Here is one of them, via Bloomberg (with a hat tip to The Big Lead):

Tribune Co., the bankrupt newspaper publisher, is seeking court permission to pay as much as $66 million in bonuses to its managers based on operating cash flow predicted to be the lowest in at least 10 years.

While you’re at it Tribune Co., why not throw a few extra dollars Alfonso Soriano’s way? As long as we’re rewarding sub-par performance, seems like he should be at the top of the list.

Read more Chicago Cubs news on BleacherReport.com

There are so many reason why the Cubs’ franchise and its management suck, and why they will continue to do so.

Here is one of them, via Bloomberg (with a hat tip to The Big Lead):

Tribune Co., the bankrupt newspaper publisher, is seeking court permission to pay as much as $66 million in bonuses to its managers based on operating cash flow predicted to be the lowest in at least 10 years.

While you’re at it Tribune Co., why not throw a few extra dollars Alfonso Soriano’s way. As long as we’re rewarding subpar performance, seems like he should be at the top of the list.

Read more Chicago Cubs news on BleacherReport.com

I sure hope that this is one of those cases of where there may be smoke, but no actual fire.

In Phil Rogers’ quick-hits column at the Tribune today (via FanNation T&R), he says that “some baseball people” believe that the White Sox and Cubs could be interested in swapping Jake Peavy and Carlos Zambrano.

Before I show you the excerpt, let me give you my unequivocal initial reaction to this White Sox-Cubs trade rumor, from my perspective as a White Sox fan: hell no!

Here is what Rogers has to say:

Some baseball people believe the White Sox could have interest in the Cubs’ Carlos Zambrano, possibly even for the newly acquired Jake Peavy. It would be a way for two teams without much money to spend to shake things up, but wouldn’t Peavy have more value than Zambrano at this point?

You’re damn right Jake Peavy has more value than Carlos Zambrano…at least, as far as I’m concerned. 

Take a quick look at their career numbers:

• Carlos Zambrano: 237 GS, 105-67, 3.50 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, .230 BAA, 1.899:1 K/BB ratio
• Jake Peavy: 214 GS, 94-68, 3.28 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, .231 BAA, 3.1:1 K/BB ratio

While their career numbers are not that much different, and while an argument can be made that Peavy’s numbers have been inflated by the home park he’s pitched in his entire career in San Diego, and while Zambrano’s career playoff numbers are actually much better than Peavy’s, there is just something innate about the two pitchers that makes me not hesitate in saying I’d rather have Peavy.

And I promise it has nothing to do with the fact that Peavy has been outstanding in the two starts he’s made for Chicago as the White Sox limp down the stretch in ‘09 (2-0, 13 K, 4 BB, 2.25 ERA, 1.08 WHIP).

For whatever reason, I have absolutely no faith in Carlos Zambrano to come through in big spots and consistently take the mound with the right mindset every fifth day. He is far too much of a loose cannon, and too prone to bouts of wildness, to truly be counted on as an ace.

In Mark Buehrle-Jake Peavy-John Danks-Gavin Floyd, the White Sox may well have the best pitching rotation in the American League next year. I’m not saying that subbing Zambrano for Peavy would necessarily change that, but I like the look of it much better with Peavy.

And do we really want loose cannon Ozzie Guillen managing loose cannon Carlos Zambrano? Something about that mixture just seems to combustible to work.

In the end, there is really no clear statistical argument that separates the two, but I still know I’d rather have Peavy on the South Side. What do you think?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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* – Jake Peavy photo credit: Charles Rex Arbogast, Associated Press via Chicago Tribune

* – Carlos Zambrano photo credit: Foul Balls

Read more Chicago Cubs news on BleacherReport.com

Let me preface this entire article by saying that I have always been a fan of Lou Piniella, and when the Chicago Cubs hired him as their manager in 2006, I was extremely excited.

That being said the most recent collapse and downfall of the goat franchise of Major League Baseball begs the question: is it time to let Lou go and move on?

With the exception of the 2009 season, Piniella has led the Cubs to Central Division Titles in both 2007 and 2008.

