Aaron, thanks for the welcome back.

It looks to me like you enjoyed the humor and missed the important points. You started with faint praise: "You are an eternal optimist and I am an eternal realist." Besides pessimist being the opposite of optimist, realist implies right and idealist implies something less--a continuation of your self-serving ways.

I did not "miss the big picture" as charged on the big player contracts. Once again, I wasn't wrong and you weren't right. I said they are likely gone--because they will expire in 2110 and 2111. You tought me a lesson in the difficulty of moving long-term, no trade contracts that I (and most everyone) has known for many years. I wasn't thinking trade.

Your "hopeful" position re a team turnaround this year probably prevails over a blockbuster deal that you prefer. With the big contracts and despite the new owner, we could be looking (mainly) at the "turnaround option" next year too.

Re your views of your views during the last post season: reduction in performances happens--especially after a 97 win, relatively healthy season--and you predicted nine of the five actual cases. LOL I don't recall your predicting that anyone would do noticeably better.

If you had said that JH should stand pat or that he should wait until the tail end of the hot stove league where he would find Abreu, Hudson and Dunn still looking for short-terem jobs at bargain prices, you could claim genius. Or, maybe I missed your point and the facts indicated to anyone who didn't just fall the turnip truck that the clearance bins would be full of Abreu's, Hudson's and Dunn's at the end of winter.

It's amazing how you call up and throw away 20-20 hindsight which sometimes is the basis of your arguments (that you try so hard and so unnecessarily to accumulate and throw into the mix). I suggest you give the rest of us the benefit of the doubt occasionally and consider the possibility that, occasionally, a message of yours might be more self-serving than illuminating and collegial.

And don't put too much stock into the four posters who never question your wisdom. Statictically, one of four people in that clan also shouts, You can do it!" to the guy thinking about jumping off the 10 story building. It's obvious too to anyone who has researched the facts that another one of those people are hoping the guy jumps.

Some have asked, "Where is JimK?" Thanks. As Chi Chi once said to Agustin at a golf tournament, "I've been busier than a pair of jumper cables at a Puerto Rican picnic!"

When I left over the excessive negativism and willingness of some to spread scorn among the (still) hopeful, I spent some time at the playground and on the street corner. I thought that maybe it's my attitude that needs some adjustment. But the police were called to the playground, and two that I know said, "OK, your name calling may need improvement, but get the hell out of here anyway. Statistically, one out of three guys who show up here are pedophiles." I tried building a repetoir of "Your mamma's so fat" profound statements on the corner. But then two of the guys indicated that they had been turned down for jobs washing dishes, and another announced proudly that he had made the license plate on my car. I decided that the corner wasn't my thang.

So, I gave some thought to, "What is major league baseball--or even baseball in general?" It became clear that MLB is the least pure form of a game in which Big People (star batsman) fail 70% of the time and (star pitchers) win about one half their opportunities. Big People may be Prima Dons and (unfortunately)some of the Dons rest on their oars and may cheat with PED's. The Little People (usually less gifted grinders who give their all) are those who most often keep the purity of the game alive. Collectively they are often the difference between successful and unsucessful seasons.

Day in and day out over a 162 game season, the difference between winning and losing usually comes down to five or six of the dozen players who play getting couple of key hits or outs--or not. The rest can contribute by "doing the little things" on defense and having occasional success doing the little things on offense. With the Star System's stilted compensation and long-term contracts relegating most (likely) contenders to mediocre replacements, a couple of key injuries an easily sidetrack a team's possibilities. Add to that the facts that baseball luck and performance anomalies season-to-season weigh in, and MLB becomes a gamea where imperfect organizational and/or management solutions meet uncertain outcomes. But Yogi is right about outcomes.

A winning season is more than just an accolade for the last team standing in October. That singular criterium is a strange phenomenon with a few whose obsessive use of the criteria suggests that they never come in second or third or may even trail in their everyday fields of endeavor. Winning it all or at least superior achievement consistent with circumstances are important aims, and vibrant, sometimes emotional, criticism of lackluster play and management is also part of the game.

But family considerations come into play too as does the phenomenon of having hope until there is decisively no reason to have hope. Most "big shots" are little shots that simply prepared and kept shooting--and emerged in a valued place when their game of life reached the late innings. Baseball is a metaphor for life.

