Bring back Zand you bring back the kiss of death

If the Cub Club Hse. were a kitchen of a great restaunt the oder from chef Z would chase everyone away from the establishment!

HE IS OVER!!

Quit with the procrastinating.He is proving how little he has in the games in AAA!He is a cancer that will upstage the younger players and force the team backwards.Stand him up and move him out to any place but CHICAGO!

BETTER YET LET HIM FINISH OUT HIS CONTRACT BY BEING RICKETTS DRIVER OR HIS FATHERS HOUSEKEEPER.

Just FYI...

Z just gave up 3 runs, 3 hits, 1 walk and 1 K in 1 IP tonight for Iowa..

not to worry though, he'll save this team...LOL

I really hope that if they get smart and start selling off to get younger that they keep Byrd around. He plays the game the right way and hustles more than anyone I've ever seen...especially on the Cubs. He is just someone that any young ballplayer should look up to. Just my 2 cents.

we can all hope they'll retool here for next year, but we are now 4 days from the deadline, and do you realize that we haven't made a single trade, and the only significant call-ups we've made were Cashner and Castro, and Lou has already ruined Cashner, both overpitching him (several outings of 2 IP, and multiple back-to-backs, this all coming on the heels of him 11 appearances, 9...NINE of which were starts....NINE!!!!!!!!!!!!! and all of a sudden, he's expected to go into a relief role?!?!? At the MLB level?!?!?

The roster management of this organization is both sad and comical at the same time. On a daily basis it seems, you can look at the minor league lineups and pitching staffs and the MLB lineup and staff, and just laugh your ass off, because it's such terrible management.

Remember Jake Fox last year? ARAM goes down, and the dude doesn't even play 3B in the minors, then is called upon to do so in the majors.

Remember Theriot this year? In the offseason they were talking big about Castro, then proceeded to not even have Theriot play 2B in Spring Training, and instead opt to thrust him into starting 2B mid-season.

Remember Samardzija? Starting...No, relieving...Wait, starting....no, relieving....ummmm, let's start him again...nope, he's a reliever this spring....Wait, now he's a starter, then we get word that when/if he returns, he'll be a reliever....LOL

Remember the Soriano debacle where he was signed to play CF which he'd NEVER played?

How about Murton? Hadn't played RF ever, and is thrust into the position when we sign Soriano.

How about Fontenot? Had only played 29 games at SS in pro ball, then was counted on to be the back-up SS.

What about Miles? After the DeRosa trade, he was counted on to back-up 3B. Remember that? He had played just 15 games in his whole career there, and 27 games in the minors (out of 734 games)

How about the decisions with Marshall and Gorzelanny going back and forth from relief to rotation?

How about the McGehee situation?

Do you think they should keep Byrd around Aaron? I'm just curious...your posts are always very informative and usually right on. No one can say you don't do your research...that is for sure.

They should absolutely keep Byrd around for his hustle and leadership....same reason I thought they should've kept DeRosa around, but look what happened.

The thing you should take away from that, and other very curious decisions, is the fact that when given the option of doing what's right for the team, and setting it up for the future, or going against logical thinking and prudent choices, the Cubs almost always choose the latter. And, that, my friend, is PRECISELY what I laid out in my post right above about the curious decision-making.

"Square Peg....Meet Round Hole"

-Jim Hendry

I agree...I think they definitely should have kept DeRosa for his leadership. They keep "trying" to make the team better, but they keep killing the "team". It seems like every time they let somebody go or trade somebody, they don't ever think about the "team"...it's more about what that person (the new person he signed) did last year. Which is precisely what you keep talking about...they don't look at the player as a whole. They look at a good year and sign them up for big money with no trade clauses. We've had a few good signings over the past few years in ARAM, Lilly, and Lee (although his time has run out)...but, not many long term successes.

I really like Colvin, Castro, Byrd, and ARAM (as of lately), Marshall, and Marmol. But, I don't see how anyone else should not be available if someone wants them. I know we're stuck with crappy contracts, but Jim needs to get off his ass and get rid of some of the garbage he has acquired over the years and get us moving in a younger direction. It's obvious we have some talent in the minors, but will they get the chance to come up for the rest of the year and be given a chance to prove themselves? I don't know, but I would really hope so!

Byrd has been a pleasant surprise that is for sure. He is what every team needs.

Hey who gets sent down when Grabow comes back? Howry or Schlitter? Both are worthless.

Woody, Schlitter will go down when they activate Z this weekend. Grabow is not throwing yet and when he does come back, it will be Russell ... unless it is very close to Sept. 1.

As for Silva, he has zero trade value. None. Same for Fukudome.

I am hearing/reading Lee will not waive his no trade clause from multiple sources. Don't look for him to be traded.

I'm shocked that Silva doesn't have any trade value.

