soccer10k

I agree that McGwire will be the test case for all of the steroids era sluggers. Contrary to what you say, I think that there is a a certain prestige in a player being a first ballot Hall of Famer and so making a guy wait that extra year is sending a message. I do agree that after that first year that it doesn't really matter if you get elected in your third year or your seventh year. In Sosa's case specifically, he should be criticized for the corked bat just as much, if not more, than for the steroids because there isn't as much suspicion surrounding Sosa than McGwire and Sosa.

My point with comparing this team to the 2003 team was that the 2003 had a bunch of questions just like the 2006 team does. As I said before, nobody though the Cubs had a chance to make the postseason because of all of those question marks. Did anybody know that they were going to trade for Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton in the middle of the season? No. But those two players made a huge difference on a team that was already exceeding expectations. Hendry might make a big impact move at the trading deadline this year as well. Did anybody expect Mark Prior to win 18 games AND finish third in the Cy Young voting? No. If Prior and Wood can stay healthy, which I know is a long shot, the Cubs can win the NL Central. Carlos Zambrano is a better pitcher than he was in 2003. Greg Maddux can put up the same stats as Matt Clement from 2003. And I would much rather have Glendon Rusch than Shawn Estes as my fifth starter. For the bullpen, Ryan Dempster's ERA in 2005 was half a run higher than Borowski's in 2003 but converted just as many saves in two less chances. Add in additions Bobby Howry and Scott Eyre as well as returners Will Ohman and Michael Wuertz and the Cubs have a decent bullpen. Am I expecting them to win a World Series? No. Would I be surprised if they made the playoffs? No. Would I be surprised if they finished with a losing record? No. I can't predict how these Cubs will do. All I'm trying to say that if this team plays well and avoids major injuries, they could easily make a run to the postseason.

When Mariano Rivera or Brad Lidge or any other elite closer in the league comes into the game one thought runs through my head: Oh no the game is over. My team is going to lose. When Farnsworth played on the Cubs and came into the game in a crucial situation, on thought ran through my head: Oh no the game is over. My team is going to lose. That's the difference. Good closers envoke fear in the opposing team. Kyle Farnsworth invokes fear in your team. Not a good trait to have. Farnsworth doesn't have a shut down pitch. Nobody can hit Rivera's cut fastball and nobody can hit Lidge's slider when they are on. Any good hitter can hit a good straight fastball 450 feet (re: Albert Pujols against Brad Lidge). Eric Gagne was one of the best closers in the league, throws in the upper 90's with three good pitches. I remember when he tried to challenge Barry Bonds with a fastball inside and Bonds pulled it foul into McCovey Cove and the ball went almost 400 feet. On the next pitch Bonds hit another fastball 400+ feet to dead center field for a home run. Everybody knew Gagne was going to throw a fastball so it didn't matter how fast he threw it. My point is that if you only have a fastball, good hitters will hit it. And where do you find good hitters? In the playoffs. Just wait for Manny Ramirez and/or David Ortiz to send a Farnsworth fastball 450 feet this year. It will happen more than once.

In 2003, Farnsworth relieved Mark Prior in Game 6 with the score tied 3-3 after Lee's 2 run double tied the game. Allow me to post the exerpt from ESPN.com's game recap: "Prior was pulled and Kyle Farnsworth came in and intentionally walked Mike Lowell to load the bases. With the crowd sitting in stunned silence and Prior blankly staring, Jeff Conine hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly. Mike Mordecai broke it open with a three-run double off the wall in left-center, his shot hitting near a splash of red-and-orange ivy, and Pierre added an RBI single." Two inherited runners, both of whom score. The only out he recorded was on a sacrifice fly. It should be noted that Pierre's single was off of Remlinger. Then in Game 7 he relieved Kerry Wood in the sixth with the Cubs trailing 6-5 and allowed one of the two inherited runners to score to make it 7-5 on an infield single. Then in the seventh he got two outs before giving up two hits. Dave Veres came in and allowed both runs to score to make the score 9-5. If Farnsworth was so great he would have limited the Marlins in one of the two situations and kept the Cubs in the game. But he couldn't do that. He just made the situation worse. Farnsworth went on the DL in 2004 with a bruised knee because he kicked a fan. Do you know why he kicked the fan? Because he gave up 6 runs to Houston when the Cubs were only trailing 9-6 and still had a chance to win the game. I hate Kyle Farnsworth and think he's one of the most overrated players in baseball and I look forward to watching him choke for the Yankees next year on a much bigger stage. Mark my words, he will pitch well for most of the season but when New York needs him the most to get a big out, he will fail and fail miserably. I will be watching and laughing because it will happen. Guaranteed.

Did you watch the 2005 postseason? Game 4 against Houston? What gets lost in the 18 inning marathon was the fact that Farnsworth came in with runners on first and second with no outs, got an out on a fielders choice but the runners advanced. Then he walked Luke Scott to bring up Lance Berkman. I called the Berkman grand slam right after ball 4 to Scott. Then, everybody knows all Farnsworth has is a fastball and Berkman launches it to left field for the grand slam. Even after that Atlanta still leads 6-5 and going into the ninth you think, with the 6-7-8 hitters coming up that Farnsworth is going to get out of it. He gets two outs and then gives up a home run to #8 hitter Brad Ausmus who had THREE HOME RUNS ALL OF 2005 AND JUST 71 IN HIS CAREER. This is your "very very good" closer? You've got to be kidding me. I was so happy to see Farnsworth go. Good riddence to him. The Yankees can have him.

