mhuber92211

reagardless, one of them has to play since THeriot is the only backup INF on the roster healthy enough to play right now.

And this is why Dusty will return. Again, despite everyone's misgivings, Dusty has provided somewhat of a winner here. [/hijack]

Why stop now? This is when the year has some meaning again for the first time in a month! (not that I ever believed that we were out of it until today :P)

I understand that we'll see one of them in the game, but I'll be stunned if Theriot doesn't get at least one start before the season ends. Me too. I was just trying to point out that despite the desire, it is logically no tpossible at this stange of the game now that AR isn't coming back and Fontenot won't be called up (which I still can't fathom why it was Riot and not Fontenot to begin with, who was already on the 40 man, not that I mind Riot at all)

You do realize that either Macias or Perez must play in a game. Only Theriot is available as an INF that doesn't play regularly and if Fontenot hasn't been called up yet he won't be. Soto might get a start now though. His MLB Debut wasn't half bad.

Thanks guys! I thought that I made people mad at me and they were ignoring me or something (and that wouldn't be fun!)

So how come on certain members of the board I can only see their screen name and not information about # of posts, avatar or anything else? Thanks

not bad for Reed to make the list. I was under the imprssion that he had an underwhelming year.

I guess I don't understand the "injury prone" label then. Nomar's injuries have not been his "body breaking down" (save this year) and his other major injury was him being hit by a pitch. Drew's injuries have been "body breaking down" the enitire time. Isn't this the same as calling Prior injury prone? Wasn't it agreed that calling Prior injury prone is not a correct label?

I think that this injury was a big hit to the team but I think that it was predictable. He has had a tremendous workload the last 2 years and was coming off of knee surgery and had to alter his mechanics. Warning bells all over this season for him.

.286/.412/.520 at the time of injury is badly slumping? Given that for the month of April he hit .259/.386/.444 with only 4HR and 10RBI hitting in a run procuder's spot and striking out 14 times, yes that is slumping for a player who is a franchise guy. We were talking about it at the time with AR. Also he hit in may .244/.373/.411 with only 3HR and 12 RBI & 22 K's. That is a slump to begin the season. And I know you listen to sportstalk radio in So Cal so I know you remember Drew getting beat up in the media at the beginning of the year. Drew was a bad sign for the Dodgers. Injury risk and a questionable "franchise" type player. Hendry's "risk" on Nomar was much more calculated. Nomar was not an injury prone player as he had a broken hand from a pitched ball (could happen to anyone) and was strong in spring training and has a great work ethic. Drew has had 1 full season and the Dodgers had no one to replace him as the franchise guy. The Cubs have plenty of "Franchise or Face of the Club" type guys and Nomar could be one of them but not the only one.

Good Luck Mr. 1908!

What personel did he bring in that made the Dodgers better in 2004? The players that DePo brought in have contributed to the disaster that is the current Dodger situation. Bradley? Won't be in Dodger blue (3 domestic violence cases while on the DL with a pregnat wife AFTER anger management?) at the end of the year. Drew? Perennially injured and was badly slumping when not injured. Risk FA signing with a huge upside but if injuries come back could be a contract albatross on a lower payroll team. Having to lower payroll why would a good GM take a huge injury risk with their most expensive player? Talk about not making your payroll dollars stretch. As far as the Cubs taking a chance on Drew, sure that would have been a good risk for the team. The difference is that the Cubs can afford to make that mistake, the Dodgers can't. So in taking the risk that your #1 guy on your team will be Drew is harder to swallow when you can't replace him with a similar player if you can't afford to. Penny? Trades 2 solid regulars and by doing so creates 2 HUGE holes that have yet to be adequately filled. Yes Penny can be a frontline starter and yes DePo was burned by thinking he could have used Penny to acquire Randy Johnson but now he goes and spends more of the littel payroll he has on an expensive extension when he has already spent tons of money on other "front line" FA pitchers and has a wealth of minor league pitching? Lowe? Again spends a huge percentage of his payroll on a mediocre pitcher who can be successful but generally overpaid and spent it in a position of strength. Kent? So by again spending money on a veteran he breaks up a younger, cheaper middle infield that was the best at turning double plays. By giving up on Cora he gives up defense which he needed to because he wasn't getting offense from anywhere else. Filler acquistions? Jose Valentin, Antonio Perez, Nakamura, Grabowski, are all reaches. But this was all he had left after spending his money in 4 baskets. It seems that DePo doesn't know how to spread the payroll dollars very well. Everyone knows that he is under constraints but has to spend like he is a big market team. But the positions that he filled with big names (save Drew) were already well appointed. He didn't address the needs of the organization. When Hendry has made deals he hasn't opened up more holes then he filled by making the trade. We can 2nd guess decisions all day but I think that Hendry's decisons haven't created such a backlash as DePo's had among the general fandom. I'm not saying that the masses are always right but don't forget, Hendry traded the "face" of the club too in Sosa. The fans haven't come down on that trade as much as the LA fans have against the LoDuca trade. Not the same situation, granted but still a valid comparison. P.S. I agree about Beltre but DePo's back up plan was not very good.

