I take exception to you including

Jim Frey, and Don (Popeye) Zimmer.

Durocher was entertaining...but in the end drove a very good team into the ground...and lost them completely in later years.

I watched Zimmer manage both the Red Sox and Cubs...and there was not a better baseball man in his era.

Todays Lou quote:

"What am I going to do? Just keep running them out there and hope it gets better. That’s all you can do.”

This guy is like the old Chatty Cathy doll of the 1960's, you just pull the string and out comes ... wait for it ... "What am I going to do?"

I know what the front office can do, put this guy on a fast train to retirement!

Hey! there is a fine line between criticism and hatred.....

If you don't like the Cubs, go post some place else..... We are all fans here... some of us take the downs harder than others but are generally united towards the cause of the team....

I've been a Cubs fan for 45 years, so don't even try and lecture me about who's a fan and who isn't.

I want the team to win, been wanting it for 45 years, been there, done that!

But, until they get new ownership, with new management from top to bottom, what I said stands.

Aaron said:

"This organization is so backwards with how they deal with everything. Free agency, Draft, player development. It's downright embarrassing."

Let me break it down -

1) This organization has been backwards for 100 years.

2) They can't do anything with free agency because they have zero ability to evaluate talent.

3) What player development?

4) Embarrassing? It goes deeper than that. This organization is the most pathetic in the history of major professional sports, there is none even close.

My comment on todays circus, I mean, game:

My, my, my, Cubs blow another game to the Astros today, 2 – 1 in 13.

Oh, wait, ladies and gentleman, I think I see Cubs manager Lou Piniella. Let’s see if we can get him to comment on this latest, with more to come, loss.

Me: Lou, what happened out there, would you care to tell us why you, and your pathetic team STINK???

Lou: “What can I do? I don’t know what to do.” (actual quote!)

Me: Thank you Lou, I knew you had something insightful, something intelligent, something positive to say about your teams performance.

With managers like this, and Durocher, and Kennedy, and Trebelhorne, and Lefevbre, and Fry, and Zimmer, and Baker, I just can’t seem to figure out how the Cubs haven’t won a World Series in 102 freakin years. (that was sarcasm for all the sheep out there, because I know you get confused)

The Chicago Cubs, the poorest run franchise in the history of professional sports, and the laughingstock of every sports fan in the world – congratulations for being CLOWNS!

Dusty 'for' his shortcomings -- correction!

Post-game quote from Lou

“They’re going to have to find it,” he said. “It sounds cruel, it sounds harsh, but it’s reality. What am I going to do? Just keep running them out there and hope it gets better. That’s all you can do.”

Is that the sign of a guy who's given up or what? Having been a poster on here for 3 and half years now, I did not how hungrily everyone DEVOURED Dusty's shortcomings, which were numerous. Yet, VERY VERY VERY few are willing to come down hard on what has really not been a very good managing job -- sorry to say!

The 2 MAJOR differences between the no.1 ranked offense of last season and the no. LAST offense of this season...

MINUS - Healthy A-Ram

MINUS - Mark DeRosa

Everone else is performing EXACTLY as they did last year give or take

neil how many 1 run games have the cubs lost

All four losses on the trip were by one run...three in extra innings.

On the season, the Cubs are 6-11 in one-run games

Living here in Texas, I watched the end of the game on the Astros network. Manager Cecil Cooper was almost jumping for joy in a tv interview after this game, so happy that they took 2 of 3 while scoring so few runs and defeating two of the top Cub pitchers. Of course had they been playing a team with an offense, they would have probably lost all three. To show how out of touch he is, he said, " Man, it was great to win these last two games against such a

GOOD hitting team like the Cubs!" Guess some managers, like Cooper and Lou, are not so in tune with stats and "unimportant" things like that! Again, Neil, speechless.

Time to break out some Bill Veeck

moments....sign 3 midgets so opposing pitchers...can't find the strike zone...

and we always have someone on base...but God help us...we could not carry that many pitchers because we would need the roster spots for pinch runners.

Let Minnie Minoso take over for Bradley.

