CuseCubFan69

Pretty much. I couldn't fall asleep last night from all the noise outside. This weekend is just insane. As much as I like making fun of the place it's a great place to go for a game. This game is a swing game for ND and Penn State, if PSU takes it they ae on their way to solidifying their season and knocking ND out of any BCS contention while ND needs this win badly to stay in the BCS hunt with USC still looming in their schedule. Don't worry about ND and BCS contention. ND will be lucky to get to a bowl game at all. ND just has to find a way to win 3-4 of their first 8. If it's this game, that's great (although I doubt it). Mostly, just get Claussen some experience and hopefully they can win games like Purdue and Michigan State, which both will be hard games but they are more winnable than at Penn State this year. I hope they don't win 6 games or more because they steal a bowl from a Big East team if they do. I can't wait for that contract to be over. How's Greg Robinson working out for you up their? I don't like his coaching ability what so ever. I don't think he adjusts well, actually I think he's horrible at making adjustments and he better start recruiting better to hide his lack of coaching. I really think he's overwhelmed and the next hire better have experience as a head coach. This, he's the next USC coach thing just doesn't fly. I want results.

Marshall 10-6 over WV with 3 minutes left in the first half.

He's right!! No, J/K. I definitely got a chuckle thinking about some Cards fan going out back and burning baseball cards of Ankiel. LOL. I'm sure he was sober at the time too.

If I remember correctly a member of the Reds organization was the one who once coached/knew Hamilton and thought he could help him focus and stay out of trouble and that's why they traded for him.

Me too. As I posted in the transaction thread, get a big bat for right if they're unable to afford/trade for ARod/Tejada.

That's why I like Blanco. He gives them a fighting chance to throw someone out. Now if he could only hit 260 and stay healthy enough to catch every 5th day.

I agree...if they can get those numbers at his cheap price that would be nice. It's almost like (good) Barrett at a decent price. His arm didn't impress me though. How is this defense on balls in the dirt? He's agile for a C and he has enough arm strength. It's hard to tell how good his arm is with these pitchers, even a young Pudge would have trouble preventing runners from stealing. Yes, they certainly do struggle holding runners on and have for years due to the power pitching styles.

Getting rid of those two guys and getting someone to take their full salaries is going to be one tough sell and it might take losing a prospect too boot. Add to that the prospects it'll take to get Tejada and it would leave the Cubs pretty low on the prospect train unless Hendry can convince the O's on some guys guys that the Cubs are not as high on. I think the Cubs, if they can't get an impact SS, will have to go the RF route for the best bat to help this team.

OK ESPN, I've heard enough of the Michigan loss, let's talk about todays games now.

Pretty much. I couldn't fall asleep last night from all the noise outside. This weekend is just insane. As much as I like making fun of the place it's a great place to go for a game. This game is a swing game for ND and Penn State, if PSU takes it they ae on their way to solidifying their season and knocking ND out of any BCS contention while ND needs this win badly to stay in the BCS hunt with USC still looming in their schedule. Don't worry about ND and BCS contention. ND will be lucky to get to a bowl game at all. ND just has to find a way to win 3-4 of their first 8. If it's this game, that's great (although I doubt it). Mostly, just get Claussen some experience and hopefully they can win games like Purdue and Michigan State, which both will be hard games but they are more winnable than at Penn State this year. I hope they don't win 6 games or more because they steal a bowl from a Big East team if they do. I can't wait for that contract to be over.

How many catchers are above avg. hitters? If you wait for that, you'll be spending a ton in FA, trading a large % of your farm, or still waiting. If he does well defensively, can hit in the .260-.280 range with some pop with a good eye at the plate, he'll be fine there and better than what they've had since the 93' season w/Wilkins and before that Davis. He's had a nice year this year indeed. Has it been that much of a spike over the rest of his career? Is it possible he's had help and that's why the Cubs didn't call him up before Hill? Are you talking about the type of "help" Rick Ankiel may have had? I'd like to think not, but these days I don't think you can rule out that possibility for anyone. Yes. His possible thinking could be "Hey, I've been here for 2 years, what have I got to lose in my third year?" I hope not but since baseball has such a crappy testing system you can't help but to wonder.

Pretty much. I couldn't fall asleep last night from all the noise outside. This weekend is just insane. As much as I like making fun of the place it's a great place to go for a game. This game is a swing game for ND and Penn State, if PSU takes it they ae on their way to solidifying their season and knocking ND out of any BCS contention while ND needs this win badly to stay in the BCS hunt with USC still looming in their schedule.

Yes; he was signed to a two-year contract this past offseason. Bad move by Hendry. I'm sure he would have agreed to a one-year deal, and if he wouldn't they could have found someone else who would have to fill the same role. Thanks, so now they can just move Soto up and saves some cash.

Ya, you're probably right about the impact SS not being signed or traded for but I'm not sure about the Vet middle guy and don't they already have Blanco signed for next year?

