CubbieRich

Remember a couple weeks ago when The TRIB's Paul Sullivan and Dan McGrath were called on the carpet at Wrigley Field. MacPhail and Hendry cussed them out for negative Cubs stories. One of which was the Jacque Jones 'dissing Cubs fans' story. Andy actually showed he had a pulse and a potty mouth. Looks like that wasn't enough. Now Sully is going on hiatus with his ChicagoSports Q & A. Going on 'hiatus' with less than 2 months gone in the season? This is a pretty blatant attempt at silencing Cubs critics. McGrath is one of Dusty's best friends and won't back Sully. Wonder if Sully will be doing the Cubs beat for long. And wonder why the Cubs won't discuss the drunken female fan throwing a ball at Jacque Jones? No arrest..no details...where did she get the ball?

This won't make my good friend Badger happy. The word is that Woody could miss his Sunday start. Very sore. Took longer than normal to warm up last night. Glendon or J.K.Ryu, who would have to be called up, could make the start.

That Phattie is saying he wants to be tested. Give him his wish.

But you have to trade $$$. The Yanks need pitching, a LH hitting OF and of course, a 3rd baseman. How about Wood, ARam, Walker and Jones for ARod. We bring up Scott Moore for 3rd, move Cedeno to 2nd and call up Felix for the OF.

Since you are calling his bluff, why don't you go ahead and set that up and pay for in the quest for truth. Since you are the one that suggested it, you must feel strongly enough that you should be able to get this done and incur all of the associated costs. I don't need to do anything. Phattie can call Dick Pound any day and do it himself. I'm sure that such an honest player and hero of the Cards would want to dispel any possible rumors that he was getting a 'little help'. After all, Big Yak was clean. You'll let me know when that happens, won't you.

HAVE YOU NEVER SEEN A PLAYER PERFORM BETTER IN THEIR PRIME YEARS? EVER? Whiner. Prime Years? How's that certified birth certificate search going? Maybe Phattie can sell you a copy from his foundation.

And I thought Phattie was above questioning any substance usage, because he said 'let them test me'. OK-I'm calling his bluff. Let Dick Pound do a full test on him. I don't know if they will find anything and I'd like to believe they won't. But, he's the one who volunteered. I will question players like Brady Anderson, Luis Gonzalez and others who out of the blue hit 50 HR one year, when their career stats indicate otherwise. Some people are questioning Phattie, big deal. Phattie can overcharge the donkeys for his autograph and point to the sky all he wants to, but he was the one who said he wanted to be tested.

this sudden burst of power. Minor Leagues: 158 games-19 HR 2006 Season: 43 games-22 HR I wonder if he would take a blood test for HGH for us?

Most fans from other cities are so jealous of being a Chicago sports fan they have to lash out. It's been 20 years since the Bears won the Super Bowl but the team still has international fame and everyone knows Ditka, Sweetness, Jimmy Mac, etc... The Bulls won 6 titles in 8 years with the greatest NBA player of all-time. The White Sox are the reigning WS champs(gasp). OK, the BlackHawks stink and old man Wirtz should sell the team. That brings us to the Cubs. The marketing of the Cubs on WGN and the mystique of Wrigley has been dynamite. The national broadcasts can't get enough of the bleachers, the neighborhood, the shots of the city and the Lake. What's not to love. Wrigley Field is a destination 365 days a year. We may not have won in 98 years, but what team has more devoted fans than us? Look at the other cities-Ever see shots of the neighborhood around Shea or Yankee Stadium? It's a war zone. LA-They don't even have an NFL team? Boston-The Pats play closer to Rhode Island. St. Louis-No NBA team, one newspaper and a Cards flagship station that has a range of 15 miles. No wonder people are jealous of Chicago.

I do not think cubbie rich exists... We have not seen any proof to prove he is who he says... I think it's great that Cards fans come to a Cubs forum for their baseball information. Way to go, Tim. Guess the party line POST-DISPATCH doesn't cover any real stories. Maybe they have a birth certificate you can use? MLB has shown their avoidance of the truth in any kind of substance testing and Rob Manfred showed he was a stooge of Bud Selig at the House hearings last year. That was the one where Big Yak took the 5th all day. I'll believe WADA, the testing failed. Carry on Cards fans.

A friend was at the game and thought Wood's mechanics were just a little different. He wasn't flying open to first and throwing across his body. He was using his legs a little more and got better angles and push-off. The fastball didn't have the movement he used to have, but that will come. I wish he had a few more games in the minors to build his strength, but considering we're desperate right now-Hendry had no choice. Santo bellowed "Kerry Wood is back in the 1st inning."and then started the usual whining in the 2nd after the HR. Hope The Cities are treating you well.

