The Cubs will probably sign Milton Bradley. I think he's a great fit even with his "distractions" off the field. That lame bogus description of Bradley makes me laugh because as long as it's not teammate to teammate/coach then it's all good . Last year, the incident involving the brodcaster, I got a good laugh at that too. It didn't really affect his play.  If I think about it, nothing really affected his play. Sure people will say he's a cancer in the clubhouse, but all the  players have said that he was a joy to be around.

I understand that Lou won't baby him like Ron Washington did. However,  he has proven to me that he's a great offensive player with flashes of pretty good defense. I'm not going to say that he's Kosuke in right, but I can say that he isn't as bad as Bobby Abreu, Mark DeRosa, or Micah Hoffapuir. 

Also, he is injury prone. But you guys know what, players can't choose to get injuried or not. It just happens. For a team not to sign a player that is currently healthy but is worried about their past, it's just mind boggling to me. To me, Bradley is an all-star calibar player. He produces on the field. 

I don't want to create more drama here, but I think it would be in the Cubs best interest to attempt to acquire Brian Roberts once more. What more can I say. He's an leadoff hitter with speed, gives the team another left handed bat, and will push Soriano down. 

As for Peavy, the Cubs didn't really need him. Like Al said, it was a luxury if they happened to acquire him. Apparently, Towers asked for too much. Move on. The Randy Johnson rumors interest me but to a degree I wonder if he's even 1/2 of himself  3 or 4 years ago. If they could get a 1 year deal, do it. 

Rotation looks solid, bullpen looks pretty good, and the offense (assuming that they get Bradley and maybe Roberts) looks like a top notch hitting machine. 

Roberts

Lee

Soriano 

Bradley

Ramirez

Soto

Fukudome

DeRosa

Bradley's stats via Baseball-reference:

Year Ag Tm  Lg  G   AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI  SB CS  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG *OPS+  TB   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP 
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
 2000 22 MON NL  42  154   20   34   8  1   2   15   2  1  14  32  .221  .288  .325   53   50   1   1   0   1   3
 2001 23 TOT     77  238   22   53  17  3   1   19   8  5  21  65  .223  .288  .332   60   79   2   0   0   1   7
         MON NL  67  220   19   49  16  3   1   19   7  4  19  62  .223  .288  .336   60   74   2   0   0   1   6
         CLE AL  10   18    3    4   1  0   0    0   1  1   2   3  .222  .300  .278   55    5   0   0   0   0   1
 2002 24 CLE AL  98  325   48   81  18  3   9   38   6  3  32  58  .249  .317  .406   93  132   1   0   2   0  12
 2003 25 CLE AL 101  377   61  121  34  2  10   56  17  7  64  73  .321  .421  .501  147  189   0   5   8   5  10
 2004 26 LAD NL 141  516   72  138  24  0  19   67  15 11  71 123  .267  .362  .424  108  219   3   1   3   6  12
 2005 27 LAD NL  75  283   49   82  14  1  13   38   6  1  25  47  .290  .350  .484  118  137   4   1   1   2   6
 2006 28 OAK AL  96  351   53   97  14  2  14   52  10  2  51  65  .276  .370  .447  114  157   0   1   1   2  13
 2007 29 TOT     61  209   37   64   9  1  13   37   5  2  31  41  .306  .402  .545  153  114   0   1   3   3   5
         OAK AL  19   65    6   19   4  0   2    7   2  1   8  14  .292  .373  .446  122   29   0   1   1   1   2
         SDP NL  42  144   31   45   5  1  11   30   3  1  23  27  .313  .414  .590  167   85   0   0   2   2   3
 2008 30 TEX AL 126  414   78  133  32  1  22   77   5  3  80 112  .321  .436  .563  163  233   0   6  13   9  10 

Something must be done to change this team

- Lee, Ramirez, Soriano trio must be destroyed whether it's Soriano or Lee. They both have trade clauses. One of these three must go. 

-The Cubs must get a power hitting left hander. Whether it's Bobby Abreu or Mark Texieria which means Derrek Lee must go. Milton Bradley is another name. 

-Lead off hitter must be a target this winter. Brian Roberts, Rafeal Furcal, somebody else, i don't know.

-Fukudome must step up. I think he will probably be in center next year. 

-Dempster & Wood must be resigned. 

-I can guarentee that Harden will be back next year. Hopefully, they sign him to a long term contract because I really like him. 

Although I was extremely dissapointed about this season, I'm just really excited to see what the offseason brings for this team. 

Everytime somebody asks any Cubs player a question regarding how they play so differently away vs. home, they just say it's not a problem. I'm tired of hearing that it's not a problem cause let's face it, it is a very big problem. If you can't hit Brian Moheler or Wandy Rodriguez (even though he is great at Houston), then you need to regroup and look at yourself in the mirror.

