neely crenshaw

i wouldn't ever doubt the marlins...they have rebuilt and won the WS twice. they look like they will again. if they would simply take jones and his salary, i might throw in a prospect for free. seriously jones for a class A backup catcher that they are about to release. or the proverbial bag of balls! we could bring up pie or heck..just play bynum for the rest of the year and suck..at least we wouldn't have jones out there blocking any chance of pie moving in! i don't have a huge problem with jones other than the fact he is here for 3 years. we are not going anywhere this season so let's worry about the near future. torre and george may be smart enough to platoon him and make him a very useful player...and 6 mil is about what they pay parttimers! get on the phone jim! the problem is that this means that hendry would be admitting what a terrible move this was

ok , this was an awful move! as is playong jones depsite his split! here's another way to look at it...what gm not in pittsburgh or kansas city has put together ateam where you have a choice of hitting mabry,murton,jones or barrett 5th? if these are your options...you are a very bad team

i agree..i once again really pissed at the garbage that hendry has served up...we do not deserve this

seriously is there a GM that has done a worse job of putting a team together at any price? wouldn't the royals be just as good with our pitching?(at least most of the time)

other than mabry is there anyone on our bench that anyone would want, at least at the price we are paying? hairston might have a job.. bynum would be playing in japan or indy neifi would play somewhere but at about a third of what we dropped..and he would be a year to year deal

bad thing is that with our offense and pitching, we stand to lose 4 more until zambrano pitches again.

this is similar to last year with burnitz. i did not have a problem with burnitz per se. he did exactly what he has always done..hit .250ish .25 hrs and 80 rbi, strike out and play decent defense. the problem is that he was signed as our big money answer to losing alou's .300 40 100 rbi. (not to mention sammy's numbers) i have no problem with jones as a player. he is what he is..some pop. some average, k's too much, plays good defense...can't throw. he hits righties a ton...does not hit lefties well. he is doing just that...the problem is once again hendry signed him to answer our offensive problems and he simply isn't that guy. he should platoon but what idiot would pay a guy 6 mil to play part time? and for 3 years at that. if we had a stud in right and had jones platooned in left, hitting 7th, we would be just fine. the problem once again is that jones needs to be our stud and hit 5th....and .250ish, 25hrs with a 300 obp is not good out of your stud, middle of the order hitter.

we had to win this one! our best pitcher vs a guy who is now 1-5 with a 6plus era about to be sent down.... of course the scary part is we usually tank those games! a long way to go but maybe someone will relax and at least play mediocre ball!

sometimes the cost isn't in what you pay someone. in free agnets you do have a pretty good idea of what you will get. there are no guarantees someone can get hurt. i don't think it very smart to overpay for older, chronically injured or one year wonders(beltre,beltran, pavano or jaret wright)but i would rather overpay for a top shelf free agent then a middle of the road guy-(jones) or a bench player (neifi) look at what our cost was for not signing furcal. yes it would have cost ud 13mil. we were offering around 11. so because we didn't want to spendthat 2 mil, we have to trade 3 prospects to fill the leadoff role with pierre, and then pay him his salary which is double what we paid corey to play center last year. we then have to overpay for a older corey patterson to play right and pay him 6 mil for 3 years! so inorder to save 2 mil a year for 3-4 yeasr we spent 21 mil over the next 3 years...we also then could not move hairston or walker...needed to sign a vet SS just in case cedeno didn't pan out..another 2.5 mil a year for 2 years! seriously wouldn't we be better(for sure we are at least equal) if we had corey in center, pie in right, furcal at short, and cedeno at 2b. we could have held on to walker or hairston for bench strength or insurance on cedeno. instead to save about 8 mil over 4 years(i think he signed for 4) we spent 23.5 mil for a grand savings of -15.5 mil over 4 years! and we are worse! and we can also plan to factor in the amount of jones contract we end up paying after we trade him and then add in whatever we pay the next free agent we sign to fill his spot!

