bleedcubbieblue

Finally on the right side of the rivalry?

Good times, enjoyable reading.....

This is hysterical!!

Because Lester's shoulder isn't goo....... BBF

Peter Gammons says Lawrence Welk is the bomb!

it doesn't have any bearing on the game at all, it just indicates what "smart money" may be thinking. I believe this is similar to what happened with Bears/Buf at the beginning, most people picked the Bears but the line moved toward Buffalo. I can't believe how today's game was a blue print to that Bears/Buf game!!!

Brandon Marshall's new catch phrase after this game........train wreck, this is a train wreck, train wreck.....

HIP HIP......JORGE!!!

Something that I heard today was that Lackey wouldn't play under the $500k option. He'd retire/sit out, rather than play. Seems like a good decision for a 36 year old if he wants to make any money after next year. I don't disagree with your assessment. But I can see where he's coming from. Although he and his agent were the ones who agreed to the $14.75million paycut. Guessing Lackey just figured he would suck by the end of the contract?

Lackey has a $500K team option for next season which the Cards most surely will pick up......

Long time lurker on this board, use to post a ton on Cubs.com with Tim, and followed him over when he started this. Just don't have a much time as I use to when Cubs.com board was around. But like someone mentioned earlier, you learn something new everyday and the minor league info on here is second to none!! BCB

Good to see Jerry Morales pitching

2014 Wally Pipp?

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/05/19/ryne-sandberg-talks-about-the-phillies-hitting-and-eating-cat-food-as-a-kid/

They have him on a 65 pitch limit http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140405&content_id=70992890&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&sid=milb

While it was after Mitch Webster went down, but I believe we had Walton, Smith and Dawson starting in 89.

Raphael Palmiero and Greg Maddux???

Insert saracastic joke about the cubs really having no clue if they want angel PAGAN as the closer. hehe Yes, sorry, meant Guzman, not Pagan, thanks for pointing that out, and I suppose it is possible that Lou likes Pagan's arm too! BCB

To me, I really don't care where Dempster gets moved to, I think Lou really likes Pagan's arm, and thinks he could thrive in the role as closer, so I like this thinking. If middle relief is best for Dempster great, but then again, you take a look at what he is signed for, and if he becomes a middle reliever, the Cubs will have the highest paid middle relievers in the history of baseball with Dempster, Howry and Eyre. Again, this goes back to Hendry having zero foresight, so it would not surprise me. I think you take a look at the Cubs record in 1 run games(the difference between having a winning record right now and a losing record), and having a dominant reliever in that role would go a long way into swinging some of those games in the Cubs direction, which has to fall somewhat on Dempsters shoulders because he is the closer. I will also say that the Lou deserves some of the blame because I am sure he got talked into taking Miller north instead of Pagan, but he has corrected that error. BCB

While I would agree with you a bit, do remember that Lou is just getting to know these guys. A lot of the problems with this team can be traced back to Hendry, I honestly thought he had a plan coming in when he was named GM, and he keeps proving me wrong. I have given up on him having a clue about this team altogether. Initially, I thought bringing in Lou was a mistake, but now seeing him in action, I do think he has a much better idea on what to do with these guys than even Hendry, and again, he is just getting to know them all. I like the fact that he is willing to take chances and doing something different, and is not afraid to fail. Too many times I watched Dusty marched Hawkins out there, because that was his role as closer, even though he would keep failing, and failing and failing, and after everything said that Hawkins as a set up man......good......as a closer.....bad. My point is not that Dempster has been failing and failing and failing, but Lou takes a look at the arms he has, and looks at one that could possibly be dominant in that role. I will have to say after 2+ seasons, I am pretty sure Dempster never will be "dominant" in that role, and he did blow up at the end of last season. I understand that a lot of stats are thrown around on this board, and I don't discount them, but Dempsters make up seems more suited to starting, not relieving. Again, this is only my opinion. I think it is refreshing to see a manager looking to tweak and make changes in the name of trying to get better. I wonder how may starts Theriot would have made this year had Dusty been manager, and my guess is very few, and most likely he would be buried on the end of the bench. I give Lou credit for letting him start as often as he has, and there is no reason he should not be. I like what Lou is doing so far, and what he is trying to do, so I say, I think he is trying to think outside the box and using his experience to dictate what he is doing, and where he is going. It certainly beats listening to Dusty tell us, by the end of his reign, what bad luck we seem to encounter everywhere. Every manager comes in and always say that they don't believe in bad luck, and by the end, they always are big believers. At least this new one seems to at least dare to try and make changes which he seems to think will work, in the past, it was changes, just to make changes. Lou at least seems to have a plan in place, or at least I hope so! BCB

About the only one that I can think of in a very long time. Clements nonsigning also had to do with the Cubune being cost conscious more than anything. Now about not signing Carlos Beltran a couple of years ago when the opportunity presented itself? Or Vlad or Tejada, or ........(fill in blank). While he might have guessed right on that nonsigning, Jimbo has shown he is pretty much clueless on putting together a winning team. This train wreck we watched this year, only proves this. BCB

All the while, being able to enjoy Southern Cal living, not a bad gig, if you can get it. Good luck to both of those guys! BCB

While on the surface it looks that way, ultimately every signing has to go thru them. In a lot of ways, they are worse than Frankenstreinbrenner. I say this because, they refused to let Hendry get another right fielder until he unloaded Sammy. While we can all agree this seems like a rational decision, once he unloaded him, who was left. Burnitz? Well, not to pick on him specifically, but geez, what a huge step down. A few years ago, after 2003 I believe, A Gon had one more year on his contract for 5 million, Tejada was available, and while I would have fainted had they signed Tejada and ate some of A Gon's contract, that was definately the thing to do at that point. Upgrade your team. Instead, we got Nomar, which was a good pick up, but he was hurt most of that year, which was why we were able to pick him up that year. Same could be said about Vlad Guerrero, but we still had Sammy. Instead of trying to do what is best for the team first, and then shedding payroll later, they run the club with the theory of shedding payroll first, and then making moves later. Which ususally means the leftovers that everyone else doesn't want. While I agree 100 million is more than enough to build a winner, but the way the Cubune runs their club restricts how Hendry runs the club and the players he can pick up. Compare that to how the Yanks and BoSox run their club! BCB

It would make sense that if you have a lower payroll that you have a lower chance of winning, unless.......of course you are the Cubs. I think we may be arguing the same point here, but the one thing I will say, I don't believe that lower attendance will mean a lower payroll. Although I would not put it past the Cubune to use this excuse for lowering payroll. Make no mistake about it, the Cubune could spend as much money as either the Yanks or BoSox, they just choose not to, and are just waiting for lightling in the bottle to hit. Unfortunately, this is not a way to build a winner! BCB