CubbieRich

All Cards fans better get their 'age' story straight. Some say he came to the U.S. when he was 10. Other sources say he was 14. Others say it was 16. Pick an age and stick to it. I do know this, Pujols' mother gave birth to a baby boy in 1978 with the exact same name-Jose Albert Pujols. Must be a coincidence. When young Albert was in high school in KC, a competing high school filed suit to have Albert produce a birth certificate. Albert could not do it. Does Albert point to the ground when he fails to get a hit?

How about average pitchers with high expectations. As low as the Cubs picked in the draft all these years, you would think they would have developed alot more than average pitching. But they choose injured arms like Bobby Brownlie for some unknown reason. As far as everyday players are concerned, the results are equally poor. Bobby Hill, Luis Montanez, Corey Patterson, etc.. shows me that Hendry and his talent evaluators are bad. I just hope Ryan Harvey and Eric Patterson develop into everyday players up here in the next 2 years. Hendry is very over-rated as a GM.

Yes, I'm sure that's exactly why Wood is rehabbing in Arizona instead of Chicago. The pitching coach is in Chicago. The trainer is in Chicago. The GM is in Chicago. The Mgr. is in Chicago. The Cubs medical staff is in Chicago. There are towels at Wrigley Field. There are 3 mounds to throw off of at Wrigley Field. There is plenty of open land to throw long toss at Wrigley Field. DLee is injured and is back in the dugout...with the team. Stay away, Wood.

re the bolded part above....no you don't. with Prior sure, but not with Wood. his contract expires at the end of the year. get him out there ASAP, get out of him what you can, decline the option. I'm all for painting the impression that the organization considers the best interest of the player, but not here. get him on the mound yesterday. if he blows out his arm again, that's his/his next team's problem. Wood has milked this organization long enough. No way this team should consider anything for Wood except a bus ticket out of town next year. No wonder he is being kept away from the team and especially the clubhouse/dugout. The team knows that having the younger players look at such a chronically injured albatross can do nothing but instill the wrong work ethic attitude. Better he throw his funny towel drills and make believe 5 inning games in Arizona, far away from the 'real' players.

Gload is a LH first baseman who is rotting on the bench of the White Sox. He is also a former Cub. Much higher BA than Restovich. I'd trade Michael Wuertz to the Sox, who need a RH reliever.

Len said last night he is a CF and 2nd baseman(yet another one). He didn't seem too confident on the shot off the scoreboard. This idea of inter-changeable parts for all OF positions is wrong. It takes different skills.

Last night's game..3 Cubs and 4 pitches in the 9th=3 outs and game over. Dusty and crew continue to not play fundamentals at the plate.

Hendry says Jones will be ready to go today. Bynum will get alot of time in the next 2-3 weeks(I noticed last night that Bynum has a hitch with his right foot in his swing. He lifts it up when the ball is on it's way.) Will make move on player from AAA after today's game, because AAA team is in Texas. Would prefer Pie to get his at-bats, but wouldn't rule him coming up. Pagan will be gone at least 2-3 weeks for now. Concern is the knee. Says Aramis was talked to about dogging it out of the batter's box on the double last night. ARAM won't do it again. Says Zambrano will have to work out his own situation. Mentioned Maddux has been talking to Carlos behind the scene. Still backs Rusch in starting rotation, today's start is big though.

It's called hitting, not walking, dude! You're wrong..it's called 'me-me-me' baseball. The successful teams have players that know how to play the game and how to work the count. It's called 'smart baseball'.

Cub batters only see 11 pitches in final 2 innings. So much for working the counts, taking pitches to let others see a pitcher's stuff and a new way of doing things. And for the XXXX year in a row, we were told that fundamentals were being stressed in spring training.

