Gotta Get Tejada Part 2

Two days ago, getting Tejada seemed like a mere "way too expensive pipe dream" but now the Orioles position being incredibly weakened, its time for Hendry to get back in the mix.

Tejada coming out and actually DEMANDING a trade, clubs now know that the Orioles really HAVE to dump him. Maybe they'd be willing to give up the pitcher now, or maybe they'd take less than Prior. Maybe just Cedano, Murton, KKpat, or maybe even walker instead of Murton. Either way, with the Cubs being so out front in the first round of negotioations, if they pu**y out now, then we'll all know how the '06 season will go.

Give Jaque a Break

While most of you were being Hendry apoligists last year, I was hammering him. Now you've finally jumped on the HendrySucks Bandwagon which is great. What took you so long? I Have to say, though not in defense of Hendry, that you need to layoff the Jaque Jones deal. What else could he have done? Obviously Burny wasn't working in RF, and shy of Hendry having the sack to make a trade for Abreu, what were his other options??? Jones makes less than Burny would have, is faster on the bases and plays better defense.

What's really going on is you're pissed that Hendry was too cheap for Furcal so he had to use all trade bait on Pierre and maybe Tejada. This lineup and pitching staff, IN COMPETENT HANDS, could be a playoff contender.

Pierre
Walker
Lee
Ramirez
Murton
Jones
Barret
Cedeno

If they had a coach that preached patience and baserunning, this lineup could be quite difficult to meneuver around. Just look at the '03 Marlins. They didn't have a bunch of power, they just drove you nuts cause all of them made you work.

So stop being pissed about Jaque Jones and just hope that Dusty over the offseason has read "Managering for Dummies" (or has at lest looked up what OBP stands for) and while you're at it, hope that some team is dumb enough to take KKorie and Neifi for a starting pitcher. Or that the A's jump in the Game and offer up Zito to the cubs.

Horrible Announcing Part 3

watching this Bears/Packers game is making me absolutely sick. Not "Jim Hendry Offseason Sick", but pretty sick. The game is tied, but if you were just listening to these guys, you'd think that the Bears were spotted the first 7 points for no apparent reason.

A lot of you got on my about bitching about the announcing of Brenley, Buck and others. Some of you asked "What More do you want from an announcer"?

Here's my problem with most announcers these days. Keep in mind that I just think Brenley and Kasper suck and this commentary is merely about national announcers. It seems like any game I watch, the announcers have a pre-determined "thesis" for the game, or some idea/player that they MUST promote.

Last week it was Mike Vick. Sure, they talked about the bear's defense, but only in the 2nd half, and when they finally did get around to praising the Bears D, it was because they had Stopped Mike Vick. THAT is what made the Bear's D good. They built up Vick for a half, when Vick clearly was struggling, now all of a sudden, the Bear's defense was good because they were stopping Vick, thus still proving their theory of Vick's greatness.

This week, they're playing Farvre. Now, Bret Farvre is someone who can DO NO WRONG. He could sereiously CarJack a Bus Full of Nuns, and the announcers would say "He's getting in touch with his spiritual side". I cannot watch any more games with this guy playing. Not because I don't like him, but the entire Broadcasting community in this country has decided that tWahey should suck this guy's dick, and now also apparently all the officials in the league. I'm going back to this game. Oh, BTW, War Prior for Tejada and Zito. War Joe Buck going Mute. War Bears getting a home bye. War Lovie Smith coaching the Cubs.

Dusty vs. Lovie

With nothing new to comment on and all of the blogosphere NOW hopping onto the Jim Hendry sucks bandwagon, I'm looking more forward to this week's Bears/Packers game than I am to spring training, and these are some reasons why:

Lovie's team has an identity, makes no excuses, and plays solid fundementals.
Dusty's team is the Cubs. (the cubs had more of an Identity when they were the loveable losers than now)

Lovie is not afraid to pull his starting QB if he clearly isn't getting the job done
Dusty's boss had to take KKorey out of the Major Leagues for a month to keep Dusty from playing him.

Lovie's has Brian Urlacher, one of the most fundementally sound defensive players in the game.
Dusty isn't a big believer in fundementals, he just assumes that everyone can play.

Lovie's team plays and thrives in sub freezing temps.
Dusty's team complains when its cold, complains when its hot, complains about the day games.

In two years, Lovie has turned a horrible team into a Super Bowl contender
In two years, Dusty has turned a World Series contender into a mess.



Please feel free to add any comparisons of your own.

Ps, there's been lots of starting pitchers being traded and signed. Good thing Kerry Wood will be healthy by um...... wait, I spoke to soon.

