CuseCubFan69

My favorite was when he peeked at the catchers sign and then hit a HR. You saw his eyes so well on the camera and then boom. I can't remember the team they were playing.

Is it possible that Harvey has learned how to hit his pitches or has learned how to hit the pitches that used to get him out?

One near physical confrontation is kind of alarming, but you could dismiss it given the circumstances. This 2nd one is a huge red flag. It does point to the fact that this is how he deals with problems doesn't it?

In one of our games this year we had a SS call for a short fly to CF just over 2nd, he caught it and then out of nowhere the CF dives right into him. Man, that was a pretty scary moment.

People used to say that about the Big 10 with just Michigan and Ohio State. Once they added Penn State the dynamic changed. That's not entirely true. Michigan and OSU were the cream of the crop, several more were consistently solid. Northwestern just plain sucked. Who? Michigan St and Purdue were just 500 type teams and once in blue moon one of the other teams would have a good year. Northwestern was always horrible. I don't think the BE is that great of a conference but they only have 8 teams not 11 or 12 like every other power conference. If we actually got out of the basketball thing and added 4 teams I think it would be just as good or better than any in the country. Purdue wasn't up there during that time, but Iowa was while Illinois and MSU had some strong teams. Since Hayden arrived, Iowa has the 3rd best record in the Big Ten. Iowa went to 3 Rose Bowls from '82-'91. Illinois and Michigan State also got there once in that stretch, so for that decade, OSU and UM only made it half the time. Obviously they were and always have been the strength, but it wasn't like the '70's where it was one of those two every year. Then in the '90's you had Wisconsin making it 3 times, Northwestern once, Iowa once and Purdue in 2000. Then Wisconsin made it two years after Iowa's last appearance, the same season PSU joined the Big Ten. There was more balance in the league during the 80's and early '90's, even before PSU joined. Incidentally Hayden Fry is often credited with changing things in the Big Ten. In the 80's one of the big two made it half the time and it was the same in the '90's. The Big East won't be "as good as any conference" for a long, long time. Why? It was our first year and half the teams qualified for bowl games and one one a BCS game. Add to that the teams were all young and the recruiting will get better without a doubt. It's funny. When it comes to the numbers people like them in baseball but go with tradition in College Football.

Do you think Prior will be well enough to be counted on?

I don't understand. Neifi doesn't respect rookies? Maybe he means respect from the umpires? I know Clemens got quite a few 'veteran's calls' in that game. Like not being booted from the game.

The Cubs have a wonderful leadoff guy to take his place and man is he fast. Hendry is there and striking while the iron is hot would be such a great move.

I'm glad that he's ok and it's not life threatening. I like the go to Boston idea for Glendon better anyway!

And the money to pay for Rusch in 2007. Let's keep the faith! Doesn't matter, all another team has to do is put in a claim on Rusch and Hendry doesn't even need to work out a trade, he can just let that team have Rusch, which includes his contract. Just getting rid of him is enough of a return on the trade if you aren't saddled with the contract. But I don't think a team would gamble like that. If I were the Mets or Sox and wanted Glendon I'd let him slide through and strike a deal then. I don't think he's that hot of a commodity to compete over.

And Izturis is very similarly OBP challenged. It's not ridiculous, it's quite accurate. Yes but that's not all of my arguement. Please respond to the rest. The only reason Izturis hasn't hurt the Cubs as much as Neifi yet is because he hasn't played as much. Give him 700 plate appearances next season and he'll do more damage, and cost twice as much. I think a healthy Izturis with 7 solid bats would be good but I doubt this guy will stay healthy and we all know the Cubs are far from 7 solid bats. i think a healthy izturis with 7 solid bats wouldn't hurt as much as with less than that amount of solid bats, but would be far from good. izturis is tolerable if the rest of the lineup is good, that much is true. I'd also hope like mad he could hit 290 or better because he does swing at everything. Hendry has his work cut out for him and since he has signed that extension he had better get it right this time. he's the perfect type of hendry hitter. low strikeout total, low walk total. you see, it's my hypothesis that hendry has tried to invent a philosphy much like that of moneyball, only, kind of the opposite. hendry acquires guys with low walk and low strikeout totals, guys who "just put the ball in play". he thinks that the low strikeout totals will be enough to cause the team to score runs. however, what he has failed to research or understand is that high strikeout totals have a greater relation to runs scored than low strikeout totals. putting the ball in play at any cost takes pressure off of pitchers and defenses, not the other way around. moreso than OBP, hendry has ignored SLG to the point of ridiculousness. Hmmm...the anti-moneyballer eh? Does he bear any certain markings? Yeah I know, 1973 was a long time ago and hopefully Mr. Hendry will learn to use all of his options the correct way and build a solid contending team.

