According to a report from the Sun-Times, Jeff Stevens will be recalled on Friday from Triple-A Iowa. The Cubs will option Kevin Hart back to Iowa in order to provide depth in the bullpen over the weekend against the Cardinals.
Updated - 5:06pm C.T. - Jason Waddell activated and optioned to Triple-A Iowa
Jeff Stevens posted a 0-3 record in 30 games out of the I-Cubs pen with a 2.18 ERA (20 walks, 43 strikeouts, 25 hits in 41 1/3 innings).
In other news: Geovany Soto could miss the entire series against the Cardinals. Jake Fox will likely serve as Koyie Hill's backup ... and Chris Carpenter will face Rich Harden in game one on Friday, not Brad Thompson.
Update - According to a report from ESPN 1000, the Cubs made another roster move on Thursday. Jason Waddell was activated from the 15-day DL and optioned to Triple-A Iowa.
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I like Stevens a lot! But its also safe to say that Hart will be back after the all-star break.
Hey Aaron whats you take on Stevens? Im worried that he almost walks more batters then hits allowed.
Hey does anybody know the kid in are system who has like 39K's and only 2 walks? I'D ALSO LIKE if the Cubs called up John Gaub within the next month or so.
Phil,
My take is that he is what he is...he wasn't even on the Indians Top 30 prospect list when we got him (in fact, neither Archer, Gaub, nor Stevens were...which is a most pathetic return in my opinion)Archer is the only one that could even be considered an actual "prospect" given his age relative to his competition. Both Gaub and Stevens were much older in their respective leagues coming up:
Stevens: 3 years in A ball (4 if you count rookie), 2 years in AA, and 2 years in AAA....not exactly the ascension you'd want from a MLB caliber player.
Gaub: had nice progression each year from rookie to A ball to AA and AAA this year. But, you must keep in mind that in A ball, at 23 years old (when he DOMINATED with 100 K's in 64 IP, he was generally 2-3 years older than most of his competition)
Both he and Stevens walk a TON of batters.
RE: the kid that has like 39 K's, only 2 walks...you'd be speaking of none other than 21 year old Chris Huseby, one time "bonus baby" of the Cubs, who finally has overcome control issues that plagued him early on when the Cubs considered him a starter to put up 45 k's to only 3 walks in 32 IP in relief this year. My theory on that is, (young starters in particular) he probably was over-throwing the ball, trying to punch it threw a brick wall as a young starter, and in relief, you're more relaxed, and feel stronger naturally, only having to pitch 1, maybe 2 innings at a time, so you don't feel the need to over-throw.
At 6-7, Huseby very well could be the next Adam Wainwright, who had similar control issues early on in his career, then overcame them in a relief role, then back to starter..or, at the very least he might be a useful arm in the pen in the near future.
I don't like Fox being the back-up catcher...it means we can't put his bat in the lineup...in case Hill goes down.
Bring up Robinson or Clevenger...either dfa Baker or send Fontenot down to make room.
Exactly.
It will be interesting to see what we have in Stevens...(part of the DeRo trade)
B) Good move by the Cardinals to send their best against us on the first day of the series. If they can keep our bats silent again...it could boomerang for the whole series....not in our favor.
I agree...it was a VERY sound, strategic move on their part, especially considering 5+ERA, and resident gopher-ball deliverer Harden is going against them tomorrow.
With the way Carpenter has been pitching, it most certainly will have a lasting psychological impact on our offense. I'd be surprised if we could recover from that.
Also, RE: Fox as back-up catcher...he wouldn't have played anyway in LF, as Soriano cried about his playing time last night to Piniella, and we all know that Piniella won't stand up to his veteran players (idle threats early on, no action; berating Bradley, telling him to go home, then starting him the next day). As far as I'm concerned, I just don't see any possible way that Clevenger or Robinson get called up. This has been Cubs Management's M.O. this year----stand pat until you absolutely have to make a change. If you'll notice with almost every single one of our injuries from Lee (neck), Soto (hand..now oblique), Soriano and Bradley (legs), Johnson (back), the Cubs are content with staying pat, waiting for their injuries to magically heal....LOL. It's especially hilarious when a team that so desperately needs an offensive spark is willing to let their veterans dictate whether or not they hit the DL when they quite obviously can't help the team in their conditions.