i am not as versed on who is available next season but i do have definite ideas on what needs to be done.... first jones and pierre have to stay in the lineup. i may platoon them against lefties to bring up stats. i want as much value as possible for them when i deal them at the deadline... iam praying for an injury to an outfielder so someone will have a need for jones. i would like to not have to eat any of jones deal/ i will if necessary. may have to package him with someone else for less value to get out of a stupid deal. i can not have jones and murton in the same outfield. i want murton so jones must go- especially with pie on the horizon- he will play RF(possibly center) after the deal/deals same scenarion for hill, wood and prior. i must see what i have in them and get value up in all. prior is probably a keep but i really need wood to look good enough to deal for serious value..i do know that we are out of his 12 mil after this year and i will not resign him no matter how good/healthy he looks..eye on a deal for robinson kanoe(sp) with the yanks i would look to deal maddux but i may just let him finsih out and not resign him..far more classy. if a contender from the west coast is interested and he agrees...i would deal for little...knowing i get another 9 mil back to sign pitching. williams gets in the rotation as soon as a starter is dealt. time to see if he is anything or just potential. could deal him if value is up some but won't get much unless packaged perhaps with jones or pierre. in tarding pierre, i must get a lead off guy. pie will not be it. so i will look at ss,of or 2b to fill that. i also know that wherever i get a lead off guy, one of the other spots must have some pop! we can not play in wrigley with an outfield that won't combine for 55 HRS(like this year)unless we get 30+ somewhere else. we have to have a middle of the order hitter. barrett is a great offensive catcher but if you are good, he can't hit 5th. a middle of the road outfielder like burnitz produces like a top catcher. we probably let walker go becuse of the need for leadoff and a bomber. our best bet is to land a 2b that can lead off and play pie, a bomber in right. what i want to keep murton pie cedeno lee aram barrett target the free agnet that i want to lead off and get him. yes, we may have to over pay but as of now i would rather pay furcal 13 mil, and not pay pierre and jones wht we are paying them-and still have our prospects to deal! sometimes the cost isn't all in the salary! possibilties at 2b vidro or soriano, kanoe from yanks could get a ss and move cedeno to 2b. if we get a vet like tejada..we may have to use cedeno in the deal if we got soriano we would have get leadoff from the outfield..he is not leading off..vidro and kanoe are possibilties to lead off pitching i would keep the bullpen as is with the possibilty of adding a loogy instead of ohman. rusch would be long relief unless someone would take him at the deadline starters zambrano prior...i will gamble with 1 starter being a health risk but not 3 marshall the top healthy stud free agent pitcher..#1 quality guzman or free agent(probably based on prior status) if prior is not healthy the rest of this year...i have to have a proven starter..at least a # 3 quality. guzman and whoever wasn't dealt(williams,miller, or hill if any) would be insurance we have 21 mil less in starters salary if wood and maddux are gone(minus any buyouts) lineup 1.2b? 2.cedeno 3.lee 4.bomber-rf? 5.aram 6.murton 7.barrett 8.pie 9.pitcher

somebody said it earlier and i think they hit it on the head-how many prospects make it? if we still had them would you trade farnsworth, patterson, brownlee. #1 pick ben christenson, wuertz, dubois, kelton, bobby hill, guzman and mitre for willis and cabrera? 4 years ago you wouldn't have! now i am guessing, we would pass along all of them for those 2 alone. how about would you have traded kerry wood head up for willis 4 years ago? i think we would in a heartbeat! why worry about saving prospects if you got 2 already productive major leaguers? yes, they could get hurt but so could your prospects! to me a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush...or in this case the bush leagues!

this may be the best chance to end this thing! if not, we are looking hard at a 13 game streak!

why do the cubs hit bad, soft throwing lefties? ....never mind

a payroll of 85 mil would be nice...if they were all on our team and on the field.....kerry wood jumps the payroll 12 mil a year...which could be gone next season.