Horrible Announcing Pt. 2

Okay Joe, we get it. You like Mike Vick.

Why No More Nomah??

Since there is absolutely NOTHING happening in cubland, and I mean NOTHING. The Cubs.com site still has the Pierre Press conference as their 2nd article; I'm just going to pose this question and let you all in the Blogosphere respond. Why not sign nomar for one more year? This would definitely enable Hendry to trade walker and still have 4 quality middle infielders to choose from for the starting jobs. Put cedeno at SS, nomah at 2b, neifi on the bench, preferably with some sort of harness or seatbelt similar to Kkorey's and then Hairston could platoon and replace whomever is injured that particular day, or I guess he could play right.

This way you get some REAL VALUE by trading Walker. Nomar, (when healthy) seemed to provide a little bit of spark in this lineup. Keep in mind they still have not had him healthy for a whole year. I'm not saying its the best idea ever, but it quite possibly isn't the worst idea ever either.

Patterson in Right?? Wrong

I just read on Trib Page and Cubs.com that the cubs are thinking about trying Patterson in right. Now before I cry myself to sleep, (which I've been doing quite recently lately) I thought I'd paste in my posting from just about a month ago when it looked certain that we'd be getting furcal. Keep in mind, this is BEFORE the Marlins Dumped Delgado, Furcal Went To LA, Bradley Got Traded, and now Pitcher Javier Vasquez has just gone to the South Siders. Maybe my "letter" shouldn't have gone to Hendry as much as the Trib. Co. Clearly this guy does not know how to build a winner and when he's on the cusp of having a winner, ala '03, does not know how to close the deal in the offseason. So, here it goes, then I'm off to bed.

One last thought, how come its the opinion of most of those in the blogosphere that Kkorey doesn't have the arm for right but not of Dusty, Hendry or these two writers? Seriously I'm asking, has it been proven that he doesn't, or is it just opinion? Also, it seems that most of you don't really want Jaque Jones, and after looking closer at his numbers, I'm not as hopefull for his coming to chicago, but even if he and Kkorey have similar offensive numbers, I'd take jones just for the defensive aspect. Jones seems to have a really good feel for that position and has made some incredible plays. and didn't KPat have a ball bounce off his head last year??

The Below was Written on Nov. 13

So now its Hot Stove League TIme. 3 days ago Peter Gammons reported that Furcal was definitely going to the Cubs and that it'd be done relatively quickly. Well the latest on Chicago sports.com indicates that the Cubs may not be willing to give him the money he wants. But hey they have resigned walker and neifi to two year contracts. The Cubs should just chance their Motto to, "why pay for 5 years of an all star SS when, we can get an average short stop for half the time" In fact, if you look closer at that Articleon Cubs. Com Hendry says

""We've got a lot of priorities," he said Tuesday. "We've got a lot of things that need to get better. If you start prioritizing early, then it will not enable you to get a guy like [Derrek] Lee."

In other words, "we Got lucky with Derek Lee, so if we do the smart Needed thing early, we many not get lucky late" I don't know about Hendry, but I'd rather be good than lucky and to me that one statement shows how Sub-Par of a GM he really is. YOU DON"T WAIT FOR PEOPLE TO CALL YOU WHEN YOU NEED 4-5 NEW POSITION PLAYERS!!!!!

Dear Mr. Hendry

Dear Mr. Hendry, in case you haven't noticed, you STILL have a gaping hole in Right Field. Did you close your eyes and hope that it would fill itself? Were you and Dusty trying to convince each other that John Mabry could be an every day player?? Or, are you petitioning Bud's office to change the rules only requiring 8 fielders? Now is not the time for queasy stomachs. Last time I looked this is your last year to make something big happen and if it were my job on the line, and I had a good deal of cash still on reserve, I'd be pulling all the stops. Its been said before that Prior has not yet had one full healthy season. He's a little older than Z and is clearly not as durable. So if there is someone out there that can be had by offering up Cedeno, Prior, Hill, Walker, in any combination, that deal has to be done. Use Priors money to land another Quality, DURABLE Starter, and use the rest for that Gaping hole in Right, and that other Furcal Sized one in the infield.

Now, if you have finally woken up, you'll notice that Jaque Jones will not be returning to the twins. He bats lefty, has speed, and is a tremendous fielder and his Career Stats are pretty outstanding.
Plus, and here's the good part, he only made $5 Mill last year. But hey, we here in the Cubs Blogosphere don't need to point out who's available and what their stats are....... Do We??

