AKA the place for me and fathom to complain about how bad the NL is compared to the AL

 

seriously though....i liked this thread last year and thought i'd start a new one this year

 

For some reason every year, the cubs worry about the leadoff spot more than any other team (maybe the have no other holes to fill in i guess). I'm not sure why they would even hesitate to put Theriot in there...he walks more than he strikes out, and will steal between 25-30 bases. While he doesn't hit for any power whatsoever, he will be on base alot for their big hitters

And please, if you don't care about the Cubs, you don't need to tell us that every week.

AKA the place for me and fathom to complain about how bad the NL is compared to the AL

 

seriously though....i liked this thread last year and thought i'd start a new one this year

 

For some reason every year, the cubs worry about the leadoff spot more than any other team (maybe the have no other holes to fill in i guess). I'm not sure why they would even hesitate to put Theriot in there...he walks more than he strikes out, and will steal between 25-30 bases. While he doesn't hit for any power whatsoever, he will be on base alot for their big hitters

Miles and Theriot will prob split duty, although I am not in the norm thinking Soriano is bad in the leadoff spot. His OBP may not be good, but his power is scary up there and its obviously where he performs the best. IN the middle of the order he is just a strike out machine.

 

Also, the back end of their pen will implode this year, so will Harden's shoulder.

Soriano really should lead off for them, as he's too much of a mental midget to bat elsewhere. I'm going to try and not take every Cubs game so hard this season if they win, as they have to be about 90 percent likely to win the NL Central. Instead, I'll be rooting for other things that could mess them up over the course of the season.

Soriano really should lead off for them, as he's too much of a mental midget to bat elsewhere. I'm going to try and not take every Cubs game so hard this season if they win, as they have to be about 90 percent likely to win the NL Central. Instead, I'll be rooting for other things that could mess them up over the course of the season.

last year was tough though...for like 2 straight months that team came back in every single game they played in...even when they were down big they came back and at least made a game of it...those games were so frustrating to watch...and I agree on your earlier sentiment ....in fact I think we should disallow people from coming in here to post the inevitable "why do you guys care so much about the cubs" posts

But I don't care about the Cubs...

 

And please, if you don't care about the Cubs, you don't need to tell us that every week.

 

Crap...

Anyone else a fan of Len Kasper? Great knowledge, decent storyteller, good personality, the guy's damn good at his job. I think he and Stoney would actually make a good team., although they'd have to split Play by Play/Color.

Anyone else a fan of Len Kasper? Great knowledge, decent storyteller, good personality, the guy's damn good at his job. I think he and Stoney would actually make a good team., although they'd have to split Play by Play/Color.

Kaspers a solid announcer, but I have really started to hate him....cub fans love to rip hawk for being a homer, but Kasper is every bit the homer Hawk is...can't stand the squeeky dumbass voice he does when he says "and its a goner!" or the stupid "cubs win"...hit puberty already Len.....he is fairly knowledgable and if he was a sox announcer i admit, I would probably like him, but I just can't stand the over the top cubness that he emanates

Anyone else a fan of Len Kasper? Great knowledge, decent storyteller, good personality, the guy's damn good at his job. I think he and Stoney would actually make a good team., although they'd have to split Play by Play/Color.

Len Kasper and Steve Stone would be an awkward mix, they take very different approaches to the game with Stoney being of the old school mold and Kasper being a SABR junkie.

 

I love Kasper though, very smart guy. I've actually cooled on Stone over the past few years, his in game analysis is amazing but he isn't much of a scout, IMO.

I'm going to try and not take every Cubs game so hard this season if they win, as they have to be about 90 percent likely to win the NL Central. Instead, I'll be rooting for other things that could mess them up over the course of the season.

 

Easy to try in February. By the end of Spring Training, even Cub wins in March will be hard to take. Best baseball day ever is a Sox win & a Cubs loss. And hopefully there are many ahead for me.

Easy to try in February. By the end of Spring Training, even Cub wins in March will be hard to take. Best baseball day ever is a Sox win & a Cubs loss. And hopefully there are many ahead for me.

I love your best baseball day!

I think the Cubs are going to struggle a lot with their pen this year as well as dealing with the pain of having Harden all year. If they were in any other division I would pick a suprise team to beat them out this year, but with that division, Cubs win it in a cakewalk

I am going into this year like I did two year's ago. While on paper I think the cubs are going to be good this year, I just think something is going to go wrong with them. They have zero organizational depth and are needing to get a cast off to back up first and third base. They should go after Crede..... If Lee or Ramirez go down they are screwed. Any injuries for that matter and they are in trouble. I think yo uwill see the drop off of older players as well and those back loaded contracts are going to come back to haunt the Ricketts family.

My prediction...Cubs march through to the division title...and then are 3 and gone in the playoffs.....crazy prediction, huh?

