YearofDaCubs

One of my friends brought up a good point last night. Why didn't Wood do this surgery sooner? He said he wouldn't be surprised if they held off on the surgery after the tickets went on sale.

Best GM trader in baseball? I highly doubt it. My money would be on Shapiro in Cleveland.

It would be a mistake to trade Williamson IMO.

Gordon wasn't on last night. Missed a lot of shots.

Chandler has definitely stepped up his game lately. I think has a a streak going for double-digit rebounds. He had two huge blocks tonight.

ANd Gordon with the dunk! Bulls win.

What a disgusting block by Chandler and Gordon makes the 3 to pretty much seal the deal.

I'd be interested to see if Hairston's OBP last season was inflated by his HBPs. He'd definitely be a better option than Neifi. I wouldn't be disappointed if Hairston wound up starting 150 games at 2b. I think he could have a break out year if that happens. His OBP increased each year from 2001 to 2004 (.305, .329, .353, .378). He regressed when he switched leagues. Walks usually account for about 70 points of his OBP, which is pretty solid, which indicates he should still be capable of putting up a .350+ OBP, especially since he's more familiar with the league now. The main concern is his ability to play 150 games without getting hurt. He's not quite Nomar-fragile, but he's probably about as durable as ARam is right now. I'd rather see Walker, but I still think he gets traded before opening day, and Hairston is a very good 2nd option after TWalk. The only other problem with Hairston at 2nd is we don't have anyone else that can back up CF. That means Neifi gets significant time if either JP or Hairston go down to injury (or even Cedeno, for that matter, knock on wood...), and that is not good. Fortunately, Pierre doesn't take too many games off or get injured much. Yeah, but he wasn't a Cub before... Touche.

The DLee of last year..sure..but it's very possible he was a 1hit wonder.

Not surprised to see us not hit the 100mil mark. Next year might be even less.

Steve Stone is old news as far as I'm concerned. I'm actually sick of hearing his opinions.

8.5 mil for Weaver is just disgusting.

It's pretty easy when all you have to do is spend a ton of money on long term contracts. Burnett, Ryan, Glaus, Overbay, that's quite an offseason. Most definitely. They went after the guys they wanted and got them.

Yup. So much for that.

50 points are very possible for Gordon tonight.

Gordon is playing a very good game.

Why would anybody in their right minds still support Hendry? He hasn't done squat in years. I could care less what he did in 2003, last time I checked it's Feb 2006 and with 100mil payroll we still are not WS contenders IMO. Hendry doesn't have a clue on how to piece together a winning team..bank on it. 2003 was an aberration.

i think that's 3 games in a row where he has received no playing time. He's definitely in the doghouse...I wish someone in the media had the guts to ask Skiles why Sweetney is not getting any playing time. at least we won...let's hope for an over .500 road trip, doubtful, but I'd like to see it happen. He did mention why Sweets isn't playing. Skiles said Sweets was moved out of the starting role to try different lineups and since then the Bulls have been winning. He also said that he moved down the depth chart and that he has to earn playing time. Sweets has been a huge dissapointment for us. First of all its 4 straight games without Sweets, and second of all we need Sweets to play because hes great in short spurts from what I've seen. However these last 4 games, Malik Allen has not been half bad. 4 games without Sweets and we are on a current 4 game winning streak. Sweets might be great in short spurts but those don't last long. He has a tendency to foul a lot and it's costly. You can also question how good of shape the guy is in. He has been a dissapoinment.

