Crazy...I see Dusty implemented Ozzie's strategy of benching 3 starters.

 

Yeah, they've still got some good players in there though, and Heisey is a much better hitter than Stubbs (at least right now).

Randy Wells...? WTF?

Even a no hitter wouldn't do anything for the Cubs at this point. The Reds really haven't shown up today, they could easily be down by 10 runs or more right now if they weren't playing a cupcake like this.

Even a no hitter wouldn't do anything for the Cubs at this point. The Reds really haven't shown up today, they could easily be down by 10 runs or more right now if they weren't playing a cupcake like this.

 

Agreed, but it would still be nice to not give the Cubs fans any reason to celebrate an achievement.

Cancel the post game...make a comeback Reds, they're the best in baseball this year at that!

Anyone check out the Cubs 2nd half schedule? Very tough, with tons of games vs Cardinals, Giants, Padres, Reds. Their only hope is to destroy the depleted Astros, as they play them 12 times I believe.

Exactly. They have low cash flow, a ballpark with decreasing attendance and increasing maintenance costs, a lack of general money due to the resources used to buy the team, and a lot of overpaid veterans with no trade clauses. It's not a good situation to fix a team full of holes unless you just have a dynamite minor league system, and they don't.

 

No, I understand all that. I know any trade they make of a veteran includes paying a decent portion of the salary, too. I also understand that they need to keep attendance up to continue to patch the park and pay these awful contracts. My question is more, why not get rid of Hendry and bring in a Larry Himes type who will let the ML team suffer a bit while contracts expire and rebuild the system from the ground up? Maybe I am naive to think there is even enough money for that, but Hendry seems to only know how to build via free agency and thus has put the franchise in a terrible hole.

Anyone check out the Cubs 2nd half schedule? Very tough, with tons of games vs Cardinals, Giants, Padres, Reds. Their only hope is to destroy the depleted Astros, as they play them 12 times I believe.

But they're close to done with the Pirates by now right?

My question is more, why not get rid of Hendry and bring in a Larry Himes type who will let the ML team suffer a bit while contracts expire and rebuild the system from the ground up?

 

The Cubs simply don't seem to have the patience to blow it up, build from within in their minor league system, and try to win that way. The catch 22 of being a team that hasn't won in over a century is the fanbase will never buy into a rebuilding deal like that because they've seen so much failure. Thanks to the long drought combined with the rise in expectations the 2003-2008 years gave their fanbase, they're kind of stuck in eternal win now mode until they win something. Plus, they're trying to keep that ballpark full everyday, especially with the cashflow problems, and one way to for sure lose attendance is going into rebuilding mode.

 

And Balta, the Cubs only have 3 games left against the Pirates. Although that might be a good thing from the Cubs perspective with how they've played against them.

nd Balta, the Cubs only have 3 games left against the Pirates. Although that might be a good thing from the Cubs perspective with how they've played against them.

That was kinda my point. They could be a .500 team the rest of the year if they don't have to play the Burgh again.

It's amazing what happens to Lilly at Wrigley when the wind isn't howling in.

The Reds scored 9 in the 7th on Friday and 8 today. And they didn't even have Rolen or Votto today. Very good offensive club.

Easily the worst Cubs team since 2006. I wasn't 100% sold on the Reds a month ago. But they're going to be a force to reckoned with. I'm sick of the Cardinals. I hope they (the Reds) take that division.

hahahaaa...you know it's bad when Corky Miller unloads on you!

Have you guys seen the gamethreads at northsidebaseball.com the last couple weeks? They're averaging like 50 replies per thread. lol. Talk about giving up.

I've been watching the Cubs - DBacks game today. No shock give they fired the GM and Manager, but, Arizona is not good.

LaRoche hit his 13th in that game.

LaRoche hit his 13th in that game.

 

Damn it Kenny, we need this man. He can be had for the cheap.

I've forgotten how much I hate watching the National League. The Dodgers offense outside of their top 4 is absolutely awful. Russell Martin looks like he ate someone. Hopefully Dodgers can split this 4 game series, as it would suck for Cubs to go into the break winning 7 in a row and then opening up after the ASB against a Phillies team that is missing a ton of players also.

Man, Rafael Furcal is some kind of hot right now...and I don't mean that in the Ricky Martin way.

Have you guys seen the gamethreads at northsidebaseball.com the last couple weeks? They're averaging like 50 replies per thread. lol. Talk about giving up.

 

 

I usually don't advise anyone to check out that s***hole, but it has provided some very entertaining reading over the past couple of weeks. I also noticed that one clown who uses up all the bandwidth with his ridiculous stats and his "The Cubs are 6-5 when the Santa Ana Winds blow on a Tuesday Evening" crap is still being his usual nimrod self.

Man, Rafael Furcal is some kind of hot right now...and I don't mean that in the Ricky Martin way.

I watched about 5 mins of that game last night and 2 of them were when Furcal hit the go ahead HR off of Wells.

I usually don't advise anyone to check out that s***hole, but it has provided some very entertaining reading over the past couple of weeks. I also noticed that one clown who uses up all the bandwidth with his ridiculous stats and his "The Cubs are 6-5 when the Santa Ana Winds blow on a Tuesday Evening" crap is still being his usual nimrod self.

 

I despise that clown.

Si.com links a tribune blurb that the Cubs plan on starting to dump salaries except it completely ignores the fact that all their big contracts are basically unmovable, it writes it as if people are beating down the doors to get the players and the owners are going to let it happen. Soriano and Zambrano are ridiculous contracts AND they both have NTCs, so those are virtually impossible to move unless it's for like 30 cents on the dollar. A-Ram is unmovable unless he does a complete 180 in the next 3 weeks, Fukudome would have no interest, again unless it's for like 50 cents on the dollar. I could see a team wanting Lilly, he would be a good starter for a contending team, but not a top of the rotation guy.

Rafael Furcal has been the best SS in baseball this year. So weird.