fathom

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Mar 17, 2006 -> 09:40 PM) I've been saying this to my super-Cubs-fan co-worker for years. What the hell is with the pitching coach over there, if these guys keep getting hurt? You would think that, since the entire franchise is built around them, there'd be an outcry, but no: year in, year out, it's the same sad story. Thank God for Don Cooper. I think a lot of it has to do with the Cubs devloping pitchers who have big time stuff. All of their guys seem to have 95 mph fastballs and biting sliders. Those are high-risk pitchers, and it can create a lot of injuries. Meanwhile, the Sox don't seem to have as many of those types of pitchers, and they've had less injuries as of late.

What concerns me about the offense so far is the inability to string together consecutive hits. After about 15 games in spring training, you'd think the team be batting over .250. There's still time to get going before the season begins, and it would be nice to see it happen sooner than later.

Way to go Turk!

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Mar 17, 2006 -> 07:34 PM) Oh, fantastic. Another thing to worry me. Jose Contreras and Joe Borchard for Brad Lidge and a big time pitching prospect.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Mar 16, 2006 -> 11:28 PM) I like what Todd Walker brings to the table, the Cubs are stupid to get into a war with such a class act. Walker's a class act? He hasn't learned to keep his mouth shut in the press, and there's some things about him off the field which are startling. I do think he's a super hitter though, and should start for the Cubs. BTW redandwhite, I'm not attacking your thought here. Rather, I just get annoyed when I hear Walker whine and b**** in the media every other week. As much as I hate the Cubs, I think they'd be better off just getting rid of him.

QUOTE(hi8is @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 11:40 PM) i think someone here might be inclined to personally attack you and say something stupid like: "f*** off" which, of course is very very sad. I don't get this post at all. :banghead

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 10:08 PM) You worry about everything and everyone in every situation. Whether they need worrying or not. So it's kinda hard to take it seriously. Seriously. The only people worried about Jenks are on this board. I'm not even watching the game today. I'm just going off of what people said he look like today, combined with what I observed last week.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 09:14 PM) And so you would be worried because he didn't have a perfect inning? When obviously working on one pitch? When he had given up 1 HIT in 4 previous innings? WHen it's SPRING TRAINING. Seriously. Do you know Bobby's ERA last year? Jose's? Garland's? Etc, etc. It's spring training. It's one thing to worry about the second lefty spot, but that had nothing to do with that inning. Well, Billy Koch said the velocity would come back after spring training, and it never did. Instead of just judging guys based on their ERA so far, some of us are analyzing their mechanics, etc. When I saw Jenks last week, he seemed to have a weird arm angle for him, and his pitches were cutting a lot. No one is freaking out about Jenks yet, but it's not like he's a known commodity, and guaranteed to be a superstar.

QUOTE(shawnhillegas @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 08:53 PM) why is bobby throwing 91? He didn't top 93 mph last time I saw him on tv. Hopefully he's just working on stuff.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 08:14 PM) Sometime in May? Then again. Our offense was still sucking in May last year too Well, if it continues to suck like this, then we just have to hope our pitching does amazing like it did and that we also win every close game.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 07:47 PM) Herm did say that this entire season for Dustin will be like the last half of last year when he was basically shot. He gutted it out a few times, but he obviously can't be counted on. Here's the problem....when he tried to gut it out, he had nothing on his pitches. I respect Hermanson for the great job he did for us last season, but I don't want him on the mound if he's not even close to 80 percent.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 05:43 PM) I think you're right on the first part, but I also think you're wrong on the second...and he really shouldn't be pitching with pain...because when he starts feeling pain, he winds up unable to pitch for a few months. That's the thing....they never found anything that showed he actually had anything wrong with him. No pitcher is ever going to be 100 pct healthy in the arm/shoulder/elbow region.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 06:27 PM) Anyone else here Count was scratched today because of strain in his forearm? Yikes, that's not good. I remember that when Zambrano had a strained forearm a couple of years ago, they were worried that it was being caused by structural damage. Hopefully Contreras is fine.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 05:36 PM) In the answering a question with a question department: Do I really have to answer this? Yes, it was. How outlandish do I have to be to make it obvious? Edit: Then again, since the leap from 'miss opening day' to 'arm will fall off' was already made here seriously, maybe I should have just used green... I just wanted to make sure you weren't making fun of the point I was trying to make about how sore muscles are a lot harder to get loose when it's cold out.

