vance_the_cubs_fan

Teeeeheheheeeeeee. You think you could even TALK to a GM?!?!?! They ride around in FLYING CARS and pee liquid GOLD and converse only in Latin SIGN LANGUAGE! They know ALLLLL!!! Please tell me who you think the great Todd could play for. The Cubs.

I really don't think Walker's heart is in it anymore in Chicago. He's had enough of the crap. I think Dusty throwing him under the bus after Friday's game was the final straw for him.

Why is Hill still in Iowa?

These are the players on the team that I still enjoy: 1. Lee 2. Murton 3. Zambrano 4. Barrett 5. Walker 6. Eyre

I'm glad everyone here knows exactly what is in the minds of GM's around the league.

The fact that Wuertz is in Iowa and Novoa is up is further proof of Dusty having his "boys." I wish Williamson wouldn't have backtracked and continued to elaborate. I'm sure his thoughts on this could be enlighening.

Seriously, WTF happened tonight. I leave with my wife and daughter to have dinner with the Cubs leading 5-2.

Looks like I might have to make a trip up to Lansing on July 23rd. :D Heres to "The Shark" having a really bad yr, and falls into the 4th rd or worse in the draft. Here's to the Shark having a really bad year and Notre Dame finishing below .500 and out of the bowl picture.

If the Twins have soured on Scott Baker, I'll gladly take him in exchange for Jones. I'd pay some of Jones' salary to get Slowey.

I don't think there was any bad blood at all. The Twins just weren't going to pay his price. Didn't he get a good ovation when we went to the Metrodome? I'm feeling the love here....Mr. Hendry, get those Twins on the phone! My feeling is that Hendry won't trade Jones because he wants 2 more years of what we already have. The only way Jones is traded is if he becomes a malcontent and forces the issue.

I don't think there was any bad blood at all. The Twins just weren't going to pay his price. Didn't he get a good ovation when we went to the Metrodome? If I recall correctly, he was very popular there. Didn't we have a post here from someone who was also a Twins fan railing on us for dissing the signing that claimed he was the "heart and soul" of the Twins?

I don't think there was any bad blood at all. The Twins just weren't going to pay his price. With Stewart, Hunter, Ford, and Kubel they believed he was expendable. With their recent injuries, though Jones may make some sense for them.

Ugh! The only benefit to having Tavaras over Pierre is at least Wily can throw someone out. Other than that, meh!

I'd like to say that I want nothing but success for Matt Murton. (As the owner of his signed, game-worn minor league jersey, I have a vested interest in him.) But getting another solid bat in the line-up is a necessity. I'd prefer it not come at Murton's expense, but right now getting a bat for left or rightfield in light of most likely trade targets or available FA is the easiest route. On the other hand, there's no reason Murton isn't the starter for this team for this season come hell or high water. No one on the team that makes a decent option for LF has the ceiling of Murton and figures into the team's long-term plans. Murton losing time to Nevin, Bynum, or Pagan is ridiculous. That is my criticism of Dusty in this regard. The same is true of Cedeno. While I'm not sold one way or the other on Cedeno, he's the only SS that may have a part in this team's future so he must be played. Playing anyone else just doesn't make sense. It's the same reason I want Rich Hill in the rotation. When we have a team that's 20 games below 500 this late in the season, no one that isn't a long term solution should be getting significant starts or AB's unless it is just t build trade value before the deadline. After the deadline, there's no excuse at all.

do you? every retooling idea I've seen you make has Murton sitting on the bench or platooning. a bit of a strawman argument, but I am simply amazed at the number of posters who rip Dusty for not playing young players, then turn around and say Murton is not the answer in left and Cedeno is not the answer at short. Considering we're stuck with Jones, that handicaps the upgrades we can make. I'm not opposed to Murton starting and think he can be a great complimentary player. But with the current construction of this team, and the prospects for improvement that exist, I think platooning Murton with Jones may be the best option available. Now, if Murton were given regular playing time for the remainder of the season, he may be able to prove that he's more than what I believe he currently is.

Alex Sanchez career: .296/.330/.372 Is Alex Sanchez a class A FA? No. Does Juan Pierre's last 2 years compare with Sanchez? No. The only 2 things Pierre has on Sanchez is AB and a clean bill of health. That teams are dumb enough to continue hitting such a poor hitting hitter at the top of the order does not make him a class A free agent. If the Cubs want to fill CF next year, they could get the same or better effects by trading for Sanchez. No thanks. The Cubs have somewhat identical options in their own minor leagues if they want a fast, low OBP lead off hitter who will make really fast outs. I don't want to keep Pierre. Please don't mistake my post for a desire to keep Pierre. In fact, I'd personally try to deal him prior to July 31. On the other hand, if he's still on the team, I think the Cubs have to risk the arbitration offer. If he's had a half-way decent second half, I think he'll reject the offer in favor of negotiating a multi-year deal which will help the Cubs recoup a draft pick that will likely be spent when we sign a FA of our own.

Zepplin is probably my favorite band, but I do go in cycles.

I love both bands. I'm a big Aerosmith fan but absolutely love the Stones as well. I'll be happy to keep voting whichever wins this round.

Zepplin should win this one.

The ESPY's are tonight.

Gary Matthews Jr. would be a better option than Pierre.

I'd rather have Mathis catching than Barrett. I'm not thrilled with Pierre either, but who else could they get to lead off? Izturis should probably hit 7 or 8, but he was hitting pretty well before he got hurt, and he's only 26. Not to mention his glove. Those moves would leave money to improve the bench. I don't see how the offense could be worse than this year. Yeah, the rotation is weak after Zambrano and Zito...and you'd have a whole lot of money tied up in 5 players (the Lee's, Zito, Zambrano, and ARod). I can't see any reason to prefer Mathis to Barrett. And to trade Barrett and maybe more to get Mathis would be just lunacy. It really should be the other way around. If the Angels want Barrett, it should cost Mathis and McPherson or something like that. Mathis isn't even the top young catcher in Anaheim any more. How would the offense be worse? Pierre is Pierre. There's no upgrade there unless Pierre has a better year than he's having this year. Izturis isn't likely to produce much or any better than what we have had in the two hole this year. Walker is a more productive hitter. Izturis is a career 261 hitter and his OBP isn't much over 300. So, the top two spots in your line-up are not going to be any better than what we have this year. The middle of your order is intriguing however. Lee is Lee so that's a wash with this year's line-up. Arod is better than Ramirez and C. Lee is better than what we have in the fifth spot, so you have improved the heart of the order. Murton is Murton, so unless Murton improves there isn't improvement there. Same with Cedeno. Barrett is so much better than Mathis that this bottom third takes a major hit. The only way your line-up is any improvement over this year's is if the middle three can provide enough improvement to over-take the losses you'll have in both the upper third and lower third. While it probably will be better, the improvement is only marginal.

When Bobby Cox recieves a callup, assuming the player didn't have to travel overnight, he will start that day. His philosophy is that the best way to get over the anxiety is to get him 4 or 5 ab's asap. That way, you aren't forced to send a guy up there in late/extra innings in a critical situation because you have no one else on the bench. My favorite case was Franceour striking out his first 3 ab's and then hitting the game-winning HR in the 8th inning of his first ML game last year. It has already been noted time and time again that Dusty is NO Bobby Cox. Cox's quote on Kelly Johnson last year if juxtaposed against this one by Dutsy would be all the proof we would need.

While I disagree with Eyre on Dusty, I like him a lot. I want him to remain a Cub.

The titles of their forums are pretty good to. The Transaction forum is titled, "Pedro for Delino"