I was having a nice night at minute maid until that inning. The the *****s came out of the woodworks. If you watch the highlight of colvins homerun you can see me partially obstructed by the foul pole.

I know he's had release point issues, but they have talked about how his fastball hasn't been as sharp so hitters don't have to swing at him since he can't locate his slider. This was prior to his momentary demotion.

quote:

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Chairman of the board Tom Ricketts will make an announcement on the Chicago Cubs' future and share his view of the state of the team within the next 10 days, according to a source close to Ricketts.

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http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/6864881/source-chicago-cubs-chairman-tom-ricketts-speak-team-future

ESPN probably wants Ricketts to keep the Cubs in the Central Division so they don't have to renegotiate TV contracts. Don't trust what they say.

Now that Hendry is gone, who is everyones pick for the new GM?

I heard their eyeing the guy from San Diego...I don't know his name.

Supposedly Hendry was told on 7/22 that he would be let go. Weird.

Yeah, the timing and the way everything went down is very odd. Apparently, Jim and the Ricketts are on good terms. Also, this is the explanation for why no moves were made at the deadline (that doesn't make any sense to me). They said it was so Hendry wouldn't clear the cupboard. If that was their concern they should've let him go before the deadline. Either way, their concern for not clearing the cupboard makes me think we won't see big changes this offseason.

Honestly, I don't know what to think or expect from this team.

Cubs-Cards on Fox now.

quote:

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Former Cubs first baseman Mark Grace said Saturday that he wasn't ripping Quade during a radio interview last week when he talked about the team passing on Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg for the job. Grace reiterated on Saturday that he likes Quade and the Cubs manager paid his dues in the Minor Leagues. But Sandberg has other qualities.

"First of all, the Cubs needed a PR jolt, and certainly Ryne Sandberg is a god in Chicago," Grace said in the radio interview. "He is Walter Payton, he is Michael Jordan. He is that person. Chicago's entertainment is sports, they are so passionate and they love their own.

"What Hall of Famer goes down and rides buses for five years and pays their dues? Hall of Famers don't do that. It just made all the sense in the world to give [the job] to Sandberg because he is a [heck] of a manager."

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Also, Cubs win 3-0. Another Hr for Aramis, and a good save for Marmol.

Garza almost melted down in the first. After getting out of a jam with a double play, he was dominant the rest of the way.

Grace sucks as a broadcaster.

Excerpt from Bleacher Nation blogger article regarding the Cubs 2011 trade deadline activity:

quote:

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Well, it turns out, Hendry had been told he would be fired nine days before the trade deadline. And, you guessed it: his lame duck status caused the lack of activity at the deadline.

“At that time [I was told I would not be retained on July 22], we decided it was best for me to stay on,” Hendry said Friday. “We had [the Trade Deadline] coming up, we had a lot of Draft choices that needed to be signed. We both felt that possibly me staying through that gave us the best chance to sign the players.”

“It would have been easy to trade a few guys to look like we were clearing the deck, or ‘Jim’s cleaning house,’” Hendry said, explaining the lack of trade deadline activity. “A few guys may want to be here, and the next general manager and Tom may want them to be here. It’s a real important winter, and moving forward, the next person ought to be making those decisions on some of these guys and that’s why I didn’t trade them.” (emphasis mine)

Wow.

I don’t intend this post to be one big pat on the back (though, I mean, dude, I was so money), but I thought it important to note Hendry’s confirmation about the reason for the lack of activity at the trade deadline. It colors the events, and certainly places Hendry in a much more sympathetic light. Not only was the lack of activity not his fault, but it was actually symptom of him being a stand up guy.

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Read the whole thing here: http://www.bleachernation.com/2011/08/22/jim-hendry-confirms-lame-duck-status-caused-trade-deadline-inactivity/

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

http://www.obstructedview.net/unobstructed-views/cubs/old-style-to-exit-wrigley-field-following-2011-season.html

Finally got a chance to watch an entire series (Fri/Sat on WGN and Sun on TBS) and the Cubs get ****ing swept.