Piniella’s first year as the Cubs skipper brought the team 85 wins with 77 loses, which is not extremely impressive, but was enough to give the Cubs the Central Division title. The Cubs seemed to have a lot of young talent, and pitching pitching to be a strength as Carlos Zambrano continued to emerge as what seemed to be a superstar in the making.

Fortune would, however, not smile upon the Cubs as they would be swept out of the 2007 playoffs by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The season of 2008 was a very exciting year for the Cubs and their fans as it was the 100^th year anniversary of the Cubs last World Series Championship.

The Cubs would achieve the best record in the National League with a record of 97-64, second best in the MLB to only the Angels. This was “their year.”

Once again, through poor hitting and inconsistent pitching, the Cubs were swept out of the first round, this time against Manny Ramirez and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In 2009, the Cubs came out to a fast start, taking as much as a four-game lead in the NL Central just after the All-Star break.

But once again, bad pitching and poor at-bats would become the demise of the Cubbies, this time in the regular season.

The only exciting news to come out of Cubs’ camp in September was the suspension of “Terrel Owens wannabe” Milton Bradley for his remarks against the Cubs and their fans.

As I write this article, I see on ESPN that the St. Louis Cardinals have just secured the NL Central Title with their win tonight, and the Cubs are 8.5 games behind them.

They aren’t even mentioned in the NL Wild Card race.

So what we must ask ourselves is: how successful have the Cubs really been under the direction of Sweet Lou?

Yes, we have two division titles, but not even one appearance in so much as an NLCS, let alone a World Series.

With his original three-year contract coming to a close in just a couple of weeks, but with the Cubs already having picked up his option for 2010, what should the Cubs do? Should they keep or extend Lou, even though the results we have seen over the last three years have fallen short of the goal?

Or, should the Cubs let him go and move on to greener pastures?

Personally, I feel that his time has passed. The fire isn’t in his eyes the way it used to be. The emotion is no longer there.

Yes, the occasional “Lou Rant” shows itself. But seemingly, the days of kicking dirt and spitting and stealing second base are over.

This team needs a face lift. They need pitching, badly. Zambrano is a great number two or three guy, but his inconsistency and poor attitude leads me to believe he is not an ace.

The good news is, there is a lot of young talent on this Cubs team. Jake Fox, Tyler Colvin (who has replaced Bradley and done quite well), Jeff Baker, the list goes on.

It’s time for a new look, and a new era.

Lou, I love ya man, but its time for you pack your bags…and while you’re at it, why don’t you take Fukudome, Zambrano, and Bradley with you?

You can follow BigMB on twitter at www.twitter.com/mylesb3269

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* – Lou Piniella sipping champagne photo credit: The Cubs Brickyard

* – Lou Piniella staring photo credit: AP via SI.com

Read more Chicago Cubs news on BleacherReport.com

Things are looking very dull for the Chicago Cubs and their playoff hopes. The lovable losers are nine games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central Division, and that number doesn’t seem to want to decrease.

The Cardinals are playing very strong, and they just seem to win whenever the Cubs do.

Lou Piniella told reporters to blame him for this dismal season, and while you usually do blame the manager for a bad season, you can hardly blame Lou for the Cubs’ problems this season.

The only problem I have with the job Lou has done this year is his inability to build up chemistry between the players. I don’t see any between the Cubs players.

They look like a bunch of strangers out on the field. Without good chemistry between players, teams often lack that go-to spirit that is needed to win ballgames.

The locker room just doesn’t seem to be a happy and laid-back locker room, which has hurt the Cubs all season long.

After telling reporters that he thought fans were racist, Milton Bradley has be on a tear. While there might be some racist fans, most of the fans are angry at him because he has failed to meet expectations, not because he is black.

And fans should be angry with him. He has failed to meet any expectations. And I mean FAILED. He is batting a dismal .167 with runners in scoring position.

That is unacceptable in baseball. If you want to make fans and managers happy, you need to produce with runners on second and third.