Have a Mark Grace Day at Wrigley...everyone in the park has to smoke Pall Malls.

Have a Spiderman Day...everyone has to wear a Spidey Mask whenever the Cubs are

batting...so we can't see the offensive offense.

Have a Lee Elia Day...you have to show your food stamps and unemployment card

to get into Wrigley...anyone driving a

new Chrysler gets free parking.

Anytime the Cubs score 5 runs or more,

the players get free certificates to White Castle....Anytime the Cubs score less than five runs...they have to eat a dozen White Castle sliders...before they leave the park.

Oh well...out of ideas for now...it's supposed to be entertaining...not grueling.

that's hilarious....and very creative I might add

Just another frustrating day for the offense

Andre Dawson for GM

One thing is for certain: Randy Wells isn't winning tommorow either. It's funny, because the guy he's taking on, Slowey, is the exact opposite of Wells: gives up runs, but gets so much run support he's won 8.

Our saving grace might be that the Twinkies are 9-20 on the road this season. At least we've played pretty well at Wrigley this year.

Another wasted pitching effort. Cubs need to change something. Soon.

God help all of us to have to watch 105 more games of this crap.

No changes on the horizon I'm sure while the sale of the team is in limbo. We're clearly not going to the playoffs this year, maybe we should just enjoy whatever wins we can get.

Boston needs DH/SS/pitching

Mets need pitching/1rst nase

Phillies need starters.

Yankee's ?

Angel's?

Boston is only DH and SS...they don't need pitching...they need to get RID of pitching (Penny) in order to bring in Smoltz, then they have Bucholz in the minors, and Bard the "ace" in waiting.

Lowrie is also coming back soon, so SS is not as big of a need.

Mets, you're right, and we could potentially offer: Lee, Harden, or Marshall for some top talent...but it's doubtful they'd take on Harden's injuries

Phillies, besides Z, the only starter we might even entertain trading that they'd be interested in, might be Lilly

Yankees are solid

Angels were interested in Soriano, Bradley, and Lee in the past, but probably not right now.

In nearly all cases, we'd have to get no-trades waived. I could actually envision a Gary Matthews Jr. for Bradley swap, but Matthews Jr. is so pitiful right now, he makes Bradley look like a steal. Now, I could envision, perhaps a deal that involved Lee and Bradley for Figgins, Matthews Jr., and a prospect or two.

I just think it's about time that we blow this roster up. Hendry has to do something. Look, Bradley, Miles, Freel, Blanco, and Scales are all sitting around the Mendoza line. Right now, that amounts to essentially 3 of our starters batting around .200

You simply CANNOT have that, and I don't know why he's sitting on his thumbs, doing nothing to replace ARAM's production. They had their chance with Fox. Now, who knows what will happen. 5-for-6 pinch hitting, and our own senile manager doesn't even realize that?!? WOW!!!!!!! And they didn't even groom him at 3B prior to bringing him up when they had a chance.

This organization is so backwards with how they deal with everything. Free agency, Draft, player development. It's downright embarrassing.

I think the thing that should scare the crap out of Cubs management, is the fact that with the new internet movement, people can look up stats instantly, draft history, player development, etc. And they're failing in every category. I think we've also seen a shift in our fan base, whereas the "old" Cubs fan breed (myself included), would automatically flip on the tube at 1:20 pm CST on WGN, and hope their favorite player hit a home run---not caring about the outcome, and whenever they lost, it'd be, "there's always tomorrow" or "there's always next year".

But you can say that only so many times before it wears on your soul, and you begin to question moves, not just game-day moves, but the moves the team made in the offseason, or draft day.

