CubbieRich

Why do you act like he's happy to be just sitting on his ass, not pitching, competing, and picking up a paycheck? Honestly CubbieRich, you have it out for him on a personal level. Did he still a girl from you in a previous life or something? I know he's being paid, and not performing to that paycheck, but it seems your dislike and hatred for him go above and beyond just a player who is oft-hurt. Badger, my friend..looks like you're coming over to my side. I expect the highest paid pitcher of the Cubs to lead the team by his performance, very hard to do from the perpetual DL. After years of denying he has bad mechanics, he now admits that he has changed them this winter. Steve Stone is right again. Thank goodness this $12 million DL veteran will be somewhere else next year. Are you moved yet? Have you found Mickey's Diner in St. Paul near the State Capitol? Hope everything is going well.

I'm pretty torn about hearing the whole truth about a ballplayer's personal life or having the media/team cover it up. It's a difficult answer, depending on which player you look up to and those you don't. Kirby had a mistress for more than 16 years and was a little violent with women. Big Yak admitted repeatedly cheating on his first wife. Babe Ruth, Pete Rose and others were pretty wild and so were many other ballplayers. I guess the temptation has always been there. Even Cal Ripken wasn't lilly white. During the terrible losing streak the Orioles had to begin one year, Jonathon Brandmeier(a Chicago DJ) called Ripken's hotel room in Minneapolis at 7AM. This was just after Ripken had gotten married. The phone rang in Ripken's room, a woman answered the phone and Johnny B. asked if Cal was there. She said he was in the shower. Johnny asked if this was Mrs. Ripken and the woman just coughed and hung up the phone. The Orioles did not allow wives to travel with the players. It was probably the maid, huh? I think I want to know if a player is breaking the law or taking roids and all that. The rest is cloudy to me.

I think the Cubs have been about as accurate as any team in their return estimates as players have come back earlier, on time and later than expected. I think your opinion is biased because the Cubs are the team you follow the most and there have been a couple of high-profile misses on their part. But they haven't been recent and I think that those experiences have colored people's perceptions on the issue. Were the Giants lying last year about Bonds when they kept pushing back the date but being generally optimisitic to the public about things early in the year?example> Let's see...Remember the lingering Hollandsworth injury? He was kept on the 25 man active roster for months, rather than DL him. Choi was hurt, but said he was ready in July. The Cubs continued to stonewall the information. Choi could have come back and Dusty ran Karros into the ground. As to other teams lying, the Giants certainly sold plenty of tickets last year with the prospect of Bonds breaking Hank Aaron's record. With the steroid hearings in March, I'm sure that many knew Bonds would probably have to flush that stuff out of his system before he returned. The Cards did the same thing about Big Yak, by holding back the information that he had a bad leg in the off season. They lied when he and the team announced that Yak had signed a 3 year contract extension just days before tickets went on sale. Then it was revealed that McGwire never signed the contract, but stuck it in a drawer.

The latest is that he will have his operation on Tuesday and then return to Arizona the same day. He says he will sit and throw, to keep his arm going. Signing his bloated payroll check twice a month can really put stress on a warrior. Tim, I think the Cubs have not been truthful about injuries, etc.. Most clubs err on the conservative side and then the player normally returns prior to that date. The front office seems to be unable to tell the truth and has a bunker mentality towards the media and the fans.

Looks like the $12 million payroll drain is injured again. Many are getting exactly what you wanted..you get it every year. Kerry is in mid-season form-injured and still cashing his check. This will continue until next year when the Cubs will buy Wood out and send him on his way. Hendry continues to look like a buffoon and has no credibility with Cub fans. No wonder he won't go on the air and talk to the fans. The major question continues to be is the condition of Mark Prior. Why is he working out behind the scenes? Why is a pitcher with pinpoint control struggling now the last 2 years? I will believe Prior is OK when I see him out there during the season in 2003 form. Everything else is just propaganda.

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." The Bears have a similar agreement with Bank One(now Chase) and there is plenty of promotion of it. And the Cards had Big Mac Land at their old ballpark.

They all need to shut up. You would think that Reinsdorf loaning Thomas some cash, while he was going thru a divorce, would have been kept quiet between two gentlemen. But Reinsdorf tells Williams and then he blabs to the media. How crude. No one is blameless in this and they are all to blame. As to Hendry ever calling one of these bum players we have a bad name. I think I'd rather he'd tell the truth and say so, then telling us the party line. No wonder he'll never talk phone calls from the fans.

I just read that Santo will be doing the 7th Inning stretch about 20 times this year. Has John McDonough no shame? This is a terrible decision. Try as he and Cubs management might to continue to force Santo down our throats, he will never reach the status of Harry doing it. McDonough has made some very wise and smart decisions, this ain't one of them.