If they trade Lilly over the next couple days, that opens up yet another spot in the pen as well.

probably Cashner at this point. Lou has misused him so bad, they'd be better served allowing Sandberg to handle him from here on out. He's now 1-4 with a 4.28 ERA. Lou doesn't understand warning signs with pitchers, especially our relievers. I'd give him a pass for the starters, because you need to get innings out of them, but the relievers, it's just downright horrible. Both Lou and Dusty will be out of managing perhaps as early as the end of this season. If the Reds have another pitcher go down, just watch and see, he'll be out of managing. You absolutely have to know how to use a pitching staff, much like Torre, Girardi, Scioscia, and Cox have learned.

Really good points Aaron...I agree Lou is a very poor handler of pitchers and I believe Rothchild is not strong enough of a leader to protect his pitchers from "Relief Pitchers Hell Lou". It is a disservice to a young pitcher like Cashner not to have good preparation in the minors and adequate support and protection in the majors. The kid obviously is nervous and really doesn't know how to control himself or execute a plan on the mound. When things are going awry Rothchild should have someone ready to come in if the kid is struggling. He obviously lost his composure and command and I am not sure leaving him out there was better than getting him back on the bench and talking to him about what went wrong. The game was over when the Astros brought in the speedy runner and super over when Lou couldn't see the meltdown in progress.

If Houston and the Pittsburg could play the Cubs all season long they would go to the playoffs (and lose in the first round) How can you make two really bad teams look so tough?

Aaron what are your thoughts on going after Crawford in the offseason? Could he play RF? Jackson is still probably another year or two away. We have Byrd in center and obviously stuck with Soriano in LF. He would be a force at the top of the order even though Colvin and Castro seem like a good pair up there. But Colvin is not a leadoff hitter. He would ideally be a 3 hitter.

Woody,

Ditto what Neil said. Yankees already said they want him (which is tampering if I'm not mistaken).

He's also 29 next year, and you'd only want to go about 3 years with him, which he'd NEVER do. At about 32 years old, you can rest assured that he will lose a lot more speed, which you can see by his caught stealing rate and drop in stolen bases already. He'd be a far superior option to Soriano, that's for sure, but Soriano's not going anywhere.

You're also correct that Colvin is not the ideal lead-off hitter, but we don't really have other options right now. At 20 years old, Castro might be a little too young to handle it. If Campana can keep his hot hitting up, I'd prefer to see a guy like him at the top with a lot of speed. While Colvin has speed, he doesn't have true lead-off type of speed, and you want your run producers at 3-4-5 and even 6 if your lineup is loaded.

What I'd like to see (for what we have currently, as you know with Hendry, it's NOT going to change):

Byrd

Castro

Colvin

ARAM

Fontenot

Soriano

Lee

Soto

It'll never happen, but it'd send a message to Theriot (the ultimate singles hitter and brain dead fielder/baserunner) and Lee, that's for sure.

You'd obviously never hit Lee 8th, and you'd want a lefty like Fontenot to kind of break things up, but the Cubs just don't think logically, do they? Fontenot can slug more than Lee at this point, so you HAVE to put better run producers in the middle of the lineup. Piniella and Hendry quite obviously have NOT figured out that Lee is really the culprit that has killed this lineup ALL year. It's beyond the point of fixing though, so they're just riding out the season at this point, trying not to upset other veterans on the team by benching him/releasing him. Foolishly, they thought Fukudome was the reason the offense was slumping, and they benched him. Why are they so slow to bench Lee?!?

Woody, I know you did not ask me but my two cents on Crawford is that he will be a Yankee. That is one of the reasons they let Johnny Damon walk. Crawford has said he wants to play left field and only left field ... and the Cubs have Soriano there for four more seasons.

Thanks for reply Neil, but imo besides the couple of aces that will be available - I just don't see any free agents out there that could really help this team in the future.

You are exactly right. And I hope they stay away from Cliff Lee. He is looking for C.C. money with a no-trade clause.

Currently the Cubs have the 9th selection in the 2011 draft. Looks like the best they do is maybe 8th. Should get a pretty decent prsopect there if Hendrey doesn't fall in love with someone from Notre Dame or LSU. If they can trade Lilly they can add a few more. Hopefully Ricketts will show everyone he isn't really going to back Hendrey (Could he possibly be serious?) and they will get someone who can build a team with some kind of long term vision.

There are guys already to build a team around (Colvin, Jackson, Cashner, Castro, Marshall, and Marmol) The problem is the long term no trade clause contracts that Hendry has killed this team with to fill in the rest of the team.

This is why the Cubs need to get what they can for Lee, Lilly, Silva, Funko, Theriot etc.

Tyler Colvin and Starlin Castro continue to be the highlights of a bad season.

Ya'll talk bad about Funko. Lousy .253 hitter as he is, but he's slugging .410. Sure, that stinks, too, but it's better than DLee's .385 slugging and .249 BA.

Hey, Bob Howry's in! And the first guy got a hit!

Neil what's that bring Lilly's run support avg to now? Under 2?

LOL...and so goes the comedy also known as the Cubs season. It's so typical of the Cubs to make an average pitcher look like Cy Young, and if not for a bobble, we'd be 1 hit right now.

