.

a team w/ a 100 mil payroll shouldn't need platoon buddies for their corner OFer's. Who cares about payroll? Platooning is highly underrated (and cost effective)... more teams should do it. A Jones/Eduardo Perez platoon would constitute a large upgrade over Burnitz. As long as you aren't paying a guy a ton of money, platooning is always a good option when the sitution calls for it.

The good news is that the Cubs offer is for less money and fewer years than the Royals offer.

Or punch him and run him over with his bulldozer.

Until MSU plays Wisconsin-Green Bay? It'll be more of a contest than Illinois-Mizzou. NO JINXING JINXER Sarah Silverman is hot.

Until MSU plays Wisconsin-Green Bay? It'll be more of a contest than Illinois-Mizzou.

He hired Dusty. And the only out of nowhere injury was Prior's elbow this season. The team won only 89 games in 2004 (11th highest total) and 79 (17th highest) in 2005. They did so with a top 5 payroll each season. I would say it's pretty clear the negatives outweighed the positives. I agree about 2005, but it is hard to complain about the team Hendry put together in 2004. That was easily the most talented team in the NL that year going into the season. Injuries and Dusty are to blame for 2004. 2005 is a different story, however. Frankly I'm sick of excuses. He hired Dusty. You can't give Hendry slack by passing the blame onto Dusty. We knew what he was going to bring. Prior was injured before the season. Joe Bo was injured before the season. He started the year with an above average Lee at 1B, an above average Grudz at 2nd, a crappy Gonzo at short, solid but unspectaculiar Ramirez at third, aging and underperforming Alou in left, rehabbing Patterson in center. Aging and declining Sosa in right. Alou, Ramirez, Barrett and Rusch all outperformed expectations. The only real "surprise" injury was Wood's. Every team deals with injuries. STL missed Rolen for much of 2005, and were still great. The Cubs didn't lose because of luck. Okay, when pitchers and catcher reported in 2004, the team was significantly better than in 2003. Much better. Prior being hurt in ST was unexpected, anyone who says they saw that coming is full of it. Borowski being injured was unexpected. Gruz was above average (and he got unexpectedly hurt), his replacement Walker was well above average. Sosa was still above average. Patterson provided above average production for his position. Lee was above average. Barrett was all but guaranteed to be better with the bat than Miller and Bako. There was really only one probable hole in the lineup. The rotation was expected to be the best, and the pen to be one of the best. The best setup man was added to pen that included Farns (who was good in 2003), Remmy (who had been good in 2003) and a closer who was coming off back to back great seasons. The rotation projected to be Wood, Prior, Zambrano, Clement and Maddux. Wood and Prior were coming off all world seasons and showed little sign of potential health problems. St. Louis lost Rolen in 2005? So what. The Cubs lost Sosa, Wood, Prior, Borowski and Grudz. How would St. Louis have fared if Carpenter, Mulder, Grudz, Izzy and Edmonds? They sure wouldn't have won the division. Hell, if we had even half as many injuries even Dusty couldn't have screwed it up. Then Hendry goes out and gets the biggest name traded at the deadline. Is Hendry partially responsible for Dusty? Of course. Is he totally responsible? Probably, at this point. Did Hendry prepare poorly for 2005? Yes. Hell, I am sick of Hendry and wouldn't mind seeing him fired. But to put the mantle of responsibility for 2004's failure on him is just wrong. People we picking the Cubs to win the NL and SI picked them to win it all. Is this because Hendry did a poor job of preparing? Hendry has screwed up badly recently. 3 years of Dusty has illustrated what a poor decision he has turned out to be. After going to the NLCS in 2003, you had to figure Dusty would get a pass for 2004. But Hendry should have canned him after 2005, and he is incompetant for still supporting him. But let's not color Hendry's tunure as all bad, because that's just not true. That's not making excuses, it's just being honest. If you want to vilify Jim and say he has been bad thoughout, go ahead. But you're wrong.

