I would first like to endorse Al's suggestion that Carlos Zambrano be shifted to the bullpen. Piggybacking on that idea, I think the first step that Lou should take is to declare independence from the ironclad "one inning per reliever per outing rule". Ask yourself this quaetion: Why is Jeff the Shark throwing innings that Marmol (or Zambrano) could be throwing?? Why does every major league team genuflect at the Larussian alter and throw every reliever 1 inning per outing?

What if Lou shifted CZ to the pen, and then committed to using CZ and Marmol 100 innings each out of the pen, instead of divying those innings to the Shark and others who are less worthy?

If Carlos Marmol can give you 110 innings instead of 70, wouldn't you take it??

 Am I crazy????

I have weighed in on this topic before, but it has been a couple of years, so forgive me Al, here I go again:

    I start with my conclusion: The so-called "alternate" blueberry jerseys are more appropriate to a Pony League team in Winnetka than the Cubs.

    Ever since the John McDonough (he of blessed memory) imposed "no Blue Jerseys" edict was removed upon his departure to the Black Hawks, the wearing of the Blues has become the exception, not the rule, both at home and the road. Apparently, the decision is left up to the starting pitcher. Zambrano and Harden always wear blue, Dempster and Lilly wear whites/grays. Wells has worn both, but has lately shown a weakness for the blueberry. In the most recent homestand, its been 60% blues and 40% whites.

    My theory is that as players come up through the minors, the jerseys worn by the Helena Hushpuppies or the West Covina Watermelons tend be garish, befitting the carnival-like atmosphere most minor league franchises try to construct. So when they arrive in the bigs, the players tend to opt for the Technicolor look familiar to them from college and/or minor league days.

    I'm sorry, but Wrigley Field is different...it is the high cathedral of baseball. Wearing the clownish blue jerseys, with the oversized, cartoonish cub ensignia, is like attending mass at St. Peter's basilica in a Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops. 

    One of the greatest things about the environment at Wrigley Field is that it is mercifully free of the sausage race shtick and the constant between-innings sensual bombardment from the outfield big screen that almost every other franchise features. Wrigley is different--it offers a little more traditional, baseball-centered experience. The Cubs, particularly at home, should look like a traditional team and not a five year old expansion franchise--more like the Yankees, Cardinals and Dodgers, and less like the Rockies and D-Backs

   My personal preference would be to reimpose the "McDonough Rule". But, at least, the Cubs should exclusively wear the classic white pinstripes at home, and mix and match the blues with the grays on the road. The blues are advertised as "alternate" jerseys.....they should remain as the exception, and not the rule.

For those Cub fans who are too young to remember Herman's tenure as Cubs manager in the late 1970's, his teams were overachievers. The mid 70's were a very dismal time for the Cubs as they made the transition from the Banks/Santo/Williams/Jenkins era to the fabulous Dave Rosello-Pete Lacock era. The Cubs in the mid-70 were simply awful, and not in a loveable losers way. They just plain sucked. When Herman arrived in 1977, they began to be competitive. In 1977, they jumped to a big lead in the NL East before collapsing down the stretch. Rick Reuschel and Ray Burris became servicable major league starters, and Herman played a big role in the development of Bruce Sutter to a Hall of FAme Reliever. Remember, this was 1977, and the inflexible "closer" role had not yet been developed. Herman often brought Sutter into the game in the 7th or 8th, and not always with the Cubs in the lead. The "Split finger" was a fairly new pitch, and to with the WGN centerfield camera, it was always exciting to watch Sutter's split finger dive away from the batter at the last minute.

Herman was a portly, tobbaco chewing, irascible "old school" manager. For his three years at the helm, the Cubs player competitive and exciting baseball. The years immediately before and after his tenure were pretty grim. Herman Franks deserves to be remembered well by Cub fans for his contributions during an otherwise bleak time in Cubs history.

While I believe it is prudent to shut down Zambrano for the year, when we are holding down last place in the NL, I think we should be questioning the way the Cubs routinely DL every player who has a hangnail. We started this year with a rotation of Wood/Prior/Maddux/Zambrano and Rusch. We are ending the year with the Iowa Cubs starting rotation.

We are going to finish the year with zero complete games. While I know the pitch count fetishists will approve of this, I can't help but thinking that the mindset of this organization is flawed when it comes to expecting players to play.

I am tired of the bizarre injuries. I am tired of Remlinger's rocking chair, Jones' tear duct, and multiple "oblique" strains. Did Bob Gibson or Nolan Ryan ever have a strained oblique?

I am tired of every time a Cubs pitcher has a hangnail, we bring up some slug from Des Moines to serve as a sacrificial lamb. I am tired of Johnnie Baker and Larry Rothschild trotting out 5 or 6 pichers every game. I want our highly paid players to play.

The Cubs should expect our players to play. Sometimes that means playing through an injury. This is a concept which has disappeared.

If we can't keep our players healthy, then fire the manager, the pitching coach, and the training staff.

Shut down the Des Moines-Chicago shuttle. Shut down the mentality that players will not be expected to play with some pain. I rejoice in the empty seats that have been apparent yesterday and today. In the final analysis, empty seats are the only thing that will catch the attention of the Tribune suits.

I am 42 years old, and have been a Cubs fan since the days of Kessinger/Beckert/Williams/ Hickman/Santo/Banks/Hundley/Phillips/Jenkins. Those players routinely played 150+ games a year.

I am not suggesting that we return to the good old days of these every day players. But I am also damn sick and tired of watching the Iowa Cubs play at Clark and Addison.