I don't believe all the talk about what Hendry can/should do? The problem isn't Lou and it wasn't Dusty. Notice how fast they got rid of Bradley,when he got frustrated and started to blow the whistle on the organization?

Steve Stone tried to tell you what was going on b4 Hendry ran him off. Good enough players to be, somewhat, competitive, fill the stands and maybe, occasionally, win the division.

It's ALL Hendry's fault! He's a lowlife, pr*#k. Rickett's might be a business success, but he's not, even, a very smart BLEACHER BUM. Awwwwwwwww he met his wife there. How touching!

Hendry tried to create the modern version of watching "Kong" Kingman set distance records. AND that was more fun!

Hendry knows Chicago fans fill parks, no matter what. Just like McCaskey did.

Too bad it's all blown-up in his face...except for the "Chicago fans always fill parks", part.

Wake the f*%k UP!

I along with many others would like to see JH gone. But while he is still here the talk will be around what he can do, since he is the one that pulls the trigger.

This team needs to bring in a VP of Baseball Operations. A well respected baseball voice, who has done it before, to evaluate how to fix the front office and that is the go between for Ricketts and the GM.

Well, I could sit around and talk about what BP could do too.

Instead, I'll stop buying their product.

A look at our bad contracts and which door to take to get out of them. The money is already part of the budget for the teams payroll, no one will take them and all their pay.

Soriano - This will require paying a good chuck of his contract, but he needs to be traded to an AL team, so he can DH. He has hit enough this year, that a team will want him for the next few years. The Cubs need to work out how much they will pay of the $72 million owed to him over the last 4 years of his contract (upwards of $60 million of it). Then work out a payment deferral with him on their part. Make it over 20 years if you want. That way Ricketts will have a reminder of why you don't sign players to long term contracts for big dough, except for true difference makers.

Fukudome - 1 year left - someone will take him in the offseason, the Cubs will have to pay the majority of his contract as well.

Zambrano - 2 years left almost $36 million in those 2 years. (He has a vesting player option for 2013, that really has no chance of happening). Someone will take him, and hope for a revival in a new environment. But the deal will have to be based on his production to the new team, that could effect the money the Cubs pay.

Dempster - around $28 million still owed after this year. He is worth keeping around, but will be traded before his contract is up, unless the Cubs turnaround happens before then.

Grabow - swallow hard Tom, and just cut him. No one will want him.

Silva - try to move him, he needs a good second half to make anyone willing to take him and the $8 million the Cubs owe him, plus his $2 million buyout for 2012.

ARam - We are holding the short stick on this one. All we can do is hope he returns to form for next year, as he is not going to walk away, unless he finished real strong and IF he thinks he can get a 3 year deal. He is guaranteed $14.6 million in 2011, 2012 is a team option ($2 million buyout). Problem is we have no one to replace him and not much available in free agency.

Byrd - What a nice player to have. To bad our other vets, don't follow his lead. He can stay, but will be a corner OF at some point. Keep him around to tutor all of the youth he will be surrounded with next year.

Not a good state of affairs. I would say we are in for a long rebuilding period, unless JH can make ALOT of good moves.

Good rundown Tony ... just keep in mind Dempster's 5 & 10 rights

That should stick the fork in the Cubs, even in JH's eyes. He should be very active in cleaning house with this roster.

What players SHOULD be around on Opening Day 2011?

Offense

Want back - Castro, Colvin, Byrd, Soto

Will be back - Soriano, ARAM

Trade,cut, or don't resign - Hill, Baker, Fontenot, DLee, Theriot, Fukudome, Nady

Pitching

Want back - Dempster, Wells, Gorzellany, Cashner, Marmol, Marshall

Trade, cut, or don't resign - Grabow, Silva, Zambrano

That is only 12 players that I would want back and have to be back and I wouldn't lose any sleep over a not having a few of those. This team is in rebuilding mode and the longer they wait to realize that, the longer it will take to get back to being competitive.