Not surprised that Cards Kool-Aiders and Pujols apologists can't find this 'certified birth certificate'. But then, he's such an 'honest' person or so we're told. One of my good Cards fan in St. Louis says his phoney 'foundation' jacks up the price for his autograph, claiming Phattie is just charging what the market will bear. Sounds pretty humanitarian to me. Does Phattie point to the ground when he makes an out?

Pujols: First off, how is that mouthing off? Secondly, he is an American citizen. In order to apply for such, you need your birth certificate. He obviously presented that. Since his emergence in baseball, people have investigated the validity of his birth date. Nobody has found anything to prove it is false. Get off it. So..where's that birth certificate located exactly? A rival high school in KC asked for it and he couldn't produce one. The Cards questioned him about a few years ago and he couldn't produce it for them. But please feel free to post a link to it here. He knows that the player's union won't allow him to be tested for roids and certainly not HGH. For him to bring it up and then know that testing can't be done is chicken. Like I said he's a very good player, but he just needs to keep quiet and play ball. His opinions about Bonds are misguided and uninformed. He is hurting himself by speaking up.

I see Phat Albert is becoming a real tool and that's too bad. He's mouthing off about people questioning his age. Hey Albert, you wanna stop all this questioning about your age? Show us a verifiable birth certificate. That's all you need to do. Now he's telling everyone that he'll undergo steroid testing at anytime. What a tool. Pujols knows that the Player's Union won't allow him to do any sort of steroid testing. And since MLB doesn't test for HGH, Pujols can be a coward and run his mouth. Pretty chicken to even bring it up when you can hide behind the union. Pujols says none of this stuff bothers him and yet he keeps yapping about it. Obviously it bothers him alot. Probably because companies aren't exactly falling all over themselves to sign him up for commercials. I think Pujols is a wonderful player, but he needs to shut his pie hole and just play ball.

I did get some partial information on the Cubs 2006 Revenues from the 'secret squirrel'. I'm no accountant from Kellogg, preferring morality and Medill instead. Here is what he gave me. But he warns that the Cubs do not report concession sales, luxury box sales. The Cubs ticket pricing has 16 different levels for 31-Regular Games, 44-Prime Games and 6-Value Games. He used a $35 per game average, but thinks that is very conservative. Ticket Sales(3.1 million) $108.5(est.) Rooftop Owners-17% $ 5.0(est.) WGN, WGN-TV, Comcast(2005) $24.5 Fox TV-National($450) $12-14(est.) ESPN TV-National($295) $9.25 ESPN New Media-internet $3.0 MLB-apparel, internet $5.0 XM Radio $2.0 ESPN Radio $1.0 Corp. Sponsors-John M. Smithe AB, Sears, Exelon, McDonalds Sears, MasterCard $5.0 Inside Wrigley Ads $5.0 Bud Light Bleachers $1.0 Sale of Washington Nationals $14.0 TOTAL $190.25

With the completed sale of the Nationals, the Cubs will receive $14 Million this year. Of course the TRIB will put the money in their pocket, like they did for the increased revenues of added seating, internet broadcasts, etc.. The mother corporation is losing money and their stock is way down. According to my really wealthy Cubs fan friend on the North Shore, the team has been up for sale the last few months. An offer for $480 Million+ is on the table.

I won't go in to how pathetic I think that comment was. I will say that Kile died from irregularities due to an enlarged heart. Please do not try to imply that his death was caused by drug usage. Despicable. Better read the coroner's report again, which clearly stated different. What the Chicago police found on the bathroom counter wasn't left by the maid as Cards fans keep saying. Thanks for proving my point. Wasn't the substance pot? Are you claiming pot killed him? Not only that, but as the article I linked to points out, it was indicative of use WEEKS before. Yes, Kile smoking dope caused his heart to beat faster and with his bad heart and 90% blockage certainly contributed to it. Here's what the experts say:

I won't go in to how pathetic I think that comment was. I will say that Kile died from irregularities due to an enlarged heart. Please do not try to imply that his death was caused by drug usage. Despicable. Better read the coroner's report again, which clearly stated different. What the Chicago police found on the bathroom counter wasn't left by the maid as Cards fans keep saying. Thanks for proving my point.

There is apparently a clause in his contract that allows him to leave at the end of this year, if he feels he is being underpaid as a 3rdbaseman. Would hate to see him exercise this and have us search again for a replacement.