if dusty is crap...what is hendry? which is worse? dusty's moves (pretty bad) or the gm that signed jones to 3 years and 6mil a year..when no onw owuld have paid 4 for 2 or neifi for 2 years and 5 mil...when he wouldn't have sniffed a mil for a 1 year! or gave us this lineup? or last years or 2 years ago or the guy who wouldn't spend an extra 2 mil ayear on furcal but would give neifi 2.5? who traded a strike out prone young outfielder with some pop,good defense and a great arm for nothing and signed an older, strike out prone outfielder with some pop, good defense and a candy arm...then paid him more than double? i do not know where else you could put out the kind of payroll the cubs have, fail miserably and still get extended!

yeah, we are better for the half of the season that prior and wood are healthy and they are better the other half...and we pay wood more than their whole payroll!

i am not saying dusty is great but he has won and when he leaves he will get a good gig...which says to me he is well respected..surely more so than hendry or the cubs organization. if hendry fires him as the scapegoat for these crappy..brittle teams that hednry put together i do not think a top guy would want to come here. i will say that my first call would be to dave duncan because what he has done for those pitching staffs is incredible! and we also need some help in that role also! if it takes being a manager to get him here...do it

the problem that you guys aren't seeing is this..right now if we sit pierre for hairston, that means neifi plays second(more than likely) or bynum plays cf. we all have problems with hairston, neifi and bynum..i guess you pick your poison! i wouldn't mind seeing pierre get a day off vs a tough lefty then i guess it wuld make sense to hit neifi and hairston because pierre is not hitting lefties at all. let me get this right...murton,barrett and cedeno all need days off- usually vs a righty(who they all hit against the rest of the time) but pierre and jones who can't tough lefties don't get days off? neifi and hairston aren't much but i'm pretty sure that 1 day a week they can replace a guy who is hitting .100 against lefties...i think neifi can drop one hit in every ten at bats..

sosa had poor execution but he had an arm...pierre and jones should think about kicking the ball back to the infield. yes, missing cutoff men by 30 feet and always throwing through to the base hurt the team just as bad but at least it didn't look like girls slow pitch throws!

the sad part is that we brought in jones as a right fielder, a position that is supposed to have the strongest arm on the team!

2 things worry me about this.. .1 it only takes one team to pay a guy too much to screw this up....see, furcal, rapfeal and orodnez, magglio... .2 i absolutely do not trust hendry to find a suitable replacement for any top player if they leave...hello, bill mueller or vinnie castillo

i really don't see hendry doing anything unless we actually have a spell like i said could happen(5-25 out of the next 30). dusty insulates hendry from fault. as long as dusty is taking heat, hendry does not catch what he should. dusty will be let go at the end of the season...what we would we say if dusty was fired and he hired another of his guys and they still sucked? then it would obviously jim's fault(which it is) also we have a 3 time manager of the year in dusty, he is well respected in baseball..if he gets canned by hendry, before we get some of our injuries back..what top notch guy will take this job as long as hendry is running the show? obviously they will not be given what it takes to win and will be blamed when then team loses...even if injuries happen. best bet let dusty walk, like it was his choice and hope we can get a top guy.....i have to say we are probably looking at bob brenly for 2007

we have proven for 2 seasons now we do not have anyone better. our best bet is to give him some time off against some lefties, hope his value gets up and deal him for some prospects to make up for the ones we lost for him.