Bruce, I wonder if you could do a column sometime about the actual/estimated revenue streams the 2006 Cubs could have. Also what the team must share and what they can keep. This would include: * Ticket Sales * Luxury Boxes * In-park advertising * Concessions * Rooftop owners * MLB broadcast rights * MLB internet sites * Local WGN-TV, Comcast, WGN Radio and affiliates * MLB Merchandise Sales and local agreements(Sears, etc..) * Sale of Washington Nationals * Etc.. Glad to see you have joined The Score with Mike North.

The Red Sox and - I hate to say - the Yankees are more popular to be honest. Ratings for Cubs games on Fox and ESPN are easily the most watched. The Cubs radio network extends coast to coast. Cubs merchandise continue to outsell all the rest.

Dempster was on The Score last year with Mike North in the morning. He was pretty entertaining. The Score will also be adding another former Cubs player to be on the air with Mike. The agreement will be reached next week. Stoney will probably be back also. Score management knows that even though they have the White Sox broadcasts, they still need to provide alot of Cubs talk. It's still a Cubs market and while we can tolerate some Sox talk, we won't listen to 100% of it. Cub fans still have more money to spend than Sox fans and the Cubs remain the most popular team in MLB.

Not to be out done by 'The Milo' drink at Harry Caray's, some restaurant in Houston offered their lame drink-it's called the Harry Canary. it has a ounces of Bud, a dashof bitters and a side of Red Bull. Harry is looking down from heaven, laughing the last laugh. Even after 8 years, the Legend remains.

Let's see: Sammy hit for a higher batting average, scored more runs, drove in more runs, hit more doubles, hit more triples, hit more HR and stole more bases. Plus, McGwire was not durable as the most number of games he played in a year was 156 games, while Sammy had 6 seasons of 156 games and more. Sammy never batted .187..never. Give me the guy who always answers the bell, puts up better numbers and is an MVP. McGwire's year when he hit .187 > Sosa's 2005 Sosa had better durability than McGwire, it's a valid point(and the only point brought up in your post by posting all the cumulative stats). When McGwire played, he was better. He got on base more(about 50 points of OBP), and he hit for more power(about 50 points of SLG). If you have to begin any argument by saying 'when', then the selective stats tend to ignore the big picture. It denotes that people want to inject some limits to the argument, because the full stats are so overwhelming. It's similar to taking one season of success by Quin Snyder coaching at Missouri and then comparing that to Norm Stewart's full career. If you look long enough, I'm sure anyone can find made-up comparisons. It goes back to production over a career and clearly Sammy has done that far greater than McGwire. What are you talking about? You're the one who said Sammy never batted .187 like it was something to be proud of. Turns out, even though he was never that low in batting average, he had a season worse than McGwire's .187 season. Like I said before, McGwire's disadvantage in playing time is a valid concern. For me, I don't think McGwire's numbers would've dipped with more PT(it's not like Murton having 100 big league AB's, we're talking a full career), and when he did play he was significantly better than Sosa. For me that's enough to conclude that Sosa is not definitively better. When, if, I don't think..etc...Give me Sosa who was more durable and produced consistently. I don't think one needs to shroud Sammy's superior stats with any such qualifiers. I believe it was Tard Mgr. Tony LaRussa who pinch hit for the .187 McGwire and said something to the effect that he 'would hate to have this to be his lasting memory of Mark McGwire.' He knew it would be.

Let's see: Sammy hit for a higher batting average, scored more runs, drove in more runs, hit more doubles, hit more triples, hit more HR and stole more bases. Plus, McGwire was not durable as the most number of games he played in a year was 156 games, while Sammy had 6 seasons of 156 games and more. Sammy never batted .187..never. Give me the guy who always answers the bell, puts up better numbers and is an MVP. McGwire's year when he hit .187 > Sosa's 2005 Sosa had better durability than McGwire, it's a valid point(and the only point brought up in your post by posting all the cumulative stats). When McGwire played, he was better. He got on base more(about 50 points of OBP), and he hit for more power(about 50 points of SLG). If you have to begin any argument by saying 'when', then the selective stats tend to ignore the big picture. It denotes that people want to inject some limits to the argument, because the full stats are so overwhelming. It's similar to taking one season of success by Quin Snyder coaching at Missouri and then comparing that to Norm Stewart's full career. If you look long enough, I'm sure anyone can find made-up comparisons. It goes back to production over a career and clearly Sammy has done that far greater than McGwire.

Let's see: Sammy hit for a higher batting average, scored more runs, drove in more runs, hit more doubles, hit more triples, hit more HR and stole more bases. Plus, McGwire was not durable as the most number of games he played in a year was 156 games, while Sammy had 6 seasons of 156 games and more. Sammy never batted .187..never. Give me the guy who always answers the bell, puts up better numbers and is an MVP.

