#2 Aaron...They have no patience[nor do the fans] to develop young talent...consider the Patterson fiasco, and Choi, and Hill, etc., etc. Chicago has become a tough town. Seriously, I remember when you would never hear a boo bird @ Wrigley against the Visitor, much less a Cub player. Listen when you loose for a 100 years people become desperate.

But I think it would be unfair to say that the cubs are bad at identifying and developing talent. Nobody is the A's nor Minnesota but I can tell you this just look at the Marlins pitching staff and tell me it is not good. There is our farm lol! Gone on stupid trades some and in good trades others.

Theese things are gambles and you have to take them. That is why we have Ramirez/Lee, cause' of gambles that we won. And that is why the marlins Have Nolasco, Dontrelle, Mitre cause' of gambles that we lost.

Hamilton is also a gamble because nobody knows what to expect. I really hope he does well[except against the cubs] but remember Shelton of the Tigers and his crazy numbers on april? Right now we have a good farm remained untouched [because of 'Carrie Muskat's' 300million spending spree blah blah] for the first time in years. We have solid pitching there and that is what pther teams crave.

Lets win today and allways good debating with ya Aaron

btw---good updates Thomas...I always appreciate them

and for the record...

this will be the last I'll bring up Hamilton on my own. The reason I am so passionate about wanting the Cubs to take him, was back in the fall when I realized he was a candidate for the Rule 5, and knew we had the first pick...it's even more tough to swallow that, when he gets signed within the division, and has had an unbelievable ST and start to the year

I know I'm being a little redundant here by bringing up Josh Hamilton again....but the guy is tearing it up right now with .333 avg, .429 OBP, 2 doubles, 5 hr and 11 rbi in only 11 games and 30 AB's...

But here's my problem with this whole thing...We put up with Sosa's baggage for so long, and dealt with the constant Wood and Prior saga, the Baker regime, and a lot of other interesting characters like Kent Mercker---who called the press box during the game to complain about Chip and Steve---and the list goes on....other teams have weird characters like Milton Bradley, the Yankees have an admitted steroid user in Giambi, and another last year that "not knowingly took them" in Sheffield---the Brewers have a former chair incident pitcher in Cordero as their closer, and Bridgeport has the universally hated Pierzynski----point is, every damn team has substance abuse people, whether it be party guys----McCarthy and Brian Anderson were said to be those type of guys---same with Farnsworth when he was here. The Dodgers, I believe, had a pitcher that was out of action for the playoffs for a late night of partying. EVERY DAMN team has this. It would've been a limited risk, at only the league minimum and 25k or 50k posting fee---whatever it is to select a kid named Hamilton, that had a rough past, but at 25 years old is still young, and is a true "natural" at the game. He's a guy we could've afforded a chance on during spring training, and at the very worst, would've sent him back to the D Rays if he didn't make the team. It was a chance worth taking, and our idiots in the front office somehow thought an OF including an injury waiting to happen in Floyd, an inexperienced CF in Soriano, and an all around liability in Jones, was somehow cemented, and they couldn't fit anyone else into their plan. hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, so let me get this straight----before ST was even through, they hadn't decided whether or not to carry an extra OF or infielder---I'm pretty damn sure that Hamilton would've convinced them to send Cedeno out, and we wouldn't have had a need to rush Pie.

But losing teams make losing decisions. I should note that after the draft, other teams noted that they tried to move up to take Hamilton, and EVERYONE had him at the top of their list. Was Angel Pagan really that good? I mean, honestly, that's the only other OF we had in the mix. Was he that dominating?

Look, when your system is barren of true major league caliber position prospects, you MUST go outside and get them. This was our golden opportunity to do it, and Jim Hendry and CO. failed us big time. Even if Hamilton struggled, and wasn't worthy in ST of a spot, the worst that could happen is what other teams have done to us with taking Kelton, Mateo, Haggerty, among others---and returned them to us when they didn't make the roster. 25-50k posting fee, and you get half of it back if the other team wants to keep that player----to me, when you have what every other team in the league considered a true "natural" when he was drafted several years ago---you take that risk, and you give that guy a chance. But the Cubs philosophy is you always pay for the battle-tested name---the "proven" veteran with name recognition.

Murton and Theriot earned starting positions with their play last year, and I am confident that nobody would disagree with me on that. They were told that they still were the frontrunners for their positions in the offseason, outperformed both of the veterans (Floyd and DeRosa) during ST, and yet, in typical Cubbie fashion, were stripped of their starting roles.

Now what does that tell you? It's no wonder the only homegrown, everyday position talent that we developed was Mark Grace, nearly 20 years ago. WOW!!!!! and that is because we have such little faith in young talent. It's why our damn management will sign a Lenny Harris, Daryle Ward, Ron Coomer, Matt Stairs, Tom Goodwin, Neifi Perez, Todd Hollandsworth, Burnitz, O'Leary, Hairston, etc., etc., and the embarrassments go on and on.

When you look at successful teams in baseball, more times than not, at least 1/4 of their roster will include homegrown talent. One exception to the rule that I can think of right now would be the Red Sox. My point is, if you continue to dish out 1 year contracts to veteran players like I just mentioned, why not give an opportunity to a young player to take his lumps and see if he shines.

Position prospects come to the Cubs organization not to thrive, but to die in it, or get traded in packages to other teams to succeed.

There's two possible explanations:

1) The team is just that bad at identifying and developing talent

or

2) They have no patience to develop young talent...consider the Patterson fiasco, and Choi, and Hill, etc., etc.

Thomas Edgar

Very good news on Mateo, keep us updated and I hope he keeps it up.

I heard Angel Pagan is in the DL,. Is that so? How is he doing? Please let me know. Thanks.