I don't understand. Neifi doesn't respect rookies? They take his job away and that scares him. Besides, you can't win if you don't respect the pitcher on the mound for you, didn't you know that?

And Izturis is very similarly OBP challenged. It's not ridiculous, it's quite accurate. Yes but that's not all of my arguement. Please respond to the rest. The only reason Izturis hasn't hurt the Cubs as much as Neifi yet is because he hasn't played as much. Give him 700 plate appearances next season and he'll do more damage, and cost twice as much. I think a healthy Izturis with 7 solid bats would be good but I doubt this guy will stay healthy and we all know the Cubs are far from 7 solid bats. i think a healthy izturis with 7 solid bats wouldn't hurt as much as with less than that amount of solid bats, but would be far from good. izturis is tolerable if the rest of the lineup is good, that much is true. I'd also hope like mad he could hit 290 or better because he does swing at everything. Hendry has his work cut out for him and since he has signed that extension he had better get it right this time.

And Izturis is very similarly OBP challenged. It's not ridiculous, it's quite accurate. Yes but that's not all of my arguement. Please respond to the rest. The only reason Izturis hasn't hurt the Cubs as much as Neifi yet is because he hasn't played as much. Give him 700 plate appearances next season and he'll do more damage, and cost twice as much. I think a healthy Izturis with 7 solid bats would be good but I doubt this guy will stay healthy and we all know the Cubs are far from 7 solid bats.

And the money to pay for Rusch in 2007. Let's keep the faith!

With Izturis and his injury problems going on I highly doubt Hendry would move Bynum. I meant during the offseason (see above). He is not signed for next year and is not arbitration eligible. The Cubs control him and could easily just refuse to offer him a deal. But I doubt they do, they'll bring him back for no good reason at all. Yeah, the off season....we'll see if Hendry has larned his lessons and not try to just get that lightning in a bottle or too many Bynum/Macias/Perez types on the team.

With Izturis and his injury problems going on I highly doubt Hendry would move Bynum.

Just because you say that doens't means it's true. Yes it does stat geek...look at the numbers and not your gut feelings!

I think a lot of ignorant people use the N word to express their feelings because they have no clue on the right way to do so.

That's the first thing I thought of. I guess he doesn't figure Verlander and Miner will read the Chicago papers and see how little he thinks of rookie pitchers. He probably doesn't think they are young because no successful and respected team could ever rely on young pitching. That is one of my biggest beefs with Baker. Instead of trying to rally the team behind the kids he blames them, wrongly so, for the losing. That's not a manager I want on my team in any way, shape or form.

People used to say that about the Big 10 with just Michigan and Ohio State. Once they added Penn State the dynamic changed. That's not entirely true. Michigan and OSU were the cream of the crop, several more were consistently solid. Northwestern just plain sucked. Who? Michigan St and Purdue were just 500 type teams and once in blue moon one of the other teams would have a good year. Northwestern was always horrible. I don't think the BE is that great of a conference but they only have 8 teams not 11 or 12 like every other power conference. If we actually got out of the basketball thing and added 4 teams I think it would be just as good or better than any in the country. That depends on how far you want to go back, I guess. Before PSU joined, Iowa was also a team that was regulary ranked (peaked at #1) and a bowl team consistently throughout the 80s. MSU had some really good teams, Illinois put together a few good seasons, and even Indiana had a few winning records. Heck, even Temple had good teams back then! I think it'll take a few years before this new BE takes shape but it will be very competitive and 1-8 as strong as any in the country. We're now in Ohio, Florida (again) and Kentucky and that will give us a very nice base to recruit from.

Do any other teams players get these type letters? If not, Chicago does have a problem.

I think it's the standard thing to do after a player is traded to hear a few quotes from them about their previous team.

People used to say that about the Big 10 with just Michigan and Ohio State. Once they added Penn State the dynamic changed. That's not entirely true. Michigan and OSU were the cream of the crop, several more were consistently solid. Northwestern just plain sucked. Who? Michigan St and Purdue were just 500 type teams and once in blue moon one of the other teams would have a good year. Northwestern was always horrible. I don't think the BE is that great of a conference but they only have 8 teams not 11 or 12 like every other power conference. If we actually got out of the basketball thing and added 4 teams I think it would be just as good or better than any in the country.

The respect wasn't the same? Who the Hell is on even par with Clemens period? Somebody show Perez the numbers the records of respected vets vs the rookies. Oh yeah, actual numbers don't count. No wonder why these guys couldn't pull it out, they have to make excuses all the time and can never just look at themselves and admit they are not that good. Oh yeah Neifi....you have a couple of young pitchers on the Tigers so maybe you can aquire a vet to replace them to get in first...opps, they are already in first aren't they?