I posted early in the season, a list of players that should be traded. I stated that you need to make determinations on players, on whether or not they are guys to build around or are replaceable. Once you determine that they are replaceable, you trade them while their stock is HIGH. By waiting until the team is in desperation mode to make some moves and almost none of our players have high stock, you will greatly reduce what you get back.

Prospects are valued at an all-time high in baseball. You can't trade a guy like Theriot right now and get much for him. They will end up releasing him for nothing in the offseason, unless they make a move soon.

Silva - should have been moved (for something) a month ago or more. Teams may have paid his salary owed by the Cubs at that time. Now he will not net much. Ditto for so many of our players.

Truly a sad state of affairs. While there are many tragedies to this season, the move that truly irks me the most has been the allowing of Piniella to remain at the helm of this team. This is a guy that gave up/mentally abandoned his Tampa team, moved to Chicago and was given carte blanche in regards to payroll spending, and still couldn't get it done. For those here who acclaim his WS victory (and that's he's "earned the right" to leave on his terms), big deal. That's like the corporate sales guy who's been in the business for 30 years, led the sales team in revenue for one glorious year, and yet every other year was middle of the pack...at best. You don't hang on to that person. In Lou's case, this was simply Hendry/Ricketts expressing to Lou that he was going to be fired, and then Lou pleading his case to retire since "he's never been fired from a managerial job". This is typical Cubs of putting the individual ahead of what's best for the team, fans, and franchise. With still two months to go we have a comatose manager going thru the motions, and players that have given up playing for him. Don't the fans deserve better than that?

Regarding Lee, he unfortunately has "earned the right" to invoke his player status to leave on his terms. That's what baseball provides and what Hendry extended to him in his last contract. However, I would now go to Derrick and state that we're in rebuilding mode and that he'll be platooning with Colvin and Aramis (try him at 1B) the next two months to determine our potential options towards 2011.

On Fukodome, while he's been a total bust, many teams were after him when he decided to play in the U.S, and the contract wasn't excessive at the time. The lesson learned is not to bet on a foreign player when he's getting up in age already a bit....and that baseball in Japan is not at the level of baseball in the U.S.

Where I get really disgusted with Hendry are on the Zambrano and Soriano contracts, which truly now handcuffs the team. For Soriano, no-one in baseball was going to come close to the offer Hendry extended. He was a head-case and malcontent that not even Frank Robinson could shape. We still have 4 (yes 4) more years of this disaster in LF. With Zambrano it's a case of him being his own worse enemy, and Hendry incessently believing that this guy would eventually mature beyond the tantrums to reach his prior potential. A bad bet on JH's part...Zambrano appears totally done as a major league impact player.

So on and on. At some point you have to build a franchise around youth, athleticism and character. For all the years (40+) that I've been following this team, this has to be the most dysfunctional I've ever witnessed.

Thank goodness for football season just around the corner.

Maybe Cub fans need to buy more tickets to games at Wriggley. You know, show the team that you dont care if they win or lose. You know, show them you dont care what kind of hacks they send out on the field. Support your team! You know.....just like Cub fans always do......Yeah, that's it....that's the ticket. Go Sox!!!!!

This is sad, just truly sad for the fans, the city and the players on this team. You could probably throw the word legacy in there as well. Just forfeit the rest of the season if your going to play like this and save us all the trouble. I turned the game off an inning after the cubs scored their only 2 runs as I knew the game was over and there was no point in watching anymore. How sad is that? Like Aaron I too live in Colorado and I understand where he is coming from, but I will still root for the Cubs over any other team, no matter what state I live in.

That being said, Aaron is also right about being proactive and doing something...ANYTHING. F*ck it! If it means not going to games, THEN DON'T GO. save the cash as it's not doing this team any good anyway. Everybody and their dead relatives should then call, write, email..whatever the cubs front office or Ricketts directly and let him know how absolutely FED UP we are with this B F'N S.

As far as who is hired to be manager next, does it really matter? By that I mean, do you really think that's the missing piece of the puzzle? Honestly, you can't go wrong with any of the guys who have been named so far, and any of them would be way better then Lou, so lets not worry so much about that.

