Nate, thanks for the great updates.

Yeah...and Miles and Gathright were worthless signings, too.

Heck I would rather have Ronny Cedeno than Miles.

...and I think I'd rather have Pie than Gathright....I said this during ST and I'll say it again, Gathright has one of the weakest swings I have ever seen. This guy could not hit his way out of paper bag...and then, to add insult to injury the other day, he gets picked off !! Isn't stealing bases about the only thing we have him for ??? Jeez.

And oh, he covers a little more ground in the OF than Reed or Fuku. Big whoop.

Aaron...in hindsight, I am not in complete disagreement with you...there are many things I would have done differently...but the first thing I want to say is Thank God JH is not Larry Hines or Ed Lynch. It is easy to look back and say this,this & this is wrong...but we know what happened in the past...but do you really care about the past or the future of the team?

#1) You are Ricketts...don't tell me you

want to get rid of J.H....tell me who you want to bring in...and why.

#2)JH got Hamilton for Cincy...that repaid a favor...in the world of GM's,

he did not have the option of going after

Hamilton.

#3)At the time DLee got the extension...I and 100 million other Cubs

fans didn't think it was a bad deal. Who

knows how much the wrist injury really cost Lee...even today...His contract is not out of line for the production he was doing AT THAT TIME.

I like JH as a guy and straight dealer...

But he lacks vision and shrewdness.

He also has been working under a win now

mandate for three years without a clear owner/boss...knowing that when one comes in...he will probably be without a job.

I see your # 6 as my # 1 reason for making a change.

#2)Hamstringing the Cubs to THE most ridiculous contract in baseball...Soriano's.

#3) See #1...overpaying for most because the farm system is in such disaray.

IE..."Z" has never performed completely as a #1 and equals a bad contract...Ceda

for Gregg....nothing for DeRo...nothing for Marquis...( he still gave a lot of innings)...nothing for Eyre(quality set up).

So basically we agree in principle but not necessarily in specifics.

2)Bradley

I think Hendry's problem is that he sees what kind of success the Cardinals have had with bringing in "project" guys, specifically pitchers, and turning it into gold, and he thinks Rothschild can do the same...which never happens.

Similarly, with hitters, the Cardinals have been equally impressive bringing in Miles, Ludwick, Eckstein, Edmonds, Lopez, and even Troy Glaus when the Jays thought he was finished.

Somehow, some way, the Cardinals always seem to get extra mileage out of guys that would otherwise be out of the league.

Hendry has had an enormous amount of busts. You listed a lot of them. You could add Cotts, Gerut, Lawton, Williamson, Gregg (jury's still out, I guess), Miles, Soriano (for the type of contract---length, money, no-trade), Gathright, Vizcaino, and the contract to Lee after a career year...it's just a little too much.

I've said it many times, and I'll say it again...mostly because you got me all riled up....LOL...Hendry has been getting a pass on the ARAM trade, solving our decades long 3B debacle, and he's been riding the gravy train ever since. Think he would've lasted this long without it? Okay then....you get my point. Without that one trade, he's fired...plain and simple, but the time has come to answer for all his ill-fated moves and player development issues, mis-identification of talent in FA, Rule 5 (Hamilton), and other trades.

I think the most damning moves that he made are as follows:

1)not picking up Hamilton when he clearly needed an outfielder and opting for the more expensive and fragile Floyd instead

2)signing Lee to that ridiculous extension

3)mis-calculating the market for Soriano, paying above and beyond what anyone would've paid for his production level

4)signing Bradley instead of _________...really, almost anyone that can play 150 games, and put up 20 hr, 80 RBI

5)signing Marquis, which hampered the development of our young pitching staff. If you're the Yankees, then $7million/yr is maybe okay for your 5th starter...but that's how you development your own pitching talent---in the 5 spot in the rotation, and he killed our development there.

6)and finally, since 2000, we have exactly 3 players selected with our first pick still with us...Colvin (looks like a dud), Vitters, and Cashner.

Aaron, I bet you are right. It has to be that. Because what other reason could there be ? It makes absolutely no sense from a baseball standpoint.