Amazing facts there, Diffusion. I had been under the impression that Dusty Baker probably screwed Derrek Lee out of an MVP award, now I don't think there's any question about it. Someone should really show this stuff to Lee. Getting the team's stars angry at Dusty would be the fastest way to get rid of him. Let me just quickly do this properly... All-Time (excluding Derrek Lee's 2005) 110 or more XBH, average of 173 RBI 105 or more XBH, average of 160 RBI 100 or more XBH, average of 155 RBI 95 or more XBH, average of 152 RBI 90 or more XBH, average of 145 RBI 85 or more XBH, average of 136 RBI 80 or more XBH, average of 128 RBI 75 or more XBH, average of 122 RBI Post-1945 (excluding Derrek Lee's 2005) 105 or more XBH, average of 142 RBI 100 or more XBH. average of 141 RBI 95 or more XBH, average of 139 RBI 90 or more XBH, average of 133 RBI 85 or more XBH, average of 130 RBI 80 or more XBH, average of 123 RBI 75 or more XBH, average of 119 RBI I think the post-1945 (an arbitrary cut-off point, but I think it serves its purpose) is more relevant. Relative to the post-1945 average, Lee fell about 33 RBI short. And let's just say that, given that he hit .331/.480/.653 with runners in scoring position, the falling short wasn't Lee's fault. Had Lee got those extra 33 RBI, he'd have easily led the league in RBI (as well as average), so he'd have been 6 home runs short of the Triple Crown. Outstanding work. Just further shows that this management team is clueless. Patterson, Neifi, Lawton and Macias combined for over 350 at bats in the lead off spot and sported .263, .263, .269 and .270 OBP's respectively. Perez, Patterson, Neifi and Enrique Wilson combined for over 360 at bats in the 2 hole, and sported .300, .220, .286 and .200 OBP's respectively. Murton and Cedeno both have done very well in their limited role at the top of the order, yet Hendry says they aren't ready to hit the top of the order yet. Apparently, you can't hit at the top of the order until you prove you can get your OBP to dip below .300. That might also explain why Walker and Hairston have been long time members of Dusty's doghouse. They were the two guys who could actually get on base at a decent clip, yet Hairston got more bench time than he deserved, and they can't wait to trade Walker. I don't get it. I totally get it BBB. It's called Dustyism.

i think that's 3 games in a row where he has received no playing time. He's definitely in the doghouse...I wish someone in the media had the guts to ask Skiles why Sweetney is not getting any playing time. at least we won...let's hope for an over .500 road trip, doubtful, but I'd like to see it happen. He did mention why Sweets isn't playing. Skiles said Sweets was moved out of the starting role to try different lineups and since then the Bulls have been winning. He also said that he moved down the depth chart and that he has to earn playing time. Sweets has been a huge dissapointment for us.

The 2004 team was clearly the best team he put together. 04' & 05' the Cubs were decimated with injuries & teams like the Astros & Cards, had very healthy pitching staffs. Health/depth will be the main determining factor on how good the Cubs will be in 06'. Right now, there is no depth in the outfield. Maybe he still plans on addressing that before they head into Spring Training. If not, the outfield is going to be a major concern for the 2nd year in a row. Might be a little late now, BBB. Not much left to pick from I fear. TBCF: Everything comes back on the GM in one way or another. Even injuries. Especially when you string multiple seasons of injury-plagued baseball together. At some point, a good GM would look at health as a factor in his decisions and bring in ballplayers and staff to ensure more players are healthy. Hey----look at a ballclub like the Bears. Injured for years. Then they finally address the issue and wind up with a healthy playoff team. You can't control every injury that takes place, but you can control the overall picture in order to minimize the potential for injury. So, while I agree injuries are unpredictable in the short term, over the longterm a GM must have a successful plan in place to minimize their impact. And Hendry hasn't done that. I'm still not sure the Hendry I'd want is the Hendry of 2003.... That team was just lucky to be in a really bad division. Moves like Dusty Baker, Randall Simon, Doug Glanville, etc...not exactly the moves I'd be calling for. Sure, they worked out well at times THAT YEAR (i.e. it just so happened that Simon came through with some big playoff hits.. or that Glanville hit that triple)...but those still aren't acquisitions you could be happy with at the time. The ARam/Lofton trade worked out pretty well, but ARam wasn't all that great in 03, and the offense, contrary to popular belief, didn't do much better after that trade. Now the Hendry of 04... that was the best Hendry (and best Cubs team of recent memory) IMHO. The Nomar trade was a thing of pure beauty. The Lee deal was a solid move. Walker was a very nice pickup, etc. Hawkins, had he been used as a setup man, was also a very good addition to the pen. It's just a shame that team had to tank at the end of the year. :x I thought Hendry did an excellent job in 2004 until the end of the year he really blew it. We ALL knew we needed to make a trade for a closer when Hawkins was faultering and faultering bad at that. Instead, Hendry waits until waivers were in place to decide and trade for one. At that point we needed a closer at all costs and it really cost us. That was the beginning of the end for Hendry in my perspective.

That is weird, especially since he was replaced by a long snapper. The article says that Clark was mistakenly put on the team as a long snapper. I can honestly say Clark sucks. I would be one happy person if he was cut. He is overpaid for what he does if you ask me.

He also thought Burnitz was the answer. I've lost all faith in Hendry, especially after this offseason.

They have an excellent GM.

Agreed. The Bulls are starting to play defense and Chandler and Gordon are coming on.