After Sunday's loss.... the CUBS are on a pace win 76 games this year. That would give them a record of 76-86 with a winning percentage of 0.469. Now, I'm not suggesting this is a good thing, but it's not the worst team we've ever seen but a long shot. Consider all of these CUBS teams.... Year W L Pct 1877 26 33 0.441 1893 56 71 0.441 1894 57 75 0.432 1897 59 73 0.447 1900 65 75 0.464 1901 53 86 0.381 1916 67 86 0.438 1921 64 89 0.418 1925 68 86 0.442 1941 70 84 0.455 1942 70 84 0.455 1947 69 85 0.448 1948 64 90 0.416 1949 61 93 0.396 1950 64 89 0.418 1951 62 92 0.403 1953 65 89 0.422 1954 64 90 0.416 1956 60 94 0.390 1957 62 92 0.403 1958 72 82 0.468 1960 60 94 0.390 1961 64 90 0.416 1962 59 103 0.364 1965 72 90 0.444 1966 59 103 0.364 1974 66 96 0.407 1975 75 87 0.463 1976 75 87 0.463 1980 64 98 0.395 1981 38 65 0.369 1982 73 89 0.451 1983 71 91 0.438 1986 70 90 0.438 1994 49 64 0.434 1997 68 94 0.420 1999 67 95 0.414 2000 65 97 0.401 2002 67 95 0.414 Now, if you would have said.... "...this is the worst CUBS team in decades, the 1880's & the 1930's specifically ...", then you'd be right on the mark !! ok, you are right the worst team in decades is a little harsh but when you take into account that in the late 90's we had a 25 mil payroll with sammy getting 20 and we all knew we were awful(98 was done with mirrors)...this year is far more negative. also factor in that we were 2 moves away from being the hands down favorite in the nl and haven't done a thing since...adds to it and finally add in the fact that we started very well and have dropped quickly! 2-8 over ten. right now there is a better chance we play like that than .460 ball the rest of the way. that would leave us at 41-141 or a .290(a little exaggeration) but they certainly are no where near looking like a team that will win 75 games. they also play some very bad baseball...many of those cubs teams were poor in talent but these guys play the game poorly!

i have no idea why anyone has trust in hendry to ever improve the club! he has made some moves that worked but time has shown this to be dumb luch rather than skill.. keep in mind he got logton for 2 months and he was great for us....so was randall simon but neither has done much for anyone since..we got lucky and caught lightning in a bottle aram was a gamble..they took a struggling, lazy former stud from pittsburgh, who has worked out but remember they passed up rolen( a much surer bet) to gamble on aram. lee for choi was his best deal but at the time it was hardly the great deal it is today. it was good deal because his defense owuld help aram...no one in baseball ever thought that dlee would become the dominate hitter he has...it was a good deal but i can not give hendry credit for what he became...we also had a shot at thome, who is pretty darn good. we got barrett, who has been great on offense..much better than i ever thought but he struggles on d and you must factor in that he passed on pudge for the gamble on barrett. i think pudges o and d would far surpass what barrett has done for us...plus he is very clutch! dempster worked out BUT we went 2 and half season with out a real closer. it is obvious that hendry was fine to let hawkins and jobo close last season. he allowed dusty to put him in the rotation..and i am sorry as a gm- if i have ideas of making someone a closer...and that's why i didn't sign anyone else...i do not let my manager put him in the rotation...he got the gig because everyone else absolutley failed..not because hendry is smart i liked the nomar move but it failed. the problem i have is that the only move he made was nomar..no closer,no lead off man...no outfield help just nomar, so we were completely relying on his health to improve the cubs...and as we all know that wasn't a good bet. this year we gambled that our big moves would return to their production of old. that doesn't happen very often. i don't mind pierre, we may have given up too much but at the time because we couldn't get furcal, we had to get pierre or lofton....i have to go with pierre- especially because he is in the last year..he doesn't work out...his gone. jones for 3 years, at 6 mil is possibly the worst deal in cubs history. hendry should get fired over this. i am no baseball guru but i can not believe that anyone was offering jones 3 years at any price, and i can not see anyone coming close to 6 mil a year, even for one year! we have a young stud in the minors who is close to being ready, who can't really be a lead off guy and another young guy pretty set in left so you sign another vet of'er for 3 years! WHY? if pierre goes we will obviously have to find a replacement outfielder/lead off man or we will be right back to 2004-2005!