vance_the_cubs_fan

I think you're reading a bit too much into it. Did you read the last Tribune article? He didn't want to leave Seattle with Pieniella, but felt he had no choice. Him and his wife prefer Seattle. He wants to manage and wants to get from under Pieniella's shadow and Hargrove is likely out the door after another poor season. Nothing to do with Hendry, just a better opportunity. That's probably a pretty accurate assumption. He loves working with Piniella, but his family really enjoyed Seattle. He's also closer to a managerial position in Seattle. I'd hoped McLaren would have come here, but I don't think it had anything to do with how McLaren sees the Cubs' future. It's not as if the Mariners have a bright future either.

That also may be the reason Hendry has talked as if he doesn't expect Pierre back. My guess is Hendry wants Pierre, but won't pay his price. He's probably hoping Pierre will not find anyone who meets his price and then can sign him at his price. I'm hoping Pierre walks.

My guess is that losing a type A will still get a team a sandwich pick, but the team signing the player will not lose their pick.

Link

Nice start to this one! Go Tigers!

ndistops has every right to act the way he did. Others have every right to comment on it. He can act that way all he wants. He also wonders why many don't like ND. His smugness was exactly what many of us have experienced from ND fans and it's the reason most of us hope ND falls flat.

If I hadn't promised to never use rolly-eyes again, I'd use it here.

Exactly.

This is why people don't like Notre Dame. I've seen this movie a lot of times, and it always ends with a Quinn TD. See? And you wonder why people hate ND? You're the epitome of the smug ND fan.

UCLA just needs to grind out the clock.

After the Michigan game, I'd think you would've stopped with the bold predictions.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

UCLA holds. I'd love to see the Bruins drive all the way and put it away with a TD.

Go Bruins!

Yeah that's the guy! Did he get any interest? Not that I've read anywhere.

Razor Shines?

Link.

The A's will interview Bud Black. Link.

Giants still haven't interviewed Bochy, but they intend to. Link.

Manny Acta interviewed with the Rangers on Friday. Link.

Getting on base also helps the team. Not making an out helps too!

Geaux Tigers!

Alright...time for week seven picks. Last week was not kind, but I'm still a game over even for the year. Hopefully, this will be the week I break out of my funk. Well, here we go! Jacksonville (-9.5) at Houston. For a half last week in Dallas, the Texans resembled a football team. Jacksonville, however will put it to them. This game is an easy one to pick. Even with the large spread, give me Jaguars (-9.5). Carolina (+3) at Cincinnati. The Panthers go on the road to take on the Bengals. It's going to be a hard-fought game, and if the Bengals surrender yardage on the ground like they did against New England, they could be in trouble. I'm following my gut that the Bengals will step it up and score more points than the Panthers can muster. Bengals will win by a TD, so give me Cincinnati (-3). New England (-5.5) at Buffalo. The Bills will have trouble scoring on the Patriots and I expect the Dillon-Maroney tandem to run all over the Bills. Give me Patriots (-5.5) Philadelphi (-5.5) at Tampa. The Bucs will win sometime this year. It won't be this week. Eagles (-5.5) Detroit (+3.5) at NY Jets. Nothing about the Jets impress me much. In a bleh game, I'll follow the points.Give me Lions and the 3.5 points. Green Bay (+5.5) at Miami. I think Miami will win the game, but it's going to be close. So close, I'm taking the Packers (+5.5) San Diego (-5) at Kansas City. LJ vs LT. The Chargers have the better supporting cast. Chargers (-5). Pittsburgh (-2.5) at Atlanta. Vick will break out on Sunday. Falcons (+2.5) Denver (-4.5) at Cleveland. Call me crazy, but I expect the Browns to pull off the upset at the Dog Pound. Browns (+4.5) Arizona (-3) at Oakland. I'm not sure Oakland will win all year. I am certain Leinart and the Cardinals have the better weapons. Cardinals (-3). Minnesota (+6.5) at Seattle. In a game that I think will be decided by less than a TD, I'll follow the points. Vikings (+6.5) Washington (+8) at Indianapolis. The Colts will lose this year. It won't happen in week seven. Colts (-8). NY Giants (+3) at Dallas. The Cowboys have struggled offensively, but their defense has been stalwart. I think the Cowboy defense will cause Manning to make mistakes and those mistakes will cost the Giants. Cowboys (-3)

