ESPN has announced that Lou is hanging it up after today's game. Surprised? It's been a rocky two years and this team would make anyone want to hang it up, but is this the way we envisioned Lou leaving? Certainly family issues having taken him away from the team this year. How could this have been handled dfferently? It's going to be a crazy day at Wrigley today, I certainly wish I could be there.

I just watched Jayson Stark on ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning show and he had some intersting information. It seems that with revenue many of the major league are making out pretty well. Some of the bottom teams are receiving as much as 89-90MIL from revenue sharing before they even sell a ticket. Couple that with local broadcast money which is estimated at about 15MIL for the SMALLEST markets, this is a pretty good chunk of change. Why is this significant? Some of the payrolls of these teams are less than 50 million dollars! There seems to be a controversy over the reporting of these funds in regards to the current CBA, but some eyebrows are being raised.

Is it right for teams to pocket this type of payout? Shouldn't this money be required to go towards salary and player development. It has been rumored that some of these owners are using these funds to pay off personal debt. Remember, this is money that comes in before a single ticket is sold. In the NFL, the owners are required to spend a certain amount of revenue sharing on player salaries. Should this be a requirement for baseball? By the way, all teams, including the Cubs and Yankees, receive 35-40MIL from a general fund. What are your thoughts?

Lou has already stated that Starlin Castro is ticketed for triple-A. While I agree with this decision, what would it take for a 19-year-old who has barely played above A ball to make the jump to the big club? It appears that the kid has all of tools needed to make it, but only lacks seasoning. The Cubs track record for bring position players to the bigs has not been good, so no one wants to rush him, but might he be able to make the leap? How great a spring would he have to make it? Give me some solid numbers and opinions on just how much of a wow factor he would have to have to convince the powers that it would make sense to bring him north with the big boys.

As expected, Albert Pujols won the NL MVP. Did he deserve it? The cardinals finished in 4th place in the NL Central this year, but were competitive most of the year. Traditionally, the MVP award has gone to a player on a team that is near or at the top of their division unless his stats are clearly above his rivals. Did Pujols make the grade? Did he have an Andre Dawson-type year and blow away the competition? You decide.

This morning it was announced on ESPN radio that San Diego was interested in moving Jake Peavy. The Fathers are looking to rebuild quickly and feel that moving the superstar pitcher could bring a couple of good major league players and a couple of top prospects.

Wouldn't he look good in blue next year? Imagine the current Cub rotation in some combination along with Peavy. The possibilities could be great. I don't know if the Cubs have the stones or the players to do a deal but it's worth discussing. What do you think?

What a great time it is! The Boys in Blue appear to hitting on all cylinders. After sweeping the hapless Braves for the eigth straight road win (who says this is a weak road team?), the Big Blue Express steams into south Florida.

 I don't know about you, but I'm feeling pretty good about our team. The pitching is good, the bats are hot, and the defense is stellar. Hendry has assembled a pretty good bunch of guys from Lou down to the batboys. Other than a certain reliever, who shall remain nameless, there appear to be no chinks in this armour.

When was the last time you felt this good about our chances this late in the season? Sure, '84 was great, but some of us were just tots back then or not around at all. Could this be the best team since the glory days of the mid 20th century? What do you think?

Well - it looks like the World Baseball Classic might be on it's last legs. The recent announcement by Big Z alomg with previous announcements by other Veneuelan starts that they will not participate may be the death knell of the Classic.

It's not surprising that Selig's turkey laid and egg. Only Bud would undercut his own All-star game by introducing an All-star tournament at the beginning of the season! We all know that Bud is just full of great ideas like this.

Is the WBC worth saving or should it die a quiet death? Only national pride would keep it afloat and I don't know how much of that your going to get from a buch of fat millionaire ball players. What do you think?

The emrgence of Geovany Soto last year from an average minor leaguer to this year's All-star catcher caused a lot of discussion among skeptical doubters. Many asserted that Soto's accomplishments came as the result of chemically enhanced means. But what about the Card's Ryan Ludwick?

Ludwick currently is tied for 4th in the national league with 28 home runs. Pretty good for a jouneyman player that has bounced from Texas to Cleaveland twice before landing in St. Louis. His six-year career average for at-bats per home runs is 22.75. This year his average is 13.07. Albert Pujols, a pretty good hitter, has a career average of 14.50. Ludwicks OPS is almost 200 points high this year than last year in roughly the same number of at-bats. Has Ludwick suddenly figured it out?

Improvements like this would normally raise a few eyebrows. What do you think?