So now players who used drugs in the early 80's are punks, and the Cardinals have more because of 4 players who may have used drugs, never mind that the best of the 4 was traded awy because of his alleged drug problems. Cubs players are angels, and Cards players are punk druggies...nice logic. No mirrors in your house, I see. The facts are there or shall I bring up Kile's usage and what a hero he was to leave a widow and three kids. Hernandez was involved in the famous Pittsburgh drug trial and admitted he was a doper. Whitey Herzog knew it and rather than destroy his career, kept quiet and traded him. Dave Parker was at the same trial, admitted he was a doper. Porter did drugs in KC and St. Louis and they found him dead under some tree in a park. Etc...etc..etc.. Sure the Cubs have had some bums in recent years-Todd Hundley was disrespectful to the fans just like Garry Templeton. You have Big Yak, we have Sammy. But there has not been the blatant substance abuse on the Cubs like there has been with the Cards. We've had our share of drinkers though.

I am sure for every punk player you identify on the Cardinals, the same can be said by Cardinal fans about your Cubs team. I personally do not believe that Albert is a punk player. You say the vast majority are punks, so name 15 out of the 25 players that are punks. The Cards have had far more punks than the Cubs. Lonnie Smith, David Green, Keith Hernandez, Darrell Porter, Joaquin Andujar and others were notable drug abusers. The Cards even hired druggie Dave Parker as their batting coach and they had a very drinkie batting coach who had to resign a couple years ago. Cards fans don't like to look in the mirror when it comes to bad players. They are so obsessed with the Cubs, they check our box scores first before their own. They know who the most popular team is in the world.

I said that the Cubs minor league pitching is bad, that Hendry and his talent scouts has not produced even average pitching for our Cubs. The system islong on potential and short on results. I believe it was Badger, drinking his blue kool-aid. All I can say is the truth. Beltran, Blasko, Brownlie, Christensen, Cruz, Farnsworth, Hagerty, Jones, Mitre, Sisco, Smyth, Szuminski, Wellemeyer, etc... And if you add in a struggling Big Z, injured Mark Prior and of course, the porcelain horse-Kerry Wood, something needs to change. [/b]

For real, or just being sarcastic? I know he was supposed to go 5. If it's for real, any word of pain afterword? Me sarcastic about Kerry Wood? Only the truth. I guess today they will see if he has any pain or discomfort. I hope he had a soft pillow last night. If he feels OK, then they will decide on his rehab starts. I looks like 2 starts in the minors and then up with the big club. Little Davie Kaplan of WGN Radio played a cut last night about 'Kerry taking it easy for 10 days and then going to Peoria for rehab starts'. The trouble was it was from 1998. Even the Kapster admitted the Cubs will not bring him back for $13 million next year, no matter what his record. He said the only way to bring him back is to offer a low-ball, incentive-laden contract. Every time we go thru the Kerry Wood Rehab Tour, the Chicago media goes nuts. They send reporters and cameras to the minor league stadium and have hourly updates of WGN and Comcast. The death of The Pope didn't get the same coverage. I suppose if he does well, a small flume of white smoke will come out of Hendry's office. Kappiesays Wood will win 16 games this year. I'll take that bet. On a personal aside, I'll be flying up to Plymouth, MN. tomorrow. If I pick up the STAR TRIB and see a Wood story on the front page, I'll know you did it.

I'm only doing this because we're friends. I believe he went 5 innings and K'd 8 minor leaguers.

Zambrano. Great Stuff. Check. Prior. Great Stuff when healthy. Check Wood. Great Stuff when healthy. Check Dontrelle. Great Stuff. Check Marshall. Great Stuff so far. Check Gooz/Hill. Great Stuff in the minors. Check. Garland. Great stuff/poor control til last year. Check. Do you ever get tired of being wrong? None of the above are "average" pitchers though Wood and Prior have had average careers due to injury. This thread isn't about you ridiculously dumping on the Cubs starters because you enjoy it. It's a discussion about why we can produce GREAT PITCHING TALENT, but not produce the same offensively. Which we do, regardless of what you say. In FACT, the reason why many Cubs fans are dissappointed, is because Wood hasn't lived up to how good of a pitcher he actually is. So he would be considered a very good pitcher with high expectations that has failed to live up to them. Further this thread is about the Minor League process. Sorry Badger, once again you are wrong. There are no GREAT pitchers on your list. Unless you see Jon Garland as GREAT PITCHER. Dontrelle Willis is very good, but then he's not here. The others are great potential, possible high ceilings..but not GREAT. Your boy Kerry isn't even in the discussion, as it's hard to be GREAT when you are on the DL all the time. I hope that Marshall, Guzman and Hill continue their development and I like what I see. I also hope that BigZ straightens everything out and Prior comes back strong. But I judge talent based on performance inactual MLB games, not some towel drill or simulated games. Given the Cubs low position in the amateur drafts over the 10 years of the Hendry talent search disaster, I expect alot more.