Wow. This suprises me. I would rather hace Hendry then either of these 2. DePo has run the Dodgers into the ground and although their minor leagues have been upgraded, I am unsure of how much credit goes to DePo for that since he has only been around for 2 drafts. DePo's trades have been highly questionable, and his FA acquistions have been overpaid and questionable. JP has been unspectacular yet solid. He did give Koskie a longer term deal then I would have wanted if I were a Toronto fan considering he already had options there. I am firmly on the Hendry bandwgn. He has made smart baseball moves, most of his trades have worked out and he has given the modern Cub fans more to hope and believe about both in the Majors and the minors in a long time. To me the biggest glaring issue with his reign is the Sisco loss. If all we are questioning is the loss of a middle reliever then I think he has done well in his years, especially considering some of the controversial moves he has had to make (Sosa).

It's always fun to come to these forums and learn something. I will be the first to say that I come straight here and ask my stupid questions about the minors because I know I will get the right answer and that I won't be ridiculed for asking them. Once again thanks for everything. :hail:

Hassellback is definite as the QB. Branch & Fitzgerald should be the WR

Gotta love it!

Fun game to come back to the office and listen to the end of. Somewhat glad I missed the frustrating middle innings. Gotta state more of the obvious, Matt Murton is for real. I saw him Sunday in SBC and he looked better at the plate then even Lee did at times. Bravo for him securing the final 3 weeks of playing time.

Just wanted to give Props to "Riot's" 1st MLB AB. He battled the entire AB and got fooled at the end by a curve. Good showing kid in a tough, pressure packed situation. Hopefully he will get more opportunities but I can honestly say that if Dusty wanted to "set him up for sucess" I wouldn't recommend to send him up to the plate for his 1st AB when a single could win the game in extras.

So the game was very fun. For those who have yet to attend a game in SBC, I highly reccomend it. Excellent field with many highlights. The foos was excellent as well but unfortuantely WAY overpriced. $8 for a beer is ridiculous. The game was a fun game to watch. Again, the mental errors are gettingold but the end was hard to argue with. For what its worth, Hill was up twice during the game, but after the lead he was replaced by Ohman. What was also funny about Hill was that he was getting the rookie treatment. After the game he was left in the dugout to get all the equipment back to locker room. This made for some nice conversation with some of the fans that dawlded (like me). I told him that I would have preferred him to start today and wished him luck in the rotation next year. He smiled and said that he hoped I was right. Nice guy. All, in all a fun game to attend and a good series for us believers. By the way, I listened to the Giants pregame shows and they interviewed Cubs personnel with Pat Hughes being one of them. He impressed me even more then on one of the Cub broadcasts. Intellignet and insightful responses and excellent out of town insight. Dusty was the main topic because of the SF connection and he made mention of several members of the press agreeing with most here on the site about Dusty. Good Times.

<---lives in California! :P

i am going to this game! I am in northern california right now and I am hoping to get into SBC early to watch the warmups. I will take some pictures but I am unsure where we are sitting. All i know is that I am along the 1st base side. If anyone wants me to do anything let me know. I am leaving early (we have a 2 hour drive into SF) but I will login and check before I leave at 10am. Go Cubs! If anyone will be at the game, i will be wearing my NSBB t-shirt!

I am headed on vacation this morning and I will be ending my trip on 9/11 by seeing the Cubs play the Giants at SBC park in San Fran. Anyone else going to this game? We have 1st base side seats. PM me if anyone is going. Have a great week everyone!

well in regards to my comment earlier, the strong argument is Baker's record. He has equaled wins and the futherest playoff experience the Cubs have had in over a decade. For the casual fan and even for us fans that look deeper into things, its simple, Baker has won. That is a strong argument, especially of the Cubs finish at .500 or better this season. When was the last time a Cubs team finished 3 straight years over .500? But the trouble is that Baker has his faults and certainly seems to have lost his way. Us here at this forum see talent at a level we haven't seen before. Therefore we naturally expect a winner (maybe even a dynasty). But realize that we have gotten a winner of sorts, now we just want to get better. The Cubs can get better and will. Hendry has seen to that. Each year the team has gotten better on paper and the last 2 seasons the plan has had to be altered midstride. Last year it worked for awhile, this year it hasn't so well. Back to the drawing board and start all over with a new team? Yes it might help, but it could get worse and put the the team back even further. Right now, the team is without a specific leader who has the ability to act in "baseball" decisions. So far most of the decisions have been intelligent and justifiable. I am willing to continue with the current leadership in the hopes that their initial plan can be seen for an extended period of time.

Couldn't 'Deal with Contracts' mean a buy out? I know that there are 60 some odd pages of maddening Dusty moves, but in all honesty there are a select few that I would prefer to Dusty. Dusty has his faults that have been well documented but there are strong arguments in his favor as well. I really like Hendry though. He is a good scout and a creative GM. I would welcome an exstension for him.