Most admirable people accept and respect the lingering loyalty, enthusiasm and persistence most of us have for family and team. It is to be noted that, for many of us, team is family. You don't keep a seat at the "big table" by saying, "Your family is fat, but they sweat less than any fat group I know."

One who might say that long-term enthusiasts ought to be embarassed for their feelings and also says that CCO is not a place for personal calling out, ought to be cogent enough to recognize that there is no difference in the criticisms. That is playground and street corner stuff, there is too much of it here for the good of the CCO site. Rampant negativism ought to be reined in. Excessive negativism has polluting effects and usually detracts from enjoyment wherever you find it.

It is likely that most all of the foregoing can be taken to the Ernie Banks--says a guy who has been aroung long enough to know.

All of that said, this year's edition of the Cubs has been more than disappointing, and I too have been "Mad as Hell on Occasion! We are partly to blame. JH mirrored our interests after two wash-outs in the post season. We called for offensive changes, even if budget constraints meant moving contracts. Most of us thought Hendry was right to move early in the post season when player costs (it turned out) were at their highest as was player availability. You don't play the "coulda game" in real life so getting Hudson and Abreu for the price of Bradley wasn't really in the cards. It will prove to be the case that JH should have done only the minor tweaking that was his other(affordable)option if/when this team falls into also-ran status.

Those who say we traded Marquis for Vizcaino also don't have the real story--forgetting the saving of $5 mil. (Can you believe that Maquis is the ace of the Rockies staff with 7 wins and the only starter with an ERA under 4. Of course, Hendry the Horrible should have not listened to our calls for change and stood pat. Of course, like us, he knows that we are smarter than he is so he decided to take some risks.

Clearly, Bradley hasn't delivered (yet) and the Big People will take us down if most of them don't step up big time. They may not, in which case Plan A (which was to sign Big People with the long-term contracts and terms they regularly get) only worked to move us from obscurity to two Divisional Chamionships.

Maybe Plan A is subject to improvement yet with better health, effort and/or management, and we turn the Titanic into the Love Boat. If not, Plan B likely means that Big People like DLee, Aram, Lilly, Dome, Bradley and others whose contracts are up by the end of 2111 will be gone. We will be in rebuilding/re-tooling mode and likely struggling to become an elite team.

I recall Harry Carey once being asked if he could equate, "It Could Be, It Might Be, It Is!!! to judging what's possible for team success over a long season. He said like each phrase represents about 40 games. He pointed out that, if you are 8 or 10 games out after 120 games, you can forget about it. That works for me!

Welcome back JimK!

You said some pretty funny stuff with the playground and all.

We tend to disagree on most things, but we're both true fans. You're eternal optimist...I'm eternal realist. We can co-exist. Let's hug it out...LOL

But in all seriousness, I have to agree with the statement you made about Plan B...though, unfortunately, you missed out on the big picture, which is why I think with the new owner, Hendry is gone. Out of all the players you mentioned: Lee, Bradley, ARAM, Fukudome, and Lilly, only Lilly is without no-trade protection.

We all know that "no-trade" doesn't necessarily mean that, but we do know that it makes it next to impossible (see Peavy and Giles as recent examples). Really, only ARAM, Fukudome, and Lilly would have value anyhow. We simply can't trade ARAM, because he's our only true RBI threat. Lee also already turned down Hendry's request to waive his no-trade this past offseason. I believe Soriano was asked as well. Both declined.

It's true, we have about 110 games left, but time is running out to turn this thing around, and the only way I see it turning around is if Hendry can wheel and deal some veterans like Lee, Bradley, Soriano, and Lilly. Unfortunately, only Lilly seems tradeable at this point.

I'm hopeful that we can turn it around, but I'm also taking a "I'll believe it when I see it" sort of approach, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it, or I'm less of a fan.

I just think I noticed things IMMEDIATELY in the offseason...well...even in the postseason (saying that Lee looked old and tired, Soto would come back to his minor league averages, and Fukudome was horrible and we needed to replace him). I was only wrong with Fukudome (thus far at least), and his offensive stats actually project to be above average for a CF, which better suits his offensive production. I was not a fan of the Gregg trade at all. I was not a fan of the DeRosa trade, nor the Gathright signing. Especially not the Bradley signing, nor the Bako signing, or trading semi-valuable prospects/bench players like Cedeno, Pie, and Hill for practically nothing.