Another problem player is Carlos Zambrano. When he said he wasn’t trying his hardest, I was infuriated. The Cubs pay this guy loads of money and he isn’t even trying? That is the worst possible stunt a baseball player can pull. I would axe him in a minute.

No wonder his numbers are bad this year. He wasn’t even trying! I am sorry if I sound harsh, but that is unacceptable for any pro athlete to just give it half-assed effort.

You can’t do that to a team that is paying you to be their No. 1 starter. Just a really dumb thing to do.

Despite these issues, while you can say the Cubs are out of the division race, they still have an outside chance at the Wild Card.

The Cubs are a manageable 5.5 games behind Colorado, with three other teams (S.F., Atlanta, Florida) ahead of the Cubs as well.

This is their only light at the end of the tunnel. The Cubs have one month to get it in gear and win games.

Though it is perhaps unlikely, 5.5 games is still a manageable number to overcome. We’ve seen it done before during the last month of a baseball season. It’s just a question of how much to do they want it?

Read more Chicago Cubs news on BleacherReport.com

Crazy day at the office, so now official link of the day, just a bunch of links. Enjoy:

• Thoughts on LeBron James film, More Than a Game — (Stepien Rules)
• Mmmm…Bacon — (I94 Sports)
• Babermetrics: A Statistical Study of Sex — (Style Points)
• 5 dog owners who don’t pick up shit — (Regretful Morning)
• Some nice pics of Rhianna — (Straight Pinkie)
• The Cubs Sale is Done — (Chicago Now)
• Body Found on Chipper Jones’ Ranch — (AJC)
• Dick’s Not Stocking Vick Jerseys — (Hot Stove Philly)
• Female gold medalist accused of being a man — (Black Sports Online)
• Woman hits boy in wheelchair over soccer ball — (MoonDog)
• Mario Chalmers: NCAA Hero of the Decade — (Rumors and Rants)

Carlos Zambrano is the most recent victim of the DL for the Cubs. These things have happened a lot to the Cubs this season, but they have battled to stay close to the top of the NL Central. Aramis Ramirez has also been hurt recently.

This time it’s his left shoulder. It is not, however, supposed to be serious, and Ramirez will decide Monday whether he will play the last game of the four-game series against the Rockies.

As of Saturday, the Cubs were only one game behind St. Louis, but that could change in a heartbeat. Holliday and Pujols are starting to hit, and if the Cubs don’t do the same thing, they could see St. Louis run away with the division.

Both the Cubs pitching and batting have been very inconsistent, but as of late the two are staring to come together. Rookie Randy Wells is still having a tremendous year and is the best pitcher on the team right now. Derek Lee has started to act like the old D Lee, hitting home runs and driving in runs.

While still not playing like he should, Milton Bradley is hitting better. With an average still under .250, Bradley hasn’t shown a great performance after the All-Star break but he has made some improvement.

The bullpen still remains a mystery. Sometimes they perform well, and other times they just plain suck. Carlos Marmol isn’t showing the same dominance that he had last year.

Kevin Gregg has been decent, but fans still don’t trust him when the Cubs have a slim lead heading into the ninth. No one in the bullpen has become a sleeper. No one has really stood out, and I think that has really hurt the Cubs’ bullpen.

It’s a mystery to me how this team is still very close to making the playoffs. I don’t know if it’s because of the Cards not playing well, the overall mediocrity of the division, or just that the Cubs are playing well when they need to.

The last month and a half will prove what team can play better ball in the closing stages of the season. My pick is St. Louis.

1. St. Louis Cardinals—The division leader for most of the season has just recently been tested by the Chicago Cubs. The acquisition of Matt Holliday has paid off. With Ankiel and Ludwick not performing like last year, Holliday was a must pick-up to add offense to the outfield.

The return of Carpenter has also helped the Cardinals stay atop of the the division. Pitching hasn’t been the problem for the Cards since their ERA is 3.71, 3rd in the whole league.

With players like Holliday, Pujols, and Carpenter why didn’t the Cards take more firm control of the division?