Beane: Why would you like to manage the A’s? Baker: I've never been through a season where everything just goes peachy keen and stays the same all the time. I've never lived a year in my life when everything was beautiful all the time. I'm waiting for that beautiful, extended period where there's nothing [wrong]. Beane: I’ve talked to some people and looked at PAP and it appears you may have over-worked your starters… Baker: Pitchers get hurt all the time. You don't like it. Sometimes there's no reason. Pitchers have been getting hurt since the beginning of time. Other than this year, I haven't had hardly any pitchers get hurt my whole career. … So, who has the answer? It appears when you're the manager, for whatever reason, no matter what I do, they're going to talk some stuff about it. Beane: So, you don’t think you’re responsible for the injuries that happened to pitchers under your watch? Baker: People are always looking for something negative. I'm really tired of people always picking at what I don't do or what I didn't do. There are a whole bunch of [managers] out there who haven't done what I have done. I think there's more of those than [managers] who have done better [than me], so I don't pay any attention to that criticism. I talked to Tom Seaver the other day and he said his [pitch] limit was 140. Go look at Nolan Ryan’s pitch count. I bet he was 150-160 sometimes. I saw David Cone throw a 150-pitch shutout. Beane: Can you detail how you would use your bullpen? Baker: That closer is the guy with the black hood on that's pulling the rope on the guillotine to take the last breath out of the opposition for a loss, and to take the last breath out of anything is tough. I'm a hunter, and I'll shoot a dove or a quail, and right before I'm about to wring his neck, it'll peck me one more time. He can't do anything to me, but he's fighting for his last breath. Beane: Uhmm…ok. Well, your teams in Chicago often made lapses in defense, what role did you or your coaches play in that. How do you get your team prepared to play? Baker: 'm spoiled because I've always had a lot of good defensive teams. I don't know if it's by design or luck, but I take pride in my teams catching the ball, not beating ourselves. Beane: But how does that explain why your teams lacked fundamentals? Baker: Ain't nothing wrong with getting that cheese, as long as you earn it. That's the way I look at it. I'll help my guys get paid, as long as they do the job. Beane: I don’t think I follow you… Baker: To me, food and music are basically the most diverse things people do—food more than anything. There are probably people who don't like Mexicans, but they eat tacos. People who don't like Germans, but they eat knackwurst. People who don't like someone. Everyone almost eats everybody else's food. Beane: Ok…nevermind that. What kind of salary would you be looking for in this job. As you know, our budget here isn’t as large as the one in Chicago. Baker: The sad part about our society is most of the time, the people paying you on your next job are paying you for what you did for your past employer, and what you may do for your present employer. Really, the salary I'm making has nothing to do what I've done. Beane: Ah ok. How would you help a player who is slumping? Baker: You’ve just got to swing your way out of it. Beane: So, how do you feel about OBP? Baker: Yeah, you need on-base percentage guys to put the pitcher in the stretch. I don't agree with going up there looking for a walk unless the game situation dictates it. This isn't Little League. Beane: Excuse me? Baker: The whole thing boils down to that half of on-base percentage is getting a good pitch to hit. Most of the times when guys are striking out, a bad pitch has been swung at during the course of that at-bat. Beane: It seems that you are devaluing the walk? Baker: I think walks are overrated unless you can run. If you get a walk and put the pitcher in a stretch, that helps. But the guy who walks and can't run, most of the time they're clogging up the bases for somebody who can run. Beane: Looking at the personel we have here, how would you construct your line-up? Baker: It's just like fishing. You're going striped bass fishing. You've got birds on top and you follow the birds. Where the birds are, the bait fish are below that. Below the bait fish are the striped bass. That's what you want to do. That's how you want to do your lineup. That way they can't escape. That's how I try to make my lineup out so the opposition can't pitch around this guy or that guy and that guy and can't escape. You try to get them in the crossfire. Beane: (shoots himself in the head) [This is fictional, however all responses are actual quotes by Baker]

QFT