As far as sending Fontenot down, or DFA-ing Baker....I just don't see that happening either. For crying out loud, the Baker situation is almost exactly like Freel. We have a glaring need for more offense, and 2 guys (Freel before and Baker now) that could at the very least spell the ineffective Fontenot for awhile...but yet they both rot on the bench. The thought process behind these free agent signings (Hendry), trades (Hendry), lineup changes (Piniella), and call-ups (both of them have input) is just beyond me.
It's almost like watching Dumb & Dumber, where Lloyd and Harry run out of gas in their dog mobile, and Lloyd trades in the dog mobile for a miniature motorcycle to drive all the way from Nebraska to Aspen.....What Hendry and
****Piniella have basically done...is Hendry is (dumb)...Piniella is (dumber)****, is Hendry has provided a horrible offense with a few pieces to and thinks it's good enough to win, while Piniella claims the offense is no good, yet does nothing about it. Like Harry (Piniella), sitting in the cornfield with his butt crack showing complaining and feeling sorry for himself, while Lloyd (Hendry) goes to town (Iowa), and picks up some lesser pieces that might perform better than his current "transportation". As Lloyd says in the movie, "I can get 50 miles to the gallon on this hog"....though, unlike the movie, Harry (Piniella) doesn't jump on board with the idea. In fact, he's quite dumber than any of us ever imagined, isn't he?
It's like Hendry does a dumb thing....Piniella does even dumber things right after that. Okay, Lou...you don't like the offense you've been given? Hendry has given you Fox, Hoffpauir, Blanco, Fuld, and Baker (Freel before that). So put them in, and sit the underperforming players like Soriano, Bradley, Fukudome, and Fontenot, and let these guys play for like a week straight and see what they can do. Additionally, you complain about the pen....Stop freaking using Gregg as closer, and put in Guzman, who clearly has won that job. What's that...you were fed up with Cotts....Heilman? Why didn't you use the others more in the pen like Hart, Ascanio, Samardzija, and Waddell when you had the chance? Hendry eventually had to send most of them down because of inactivity.
He complains, complains, complains, and complains about the offense that "Dumb" has given him. Yet, what have we seen all year (post ARAM injury)?
We've seen a combination of:
Soriano-LF
Theriot-SS
Lee-1B
Bradley-RF
Fukudome-CF
Soto-C
Fontenot-3B
Blanco/Miles/Freel/Baker-2B
I mean, that's it....With Fukudome basically going 0-fer-June and a few games this month, the prudent thing to do would've been getting Fuld in there, or Johnson more (prior to his injury). With Soriano equally as bad...actually worse than Fukudome in June, the prudent thing to do would've been Hoffpauir in this place, or at least Fox. And when ARAM went down, Piniella recently explained that he didn't realize Fox was this good. Really?!? What part about his .400+avg, .500+OBP, and leading all of minor league baseball in every triple crown category did you not understand as being "that good"?!? Also, did he not show you the past few Spring Training's his potential?
I just don't get it with "Dumb" and "Dumber". Hopefully we'll find a better act for next year, because this one sucks
Aaron, do you think there is a rift between Lou and Hendry?
ie...."I don't like what you got me...so I'm not going to use them" on Lou's part...and "I gave you so so and so and you're not using them right"...on Hendry's part?
I do think there's a rift, as I answered cloycub13 below...You can see all the options he's given (while not ideal...not Sanchez, Teahen, Eric Young Jr., Lopez, Hawpe, etc. type of deals) Piniella at least some decent options to use internally (Freel was externally...so was Baker, but you get my point). I do believe JimBo's hands are tied financially...I'll give him that, but he's also made some HIGHLY questionable moves in some of his "plan B" options...Gathright, Vizcaino, Gaudin, Freel, Bako, come straight to my mind where combined, we lost nearly $7 million to players no longer with the team, when all he had to do was keep Pie, send Marquis for one low level prospect...maybe two, not tender Gaudin (as he was already in their doghouse), and stood pat with Koyie Hill and internal options at catcher, and he would've had a lot more money to work with. So, he mostly gets the blame, and if I were Piniella, I'd be VERY pissed at him for that.
Word had it that the rift began in the winter when Lou wanted Ibanez, and Hendry and Kenney had already been brainwashed by Bradley. While they slightly pursued Ibanez, the way I understand it, is it was just passive interest, and they didn't make a serious offer. I actually think the DeRosa trade was pushed for by Hendry and not Piniella (though it's been disputed both ways...and I originally thought it was a rift between Piniella that caused it, but have since reversed course). So, as far as Piniella is concerned, he could then have even more issues with Hendry, thus saying, "look what you gave me ...now we have no back-up option"...which makes a LOT more sense when you consider Piniella's comments regarding Peavy. Do you guys recall them? He said something like, "Peavy's a great pitcher no doubt...but I don't think our rotation is a big need right now."
