…when people were looking at the ‘bad’ Padres team — it was playing well. Almost as well when they were on their 10 game winning streak. I said — another possible ambush is ahead. The AAA call-ups gave the team an infusion of energy. Gonzalez was white-hot.

This is exactly as I predicted. You all were looking at the Dodgers. No matter if the Padres are in last or first, the Cubs cannot win here. The Dodgers have had a bad second half. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cubs take 3 out of 4 there, FYI.

Anybody who is surprised about this did not look at what the Padres were doing prior to this series.

I warned everybody.

“hasn’t had much of that this year.”

Sorry for the typo.

So many things have gone wrong this year. There’s still time, but the Cubs need to win 8 out of 10 starting TONIGHT or it’s gonna get really ugly really quickly.

but you can certainly blame Lou for not taking action earlier. At the very least, Lou steadfastly refused to move Soriano from the leadoff spot, when everyone with half an IQ point could see he was killing the offense with his lack of anything remotely resembling production

… but I wonder where the team would be right now without Koyie Hill.

Ibanez get hurt?

And why was Milton brought to the Cubs?

Goodness he is a GM, he knew of Bradley’s track record, the injuries, the melt downs and inconsistent play. He fell in love with Bradley, had the blinders on and focused on him, period. It freaking baffles the mind.

He may be somewhat overpaid but he’s fairly productive. The problem was signing him to be a power bat when it seems he’s more of an OBP type of guy.

He is, was, and always will be better that worthless malcontent Mitlon Bradley!

Wanted this team, this team is not good – of course they are not going to show leadership. They took a good team and made it bad.

You could somewhat make the argument for sitting Soriano in this prolonged slump for guys like Fuld (for his defense, and “energy” I suppose) or Fox (for his power, although his gawd-awful defense was on display in left field Monday night).

But Hoffpauir, and his .702 OPS? Really? There isn’t another white guy we could give it to?

rec’d.

Exactly how I feel.

Always do. I’d feel like I was a traitor if I stopped, then started again when they won. Too much guilt from Mom I guess.

+1

i wont be heartbroken if they get swept again

…even though common sense dictates that no one is going to pick up those contracts much less trade for them. And then Hendry and Lou should be summarily fired shortly thereafter. When exactly should all this begin?

but the team sale will have to be 100% complete first.

You must be pining for those glorious Cub teams of the early 1990’s.

… prove that you don’t truly understand the nature of the team you cheer for. This Cubs are a big market, big spending team with a payroll of $135,050,000, third in the MLB. And that is well under million short of the #2 team, the Mets, meaning we more or less tie for the second biggest spending team in baseball at more than $10,000,000 higher than the Red Sox. Obviously nobody touches the #1 Yankees.

What do those teams have in common? They do not ‘blow it up’. They do not ‘rebuild’. $120,000,000 plus teams adjust to their failures. The adjustments worked poorly this season, it seems. They worked well the two before.

But to think that either side of this team – the on field side or the off field business side – would accept several years of minor league players and being a laughingstock is just plain crazy. This is a big market team committed to contending every year, much like their high spending counterparts in Boston, New York and LA.

Imagine the fan uproar if we went from fielding a team of all-stars (former, granted) to a team of journeymen and minor league palyers. It ain’t happening main.

… where was Bradley?

Didn’t matter, since at least one run would have scored on the play regardless.

so yeah, the ball did travel a long way through no-man’s land, especially with center field being so big at Petco. But the ball was rolling for most of the time, and towards the end, it was rolling slower and slower… and still no Bradley in sight.

I hesitate to judge without the evidence of a wide screen angle, but common sense and extrapolation tells me that Bradley just stood there in the beginning. And I would have to guess he still wasn’t moving after the ball hit the wall. I don’t care how big Petco is, even I – had I started running at that point – would have gotten to the ball before Dome did.

Of course, I would have JJones’ed the throw back to the infield, but that’s beside the point…

but I doubt it. Looks like they’re just collecting paychecks.

… what kind of one-year deal Wood would have accepted to stay a Cub. Further, though he is having a bad year in Cleveland, we also do not know whether he would be having that same bad year in Chicago, where his family (and presumably, his baseball heart) is.

1) He is on a bad team – his numbers are skewed, and he made his first move to the AL. You dont think he would have signed a 1 year deal with the Cubs for cheaper? He wanted to stay here but the Cubs didnt want him.

2) Jake Fox? Really, so you are happy with losing DeRo because we would not have found out about Jake Fox. What did we find out, he can sit on the bench when we need him? Really? Jeff Baker has been nice, but he is the poormans version of DeRo.

3) With our constant pitching injuries (I blame Rothschild) we would have found out about Wells and Hart at some point during the season.

4) Isnt it fair to assume Hendry and Lou gave up on Fukudome after last season? If they would have realized that only 1 japan player had a successful first season in the MLB, maybe we would have never gone out and gotten Bradley right?

Of course, I still would’ve preferred to have DeRo around for depth purposes earlier in the season alone, but Baker may turn out to be a decent “save” in that department.

I agree with much of what Al wrote, but this fills in the gaps where he and I disagree. Well said.

As I wrote yesterday, I wish they had. Interestingly, if DeRosa were still a Cub, maybe Smoltz would have signed here. DeRo was one of the players lobbying management hard to sign Smoltz — they were friends from their Braves days.

Sign with a team that is playing well, has the best player in baseball, and is one of the top teams in the NL.

or…

Sign with a sinking team with one of the most overrated and overpaid players in baseball, one that has had nothing but bad luck, and that is slowly sinking towards Pirate territory.

Tough decision. Can’t understand why he would go to the Cardinals. Hell, if he signed with the Cubs, his arm would probably just explode, taking out Jake Fox with shrapnel.

The one thing, and only one thing, that gives me any hope or solace is the fact that these guys should have a fire lit under them after this season. I expect Soto to come back better, same with Fontenot. I don’t trust Zambrano to follow through on his promises. But the rest of these guys will be embarrassed to the point that they come into the season ready to go, rather than coasting.

Not the other way around.

And what did all that “great chemistry” get the Cubs in the postseason? Nothing.

Aramis Ramirez was going to miss 2 1/2 months with injury -

Who is the backup?

Mike Fontenot was going to be awarded the 2nd base position and hit .225 -

The first part of this sentence is just as much a problem as the second. And that part is on management.

The Bull Pen was going to accumulate 17 blown saves by mid August -

What was Gregg’s track record coming in?

It’s all on the players and bad luck

Created this disaster. They had no back-up plan for any kind of injuries and built such a shaky bullpen. And what about the lack of depth in the rotation, if Randy Wells didn’t come out of nowhere, we’d be even further in a hole.

They made Fontenot the starting 2nd basemen, they went into the year without a backup 3rd baseman, they went into the season without a decent bench or versatile bat off the bench. It’s on the players to perform, but this team was not built to realistically win a championship.

I too completely disagree with Al on this one. brianp88 nails it. It just ain’t are year. We are close enough that, save the Ramirez injury, we would be right in it.

I am disgusted by those who blame this on Hendry, and I am particularly disgusted with those who call for Hendry’s dismissal. Seems you guys missed the fact that we’ve been in the playoffs three times this decade. Seems you guys missed the fact that the Cubs were a bottom tier team for most of the previous, oh, 50 years. Hendry is the best thing to happen to this team since Dallas Green. He deserves far more patience from this fanbase.

I just think it’s unbelievable that Al focuses on a couple of moves that he disagrees with and blames the whole season on that.