XZero771679666304

Dusty. He would manage a starting all-star team into the ground, as long as he had some of "his" guys on the roster.

I wonder if Greg Maddux would be interested in being the pitching coach after his contract is up.

I am in a really dicey mood today, I have to admit. Watching Dusty orchestrate losing with his unique knack for total ineptitiude has my nerves frayed. My wall of optimism has finally begun to crack, and I have been on the warpath tonight. I am usually pretty amiable, and I apologize if I have come off as beligerant today. I'll be much better when Dusty gets fired. 2007? Ugh. Maybe I'll need some prozac.

:lol: That's not going to solve anything, is it? And I don't think a HOF starter is going to take a demotion lightly, regardless of how badly he's pitching. My solution: 1. Load Baker, Perez, and Macias into a rocket and launch into deep space, never to return. 2. Trade Patterson, Rusch, Walker and minor leaguers for a big bat for LF. 3. Trade for Mark Kotsay. The critical step is the first one. 1) Keep Perez...without Dusty, he can be a good backup. Start Cedeno and bat him seventh 2) Keep Walker (bat second), trade patterson, rusch, and prospects for big bat for LF (preferably a lefty and slot him him between DLee and ARAM, moving Burnitz to 6th permanently). 3) Don't trade for Kotsay as his value to the team would be his OBP at the top of the lineup, which we already have inhouse with JHJR, who will now be starting CF and leading off permanently (see #1) If we added a power bat in LF, having Kotsay and JHJR at the top would be quite nice. Plus while JHJR is serviceable in CF, he isn't particularly good there, and Kotsay is. A good defensive CF goes a long way in preventing runs. Lets say we add even a decent bat in LF, perhaps Raul Ibanez, Matt Lawton or even Aubrey Huff - how would this look: 1.Kotsay CF 2.Hairston 2b 3.Lee 1B 4.Ramirez 3B 5.Huff/Ibanez/Lawton LF 6.Burnitz RF 7.Cedeno SS 8.Barrett C If I have 350 and 370 OBP guys on my team, Id rather find a way to have them start than trade one of them and bring in a 360 OBP guy. Kotsay is better defensively in CF than Hairston, but enough to make up for the prospects and additionaly salary wed have to take on? No. Just like Walker, Hairstons defense is underrated. He won't win a Gold Glove (neither will Kotsay), but he will get the job done just fine. Hairston Walker Lee Dunn Ramirez Burnitz Cedeno Barrett is a much much better lineup and would cost us only slightly (maybe a little more than slightly, but not a whole lot) more than yours. I still think Dunn is a total pipe dream. I would like to be proven wrong, but I doubt I will.

I particularly like this Dusty quote after tonights game Perhaps using players who get on base might help.

While personal integrity and loyalty to your players is admirable, this is a business, and winning is the priority. Dusty obviously doesn't see things that way, and the Cubs are suffering for it.

I am in a really dicey mood today, I have to admit. Watching Dusty orchestrate losing with his unique knack for total ineptitiude has my nerves frayed. My wall of optimism has finally begun to crack, and I have been on the warpath tonight. I am usually pretty amiable, and I apologize if I have come off as beligerant today. I'll be much better when Dusty gets fired.

:lol: That's not going to solve anything, is it? And I don't think a HOF starter is going to take a demotion lightly, regardless of how badly he's pitching. My solution: 1. Load Baker, Perez, and Macias into a rocket and launch into deep space, never to return. 2. Trade Patterson, Rusch, Walker and minor leaguers for a big bat for LF. 3. Trade for Mark Kotsay. The critical step is the first one. 1) Keep Perez...without Dusty, he can be a good backup. Start Cedeno and bat him seventh 2) Keep Walker (bat second), trade patterson, rusch, and prospects for big bat for LF (preferably a lefty and slot him him between DLee and ARAM, moving Burnitz to 6th permanently). 3) Don't trade for Kotsay as his value to the team would be his OBP at the top of the lineup, which we already have inhouse with JHJR, who will now be starting CF and leading off permanently (see #1) If we added a power bat in LF, having Kotsay and JHJR at the top would be quite nice. Plus while JHJR is serviceable in CF, he isn't particularly good there, and Kotsay is. A good defensive CF goes a long way in preventing runs. Lets say we add even a decent bat in LF, perhaps Raul Ibanez, Matt Lawton or even Aubrey Huff - how would this look: 1.Kotsay CF 2.Hairston 2b 3.Lee 1B 4.Ramirez 3B 5.Huff/Ibanez/Lawton LF 6.Burnitz RF 7.Cedeno SS 8.Barrett C

Dusty won't play Hairston in LF because of his "obligation" to Hollandsworth. We hall saw what it took to get him benched earlier, and how lightning quick he was the starter at the first sign of life. It's the same "obligation" he has for Perez that has Cedeno anchored to the bench. The man has always had "his" players, dating back to his days in SF, and he feels obligated to give them every chance and then some to play. Too bad he seems to feel less obliged to win ball games.