The Berkman slam, you could see coming from a mile away...Piniella couldn't....which just shows you how out of touch he is with this team.

The season is over, we still have NO trades yet, which just goes to show you how out of touch Hendry really is with this team, and with REALITY in general, as he actually stated not too long ago that we were still "in it"

LOL...what a joke this whole organization is from Ricketts to Kenney to Hendry to Piniella...and even to veterans such as Lee, who have no-trade clauses, and still seem to want to play on a losing team. What does that say about the player?!? Most veterans at this time of year if they're on a losing team, are talking about how excited they are to play for a winner. But, no, we have guys like Derrek Lee that are perfectly content with being a loser. We simply need to stop signing players like this, that say they want to come to the Cubs for the fans. Do you know what that should tell you? It should tell you that they want to be coddled, to be loved, etc. If they said they want to come to the Cubs to be a winner, then it'd be an entirely different story. If they mention anything about the fans, or "want to be on the team that finally wins it all", that should tell you that they're out of touch with reality, and you should run away from that player.

However, if the player states in the FA process, and even in the media something like this, "I'm a winner, and that's all I know how to do", then that's a player you want on the team.

But all you hear from Lee, Zambrano, Piniella, Soriano, Bradley, and others we've signed in the past, is the fact they "want to be on the team that finally wins it all." That's selfish thinking at it's best, and should tell you they're not true team players, and look at what we've seen from all of them. It's a pretty accurate description, isn't it?!?

Just disgusted!!

Well the only good thing to come from the outcome of this game is Lilly's value went up a touch 5+ O er and 8 k's.

Lou is Done. Why did he not pull Cashner after hitting Keppinger?

It is hard to pitch from behind in the count. Worst outing of Andrew Cashner's young career

We just can not turn the corner.....so frustrating.

Don't worry guys: we're still in it this season!

And this all started with Cashner hitting Quintero on a 0-2 pitch.

It's A Way of Life!

Bad mistake by Cashner ... changed the game.

Good job by Cashner

I am glad we at least got a hit against Myers. Would have hated to be NO HIT!!

Lilly is out ... can lose but cannot post a win.

Maybe Lilly's new team will give him more than 2.4 runs per start

LILLY!

I am going to miss Theodore ...

Why? Are you going somewhere? Lilly's staying in Chicago.

I am beginning to think the same thing. The rumors seem to be really cool and nothing really seems imminent. I guess we will know this weekend.

I am still hearing a lot of chatter on Lilly ...

Lilly was a hot topic on XM today. From the Padres to the Twins to the Yankees.

Lilly's not staying......

He will be traded no doubt!

The Braves need a CF badly. Nate McClouth decided to take his $15.75 million and hit .168 with it. Scott Boras client? Pulling a Barry Zito/John Grabow type performance.

Anyway, who have we got that could . . . could play CF for the Braves?

Funk0!!! He'll hit more than .168 . . . I think. Funko's goal for 2010 was to hit .300. But Funko is just the same old Funko as he was in 2008 and 2009.

This just in ... Starlin Castro has a very good arm.

I'm kinda wondering if the Cubs will get a hit tonight. They look very, very weak against Myers again.

Colvin with a HIT! Have I mentioned I like salt with my crow?

If Ramirez plays first who will play third.

Hopefully, it's not another high paid, underachieving free agemt Hendry falls in love with.

mike fontenot duh!

but seriously i'd assume josh vitters

Vitters is not ready and the broken finger will slow him down further.

Hey everyone. Just got back from Cooperstown and wanted to share my experiences. First off if you've never been to Copperstown for Induction Weekend, it's an absolute must. I splurged and got autographs from Ryno, Billy Williams, Fergie, and The Hawk. All of them were super nice. The Hawk was first class. Everything people say about him appear to be true. Sunday night I was in a bar watching the Cubs game and Jim Hendry was at the place having a drink and watching the game. Despite what everyone says about his ability as a GM, he was as nice a guy as I've ever met. He talked to everyone around him and took pictures with anyone who asked. He was a really nice guy. It was obvious he wasn't thrilled after the Cubs lost so I stayed away. I did get a picture with him, but it came our super blury.

Being around baseball royalty all weekend was amazing. You see so many of the guys out and about, and most are very accessible. Like I said, if you are a baseball fan, this weekend is a must. I'll be back next year.

Very cool, thank you for sharing

That is cool, I am glad that you had a great time.

Too bad Soto is down tonight. Hill calls a good game and is a good defender, but a marginal offensive threat.

Lilly ought to win this one.

"Many feel Silva will return to his Seattle form, eh? lol While they "feel" it, I know it.

Colvin needs to strike out less. I hope he gets it together like Castro has: making whatever adjustments he needs to make to hit .300 with power.

Tonight's lineup ... without Geo

Colvin - RF

Castro - SS

Lee - 1B

Ramirez - 3B

Byrd - CF

Soriano - LF

Theriot - 2B

Hill - C

Lilly - P