He hired Dusty. And the only out of nowhere injury was Prior's elbow this season. The team won only 89 games in 2004 (11th highest total) and 79 (17th highest) in 2005. They did so with a top 5 payroll each season. I would say it's pretty clear the negatives outweighed the positives. I agree about 2005, but it is hard to complain about the team Hendry put together in 2004. That was easily the most talented team in the NL that year going into the season. Injuries and Dusty are to blame for 2004. 2005 is a different story, however.

Boxing is not a sport because the outcome is determined by a judge? Okay then. :shock: I dont consider it a sport. If I get in a fist-fight with someone, am I playing a sport? No, I'm fighting. Boxing is fighting. But there are rules, and it is scored and officiated. There are no rules if just get in a fight, and you aren't going to be scored or saved by the bell is someone is kicking your behind. Using your logic, races are just running, diving is just jumping in the water and haldf the olympic sports aren't really sports.

Maybe Mench or even Kearns still. I remember hearing that one of the trade proposals was a real longshot. I don't think any of the usual suspects qualifies. Maybe Hendry made an offer for Ichiro or something.

I think it's more of a "overrated teams exposed" Saturday. Not to take anything away from UT or UK, but Louisville and especially Texas are/were very overrated. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Texas finish the season outside of the top 20.

Ahh, the Brewers - everyone's sexy sleeper pick! Although Zambrano is more durable Sheets has been the better pitcher the last two years with WHIP of 0.98 and 1.07 compared to Z's 1.22 and 1.15. I'm not knocking Z - he's awesome but Sheets has been better IMO. I would say Capuano > Maddux mostly because of age. That's a really close one though. That said, I think people overrate Brewers, they look a year away to me. If the Cubs can get a servicable RF bat I would expect them to be a better team. If you could add either Z or Sheets to the Cards right now, who would you pick?

Do you say, "Q-tip" instead of cotton swab or "Kleenex" instead of tissue? Big difference. A q-tip is a q-tip. It doesn't matter what brand, same with a kleenex. A coke, pepsi, sprite, dr. pepper, mountain dew, etc are all very different. what? Q-tip is a brand name and so is Kleenex. You can get Scott's tissues and you can get CVS brand cotton swabs. There is no difference. What's the difference between Q-tips and generic cotton swabs? Between Kleenex and Puffs? Very little. Now what's the difference between Coke and Mountain Dew? Very little. They're both syrup based caffienated beverages. Big difference. I can drink Mountain Dew without wanting to vomit. Seriously though, there is a much more substanative difference between types of soft drink than between Kleenex and Puffs. Sugar and caffeine content, color, flavor, chemical composition, etc. People call tissues Kleenex because Kleenex has been the leading brand in a very limited market. How many big name types of tissue can a person name off the top of their head? Or Q-tips? And even the few there are tend to be indistinguishable from one another. I can name dozens upon dozens of fairly unique soft drinks. Coke is a brand. I think it is ridiculous when I am in a theater or fast food joint when someone asks for a coke, gets a coke, and complains because they weren't asked what kind of coke they wanted. So you have to wait longer because some person can't deal with the fact that the word Coke is limited to, well, Coke. Coke = Coke. A Pepsi is not a coke. Nor is a Sprite, a Mountain Dew, a Dr. Pepper, a 7up, a Root Beer, a Sunkist, and on, and on. People can argue about pop vs. soda, I don't care either way. But neither of those can actually cause confusion.

Agreed. Sosa was a total dump job, and everybody knew it.

That's just wrong.

As opposed to the great shortstops weve had. And what a horrible reason to not want to improve your team. Trading ARam for Tejada would not improve the team noticeably. Their offensive numbers are similar enough that it would be a wash, and the same problems would remain. Acquiring Tejada is only an impact move if Lee and Aramis are still on the team. Not if you get back Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis with Tejada. I'd rather keep Tejada than trade him for Manny. Ramirez is still owed 20 million per, is a lot older than Tejada or ARam, and I'm not convinced he'd be any less of a malcontent in Chicago. You might get Boston to send some cash if it were a straight up Manny-Tejada swap, but not if they include Youkilis.

