UNTIL HOSSA CAN RETURN

i have made the comment before, and will again. when you injure a player in any sport with a cheap shot, your suspension should last as long as the other player is recovering from the hit. With a rule similar to that, most of the cheap shots I bet would go away.

I am all for hard play, solid hits, but there is no respect it seems anymore for each other.

In an industry full of recycling when it comes to managers being hired time and time again (Bobby Valentine for example), it is nice to see a few new faces this season.

The newest managers to look at are

1. Dale Sveum – Chicago Cubs

2. Robin Ventura – Chicago White Sox

3. Mike Matheny – St Louis Cardinals

* Matheny might have the highest expectations (wins/loses) of the three due to the team not being in rebuild (or build) mode. Matheny has a lot of respect in the Cardinals organization, and might have the best “win now” roster of the three, but with that comes more pressure to win. This is also a team with a few aging players such as (the newly acquired) Beltran, to go along with Berkman who had one hell of a turnaround season in 2011.

* Ventura seems to have his work cut out with having to try and figure out how to get production out of Peavy, Rios and Dunn, each of whom are coming off some down seasons. No doubt he will be vastly different from Guillen, but can be manage is the question, as he has not been challenged to do so to date.

*Sveum likely has the lowest expectation of the three this season, as the Cubs are in build mode no doubt, but that doesn’t mean that he is not expected to try and out manage the opposing team and produce no matter the talent on the field. Sveum has the most managerial experience of the three, but that experience was a few years back as interim manager od Milwaukee.

Which manager do you believe will have the easiest/hardest learning curve?

Which manager do you believe will be a long term skipper?

Do you feel any of the three are getting a “cup of tea” so to speak and will not be around long in this role?

interesting note I saw a friend mention about January 19 in Cubs history.

On This Day In 1977, Ernie Banks was elected into the Hall of Fame.

Now i was only 1 years old when Ernie was elected, so I do not remember how the reaction was, for those who are more seasoned than I am, was there an excitement and buzz like when Dawson or Santo was announced, or was it a lot more mellow of a reaction?

On This Day In 1983, The Cubs made one of their best moves when Ron Cey was acquired from the Dodgers for 2 prospects that never did a thing Dan Cataline & Vance Lovelace.

This trade I vaguely remember, seeing as i was 7 years old, but could not tell you how it was looked at initially, but it is always interesting to think about how BCB might have reacted at the time based on advanced metrics used today. Cantaline never made it out of the minors, where Lovelace did have a 0.00 ERA for his 1.1 in 1989. Neither really accomplished anything and the Cubs for sure won this trade.

According to Boers and Bernstein this afternoon, they said it was confirmed that Theo was at Starbucks that day with other members of the Cubs front office, and that neither Bush or Crane were there.  

This brings up two questions

1. Why were Bush and Crane not there and does that lead to any speculation that they will be be gone?.  

2. Who the other members of the Cubs front office were with him then?

I have not seen a link to confirm what they said.

When do the excuses for Castro end, and we star holding him accountable? 

First of all, yes I understand he has a lot of upside and potential.  I know he is a good player and has some fine tuning needed, but reality has to start setting in as we close in on the end of his second season.

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I have fought in your defense and with good reason, but I must now ask you WTF are you doing?  I have to wonder which of the three  four below hold true

1. the offers you are receiving are that low
2. you truly disillusioned about the players who have truly let us down this season
3. You have lost all baseball common sense you had
4. You have given up just like the players in the dugout

If the offers have been that low, come out and say so, if for no other reason, to save face. 

I really don’t see anyone not named Marshall or Garza I would label off limits right now. 

I won’t go into details about all other players, but I will touch on some.

I know I will get crap for not including Castro on this list.  I like Castro, but his defense scares the hell out of me, and I am sure it scares the hell out of anyone playing first base.  How long until the Cubs put a screen in front of the first baseline fans for their own safety like behind the plate?  I know he is young and could improve, but same was said about Cedeno (for example) and a host of others.  No I don’t think Cedeno is a fair comparison, but it is a prime example of fans over valuing a young sporadic player who doesn’t improve as they proclaim he will.  If we do keep him, he has to dedicate the offseason to defensive improvement.

Soriano gives his all, but his legs have little left, he needs to go somewhere and DH, something we don’t have.  Thanks for a lot of great memories, and best wishes.

Ramirez is playing well now that there is no pressure to win, where was he when the season began and we were not 20 under .500?  Good bye, and have fun elsewhere.