I think we all can agree it was almost unanimous on here that the DeRosa trade was perceived as horrible, the Miles signing was questionable, the Gathright signing was HIGHLY questionable, and the Bradley signing was puzzling...you can add the Ceda trade for Gregg, and the signing of Bako to that list as well. NOTHING Hendry did in the offseason has panned out, and he so badly hand-cuffed himself with the signings that he is paralyzed from picking up the phone and making a deal, for fear that it would be admitting failure, and he'd lose his job immediately once the new owner comes in. I get it Hendry! We're not dumb....you want job security, and DFA-ing/trading your entire free agent crop of Vizcaino, Bako, Gathright, Bradley, and Miles would be damning to your reputation. That equates to $17 million you'd have to eat, because 3 are already gone, equating to $5 million, and Bradley and Miles have no value whatsoever in trades. The new owner's going to look at that, and be like, "wait, I'm trusting YOU with a $140 million payroll?!? You gotta be kidding me?"

The thing that also ate at me was the pen situation, where they publicly came out, and said it was unsettled before the season even started. Then, they had the lineup situation unsettled. Then, they had 3B unsettled, and were originally counting on Corey Koskie to fill the void, which would've bumped Hoffpauir off the roster (though they never told us that...it was obvious)---the same Koskie who was out of the game for 2 years because of concussion issues.

Hendry is beyond unbelievable right now.

The only feasible trade I can think of right now that'd improve our IF situation is trading for Felipe Lopez. Apparently the D'Backs are ready to cash in the season. But Lopez K's way too much for my liking for a guy with little power. Unless we blow up this team, there's no way to fix it. Does that make sense to you all? Like, you can't just slap a band-aid on a gaping hole in your knee....you need stitches to hold it together. That's what the Cubs need right now. Lopez, Kouzmanoff, Betemit, and any others that we can acquire would only be band-aids covering the real problem, and we're still bleeding out from underneath. Sooner or later, that band-aid gives way, because the blood soaks through, and you're left with a messy situation (ie.-lots of band-aid players, and no real stand-out player). The real problem on this team right now is RF, 1B, and 3B. Bradley, Lee, and Fontenot/Scales/Miles/Freel covering 3B. At premium power positions, we have little to no hr production, and hardly any RBI production.

That's precisely why we need to blow this thing up. If we turn it around in the next few weeks, and play consistent baseball, I'll be the first to eat crow, but if you think with your brain, not your heart, you'll see this just isn't possible

How did you fail to mention Soriano?

To me...as the highest paid position player...he is the worst underacheiver.

that might be true, especially given his .230's avg....but at the same time, the guy is really our ONLY power threat. I mean...think about that for a second. On every other contending team out there at the top of their respective divisions...they have power threats....multiple power threats.

The Yankees have Teixeira and AROD, among others

-The Red Sox have Bay, Lowell, Youkilis, Varitek, and Drew

-The Blue Jays have Lind, Hill, Rios, and Overbay

The Tigers have Cabrera, Inge and Granderson, among others

Pretty much the entire Rangers lineup are power threats

The Phillies have Utley, Howard, and others

The Brewers have pretty much their whole lineup

-The Cards, who are battling with them have Pujols, Ludwick, and Rasmus

The Dodgers have Kemp, Blake, and Eithier

we can't compete with that....We suck, and we need offense, and we need it NOW. None of this, "give Bradley more time" bullsh$t. It's getting old....nobody gets a pass

7:14 pm...whoever is out there...put on WGN am with Dave Kaplan...they are talking about Zell.

Suzy...I was listening. Not good news at all.

As I have stated over and over and over again, the SALE MUST BE COMPLETED ASAP!

boy - o - boy . another big day for Fuku. Looks like the annual 2H swoon has begun !!!

WTF !

:-)

by the way....I didn't like Brenly at first, but I love his commentary now. It's very insightful, and he says what's on his mind. He knows fundamentals very well. I was NOT a fan of him taking over the team before, but I'm sold on him now

Oh Yea, Brenley is good.

speaking of that, who would like to see be teh next manager ? he would be a good choice.

and I think Ryno would be good choice too.

Maddux should be pitching coach.

Personally, I like this:

Sandberg-manager

Maddux-pitching coach

Grace-hitting coach

Don Zimmer-bench coach (LOL...but seriously that would be awesome)

Aaron,

Totally with you....I would love to see that coaching staff.

We have to win now...Gregg did his job!

