neely crenshaw

hate to pile on also but jones throw is an example of what happend when you have a left fielder playing right field....any type of arm at all and they do not even consider trying to run!

rusch's picture is in the dictionary next to mediocre! he is fine at what he should be doing. he is a swing starter, back of the rotation...a spot starter who can also relieve...his value is in that, but if he is your #2 starter(which he is right now) he is very mediocre..actually probably bad as a #2.

say this over and over..... glendon rusch is our #2 pitcher.....

he is doing his job...right now he is working on wearing out the hitters for our relievers

not to be an @$$ but you know, you can't underestimate the value of speed.....

chemistry comes with winning! it is certainly easier to except roles and be a good team player when things are going well....not many underacheiving teams have great chemistry.

No, I don't think rubbing steroid cream on himself resulted in 73 bombs. I believe that his use of human growth hormone, cow steroids, and all kinds of other PEDs obtained through his BALCO-linked trainer Greg Anderson resulted in it, and also in his being walked a billion times since. but this is the part he has not admitted to...so if we use the previous theory we can not say we know he did this. i will also be the first to say i am positive he did all of this...and i am doubly sure about hgh because steroids do not make your head grow...growth hormone does. also to defend barry a little, he has not pulled a giambi and wasted away to nothing, he is still very big and very strong..obvioulsy he did put in a lot of work in addition to taking enhancers. the real shame is that we will never,ever know for sure how much was barry and how much was additives! People go to the gas chamber without anyone knowing for sure that they did it. We don't need to know for sure. All we need is to know beyond a reasonable doubt. And we do. you don't understand- the statement ws made that we can't say these things about nomar because we don't know for sure...and my point although we all pretty much know what bonds did- we do not know for sure, so if we can't say it about nomar, we can't say it about bonds until we know for sure. but we like nomar so we don't say it...bottom line is that i would guess that most everyone who was in the major leagues during that era tried steroids. some may not have continued or done them to the extent that bonds did but they tried them or hgh. i think alot probably used hgh because there is not a test for it.

could we get a few things right on nomar..he is freakin' 32 right now..he was first hurt 5 seasons ago in 2001 the year after his greatest season ever....he has been battling injuries ever since. he was a ripe old 27 when he missed his first nearly full season. he did not come down...for some reason musles started ripping off his body about the time his stats were awesome for a shortstop(30+bombs) and steroids were very much in vogue(the late 90's) please also note that in the 80's and 70's players were not tearing muscles and ripping tendons, it may just be weightlifting but it probably is more than that.

No, I don't think rubbing steroid cream on himself resulted in 73 bombs. I believe that his use of human growth hormone, cow steroids, and all kinds of other PEDs obtained through his BALCO-linked trainer Greg Anderson resulted in it, and also in his being walked a billion times since. but this is the part he has not admitted to...so if we use the previous theory we can not say we know he did this. i will also be the first to say i am positive he did all of this...and i am doubly sure about hgh because steroids do not make your head grow...growth hormone does. also to defend barry a little, he has not pulled a giambi and wasted away to nothing, he is still very big and very strong..obvioulsy he did put in a lot of work in addition to taking enhancers. the real shame is that we will never,ever know for sure how much was barry and how much was additives!

the "can't assume a double play" rule has nothing to with this play. that is in the event that someone bobbles a ball but still gets a force or a guy loses the ball trying to make the turn. dlee dropped the ball on a play that would have been an out.

nomar fell apart right after his great years..in the middle of his prime! he had tremendous production especially power stats...not barry or arod but for a ss. second do not guess that only guys that blow up are on juice. not every steroid makes you huge...just stronger. look at the guys who have been caught, none of them is massive just a regular size guy. think of olympic sprinters, they have juiced but they do not bulk up like barry or sammy. we do not know who has done what...but if you have been around competitive sports (college and above) MOST people are using or at least have tried them. that is not some...i am telling you that most have. despite how much you like nomar, my educated guess is that he has used. as far as barry goes..he admitted to using topical steroids which are not very effective. we all perceive him as a big steroid user but the truth is you do not know for sure. i mean, do you really think that rubbing steroid cream on your knees led him to hit 73 bombs? well, you do not know anything more than that just like we don't anything more about most other guys you would be shocked if nomar used? i would be shocked if less than 50% of major leaguers used at some time! it's probably more like 75%.

speed is great but if it is not on the bases it does little. power can be a factor even if they are not on base(changes pitches and strategy from the batters box) i like the fact that we have improved speed, but more so that we improved defense and obp. this will help aram and dlee continue to produce. this was opening day...we have won opening day four straight years and have had disappointing years 3 of the 4. our offense will go as pierre goes. he gets on...they guys behind him will get fastballs and produce. he doesn't get on and we are back to waiting for home runs from lee and aram.

you are kidding right? the strongest pitching staff? he has banked our seasons on huge question marks! he has done nothing but draft prior which was a gift from minnesota. i have no problem with taking chances. i certainly understand dempster,williamson,foxx, and miller. very small cost and possible huge reward. if only dempster works out they were all worth the gamble. the problem is that with all of the injuries on the staff- these are the only types of moves he has made. you can not bank your entire furture on unknowns! he has! he has missed badly on o. we had very little to add after 2004 and he did NOTHING.. we have had the highest payroll in the national league and have not come close in 2 years. anywhere else his head would have already rolled! the yankees have talked about torre's job being in jeopardy and they have made the playoffs for what, like 60 straight years? imagine if the boss woke up behind the freakin' brewers? throw out the baby, the bathwater and the whole tub!... re-do the bathroom if that's what it takes!