I really agree with you on this. It is entertaining and that's what the broadcast is supposed to be to the majority of listeners. `In depth discussions of stats is very boring to the majority of the general public. The radio broadcasts are aimed at the general public and Santo's living and dying the game is appealling to many. I don't need an indepth discussion of stats. I need an announcer that can concentrate and talk about the game, without blowing smoke up undeserving butts and trailing off onto tangents that have nothing to do with the game. Keep Ron for occasional diversions, but they need to do a better job talking about the baseball games. He's the color man. Who would you like to see? Both broadcast teams are terrible. Santo is McDonough's boy and could care less what the Cub fans think. Santo has such an inferiority complex about himself, that it just drips during every game. How many times per game are we going to hear about his 'medical problems'? It was at least 5 times yesterday and I was only able to listen for part of the game. Brenly is no better. In reading the lineup at the bottom of the 1st, he had Jerry Hairston at second-not Walker. Not only had Walker batted in the top of the 1st, he was on the screen taking a practice throw. This is not acceptable in any way for the Cubs.

Tim Smithe(Mktg. brother of the family) was on with Mike North of The Score and said it was true. He also said they had talked about putting a dome over Wrigley. You could almost hear his tongue being placed in his cheek. I still think it's a marketing campaign until an offical word comes out. Apparently other news outlets are posting it on the web as true. I remain skeptical. Hey Badger-How are The Cities? Have you had breakie at Keystone at Nicollet Mall yet? Watching Don and Emilia on 'CCO? Tell us all about it.

Walter E. Smithe is a furniture retailer in the Chicagoland area. They have done a number of creative ads and promotional campaigns. They have a few tv ads currently running shot inside of Wrigley Field last year-with the ivy in full bloom. In the past day or so, they have a tv ad promoting the changing of naming rights to 'Smithefield-Home of the Cubs'. The one ad I saw has Dutchie Caray on it, talking about how Harry would love it. The Smithe people have also had people on the local news shows holding up signs and wearing t-shirts with the Wrigley facade altered to include the Smithefield name. McDonough is under pressure from the TRIB Tower to maximize profits and the naming rights of Wrigley would certainly be one of those things that could bring in more $$$. While he has held out, I think the decision is really out of his hands and MacPhail's. The TRIB can sell what they want and if they get really strapped, they will sell Wrigley. For now, I think it's an ad campaign to attract attention for Smithe. It's working.

[Cubbie Rich]Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 6:29 am Post subject: Cubs Sell Bleachers Naming Rights -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our cash-strapped Northside franchise has been looking for other revenue streams because they are so poor. Now they have sold the naming rights(I never knew they existed) for the bleachers to Anheuser-Busch. The bleachers will now have some mention of Bud-Light. Although there will be no signage inside the field or outside on the brick, there will be signage between the gate and exit. There is also a definite possibility that the radio/tv crews will mention it. Something like: "Aramis drives the ball, deep to left..it's into the Bud-Light bleachers for a home run."

Go in the 'way back machine' to a certain night in 1998 in St. Louis. The bloated BIG Red Yak has just rounded first base, after hitting # 62 in front of a packed ballpark, members of the Maris family and national tv audience. Here's Grace who believes Yak is a "red flag player" and is disgusted by it. Here is a chance for Grace to stand up and make a statement for all to see. Here is a chance for Grace to tell everyone that playing baseball the right way is the only way. His high five to Yak said it all. Sellout. Coward.

I agree. I'm a big fan of Grace as a baseball player, but the more he talks, the less I like him as a person. It seems hypocritical to me that while Grace says "to each his own" about roid use, he wouldn't vote for Sammy as HOF. You can't ignore the numbers he's put up. On the other hand, how many times did Grace keep a game going in the 9th, only to see Sammy whiff and strand everybody? From Grace's dog's eye view in the 90s, I guess Sammy wouldn't look like much of a HOF candidate. Grace is a jerk. Always has been..always will be. Mark is still smarting from having his first wife(Michelle) dump him for the perpetual screaming Ray Liotta. Grace never had the 'stones' to say anything about Sammy when he was here. Then all of a sudden he found them? OK, sure he did. Grace was a clubhouse lawyer who never met a microphone he didn't like, but alienated some of his teammates. He reminds me of Shilling in that regard. Many people the Cubs should have kept Raffy and traded Grace.

