Bad contracts and Jim Hendry

Jim Hendry does not deserve all the blame for the crazy contracts given to Soriano, Fukudome and others on the Chicago Cubs. I believe, when John McDonough took over the team, he wanted to get the team to a World Series quickly and thought spending a lot of money on free agents would be the way to go. I believe McDonough pressured Jim Hendry to spend more money and offer certain terms in contracts than he otherwise wouldn't have done because of the mandate to win the World Series before the Tribune Company was sold.

Soriano and Fukudome were the "hot" free agents during that winter and McDonough made sure that he was not going to get outbid for these players whom he believed would take them to the World Series. I think that he was also behind the no trade clauses for other players like Zambrano, Lee and Ramirez.

Hendry is certainly not blameless in the current fiasco that are the Chicago Cubs. Over the years he consistently has had problems with identifying quality relief pitching. Hendry did ok with Bobby Howry during his first go around with the team. Scott Eyre, John Grabow, and several others never really panned out for the team.

Then there was the Milton Bradley fiasco. Bradley conned Hendry into believing that he was a changed man and could thrive in Chicago. We all know how THAT worked out. Hendry did make up for that by trading him for Carlos Silva who has done very well. Hendry also got money BACK in the deal as well. One thing that Hendry has done pretty well over the years is get making trades for quality talent while giving up very little in return. Aramis Ramirez(regarless of how he is doing this year) is a prime example of how he can make great deals for the team.

There is a lot of blame to go around regarding why the Cubs are an awful team and are loaded with a lot of bad contracts. Some of the blame may be Hendry's fault and some of it is someone else's fault who is not with the organization any longer. Due to the attempt to spend their way to a World Series title, the Cubs are farther away from it than ever.

How can you trust Zambrano in the bullpen?

Carlos Zambrano had a childish tirade in the dugout on Friday andapparently he demanded a trade. My question is, if you do bring him back to the team and stick him in the bullpen, How do you trust him to pitch for the team and not give up runs on purpose?

I believe that the Cubs have to trade or release Zambrano without him being allowed to perform on this team at all. Zambrano has shown that he is a me guy who is on the downside of his career. He can not be allowed to poison the clubhouse anymore than it already has been.

The Cubs have a lot of problems and the last thing they need is Zambrano acting like Milton Bradley for the rest of the year. It's time to move on and not even take the risk of Zambrano sabotaging this team anymore than he already has. Besides all he will be is a mop up guy anyway. I doubt Piniella will give him many important innings.

Time to fire Lou and rebuild this team.

Ok so the Cubs can no longer use the excuse that it's early because it isn't. Right now they have been playing awful defense and can't seem to hit when it counts. I believe that this mainly falls at the feet of the players, but I think that Lou has failed to properly prepare the team and coach them correctly. I believe that the team should send him on his way to retirement and either call up Ryne Sandberg to manage the rest of the year or have the bench coach Allen Trammel do it. The team needs a shakeup and I believe nothing will help more than a new voice in the clubhouse.

Lou has failed to take advantage of the skills of many of his players and puts far too much faith in other players. Tyler Colvin should be playing somewhere nearly every day and Fukudome should be sat on the bench or traded for whatever the team can get for him.

Carlos Marmol should not be seen in the eighth inning and Andrew Cashner and Sean Marshall should be the duo for getting the game to the ninth. I do not want to see Grabow and Howry anymore. These 2 players are awful and should not even be on the team. I think it was a mistake to send Russell back down to the minors just because Grabow was due to come off the DL.

I believe the team should put Theriot, Fukudome a Lee on the trade market. Lee will not be back next year anyway so you may as well get something for him like prospects or a decent veteran reliever who can still pitch. Fukudome is a waste of money and is too streaky. Theriot is a streaky player who does not have good defensive instincts and is not patient at the plate.

If the team does not start to play better management should start to plan for next year starting with a new manager and playing the prospects like Tyler Colvin.

The problems with the Catholic Church

I am a Roman Catholic who grew up going to catholic elementary school and high school. I was raised to go to church every weekend and to believe in the Church's teachings. Like many people, my relationship with the church has faded with time. Recently I went to mass and listened to the Priest speak about the problems the church is having with the shortage of priests. He also spoke about other problems that he had with the church.

I believe that the church as an institution has many problems and needs to be reformed. The church is stuck in its old traditions that no longer apply in this ever changing world. One of these traditions that should be changed would be that priests can't get married. The Church should allow priests to get married and allow women to become priests. I think you would get a better quality of person to lead the parishes.

There have been many sex scandals involving priests. I am not saying all priests are child molesters. I am saying that you may get a better quality person who is allowed to be married. This person would be able to relate better to his or her congregation. I know all men and women are not perfect and some cheat on their partners. While cheating on your partner with another man or woman is not right and a sin, it is better than molesting a 13 year old boy.

I realize that the church relies on donations to run. I find it distasteful when they request money during mass. I feel that during this sacred time, that you spend with God, you should not interrupt it asking for money. Lastly the church should stay out of politics and lobbying. This is a violation of church and state and this practice should be stopped.

The Catholic Church has many problems but it also does good things.
I am not going to deny the fact that it helps many people through its words and actions. I feel the institution needs to reform itself and change with the times. The Church should learn from it's flaws and adapt to the modern world. I have my own personal reasons why I have moved away from the Church but I think that the reasons stated here are the primary reasons why I am not involved with the church like I used to be.

Oil Spill

Like many of you, I have been watching the progress, or lack of progress for that matter, in attempting to stop the oil spill in the gulf. BP has repeatedly shown its ineptness in stopping the leak and preventing a possible worldwide ecological disaster. There is a webcam which shows the amount one of the earth's greatest natural resources being wasted. I am not riveted to this webcam because it makes me sick seeing the amount of oil coming out of the earth without it being stopped.

I also want to blame the President for not taking control of the situation by recognizing that BP is failing to fix the problem. At this point the President should find out if the military can take control of the situation and stop the leak themselves. I find it hard to believe that a company worth billions and a superpower nation, with so many smart engineers in both, can not stop this leak in a reasonable amount of time.

I am not an environmentalist but I do believe that we should do what we can to protect the earth. I do believe that this oil spill is one of the world's worst natural disasters in history. The fact that no-one knows what to do about it is even worse.