Well Cub fans, another season is over. Once again we are left with anger and emptyness. Will we lose interest in our Cubs? Will we lose interest in major league baseball altogether?

Coming from a pure feeling from my heart, I must use this forum to express my thoughts.  Maybe not just the ending of what was a wonderful season, this might be the ending  of any interest in MBL I might have.

Has MBL become too diluted? When teams that are battling for a division title are  nothing more than a .500 team, that to me is boring. Repeatily we have seen sub par teams compete for a division title, only because they are surrounded by the same sub par teams.

We currently at only four teams in some divisions.  How many teams are there now? Last I looked (if my memory serves me correctly), there were 32 teams. All these teams are spread out over six divisions. After reviewing this, I have a thought.

What if we pare this down to four divisions? Four divisions of eight teams each. Maybe this will weed out the sub par teams that finds magic in Sept as well as Oct. Get it down to four playoff teams. Maybe this way baseball will not be ending its season at the end of Oct.

And the competition might be that much better. But the catch in all of this, you know, is money. Major League Baseball would not even consider the shear thought of losing money with less of a schedule come playoff time. In my opinion, this would be a short sided view. Because fans like myself are becoming less interested, maybe not just in their home team, but with the game itself.

If this trend (atleast for myself) continues, MLB might find that come the end of Oct. just maybe no one will be watching. The season is just way elongated, diluted.

Made you look.

Delete if you will. I am only trying to have a little fun with this.

A little more thought. I have an insider that has assured me that this will happen sometime prior to this (2010)year.

My insider tells me that the Cubs will trade Hendry and a six pack for him. I am only killing words in hopes that this will post for a couple of smiles from all of us Cub fans!

On a day that finds us with not much to discuss. I have been thinking about our manager.

How is he as a game strategist? How does he rate with:

Utilization of pitching staff (starting & relieve)
Utilization of bench (Pinch hitting & late inning replacements etc)
Teaching
Instincts
Leadership

So what can some of you tell us?  If I have omitted any area that a manager can be graded please fill in the blank(s).

Happy New Year all!

Thumbing over the papers on Christmas Eve, I read an article that equals my sentiments. Ingrem of the Daily Herald had a ditty on his feelings about replacing Wrigley.

For many the thought of replacing an icon of this nature is sacrilegious. For me though, go for it. As many of us have been to other ballparks, I think we all could agree that Wrigley lags far behind in modern conveniences.

The girders that get in the way, the long lines in the restrooms (unless you hang in the sky boxes). I have always wondered why not duplicate Wrigley, only removing the arcadic features. Keep the vines, keep the brick walls, and keep the same field basically. But for goodness sakes, improve the facility for us, the fans.

This idea poses many questions. Rebuilt on the same site? Leave Chicago for the outskirts of the city? Who would pay for it? Keep the name? Would this affect attendance? As you can see, these questions would conjure up many deep feelings amongst us fans.

I have my own ideas and thoughts. In a perfect world I would duplicate the exterior, the playing field and improve the stands. As well as allowing for more seats to be filled. I would also (for totally selfish reasons) move the team west of Chicago to whatever town that would be most convenient for transportation.

So on a quiet and non eventfull day in Cub land, I thought I would throw this out to see what other ideas that could be offered. Or maybe many of you would just say, leave it alone.

Again a very best Happy New Year to all and many blessings for all with the new year upon us.

Folk's, I understand it is only July 3rd. The Cubs have won ten out of eleven games. They are on a roll.

But what was real cool for me tonight was going to the Brewers website to see what they had done. The feeling of joy ushered over me as I saw they lost to the Pirates 6-2. WOW! The Cubs  gained a full game.

I am not making a case that this team is the beat all end all, and that they are playoff bound. Of course we all hope that will come. But what I find so nice is that I can actually look and get excited that the team ahead of them, which happens to be in first place, lost.

The hope for me is at minimum is the Cubs continue to provide me interest in a what might become a real race for the lead.

Enjoy the moment fan's. I don't care that there are still 80 games left. I hope that night's like tonight are repeated as this season goes on. To be able to not only see our Cubbies play, and win, but also keeping an eye on what the Brewers do.

I'll say one thing about the "fight" between Zambrano and Barrett, it has brought me back to paying some attention to the Cubs.

This started me thinking, am I a real Cub's fan? I lost interest very quickly in this team with their horrid start. I start the season honed in on all aspects of the team. It is so true " hope springs internal". We go through April with hopes they will rebound from a not so good start. May comes around, they show some life, albeit short lived.

As May continues on, they lose many more than they win. "Well, I have the lawn to cut, things to do". "Say, what did the Cubs do today"? I continue to check the box scores, read this site as well as the papers and the Cub's site. I am thinking, "of course I am a fan". I still stay up to date with them, even though I have no time to watch them.

Being honest, the past week or so I even stopped reading and basically not paying them no mind. In a strange way I feel guilty. Maybe I am not a fan at all. Why should I waste my time (which for whatever reason when you're older, there seems less of it) on them.

