That's a good point I think.

No matter how much I despise Ozzie on a personal level, I never get the sense that he "lost" a team. Maybe that's the difference.

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My Maserati does 186.

The nosedives are frustrating as hell. None moreso than 06. That said, I stand by my original thesis of Kenny going first because he has been the guy to take parts from the farm before they even got a sniff up here (and turned into something) and left the team with the crap to come up. As far as the moves he has made post 05, I was not happy about Vasquez (Chris Young), the Thome trade was fine, as was the Garcia for Floyd trade. The Swisher trade sucked balls when it was made, and it still does. I have no issue with the Peavy trade because (IMO) Clayton Richard doesn't have the year he's having if he's not in the NL West (3 really good pitcher's parks in the division). John Ely for Pierre is the same as Richard for me.

So I think Kenny's ass may be a little more on the line than Ozzie.

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Woah woah, if they were the best team in the NL that means that the GM did the job right. That they lost in the playoffs is an onfield thing. Now the bad deals you reference got them to be the best team in the NL. The deal was that they were gonna make the run and fuck the future, then maybe dismantle. Really, if they didn't collosally wet the bed in '08 you're thinking Hendry is a [flawed] genius today for the deals he made to win.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Not really. Because of the deals he made and no trade clauses he gave out, the Cubs are hamstrung for years now. Kenny doesn't do that, and I think thats a big difference between those 2 guys.

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True. There's a decent chance the Cubs might make the playoffs only one of the next five years now.

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Fire Phil Emery

He did what he had to do to build winning teams for 07 and 08. They were widly regarded as the top team in the league in 08. Had they won something, they don't look bad at all for long term deals and no trade clauses because those things don't come up when you're winning world series and getting to the playoffs perennially.
Hendry also is building the farm system quite well.
Hendry's a scapegoat in many regards. Should he have forseen DLee's growing disinterest in Baseball? Should he have forseen Zambrano's continued descent into madness, and say Rich Hill's decent into badness? Maybe. No one else really did either.
In short, Hendry has a couple really bad deals on the table to look at but if you see it from the perspective of a team that was successful in the playoffs when they were the best team in the league his moves aren't that bad.
I think he's better than most GM's. unluckier than most GM's. And the onfield leadership has been shit. Maybe that's the fault of the GM. I dunno.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Which is a result of signing free agents rather than making trades with your best prospects which Hendry has avoided and may make the rebuilding a quicker and more sustaining process than if they had traded away the farm.

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My Maserati does 186.

Its a hellava lot easier to sign all of those free agents when you draw 3million plus fans a year.

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Yes it is.

Is this the "Cubs fans should stop being fans so they can be better fans" argument?

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My Maserati does 186.

No, its just a fact. Hendry has had a bigger budget to work with than most other GMs, thus making is easier to sign FAs.

The Sox spend money too, but its hard to argue that the Cubs spend wiser than the Sox do.

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The Soriano contract alone is grounds for termination.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

The Sox are consistently over 100 million in payroll

I'm not saying that they spend wiser. I was just pointing out a benefit of signing these free-agents as opposed to trading prospects.

Plus, the Sox aren't exactly working with a $30 million payroll. To get back to the Sox here, their payroll this year is north of $100 million and they are always in the top 8-10 payrolls in baseball while the Twins have been in the $60 million range in the past 5 years.

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My Maserati does 186.

Last year's Yankee's team

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Go Cubs!!!!

Hendry has indeed given out some horrible contracts. But assuming someone else's bad contract is not more easily excused. Because he had the opportunity to see Rios decline in his production after signing the deal and had the benefit of knowing the economy had worsened since the deal was struck, I think Kenny should get MORE blame for assuming the Rios contract, than had he signed him to the deal as a free agent. Same with the Peavy trade...to take on that contract AFTER the economy went bad, was a huge risk that has now bitten them squarely on the buttocks.

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Go Cubs!!!!

No doubt a douchebag like yourself would overlook another douchebag.

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If youre sayiing Swisher had a career year, youre wrong.

He was at or below his 162 game averages.

It was almost exactly his averages.

You couldnt be more wrong

WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!....as usual.....Swisher did not have a career year with the Yankee's. Compared to his year with the Sox it was a great year, but far from a career year. In 2006, Swisher had 35 HR's compared to 29 last year. In 2006 he also had 95 RBI compared to 82 last season. Oh, and his batting average was 6 points higher that year as well. Try again....


edit....Swisher actually had just 5 more HR's and 13 RBI over his "lousy" season with the Sox.

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Go Cubs!!!!

Echo
Echo




I said it better.

Youre the only person left who cares about Batting Avg Steve

I was apparently writing out my response while yours was posted. However, I backed my point with actual verifiable stats, so I disagree with the idea that you said it better. Also, you are wrong...Swishers 2nd highest HR and RBI totals were accumulated last season. It therefore was not a career year, BUT those totals were indeed above his career averages.

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Go Cubs!!!!

You cited Batting Average. FAIL


162 game average: 29 HR 88 RBI
Last Year : 29 HR 82 RBI


29 is equal to 29
88 is greater than 82



Good day, Sir.

I've often thought the Sox go about it incorrectly. If they signed the free agents, there would be greater expectations resulting in greater attendance early in the year. Right now, they get stuck waiting to see attendance and then increasing payroll while also decreasing young talent stock.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

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Go Cubs!!!!

I stand corrected, Swish didn't have a "career" year, but a bounce back year.

I don't think anybody expected him to put up the numbers he did.


You know who had a career year, stevie? Mordecai Brown in 1908.

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162 game average: 29 HR 88 RBI
Last Year : 29 HR 82 RBI

qoute]


It sure is and 162 games is more games than Swisher has EVER played in a season. In fact he averages 148.2 games per season (averaged over the 5 full seasons he has played from 2005-2009) So to give anyone an average for 162 games per year, is not an accurate gauge of past performance. Career statistics are. In those 5 full seasons Swisher has AVERAGED 26.2 HR's per season (131 HR's over 5 full years) and he has AVERAGED 79.6 RBI (398 over 5 full seasons). Therefore, his totals of 29 HR's is 2.8 OVER his career average and his RBI toal of 82 was 2.4 OVER his career average.

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Go Cubs!!!!

There is some merit to that thought. When Kenny lacks confidence in the potential of a young player, he seems to have no problems dealing them for established talent. It also indicates a lack of faith in the drafting and development of the organization. It's hard to say how accountable Williams is for the failings of the scouting department.

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

My original statement


He was.

Youre wrong, again.

Steve just stop,you can't even use the quote function properly

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You never miss your wealth, till your well went dry
Seem like only yesterday, you were here smiling
Now you gone away, but I know you in a better place
No traces of you, what can I do?
Alone and confused

I guess the Preview button is not part of The Brand.

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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!