So that was the beginning of the rift...Hendry smoothed things over a bit by getting rid of Mr. Resident Doghouse (Marquis) for Piniella, but he also didn't give him much relief help.
Just speculation, but here's some brief points to consider in the rift and where we're at now:
1)Piniella says they need to get more left-handed
*Hendry somewhat agreed, but I remember after the playoffs, Hendry was pretty pissed that we didn't win at least one game, and might've questioned several decisions Piniella made in the playoffs (ie.-playing Fukudome)
2)Hendry starts setting up the roster for failure by DFA-ing McGehee while we clearly had spots on our roster for him. Then, he continues with the trade for Gregg (who Piniella was NOT at all enamored with---though in ST, he'd warm up to him)...
3) Hendry then trades DeRosa, which renders Piniella speechless
*this really probably signaled the beginning of the end of their friendship, as DeRosa was such a valuable, and integral part of the team, and Piniella commented during several parts of that season how valuable he was to the team.
4) Hendry courts Peavy....ah, yes....we all know how the Peavy talks REALLY started heating up was when the DeRosa trade happened.
*read between the lines here...if Piniella valued DeRosa that much, why would he want him gone? Furthermore, it was clearly the precursor to a Peavy trade, so if he was in the loop on this, or happy with it, then why would he come out and basically stop short of saying, "we don't need Jake Peavy"?
5)Hendry then courts Bradley at the same time, while Piniella begs for his former player, Ibanez...Hendry does not oblige
*Piniella confuses me here though....maybe he was just paying lip service to his bosses...who knows, but he went on to say about the Bradley signing that he was thrilled to have him, and that it'd be nice to have some more fire from his players, and Bradley would bring that to the table. It could be his true feelings, or it could just be that Piniella was like, "well, I guess we better make this work then...so I better come out supporting this move"
6)Hendry's inability to replace DeRosa once the Peavy talks failed, or at the very least, find a suitable back-up for ARAM
*I think this explains Piniella's child-like behavior more than anything. He's got to be feeling like, "you got me into this mess...now fix it," which would explain why he hasn't played the replacements that Hendry gave him much at all. I think this is an especially valid point, considering Piniella's track record of not being afraid to sit anybody at any time, no matter their status, if they weren't performing on the field. Why did it all of a sudden stop this year?
Interesting Aaron, although you call Hendry dumb, which I agree, you are almost backhandedly praising him,never thought I would hear it and I almost agree with that too.
Are you leaning away from the real issue being Hendry, or is it Piniella, or is it both!
I believe it is both! But you make a point, when Lou has asked Hendry has actually given, maybe not a blockbuster but within the financial constraints that he (Hendry) created, he has made moves. Lou continues to mismanage what he has been given, ultimately the #1 failing of a manager. I am not sure it would be very different with any other manager with this group of people and the albatross's created, BUT we might actually see ballplayers play ball instead of overpaid useless used-to-be's.
you are right...I am actually defending him in this case...but not completely. It was his dumb moves to begin with that got us here...understand? So he's dumb...but Piniella's even dumber...because Hendry's given him Fox, K Hill (earlier this year to spell the HORRID and overweight Soto), Freel, Hoffpauir, Fuld, Baker, Ascanio, etc. So while it was his own dumb mistakes that got us here, he still has given Piniella a way out, and as I mentioned, Piniella seems to be the one that did NOT want Fox up here earlier (I have a feeling Hendry was like, "okay then...here's what you get" and gave him Freel...and he still didn't use Freel, and only recently after Freel's release has Hendry used Fox more). So that makes Piniella "Dumber"
FWIW, ESPN says its Waddell coming up, not Stevens.
http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/news/story?id=4316933
If you read the article you referenced, Waddell was taken off the DL and sent back to Iowa. Stevens is coming up in place of Hart.
LOL...or the actual article Neil posted above...LOL..sometimes (sighs)
This is a wierd move! No other way to put it, a wierd move.
It's not a weird move really. Stevens was already on the 40 man roster. The only other pitchers they could've added were Atkins (not deserving), Berg (questionable), and Mateo (at least a year away in AA). The Cubs needed bullpen help, and since it's the All-Star break coming up, with 4 games in 3 days, they figured they're better safe than sorry with a short-handed pen. As for Hart, the move was made strictly to keep him on schedule to start July 19th after the break, which would be his next turn in the rotation.