Is there a slower worker in all of baseball than LaTroy Hawkins? This guy makes Sutcliffe look fast.

at least Lee went the other way with his home run. If Soto and others can now take his lead we'll be so much better off....we still lack the power though to compete. As Brenly and Kasper like to say, "when you're down, or in extra innings...it really makes it easier if you have legitimate power threats in your lineup"....we have a free swinging one that loves to hit home runs with no one on-base....so I guess that doesn't qualify.

with the age of the team....the ineffective offense...I think we might need a white flag trade. White flag trades are not all that bad either...they replenish the system, get you younger, and might even lead to you competing in the same season.

We have $70 million locked up in Soriano, Lee, Fukudome, Bradley, Miles, Freel, Harden (b/c of injuries...white flag him), Gregg, and Heilman.

offensively:

(collectively between those 6 guys)

.230 avg, .311 OBP, 30 hr, 93 RBI

...and we're nearing the mid-way point. Comparatively speaking

Adrian Gonzalez:

.275 avg, .420 OBP, 22 hr, 43 RBI

Albert Pujols:

.319 avg, .440 OBP, 18 hr, 51 RBI

Carlos Lee:

.318 avg, .370 OBP, 10 hr, 38 RBI

Joey Votto (and he even has missed a month)

.357 avg, .464 OBP, 8 hr, 33 RBI

Mark Teixeira:

.296 avg, .399 OBP, 19 hr, 52 RBI

Prince Fielder:

.298 avg, .428 OBP, 15 hr, 55 RBI

So, nearly every team in our division has a single player that either has half the offense of 6 of our highest paid position players (Lee, Soriano, Bradley, Fukudome, and Miles are starters...Freel is bench) COMBINED

Adrian Gonzalez, by himself, has 8 less home runs than all 6 of those guys. Now, that, my friends, is PATHETIC

We really need a switch-up here. It has to be all out, and it has to be this year. Why? Because these same jokers are going to be a year older next year, and regress even further. I can't handle that.

Aaron...Aaron...Aaron...we all see that.

How do we get a taker for either Bradley OR Soriano???? ....and don't we need an owner...and a more astute judge of talent to do it right?

easy...you offer to pay half their contracts, which would make Soriano's $9 million/yr, and Bradley $5 million....and for those contracts, they become a lot more enticing.

Soriano has 5 yrs $90 million left on his deal, and Bradley 2 yrs $20 million left. We pay "just" $55 million, and we're done with those clowns instead of $110 million.

OK Aaron...Texas looks like a buyer this year...How about offering them to pick from our starting rotation...(save Z or Lilly)...in addition...they must take either Uncle Milty or Soriano back...preferably Sori...we get Josh Fields...that won't play much this year...scheduled for surgery/abdominal

strain and a prospect?

Why did you include Freel in that group ? He's a bench guy and a non-factor.

He has a roster spot (will once he comes off DL) and makes double the rookie minimum, which you could get with a Nate Spears, Thomas, etc. if you needed to. He doesn't produce much, and as someone on here said when we traded for him "several years too late"

Yea, but in the grand scheme of things, its a rounding error.

Wow.

I'm not trying to be a smart a**, but when was the last time DLee hit a huge clutch HR late in a game ?? Seriously.

I bet it has been at least a couple years.

Way to fight back, D. Lee! Now whose turn is it to give up the winning run to negate that comeback? Wonder what the odds are now that the Astros will push across that deciding run? I don't look for them to pull a "hapless Reds" thing from several days ago and give the Cubs time to somehow scratch out a run or two.

DLEE!!! Thankyou Latroy Hawkins!!!!

Glad he doesn't pitch for us anymore.

DLEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He used to be. Anyone know how he's pitched against us since we sent him away?

2.84 era overall this season...but he usually gives up something key against us...this is at least the second game tying HR he gave up to us this season.

Guys, I don't have CSN...so I can only listen...are we mailing it in today on get away day or what's the deal?

LaTroy Hawkins is very beatable.

Not today by the Cubs!!