I haven't heard....is this Podsednik's left or right shoulder? If it's his left shoulder, that's really going to hurt his rocket arm in the outfield. We might need 2 cutoff men on a routine flyball.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 05:31 PM) So now you're saying he'll freeze to death. It never ends... Is this sarcasm? Do I really have to explain the fact that it might make it more difficult for him to get his shoulder loosened up in order to swing? Also, just because it's a strain, it doesn't mean he's picking up a bat today and facing live pitching. Sounds like they hope to have him ready by the end of the wk, which would probably allow him to be ready for Opening Day.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 05:27 PM) Yah. One game that's almost 3 weeks away. I just heard the score say they've seen the MRI and it's just a strain. whoops... Lets see.....he has a strained muscle that's making it difficult for him to swing the bat. He hasn't gotten a lot of reps in ST so far. Given that's it will be freezing in Chicago the opening week. I'm just not that sure we're going to rush him back for opening week. BTW, I'm happy to hear it's only a strain.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 05:22 PM) fathom said he'd miss one game. Yeah, that's serious. Where should I send the flowers? Ha, I was just going to say this. All I stated at the beginning of this thread was that I didn't think he'd be ready in a little over two weeks. I never said he'd be out for the year, etc.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 02:45 PM) LOL. Our head trainer said it doesn't appear serious. I think I am going to trust his diagnosis over yours if you don't mind. Every story that came out this morning said the same thing. We actually saw some info that said he could be in the lineup this week, but nowhere did it say anything about longterm. Hmmm.... Yep, and Jim Hendry was on the radio last week saying Prior would be ready to go during the first series of their year. The prognosis sounds good right now, and that's more important than any argument we can have about injuries or replacements, etc.

Quite simply, I think the Cubs feel that Prior is a pussy, and the only way they can get him to compete with the pain is to get a doctor to clear him.

QUOTE(quickman @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 03:52 AM) I know where your coming from but not with that salary. I'd rather just keep the Duque from the playoffs in mind, and not have to deal with the regular season Duque.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 03:21 AM) But if you would actually read the story they don't know if it IS joint inflammation. Pods said they are going to try and determine WHERE the inflammation was. But like I said, why bother with what the story says. Yes, they're going to try and determine where the inflammation is, and then try to determine what's causing it. This story had a much different tone than the previous stories about Pods injury.

Jphat.....read any medical book, and you'll know that joint inflammation can be due to injury of nearby tendons, etc. There's no doubt he has inflammation.....they're just trying to see what's causing it.

QUOTE(quickman @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 03:05 AM) I think they are checking because if it was just a strain or something small it would be better by now, its not, therefore they think its something worse, which means its something worse. I'm not saying I'm just saying Jphat....all we're saying is that this seems more than just the "sore" shoulder that Pods was portraying the injury as. Sore shoulders make it very hard to swing the bat, and that seems to be what is worrying Pods right now. At least this isn't one of our starting pitchers who are complaining about a sore shoulder (knock on wood).

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Mar 15, 2006 -> 02:58 AM) I'm not going to worry about our healthy starting 2nd baseman with a solid backup in Cintron and even Ozuna after him. Podsednik, Hermanson and his possible replacement, and the second lefty candidates are far bigger problems to worry about right now. Thankfully, we have a very deep offensive bench this season. I'd have no problem with Mackowiak and Cintron having to get more ABs earlier in the season. You could argue that their production could rival Pods (besides the whole stolen base aspect). And as for Hermanson....well, I never expected any contribution from him this year, so it's not surprising. We'll be fine.......Thome looks better than I could have imagined right now.