? with what pitchers? we have 0 sure fire prospects...we have screwed up or given away everyone! brownlee, hill, guzman, mitre, wellmeyer, wuertz, farnsworth, garland, willis.... who other than zambrano can be counted on? our studs are gone or shown to be "unstuds" and all we have to show for it is pierre and 2 years of clement.(i do not count six finger louie) i can live with murton, pie and cedeno but we better hace some serious offense if we are going with our young pitchers! or are we counting on prior and wood still?

being the best cubs pitcher since ww2 is kind of like being the richest man in the housing project. lol

hendry once again built this team on pitching and pitchimg only. we have a sad offense, although pierre will help. he gambles once again on oft injured starters that appear to let us down. to me this is once again a penny pinchinh issue...although with wood at 12 mil it's not cheap! but rather than sign a pitcher who had a pretty proven record he low balls and fills in with rusch and a prayer on miller. we are not the KC royals! we have plenty of revenue coming in that could have been used to solidify this team. maybe prior comes back quickly and is fine, maybe wood and miller have everything we hope for BUT why do we have to sit here every single season and pray that everything goes our way? i know that nothing is for sure, anyone can get hurt, anyone can have a tough year but when EVERY move that you make is a freakin' gamble, you have to expect that most will fail! we gambled that lee and rameriz would be great and uninjured. decent bet on lee, not so good a track record on aram. we gambled that cedeno and murton will be decent or better. we gambled that jones and pierre would return to form. we gambled that prior would be healthy and return to form we gambled that wood and miller would be able to pitch and be good. we gambled that rusch would be the pitcher from the first half and not the 2nd half we gambled that the new set up guys would continue to be very good, which can change very quickly with set up men we also gambled somewhat that dempster will continue to be a stud. sorry about the length but i just think a franchise with the resources and revenue that the cubs have(and the salary level) should not build like the twins do.

the only problem with injuries is that instead of a laid back spring training game, players are playing meaningful games where they may push it more so than st. i really like it though. my thought is that if we are going to do this can we at least send our best? we have a nice lineup which i have no real problem with but the pitching is horrid! well horrid is too strong but we can't we put out better starters than peavy and willis? and then the relievers! we have no one better than leiter and the long haired dude that is a thumber? i like peavy(he has actually been a stud) and willis had a great year but where are zito, hudson, smoltz, johnson, burnett, sheets, mussina,millwood etc.. some get a pass like buerhle who pitched a whole lot last year but do we really need to have middle relivers? if we are going to do this, let's put the best we can out there. chances are we lose to mexico and go home embarrassed!

one steroids were not mentioned in the cba as an illegal drug. thus not tested for. they were illegal in the minors steroids do not make your bat quicker. in many ways because of added bulk, you are slower and less flexible which hurt hitting. your strength is maximized. do we kick out the players from the 60-70's that used anphetimines to get up for games(not a strength addictive but definitely a performance enhancer) willie mays was the subject of a book that says he used these among others. my points on weight lifting and supplements was that these changed the game also. same with cortisone. they helped players play better/longer. not like juice but they were not available to early players steroids were not illegal. neither was dhea,andro or ephdrine. they are all now illegal...do we suspend everyone that used those? do we keep them out of the hall? do we * their records? also with the talk on pitchers, i think you would be surprised at how many pitchers used them. also, do not think that the only guys using them were the hulks like sosa,bonds and mcgwire. look at who has been caught! not exactly anyone looking to enter mr olympia. finally baseball is a sport based in large part on cheating and tryong to get away with it! spit balls, corked bats (long before sammy) scuffed baseballs, stealing signs, deke plays, balk moves,kicking a ball into the ivy...and even with that steroids were not illegal. unethical probably part of it is also steroids are looked down on and other things are excepted. that does not make anything more or less wrong. and my huge point too all this was.... IS THIS A SURPRISE TO ANY ONE IN BASEBALL!? it really should be a non-story. this is a book that alleges what we have all alleged for 3 years. i am waiting for the break-through book that alleges the story of pete rose gambling on baseball! now that would be a story-lol