And if thats really true, it really underscores why it was mistake to sign this guy. Talk about letting the inmates run the asylum. How pathetic. Let's face it, its not a coincidence that this guy has been on 6 or 7 different teams already. There's a reason for it.

One thing I will never understand about Hendry is that he always seems to bring in crap players with the idea somehow they will be different players once they join Cubs. Then, after 1 or 2 years of watching the same old garbage that we all knew would happen (i.e ignoring the guy's track record) they can't wait to dump him, while somehow being surprised. Examples: Jacque Jones, Jeremy Burnitz, Damian Miller, Marquis, Hawkins, etc) How is it that all the fans knew beforehand that these guys suck, but they didn't ? :-)

Now we have Uncle Milty acting like a little baby just 3 weeks into the season while being injured. Gee, what a surprise !!!!!!!!!!!

Who could have seen that coming ???

ugh.

Damian Miller was not a crap player...he was a great defensive catcher. Burnitz did what he always did and that is all Hendry was looking for...a stopgap.

JJ/Hawkins/Marquis...and now Bradley are all very curious signings...and the upside hasn't been good...If you look at each of the signings by themselves...they were brought in for a specific need...that each almost but not

quite fit into...almost desperation signings.

I was listening to ESPN radio the other day and they mentioned a rumor about Bradley's fragile ego as one of the reasons a move has not been made.

They were saying that putting him on the DL would make him upset, because then he couldn't earn his option if that happened. As it stands right now, he's nothing more than a Kirk Gibson. He can't run, so they're just using him as a pinch hitter. Which, if he were actually doing well, might make sense, but he sucks ass right now and really hasn't hit anything that hard. I've been extremely disappointed with Hendry for not putting him on the DL. If we had, we wouldn't be in this mess right now playing short-handed. He would be about due to come off the DL in about a week, but as long as he's pinch hitting you CANNOT back-date it, so they've shot themselves in the foot already.

I like the idea of bringing up Fox, and think it makes a hell of a lot of sense. I also like the idea of releasing Cotts. He's a basket-case. Him and Gregg make me as nervous as when Howry and Eyre used to come into games...though, that's probably doing an injustice to Howry, because he's not as bad as Gregg---every time, without fail, someone reaches base. That's maybe okay if you're a middle reliever like Howry and Eyre were, but NOT as a closer.

I hope tonight we see this lineup:

Soriano

Theriot

Fukudome

Hoffpauir

Johnson

K Hill

Fontenot

Miles

I believe that Lou Pinella do not want to play in the outfield because of his errors in the game the other day. Milton Bradley need to go the dl for two reason. 1.He is injured and our bench is getting dhorter.2.He was not hitting anyway. Another point want to make for you guys who have been criticizing Rich Harden and that he is going to get injured,should stop because besides Ted Lily he has been the best starting pitcher on the staff from opening day.

Can anyone explain the logic behind not putting Milty on the DL ?

I'm being facetious about asking for the reason, since I know what they are hoping for, so please save your fire. It just makes ZERO sense to me. Groin injuries don't heal in a matter of days.

So why do they insist on playing shorthanded, while this guy sits on bench unable to play ? And if they do throw him out there to pinch hit or whatever, you just KNOW he will re-injure it. And not too mention, the problem is exasperated with ARAM on shelf. So now they are playing 2 guys short.

Just put he guy on DL for 2 weeks and let him heal and get someone up here. Jeez, 2 weeks is not that long of a time

I just don't get it. Am the only one who finds this to be a real head scratcher ?

Who cares if he is left handed right handed he can't get anyone out.We are better off with no lefthander at all, than with him coming in i turn off the tv. Get Peavy and put Marshall in the pen, the problem is we have a lot more holes than this.No defense at shortstop, no second baseman and a washed up first baseman, maybe haufpaur will get his chance now that Lees neck is as stiff as the rest of his body.Put him on the bench or trade him although no oe would take him, i need a firstbaseman on my fantasy team but he would be no option even in fantasy baseball

Man, what about Jake Fox? Bring this guy up to hit.

Pays for Cotts to be the only lefty in the bullpen.

Hopefully one of these young pitchers will be called up to replace Neal Cotts.

I have no idea why this guy is on the team.