Larry Horse

Aaahhh....there's that evil media..... Are there any Cub fans out there that think that maybe Bradley is just an ass, which would explain why he's bounced around so many teams? Or is there some sort of evil conspiracy to make him look like the bad guy?

Yea, I'd say bad player development and evaluation coupled with bad contracts. Z has the one contract that they could conceivably move. If he is the stud that the Cubs paid him like, then there should be plenty of teams willing to take on the money. If not, it's another case of Hendry doling out bad money.

The Cubs would have to get more than prospects back for Z. This team is set-up to compete now and trading major parts doesn't seem to make much sense. You never know with new ownership. I think this team showed this year it's not set up to "compete". And is being set up to "compete" the goal? I think it should be set up to win the World Series. And this group isn't going to do it. I would get that list of Z's approved teams and start fielding offers.

1st Mets series win since the end of July. Randy Wells would be about 15-3 if he was on the Cardinals. I don't know how in the hell this team is one game over .500

Ahhh yes, the evil media. If Hendry is going to react this way to failure, he should not agree to any interviews. Makes him and the Cubs look unprofessional.

No way would the Cubs get more for Soriano. Bradley is starting to show, even though it took about 5-6 months, that he can still hit a little. Soriano has shown absolutely nothing all year. Plus the contracts don't even compare. Everyone keeps saying how Soriano should be a DH. If you were an AL team looking for a DH, who would you rather have for DH....Soriano or Jake Fox?

Same old story with Hendry in every interview. First off....he seems to disappear when times get tough. But if it's the preseason or things are going well, he'll gladly come on talk. Especially if it's a situation where he knows the softballs are coming. And if one of his pickups is doing well, like last year with DeRosa, he'll be the first to bring up the naysayers about said deal. Now if things are going badly and he miraculously comes out of his bunker, you sure as hell better not expect him to address any personnel moves that reflect badly on him. Nor sure you expect him to take any responsibility whatsoever. And if you have the nerve to actually ask him a tough question, he gets unbelievably defensive and short with his answers. I wonder if anyone could find a tape of Epstein or Cashman where they come off sounding like Hendry does during interviews when the tough questions are being asked. It amazes me how thin-skinned Hendry is. I would think anyone who takes a GM job in a big market would have to realize you get the good with the bad, but Hendry has never caught on to that. I think he wants the spoils of a big-market job but he wants the small market treatment. If he was in any other major market and got the results he has with the money he has spent, he would have been absolutely barbequed by the media long ago. He also would have been fired. Hopefully the Ricketts will not be blinded by their Creighton connections with Hendry.

I believe his quote after Sori's dropped popout yesterday was "Nothing surprises me anymore out there." He then went on to explain how if Sori isn't healthy, he should be shut down for the year because he isn't driving the ball which further highlights the "foibles" in left field. I think some Cubs fans don't want their announcers to bring up anything negative. A lot of Cubs fans hated the Miles signing. The fact that he sucks is not a surprise.

I agree to a point, and then management has to be blamed. They've sunk a lot of money in this guy and it seems that they are going to go the "Let Carlos be Carlos" route. Whatever they have tried to do in dealing with Carlos hasn't worked, so it looks like they are just going to throw up their hands. Like I said before, if he was on another team the majority of Cub fan reaction would be along the lines of "great stuff but what an a#####e" "paid like an ace, but doesn't act/pitch like one". But since he has the C on his cap, Z's d-bag qualities are going to be overlooked by a lot of Cub fans.

Wow. God bless the pom-pom wavers.

If this same scenario was going on with another team, the reaction by most Cub fans would be: "What did they expect? The guy has been on a lot of teams for a reason. They should have known this would have happened." But since he's now on the Cubs, he's admired by some Cub fans. Same with Zambrano. If he was on any other team and punched a teammate or threw a ball into left field or admitted he was lazy or continued to take batting practice after hurting his back, Cub fans would be railing on what an ass this guy was. But somehow all is forgiven when the Cub is on the front of the uniform.

? I think I would be more worried about how the Cubs are going to turn this trainwreck around next year.

Uhhhh.....what would be the return on Bradley?

This would actually involve Lou sitting Soriano down and saying you're done for two weeks. Since Lou doesn't really seem interested in managing anymore, this could be a problem.

agreed hindsight is all sorts of awesome. Ignore the the fact Ibanez was a passable at best corner outfielder in seattle with the bat and defensively his arm would not be terrible in RF who was also on the wrongside of 35. Kind of like Hendry ignored the fact that Bradley is a total headcase who was on his 7th team, for some unknown reason, had a great year in Texas while DH'ing. But then again, there is that magical dinner shared by Bradley and Hendry.......

Instead of the reporters standing there giggling like schoolgirls, maybe one of them should have brought up the fact that Z was the one who said he was lazy, not Slezak. And for good measure, Z took batting practice. I think the correct title of this thread should have been "Z is an idiot".

+1

You forgot to add Hendry to that sentence. Probably just an oversight.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/deluca/1649094,CST-SPT-deluca02.article

LOL, love the eternal Bradley optimism! He's never finished a season with an OPS this low (save for his first couple of years in the majors), yet he's always had injury issues. Why is it that he won't rebound this year? The likelihood is that he'll rebound to right around his career averages, but won't begin to come near the lofty numbers of the past two seasons. Is there a clear reason why it's certain he won't do that? Here's the only thing I can come up with on Bradley: Mental. As far as I can remember, he's never come into a situation where he's the "big left-handed bat" a team has been counting on. He was very comfortable in Texas and walked into a Chicago situation he was not mentally ready for. His behavioral issues should be a surprise to no one. He told Hendry what he wanted to hear and the checkbook was pulled out.

All the analysis and hand wringing in the world is not going to change the fact that the Bradley, Soriano and Fuko contracts will hamstring this team. Unless they are willing to start trading pitching. Just check out those outfield stats vs salary paid. Doesn't get much worse than that.

That picture of what I assume is your child is the number one reason why this shouldn't bother you. We have two children and what bothers me is the time I invested in this team prior to having a family.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/1643290,CST-SPT-cub29.article Interesting reactions by some Cubs players. Looks like they must overvalue DeRosa like the Cub fans who didn't like the trade.

I don't know why this bugs Cub fans.

Which makes it even more confusing, seeing that starting pitching was not a real big problem.