The problem is their inconsistent hitting. The Cards are ranked 23rd in hitting, batting a team average of .256. The Card’s hitters are not doing as well as last year, and it is hurting them.

Ankiel and Ludwick are having a tough time following up on their breakout season that they both had last year, although Ludwick has been hittin much better since the break.

Overall it has been the consistent pitching that has kept St. Louis afloat and in the race for the division title.

2. Chicago Cubs—The team picked to win the division has been the most up and down this season. There have been points in the season were the Cubs looked totally out of it, and now suddenly they are tied for first along with the Cards. The Cubs are behind the Cards in hitting and pitching, but their offense has started to pick up as of late and that is why you see them on top of their division.

The Cubs season hasn’t been without a lot of criticism of the team and the signings of certain players. Randy Wells, however, has been a revelation as the only consistent pitcher for the Cubs.

Wells, a really nice catch, has produced many great starts, and has been a huge part in the Cubs staying in the race. The Cubs just might make the playoffs this year, but they need to watch out for Holliday and Pujols. If those guys start hitting on all cylinders, then the Cubs could be in trouble.

3. Milwaukee Brewers—The Brew Crew are playing at the level most people thought they would play. They have begun to dip a little in the recent weeks, but are still only four games out of first, which is still a very reasonable distance considering that they are one game below .500.

Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder are having great seasons again but it’s not the offense that is lacking. It’s the pitching. After losing CC to the Yankees, the Brewers are having trouble finding a go-to pitcher. Every one of their pitchers are having decent but not great years.

Before the season started people knew the pitching was the weak point so it doesn’t come as a surprise. Look for this team to contend in a few years if they get the pitching help they need.

4. Houston Astros—A huge shocker that this team is were they are at. They have sipped the past 10 games going 3-7, but they are still hanging in there after a terrible Spring Training and start to the year.

Having only three big names on the team—Oswalt, Lee, and Berkman—the Astros are really holding their own. Almost a sleeper this year, the Astros have flown under the radar.

Now I am not saying they will win the World Series or even make the playoffs, but they are doing a good job of at least keeping a possible playoff appearance within the realm of possibility.

With a few more months left in the regular season, the Central Division race should be an exciting and close race all the way to the finish. We will have to see which teams are still contending after August, and which have fallen off the playoff wagon.

Get ready to watch some great American baseball!

* – Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday photo credit: SkyNews

There are lots of interesting, Midwest sports specific posts I could be writing right now.

Cliff Lee may get traded to Philly and be out of the White Sox hair for the foreseeable future.

SportsbyBrooks has a great story about what Mark Buehrle is doing for Dewayne Wise to thank him for saving his perfect game.

For crying out loud, this story at least deserves some mention on a site that has previously proclaimed its pride in this, doesn’t it?

But no, rather than expound upon those compelling stories I am about to indulge in what I can only describe as a self-masochistic flight of nightmarish fancy.  

Why?  

I guess the best explanation I can give is that sometimes as bloggers we don’t write the stories…they just kind of write themselves. (At least that is the excuse I will use to rationalize what you are about to read.)

It all started about a half hour ago when, after eating lunch here at the office, I decided to shirk a few of the day job responsibilities to write a post here at MSF.  And I didn’t feel like simply taking a hot story and adding my own personal second-hand commentary about it.  I wanted to do something stupid, unnecessary, and lame different, original, and unique. And I wanted it to somehow revolve around White Sox savior rookie Gordon Beckham.

I’m not sure what exactly prompted me to want to write about Beckham, although I’m sure it had something to do with the short debate I got into earlier with a few of the Texas Rangers fans who also inhabit our offices.

Basically, they said that they wouldn’t trade Elvis Andrus straight up for Beckham. I said they were fools and would, but just wouldn’t admit it, and then uttered a few of my usual derogatory statements about them just being desperate Rangers fans who are drunk with giddiness at finally being able to watch July baseball games that have some meaning.

Of course, I was right on all fronts.