i have voice my opinion on this. to me the uproar over the book is the stupidest thing i have ever heard. first, every peson in baseball has thought/figured bonds took roids. WHY is it a shock to anyone if it's true? if it comes out that sosa and mcgwire did too.. would we be shocked? of course not. why do we even care? are we upset when we hear things like will mays used uppers when he played or that mantle drank like a fish? does it change the way we think of them as players? how many players in all eras have used pain killers or cortisone shots to play through pain? do we care? they both enhance performance! i am sure those weren't around whe babe ruth played. people talk about it "tainting" the record. to me eras change. babe ruth never faced latin or black players. he never faced pitchers who played baseball as a full time job. heck, aaron still didn't face pitchers that worked all year on baseball. neither ever faced relief pitchers they way they used today. eras change. this is the weight lifting/roid era. baseball players never lifted in aaron's or ruth's day. that alone changes things. steroids were not illegal in baseball because of that it's no different than taking legal(now) supplements to help your fitness. they were not available to other eras. having, using and buying steroids is illegal in the us but it is not illegal in canada or latin countries. mcgwire used andro and dhea. both are now illegal in baseball. should his stats be blackmarked because these like steroids are now illegal and tested for? for my final piece. if we found out now that memebers of the bears championship team used roids back in 85, would we feel it was tainted? would we care? guess what? they probably did. do you know how many baseball players probaly took roids at sometime during those years? i think you would be shocked. i would easily guess over half , and probably way over that i don't see how selig could even consider suspending him. it was not tested for when these allegations took place and if they do, then they had better test every vile of blood they have because they have tests for every player from 2002 on. remember the contract deal for steroid testing was if a certain % of player tested positive anonymously they would add the eal testing for it. so they have blood from every player during that time.

ripping your gm for doing very little does mena you do not support the team. i wan t the cubs to win. i hope i am wrong! i don't wan tus to lose so dusty doesn't comeback but i am still very pissed that hendry has wasted the last 3 years(including this 1) when we had a serious chance to compete for the first time in my 40 years. also i truly worry that we have blown our window of oppurtunity and that if we do not win in this great cycle of pitching we will never win in my lifetime! but i hope every player has a career year but i think we all have a idea where this season is heading....

i really don't want to give the reds pitching. that is the only thing we have on them. dunn would like nice but we got jones instead. don't want to give up murton. don't think the reds will go all pitching and defense. they may go pitching and youth but in that bandbox..you better have some o. face it guys we have an outfield of murton,pierre and jones in wrigley. hope murton hits 30 or our outfield won't hit 50 as a group

it's great to see a list of players we won't sign in 07, already!

boys, i'llhave to eat crow on this one..i was checking my stats and realized i totaled runs not earned runs..don't have time to check now but will see where it is later...my apologies! yes, houston is dependent on pitching. but they have had healthy pitchers save for pettite's first year. they are also only the wildcard team and have done it 2 years in row. the cards had questions but they also had an offense that far kicked our arse! they were never dependent on just pitching. we are talking about having a staff that will take us to the world series not might. we might have had a staff in 1984 and so on...we had the staff in 2004 and 2005 we just filled out roster full of bozos and ?'s. now our givens appear to be questions. i am not saying we can't go to the world series. i am saying that we are more likely(or just as likely) to lose 90 and be done before the trade deadline as we are to win the league. we are too dependent on the moon and stars aligning and all the breaks going our ways. yes, many teams have the same questions but not very many have the patroll we do. i hate to say it but i'm sure white sox and cardinal fans feel pretty sure they will be in the playoffs next year. things may not go that way but i just wish i felt we had put together a team that will compete not might compete

first, i had figured it during the season during some maddux vs prior topics. i thought it was above 5- however i refigured and from july 1 it was 4.88. 51 earned runs in 94 innings. feel free to do the math. i do not think it is a given that he returns to form. he spent 17 starts throwing too many pitches and not having command. we all know his pitch total was very high and very unprior like but with a large sample size it may not be a fad but a trend. let's hope not but i think you are naive to think that you know for sure that prior will return to his 18-6 form of 2 years ago.

the problem with comparing our staff with the rest of our division is that we have built a team that is so entirely dependent on our pitching. not too mention we have 20 games to pick up on the cards. also we do not have 3 aces anymore. we have z. maddux is and will be maddux. if we had a better o, he might win 20 but he'll throw his games wood is wood. prior may not be an injury risk however, you can not be confident that he will ever be the prior of old. in his 17 starts from july 1st on, he was 6-6 with a 4.88 era. not exactly cy young material. perhaps that wasn't the real prior but that is a pretty large sample size. it's not like he threw bad for 5 just games. maddux durng that same time had an era of 4. we have or should have real questions about whether we have the staff to carry this offense. or we can hope that pierre and jones return to form and that cedeno is everything we hoped and he is ready right now! we also have to hope that murton will be what we hope and that dlee,aramis and barrett all have the same type of year they had last year and do not get hurt. i do hope all those things but i also know that it is certainly not a sure thing! and for 100 mil we shouldn't have this many questions