Zambrano is one I could be talked into reconsidering, but he is also part of the problem IMHO.  We need a new attitude in the dugout, and he has been here long enough to be part of the old attitude.  I know many will say this is being over valued by me, and I accept your difference of opinion, but I will stand by my feelings on this.

Dempster is no longer the pitcher he once was, it happens, and his only true future with the Cubs is in the broadcast booth. 

Wood, love him for what he did as a Cub, but again it is what he DID not what he can do or is doing.  He could have a place somewhere in the organization, but I don’t see it as a player anymore.  How happy are the team(s) that were offering him more money or years that the Cubs snuck in and stole him away.

Soto, hasta la bye bye.  You were a late bloomer, and I am glad for what you have done on average, but not consistent enough annually.  He might be another I can be talked into reconsidering, but ONLY if he changes a lot of his off season prep work (or lack thereof?).

Quade, ok the joke was funny, it’s time to end it.  The only joke that needs to end sooner is the TJ11 “x member of the Cubs staff approves” line.  It was nice that he got his cup of tea after paying his dues in the minors.  I won’t get into any “Ryno would have” lines, since it means nothing and is just speculation.  Over matched too often, and should return to being a 3B coach or back to the minors where he can actually teach those willing to learn.  He is not a MLB manager.

Ricketts, ok your honeymoon as owner, (or operating member of ownership, whatever the hell title you wish to use on your fancy lanyard) is over.  Time to make some statements with some bold moves.  Time to blow it all up starting with Crane, followed by Hendry, then Quade, and if you truly want to change perception you must start eating contracts and DFA those who won’t accept a trade and are not part of the immediate future (2012 and beyond).  Tell them if they won’t accept a new team in a trade, they can look for a new team on their own. 

Hendry, again you have left me to defend, and now it has become impossible to even try and defend you.  Time to thank you and wish you well.  I thank you for what you did; I have no ill feelings towards you, and hope you find a gig elsewhere.  In your position you cannot be friends with everyone (when you are the boss), you have to make moves, fire those who are failing, trade those who seem untradeable at times, make moves to better the teams long term while winning now.  Sadly, that is something that has not happened since 2008.  You were willing to take chances, and I for one appreciate it and like that you were willing to do so, but it no longer acceptable to keep running this team, the coaching staff, or the manager out daily.  I was willing to take a punt this season, with the understanding that there are issues that a season will eliminate, but this has really spiraled too far out of control to give me a reason to keep even you.  Unless there is some crazy secret plan (one never knows) that has been discussed and is in preparation for this coming off season that none of us are aware of you have outlived your welcome. 

In a nutshell, I can accept sucking and seeing the players, coaches, manager and front office giving it their all (or at least pretending to well enough to hide it), I cannot sit by and continue to accept sucking while half assing it.  This is not a team, it’s not even 25 men playing a game, and it’s more like a clown car with a blind driver at a circus without a ring leader.

I THINK THE CUBSSHOULD TRADE FOR ADAMLIND.  HE IS A GOODHITTER AND SIGNS AUTO GRAPHS WHILE HIT TING THE BALL FAR.  HE IS A GOOD PER SON.  I THINK HE IS THEBEST HITTER WHOSIGNS AUTO GRAPHS.  WE COULD ALSO TRADE FOR OTHE R PLAYERS WHO SIGN AUTO GRAPHS WHILE WHENEVER ASKED, EVEN IF THEY ARE PREPARING FOR THE GAME, OR CHANGING THEIR NEW BORN CHILDS DIAPER.  AUTO GRAPHS MAKE A PLAYER COOL AND BETTER AT PERFORMING ON THE FIELD.  HIS BAT CAN SIGN WHILE HE IS FIELDING.  I KNOW HE CAN TRAIN IT TO.  I AM NOT INTO AUTO GRAPHS BUT I AM.  AUTO GRAPHS ARE IMPORTANT TO WINNING AND CREATING A GOD CLUB HOUSE EXPERIENCE FOR THE PLAYERS AND IT SHOWS THE OPPOSING PLAYERS THAT THE FANS ARE IMPORTANT WHICH IS WHY THEY WILL WANT TO SIGN HERE AS FREE AGENTS SO THEY CAN SIGN AUTO PGRAPHS ALSO.  I THINK THE CUBS SHOULD TRADE KOY HILL FOR A TOP OF THE ROTATION THIRD BASEMAN

GETITD ON EJIM!!!!!!!!!!!