Did you watch the 2005 postseason? Game 4 against Houston? What gets lost in the 18 inning marathon was the fact that Farnsworth came in with runners on first and second with no outs, got an out on a fielders choice but the runners advanced. Then he walked Luke Scott to bring up Lance Berkman. I called the Berkman grand slam right after ball 4 to Scott. Then, everybody knows all Farnsworth has is a fastball and Berkman launches it to left field for the grand slam. Even after that Atlanta still leads 6-5 and going into the ninth you think, with the 6-7-8 hitters coming up that Farnsworth is going to get out of it. He gets two outs and then gives up a home run to #8 hitter Brad Ausmus who had THREE HOME RUNS ALL OF 2005 AND JUST 71 IN HIS CAREER. This is your "very very good" closer? You've got to be kidding me. I was so happy to see Farnsworth go. Good riddence to him. The Yankees can have him.

If a team has huge expectations placed on it before the season starts then after every two game losing streak the team gets bombarded by questions. What is wrong with the team? Who isn't performing? What do you need to do better to win tomorrow? What positions need to be upgraded? Eventually players get sick and tired of hearing the same questions over and over and over again. Players do read newspapers and watch SportsCenter and hear their names as trade bait and how they aren't playing very well. These types of things can wear down on the team. While I agree that the 2003 team did choke as well, they did run into a very good Marlins team. When looking at their season as a whole, 88 wins and a division title was a successful season for a team that was picked to have, at best, a second place finish in their division. Nobody picked the Cubs to win the division and advance to the NLCS and almost make the World Series. When looking at the 2004 team, they were expected to win the division easily and at least make their first World Series trip since 1945. Because of those huge expectations, many people look at the 2004 season as a failure. And for the person trying to defend Kyle Farnsworth-less, sure Farnsworth has a good ERA because he pitches will in non-critical situations. But every time Farnsworth comes in a critical situation, he chokes. At this point, it's not if it's going to happen, but how it's going to happen. People get all caught up in the fact that he throws 100mph to realize that his fastball doesn't move at all and big league hitters will hit it and the fact that he rarely gets a breaking ball over the plate. The guy is horrible.

If there is one thing I like about this team it is that nobody will be talking about them as contenders when Spring Training rolls around. Also, this team looks a lot like the team in 2003 which, if you remember, was dubbed "The Team That Is Good But Is Still A Year Or Two Away." As nice as it was to see the Cubs on the cover of Sports Illustrated as favorites in 2004, it's hard to live up to expectations. The 2003 team had no expectations and came within 5 outs of the World Series. 2004 had World Series expectations and choked in the last week of the season. In 2003 the Cubs had 2.5 solid hitters as Ramirez was only there for half the year. Even if Lee's home runs and batting average decrease he will still have as good of a year as Sammy did in 2003 (.279, 40, 103). I also see Ramirez having a better year than 2003 Alou (.280, 22, 91). Before the Cubs picked up Ramirez they had Mark Bellhorn, Jose Hernandez, and Ramon Martinez playing third base, which I look at like Murton in left field this year. The Cubs can play Murton and if he doesn't work out, they can try to trade for somebody else. They have a bona fide leadoff hitter with Pierre for a whole year rather than a half year in 2003 with Kenny Lofton. Michael Barrett is a far better hitter than the Damian Miller/Paul Bako combination in 2003. Jacque Jones can perform just as well as Alex Gonzalez if he hits second or Eric Karros if he hits fifth/sixth. The pitching staff will be a question mark but if they stay healthy it will be one of the best in the league. The bullpen is just as good and maybe a little bit better. Ryan Dempster cancels out Joe Borowski. I will take Bobby Howry over Kyle Farnsworth-less any day. Scott Eyre is a good lefty reliever. Will Ohman had an excellent 2005 season and was the team's best relief pitcher. I just hope that nobody from ESPN or Sports Illustrated starts to talk about the Cubs as legitimate title contenders and I will be ecstatic to see the "experts" pick the Cubs to finish third in the NL Central this year.

Sure, Derrek Lee's batting average and home runs will probably drop a bit. But with a competant leadoff hitter like Juan Pierre getting on in front of him, I guarantee his RBI's will increase. Same goes for Aramis Ramirez. A good leadoff hitter can completely change an offense. The number 2 hitter sees more good pitches to hit than he would with nobody on base. That will increase the number of times the Cubs will have two runners on for either Lee or Ramirez. Like I said, being realistic we can't expect Lee to put up huge numbers like last year but he isn't going to drop completely off the radar. He'll have a good year as will Ramirez. Again I will repeat that I GUARANTEE Lee will have at least 107. Ramirez should also better his 2005 total of 92 if he stays healthy.