After spending most of today at the hospital with my wife, I came in about the 8th inning to see I really hadn't missed much and things just keep repeating themselves....no offense spoils a great pitching performance!! How much longer can this go on before something is changed, tried, WHATEVER. You think Cub hitters have ever heard of putting a bat on the ball and going to the opposite field? Piniella admits he has no clue whatsoever; guess the coaches don't either. Who's left?

ok, and WTF would he take out Riot and put in Miles ??????

I think Lou is getting senile

:-)

$29,000,000 this year...Soriano and Bradley...almost all of Florida's payroll

and darn close to the Padre's and Pirates.

Surely we can do better.

Nah dont worry I dont take anything personal, especially my beliefs and opinions, ya know? After a bad game I dont get online find an outrageous stat to bring to the CCO's attention. I teach and play professional golf but you wont see me spouting off why tiger missed 60% of fairways. I love me some Cubbies no matter what and "I" think their destined for great things...Take care!!

LET'S GO OFFENSE! LET'S GO!!!!!

I think the starting pitchers should have a closed door meeting with the offense and speak some truth about the squandering of their efforts.

Good news for Iowa..Jake Fox just went 5-6 in the same inning today and they were all Grand Slams...but Hendry just said on the radio he won't be called up because his stats are too good and he's looking more for potential and isn't all about production.

6 of the position players today are hitting at .265 or below on the season.... and dempsters at .107

Same crap, another day. We have wasted so many great pitching performances from our starters this year...it is disgusting.

and this is our season in a nutshell...

1st and 3rd, no outs, 3-and-0 count to Theriot, he strikes out. Then, they bring in a lefty, and instead of pinch hitting Johnson for Fukudome, he leaves him in, and he reverts back to the wail and bail of last year, which is what most of us feared when he started hot again this year (sure enough....same old...same old)

I don't care what Hendry has to do. After yesterday and today, with the Cards and Brewers gifting us some games...and we can't capitalize....there NEEDS to be changes. I don't care if that's DFA'ing Miles, or putting Bradley on the DL FINALLY, or optioning Blanco for more offense. I really don't care, but this offense his HORRENDOUS.

I don't mean to call you out, man...because it's nice to have you back on here, but I think you've missed what even the optimists on here were saying earlier this season. "you can't say it's early forever"....and you are essentially saying that. In fact, the kool-aid drinkers will be saying that in September if we're 10 games out with 9 games to play. They'll still say, "anything can happen"....LOL, I love it.

Fact is, we're hanging on by a thread because the teams in front of us hit a rough patch. With their dominating win last night, and their come from behind win today, my guess is the Cardinals will go on a hot streak, and leave us in their dust. You simply cannot win the division without offense. We proved that last year, which is why we did so well, and even then, remember the scare we had in September with the Brewers? Trust me, offense ultimately wins the games. You can pitch a no-hitter, but if your team doesn't score...it doesn't mean a thing. Make sense?

The Cubs have I think the 26th ranked offense out of 30 teams. It's clear that our starting pitchers are the sole reason we've still been in this division, but as the year goes on, and team offenses start settling in more....we'll be in even greater danger, because our offense hasn't showed up all year....ALL year. Even in games we score more than 4 runs, we still are inept, and squander countless opportunities to tack on, which is what Neil constantly harps about in late innings with us, "need some tack on runs", and we don't....and Gregg or Marmol gives it all up. That's why we're no good...and the funny thing is, Cubs fans around are claiming that once ARAM gets back, we'll be better. No, we won't....the 4th spot in the lineup will be better, but it takes a team effort, and he will be a one man show, which is what he was before he got hurt.

Lou pinch hit for Reed last night with Fuku after they brought in a righty. Why the heck wouldn't he have done the same today when they brought in a lefty to face Fuku ????



WTF.

I knew Fuk would whiff when all we needed was contact.

UGH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Cy Young Ortiz was a joke.... this guys been a mediocre to complete bum pitcher his entire career

Did we really get only 3 hits against Russ Ortiz -- Would that be the Cy Young Russ Ortiz or the ancient washed up useless soft-tossing Russ Ortiz?

THIS IS HORRIFIC....... HORRIFIC.... ABYSMAL!!!