They came back and won too many miracle games last year. Everything went right. When the Sox had a season like that, the next year everything went wrong.

The difference is that the Al Central is going to be much more competetive then the NL Central. The only team that actually improved in that division was the Cubs. As we stand now, the Reds stand a very good chance of taking second place and even then i can't see them going within half a dozen games of the cubs.

I think the bullpen will struggle with not having Marmol available to get out of those huge jams in the 7th/8th innings, Gregg cant strike people out the way he does. I also dont know if Marmol can hold up all year with all hes pitched last year and this winter/spring. That could cause them problems in the playoffs, but they have way too much talent for anybody to get even 8 games close to them in that division. Part of the reason they had all those lucky comeback wins last year was cause they were playing such horrible teams and horrible bullpens.

 

Anybody see Lou trying to mention Ronnie WooWoo...Hilarious, This town definitely has the two best managers to interview.....

 

http://www.nbcchicago.com/sports/baseball/...a-Cubs-Hat.html

 

But general manager Jim Hendry said: ''There's always room for a guy that likes both teams in town. He's always welcome.''

 

Manager Lou Piniella seemed to take exception to seeing the president frequently wearing an old, worn Sox cap. ''We got to get him a Cub hat over there,'' Piniella said. ''We can sneak Chief Wahoo over there.''

 

Huh 'Who is it?'' Piniella said, grasping for the right character. ''Yeah, Ronnie Wahoo.''

 

 

I think the bullpen will struggle with not having Marmol available to get out of those huge jams in the 7th/8th innings, Gregg cant strike people out the way he does. I also dont know if Marmol can hold up all year with all hes pitched last year and this winter/spring. That could cause them problems in the playoffs, but they have way too much talent for anybody to get even 8 games close to them in that division. Part of the reason they had all those lucky comeback wins last year was cause they were playing such horrible teams and horrible bullpens.

 

Anybody see Lou trying to mention Ronnie WooWoo...Hilarious, This town definitely has the two best managers to interview.....

 

http://www.nbcchicago.com/sports/baseball/...a-Cubs-Hat.html

I prefer "dirty homeless crack addict" to Ronnie Wahoo

I think the bullpen will struggle with not having Marmol available to get out of those huge jams in the 7th/8th innings,

The argument could be made that Marmol is the best set-up man in the League, so yeah, making him the closer is an atrocious decision on the Cubs parts.

The argument could be made that Marmol is the best set-up man in the League, so yeah, making him the closer is an atrocious decision on the Cubs parts.

 

Most of the great closers today started off as great setup men. Once upon a time, Mariano Rivera was the league's best setup man. Likewise for K-Rod. Seemed to work out ok.

Most of the great closers today started off as great setup men. Once upon a time, Mariano Rivera was the league's best setup man. Likewise for K-Rod. Seemed to work out ok.

There's 2 issues. First, not every solid setup man makes a good closer (See: LaTroy Hawkins as the classic example. Or Linebrink last year for us). Second, when you have a solid setup man and you turn him in to a closer...you still need to be able to get the ball to the closer in the first place.

There's 2 issues. First, not every solid setup man makes a good closer (See: LaTroy Hawkins as the classic example. Or Linebrink last year for us). Second, when you have a solid setup man and you turn him in to a closer...you still need to be able to get the ball to the closer in the first place.

 

Marmol isn't just a solid setup man. He's filthy. The type of filthy that he can throw the ball over the heart of the plate and get swing-and-misses. He's in a league above Hawkins and Linebrink ever were. Short of an Ankiel episode, Marmol is going to make a fantastic closer. It's a double edged sword either way. You keep Marmol in the 7/8th you're going to need someone to pitch the 9th. I'll take Marmol in the 9th with the option of pitching the 8th. Even if you give up the lead in the 7th and 8th, you're going to come back and win more of those games than if you blow it in the 9th.

There were plenty of games that the Cubs were able to bring in Marmol with men on in the 6th or 7th last season and he was able to get a key strike out. They won't have that ability this season.

 

I also liked the absolutely pointless Manny to the Cubs article in the Tribune today.

The argument could be made that Marmol is the best set-up man in the League, so yeah, making him the closer is an atrocious decision on the Cubs parts.

While Marmol may exceed Woods statistics as closer from last season, even assuming so, who replaces Marmol's position? Marmol/Wood is better than Marmol/Gregg. I'd be a little frightened of Gregg's walk total and Marmol's mileage on his arm if I were Cubs fans. There are going to be some headaches leading to the 9th inning.

 

 

The last three outs are the hardest to get.

 

Marmol gets people to swing at his slider out of the strike zone. Hitters tend to make a pitcher throw strikes in the 9th inning we shall see if Mr. Marbles is able to get this done.