bleedcubbieblue

Actually, I would agree with this statement. Listen, everyone who goes to Wrigley, almost always says the same thing, except possibly sock fans, but Wrigley is always spoken in glorified terms, at least to me, it seems so. It is a nice place to watch a game, and I have been to my share of venues. For me, I have been offered tickets a couple of times this last month, but I have turned them down and this tells me people are having problems getting rid of them who have them already or have season tickets. I will ultimately go at some point this year, I live in Chicago for criss sakes, so why shouldn't I. I can tell you that I will probably go later in the year, probably when the call ups come up, and for the most part, my reasons for being there will proabaly have as much to do with the setting and maybe more so, as it does for the team and also watching some baseball. This does not make me a casual fan as I watch or listen to most of the games, even when they are this bad. Give the Cubune credit for making it the place that it is, which means that regardless of the team they field, it most likely will be filled. BCB

This is exactly the kind of thinking the Cubune wants, and I am sure that you also believe heavily in "fiscal responsibility". The true problem is management and how they run it, and if there is one thing this current regime is proving over and over again is....... team success is not= to team payroll, most team this is true for, but not this one. As can be seen by this team currently trying to play baseball every day. Until the Cubune stops trying to be so fiscally responsible, maybe they will finally figure out how to put a winning team on the field. Until then, I am pretty sure this current crop of management team members cannot figure this out under their current situation. We either increase payroll substantially over the next few years to sign much better quality players(which I am pretty sure Jim Hendry cannot identify) or go the route of the Marlins and sell everyone and everything off and start from scratch. Unfortunaely, neither one of these senarios will happen, and most definetly the latter of the 2 will not happen because it would have an adverse effect on attendance, which the Cubune will not do. BCB

I certianly hope you are right, but right now, somehow I think he will pull this feat off without any kind of problem. I don't think he has a clue. BCB

Last year? Thru June the Yanks went into July with a record of 39-38, they went 17-9 in July, but there was a lot of doubt about if they would be making the playoffs after the first 3 months. After July, they were 9 games over, which is similar to where they are now, but overall, right now, they are in better shape record wise than they were a year ago. The Yanks have had a lot of injuries this year, and they are still making out quite well. I would still take their postion over the Cubs any day of the year! BCB

Did a little mining this morning, I certainly wish the Cubs looked as old as the Yankees do right now! :lol: BCB

Hendry should have never let Matt Clement walk. Yes, I understand that Matt is not the same pitcher since he got drilled, but who is to say that he would have been drilled if he stayed, or that he would not still be that consistent pitcher. When Hendry let him walk, it really hurt this team. Another case of Hendry not looking ahead, and of course, I am sure fiscal responsibility was thrown in there when that decision was made. BCB Clement was an average pitcher at best. $9.5M is way too much money for someone like that. He was above average at best, pretty good actually. The problem is he's rarely been at his best. Personally, I would prefer running Matt out there to pitch, instead of having Rusch and Neifi on the roster. Yes, I understand that we are saving a few dollars doing it this way, but I would prefer spending the extra money and Matt Clement on the roster. Yes, I also understand that he signed for 4 or 5 years. But trust me, the Cubs can afford that contract, and I prefer Matt over some of the alternate options. BCB

The Cubs have too much invested not to, so they will try to, but if someone is going to throw huge money at him, Kerry would be stupid not to take it. One thing is for sure, the Cubs won't be the ones throwing the big money at him. BCB

Hendry should have never let Matt Clement walk. Yes, I understand that Matt is not the same pitcher since he got drilled, but who is to say that he would have been drilled if he stayed, or that he would not still be that consistent pitcher. When Hendry let him walk, it really hurt this team. Another case of Hendry not looking ahead, and of course, I am sure fiscal responsibility was thrown in there when that decision was made. BCB

You are making the assumption that 2 million will get it done to sign Kerry Wood, I guess we will have to see, but I think it will take more, unless Kerry's injury is more serious than what we are being told right now. If that is the case, then it will take less than 2 million to resign him, it will also mean, he will not be pitching all that much again next year. Personally, I think it is time to cut the cord, but that is me. BCB

You have to spread the blame, and Hendry deserves some of it for giving him that kind of money for as long as he did. So Jim does deserve some too! That said, when they gave Kerry that extension, I thought it was a solid contract, especially after the 2003 season, it just has not worked out. It happens, just in the Cubs case, it seems that bad luck happens a little more often than other teams. BCB

