Jehrico

Time sucks. I didn't know anyone still read that.

Manual is still an idiot. He would have been better off letting a setup man close while keeping his ace in the rotation. The first 6 or 7 innings every fifth day are still more important that 40 or 50 9th innings.

Soriano can NOT play 2d base. You might as well put Murton at 2nd if you really want to free up some OF playing time, the overall defensive impact couldn't be any worse. Or, better yet, if you want to improve the offense by putting a crappy defender in the MIF, why not just keep Theriot at SS? The decline in IF defense with Theriot at SS and Derosa at 2B is much less than with Izturis at SS and Soriano at 2B. Plus the offense is better. Your lineup is perhaps the worst we could put out there. The only thing that it does is frees up playing time in the OF. The OF offense is actually worse in your lineup, and the IF defense and offense are also both worse. The only thing that doesn't suffer is OF defense. Actually, now that I think about that, we might be worse out there too with Floyd instead of Soriano in LF. That difference might be enough to cover the drop from Jones to Floyd in RF.

Agreed. I love Loul Deng because he's alot more than just an emerging star in the NBA.

I'm surprised no one has said this yet: Contract the deadbirds and whitesux. Either that, or expand the league to 1000 teams so that I have a chance at making the league.

I'm not upset about it. I just wanted clarification. IMHO if we could have traded Jacque before the draft maybe things would have been different and Hamilton would be wearing Cubbie Blue. Trading Jacque wouldn't have made a difference. Expecting Hamilton to start and be capable of succeeding at the major league level right away would have been as foolish as depending on Wood and Prior to both start 30+ games each this year. No one in all of MLB was going to take Hamilton in the draft with the expectation that he would be capable of starting to begin the year. The Reds were hoping to put him back into their system, but he did far better than anyone expected in ST, so they made him their 5th OFer.

I'm not upset about it. I just wanted clarification. IMHO if we could have traded Jacque before the draft maybe things would have been different and Hamilton would be wearing Cubbie Blue. Having a talented player with drug issues finally turn things around is in no way comparable to the lottery. Taking a guy in the rule 5 who had failed several attempts at rehab and hadn't played any form of pro ball in years, and had never played above A ball and turning him into an instant major leaguer is akin to winning the lottery, regardless of how talented he is.

He probably isn't pitching with a green light either. He's probably down there working on certain pitches within a given pitch count while he's down there. I;d be surprised if he's down there throwing whatever he wants while he's stretching back out.

I don't think any out-of-game topics should ever be locked in favor of the game threads. The game threads can be waaay to long and full of waaay to much fluff to be worth reading to find some comments about something like that.

I would hope he would make those plays. He really did not have to range into the hole to make a play. Everything was hit right at him. Im still not that confident with him at ss. Are you confident with Cesar Izhoribble at SS? Not trying to pick on you directly dude, but I really can't stand the philosophy of "good" defense making up for a pathetic bat...I really can't. Im confident with Izzy making the defensive plays at the ss position. However, im not confident with him swinging the bat. I value defense pretty high on a baseball team. The ss position, in my opinion, is a very demanding spot on the field that needs to be filled by someone who fields the ball consistently. Can Theriot be that guy? We will find out. He is athletic enough to play it, but can he play consistently like Izturis has shown he can? When has Izturis shown that? He's been injury prone for awhile. In addition to his horrible bat and recently spotty D, he's a liability to go down at any given time for an extended period. He's not as injury prone as Wood, but expecting him to miss at least 40-50 games a year is not unrealistic. I don't understand why we think he can be a reliable everyday shortstop. He has had half of one good season, that was about it.

Cabrera is good enough that if you really did land him, Jones is expendable under any circumstance. If you had to cut Jones in order to squeeze in Miggy, then sorry, Jacque.

I was at the game sitting behind the Brewers bullpen. It was clear as day to me from all of the way across the field that he beat the throw, even moreso obvious that he beat the tag. I don't know how that guy missed that call. Simply horrible. MLB umping seems to be much worse than in years past. Selig needs to take action, but won't because he's too spineless.

this isn't very nice... think about how you felt with dusty baker as your team's manager. This is how Phillies fans are feeling right now. Actually, Phillies fans are probably feeling worse than we ever did. At least Dusty never tried to put Zambrano in the pen for an over-the-hill vet in his late 30s. I never thought I would see any manager in baseball ever make a move that was so dumb that it would singularly eclipse the stupidity of all of Dusty's dumb moves combined. That's how bad Manual is. I can't believe there was a time when I thought he was a good manager.

Actually I'd say Hill is the least of the Cubs' worries. :DAgreed. Cedeno is the worst player on the 25 man roster. Therefore, he should be the biggest worry the Cubs have.

Are you saying that because he has been sent down? Just curious... Question for the peanut gallery, Fontenot isn't on the 40 man, is he? I don't think he is, but I'm not sure. I guess it wouldn't be a horrible loss if we dropped Ronny off of the 40 man and someone else picked him up. No I'm saying it because he should be sent down. Okay...got my hopes up for a moment.

Yah, he has Phd in Kinesioloygy (the physics/mechanics of human motion) from Marshall as well as being a former major league pitcher, Cy Young Winner, and All Star. Truly an "idiot." He'd have every pitcher in the majors throwing in the 80s at most, if he had his way. Degree or not, doesn't mean anything. I've met plenty of idiots with degrees. Former Cy Young? Doesn't mean anything. Ever see an HOF hitter suck as a hitting coach? Marshall didn't win the Cy Young because of his mechanics. He got it because he knew how to change speeds and keep hitters off balance. It's not like there's alot of teams beating down his door for his services as a pitching coach, which would certainly make him more money than selling those videos he's peddling.