Keep Colvin, Marmol,Soto and Castro and dump/trade everyone else. EVERYONE ELSE, no matter what they have to do to do it. I don't care how historic of a dump it would be, just friggen do it.

Enough is enough. Or blind loyalty and love for this team is becoming our own undoing, but doing nothing but bitching isn't helping. So lets hit em where it hurts, it's for their own good. (end rant)

Hey, but take heart...Zambrano will be back! He finished, his, "anger management" class so quickly...he MUST be a genius...until his next tirade!

That, pathetic, "Cubs Official Homepage", or Carrie "Muskrat", can't, even, "spin" these clowns, anymore.

Keep fillin' the stands...it's as good ah place to get drunk as any...Imagine if they tear down Wrigley...they can build a new, multi-million dollar, monument to stupidity and bored alcoholics! Hey! Hey!...and...Holy Cow!

HENDRY, what a useless jerkoff!

A few thoughts.....

* Pinella should just resign.

*Nady, if he can't be traded should be released.

* Theriot, Fontenot and anyone else from the state of Louisiana should also be traded as well.

* Hendry should also try and see if there are any takers for Ryan Dempster..

Agreed on all accounts...I'd like to add a few thoughts though...

*I am so glad I live in Colorado right now, and can root for a true major league baseball team right now. In EVERY single position, they've got us beat, and we have a friggin' $145 million payroll:

C-Olivo: .306 avg, .357 OBP, 12 hr, 44 RBI

1B-Giambi: .282 avg, .422 OBP, 3 hr, 24 RBI

2B-Barmes: .252 avg, .317 OBP, 8 hr, 47 RBI

SS-Tulo: .305 avg, .370 OBP, 9 hr, 36 RBI

3B-Stewart: .253 avg, .344 OBP, 14 hr, 48 RBI

LF-Smith: .288 avg, .346 OBP, 14 hr, 43 RBI

CF-Gonzalez: .308 avg, .340 OBP, 19 hr, 64 RBI

RF-Hawpe: .262 avg, .340 OBP, 7 hr, 35 RBI

(well, you might argue that Colvin beats Hawpe, but since they also have Spilbourgs, it beats anything combined we got out of Nady and Fukudome, so they still win)

Fact is, we might think we have a good solid base to work off of (I'm guilty of thinking this way too), but other teams are far superior to us, it's not even close. We might think we have a solid base with Soto (debatable), Castro, Colvin, Marshall, Marmol, and Cashner, but look around us. Just look in our division with the Cardinals base, the Brewers base, the Reds base, and now with the trades the Astros made, their base has improved.

*I don't know about any of the rest of you, but I grew up in Chicago, and the Cubs are engrained in me, but so are the Blackhawks, Bulls, Bears, and (gasp), even the White Sox. I loved all of those teams growing up, and used to get crap from friends, because I still rooted for the White Sox to do well (and this was even before interleague play)...But I thank God that I've got better teams like the Rockies and White Sox to root for, and I feel very fortunate to have both of them doing well, because I'm rooting for my hometown team still, as well as my current home team. I know Charles in Texas, and a few others on here that live in Texas, at least have the Rangers. I feel bad for those that don't have anyone else to root for.

*speaking of allegiances...I was a diehard Bulls fan throughout the entire Jordan era, even on teams that didn't make it far. I still remember where I was, and everyone I was with when the Bulls finally won it all against Magic and the Lakers...but even though my allegiance to the team ran deep, once Jerry Krause screwed up the team, and blew it up before they could really make a run, I was still a fan, and cared about them, but I didn't spend much of my time watching Corey Benjamin, Marcus Fizer, Dragon Tarlac, etc. lose night after night, because it just wasn't fun basketball to watch when they were getting blown out by 50. I told my brother, who was far more into basketball than I was, to wake me up when the Bulls were committed to winning, and had a legitimate head coach. He called me up one day, and said they hired Skiles, and I instantly knew they were on the right track...all it took was getting a GM (Paxson) that was committed to winning, and look how the attitude changed in that locker room from almost expecting blowout losses, to expecting to make the playoffs.