:lol: That's not going to solve anything, is it? And I don't think a HOF starter is going to take a demotion lightly, regardless of how badly he's pitching. My solution: 1. Load Baker, Perez, and Macias into a rocket and launch into deep space, never to return. 2. Trade Patterson, Rusch, Walker and minor leaguers for a big bat for LF. 3. Trade for Mark Kotsay. The critical step is the first one.

Kinda like the "lovable losers?" 8) No, that's only cute to non-Cubs fans. They are losing now, and no variation of the word love can describe it, trust me. :cry:

I just remembered about hearing that Dusty insinuated he was very unhappy in Chicago during the offseason. Perhaps he is trying to get fired. I'd like to believe that no manager is dense enough to do what he has been doing, but somehow I think Dusty actually is. It's just a litany of the insanely stupid.

I'll go get Dusty some books on Wittgenstein, Sartre, and Derrida... The only good those will do is if you use them to clobber Dusty to death, or at least into submission.

Not nearly as much as the Cubs blowing a multi game lead in the last week it didn't. The bottom line is that if the Cubs had played even average ball over that period, you'd have been watching them in the playoffs. Remember the Astros had to go 36-10 to even get in the picture because they sucked so damn bad for most of the season. No offense, but while the whole "sleeping giant" storyline is romantic and all, that 36-10 stretch wouldn't have amounted to a hill of beans unless the Cubs choked, which unfortunately, they did. But if it makes Astros fans happy to cling to the notion that they bulldozed their way over the competition and into the playoffs, they can cling to that notion. It's kind of cute.

Ronny was hitting .371 in the minors. I think you don't know what you are talking about.

I hate to nitpick, but Burnitz and Holla are speedburners compared to what was out there last year. RF is not our problem this year, As Burnitz is outproducing a benched Sosa. LF on the other hand, you have a point about. The point about Hawkins was that Hendry an numerous others said Dempster shoud be the closer in ST, and Dusty did his thing anyway, even though it had failed before. And look, Dempster is a good closer! How many games did Having Hawk as the closer, Rusch in the pen and Ryan in the rotation cost us? That's squarely on Dusty. How many games did having the sub-.300 OBP duo Patterson and Perez at the top of the lineup and keeping the bases clear for a red hot Derrek while OBP machines Walker and Hairston were wasted cost us? That squarely on Dusty. As is Fox's injury. And a smoking hot Cedeno riding the bench in favor of pitiful Perez, because Dusty says Neifi's "his" SS? Dusty's fault. All the mismanaged PH situations, botched bullpen moves, micromanaging...... I just fail to see how anyone can see anyone other than Dusty as the primary wrench in the works.

?????

65% Dusty 35% Hendry I won't even rehash the innumberable reasons why Dusty is more to blame than Hendry again in this thread. Go back a few pages, it's all there. (or as much of it as I felt like typing out)

65% Dusty 35% Hendry I won't even rehash the innumberable reasons why Dusty is more to blame than Hendry again in this thread.

AGREE AGREE X2 It is nearing the point of being so infuriating that I can't take it anymore, and may have to just laugh about it. It is truly sad.

Actually, he was fired on July 5th, and yeah, it was during a series in Atlanta. :-k .....................

Weren't Baylor's last days as a Cubs spent in Atlanta just before the ASB?

I think we've got a good one in the booth. Grady Little is in the orginization, and a better manager than Brenly, IMO.

The Cubs fell flat on their face, and the Astros leisurely strolled over them. I could have handled it if you just beat us, but choking like that really stung. Only the Cubs kept the Cubs out of the playoffs. That, I am bitter about. Frankly, I liked seeing the Central represent, in a way.

The Trib is spending alot of money for this crap, and I doubt they are too happy. I'll go out on a limb and say that if the Cubs win less than 2 of the remaining games before the ASB, Dusty gets the axe. You think they would eat Dusty's $4M next year that fast? For some reason I think Hendry actually agrees with Dusty's managerial moves. He is the one that supplies Dusty with the players. If Dusty goes Hendry needs to get the Axe on the same day. Do you honestly think that Dusty doesn't have a big say in personnel decisions? He has almost all of the say in who gets called up/ sent down, and all of the say in who plays. Hendry is not without blame, but Dusty deserves the lion's share of it. It wasn't Dusty's fault that Hendry failed to fill big holes over the off season and left him with a less than avg. bench. Also, not Dusty's fault that Hendry made few improvements to the bullpen. Hendry should take as much blame as Dusty. But I would like to see both of them go. That may be, but for every problem Hendry created by non-action, Dusty has exacerbated twice over with his greivous ineptitude. Remember Chad Fox, who everyone knew was not to pitch consecutive days early in the season? Well, we know how that turned out. Remember in ST when Hendry and others were saying that Dempster should be the closer so Hawk could go back to the role he was comfortable in? Well, we know how that turned out. Remember when Dubois was ripping the ball and was white hot and we watched Holla hit .200 for a month? We have a decent leadoff hitter in Hairston and an excellent 2 hole hitter in Walker, and yet we watch Perez and Patterson languish at the top of the order while Lee's prowess goes wasted? You see how a white-hot Cedeno was brought up and promptly mired on the bench in favor of an ice cold Perez? And on, and on, and on. Hendry as much to blame as Baker? I don't think so.