At this point, the pitching has caught up to where it needs to be, but there is something completely wrong with the offense. Someone has to be to blame for this, whether it's Trammel, Perry, or Lou. Hendry may have made some piss poor decisions in the offseason, but he's not working with these guys game-wise.

but this team can't do the little things right. runner on first and third nobody out and both theriot and fukudome strike out, ground out or fly ball ties the game. this team will not win the divison if they keep playing this way.

Its a game, ya know? We all love watching and letting our opinions be known. With that being said its June 11th and we are only 2 1/2 games back w/o our only clutch hitter. DLee is coming along better, Soto looks like he's shaping up. My personal belief is bradley will come out of this funk. I dont care about stats, Im a golfer all I worry about is par's & birdies!! Look at the Yankees, Tex was horrid while A-ROD was out, but now he has insurance behind him he's tearing the cover off it.. Take care finally I gave my 2 cents :)

Actually, Tex was doing juts fine with AROD out in terms of hr and RBI...it was his avg that wasn't that great. With AROD back, his average has climbed up.

You're right about Lee and Soto...but at the same time, I don't trust them to keep it up. Why? Because they haven't all year. Bradley? You gotta be kidding me

Speechless...

Just came in.

What happened?

Ah you know, typical Cubs offense: runners 1st and 3rd, no one out, and they did nothing with it. All in a days work.

Wow you'd think we were the Washington Nationals or something with all the remarks.. No wonder I never make any comments, Id have clinical depression by now.. A nice win today would end a very respectable road trip. Take care and GO Cubs! Be Happy

Sorry Jeff, just nothing good to talk about today with the team playing like crap. At least our starting pitchers know how to do it right, and it's quite funny noting that our pitchers have been getting hits when the position players can't. LOL...What a pitiful offense...2 GIDP's, 2 hits, and one of them is from our pitcher...WOW

Rough first for Dempster...but it could have been worse

no milty !!

wooooooooo !!!!!

maybe we'll score more than 1 run today !

In the same Sun-Times article Lou expressed (relative to Fox)...

''If we sit him here he can lose some of his sharpness,''

Gee, Lou, you took a kid batting .420+ and sat his ass on the bench v. inserting his bat everyday in the lineup. What an idiot!

another note about the draft. Last night I lammented that we couldn't draft a guy right in our backyard that leads the nation in hitting....his name was Nommensen.

However, today, I came across another I just can't figure out why we didn't go after him: Kent Matthes-OF-Alabama. He hit 28 hr, 80+ RBI, .350+avg, .460+OBP

The Rockies nabbed him, I believe in the 4th round. We got his teammate, a 2B, Brandon May in the 36th round, which is how I found out about this guy.

Guys, it's no wonder why this team can't draft any decent power hitters, or any type of REAL position talent....They completely ignore the statistics.

I invite you to look back through articles, describing our drafts. I did....You know what I found? I found the following types of comments:

"We love his frame. While he lacks velocity, we believe he'll add more once he fills out."

"He's a toolsy guy, who knows how to play the game. While his stats don't show it, we believe with a few adjustments, he'll make more contact."

"He's got a very short, quick stroke to the ball, and should translate to more power."

Do you notice anything? Guys, the reason we don't draft well, is because we have Hendry at the top, looking to outsmart the rest of the league not only with his idiotic free agent signings, but also with his draft picks. They all have one common denominator....They were drafted/signed with "potential" in mind..."potential when healthy", "potential to fill out", "potential to add velocity later on", "potential to make more contact with our coaching"....blah blah blah.