That should be a heck of a game. IMO, Texas may have been getting ready for TCU last week as I know many coaches throw in the next tough game into the practice mix when they play a creampuff the week before.

How many catchers are above avg. hitters? If you wait for that, you'll be spending a ton in FA, trading a large % of your farm, or still waiting. If he does well defensively, can hit in the .260-.280 range with some pop with a good eye at the plate, he'll be fine there and better than what they've had since the 93' season w/Wilkins and before that Davis. He's had a nice year this year indeed. Has it been that much of a spike over the rest of his career? Is it possible he's had help and that's why the Cubs didn't call him up before Hill? To show you the spike: Iowa 2005: .253/.357/.342 Iowa 2006: .269/.351/.383 Iowa 2007: .353/.424/.652 So there has been a pretty huge spike. Some of that has been development, some of that has been the offensive inflation at Iowa, and some of that has been just a huge hot streak. It's just hard to tell how much to value each variable. I like the IsOD that he has had and the smaller it was in 2007 could because of less swings and misses. That is a huge jump from 2006 and as Ping said, it may because he's been through the league 3 times and I like the fact that he kept at it and improved.

I agree...if they can get those numbers at his cheap price that would be nice. It's almost like (good) Barrett at a decent price. His arm didn't impress me though. How is this defense on balls in the dirt?

How many catchers are above avg. hitters? If you wait for that, you'll be spending a ton in FA, trading a large % of your farm, or still waiting. If he does well defensively, can hit in the .260-.280 range with some pop with a good eye at the plate, he'll be fine there and better than what they've had since the 93' season w/Wilkins and before that Davis. He's had a nice year this year indeed. Has it been that much of a spike over the rest of his career? Is it possible he's had help and that's why the Cubs didn't call him up before Hill?

no smack talk this week? I already wrote some smack talk....I've been waiting for you to respond! Oops, completely missed it. As much as I'd like to defend the Big 10 [eleven], Michigan did a whole lot to ruin our credibility. Our D-line has a lot of experience and most of them are pretty good. There's really no reason this should be a close game. Last I checked we were a 21.5 favorite, but we were also a big favorite last year. I'm planning on staying sober for most of this one, but that's really hard to do with such a late start. Our offensive line is terrible and we're extremely slow on defense so if the young QB can get the ball to the talented receivers we might give you a battle otherwise, this is one of the worst teams we've had since the early 70's. We lost our best defensive player (freshman) to a blood disorder and the soph RB who is very good to the Bo Jackson hip thing. God, this stinks. sounds good to me :wink: OK farm boy, todays the day you get your butt kicked by the worst team in the Big East! I've been drinking my orange kool aid and I'm ready to roll!

I want ARod. Go cheap at 2nd (Theriot/Patterson, C Soto and CF Pie and get a right handed hitter that can play D at CF to help Pie. I think the pitching will be fine and if they could somehow move Eyre, it would be even better.

no smack talk this week? I already wrote some smack talk....I've been waiting for you to respond! Oops, completely missed it. As much as I'd like to defend the Big 10 [eleven], Michigan did a whole lot to ruin our credibility. Our D-line has a lot of experience and most of them are pretty good. There's really no reason this should be a close game. Last I checked we were a 21.5 favorite, but we were also a big favorite last year. I'm planning on staying sober for most of this one, but that's really hard to do with such a late start. Our offensive line is terrible and we're extremely slow on defense so if the young QB can get the ball to the talented receivers we might give you a battle otherwise, this is one of the worst teams we've had since the early 70's. We lost our best defensive player (freshman) to a blood disorder and the soph RB who is very good to the Bo Jackson hip thing. God, this stinks.

Remember how thrilled Will Clark was when Raffy got caught?

Actually, a huge list of wrestlers got stuff from them, including the recently deceased Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero. Wade Wilson also got nailed. Ditto Rodney Harrison. This mess is only getting started. This "ring" is definitely going to turn out to be bigger than BALCO. I wonder if any Cubs are going to be on "the list"? I hope not, but will not be the least bit surprised. People that work out at Gold's and whose performance has no bearing on their salary use this stuff. Olympians, who are under the strictist testing, do this stuff all the time. And many are doing them now but not getting caught. I wouldn't be surprised if some Cub players have used. It would be interesting to see what percentage of players do use/have used a performance drug.

Actually, a huge list of wrestlers got stuff from them, including the recently deceased Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero. Wade Wilson also got nailed. Ditto Rodney Harrison. This mess is only getting started. This "ring" is definitely going to turn out to be bigger than BALCO. I wonder if any Cubs are going to be on "the list"?

Actually, baseball players probably just looked at any other sport on T.V. and thought it was no big deal, since they all do this crap! The ironic part is that the owners may have thought all the power was good for the game until they signed one of these guys and he went from 40 to 25 HR's.