I'm not rooting for them to do it. Actually, I don't know why I care that much.

Their division sucks. The whole NL isn't that great. Lou Pinella is a very good manager. The lineup is pretty good. They will hit very well. The starting pitching is good enough. Kerry Wood may finally stay healthy. They will trade for Brian Roberts. I think things are starting to really come together.

The Cubs will make the World Series this year!

I felt dirty making this post. No sarcasm intended.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Cubs, Brewers, and Reds will all be very good teams this year. Astros, Cardinals, and Pirates will suck.

They dont have a closer.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I may be crazy but I think Kerry Wood will make it through the season and be an effective closer. Also, Marmol seems to have good potential.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I hope you are right. It is really hard to back a guy who still has an arm problem but has moved to relief so that he wont break down again.

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Marmol will be the closer before the break - and that's not a bad thing.

I'm not just saying that cos he's on my roster in the CSFMB baseball league either

What have you been drinking?

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"It's not exactly a rocket surgery." D.J.

marmol has too much value in the 6th, 7th and 8th to pigeon-hole him into 9th inning save appearances only. the guy is a freak with 2 on and less than 2 outs when he comes on to "save" the game in the 7th. the real problem with marmol being the closer? GETTING to him. id leave him right where he was last year, and take my chances with woody coming in to start off the 9th with 0 on and 0 out.

the cubs could be a contender this year, but i want to see a decent april first. they keep getting off to lousy starts. last year they were able to catch up, but this year they need to take the lead early and stamp a little authority in that weak division.

Wood, Howery and Marmol.
The Nastier Boys!

The Cubs were swept out of the playoffs by a team that added one of the best starting pitchers in baseball. I think the Cubs will win their division but unless that add a top starter I don't see them making it to the WS.

The Cubs actually have 4 potential closers including Dempster even though he's back to the rotation.

I think Wood will be fine. But I also think Howry or Marmol will get a little bit more than the usual save chances esp. early.

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Where are the Cubs going
And Why Are They in a Handbasket?

Can't get any more nasty than the one and only Nasty Boys.

Just like if you have 2 quarterbacks, it means you dont have one(sound familiar Bears fans?), if you have 3 closers, it means you dont have one.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Lets just say their due.

History tells me the wheels will come off & they will miss the playoffs all together. I do trust Lou P. to keep the train on the tracks though...so I guess its wait & see.

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Proud to be UNVERIFIED.

I have to agree with Rick, but only if he's talking about WSOP.

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“Mmmm. Move over, eggs. Bacon just got a new best friend - fudge.”

at the absolute least - and if they can accomplish this which they haven't done as long as i've been watching baseball (i'm 30), it will be a very exciting and opti-misty season.

How do you get in the 1000 Club with 836 posts? I don't really care.

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Proud to be UNVERIFIED.

don't worry about it

I've been posting here since Lawrence Holmes 4 Breaking Stories - do u even know when that was??

And with offerings like your last, i'd change my sig., there jr.

I must say I'm a bit less optimistic than most Cubs fans, and the media for that matter (I'm a Cub fan myself).

What has the team done to improve over last year? The only improvement is Fukudome, and he's a complete unknown. That's it.

This was a team that barely, barely (by 2 games?) finished ahead of a mediocre, inexperienced team with half the Cubs' payroll and a manager who imploded down the stretch. Then they faced a markedly average team in Arizona and had their asses severely handed to them.



I know that's just a manner of speaking, but how do you "forget" how to hit? The fact is, the Cubs hitters were well-scouted by Arizona and were exposed for what they were - particularly Soriano and Ramirez (though generally I'm a fan of Ramirez. But that 0-fer really stunk). Let's not forget the team had long stretches during the regular season too where they couldn't hit. And again, all you've added is Fukudome. And I guess Soto, but geez he is a complete unknown.

Don't forget too you had career years from Lily and Hill. And DeRosa for that matter. And Theriot, though of course he's young and could continue to improve. You need Howry to repeat his performance while being a year older. And you need Marmol to not be a one-year wonder.

All that just to be what they were last year. Which wasn't nearly good enough, and won't be this year.

Hope I'm way wrong, but a lot of things are going to have to break right for this team.

Bumping this to say that I'm even more confident in the prediction now.

Now is the time for the Cubs to be active at the trade deadline.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I really wish they could get Sabbathia, but would accept Burnett. Having an upgrade at starter can greatley improve this team's chances of making it through the playoffs and WS.

The team doesn't really need an upgrade offensively, they have plenty of talent out there already. Griffey wouldn't be neccessary, because he can't play center anymore. If he could, I would say go after him, but he can't so go for a starter instead.

I don't know what kind of relief help might be out there, but the Cubs can use another arm in the pen. Our guys have been going out there a lot this season. If they could get someone, or bring someone up into the bullpen, it could rest some of the other arms in there.

THE CUBS END THE WAIT IN 2008!! Yes, that is accurate. But the statement that the Cubs division sucks is ridiculous. It has the Best team in Baseball-The Cubs, the Cardinals at 42-29 and Milwaukee at 36-33. It's a very tough division. Now the A.L. Central in which every team has a LOSING record except for the Sox and the N.L. West, which has just 1 winning team, those would be examples of divisions that suck.

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Go Cubs!!!!

How does the AL Central's composition matter whether the Cubs win it all? I don't get it.

Is it your goal to try and ruin every baseball thread on here?

I said the division sucked before the season started. I still don't think it's great but it has two good teams. The Brewers won't last long.

Besides the Cardinals, I don't think any other team in the NL Central is very good. Records can be deceiving given the unbalanced nature of the schedules.

The AL East will be the toughest division in all of baseball.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I think he was just giving an example of a division that he thinks is worst than the cubs'.

Yes Col. it was a response to the moronic statement boilermaker dick made in the original post on this thread. In it, he says the Cubs division sucks. Obviously with the Cubs sporting the best record in baseball and the Cardinals also playing very well, plus the Brewers with a winning record, it doesnt come close to being accurate. To try to explain to someone who must have taken the short bus to school, what a bad division is, I pointed out both the A.L. central and N.L. West, who both have only one winning team.

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Go Cubs!!!!

Ok meatball. Please look and see when this post was written.

The Cubs division has two good teams and one average team. It's still not the best division in baseball, but it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I didn't expect the Cardinals to be as good as they are right now.

I ask once again, can you please not attempt to ruin every baseball related thread on here? If a Sox fan can't come over and predict the Cubs to make the world series without being exposed to a chronic case of meatball fever then there is no hope for humanity.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

If the statement is stupid now, it was stupid then. You were just ahead of the curve with your stupidity.

Why don't you have the courage to ask me to quit making you look stupid. That's what you really want. But once someone has earned my distain, such a request is unlikely to be granted.

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Go Cubs!!!!

How do you get out a distain? Club soda?

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My Maserati does 186.

Oxi-clean and vodka

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."