The move(s) that are curious (or should I say lack thereof), and make absolutely no sense whatsoever is not disabling both Soriano and Soto prior to the All-Star break. It'd keep us from being short-handed, and would also allow both of them to get healthy enough for after the break, so they could come out full-speed. Fuld and Clevenger would've been the smart choices there...but I digress. What's really unbelievable to me is the Cubs have already come out and said Soto won't play this weekend at all. Really? So, your offense is sputtering...and you're left with a back-up catcher, and an emergency catcher on your roster.....real smart Cubs....real smart
Aaron, re your comments on a possible
rift...most of it seems plausible...although we'll never really know...Re Lou's support of Bradley when we signed him...What else was he going to do....you can't come out in public
and say "I hate this guy".
Without mentioning your "D" word...Ibanez would have been great but Philly did strike with lightning quickness on him...before JH had cleared space...and there seemed to be no takers
for Marquis...with the economy as it was.
Personally...stated on several occasions
my choice was Abreau for a short deal...but that is ancient history.
Fact is...last years playoff performance
has a lot to do with the teams makeup this year...and led Lou to reading philosophy books on managing...which has
manifested itself in a "little different Lou" this year.
There does seem to be some ying pulling on yang this year...resulting in "yawn".
I vaguely recall hearing that about Piniella reading philosophical books in the offseason. I guess he must've been flabbergasted that we were swept in the postseason yet again with supposedly one of the best teams in baseball. Maybe that caused him to over-analyze things. For instance the whole lefty thing. Hendry and Piniella clearly went for quantity over quality there.
You get what you pay for. It's simple math, as I've stated before. No matter what side of the plate they hit from, if you take a team that was first in runs last year in the NL, and trade the second best RBI producer on the team, and neglect to re-sign a CF that gave you 19 hr, 49 RBI for a combined 40 hr, 136 RBI ...and you replace with a guy that hit a max of 22 hr, 77 RBI, and another that had 4 hr, 31 RBI last year, then you've got to make up 14 hr, 28 RBI with another player. See how that works?
Let's take Miles out of the equation from the beginning, and assume all else is equal...You'd need to get 18 hr, 59 RBI from someone else. hmmmmmmm...Mark Teahen sure seemed to fit that shoe perfectly. We'll never know what the Royals wanted, or whatever, but you can begin to see how Hendry's logic doomed this team from the beginning. I think he was hoping that Bradley would hit 40 hr, 100 RBI, honestly...I really do...because if he didn't, then he's the world's worst GM in the world. And in assuming Bradley would get there with a max of 22 hr, 77 RBI in his entire 10 yr career before that----makes Hendry the DUMBEST GM in the world....so, either way he was flawed.
The Cubs are likely in for a VERY long night tomorrow against Carpenter. He will be pumped to get that series off on a positive note, plus I can't see the underperforming Cubs hitters suddenly coming alive against his veteran guile and array of pitches. A Cubs victory in just one game would be surprising to me after their offensive failures against the Braves and the "downers" of losing Dempster and Soto. A Card sweep, certainly a distinct possibility, would put an exclmation point on one of the most disappointing first halves in recent Cub history. The "warts" we all see on this club are all too real; the chemistry is just not there..if I were on the Cardinals right now, I could almost smell the blood in the water. Maybe I'm just trying to prepare myself for a "dagger in the heart" type of weekend, but what signs are there to get any hopes up at all?
Charles, you've been a fan long enough to know anything is possible.
I'm surprised at you...If Demp can stubb his toe and go down...what might happen to a guy like Carpenter??? Or what if he has an off day like all humans are capable of.
The Cubs will be coming off a day off...they are at home...Maybe our boy Hoffpauir hits a grand slam...or Soriano finally gets lucky with men on base...
fact is...it doesn't look good on paper...but as we know...the game is played between the lines and not on paper.
Charles. btw...if Carpenter is really on and the Cubs bat silent...it will be short and sour...lol
i know this is off-topic, Butttttt. The Cubs need second base help with Fontenot not helping with either the glove or bat. i would love Freddy Sanchez, as lots of us cubs fans want.