Anyway, I wanted to write about Gordon Beckham, and I remembered seeing a picture of him a few days ago after which a thought flashed into my head that his tightly coiffed blonde hair made him somewhat resemble my childhood hero Zack Morris. So I thought that perhaps doing a tale of the tape between the 1990s badass and the future 2010s badass could make for a compelling blog post. 

And in the initial research for said post is when I stumbled upon one of the most horrific, terrifying, and downright dumbfounding facts that I never knew I didn’t know. Fellow former Saved By The Bell fans, prepare to have your heart stop momentarily and for oxygen to be cut off from your brain for a brief instant when I share with you this frightening thought:

Brian Austin Green was originally cast as the lead character in the pilot for Good Morning Miss Bliss, the original incarnation of Saved By The Bell.  Here is the proof:

In the pilot, the main “student” character was played by Brian Austin Green (of Beverly Hills, 90210 fame), but his character’s name wasn’t Zack Morris. Instead, Green played a super-serious student who always wore business suits. Another student character was played by Jaleel White (of Family Matters fame).

Ostensibly, from the way the above referenced page is written, this fact was contained in the E! True Hollywood story about Saved By The Bell. I don’t watch E!, however, so I was never made aware of this information. 

While it appears as if the original main student character played by Green was nothing close to the Zack Morris character that we all came to know and love, the idea of this guy playing the lead role of the most seminal show about growing up in the 1990s is mind-boggling. I mean, back then Brian Austin Green was a hell of a lot closer to being Screech than he was to being Zack.

And there is always this. That clown couldn’t have even sung backup vocals for the Zack Attack:

[Editor's Note: Couldn't find video of the actual episode where Casey Casem introduces the Zack Attack and you see the actual band playing. However, during his recent appearance on the Jimmy Fallon show, Mark-Paul Gosselaar did an updated version of the song with the roots. Watch it below.]

Anyway, while Green has obviously redeemed himself in recent years by dating Megan Fox, he wouldn’t have had a shot in hell back then with Kelly Kapowski. No way. Furthermore, while Green gets some bonus points for the Fox relationship, he doesn’t exactly have that on lockdown, if you know what I mean. From The New York Daily News:

OK! claims that Megan Fox and on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Austin Green have worked out a deal. “They’ve agreed to an open relationship where Megan can see other men but Brian can’t date anyone else,” says the mag, and she has six months to decide if she wants to marry him.

What?

Look, she’s attractive, and as dudes sometimes you gotta do what you have to do, and then do a little extra for the really hot ones, but you better believe that Mark-Paul Gosselaar would either have those loose ends sewn up…or be done with it. (Plus, no level of hotness can compensate for significant levels of crazy…and the more I read about Megan Fox, the more she qualifies for crazy.)

Anyway, I think Steve Stifler put it best when he said:

And if someone can direct that quite at you legitimately, then you are not and never were worthy of the lead role in Saved By The Bell.

I shudder to think about what kinds of lessons the impressionable youths of the 90s would have learned from a Brian Austin Green-led Saved By The Bell.

Would he have taught us about the importance of environmental conservation and the evils of unbridled greed?

Would he have been able to save the Max?

And damnit, would Brian Austin F’ing Green have been man enough after being fleeced by the ultra-cool facade of Rod Belding to swallow his pride and admit he was wrong, and that Mr. Belding was definitely the better Belding?

I don’t think so. And a generation of 90s kids would be worse off because of it.

So all I have to say is Halelujah that the original pilot fell flat on its face and was retooled before being rolled out again. I’m not sure I’d want to live in a world in which Zack Morris never existed, and his only incarnation was some business-suit-wearing, white-boy-gangsta-rapping, girlfriend-has-his-bits-in-a-jar hack.

But…somehow…that’s not even the most harrowing What If thought I had today. Quite the contrary actually.  After reading about the original cast of Good Morning Miss Bliss, I wondered to myself if there was anything else that could possibly have made the 1990s more drastically different.

My first thought: Frank Thomas not being on the Chicago White Sox.

So I decided to go back to the 1989 draft and see what other players the White Sox could have taken with their first round selection that year, the seventh overall, and then where The Big Hurt might have ended up had the White Sox passed on him.