As it turns out, I was right in every single category, but the Fukudome situation. How was I able to predict it? Simply looking at stats. That's all you really have to do. When you trade a guy that is a closer-in-waiting (Ceda) that throws 100 mph, and K's about 12 men per 9 innings, and get a guy in return that K's about 7.5/9 innings, and gives up over 1 hit per inning, then you're in serious trouble if you expect that guy to be your closer. If you count on a volatile, enigmatic, and injury prone guy to be your answer in RF (a highly visible, and a position that comes with significant production expectations), then you're asking for failure. If you sign a guy (Gathright) to twice the contract of a similar, younger player you have (Pie), and expect him to learn how to hit, when he's had more time that your own player to prove it in the bigs, and still hasn't....then you're asking for trouble. When you trade your most valuable player on the team last year (DeRosa) for guys that probably won't even see the light of day in the bigs, and don't replace his production: 21 hr, 87 RBI, .285 avg, .376 OBP (.262 avg, .333 OBP, 8 hr, 34 RBI already this year...and in a new league to boot), and hinge it all on your "hope" that Bradley can stay healthy, even though in his best season, he hit .321, .436 OBP, 22 hr, 77 RBI, and this year is hitting just .224, .343 OBP 5 hr, 14 RBI.....

you best be answering some questions. The best Hendry can come up with is excuses for the sale of the team taking to long. The fact is, it IS taking entirely too long, but for 2 1/2 years now, he's been operating essentially autonomously, without an owner to answer to. Now, he's claiming the same lack of owner must've caused him to make HORRIBLE offseason decisions.

I've played out the financials for everyone on here before, so I don't need to get into it...but with all the offseason maneuvering that Hendry did, he actually cost us millions, and that INCLUDES factoring in Wood and DeRosa's contracts.

$15 million vs $24 million

$5 million(Vizcaino/Marquis), $2 million (Miles), $800k (Gathright), $200K (Bako...I believe that was the buyout), $4 million (Gregg), $2 million (Gaudin), $10 million (Bradley)

He essentially added $9 million in pay roll. So, hypothetically speaking, let's just say he let's Wood walk...that'd represent an addition of $10 million to the bank roll, which would make the gap $19 million. With $19 million, he could've signed Dunn ($9 million), Hudson ($3 million), and still had $7 million left to fill other holes (and potentially convince Wood to take that money). He would've solved the "balance" problem in the lineup with Hudson and Dunn, and would allow DeRosa to be the super sub again.

Everyone says "hindsight is 20-20", but guess what?!? The facts were already out there. Hendry and Piniella both said as much recently, when they commented that pitching was NOT a concern in the offseason...it was the offense, and they knew that going in.

Really? Then why didn't they do something about it. Did they really think Miles, Gathright, and the oft-injured Bradley would be the answers? LOL. The fact they admitted as much puts Hendry even more under the microscope for the suscpicious trades of DeRosa and Pie to "free" up payroll and obtain prospects the Pads supposedly wanted for DeRosa. But with Z, Dempster, Lilly, and Harden coming back, they didn't really need the pitching, did they?

Anyway, just food for thought. I wasn't trying to start an argument with anyone...just stating facts.

JimK, again...it is very good to have you back...keep posting

Welcome back...you have been missed!

Welcome back!!!

Wow Aaron there is nothing wrong with using the word Hell. I have seen muchworse on here. Hell is blashemy not a curse word, so please leave your religious beliefs out of this site thank you.

Religious beliefs have nothing to do with it. My son is autistic and he picks up on certain words when he reads things. I like for him to read posts on this site because they are usually clean and I don't have to worry about him using that word in front of his younger sister. I LOVE that he is able to read things on here because it allows us to bond and connect with something together. But, all I ask is that the inappropriate language is stopped, otherwise I'll have to tell him that he can no longer read posts on this site...which I do not want to have to do. Please, discussing the Cubs is something that my son and me love to do and I have not found a greater site to fuel that discussion. I want to be sure that everyone is able to have healthy and spirited discussions. Thank you.

I apologize. I totally see your point. Thought you had a different motive.

Thank you.

