Cubs Convention right around the corner

Has he made mistakes?

Yes. Jason Marquis probably. I say probably because if he returns to his 04-05 form, he won't be a mistake.  

Ted Lilly we'll see about. Lilly I would have taken at his price over everybody else but Jason Schmidt. Yes I would have taken Lilly over Zito. In a perfect world, Johan Santana would play for the Cubs for packages of gummy bears, but in lieu of that oh-so perfect world I'll take Lilly at 4/44 over Zito and 7/126 and a few of those other wretched pitcher contracts.

And as far as OBP, here's what I figure:

Juan Pierre: .333 OBP last year from the leadoff spot.

Alfonso Soriano: .368 OBP last year from the leadoff spot not to mention a SLG 200 points higher.

Cubs 2B OBP last year: .326
DeRosa OBP last year: .357 (even if DeRosa reverts his career OBP suggests he wouldn't be any worse than the Cubs got last year)

Cubs 1B 2006 OBP: .337
Derrek Lee career OBP: .363 (with a .380+ over his first two years as a Cub)

The only lineup spot where OBP would be a significant problem right now is SS, where BlueMike's One True Love plies his one-dimensional trade. Will we be a fantastic OBP team? No. But we should be quite a bit better. Enough to be middle of the pack, perhaps better if Lee returns to .400+ OBP form, Soriano stays in the .350-.370 range, and Jacque Jones doesn't shit the bed next year.  

And one thing that has been improved that you OBP fetish weirdos forget is that our SLG should see a considerable jump next year and that is not to be dismissed out of hand either.

And trading for Andruw Jones. Good lord almighty I can't think of a more foolish thing to do right now. Jones will cost a TON to acquire and he will cost a TON to keep. If A. Jones then goodbye Zambrano. We aren't going to pay Jones and Zambrano 20MM per season.

And here's another news flash: The Braves have to want to trade Andruw Jones to us. Pounding your fist and stomping your feet won't make it happen julie.

And here's something else for ya too: I grow tired of listening to bloggers talk tough on the message board and then when push comes to shove in front of Hendry, fumble over themselves and their words and sound like idiots.

I've listened to the Cub Convention clips with Hendry a couple of years now and the bloggers sound worse than the fuckwits wondering if Sammy Sosa is coming back.

Please please please, all of you planning on rocking Hendry's world come CC time, figure out what you're going to say ahead of time, write it down if necessary, don't just think, I'm mad, and my anger will provide me with the words when the time comes.

It won't.
You'll sputter.
You'll sound dumb.
I will mock you forever.

At any rate, while there's plenty to bitch about for 2006, 2005, etc, looking forward at 2007, you can't say Hendry didn't go out and get us some players that have put us right now, in position to win the division next year. And he did it without trading anybody we'd freak out about.

I didn't think he would be able to accomplish all of that but lo and behold, he did.

Should Hendry be bronzed? No. But he gets something of a break from me for the time being.

Harp all you want on position players and the farm system as that is legitimate, but as far as the big league team goes, we're a helluva lot better than we were just a few weeks ago.

So for now anyway, I've put my pitchfork and angry pitchforking face away.