YearofDaCubs

Well he hasn't done much to increase his trade value. I think an outright release might be possible at this point.

I agree with you, it's time for Walker to go but I think that only opens the door for more Neifi time, so it is a lose lose situation for us Cubs fans.

I think it's safe to assume Walker will not be here much longer.

Bottome line, Baker has no control over his clubhouse. I'm not surprised though this is def NOT the first time this has happened as all of you are aware. I'm just sick of this debacle and honestly I don't see how things can get better within a year or two, not when you have monkeys like Hendry and Baker running the circus show.

Good thing I didnt spend time watching this game. Nothing new here folks, the Cubs suck and so does Maddux.

And therein lies the problem..

Verducci is my new favorite friend. I'm really shocked that some of these writers and so called pros do not get it. Good thing Bruce and this guy do and are vocal about it. Too bad Hendry is too close-minded to look at stats like OBP.

I know this is scripted because Hendry didn't start out his sentence with an "Obviously" :) Things aren't so obvious now Jim eh?

It's on rotoworld.com

Agreed.

So much for getting rid of Baker and his pets. I swear there is no damn accountability from top to bottom within this organization, it makes me sick!

I don't know much about the minor leaguers but this is a good move for the Astros. It makes their offense better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungo Haha, news moves fast in WIKI land.

What the heck is a fungo bat?? EDIT: Nevermind.

He was not completely without options, both with free agents and potential trades for higher priced players. But you are right. His lack of foresight in past years is what really hurt the team coming into 2006. Missed opportunities. True. Drew was a possible I suppose and he signed Burnitz. As you said earlier Hendry's misguided passons for the prototypical leadoff hitter helped make the situation even worse. That's in the past...now Hendry has to fix this mess and do it right this time. IMO, Hendry has done such a terrible job that I look at this roster now and feel that Hendry does not have the capability to fix this team, especially in one year. He needs to go along with Dusty. I don't think he does either but he does have an extension so we'll see if he can redeem himself. Redeem himself? NO WAY! I'm not falling for that one. He's has had several chances starting from 2004 and on to redeem himself. I'm confident in saying that there is no way Hendry will get himself out of this mess.

Leave it to Baker to contradict himself.

He was not completely without options, both with free agents and potential trades for higher priced players. But you are right. His lack of foresight in past years is what really hurt the team coming into 2006. Missed opportunities. True. Drew was a possible I suppose and he signed Burnitz. As you said earlier Hendry's misguided passons for the prototypical leadoff hitter helped make the situation even worse. That's in the past...now Hendry has to fix this mess and do it right this time. IMO, Hendry has done such a terrible job that I look at this roster now and feel that Hendry does not have the capability to fix this team, especially in one year. He needs to go along with Dusty.

No way. Half of his starts have been quality starts but the other half(9) he has given up 4 or more runs.

And we all thought that Speier was a Hendry guy. :)

Maybe I'm hard headed but to me there is no way anybody can justify Baker still being manager of this team, no way.

You didn't hear complaints about Dusty in '03?? Wow. A little something about overusing pitchers maybe? Actually it followed him from the Giants. Dusty has his faults like all managers do, see Grady Little. But the decline in talent and the players not producing on the field isn't all his fault and will not imporve once Dusty is canned. Geez people act like he's trying to lose games and hurt people for crips sake.To what end? He has lost games and he has hurt people, maybe unintentionally but damage has been done by that fool.

I think you're giving Girardi a little too much credit. Miguel Cabrera, Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Josh Willingham, Mike Jacobs, and Jeremy Hermida were good long before Joe Girardi got ahold of them. I think it's impressive what's going on in Florida this year but they have some really good young talent. Do you think with the same players, that Dusty Baker would be doing as well? Or do you think he'd have picked up players like Tony Womack or Phil Nevin to take over for one of the kids after they struggle for a week? Dusty Baker and Joe Girardi are in very different situations. It wasn't Dusty Baker who picked up Nevin and Womack it was our wonderful GM. Also when did Dusty replace a young kid after he struggled for a week? I'm not a Baker supporter by any means, but I really don't have too much of a problem with the way he's played the kids this year. The only major problem I have is his recent platoon of Murtin, and him not pitching Guzman while he was up. What you don't have too much of a problem with is exactly what the problem is. Murton and Guzman are just the latest examples of many we've seen under his tutelage. I just don't think he's been nerly as bad this year as in the past. Cedeno is still the starter and Murton is still getting the majority of the time in left. What else should he be doing? You don't think so? How many times have we seen Rusch pitch when we all knew he should not be on this team anymore let alone starting? It's pretty obvious our season is over which means the kids should be playing everyday. At one point Murton was only starting against lefties and let me tell you it was fun watching Mabry play LF. Why was Rusch given several chances to start and the rookies were not given the chance even though their numbers were actually better than fat one? When are we finally going to have a consistent lineup? Have we ever had a consistent lineup since Baker has been here? Even Walker boy hasn't been playing as much so that Dusty can add his little henchman at 2B or SS and bat in the 2spot. Baker has been bad, no question. That stubborn fool needs to go.

Totally agree w/ you.

I think you're giving Girardi a little too much credit. Miguel Cabrera, Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Josh Willingham, Mike Jacobs, and Jeremy Hermida were good long before Joe Girardi got ahold of them. I think it's impressive what's going on in Florida this year but they have some really good young talent. Do you think with the same players, that Dusty Baker would be doing as well? Or do you think he'd have picked up players like Tony Womack or Phil Nevin to take over for one of the kids after they struggle for a week? Dusty Baker and Joe Girardi are in very different situations. It wasn't Dusty Baker who picked up Nevin and Womack it was our wonderful GM. Also when did Dusty replace a young kid after he struggled for a week? I'm not a Baker supporter by any means, but I really don't have too much of a problem with the way he's played the kids this year. The only major problem I have is his recent platoon of Murtin, and him not pitching Guzman while he was up. What you don't have too much of a problem with is exactly what the problem is. Murton and Guzman are just the latest examples of many we've seen under his tutelage.

Hey, I'm not absolving Hendry here, but a good manager should've been playing .500 ball with this team. I firmly believe that. Although I lay most blame on Hendry for this year, Hendry has been quoted as saying he asks Baker for what players he would like to get and makes then he makes the final decision on that. Bottom line, both Hendry and Baker are crap.