Harry Caray's restuarant will be offering a 'Milo' or "Cheap Shot and Sour Grapes' on Thursday(8th anniversary of Hartry's passing). For $.25, you get a 2 ounce shot of beer and a side of sour grapes.

It looks that Sammy Sosa may retire soon and people will continue to take shots at him. Deserved or not, they will compare him to Mark McGwire as a player. That's silly. Big Yak was a one trick pony who had no speed, was brittle and a sour individual. Even in his best year(1998) that he hit 70 HR, only two sportswriters(St. Louis) voted for him for NL MVP. Why was that? Sammy has a higher career BA(.274), played in more games(366), scored more runs(255), more hits(678), more doubles(103), more triples(38), more HR(5), more SB(222) and more RBI(161). Stats don't lie, Sammy is 1st ballot HOF. At the All-Star Game in Boston, as many players fell all overthemselves to greet HOF Ted Williams, Ted's first words were "Where's Sammy?"

He might have a closer point of view about the question.

Murph re-played an interview with MacPhail from 2001 and he's the one who mentioned 2007 as the date the new Cards stadium was to be ready. The latest on the Cards park is that an insurance company in St. Louis says the site is part of a toxic waste dump, which has EPA ramifications. The company says the team knew of the problem and hid it from the insurance company. Considering that area in St. Louis was home to many fur tanning companies for decades, who knows what they could find.

Comcast Sports in Chicago will only be broadcasting 2 Cubs spring training games. Jim Corno of Comcast says he offered to televise 9-10 games, but the Cubs only wanted 2. Sounds strange that the Cubs wouldn't want the most number of games. The White Sox are filling up the remaining spots the Cubs left on the table, so they should have around 17-18 ST games. This is yet another bad decision by John McDonough.

I read the propaganda from the front office and am always high on our farm system. I realize that less than 5% of any minor league system will ever reach the Big Leagues, so it's a crap shoot at best. Just looking at the list I see position players who have made the switch to pitching and not many skilled position players. If Pie, Harvey and a couple others work out..then I suppose I should be satisfied. They do seem to come up with categories like 'best hustle'..'shiniest fingernails'..'best cookie maker'..that just fill space. The problem I have is their signing of any player under 5'9", no speed, no glove and a history of arm problems. Why waste our time with players like that?

Harry was one of a kind announcer and certainly one of the Top 5 announcers in any sport. While in his latter years, especially after his stroke, he may have misprounced names and all that..he very rarely missed a play. He also gave the out of town scores and his opinions on baseball topics. He makes Len Kasper look bad by comparison..but maybe Len will loosen up some in his latter years His best work may have been with the White Sox and Jimmy Piersall. They were so entertaining and considering the White Sox were bad, there was little reason to watch the game except to listen to Harry and Jimmy. Rain delays were the best, when they had the chance to just talk about baseball. Harry had an attendance clause in his first contract with the White Sox, where he got $1 for every ticket sold over the previous year's attendance. Attendance soared the White Sox quickly signed him to a larger contract the next year and took out the attendance clause.

My Vineline arrived yesterday at work and they have rankings of the ‘Top 50’ Minor Leaguer Prospects by the Cubs minor league staff. Some of the staff is gone, but they still counted their opinions. Sean Gallagher was rated as #1 pitcher and Eric Patterson was #1 player of 2005. The position breakdown is (RHP)-16, (LHP)-8, ©-5, (1B)-3, (2B)-5, (SS)-5, (3B)-3, (OF)-5 Here are the players in alphabetical order and who is missing, with some of their ratings. Aardsma, Atkins, Baez, Berg, Billek, Blasko, Brownlie, Burrows, Coats, Collins, Craig, Dopriak, Downs, Fox, Fuld, Gallagher, Guzman, Harvey, Hill, Holliman, Johnson, Johnston, Koronka, Lewis, Marmol, Marshall, McGehee, Montanez, Moore, Muyco, Patterson, Pawelek, Perez, Petrick, Phelps, Pie, Reed, Reynolds, Richie, Rojas, Ryu, Simokatis, Sing, Soto, Spears, Taylor, Theriot, Valdez, Veal, Walker. Missing: Dwaine Bacon(#1 in speed and # 2 best basestealing), David Kelton, John Connolly(#2 best command), Micah Hoffpauir(#1 best range and #1 footwork 1b), Carmen Pignatiello, Russ Rohlicek.

My standards are obviously higher for the highest paid pitcher on the Cubs.

You may want to ask the D'Backs about how they felt about Damian. He was excluded from all official photos after they won the World Series. He was a good receiver for us, although a lousy hitter. Before you starting carving the HOF plaque for Kerry Wood, let's see if he learned anything. Steve Stone, Mike Marshall and Tom Seaver are among the Cy Young award winners that say it is "his mechanics".