CUBZ99

ESPN Baseball tonight just said Marshall was traded for Kendall????

Lets hope this turns out like the Grudz trade and Kendall can get his stroke back.

Voodoo = funny. Crank calls to players and their families = classless Yes, going out of your way to hope for a player to get injured is real funny. :? After reading the entire article, I would say Garner is classless. Why doesn't he try to switch something up with his team and get them to perform at a higher level, rather than wishing ill upon the opposition? I fail to see in humor in it.

The Cubs will add Griffey Jr., Gagne, and Piazza or Kendall.

The Braves sold for $1.27 billion? Maybe it is possible the Cubs will sell for over $1 Billion.

We'll see if you still feel that way if the game is on the line late and our only pinch hitters left are Hill or Bowen. Weren't they two of the players that kept the rally alive to come back and win the game vs. the Rockies in the 9th inning? :lol:

You don't think Jones's ability to play center changes things significantly? If Murton could play center, he would be on the MLB roster and at least platooning with Jones and possibly starting. If Jones can only play right, there is no way that he's getting back off the bench. Jones is only getting another chance because the Cubs are not happy with their production in center, while they are at least decently happy with a Floyd/DeRosa platoon in right. Second is MLB economics as Craig stated. If the Cubs could have gotten Jones off the major league roster easily like they did with Murton, they would have done so a long time ago. No becuase I don't think Jones will provide much (if any) more than Pie/Pagan in CF. However, if Murton were up and at least platooning with Floyd, I believe he would produce more than Jones. Basically, the production in RF would be much better. Regardless, even if you call it a wash (which I don't think it is), Murton provides what the Cubs need more than Jones which is a) someone who can hit LHP and; b) OBP Do the Cubs even believe that Murton is capable of playing RF adequately at the major league level? Murton's chance at starting for the Cubs took a huge hit when Soriano got moved to LF. Unless there is an injury I don't see how Murton would figure into their long term plans. Which makes Hendry's position on not trading him ridiculous (unless its just a ploy to drive up his value).

The Cubs can live with Theriot's .338 OBP at SS. No need to try the Cedeno experiment all over again, when you got a guy that is already performing at an acceptable level in the Majors.

I watch alot of Twins games, and Tori Hunter's defense is terrific . Granted he may not have the speed of Pie, but Hunter would be a vast improvement over Jones or Pagan in CF. terrific is very much an exaggeration, average is probably a better word. he gets far too much credit for making the "spectacular" play and not enough criticism for failure to make more routine plays. he's right on par with Jacque defensively, and the only advantage I see is that he doesn't seem to spike the ball into the ground when returning it to the infield. I'm interested in your basis for claiming that Hunter doesn't get enough critism for "failure to make routine plays". Are you a major league scout that follows most of the Twins games? Or do you follow them pretty closely? Terrific is not an exaggeration at all. He makes plays that most CF don't/can't make. The fact that he plays in the Metrodome makes it all the more impressive. Many players have failed to make routine plays in the Metrodome, it is just a by product of the poor excuse for a baseball park. The only comparable OF the Cubs have to Hunter defensively is Pie and we haven't seen him play enough CF to determine how good his defensive skills are.

Gange's numbers look pretty good. Did he get his velocity back? If so he would be a nice addition.

I watch alot of Twins games, and Tori Hunter's defense is terrific . Granted he may not have the speed of Pie, but Hunter would be a vast improvement over Jones or Pagan in CF.

Actually that was 18-year old Dominican native Francisco Acosta who pitched for Mesa today, not Ryan Acosta. Rats. I'm actually happy to see that it was not Ryan Acosta. It seems everytime I see Acosta pitching for Mesa he is getting shelled. (16.20 ERA so far this year)

I got the Pirates announcers for the game yesterday, and believe it or not, they think the Pirates still have a shot to make the playoffs this year. After they talked about their record at the all star break last year (30-60), I don't blame them for being giddy.

Jake Fox must make Michael Barrett look like Johnny Bench. If Fox could catch at all, he would have been a perfect call up.

Is there anyone that would be disappointed if Jones started the remaining games in CF against RHP and put up numbers in line with his numbers last year? I'm not a Jones fan, but if he could get out of his funk, he would not be a terrible option as the starting CF.

