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Jim hired Dusty Jim and MacPhail. And I didn't hear anyone complaining at the time. I wonder if they had it to do over again, the Cubs would hire Dusty Baker, knowing what they know now.

Lawton has a .271/.377/.825 line this year. How would that not be an upgrade? He's not Adam Dunn, but that .377 OBP would sure be nice. I guess I had a misperception about his stats both this year and career. He would be nice to have, but the way Hollandsworth is going, it'd be nicer to find a SS with those same numbers. Finding an Available SS with decent numbers is a much trickier proposition. ronnie cedeno? Remember who fills out the linep card.

Funny, I dont remember that. (you're old) :P i don't remember them being bad either. It wasn't that long ago. As recently as 89' the Braves were terrible, and they had been for the better part of the 80's, IIRC.

Lawton has a .271/.377/.825 line this year. How would that not be an upgrade? He's not Adam Dunn, but that .377 OBP would sure be nice. I guess I had a misperception about his stats both this year and career. He would be nice to have, but the way Hollandsworth is going, it'd be nicer to find a SS with those same numbers. Finding an Available SS with decent numbers is a much trickier proposition.

He surely did build a mess didn't he? Ramirez and Lee in the corner infielder spots just hasn't worked out. Neither has HIS idea of Dempster in the closer position. Of course that recent trade of Hawkins for Aardsma and Jerome Williams....that's been a real clunker too. What is the record of the Cubs TEAM? What has Williams or Aardsma brought to this TEAM? How do you know it was Hendry's idea to use Dempster as a closer? About 20 people here suggested it last year. When one evaluates the Cubs TEAM one needs to look at the big picture. IMO Hendry hasn't done enough and I think the results pretty much speak for themselves. Did Jim injure Nomar, Prior and Wood? Does Jim fill out the lineup card? Did Jim ruin LaTroy and Chad Fox? Did Jim end Borowski's career? I don't think it was Dusty who suggested Dempster be the closer, and I sincerely doubt the people who suggested it here had anything to do with it. Getting Williams and Aardsma for Hawkins was brilliant. Devaluing that move just because it hasn't paid off yet is extremely short sighted. I really doubt GM's were lining up to give impact players to the Cubs for LaTroy. And there can be little doubt at this point that while the Sosa trade wasn't a master stroke, the team is better off without him. The players that were on the roster for opening day were more than capable of winning at least the wild card. 99.9% of what has happened since then has been beyond Hendry's control. I am as anxious as anyone to see Jim add some talent, but who knows what is available and how much talent it will cost. I'm not saying Hendry should be free from blame, but there are a plethora of reasons for the mess as it stands today, and he is not the dominant one.

For starters, he's injured. And I for one really don't want to see him ruined like Patterson was by being yo-yo'ed up and down. It could work, but it's always a gamble, and if you lose, you usually lose big. I'd just as soon let him play out this year in the minors, see how that goes, and make a decison in ST.

Yeah, he was. Troy Glaus is another NL third baseman more worthy than Rolen. And David Wright, and even Joe Randa. This is why there needs to be some way to regulate who starts the ASG. Perhaps qualifiers like AB's would help. I am really sick of the notion of players getting voted in based on career performance. The ASG is supposed to be a showcase for players who are having a great year.

Lawton has a .271/.377/.825 line this year. How would that not be an upgrade? He's not Adam Dunn, but that .377 OBP would sure be nice.

In other words, the Cubs won't give them more than moderate prospects. Nor should they. Agreed. I still think the Cubs can do better than Preston Wilson. I am sure they can do better than Wilson as well, but I have the feeling that time is running out, and that Hnedry doesn't have the luxury of waiting until the last week of July to get something done. I think if Jim wants to salvage this season, he is going to have to overpay to expedite things.

In other words, the Cubs won't give them more than moderate prospects. Nor should they.

Not to start an arguement here (I agree that Pujols has been and probably will be the better player), but I don't think FPCT, RF and ZR are good statistics for judging first basemen. Lee's RF is low because he has played on teams that have pitchers who strike out a large number of batters. Those statistics also neglect the fact that Lee is one of the best in the business at digging out balls in the dirt and is fantastic at making the play to second base. Pujols is a good first baseman defensively, but I don't see how you can rate him above Lee. You're right about FPCT and RF not being super important for first baseman. Still, they are some available criteria we can use to compare players. ZR is a better statistic in this case. I do not assert that Pujols is a better first baseman than Lee. What I am saying is that Lee is not that much better than Pujols. Fans who watch Pujols play first every day see that he digs balls out of the dirt with the best of them, and that he has a very good infield arm and can make great throws to any base at the right times. This is only Pujols' second year playing first so he is still imrpoving at the position. I know this sounds like sheer homerism to Cubs fans, but Pujols may well win a gold glove at 1st some day, and not because of his offense. Pujols is a better player than Lee, no doubt of that. But I will say that Pujols isn't, and barring catatstrophic injury, never will be a better defender than Lee.

Still, I believer that the chances of the Reds trading Dunn to either the Cards or Cubs is about a billion to one. I find it infinitely more likely that a team like L.A. would get him, because they need an OF, are in a different division, and have more to offer.

You're probably right. But I wouldn't for fear of prosecution, certainly not for fear of Oswalt.

I'm a lot less concerned with the Astros coming than the Cubs going, which is what is happening at this point.

Just win, damnit. If we lose three straight to Ryan Drese, Kyle Davies and Roman Colon, it's going to be full-on freak out time for me.

This is all pretty irrelevant. Burnitz is much better than Sosa at this point, but RF is among the least of our problems.

Yeah, but what are the chances of Corey grounding into a DP? It's Murphy's law at this point.

That's what I was thinking.

Yeah, if I still drank, I'd be drunk. This is depressing.

UGH. That's all I can say about this. Things are getting ugly, and we're gonna be out of it by the ASB if something doesn't happen.

I doubt it. I think Neifi would have to reach the mendoza line.

Their surge has come against Colorado, Cincy and KC. We'll see what they do when they hit a tough stretch.

Yeah, among other things. I can't wait for Nomar to get back, or for Neifi to get hit with a meteorite.

Although they do have some decent inhouse options, its quite scary since the dodgers farm is significantly better than ours. They may go after Dunn, who we weren't going to get anyway.

Ensberg should definately be there. Ensberg should be there, but his numbers are clearly skewed by MMP, as they were in 2003 and 2004. Over the past three years, his OPS has been nearly .300 lower on the road, which is a huge gap. It has been better this year, but still nearly two hundred points. This is much more than the average player batting a bit better at home. Like I said, Ensberg deseves to go, but Ramirez (who is hitting better on the road, for the record) is better.