Would suggest a trade of:
Cubs get: Freddy Sanchez cash (3.1 M)
Pirates get: Mike Fontenot, Mitch Atkins, and Chris Archer
I know its a lot, but were also gonna need cash from them. I know, i know its wishful thinking, but damn thats what we need.
that's an awful lot to give up for someone that really won't make much of a difference. I agree having Sanchez leading off would be better than Fukudome...and certainly Soriano...but what this team really needs is an RBI threat, and Sanchez is not that type of player. He will, however, hit around .300, and given the fact ARAM is the only regular we have over .300, I'd say .300 vs .230 (from Fontenot) is a win, plus his defense is better than Fontenot.
I'd do that trade in a heartbeat, sans Archer. He's the one decent "prospect" we got in the DeRosa trade, and he's doing very very well in Peoria right now, and is just 20 years old. I'd rather send them Jay Jackson than Chris Archer to be honest. Fontenot, Atkins, and Jackson even seems like too much though. If they take on, say, half of his contact due next year, then he's worth those players. If they're not willing to do that, then I'd probably send them Fontenot and Atkins and call it good.
But as I stated before, 2B is the least of our worries in my opinion, when your LF hasn't hit a home run since like t
...sorry, accidentally sent...as I was saying, Soriano hasn't hit a home run since like the beginning of June, and Bradley at this rate is averaging about 5 RBI/month, which is the worst RBI output I think I've ever seen in my life...honestly, for a middle of the order, MLB bat. 6 hr, 19 RBI !!!!!!!! Are you kidding me?!? Fontenot beats him by 10 RBI, and has equaled his home run output...what's even worse? Ryan freaking Theriot is beating him by 1 home run. What's even worse? Micah Hoffpauir is beating him by 1 home run, and he's had 80 or 90 so less plate appearances than him. What's worse? Our pitchers have just 4 home runs less than him combined, and just 8 RBI less than him in over 70 less plate appearances....OUR PITCHERS!!!!!!!!!!!!
For Soriano, when you have an everyday player like him hitting .230 with a pathetic .292 OBP....you begin to see that there's worse things than Mike Fontenot's output at 2B.
The question then becomes, not "how are we going to upgrade at 2B?" instead, it becomes, "how in the world are we going to find a taker for Soriano and Bradley, because they're KILLING this team right now...bleeding the team very slowly"
well with Fontenot stock, its at an all-time low in his Cubs career. The pirates might want Font as there short term answer until the re-build (which is atleast 3-5 years away, if ever) but the Pirates can easily say "he cant cut it as a starter", "his only value is as a bench and sub player".
Im 100% for Sanchez over the cheaper Uggla.
Hendry is on with Dave Kaplan right now. Said he spoke with the Cubs' scouts today (Thursday) about BJ Ryan then admitted he spoke with Ryan's agent.
Said he can make additions before the trade deadline.
If Hendry picks up BJ Ryan...it's ok...costs little with possible upside next year...but does nothing for now...kind of like Peavy...a side track move that doesn't address necessity.
On Chicago Tribune Live, Kaplan went on and on about he hates Soriano. He called him the worst Cub FA signing ever. I actually thought that honor went to Todd Hundley or Danny Jackson.
Well, Todd Hundley or Danny Jackson may have sucked too, but they weren't pulling down 18 MILDO each year for 8 years.
Kaplan is 100% right.
Jim...they weren't signed for 136 mil for EIGHT years at age 31....I have to
agree with him...Then we have to sit down and figure out where Bradley falls
with the likes of Hundley/Jackson/Dave Smith.
Do you really want to watch five 1/2 more years of Soriano?
Ya'll laughed at me when I said the Cubs could be 10 games out by the All-Star break. Well, if we drop 4 games to the Cards, what does that make us? The Cards would have 51 wins, the Cubs 41. The Cards would have 40 losses; the Cubs 45. It would say we'd be 7.5 out, but in effect, since we have played fewer games, we'd have to have a winning streak of 10 games, while the Cards lost 5 in a row, to be even with them. That sounds like being more than 10 games out to me. If the Cubs do not sweep the Cards, it will be very hard for the Cubs to win the division. And no wild card will come out of the Central this year.
The Cubs will be sitting at home in October. Again.
With insane management like this, it is easy to see the reason for 101 years of losing, and also to imagine that another 101 years of losing can easily follow.
Well Carpenter has given up at least 1 run in the last 8 straight starts.
Hysteria when your near!!!We sweep the Cards and everything will be allright, we get swept...it's all bad.
[I must be some kind of a genious]
Boy, I'm glad I decided to read these posts since I'm going to be at the last 3 games of the series.....
Again people, we're 3.5 out. Your posts make it seem like you're conceding the opener against Carpenter. The way Milwaukee choked against StL today shows how they're not going to be contenders later on this season.
