If people want to see a Michigan Ohio State rematch maybe the should push the Big Ten for a conference championship game, like all the other real conferences have. Until then shut the Fuck up.
Love my Chicken at Popeyes!
Talk about a goosebump moment.
Finally a cause I can support.
See ya later.
Buster Olney Breaks Down Soriano.
• The Cubs have now committed about $224 million to three players in the last eight days (Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Mark DeRosa), and I don't know if they're any closer to winning a World Series than they were before they broke out the Tribune Company credit card. There are going to be days when the wind is blowing out at Wrigley Field and Lou Piniella and his guys are going to pick on some No. 4 or No. 5 lefty starter having a bad day, and they will hammer six or seven homers and everybody can happily hoist a few beers and toast the Cubbies.
But if they're going to be serious contenders, the Cubs still need pitching -- solid, frontline starting pitching, to slot in behind Carlos Zambrano. They've got Rich Hill and Sean Marshall, and maybe Mark Prior, and perhaps a couple of those guys will work out. The team finished 27th in starters' ERA last season, and so far they've done nothing to change the makeup of the rotation.
If you're a Cubs' fan, you're probably thrilled the team has finally unleashed its extraordinary financial power. But we might as well start counting down the days to when the team starts thinking about shedding Aramis Ramirez and/or Soriano. Neither is a flawless player -- Ramirez's effort has been erratic, he is not a great third baseman and he is coming off a season in which he had a .352 on-base percentage, which is good if you're making $5 million a year, rather than the $15 million Ramirez is being paid.
Similarly, Soriano has big holes, as a guy who swings and misses a whole lot (160 strikeouts last season), and he is hardly an on-base machine -- his career-high .351 OBP ranked 91st last year in the big leagues. If you spend $224 million, you'd want to make sure that you get one of the top four or five offensive players in the game, an elite hitting force, and the Cubs did not do that -- not even close.
When Ramirez began his eight-year contract with the Red Sox, he was 28 years old. A-Rod was 25 years old when he signed his 10-year deal with Texas. Derek Jeter was 26. Soriano will turn 31 years old on Jan. 7. The Cubs locked him up for the seasons in which he'll be 37 and 38 years old, at $17 million per. Wow.
If the Cubs were so willing to overspend on a couple of guys in the name of pursuing a championship, why didn't they overpay to land Barry Zito, Jason Schmidt and Jeff Suppan?
The Cubs will now have a very right-handed lineup (the only veteran lefty hitter in this lineup is Jacque Jones) and they've got a lot of hitters who may struggle against frontline starters like Chris Carpenter and Roy Oswalt, and their outfield defense promises to be subpar, at best. Within this piece, Toni Ginnetti writes that the Cubs are also pursuing left fielder Cliff Floyd and pitcher Gil Meche. That means the Cubs outfield would be Floyd, Soriano and Jones.
The Cubs will be a very strange team, indeed.
But if they're going to be serious contenders, the Cubs still need pitching -- solid, frontline starting pitching, to slot in behind Carlos Zambrano. They've got Rich Hill and Sean Marshall, and maybe Mark Prior, and perhaps a couple of those guys will work out. The team finished 27th in starters' ERA last season, and so far they've done nothing to change the makeup of the rotation.
If you're a Cubs' fan, you're probably thrilled the team has finally unleashed its extraordinary financial power. But we might as well start counting down the days to when the team starts thinking about shedding Aramis Ramirez and/or Soriano. Neither is a flawless player -- Ramirez's effort has been erratic, he is not a great third baseman and he is coming off a season in which he had a .352 on-base percentage, which is good if you're making $5 million a year, rather than the $15 million Ramirez is being paid.
Similarly, Soriano has big holes, as a guy who swings and misses a whole lot (160 strikeouts last season), and he is hardly an on-base machine -- his career-high .351 OBP ranked 91st last year in the big leagues. If you spend $224 million, you'd want to make sure that you get one of the top four or five offensive players in the game, an elite hitting force, and the Cubs did not do that -- not even close.
When Ramirez began his eight-year contract with the Red Sox, he was 28 years old. A-Rod was 25 years old when he signed his 10-year deal with Texas. Derek Jeter was 26. Soriano will turn 31 years old on Jan. 7. The Cubs locked him up for the seasons in which he'll be 37 and 38 years old, at $17 million per. Wow.
If the Cubs were so willing to overspend on a couple of guys in the name of pursuing a championship, why didn't they overpay to land Barry Zito, Jason Schmidt and Jeff Suppan?
The Cubs will now have a very right-handed lineup (the only veteran lefty hitter in this lineup is Jacque Jones) and they've got a lot of hitters who may struggle against frontline starters like Chris Carpenter and Roy Oswalt, and their outfield defense promises to be subpar, at best. Within this piece, Toni Ginnetti writes that the Cubs are also pursuing left fielder Cliff Floyd and pitcher Gil Meche. That means the Cubs outfield would be Floyd, Soriano and Jones.
The Cubs will be a very strange team, indeed.
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