It was those Cardinal series. We beat the Cards the first Sunday night we played on ESPN to salvage the series and we went on a tear after that. The second one, they beat us to salvage the series. Now we're back to crappy baseball.

Can't belive OS is no longer going to be served. You'd think it wouldn't be a big deal to at least have a vendor somewhere in the stadium selling it - at least like a novelty thing. Hopefully it doesn't affect the Wrigleyville beer menu either...

Knocked the **** outta Little Girl Lincecum last night. Of course it wasn't on TV here. Tonight is on WGN, so we're sure to lose.

[This message has been edited by Dr. Cub, Esq. (edited 8/30/2011 10:08a).]

Too bad Lincecum was on my fantasy team.

DAMMIT, UPPERCUT!

Two game winning streak.

Cashner has been activated and has been lighting it up in the minors. At least in the two innings I know of that he's pitched in.

quote:

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Cubs, Old Style makers reach deal to keep selling beer at Wrigley

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-cubs-old-style-makers-reach-deal-to-keep-selling-beer-at-wrigley-20110907,0,190239.story

Pena hit a 3 R HR yesterday, but some averages:

Pena: .227
Soriano: .245
Soto: .226
Hill: .195 (though this isn't surprising)

Just terrible. Zambrano was batting .318 before he "went away".

I like Pena's personality, but I agree, I just don't like the low average by him. I like that he's a selective hitter, but he's got some vulnerabilities at the plate.

I hope we don't re-sign Pena.

3 straight losses to the ****ing Reds.

No reason we shouldn't keep LaHair on board to play first base. I'm pretty sure he could hit .230 next season and would be a hell of a lot cheaper. His defense will be less than Pena, but let's be honest, we ain't wining anything next year either.

If Ricketts allows the new GM to spend some cash, there is no reason we CAN'T contend next year. Pujols & Fielder are both FA's and the big money teams like the Yankees and Red Sox already have first base locked up for many years. Add one of those guys and this team is an instant contender is the NL Central.

quote:

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Add one of those guys and this team is an instant contender is the NL Central.

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And if they got 2-3 legit starters. Are you kidding me? Adding one of those guys might add 5-10 wins, TOPS. We need pitching, badly.

IF Randy Wells could keep healthy and have another good year...and IF Cashner pans out....and IF we keep Zambrano and it turns out he has one more in the tank now that he's past his prime...and IF Dempster can get his ERA back closer to 3 than 5....then we'll have enough guys to complement Matt Garza, who would probably be having a better year with more run support.

We could use some bullpen help and a closer than can find the strike zone more than half of his outings.

Keep in mind that they've discussed keeping Pena and not signing Pujols or Fiedler.

...and that then we'd need a bigger year from a more and more injury prone Ramirez, who may not even be coming back (right?). We'd still be paying Soriano through the decline of his career to flunk at defense while hitting .240. We'd need Soto to prove that his one season 3 years ago wasn't a fluke. I liked Colvin, but he hasn't really been tearing it up to take back right field, where we wasted a ton of time and money on Kosuke.

....and that leaves us with the overall lack of team speed and team defense that includes a young middle infield that won't improve from one of the worst in the NL, if not baseball, overnight.

And that isn't even mentioning the current coaching staff, whose record this year put aside, still lacks overall managerial experience and time played in MLB.

Z will never pitch for the Cubs again. Period. Of course you'd always like to add pitching depth when possible, but I don't think we're in terrible shape there. My point about Fielder/Pujols is that if Ricketts is willing to spend money on one of them, there will probably be some other additions as well. You're not going to spend that kind of money and then not make any other improvements. A couple other things to remember. Hendry won't be the one in charge this offseason, so that makes me more optimistic. And it's not like we have a major powerhouse in the Central that's going to require at least 90-95 wins to take the division. You give me a lineup that includes Fielder, Castro, Ramirez, Soto, maybe Brett Jackson, Barney, etc and that team could be pretty good.

Offense hasn't been our big problem anyway in all reality. We have the worst pack of starting pitching in the league with NO depth. That's absolutely a problem. You can't be successful with a bunch of Right handed 3 and 4 type starters.