I must say, I don't plan on returning to this site for a while because of the constant 'gloom and doom' posted on here...
Hack, I understand what you are saying. But the CCO is more than just comments.
part of what makes this site so great is the community feel to it. You have a wide mix of opinions and type of fans on here, and for a majority of the time, everyone is pretty respectful of each other, and the personal attacks rarely happen on this site, unlike other sites.
I think most of the frustration stems from Hendry's inability to right the ship in the offseason by MINOR tweaking (not the major tweaking he did), because we were so close to it all.
So, while the 3 1/2 game out doesn't seem too bad, consider that the Cards are 7 games over .500, and the Brewers are 3 over, while we're at .500...so even though it says "3 1/2" out, in reality, we're more like 7 back, because if you play at or slightly below .500 (which is what we've been playing at nearly all year), and teams ahead of you are slightly better than that, in the end, it ends up being a wide margin between you and the top. Make sense?
So, the bad moves, combined with being so close last year, to us having the 3rd highest payroll in the league, to ownership issues, to extremely poor upper management decisions, poor amateur and advanced scouting, and finally, to the 100 year drought thing---it all adds up, doesn't it? Before you know it, even the most optimistic of fans becomes cynical. Why? Because they've seen it all before. It's like a broken record, and until you have management and ownership like Boston and the Yankees have, where they don't accept losing, then you're going to have a good amount of heartache and frustration with this team.
So don't leave...share you're opinion. Tell us how you think. Share ideas to improve the team. If you think it's not a lost cause this season, tell everyone why. It's a fun site, and we love debating each other, and with the new podcast Neil started not that long ago, it's become an even better site.
it's so much easier to be negative don't you see.. you get to say you were right when they lose.. then you get to say it won't last when they win.. then when they put together a few wins, you get to say, 'what a pleasant surprise, maybe they'll keep this up like they're payed to do..' then when they lose a few again you're back to saying you were right again.. see? you can't lose being the negative nelly
Hey Neil, I was wondering if you could post a top 20 prospects in the Cubs system or something.
And also does anybody think if harden does good/bad we'll trade his 7 million dollar contract then to go after Roy Halladay?
A package of Vitters, Hart, Jackson, Cashner, Marshal.
but thats a crazy amount of talent gone, and are problem isnt really pitching.
Phil ... will do. I will work on it over the weekend.
...and thanks Aaron.
Phil, just finished the prospect list you asked about. I will post it on Tuesday.
Hello Cub fans!Your input has been both entertaining and a lesson in baseball 101
You people are Right On !!!!!
Problem Solving
1] you must identify the problem
2) what elements contributed to the creation of the problem
3} what elements can resolve the problem
4} A solution that not only corrects the problem, but assures positive results without reocurrence in the immediate future.
All of you appear to have your ducks in a row!
Why? does Cub management LACK this simple tool of approach to resolve the obvious!
Why? is it so clear to the fans (black &white)Yet seen with rosey glasses by managment
I think your views should be turned into faxs and sent directly to the responsible members of management to see what you see.
It should be a relentless mailing with no end ,until they respond directly to
ChicagoCubsOnLine!
I VOTE TO KICKS SOME REDBIRD ArSE!!!
I second that! I see a beanball war sometime this series.
PS - I know that Kaplan is a Cubs fan and provides some good inside info, but I can't stand him. I mean the guy likes Ozzie Guillen. What does that tell you about his opinions....
Hallelujah people. Man this is fun! Ron, Well put, Aaron, Great analysis, Suzy, spectacular insights...This is BY FAR my favorite site on this subject! And you know what they are right, there is limited personal bashing...On one of the comment threads on cubs.com there are about 2 pages of 2 guys just going at it, MEAN! Not cool!
As a Cub fan I feel as if I am part of a massive family, we fight, we disagree, we cry (ALOT), and we rejoice and pull together. In no other sports community do you have such a profound ability to motivate each other, to help ease pain, and to look to a brighter day of Cubdom! I went to Vegas, wore Cub hats every where I went (Like always) and had no less than 20 comments (Enthusiastic) from complete random strangers!
Make no question about it folks this team has brought us to an inevitable first half climax. It has been ugly...UGLY at times! This season hinges on this series. 4-0 The Cubs are alive in 09, 3-1 The Cubs can survive 09, 2-2 The Cubs are praying for help in 09, anything less than that and the dreaded words come out and the you know what pounds the fan!
On that note...GO CUBS GO, REALLY need to see some life!