5/20: Tanaka vs. Hammel 7:05pm
5/21: Whitley vs Samardzija 1:20pm

Cubs get swept. Tanaka whitewashes the Cubs tonight and Samardzija finds a way to lose tomorrow.

Wow, Ricketts and business operations are so out of touch with the market. Tickets are widely available for tonight's game through their website. They're trying to pawn off bleacher seats for $90.94 (includes all taxes) ! Grab a peek at Stubhub and there are a ton under $50 from people trying to avoid a total loss. Bring in the high-priced cosultants!!!!

Anyone going? I'll be in the bleachers if you want to meet up for a frosty one.

I will be booing the assbag Soriano. Fuck his selfish ass.

I hate that term "cubbies" almost as much as "go cubs go" and "the friendly confines "

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

What kind of selfish asshole signs a big contract? I swear.

Hmmmmm.

The kind that throws a pissy fit insisting he must bat leadoff even though he's a power hitter.
The kind who didn't dedicate himself to learning to play outfield until 3 years after signing his contract.
The kind who forgot how to run the bases once he signed his 7 year contract.
The kind who batted .143 and .071 in the postseason.

Fuck the revisionist history. Soriano was a bum.

Most of this is on Cubs management. They knew what they were getting into when they signed him.

You cannot fault a guy for getting older and losing his speed. And while he sucked in the playoffs, he wasn't the one giving up home runs or saving Zambrano for Game 4 against the Dbacks, and he wasn't the one kicking the ball around the infield against the Dodgers.

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I most certainly can. Where does your blame land with Dunn, Danks and De Aza? Them or management? Of course management is to blame for them being on the team but Dunn and Danks and Soriano's lack of performance land on their bum asses. Everyone has become such a pussy these days. Let these fuckers have it.

I can't agree with you Kirkwood. The day the contact was signed, it was known that the end of it wouldn't be pretty. It was a back-loaded contract given to an aging player with tools that age does not improve.

He had some good seasons for the Cubs, and if it was a front loaded contract, the value would have been hard to bitch and moan about.

He played almost every day and he played with more effort than a fair number of his teammates throughout his tenure. I don't believe he ever mailed it in.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I blame management for signing Danks long term. He can't help it that he sucks.

I blame Dunn for 2011, but since then he actually has been a pretty good run producer. I wouldn't boo or cheer Dunn or Danks when they go to another team then return to the Cell.

Soriano was overpaid, but the Cubs had to get somebody going into 2007 and he was the Cubs best offensive player for a long time over the length of his contract.

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Aramis was probably the best over the length of the contract...but Lee was probably #2 from 2007-2010. But Soriano was still extremely productive at that time as well.

2007-2010

Aramis - .287/.356/.510 for .866 OPS - 114 2B, 93 HR, 120 OPS+
Lee - .294/.375/.494 for .869 OPS - 155 2B, 96 HR, 122 OPS+
Soriano - .271/.327/.505 for .832 OPS - 134 2B, 106 HR, 111 OPS+

None of those three were the problem during that 4 season stretch.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Except in the playoffs. When he was needed the most. Yea, others failed too but he was the "guy". Those two postseason series left a very sour taste in my mouth and the imagery of slider down and away to Soriano is something that's always stayed with me. He joins Fred McGriff, Milton Bradley, and Hundley as Cubs players who elicit nothing but hatred from myself.

They're coming after you.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

The image that should stick out from the playoffs is;

...and Ryan Dempster pissing down his pants against the Dodgers.

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I thought Soriano always handled the booing from fans like a pro and Ill give him credit for that. He never turned on the fans . Of course when you're making 100 million plus its pretty easy to let that slide of your back. His productivity never matched his contract but that was a stupid deal for the Cubs to sign him to in the first place. I don think .265 with 27 HR 75RBI was exactly what they were looking for 100 million.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

He pretty much always gave his best effort so no hate for him.

The playoff performances are annoying though. Actually, yeah, Fuck him.

His production looks ok in hindsight, but he was signed to superstar money (not his fault) and never once produced like he did prior to the contract. And remember how streaky he was...he'd be in the shitter for weeks (usually long enough for the Cubs to be out of the race), but then would be on fire for a month.

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Agreed...he was also one of the few players to call Zambrano out for his douchery.

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I'm with you Kirkwood. He ALWAYS swung at that pitch. He couldn't play defense either. Remember he was brought up as a 2nd base prospect, but kicked the ball around in the infield so bad the Yankees moved him to the outfield. Boo him one time for me Kirk!

This never happened.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Exactly. You can call him a lot of things and be accurate. A 'selfish ass' isn't one of them.

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Soriano is selfish? That's a new one.
Maybe keep that one to yourself while in the bleachers tonight.

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Right, came up as a SS moved to second for Jeter, went to OF (against his will) in Washington



He also hit a go ahead homerun in the 8th inning of Game 7 of the World Series before that bum Rivera gave it up

He was certainly selfish in Washington when he refused to take the field because they put him in LF.


And demanding the lead off spot is pretty selfish. Sosa got killed for not asking to be moved down just years earlier.

I didn't think we were talking the Nationals years.
Lots of players prefer certain spots in he order. He didn't bat leadoff the last, what - 3-4 years here?


Here is the list of reasons Kirkwood gave:
The kind that throws a pissy fit insisting he must bat leadoff even though he's a power hitter.
The kind who didn't dedicate himself to learning to play outfield until 3 years after signing his contract.
The kind who forgot how to run the bases once he signed his 7 year contract.
The kind who batted .143 and .071 in the postseason.

#1 - didn't happen here ("pissy fit"?)
#2 - he actually improved greatly during his time - everybody agrees on that. Not sure how that's selfish
#3 - he didn't forget - his legs were injured most of the time and he got older
#4 - has nothing to do with being selfish

Bad thoughts on Kirkwood's part. None of that is "selfishness". If he wants to say he was "bad", that would be a better argument (I'd still disagree). But not selfish.

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Yeah, in the last 3 or 4 years he was open to batting anywhere and improved his defense. Those things would have been nice in the first half of the deal.


Anyway, I dont care if he's selfish or not, just throw him on the pile with all the other failures who didnt bring the Cubs to a World Series.

Fucking Obama too.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Most of the stuff in red has nothing to do with being selfish.

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