Coach C

Other than that Houston being his "hometown" or the state where he currently lives, per-se, I can't imagine Houston having a strong shot at the playoffs. My guess, back in Boston or NY. Both of those two teams has a better chance of making it to the playoffs than Houston, IMHO.

I can live with that. I just wondered what would the Cubs reasoning for choosing not to sign him. Inquiring minds would like to know. Aside from the "character" issues, which the Cubs consider, there is the little matter of a budget. Despite what the Cubs have spent, Bonds would bust the budget. And let me say it again, the Cubs are not interested, so the whole thing is moot. And as somebody else pointed out, what do you do with Murton, Floyd, Soriano, Jones, Pie? Yeah, I wouldn't want to pay $15+ Million to a 40+ year old LF, especially for a one year. I'm glad that the Cubs weren't even interested in him, so you're correct. It is a moot point. Murton - LF Floyd/Jones Platoon on RF Soriano in CF Pie in AAA That's how I see it.

Sure would like to go, but I don't think it'll work out in terms of scheduling wise as well as the funds for me. I'm still waiting for them to show up in Kansas City. I thought they were going to show up this year, but alas, I'm wrong.

I'm not asking for numbers, and I'm certainly not claiming he's great at calling a game. What I am saying is that you might be over-estimating the impact that actually has. Sure, every pitcher would love to have a catcher that can call a great game, and I think every catcher who reaches the majors should have a decent idea of how to call a game. However, the pitcher is the one that throws the ball. And unless specifically told otherwise, he has the ability to shake off the catcher. I'd like to think that if a starting pitcher has an issue with the way his catcher calls games, the pitcher would be smart enough to sit down with him before the game and go over his gameplan for approaching the opposing lineup, talk to him between innings, etc. And for the record, I'm all for throwing 0-2 fastballs...just not in the strikezone. You can use it to set the hitter up for something else. You can try to throw it a few inches off the plate to see if the ump will give you the call or if the hitter will fish for it. You can throw it inside off the plate to try to move the hitter back a little. I'm not saying throw it in EVERY 0-2 count. But if you can spot it well, it can be an effective 0-2 pitch. Agreed. The fastball is still the best pitch in baseball. If you can locate your fastball consistently, you will have a whole lot of success. Which the Cub pitchers are obviously allergic to location of fastballs, or previous records show. Heh.

Awesome work. It'd be cool to create a single thread with all Chicago Cubs clips/videos and all that cool stuff.

296/407/585 Yeesh.... That's pretty solid. Hopefully the fella can stay healthy. PECOTA is the least optimistic but all projection systems are pretty close. Nothing really earth shattering, he'll put up about 1000 OPS again. Easily. I can see him doing 300/410/590 with 50 HR's and 130 RBI's if he manages to play 150+ games. He could have easily eclipsed that last year, had it not been for that unfortunate hand injury. Probably more like 40 HRs and 120 RBIs if his slg is 590 and he plays 150 games. Except this year, he only played 129 games when he hit 42HRs and 117RBI That's where I came with my analysis of the 50/130.

Oh boy.... That's awful.

296/407/585 Yeesh.... That's pretty solid. Hopefully the fella can stay healthy. PECOTA is the least optimistic but all projection systems are pretty close. Nothing really earth shattering, he'll put up about 1000 OPS again. Easily. I can see him doing 300/410/590 with 50 HR's and 130 RBI's if he manages to play 150+ games. He could have easily eclipsed that last year, had it not been for that unfortunate hand injury.

296/407/585 Yeesh.... That's pretty solid. Hopefully the fella can stay healthy.

Seriously, on the UNC/Arizona game, this is like playing March Madness 2006 when the computer decides there's no way you're winning this game and everything goes against you.

Almost forgot. Anybody got Travis Hafner's?

Yeesh, Arizona is deftinaly getting hammered.

And Arizona isn't making any shots. They're just chucking it from 3 point land, to no advil.

Hmm.. I thought maybe that Helton's contract would be too difficult to move, in reference of last year's Shealy trade to Kansas City.

IIRC though, wasn't last year one of the youngest starting-line-ups the Cubs threw out on the field? I just remember Len and Bob talking about it for a few minutes during one of the season opener game, along with some articles written about it last year.

The only way the Cubs are going to win the NL Central in my opinion is the following: - Play the regulars in their correct positions and position in the batting order. - Platoon Jones and Floyd in RF, while Murton gets most of the playing time in LF. - Health is the issue. If the Cubs stay healthy for the most part, or not losing an "important" player for long periods of time (See D.Lee last year). - Starting Pitching could be the "?". How that will go, will be seen. - Bullpen looks good on paper. They must back it up on the diamond.

Yes, the Trib owns WGN. As far as a sale and Cubs broadcasts on WGN, who knows? A lot depends on whether the Trib is sold together or as parts. Also, just because the Trib might retain ownership of both the Cubs and WGN doesn't mean they won't find it more profitable to sell the Cubs rights to other networks. That's what I thought. I thought that the Trib owned WGN, but I wasn't 100% sure. I guessing what most out-of-towners fears are, is that if the Trib sold the Cubs, but keep WGN (or the other way around),then more than likely the Cubs playing on WGN could be over? I don't know what'll happen or what could happen, but I'm just trying to get a grasp of how things could possibly work, given the situation if the Trib does sell off one of the two, since I don't follow the situation closely.

Okay, help out this out-of-towner a few things. Does the Trib own WGN, or does WGN has nothing to do with the Trib? Secondly, supposely that the Trib does sell the Cubs, what would happen in terms of the Cubs/WGN baseball broadcast? Thanks in advance.

Bummer. I liked Rusch, despite that he had ups and downs. I wish him well.

May I ask what you got in mind there, Vance?

I thought they said "Lock the Cat Box"?

If Bud has a problem with the teams spending money like crazy, then there's one thing to tell him. Implement a salary cap and revenue sharing. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out.

That should had been caught by Faulk.

Bitter fans, gotta love it. It's not being bitter....Bush is a tool. At USC, and now at NO. And once a tool, always a tool. a tool with a heisman trophy and a $55 million contract And making Houston regret for passing over him.

Decent coverage.