As opposed to the great shortstops weve had. And what a horrible reason to not want to improve your team. Trading ARam for Tejada would not improve the team noticeably. Their offensive numbers are similar enough that it would be a wash, and the same problems would remain. Acquiring Tejada is only an impact move if Lee and Aramis are still on the team.

Ummmmm....He does realize we don't currently have a RF, right? Unless he considers Patterson or Mabry to be it. No one considers Mabry the RF. Even Dusty ruled it out. Which means we don't have one. This is true. But being desperate for a RF and acting desperate for one are two different things. If Hendry publicly states he really needs something, he is going to get gouged. Having said that, Wilson or Jones will be our RF in 2006, I fear.

Ummmmm....He does realize we don't currently have a RF, right? Unless he considers Patterson or Mabry to be it. No one considers Mabry the RF. Even Dusty ruled it out.

Sodapop. People who refer to all soft drinks as Coke piss me off. Customer: "I'll have a Coke." Concessionaire: "Will a Pepsi be all right?" Customer: "Uhhhhh" *confused* Or when somebody asks for a Coke and you give them a Coke and they get mad because you didn't ask them what kind of Coke they wanted. It's a specific brand, people.

I believe ADA regs will ensure that the bathrooms will be brought into the new century. Did you see the stacks of broken chamberpots photographed early on in the project? The old bathrooms are no more. :lol:

I'm all for the remodel as well. It's not as if Wrigley has remained unchanged for years or is in perfect shape. Let's face it, the place needs a bit of a facelift. The extra seats will bring extra revenue, and if we are lucky new bathrooms in that part of the park. I have little doubt that it will look very good when done, and congrous with the traditional look of Wrigley. I'm actually looking forward to seeing the changes. Truthfully, I think an entirely new park wouldn't be a bad idea, but I can't imagine it being anyplace other than Wrigleyville. Since Wrigley is a landmark now, that isn't going to happen.

And Wilson for one or two years is a lot better than Jones for three.

And just because I have doubts about the viability of Corey being the starting RFer doesn't make me a "Corey hater." I'd like nothing more than to see him kick some butt in a Cubs uni. He is coming off a disappointing year. A big complaint I hear from his supporters who have been following his career for longer than I have is the way he's been stuck willy-nilly into different slots on an ad-hoc basis ... depending on whatever the most desperate need at the time was. Lead-off guy? Stick Corey there, he's fast. Power hitter, especially while Sosa is hurt? Bat Corey 3-4-5-6. Can't get on base? Have Corey learn to bunt-single even when he's struggling to make contact. Sticking him in RF because he's the least onerous of available options seems to be more of the same. Doesn't seem to me that he's being put in a position to succeed. If anything, it's really upping the ante and the pressure. It's one thing to struggle at the plate in CF ... in RF, you're expected to hit. I'm not sure how many RFers are hidden in the 8-9 (AL) slot when they struggle. I'm assuming that despite any recent statements to the contrary, he's still not the first or second or third choice for RF. If he ends up starting opening day, I'll root for him. But it's going to be forced optimism, because I really do think it could get ugly fast (as in Boo City) if he struggles ... and that's not something I care to watch. Again. I am not the least bit thrilled by the prospect of Corey in RF, but putting him there and batting him 6th or 7th would be the best thing to do for him if he stays (which I doubt will happen). People have been saying for years that Corey would be best suited as a middle of the order hitter. The problem is that Corey would need protection in the lineup, but putting him far up enough to facilitate that is a huge gamble. I just think Hendry is trying to up his trade value. Corey needs a change of scenery in the worst possible way.