Horrible announcing

Is it just me or could Play By play announcers be any worse? I guess I really started noticing it when the Cubbies dumped Stone and Carey for Kasper and Brenley... Just looking at the latter two names is enough to not take them seriously before they even open their mouths. Then being stuck with Joe Buck for what seemed like a 15 game WS. Its brought me to a point that lately I cannot listen to any announcers. Luckily the big tv has split screen so I can play video games and just watch the game in the little box. Add the pause button on the xbox, rewind on the tivo and the laptop with stat-tracker and I become a pretty smelly person by the end of a sunday... but I digress. Right now I'm just pissed i didn't TIVO the sunday game so I could FF through the Horrible Half-time banter on sunday night football. Favorite quote heard lately " I don't want to hear Randy Moss and Terrell Owens mentioned in the same sentance, because they are two completely different people" Not sure who it was but it did make me fling myself to my death in the halo game I was playing.

Gotta Get Tejada

I was stunned when I saw two things happen yesterday. 1. Renteria get traded for a top prospect. (Something the Cubs still have a few of) and 2. Tejada demanding a trade.

Since losing Furcal, Hendry has been pretty quiet about his plans for a SS, but with tejada available, he has to make a move. Tejada to me has long been one of the most underrated of the SS's in the league. He's Charismatic, he's a clubhouse leader type, and he has power. I could live with a stinker in right if we had an infield of Tejada, Hairston, Aram and Lee. Put Murton in there at the 6 spot and this would be a lineup with both speed and power. Something the cubs have not had since the beginning of the sosa era.

Could they pull off such a trade involving Cedeno, Patterson and Walker?? if they got tejada, would they really need Cedeno anymore. Clearly there is something about Cedeno that dusty does not like. He's so over-defensive about how he does play younsters "Look at the bullpen last year" . Oh yeah dusty, how'd that work out for you, but it still took him till the September callups to get Murton and Cedeno in the lineup for any considerable playing time. Well, if Hendry is sticking with Dusty, and if Dusty is going to stick with the Likes of Neifi and Walker over cedeno and Hairston, then lets give him a Veteran who's actually good. (actually, I do like walker, but they aren't keeping his trading block status a secret from anyone)

So lets see if Hendry can finish off this winter with the same sort of umm... effort as he started it with... and lets bring in a Young, Fast, Powerful and a strong leader who can finally Solidify SS, the way ARAM and Lee have solidified the corners.

Juan More Outfielder

Could this finally be the end of the KKorey Paterson era in chicago?? From all accounts it seems like it could be. Jim Hendry finally woke up from his nap and did something this offseason but lets not celebrate too much yet. They still need to find another Right Fielder and currently Neifi Perez is the starting SS. Now, if he could swing a deal to bring Abreu here, I would be Hendry's biggest fan but I'd even settle for Bradley, Kearns or Huff, though I think taking a gamble on Bradley might pay dividends.

On the other hand, Hendry really needs to look back to the end of the '04 season. With the Sammy situation, and everyone complaining about everything, does he really think Dusty can keep a leash on Bradley enough, especially since we all know how Dusty's final contract year in SF ended. So far, I give hendry's offseason a B+ with room for improvement once the right fielder is aquired.

Hmmm... too bad they couldn't swing a trade for Castillo AND Pierre.

Year of the Quarterback

I'll take a break from my normal ranting about the cubs "offseason aquisitions". Can we really call any of them "deals"?

Though the addition of Mabry is a good idea, now how bout two outfield STARTERS

Okay, enough of that.

has anyone thought about how many good quarterbacks there are this year. I mean, maybe its just cause i'm a bit "altered" right now, and all of you are gonna be like "dude, we've known that for a long time" but whatever, I gotta get it down.

In my opinion, the mid-late 80's was the erra of great QB's. I'll list just a few

Marino, Montana, Elway, Essiason, Simms, Kosar, and just a bit later Farvre and Young. I think we could all agree that those were the best of that generation's QB's. Give or take a few. So what's that? 8, 10 topps.

Now just look at some of the top notch qb's this year. and I'm not talking abou the most prolific, but the teams where the QB is the 1st or 2nd best player on the team.

Manning, Manning, Rothlesburger, Brady, Palmer, Mcnabb (before injuries), Brees, Vick, Plummer. So there we have 9 quarterbacks having either really good Seasons, or in the middle of Dominant careers. ** Also receiving votes (but not serious votes) Kyle Orton, Joey Harrington, Bledsoe and Farvre (hehe)

Could we be looking at the dawning of another QB era? Am I just blanking on all of the 90's. Does Bret Farvre really suck?? All of these can be answered by you.