And the likely outcome is so much worse than Brian Austin Green starring in Saved By The Bell that I’d rather do this in my office right now than even think about it:

Here are picks 7-15 from the 1989 MLB draft:

• 7 – Frank Thomas, 1B, White Sox
• 8 – Earl Cunningham, OF, Cubs
• 9 – Kyle Abbott, LHP, Angels
• 10 – Charles Johnson, C, Expos
• 11 – Calvin Murray, 3B, Indians
• 12 – Jeff Juden, RHP, Astros
• 13 – Brent Mayne, C, Royals
• 14 – Steve Hosey, OF, Giants
• 15 – Kiki Jones, RHP, Dodgers

I would have to assume that had the White Sox passed on Thomas, they likely would have picked one of the next 10 or so guys. Other than Charles Johnson, who was an All Star as an above-average defensive catcher, there was not another good player picked until 23rd when the Red Sox took Mo Vaughn. 

Now, if I’m being optimistic and said that the White Sox were committed to taking a 1B in 1989, Vaughn was the next 1B selected after Thomas. So perhaps the White Sox would have simply swapped one gargantuan, power-hitting first baseman for another.

But still, Vaughn had a relatively short peak and then fell victim to the sharp decline that so many huge power hitters face. He may have been comparable for a few years, but he’s no Frank Thomas.

Even worse, look at what moribund, pathetic franchise was slotted right behind the White Sox in the 1989 draft: the Cubs.

Even though the Cubs drafted Mark Grace in 1985, and he made his MLB debut in May of 1988, isn’t it conceivable that they could have plucked The Big Hurt at No. 8 anyway?

Grace was a high school basketball player, so you would think he had decent athletic ability back then. Maybe they move him to third or to a corner outfield spot, paving the way for Frank Thomas and Ryne Sandberg to own the city of Chicago and all of baseball in the early 90s as one of the greatest 1B-2B combos in MLB history.

The one silver lining to this nightmarish thought is that Ryne Sandberg had the best year of his career in 1990 (40 HRs, 100 RBI, 116 R, .306 BA), the same year that Frank Thomas broke into the Bigs and played in 60 games. So at least Sandberg’s peak would not have overlapped with Thomas’. The Cubs finished 77-85 in 1990.

However, what might have happened in 1991 and 1992?

The Cubs went 77-83 and 78-84 respectively in those two seasons, with Sandberg still playing very well. Although Thomas had not yet reached his peak (which would come between 1993-1997, five of his top six OPS seasons), he still went .318-32-109-104 in 1991 and .323-24-115-108 in 1992.

Might that have made the Cubs good enough to compete for the NL East pennant and possibly *gasp* a World Series?

And though Sandberg started to decline in 1993, the Cubs actually improved to 84-78. Can you imagine if they had gotten an MVP season from Frank Thomas on top of that? 

I am breaking out into hives just typing this.

Honestly, none of this is even remotely likely, even if the White Sox had passed on Big Frank. Mark Grace was the 1B of the future and we all know that the Cubs suck too much to have ever stumbled onto such fortuitous serendipity. Plus, maybe Frank would have ended up like the Cubs actual selection in 1989, Earl Cunningham, and never made it to the majors. (Okay, now that is what is not even remotely likely.)

Regardless, the thought of Frank Thomas having been a star on the North Side is enough to give any White Sox fan a sleepless night or two. As will the next thought, as I tie together the two seemingly disjointed What If scenarios posited above.

Remember Steve Bartman? Of course you do.  

What Chicago baseball fan could forget him?

Well, according to Wikipedia, the most notorious Chicago baseball fan in history graduated high school in 1995 and was 26 years old at the time of “The Incident.” This means that Bartman was in middle school and his first few years of high school during the heyday of Saved By The Bell. Naturally, we can only assume that Bartman watched Saved By The Bell regularly, because…well…didn’t everyone?

But in a bizarro world as described above, in which the essence of cool (Zack Morris) is replaced by Brian Austin Green and in which Frank Thomas is a Chicago Cub, isn’t possible that Steve Bartman might have become a White Sox fan instead?  

