YearofDaCubs

Oh I think it is against Eyre. First of all as a fan I don't even like the bum, imagine what Lou thinks? The guy is always hurt it seems. There's a reason why the Cubs are willing to trade him when they themselves need bullpen help currently.

I think the thing that impressed me the most about Z was his performance against the DBacks last year during the playoffs. He stepped up. This year he has been so good that it is refreshing to see. I love Z.

Btw, he looked really good against Fielder but when he lost his command he didn't look that great and I think he was taking some off to get it over for strikes which were making his pitches more hittable.

No idea why. I see no reason to use him especially if we need to use him tomorrow. We should have used Marshall, Eyre or Cotts. GUys that Lou refuses to use whenever possible. You would think you would use your crappiest reliever when having a 7 run lead.

howry has at the very least performed up to the amount of his contract, and probably has outperformed it. Not sure how you can figure that. He's very much on pace to absolutely suck for 33% of the contract's duration. and the other two years he was one of the better setup men in the league. bp projected his numbers this year at: 62.0 IP, 59 H, 17 BB, 51 K, .281 BAA, 1.22 WHIP, 3.64 ERA. they put the free-market value of these numbers at $5.1M. given that he pitched more innings than this the last two seasons and was more effective than the numbers above, he probably pitched at a level of about $7M each year. his entire contract is worth $12M, so even if you think he's had negative value this year (and he hasn't), he's still earned more than the $12M that the cubs will have ended up paying him. it's like if derosa tanks the rest of this year and next, the contract that he got will have still been worth it because he produced at a high level for more than half of it. by the way, maybe the reason that howry's decline has been pretty ugly is because he's pitched in 241 games the last three seasons? that's basically half of all of his team's games. his managers have ridden him hard, and they might have taken too many miles off of that arm. You're right his manager did ride him hard. From Cle to the Cubs I think he was putting over 80ip in. That's a lot. I remember Dusty using him almost every day when we were officially out of the playoffs his last year. I hate that guy.

Because thankfully, management isn't kneejerk or hyperbolic. Kneejerk? There is a whole seasons worth of stats that show Bob Howry has been a pretty terrible pitcher this season. Hes giving up hits at an alarming rate all season, and he has now turned into the Ryan Franklin of the Cubs. Regardless, an outright release probably is not the answer. Howry has had stretches where he's sucked throughout his ill-advised contract. There is some reason for hope that he can have another stretch of effectiveness soon. He looked okay against the bad RH bats, Lou never should have let him face the tough lefty. The Cubs have other minor league arms, but none of them are surefire bets. They are probably better off keeping Howry in a mop-up type role, or when needed in 6th/7th innings, which also keeps those minor league arms available in case of injury. I am of the opinion that Howry was worth his contract but his fat buddy Eyre, not so much.

Good riddance..

That is hilarious!

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3508272&name=mlb_trade_deadline i don't know why they choose joba as a comparison when jenks is probably a better comparison, considering like the angels in '02, the white sox won in '05 actually nevermind, i do know why they choose joba to compare, its espn. Buster Olney said on "Mike and Mike" this morning the reason for the Joba's comparasion, is simply because of the electricity that each pitcher (Shark/Joba) brought to their resepctive teams. In all fairness to Jenks he too brought a lot of electricity to the team with that 100mph heater.

Hell yeah!

Did he go to the Wendell Kim School of Third Base Coaching? Oh God, Wendell was so bad. So glad that guy is gone.

LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I love me some Go-Dan!

Hasn't he pitched sat and sun though?

I love me some Go-Dan!

Agreed. I blame Lou for putting this bum out there.

PLEASE! He blows!

FU HOWRYYRYYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYYRYR I HATE YOU!!!!

124 pitches for Sabathia, you have to love it.

Why Howry? Haven't we learned that he sucks?

Lee was LUCKY! CUbs lead!

How long will it be until they release Grant Johnson? Or do they think there's a chance he might get his stuff back?

I'm ok not making another trade. We already traded for an ace. Sure, our bullpen and CF might need upgrading but is it to the point where you give up prospects for it and if you do would it be even worth it? I'd say no. Our bullpen is struggling but we have talent out there and I believe we can get by. Howry is cooked though.

Very satisfied. I think we're good there.

I think some of you are right, we may be jumping the gun a bit and calling him the next best thing but it is refreshing to see him go out there and pitch good in 4 innings. You can tell he obviously has the stuff to be pretty damn good.