Actually, it's not surprising to me, because I called it in the off-season, and said people should stop "banking" on numbers for players into their 30's like they did in the past, especially Cubs fans, who'd often say:

"Lee is good for .295, .385 OBP, 30 hr, 90-100 RBI, etc"

It just isn't the case for older players anymore that can't use "greenies" or PEDs anymore like they used to in order to get through the season. Furthermore, when you have Lee, Soriano, and Bradley that all signed BIG contracts after their respective career years, when they'd been very up and down throughout their careers, what the hell do you expect?!? Then, couple that with Soto, coming off a ROY selection, and his own version of a career year, along with our supposed starting 2B Fontenot, also coming off a career year for himself, and you're playing with fire. That's 5 out of 8 in your lineup that either don't have the historicals to prove their career years weren't a fluke, or in the case of Soriano, Lee, and Bradley, they have the historicals to prove that you can't count on them to produce anywhere close to their career year numbers.

Lee is NOT a .330, .400 OBP, 40+ hr, 110+ RBI man, and never was. He had a GREAT season in 2005, but one season does NOT make a trend.

Similarly, Soriano is NOT a .350+ OBP, 40+hr, 95+ RBI, 40+ SB guy. He had a GREAT season in 2006, but before that was nothing more than a .320-.330 OBP, 30+hr, and around 90 RBI man.

Likewise, Bradley is NOT a .320+ hitter, .420+ OBP, 20+ hr, 70+ RBI man. He's more in like with .270+, .360 OBP, 10+ hr, 50+ RBI man

What the hell was Hendry thinking?!?

Aaron, (and I believe that Neil will agree with me on this one) this is meant to be a forum for all ages and I personally find your use of vulgar language to be quite offensive...I'm not trying to be mean, but if we could just watch our language, I think we can all enjoy healthy and spirited discussions. Thank you.

Hell if you know he might use language that you find offensive don't read it. Nothing offensive about what he wrote so why don't you come down off your high horse.

My kids love to go on this site. I want to be sure that what they are reading is clean, healthy and spirited. Again, thank you for understanding. Hopefully with cleaner language we may have a top notch forum free for healthy and spirited discussions.

Totally understand your view but you cannot keep your children from hearing or reading those words all you can do is show them the proper way to talk and help them make the decision with the right words to use.

What would you do if your were at Wrigley and they heard much, much worse when Soriano goes 0-4?

So when will Soriano be a team player and take himself out because Lou is obviously not going to. Soto has been such a disappointment. Would this have happened if they re-signed Henry Blanco? Would Soto have come to ST in shape and ready to play.

Your kids dont post under the handle

"candlefighter" do they.? Long story. just asking.

They do not post, they just read and then we discuss at dinner.

SantoFever09:

What vulgar language did Aaron just use?

"What the HELL was Hendry thinking?!?"

Thank you for understanding. Hopefully with cleaner language we may have a top notch forum free for healthy and spirited discussions.

Is Aaron allowed to subsitute "Hell" for "Hades"?

Since my kids go on here daily (almost multiple times a day, they LOVE it, thanks Neil!) I want them to be able to read clean posts...Having said that, I would prefer...

What the heck was Hendry thinking?

or

What was Hendry thinking?

This way, you can express your opinion, while still being clean.

Thank you for understanding. Hopefully with cleaner language we may have a top notch forum free for healthy and spirited discussions.

Are you a spammer? There was no vulgar language in that post. Please give it a rest. If that's all you do is complain, and you have nothing constructive to say, then I think it's time to find a new hobby buddy.

Aaron:

I've notice that also. I got your back Bro.

You wanna hear an amazing, sickening stat ?

Over the last 2 weeks, Lee, Soriano, and Soto have 3 RBI - COMBINED !!!!!!!!

That's unbelievable.

I could get that many by batting lefthanded with my eyes closed.

Pathetic.

I agree that is a sobering stat! I've been repeating on Neil's blog here for some time that Soriano and Soto are the two major culprits of the deterioration of the Cubs offense. You can add D. Lee, but he does comtribute mightily on defense at first base when he's healthy and in the lineup. Soto and Soriano don't contribute now even on defense; however, I don't have much hope that they will be out of the lineup for any time and the drought will likely continue. Now that's what pathetic. The Cubs will live or die with them ,and for quite a while they have been DEAD.