So Cubbies... Is Dusty gone?

[The Miner Part 2]

latroy proved that he couldnt close 2 years ago, so what does dusty do? starts him at closer the next season. basically ruined one of the best setup men in the game. dempster should have started last year at closer.

and congrats on being the only person in chicago who gives dusty a pass about his own players calling booths during a game instead of actually watching the game. any other manager in the game, well any decent manager at least, would have squashed that incident as soon as it begin. but no, it eventually lead to you guys losing steve stone, the best sports anaylst in this city.

I dunno, Hawkins had the 'stuff' to be a closer but didn't have the mental side at all. They figured they got a deal on some potential that had catastrophic results.

Re 'in Chicago' I'm actually in Champaign, so the distance may have something to do w/ my being disinclined to blame Dusty for the organizational failings of the Cubs.

I think openness would help that organization, even if it includes what appeared to be the absurdity of players calling the booth during a game. I don't see that a player getting on the phone to go after an announcer really has much tactical impact on the game that 'paying attention' to the game would help.

I don't have any problem w/ players engaging in dialogue w/ the press who usually have the players up on tees to take swings at. Just some 'fun' at a classic, old-fashioned ballpark....

yea you sound like a "cubs fan" alright.

[The Miner Part 2]

I don't want Stoney anywhere near the managers job, or the GM job for that matter, but I'd love to have him back in the booth.

He's a great analyist, but that doesn't mean he knows how manage a team or how to evalute talent.


That said, he would be an enormous upgrade over Dusthead. I wish that fool would have never come to Chicago in the first place.

bob brenly. they should move him down to dustys spot yesterday and give stone his job back.

to bad the tribune company wears helmets so this will never happen.

They can give Brenly his outright release for all I care, Kasper too.

Bring up Quade from Iowa along with a handful of kids and let them all play everyday.

Get Stoney, Sutt, and Gracie to call the games and let the good times roll. Play by play is overrated anyway.

handful of kids? your guys farm system is garbage. now maybe if you can fleece some people into taking aram or some of your bullpen for some top notch prospects, you may be on to somthing.

It's very far from garbage, but the vast majority of it is pitching.


Ship off Pierre, Jones, Howry, Eyre, Maddux, and Walker. You could get some good spects for those guys. Take whatever you can get out of Neifi, Rusch and Nevin, or just give them their unconditional release.

Bring up Pie(CF), Restovich(RF), Eric Patterson(2B), and give Cedeno and Murton everyday jobs. Shut Prior down for the rest of the season and bring up Mateo and Hill and have a rotation full of kids : Zambrano, Marshall, Marmol, Mateo, and Hill. Bring up a couple more arms to fill in the pen where needed.

This season is already shot, why not see what some of these kids can do?

howry, eyre and aram are the only guys youre going to get anything substantial for. maybe a jones/pierre package deal, but i dont see it.

and i think it's about time cubs fans give up on the pie/hill tandem. that just isnt panning out.

[AcidRock23]

yea you sound like a "cubs fan" alright.

????

[ThatDude]

and i think it's about time cubs fans give up on the pie/hill tandem. that just isnt panning out.

Hill's problem is all mental. There's just no good reason why someone can completely dominate AAA and look so completely overmatched in the majors. I'm not convinced he will ever get that problem figured out, but this is the best time to find out.


Pie, however, is a different story. He's just 21 years old with solid numbers at every stop until this year. It's way too early to give up on him.

[AcidRock23]

Hold on a second here.

What exactly were these expectations for Rusch? He's been exactly what I thought he would be this year.

me too, the Cubs, OTOH, keep trotting him out to start games/ continue BP for their opponents...

[RugbyD]

and i think it's about time cubs fans give up on the pie/hill tandem. that just isnt panning out.

Hill's problem is all mental. There's just no good reason why someone can completely dominate AAA and look so completely overmatched in the majors. I'm not convinced he will ever get that problem figured out, but this is the best time to find out.


Pie, however, is a different story. He's just 21 years old with solid numbers at every stop until this year. It's way too early to give up on him.

RE Hill: though i haven't seen AAA games, my guess is that MLB batters just don't bite on his junk pitches like easger AAA players do. there's more, but i'd say that 85% of the problem.

[ThatDude]

and i think it's about time cubs fans give up on the pie/hill tandem. that just isnt panning out.

Hill's problem is all mental. There's just no good reason why someone can completely dominate AAA and look so completely overmatched in the majors. I'm not convinced he will ever get that problem figured out, but this is the best time to find out.


Pie, however, is a different story. He's just 21 years old with solid numbers at every stop until this year. It's way too early to give up on him.

RE Hill: though i haven't seen AAA games, my guess is that MLB batters just don't bite on his junk pitches like easger AAA players do. there's more, but i'd say that 85% of the problem.

That's got to be some part of the equation, but I think that percentage is high.

MLB batters have likely seen that type of curve quite a bit more than AAA hitters.

Also, in AAA, Hill uses a change, though I honestly can't remember him using it more than 10 times in the bigs. I'm not going to call it a plus pitch, and I'd guess he doesn't have enough confidence to throw it in the majors, but you aren't going to last long in any rotation with only 2 pitches, one of them being a heater that tops out in the high 80's.