Lou actually changed the mindset of Cubs fans everywhere when he declared the Cubs were no longer lovable losers, etc., but something went terribly wrong last year, and he didn't even seem interested.

*This loss was the last straw for me with the Cubs. Sure, I'll keep paying attention to what they do/don't do, but I won't spend much time on them anymore, because, after all, I have 2 VERY competitive teams in the Rockies and White Sox to root for, and I feel very proud of those teams for what they've accomplished. I love the youth of the Rockies and the very intelligent moves O'Dowd made with that team to set them up for both short-term and long-term success. I love the mix of veterans and youth with the White Sox, and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, how Kenny Williams actually has a pair, and is not afraid to make bold moves. He gets max value out of just about every prospect he's every traded, and looking at the returns he's gotten from them, and the lack of success from most of those traded prospects, it is blatantly obvious that Kenny Williams is a very intelligent GM, and knows when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. I wish we had a GM that knew what he was doing, and actually had a plan for the present and future like he does.

So far, the past 3 years, I've called nearly everything that's happened...and that is NOT tooting my own horn, it just goes to show you how incredibly predictable this team is, and how inept our GM really is. It all pretty much started with the Josh Hamilton debacle, where we had a need for an OF, and tried to fit a square peg in a round hole by getting a gimpy Cliff Floyd instead, and it's all gone downhill since then, and I've called pretty much everything. The Gregg deal, missing DeRosa, Wood, and Edmonds' leadership and production; the Miles, Gathright, and Bradley signings, the Nady instead of Gomes signing. About the only thing I got wrong was the Byrd deal, where I thought Ankiel would've been the better choice.

But if I could predict all of that, then it's HIGHLY likely that most of you predicted the same thing, and I'm no baseball genius, and neither are most of you...that fact alone should tell you that this franchise is NOT in good hands short-term and long-term, especially if all the fans know the outcome long before the season even starts.

Sure, none of us actually want this team to lose, and most Cubs fans are overly optimistic each and every season, but it doesn't mean deep down, they don't know what's really going on. It's kind of like a situation where they want to believe the team has a legitimate shot year after year, even though there's absolutely no chance of winning it all.

I hope my Rockies win a World Series before the Cubs do. Why? Because they deserve it, and have made intelligent decisions to put themselves in that position, and they DESERVE it, whereas the Cubs do NOT...Just because the Cubs have gone 102 years without winning it all does NOT mean that they should in fact win one...That type of self-centered approach is why the odds are probably stacked against the Cubs and their fans before the season even starts every year...The Cubs simply think they can buy themselves a championship in many respects, and not really put forth the hard work necessary to get the big one...They simply take the easy way out each and every time it's available.

Sure, you could compare the Cubs to the Yankees. The difference is even though the Yankees can buy championships, they've also made very intelligent trades to set themselves up for long-term success, and hired the best and brightest baseball minds around, whereas the Cubs still operate in the good 'ole boys network where you're rewarded based on favors and who you know, rather than achievement and credentials.

Am I a Cubs fan still? I know for sure that I still am, but I guess each of you will have your own opinion.

But until the Cubs become relevant again....GO ROCKIES!!!...and GO WHITE SOX!!!!!!!

And if you take anything away from what I've been writing over the past few years....I hope you take away the following: If you don't like what's going on in your life, in politics, in romantic relationships, in friendships, in your career, or with your favorite sports teams....Do NOT sit idly by, and wish you could do something about it...Simply DO IT!!!! Eat better, run for office or a campaign, get out of a damaging relationship, choose friends wisely, get out of your dead end job, and start rooting for winning teams. Sorry to sound like Tony Robbins, but tell yourself you're a winner, and surround yourself with winning people, and you will feel much more fulfillment than you ever thought possible.

I'll check back from time and time, and might even write...but if I don't, I wish you all the best, even the people on here that I disagree with, or might disagree with me.