While I would agree that Baker has his boys, which is one of the reasons why Guzman and Williamson get buried and do not pitch as often as they would like, but Rusch pitching has more to do with money and his contract than anything else. What does fall on Baker is that he ultimately has the final say how much a player plays, and for all of us, Rusch seems to get too much of it. BCB

Again, this kind of thinking is what the Cubune has programmed into our heads, and is all part of the fiscal responsibility they have drummed into those heads for as long as I can remember. I think that kind of thinking is fine as long as you can back it up, but they don't have a clue of what that phrase means. First off, since Kerry has signed that extention, we have gotten very little bang for that buck. For that reason, there is no way we are picking up that option, which means we owe him at least 3 million. That will be fact. While I guess there is a chance Wood would sign for much, much less, and maybe move to the bullpen, I guess this depends on how desparate he gets, but I am sure there will be a team that will throw some money at him to take a flyer, so I think this senario is unlikely. I guess is depends if you are willing to take a chance at the money someone will be willing to throw at him. I like Kerry a lot, I wish he stayed healthy, but the fact is, he has shown he can't. Maybe he will be able to down the road and become the pitcher we all had wished he had and was when healthy. But after the last 3 years, I just don't think you can take that chance. It is time to cut the cord. While he was not the sole reason why this team has gone down hill since 2003, he is a big part of it, along with Prior, with both missing as many starts as they have over the last 3 years. This is not a criticism, just fact of life, they are paid to be front line pitchers, which takes up a lot of the payroll allocated by the Cubune. While it is subjective as to where this team would have been over the last 3 years with them, I can say for certain, with a healthy Wood and Prior, pitching the entire season, we would have won a lot more games over these last 3 years, including this one. BCB

Listen, I am fine if he thinks Hill is/was going to be a special pitcher, but to give him 3 or 4 starts early in the year, to watch him implode, then send him back down to pitch lights out in Iowa, only to not bring him back, but has no problem wheeling Rusch out there whenever we need a start or to fill in, is just ridiculous. Again, I have no problem with Hill coming back up here and not being able to cut it, and then we will all know. But to value a guy last year, almost to the point of making him untouchable, and then to keep him down in Iowa most of this year, I guess is the plan. Maybe he knows more than all of us, and Baker would only ruin him. Maybe Jim is just waiting until next year when there is new management in the dugout? Let's hope. BCB

Either one should fit very nicely, we need a solid pitcher that can give us some definite innings, after going thru this whole Wood/Prior thing these last 3 years, it really is getting old, especially when considering what we are paying these guys. With Carlos heading up the rotation, followed by either one of these 2 guys, Prior(fingers crossed) along with 2 guys from Marshall, Marmol, Hill, etc. One thing for certain, the Yankees are going to go long and hard after Zito, they need pitching desperately, so they are going to be offering a lot of years with a lot of money, almost a certain that they Cubs will not enter into those sweepstakes. Lastly, after Hendry refusing to part with Hill last season and during the offseason, you would at least think now that the season is in the tank, he would at least give him another shot this year. If Hill does not get another shot, it really shows just how badly he is at reviewing talent, because he could have packaged him last year and got some value out of him. Isn't this the GM's primary job? This organization never ceases to amzae me. BCB

This is the type of thinking that gets the Cubune in trouble all the time, and has put us in the position we are in today. Make no mistake about it, getting him or Zito will mean we are most likely going to overpay for either one, so in that terms, we will probably not sign either of them. But neither of them wil come cheap, but with Kerry most likely coming off the books, along with Mad dog, the money will be there, but I am sure Jim has a few mediocre guys in mind that he hopes will be able to catch lighting in the bottle for next year. BCB

I wish they would honor Dusty's wishes. It makes no sense to me whatsoever. If it is true he declined the offer for an extension. If his team is playing terrible and he won't be around next year anyway Then, why not get rid of him and get on with whatever the future holds? Money! Why are Neifi and Rusch still on this team? BCB

"Dude, after expecting to win the WS this season, I figured I would be able to bilk Jim out of a contract for 4 years at 6 mill annually!" I didn't want to hedge my position and selling out for a such a small pitance for one year! I thought the mother load was coming! Sincerely, Johnny B

