Well Ain't That a Kick in the Pants

Something like this was bound to happen. We Cub fans need to realize that things can't go our way all the time.

I'm not sure which is worse, knowing that DeRosa is now helping the Cardinals or knowing that the Indians were the big winners of "Flip that Ballplayer" since the Cardinals are giving up far more to get him than the Cubs got for getting rid of him.

Tough to say until we know the PTBNL, but I'm confused by the "far more" statement. I know Perez is one of the Cardinals top 5 prospects and all, but I don't think he's a sure thing either. He's got 2 good pitches but plenty of control issues he needs to work out.

Numbers wise, Archer, Gaub and Stevens compare quite nicely, I can't speak enough of their stuff or ceilings and prospect lists don't rank any of them as well as Perez, but they're prospect lists. They thought Felix Pie and Hee Seop Choi were close to sure things.

IF I'm Mark DeRosa I'm having a hard time understanding why Jim Hendry let me go twice in six months. I mean the Indians were trying to shop him back to us already in May.

But, not to worry, we have Aaron Miles.

sigh

we'll see what that PTBNL is...trying to think who the Cubs would have to give up to make this comparable. I know Indians wanted major league ready pitchers so I guess Samardzija, Guzman or Hart or 2 of those 3.

Or Marshall or Wells...

Fox Sports speculates on the PTBL:

"Over the coming weeks, the Indians will scout the St. Louis farm system to determine the second player in the trade. One official with knowledge of the transaction said minor league right-handers Jess Todd and Francisco Samuel are on the list of possibilities. It's not known if other players are on the list agreed upon by the clubs. But Todd and Samuel are hard throwers who could fit into Cleveland's bullpen next year."

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9740910/Cards-a...

It's in the sidebar.

maybe the cardinals need to become more left-handed, and would now swap derosa for miles...

The biggest problem with our team right now seems to be the bullpen. I do not know how our bullpen stats compare to the rest of the NL, but it does not pass the stink test. Teams with championship pens are able to lock down wins like the game yesterday. We just do not have the horses in the pen to do so. Who can you trust with a one run lead?

Blanco can really field and if he can hit .250 he is well worth having. Our 2nd base production has to be maybe the worst in the majors. Freel and Miles are close to useless. If Aram can't hit like before when he comes back playing with an injured shoulder, we are toast anyway.

One good thing about all this is that Rosenbloom won't get paid this week, because his column -- "boo HOO, Cubs fans, have you slit your wrists yet?!?! That is SO CUB!!!!" -- will write itself.

Shrug. Wasn't Perez supposed to be their closer this year?

aaaaaaaaaaagggggg

snooze ya lose and we have been Rip Van Winkle for many, many moons.

This sucks. While the Cubs wait to see how Ramirez does when he comes back before they make any moves (as if that's their only problem), the Cards went out and improved their team. I've been a supporter of Hendry's in the past, but I think he really screwed this one up.

I support Manny on this: Fuck You Hendry!

I want his ass fired, too!

This makes a formidible Cards lineup even more so compared to our last-in-the-league RISP one.

As I have been saying all along, an still maintain, due to the ownership bullshit, the Cubs will NOT acquire any players of consequence this season.

Hendry has made his bed...

Like the sailor said, quote,
"Ain't that a hole in the boat?"

http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/swingerstoo/ainttha...
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Hendry is like the professional gambler who is on a current really severe loosing streak. Craps again (so to speak) but on this one he didn't have to roll anymore as another roller just took the dice and rolled better.

DeRosa the Cardinal hurts on several levels, one of course is like the Yankee-Red Sox acquisition battles where one makes a move to keep the other from getting someone they are targeting. Texeira for example. The sick part is DeRosa's availability was Hendry's own doing.

Last year he tried to match mid season acquisition Sabathia with Harden and Hendry said it wasn't a deal made to match the Brewers move although the timing said it was. This year I suspect/fear we will be as silent as the Cardinals in 2008 were regarding mid year acquisitions.

The only things that can save this season is a big bucket of good luck (or So Taguchi).

The Cardinals filled a big need with this deal and we've at least got Jake Fox to fill in at 3B now but we had virtually the same needs as Stl did ever since ARam went down. The Cubs have used Fontenot for the most part and sat on that thinking that scrappiness will save the day...so this reminds me more of the 2006 disaster (which was a much worse season, but this year doesn't feel like it is better) when he finally got Nevin on 5-31-06 for Jerry Hairston Jr to replace DLee's absence. It was way too little, way to late to save that season.

In 2006, as I remember it the problem was Juan Pierre, et al. sucking after Hendry had tried to fix the leadoff spot with the Furcal miss followed by the Pierre backup plan and hoping that when DLee got back from his wrist injury he would be the 2005 DLee. This year, after ARam, it's a mix of bad streaks from Soriano/Bradley/Fontenot and until recently Soto that have made this season unpleasant. Given how the season is going I'm not expecting the ARam RBI machine to return when he gets back...just because the season 'feels wrong'.

just for grins, here was the 6-27-06 starting lineup (DLee was back for awhile then went back to the DL):

Pierre (.249), Perez (.241), DLee (.298), ARam (.249), Nevin (.228-LF), Cedeno (.277), Jones (.290), Blanco (.227) and Z...and Dempster got a blown save and a loss that day.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=20060627&cont...

Hendry picked a bad time to have his worst season. Still, my big weenie award goes to Sam Zell and his feckless, debt-based purchase of the Tribune and his current greed in trying to squeeze every penny he can out of the Ricketss clan. The dude is the douche bag of the fucking century.

sori, riot, milt, lee, fox, soto, farni, fuky, blanco.

meanwhile in StL...

Schumaker (2B), KGreene (3B), Pujols, DeRosa (LF), Ludwick (RF), Ankiel (CF), LaRue, Piniero, TGreene (SS)

vs.

Liriano and the M&M boys

I heard on the radio last night that the largest deficit made up at this point of the season last year was 2.5 GB by the Dodgers. They added a top 5 hitter in the game and were looking at Mark Teahan and Felipe Lopez. We should just the white flag and try to improve our putrid farm system.