The youngest Cub fan in our house saves alot of Cubs articles. Here's an interesting one from just two years ago(2004) from BASEBALL WEEKLY rating the Cubs best prospects: Top Hitter-Felix Pie Top Pitcher-Angel Guzman Cream of the Crop-Jason Dubois, Brendan Harris, Justin Jones, Andy Sisco Best of the Rest-Francis Beltran, Chadd Blasko, Bobby Brownlie, David Kelton, Billy Petrick, Renyel Pinto, Felix Sanchez, Carlos Vasquez 2003 First-Rounder-Ryan Harvey Worth Noting-Jemel Spearman, Dwaine Bacon, Jared Blasdell, Sergio Mitre I was going to post the VineLine 2003 Top Prospects, by after seeing Nic Jackson's name at #4-I was laughingtoo hard to do anything.

The check is in the mail.

Top 20 All-Time Winningest Pitchers Cy Young Walter Johnson Pete Alexander Christy Mathewson Pud Galvin Warren Spahn Kid Nichols Tim Keefe Roger Clemens Steve Carlton John Clarkson Eddie Plank Nolan Ryan Don Sutton Greg Maddux Phil Niekro Gaylord Perry Tom Seaver Charley Radbourn Mickey Welch Top All-Time WHIP Addie Joss Ed Walsh Pedro Martinez John Ward Christy Mathewson Walter Johnson Mordecai Brown Charlie Sweeney Reb Russell Joe Wood Jim Devlin Jack Pfiester George Bradley Babe Adams Tommy Bond Juan Marichal Dick Hall Rube Waddell Larry Corcoran Deacon Phillippe . That is exactly what WHIP does-there is no distinction.

That is an absurdly foolish claim. WHIP=H+BB/IP 9 singles+ 0 BB/9 IP=1.0 WHIP 9 HR + 0 BB/9 IP=1.0 WHIP Next.

What is the WHIP myth and how did you destroy it? Feel free to link to your posts (I must have missed them). I'm not being argumentative - I really want to know what you mean. Personally I think WHIP is just about the truest objective summary of pitcher performance. If I could ask for one stat -- one stat only -- about a pitcher I knew nothing about, that is the one I'd want (HR/9 and K/BB being a close 2nd and 3rd). WHIP fails to include two stats that a pitcher is certainly responsible for: HBP and WP. But the most glaring omission is treating a single and a home run as the same. WHIP enthusiasts will tell you 9 singles is the same as 9 HR, which of course they are not. Closing one eye and then squinting with the other one hardly gives one an accurate evaluation of a starting pitcher. I'll take the pitchers with 300+ wins over top 100 WHIP leaders any day.

You must view a starting pitcher over his career, not just one season. Yes Clemens, Johnson, Maddux, etc.. all have had a bad year. Some even have a few poor years 'win wise', but they have a history of keeping their teams in the game and winning the majority of the time. Wood's claims to fame are the 20 strikeout game in 1998 and a good year in 2003. Other than that he is injured, the highest paid pitcher on the Cubs and not living up to anyone's expectations. The whiners for Kerry will look at any small obscure stat that serious baseball people discount and then claim that Wood is doing his job. It's quite funny to read. I destroyed the WHIP myth months ago to them and many fled the scene. I wish Wood was the 20 game winner, Cy Young pitcher we thought he might turn into, but he is far from it. But he'll be gone next year and the Cubs will have $12 million off the payroll to spend it more wisely.

Is anybody arguing that his injuries are not a huge concern? No. The argument is that wins is the most worthless pitching stat, ever. If you want to knock him, use Starts. Not wins. Wins have been the #1 measurement of a successful starting pitcher since baseball began and will continue to be so. As much as everyone wants to wish it away and makeup their own stat du jour, wins are what counts. Anything else is just excuse making.

The Cubs have paid the last 2 years $530,303.00 per start for this pitcher? I'll wait for your answer.

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