Sounds like a plan! Something you thought out and gave some time, along with thinking about the future, all things that Hendry, or any Cubs GM or management has never done, so don't even think about anything close to this happening. If anything, Baker would replace all of them with seasoned vets if he could, thankfully, he does not have that much control. Now if it had something to do with attendance or making more money, you can bet the Cubune has a 10 year plan at least, if not more. Like, when is that restaurant going to be opening up in center field. I am sure that has been planned out to the day it is going to open. BCB

David Lynch???? :D BCB

If there is one thing I can say about the Cubs and their tatics under the Tribune is that they usually take care of their own, and reward guys for having big years. The only guy I can think of that they did not was Maddux and really, they had offered more money ultimately than the Braves did, but Himes bungled that whole mess. They took care of Sosa whenever his contract came up, they just reupped D Lee, they took care of A Ram when he was up, Dawson they always took care of until they thought it was time to let him go because of his age. They took care of Ryne whenever his contracts came up, same can be said about Wood. So the one thing I will say is that they take care of their own. It is the outside free agents that they are wary of giving the big money to. So I suspect that they will take care of Carlos when the time comes, and money seems to go a long way in smoothing things over, and telling a ballplayer what they think of him. BCB

Not so sure about that, and I think it is still to be determined. You have to take each of the tenures as a whole, and take a look at the total body of work for each, and Hendry's is not over. Right now, Hendry is making Lynch look like a genius, or at least in my mind, I think there was a lot more payroll restrictions on Lynch as compared to Hendry. No way did Lynch ever have as much talent on his teams as Hendry did when he first took over, and over the course of the last 3 years, what has happened to this team is incredible. BCB

I am for trading him if they actually could put together a plan of attack for the future of this organization, like pulling off a trade you suggest, to get some front line propects. But after watching Hendry do what he has done to this organization, and having a farm that was supposed to be stocked to begin with back then, which he built, there was no reason he should not have been able to build off that 2003 team, and build them into a power house that should still be contending. But as you can see, he is quite clueless, and cannot think outside of a paper box, and relying on Wood and Prior too much. Carlos is young enough and a piece to build around, along with D Lee, I could also make the same argument about A Ram, as we can see how long it took to find him after Santo left, because I just don't think management has a clue about anything. But I would start with those 3 pieces and build from there. You have a few young arms that seem to have a bright future, how about using this last half year finding out some more about them? Same can be said about Murton in left, instead of being the base stealing specialist? What is the difference if we finish 20 or 30 out, they are only numbers, as long as it is not first place. BCB

Hendry will be gone if the losing continues, but he's safe through next year. So give him a chance to hire a new guy and make it work, if it doesn't, they're all out in a top to bottom house cleaning. Not sure, MacPhail has always come out smelling like a rose, I think upper management likes him, and he has gotten a lot of projects the Cubune wanted done, accomplished, this last year, getting those bleachers expanded. While their record is not good, I think Andy will still be safe. I also think he got those luxury boxes done a while back, although I could be wrong about that, but Andy is a good "yes" man. BCB

Why????? If there is a team that can afford whatever he is asking for, it is the Cubune, along with a few other teams, but there is no way they cannot afford him. Will they choose not to extend him in the name of fiscal responsibilty? Anything is possible with these bozos, but I do look for them to extend him. After the last 3 years, he certainly deserves the money Kerry Wood is making much more so than Kerry. Also, let's take a closer look at what has happened to this team over the course of the last 3 years, in which our total payroll has gone up very little since our run in 2003. They have bilked money out of the roof top pirates, added many, many, many seats out in the bleachers which they have been looking to do for a very long time, and the season is pretty well soldout and has been since day 1. There is now the advertisment you see right behind home plate, which they are making money on, and I think had promised they would never do. They now have advertisment in the dugouts, and lastly, increase ticket prices every year since then, and yet, payroll on a whole, has gone up very little since 2003. While we can argue all day long about how badly J Hendry has done spending that payroll and that it should not have been increased the little it has, maybe if they had agreed to open those purse strings just a little more, maybe we would have some better talent on this team. Trust me, this team can afford anything Carlos is asking for and then some, and if anything, Kerry Wood should be cut loose at the end of the year, and that money should be given to Carlos, he certainly deserves it more than Kerry does. In the name of fiscal responsibility, they need to sign Carlos and extend him to the contract he so richly deserves. BCB

Johnny B told him after those comments, that if he did not take them back, if he thought he was buried now, it would be avalanche bad! BCB