I try to justify my lack of interest by thinking I just can't handle the watching year after year of the Cubs just not competing, but just playing embarrassing baseball. Believe this or not, I am still  suffering from '69. Silly isn't it?

After reviewing the game log, man I think there are a lot of fans like myself out there. Some very funny stuff is written on the game tread. The comment " I am done with them" is echoed through out the tread. But are you done? Am I done?

So, to Barrett, Zambrano a thank you. If you don't tussle, I ask the question, " so who won today"

I Follow the team more so than others and not as much as still others. With all the information provided these days, I only have so much time to seek out a few sources for this kind of information.  I have not read much or any reasoning for sending Guzman back to AAA. Can someone explain to me the thought here? Is it because he has more options than someone like Ohman? Is it a prelude to a bigger move happening in the not to far off? Apologies if this has been covered, I might have missed something. Any feed back or thoughts would be appreicated. I felt he was finally gaining his stride at the big league level.

Let me start by saying that I applaud the Cubs for the off season moves that they have made. It shows, albeit a misguided way, that they are trying to do something that has not been done in nearly a century. And that is win the series. I want to break down what has become my biggest conern with this team, defense. As we all are aware defense helps the pitching. So I would like to offer my thoughts on each position player. I will use SOM ratings for each position. One being the best, five being the worst.

Soriano CF - 4
Murton LF -4
Lee 1B-1
Ramirez 3B-4
Jones RF-3
Barrett C-3
Derosa 2B-3
Izturis SS-2

Not exactly the defense of champions. I truly hope that with in a short period of (2 months) they make a move to shore up this defense. Because I truly believe this will be our down fall this year. Defense affects so much with regards to our pitching. Thoughts?

The following is not based on Average, Earned run average, or on base percentice. In a nut shell no statistics involved here. As fans, as anyone who loves baseball, and it's stats, I offer the following. Stats are are a great way to judge players. But what seperates the best from the also rans is a gut feeling for the game. For instance.  The manager that calls upon the .220 hitter to pinch hit in a game winning situation. And that player comes through with a hit to win the game. Why would he call upon that lowly hitter in a clutch time of the game? This has been repeated time and time again in the history of this great game. I am referring to the feeling that comes from within one's self. A gut feeling.  I have been a surfer and a part time poster of this site for about 7 months. I get frustrated at the continued reliance on stats alone. Gee if this guy in AAA had a OPS of .888 he for sure will have a .798 in the bigs. Come on. I use this ONLY as an example of the banter on this site. Numbers are thrown around as if they were, how shall I say this, as facts. I would not argue against the usage of stats for the better or worse. What I will argue for is the following. On a given day you can throw the numbers out the window. Therefore, for what it is worth, I offer my gut feelings on the Cubs this year.

Soriano-Mistake hitting leadoff.
Murton-Up and comer. Maybe not a break out year, but no later than 2008. Hopefully with the Cubs.
Lee-Nice ballplayer. Should have a solid year
Ramirez-Will benefit with Lee beside him all year.
Barrett-Not sold on him. Better than most at hitting for the position he plays. But give me a catcher that will stop the running game and I will take him over the hitting Barrett provides.
Jones-Not a very smart ballplayer. Not the RF you need for a championship team.
Izturis-Will susprise most. Fine glove and will hit well. Should be 2nd in lineup
Derosa-? Not sure of this signing. I am fearful he is a Jeff Blauser.
Theriot-I would have him as my 2b. Think very highly of his play.
Prior-Out of baseball with in two years
Wood-Starting by years end
Marquis-Will shut up all the naysayers as season goes on
Lilly-Breakout year
Zambrano-Not a fan, but will provide us fans with solid year.
Ward-Remember when we signed Harris? A former good pinch hitter, but did little with the Cubs.
Dempster-Will start and close as the saver
Hill-Like him very much. But will not have the year many of us hope for.
Floyd-Gut tells me he is on his final legs. Will not offer us much.
Pie-Will bust as Cubs player.
Cedeno. We all forget last year was his FIRST year. Do not give up on him!

I offer these comments only as my gut feeling of this years Cubs players. In the end the Cubs win the Central but will not make the series.

of a mad man. Cubs, 2007. Unexpected happenings. Wood ends up not as closer but a starter. Soriano ends up at 2nd base. Pie is the center fielder. Isturiz has steller season. Murton hits 25 homeruns and drives in 90. Lee is Lee and Ram is Ram. Carlos, well again he will win 16. Barrett still can not throw anyone out, but will hit his 16 HR and drive in his 56 rbi's. DeRosa ends up where he should be, a utility player. Hill will look great at times, and awful at times. He will become the Cubs version of Grossman. Good Hill, bad Hill. Marquis will quiet all the fans already calling for his head. Jones will continue to run the bases badly and still have a weak arm in the OF. Oh and hit his 20+ homers and drive in his 70+ runs.

Point I am trying to make is this. The wonderful thing about baseball is that for all the banter, the speculation prior to the start of the season, you can be sure things will happen that no one or any of us can forecast. Bring on '07 and let the chips fall where they may!