Think about it: Bartman obviously reveled in rooting for a losing franchise, and with Frank Thomas on the other side of town it would have been the White Sox, not the Cubs, that were pathetic throughout the 90s.

As Marty McFly once taught us, when you start messing with the Space-Time Continuum, things can get f’d up that you never imagined.

And to take it one terrifying step further, if Steve Bartman were a White Sox fan he probably would have attended Game 2 of the 2005 ALDS between the White Sox and Angels.

And maybe he would have had seats behind home plate instead of down the third base line. And maybe when that infamous third strike bounced, and the ump signaled out with his hand, Steve Bartman — unable to control the level of his voice because he was wearing headphones — would have yelled “OUT!” at the top of his lungs.

And maybe AJ Pierzynski would have heard him, thought it was the ump, and not hustled to first base.

If so, the White Sox would have lost, would have been down 0-2 as they headed out West, and perhaps the South Siders would be the Chicago team still lamenting the fact that they haven’t won a World Series in over a century.

My apologies to any Good Guys who read this post and are unable to remove such a frightening hypothesis from their subconscious. But now do you see why it’s so important why Mark-Paul Gosselaar ending up playing Zack Morris in Saved By The Bell, and — although it’s obvious — why it’s so important that the White Sox drafted Frank Thomas one spot ahead of the Cubs?

So, now that I have outlined my two biggest What If Nightmares from the 1990s — both of which thankfully never happened, but both of which would have fundamentally changed an entire decade of my life had they been a reality — help me determine what would have been worse.

I’m leaning towards Big Frank being a Cub…but the influence of Zack Morris should not be overlooked nor understated.

What do you think?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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* – Gordon Beckham photo credit: AJRoxMyWhiteSox

This isn’t such grim news if you’re the Cubs because you are probably already used to it. One player after another goes on and off the DL for the Cubs. It happens so much it makes Cubs fans wonder if it will ever end.

Being out on the DL hasn’t happened much for Lilly. This is the first since 2005, but it was the same injury: tendinitis to the shoulder. Lily is supposed to miss four starts. Cubs fans can expect a return in mid-August if things go well.

The knee has bothered Lily earlier this month as he was scratched from his start against the Nationals July 18th to be given a few extra days of rest.

“There are times throughout the season where you feel a little something here and there, and you keep throwing and it goes away,” Lilly said before the game. “It’s nothing that’s alarming but [Tuesday] in Philly it felt a little unusual—the more I tried to throw the worse it got in between starts."

When asked what he thought of the situation, Lou Piniella responded, “There’s never a positive when a player goes on the DL, but in this case, if we can get his knee and shoulder taken care of at once [it'll be good],” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “What we need to do is keep hanging in there.”

It can’t be good news for the Cub’s manager. His pleas to get another bat have pretty much gone unanswered as it doesn’t look like the Cubs are looking to getting anybody before the trade deadline.

“We all felt comfortable we had enough bats when we left [ spring training]. We either haven’t been as healthy as we’d like, or certainly a lot of guys collectively haven’t hit like they can at one time,” said Jim Hendry. “It’s just the nature of every manager—you always want something better than what you have if you lose that particular game.

The surgery for Lilly will take place Monday, and Cubs fans can only hope it will go well. The Cubs have won six of their last eight, and could pick up some ground on the Cardinals. The Cubs were blessed with two easy home series during which they play the Reds and the Astros. These are two big series that can help the Cubs gain first place in the Central division.

The new Card Matt Holliday looked sharp as he went 4-for-5 with a RBI in his debut, a game in which the Cards dominated the Phillies, winning 8-1. This could be potentially bad news for the Cubbies. St. Louis hasn’t run away with the division yet, but could a new player do the trick?

Only time will tell.

One thing is certain. The Cubs need to find out ways to win without their lone All-Star. It has been a rough season, but the Cubs aren’t out of it yet. While I don’t see the Cubs making the playoffs this year I would like them to surprise me. It would surprise me more if they won a game in the playoffs.