Are you saying that because he has been sent down? Just curious... Question for the peanut gallery, Fontenot isn't on the 40 man, is he? I don't think he is, but I'm not sure. I guess it wouldn't be a horrible loss if we dropped Ronny off of the 40 man and someone else picked him up.

In regards to the original post, getting upset at loosing Hamilton is like getting upset that you didn't play the lottery the day they picked a few of your lucky numbers.

Ok now that I understand. But, the posters hating the guy because he had a drug problem. That is ridiculous. Actually, I still don't understand that. I have a hard time not giving a crap about someone because they "put themselves in that situation". Addicts are not people that consciously say "wooo, I'm gonna do me some drugs or alcohol and party it up and waste all my good fortune that has come my way." They are sick, and it's nice to see ANYONE who has had problems with addiction break it. I don't care how much talent they wasted, how easy they had it growing up, any of it. The world would be a better place if fewer people were afflicted with the sickness that is addiction. Just because I can knock back some beers and not have a problem doesn't mean I'm going to think someone who becomes an alcoholic is just a weaker individual than I am, unworthy of my support. You can't root or pull for everyone. I prefer to root for guys who work hard their whole lives and stay on the right path, rather than guys who have to learn those things the hard way (or never do learn) but eventually get by not because of their hard work, but because of natural talents that they tried to squander away. That's not the same as hating. I don't hate guys like that. But I'm not going to pull for them. If they do great, good for them. If they don't, there's only one person they can blame. Everyone knows drugs are bad. Some people think the rules don't apply to them and ignore the warnings. They don't start off as addicts. They may inherit the propensity to become addicated easily, but they aren't genetically addicts. They get that way after disregard for rules and laws. They get no special attention or sympathy from me just because they finally get their heads out of their rear end. The people who never stuck their heads up their rear end to begin with deserve the extra attention more, in my book.

First, Mike Marshall is an idiot. If he had his way, Wood would have adopted an entirely new pitching motion that likely would have had him topping out in the mid to high 80s with little movement on anything. His ERA would have been over 10, but hey, he'd be healthy. I won't comment on Cooper because I've never read anything from him. Second, how do you know Rothschild is at the root of their mechanical problems? A pitching coach should be there to tweak. You can't take a pitcher at the major league level and expect to completely overhaul his mechanics. That needs to be done alot earlier than at the major league level. Plus, you don't know how much his advice is being followed. As far as Prior goes, what is wrong with him is purely speculative, no one knows. Everyone wants to criticize his mechanics, but none of these so-called "experts" had anything to say about his highly-publicized "perfect" mechanics in '02 or '03. Who knows what Priors problem really is. I highly doubt it's purely a mechanical thing. As far as your third paragraph goes, I haven't the slightest clue what you're talking about.

I don't think that's fair. Ronny had a good spring. I don't think he made the roster because they weren't comfortable with the depth at SS, but rather they felt he could continue his spring production and prove 2006 was the fluke, not 2005. If his ST performance would have carried over, he would have been a valuable addition to the bench. I think Ronny doesn't have the head to succeed at this level. AAAA player is the best description for him. The question is though, how many chances will the organization give him? Hill was as bad of a pitcher as Cedeno has been as a hitter until he finally got that first W under his belt. Many people on this board were convinced he couldn't handle the major league pressure, and were ready to write him off after his first stint last year. Obviously, the patience the organization showed with him paid off. That said, I think Ronny has gotten enough chances already, and it's time to move on. If Hendry/Lou agree with me, I think we'll see a move within the next week, if not sooner.

I don't think that's why he is on the team. I think everyone who wanted him on the team hoped he could return to his 2005 level of play, which should be obvious by now that it was an incredible fluke. He needs to go. Send him to AAA, see if he can adjust to getting not-so-regular playing time because he has no future other than possibly that of a utility player (with someone else). Hopefully he gets a plane ticket to Des Moines tonight. I can't echo the same sentiments about Ohman though. I wouldn't cut/demote him because he's that bad. He's coming off of two solid years, and no one ever expected much out of him other than serving strictly as a loogy. He still has some value there, and is just going through a rough spot. If you cut/demote him, you do it because there's a better alternative (Cherry? time will tell...), not because he's been bad.

Our bullpen is 0-4, 2 blown saves, 5 wild pitches, and 3 saves through 15 games. Yes, some of the relievers have been doing an outstanding job. However as a unit, they are failing. 4 guys have basically been perfect. One has been mediocre, two have been bad. Show me how many teams in baseball have less than two relievers that are not doing well this early in the year. Show me how many teams have 4 relievers who have been virtually flawless. You won't find many. The main problem we're having is two of the guys who aren't living up to expectations are two of our guys who we figured would be the two to get in the game the most.

Not really. The staff as a whole has been very good. The number of guys exceeding expectations well outnumbers the number of guys not living up to their expectations. That's the metric I prefer to use to judge a pitching coach.

Why do we always make crap pitchers like Looper look like Cy Young candidates? Send actual Cy Young himself out there, and we'll pound him. Throw a little leaguer out there, and we'll hand him a no-no.