Hitting Stats (from ESPN):

1. GP: 49 home, 48 away

2. W/L: 37-12 (home), 20-28 (away)

3. Runs: 308 (home), 201 (away)   = 107 run differential in 1 game

4. Hits: 506 (home), 440 (away) = 66 hit differential in 1 game

5. HR: 67 (home), 42 (away) = 25 HR differential in 1 game

6. BA: .305 (home), .255 (away) = .49 difference

7. OBP: .387 (home), ..327 (away) = .60 difference

8. SLG: .491 (home), .392 (away) = .99 difference

9. OPS: .879 (home), .719 (away) = 1.60 difference

Pitching stats:

1. IP: 447 (home), 426.1(away) = 21.1 difference

2. BB: 148 (home), 180 (away) = 32 difference

3. SO: 395 (home), 323 (away) = 72 diffence

4. ERA: 3.72 (home), 4.05 (away) = .33 difference

5. BAA: .241 (home), .252 (away) = .11 difference

6. OBP: .308 (home), .331 (away) = .33 difference

7. SLG: .388 (home), .417 (away) = .29 difference

8. OPS: .695 (home), .748 (away) = .53 difference

Schedule:

Teams we played at home total record: (606-659)

Teams we played on road total record: (609-659)

What they tells me is that they play the same teams (all be it not entirely the same teams) and they still can't get the job done.

There are a number of games that the Cubs could have won on the road:

1. Soriano drops ball at Pittsburg

2. Marmol blow up game in Tampa

3. Woody Blown save at St. Louis

4. Zambrano's meltdown in LA

If we had won those games our record on the road would be 24-24. No so bad right.

So although we have played extremely poor on the road, we could have been at the even mark if it weren't for some bad timing.

I think every cub fan could say that our offense is just different on the road; hopefully soriano coming back can spark this team and lead us in the second half. If we start to play smart ball (know how to run the bases theriot) then there should be no reason for the cubs not to pull away from both the Brewers and Cards.

Lets take today's in Houston and have a good series in Arizona. Go Cubs Go

I don't understand where Lou is going with Marquis. Everybody knows that Marquis will eventually show his flaws and become the pitcher that he was and is.

There are number of bad aspects about him:

1. He is extremely wild, will walk numerous people, and can never throw strikes when he needs to. (31 BB, 41 K)

2. He will give up 3 runs or more every outing. 9 out of his 15 starts, he has given up 3 runs or more.

3. He has mental breakdowns on the field occasional (ex. at San Diego, he walks the pitcher, balks him over, and allows him to score off of his error).

As far as I'm concerned, Rich Harden has to be the Cubs Number 1 Trade Target. No, it's not C.C. because there's no point in giving up prospects in order to have him for 2-3 months at most. Also, Rich Harden is arguably better than Sabathia.

Harden's ERA is 2.44, I know he has fewer starts but 5 runs is the most he has given up .

Sabathia ERA is 4.06, C.C. has given up 9 runs twice .

People will talk about Harden's injury status, and I know that this is a concern, but it's not like C.C. hasn't been injured either.

It would also take less prospects to get Harden. I'm not completely positive on this but I think Harden is signed through 2010 with an option in '10. Sabathia is a free agent after this year and I can guarentee that he will not re-sign with the Cubs.

The 1-2 combo of Zambrano and Harden is comparable to Webb and Haren I would say.

Getting Harden would help out Dempster and Lilly because it moves them down the rotation and allows them to face other teams 3's and 4's.

However, Jason Marquis's teams have always made the playoffs. Just a bit of info out there.

The of the major weak links on the Cubs team is their defense. In today's game against the Dodgers, the D showed its ugly head once again. I would even say that it cost us the game. Ramirez had the poor throw to Lee, who usually eats those things up. Ramirez always has a strong arm, but the accuracy aspect is always iffy. Fukudome had the fly ball, but he dove somewhat late causing the ball to get under him. Although he has been quite excellent in right field, that single play led the team and Zambrano towards the lose today. Theriot needs to be able to catch a throw from Soto. I think that if he would of caught two balls today, then the stolen bases would have gone for naught. I'm just really disappointed not only from the defense but the inability to work the count. DERREK LEE, what is up with you? You swing early in the count at bad balls, you take the strikes, and your defense (although at times spectacular) has gone down a bit. All in all our team needs tomorrow's game to avoid a Dodger series win. Also, we haven't lost three in a row, which is a very impressive stat. Looking on the bad side, Joe Morgan is announcing. On a different aspect, our draft pick, Andrew Cashner, is quite the stud from everything I've read. He is compared to Max Scherzer, throws 96-98 mph, has a nasty slider, and could possibly come up to the big club this year. Man that would be a tough bullpen if Cashner do what people think he can do.