Honestly, I never noticed this before, until I began examining picks of other teams, and saw what they were going for. Our scouting department is unbelievably bad. As I said, they're trying to out-fox the entire league with some of their picks, but they absolutely have no stats to back any of it up. I want to give you Tyler Colvin's stats right here, so you can see case in point what I mean:

At Clemson:

freshman-.289 avg, .350 OBP, 2 hr, 19 RBI, 11 walks, 16 K's

sophomore-.287 avg, .327 OBP, 5 hr, 53 RBI, 14 walks, 31 K's

junior-.356 avg, .419 OBP, 13 hr, 70 RBI, 28 walks, 42 K's

He is the definition of a Hendry pick

So is Brett Jackson:

freshman-43 games, .230 avg, .382 OBP, 0 hr, 4RBI, 12 walks, 20 K's

sophomore-.307 avg, .404 OBP, 4 hr, 40 RBI, 24 walks, 36 K's

junior-.321 avg, .407 OBP, 8 hr, 41 RBI, 29 walks, and a ridiculous 61 K's in 53 games

Words cannot express how disappointed I am in this scouting department. I meant to do this years ago, but I guess with the data now available online it's not necessary...but I was going to create a spreadsheet with who we selected, their stats, and the players selected with the next 30 picks (only for rounds 1-4), and just see how badly our scouts missed....See, my theory was that you just do those rounds to see how many other teams missed in between, as they could select anyone too. I just think that the margin our scouts miss is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad, I just can't believe what I'm seeing.

I hope Jackson turns out okay, but there were better options. I have LeMahieu turns out okay, but again, there were better options (Nommensen to name one) available...hold on a sec...I just have to give you Nommensen's stats for a minute (keep in mind...this kid was right in our own backyard, and we missed him). He's a PURE HITTER:

freshman-.325 avg, .429 OBP, 1 hr, 27 RBI, 29 walks, 21 K's, 11 SB

sophomore-.309 avg, .390 OBP, 0 hr, 15 RBI, 17 walks, 19 K's, 13 SB

junior-.402 avg, .518 OBP, 5 hr, 36 RBI, 18 SB, and 35 walks vs a paltry 14 K's

senior-.525 avg, .652 OBP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 hr, 27 RBI (done in only 31 games), 23 walks vs only 7 K's, and a ridiculous 1.010 SLG

Sorry, but in the 8th round, he was still available....you can't pass up a talent like that. Those numbers are incredible. As I said, look to the top.

If you think this team sucks right now...it's because Hendry can't identify talent, and gives HUGE contracts to players with "potential" when they've proven nothing. If you think our system's weak, then all you have to do is look to him as well. He's the one that hires the player development and oversees it. As I've said, it's very telling when you haven't developed a single high draft pick (rounds 1-5) in your 7 years at the helm. After all, those high rounds are where you make your money. You HAVE to come out with at least 2-3 decent major leaguers during that time. Every other team does. Why can't we do it? Even the bad teams like the Pirates, Astros, Rays (prior to last year), Marlins, etc. do it. We've had terrible teams during that time 2002, 2005, 2006. We had the opportunities, and we never capitalized. The draft is where you build your team. You build it for trades. You build it for the future, and with some juniors and seniors, you build it for now.

This was frustrating. I studied this draft pretty good, and was believing what the scouting department was saying until I started looking outside the organization. That's the key from here on out guys. DO NOT BELIEVE A DAMN WORD THIS TEAM SAYS...either in draft reports, free agent signings, and ESPECIALLY injuries (we should know better there with the Wood and Prior sagas). Research it yourself.

Some may say, "well, some other teams reached with certain picks." Right, but the difference is, those teams know what they're looking for and know what they're doing long-term. We don't. In fact, this might hit home with a lot of you.

I equate the Cubs scouting department and draft philosophies to that of the Oakland Raiders. We all know how BAD they are at identifying, drafting, and developing talent. That's the perfect analogy. We ARE the Oakland Raiders, and while they have a senile owner that's driven them into the ground, we have an over-matched, unprepared GM that's driven us into the ground, and he has nobody to answer to right now.

Sorry...I know it's a downer what I just said, but it's frustrating. I think we got some decent talent, but we missed so badly early on.

Aaron, you may be right...I can't say

because I have not researched as much as you...but a few points

1)Brett Jackson was one of the six names

You submitted...that you hoped would fall to us at 31...the three you ranked ahead of him...were already gone.

2)As far as direction goes...Hendry was a lame-duck with NO DIRECTION except to win NOW as soon as McPhail left...and the whole organization with him.