Ken Rosenthal is right with you. He too is wondering out loud if the post-season might include Cubs AND Brewers. http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6988608?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49 "Don't rule out the possibility of the NL wild card coming out of the Central division. The Phillies and Braves have faded in the East, and the second-best team in the West might not be better than the Brewers or Cubs. Keep in mind also that the Central includes three of the league's four worst teams — the Astros, Pirates and Reds. After Tuesday, the Brewers face those clubs 30 times, the Cubs 33. And the other team in the division, the Cardinals, isn't exactly imposing . . ." " More than 1/3 of the schedule is vs. the Astros, Pirates and Reds?? Wow.

I know it sounds ridiculous, but, hasn't Hill been Zambrano's personal catcher since Zambrano has gotten really hot. That alone may be reason enough for Hendry to want to keep Hill on the big league club (not saying that I agree with it). I'm guessing that unless Bowen or Hill get hurt, Soto is not going to see any action until the rosters are expanded. If Blanco, gets healthy, Soto's chances of seeing any big league action are reduced considerably. I'm afraid that if they do bring up Soto, they'll platoon him. That would suck, considering he's hitting righties better than lefties this year. The key thing here is that Soto and Cedeno don't have to continue hitting .350+ to be an improvement over what the Cubs currently have at their respective positions. They are both very likely to improve the offense at those positions. Admittedly, I don't know a whole lot about Soto (other than seeing him play in a few games in Iowa), so I can't really comment on whether or not he would be an improvement. However, Ceneno has shown absolutely nothing at the major league level, during his stints with the Cubs. I remember last year thinking "Any one could do better than Neifi" only to see Cedeno prove me wrong. I don't care how well he hits the baseball in Iowa against AAA, I'm in no hurry to see him play for the Cubs again. It is possible that Cedeno has seen the light and will be a productive big leaguer and but count me as a skeptic until he proves he can hit in the majors.

I know it sounds ridiculous, but, hasn't Hill been Zambrano's personal catcher since Zambrano has gotten really hot. That alone may be reason enough for Hendry to want to keep Hill on the big league club (not saying that I agree with it). I'm guessing that unless Bowen or Hill get hurt, Soto is not going to see any action until the rosters are expanded. If Blanco, gets healthy, Soto's chances of seeing any big league action are reduced considerably.

Soto and Cedeno are both playing tonight, so it looks like it may just be Sean. BTW I hope he is getting called up and not traded.

So who is telling the truth? It doesn't make any sense that the Trib Tower would veto a trade of Jones based on salary. (For the reason Bruce stated). It also doesn' t make any sense that MLB offices would come out any deny having any involvement in stopping the trade, if they truly vetoed the trade. How about Hendry? I suppose that could be true, but wouldn't he have had to make the deal with Florida (which leaked to the press) and then at the last minute decide it wasn't a good deal and pull it off the table?

So who is telling the truth? It doesn't make any sense that the Trib Tower would veto a trade of Jones based on salary. (For the reason Bruce stated). It also doesn' t make any sense that MLB offices would come out any deny having any involvement in stopping the trade, if they truly vetoed the trade.

Thanks for taking the time to lay out the stats like that. So far, it looks like Hendry did a good job at sifting through the FA. Most of them have really performed well for the Cubs halfway through the year.

There should be no big rush to get rid of either Jones or Izturis. Jones is basically the 5th OF, and Izturis is the last IF off the bench. For once the Cubs have a manager that is giving out playing time based upon earning it and not salary. Maybe Hendry will amaze me and get a decent prospect and/or salary relief, but I'm not counting on it.

Yahoo game channel says its the End of the 2nd inning. Guess they are conceding the Cubs are not going to score.

That doesn't mean he didn't sell low, Patterson especially. The biggest problem I have with the article, is the commentary regarding changes in philosophy too quickly. Part of the reason the Cubs have been terrible for so many years was the inability for upper management to make changes or adapt. Dusty's regime was the perfect example of why it isn't always a good thing to stick to your plan regardless of how your plan is working. Dusty continued to play vets for much too long regardless of their ability, simply because he believed Vets game him the best chance to win. It is ignorant to have a plan and stick to it, just because you thought it was a good idea at the time. Now under Lou, we are starting to see that a player's perfromance actually does matter. Michael Barrett was not performing this year, plain and simple. It would be one thing if the guy was defensively adaquate, but he wasn't. Same with Jacque Jones. I would rather the Cubs play their best players in an attempt to win every game on their schedule rather than play a guy simply to drive up his trade value. There are also many examples of times Hendry sold high. I.E. Beltran, Hill, Bruback, Damien Miller, Choi, Harris.