If you hate Laurence, then don't listen - don't comment. When he co-hosts the B&B show, take that day off ... listen to an old podcast of a Bernstein solo show and jerk off all day.

This is just nonsense,perpetuated by the "baseball stupid". Steve Stone agreed with Ricketts that a franchise can turn around in 1 year. The Cubs everyday lineup last year was not terrible and had some talented hitters in it. The problem was the pitching. Inconsistent SP and erratic bullpen spelled disaster for this team. Epstein should hit the FA market and concentrate on filling the rotation with guys who can be labeled legit #2 or #3 guys. You have Garza,Dempster,Wells. Better pitching in a weakened Central division (Pujols & Fielder gone?) can make them instant contenders. Look at some of the Cubs past division winners and where they were the year before!

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

rpb is wrong. Phil McCracken is useful.

RPB is right. You suck.

I was thinking the same exact thing. Three times in the past decade the Cubs improved by 19 or more games from 1 season to the next.

The Cubs are not the Royals or Pirates, who desperately need their minor leagues to produce talent because of limited financial resources. The Cubs sold 3 million tickets this year and yes I know there were a lot of no shows. But they broke 3 million even though Cub apathy was higher than I can remember for a while. The Cub payroll should still stay above $100 million for the near future, which is more than enough to sign some quality free agents.

Plus Zambrano is off the books after next year, so the Cubs should have money to play with going into 2013.

Don't assume the Cardinals or Brewers are just going to dominate this division for the near future. The Cubs won 2 straight division titles then fell off the cliff. Look at all the young pitching and hitters the Reds had last year, then this year they finish closer to the Cubs than Cardinals.

A few shrewd free agent pick up the next few years and the Cubs could be contending by 2013, if not next year. Hendry accomplished these type of turnarounds twice, so it can't be impossible for Theo to do the same thing.

and he can still development the farm system by drafting and scouting, it's not mutually exclusive.

rpb is wrong. Phil McCracken is useful.

RPB is right. You suck.

I don't understand this talk about a weak NL Central.

The 2 teams playing for the NL pennant are from the Central, the Brewers are still a damn good offensive team IF Fielder leaves, and while Pujols leaving would hurt the Cards a lot of you have seem to forgotten the Cards have one of the best pitchers in MLB who missed the entire 2011 season.

I think turning it around in 2-3 years is pretty damn optimistic.

Awesome.

Awesome.

The Cubs can turn this team around in 2 years and they'll be able to do it because they have a shit load of money coming off the books in the next few years. Having a smart baseball guy never hurts. When you have to reach with an article like the one Rick Orton posted that says a lot about the guy in charge. He instantly pushes Kenny aside as the best GM in Chicago.

Maybe in baseball. But Forman/Paxson and Bowman are better than Kenny.

Awesome.

Why? Paxson hasn't made a good free agent signing in years. They couldn't manage to convince anyone to play in Chicago so they had to overpay Boozer. Draft Rose was a no brainer to most people (I'm not one of those people).

So you think the Bulls team and the Blackhawks team are in worse shape than the Sox team? Ok.

Awesome.

When you luck into the position to draft a Rose and Toews and Kane it's not hard to be in position to win. Those are easy decisions for most people. That doesn't require any skill. The shape of the team doesn't always point to a quality GM. Hell the Lions sucked long enough that eventually they would guess right on their draft picks. Kenny built a winner in Chicago and Theo did the same in Boston.

bump!

bump!