It all goes to the same thing...we need

a new owner and the vision he/they can

provide...to get the organization on more solid footing.

No organization can survive long without vision...and we've been 2 1/2 years without that now.

3)Although the Cubs have captured my heart...growing up here...and many games in the bleachers...I am a Boston native

and do follow them on the side.

A comment by their scouting director caught my attention when they selected a

hs player out of Puerto Rico..."He's been on our radar for 2 years now...and we couldn't believe our luck that he was still there when it was our turn."

I don't believe I've ever heard the Cubs say they followed and keyed in on a young talent for 2 years...which goes to your point of our scouting department.

Let's hope the new owner...be it Ricketts or someone else...has the baseball savvy to reset the ship in the right direction...until that time...don't have a coronary over the Cubs...it isn't worth it.

RE: Jackson

I was going off information from rumors leaked about who we were interested in drafting. The sources are in the community post. I did not, however, know about these other guys available, and the only thing I can surmise is the fact they were about 22 and 23 yrs old, and for whatever reason, the pre-requisite for first rounders seems to be 21 and under. Team rarely draft seniors in the first round, but they love juniors and high schoolers for whatever reason. I don't agree with it. I actually think it might be better to draft seniors as opposed to juniors, because you have a better read on their talent, but I understand with Rule 5 draft factors, etc., and wanting to have players in your system longer.

I guess my main point is that if you have talent like Nommensen in your back yard....you HAVE to sign him. That's not only an indictment of the Cubs, but also the White Sox, who have a barren system right now as well.

I've met plenty of scouts before....both as a player when I was scouted, coaching in college, and now working in professional baseball, and I can tell you this....it's RARE that many of these guys are qualified. In fact, there was a scout for a (will be un-named) team on the West Coast that verbally gave me his bio, and we compared history, and I intimated to him that I'd one day entertain being a scout, and he's like, "well, you're far more qualified than I ever was."

These guys are covering everything in their territory....minor league games, high school games, college games, show-cases, etc. They are spread very thin, and rarely do they have a second set of eyes, until it gets time for cross-checking, and at that point, it's almost too late.

I hold the belief that you should have goals in your territory. For instance:

1)top 10 offensive guys for power

2)top 10 offensive guys for average

3)top 10 offensive guys for OBP

4)top 10 offensive guys for SB

5)top 10 pitchers in wins

6)top 10 pitchers in K's

7)top 10 pitchers in ERA

All you have to do is get statistical leaders, and you then coordinate your travel plans based on that. If it's a rain delay, then you work the kid out indoors, etc.

Our head baseball coach in college doubled as a scout for the White Sox, and to this day, I have no clue how that worked exactly, because it's kind of a conflict of interest. But that guy was horrible as a coach, and our assistant coaches were far better than he was at identifying and developing talent. He was fat too (not that I'm discriminating), but most of the scouts I've seen are that way. So, if they're not athletic themselves, how do you expect them to identify good talent? I'm not saying that you can't be large, and be a good scout...I'm merely saying that it's harder to be an objective evaluator.

Anyway, sorry for the long-winded posts, but to summarize....if you're analytical, know how to look over stats, and are dedicated, then you'll be a good scout. There just aren't too many of those old school guys around anymore.

Isn't pinch hitters one the things that a manager should keep track of...lol Seriously, I think Lou should retire. I like him, but he seems to be missing a lot of things this year.

Lou's managing this year has been nothing short of pathetic. In every interview he just comes across as dumber and dumber.

Listen to Lou:

"Speaking of hitting, Lou Piniella was apparently unaware that Jake Fox was 5-for-6 as a pinch-hitter. According to the Sun-Times Piniella's response, "My. God, don't tell me that. Really? Five-for-six pinch-hitting? Oh, well."

What have I been telling you all year? LOU IS IN A COMA!

This guy, and JHendry, are frustrating people.

Lou kinda sounds like a jag regarding Jake Fox

I like it!

Starting Lineup today:

LF Soriano

SS Theriot

CF Fukudome

1B Lee

RF Hoffpauir

3B Fontenot

C Hill

2B Blanco

P Dempster