Full Court Press

Steve Stone just kicks ass. I listen to every word he says as if the Baseball Gods dewey words were dripping off of a coca plant. He has always been right.

Steve Stone was the best announcer the Cubs have ever had and his loss was a huge one. The Cubs and their games are a joke and hardly surprising.

I think Stone would serve better if he were a pitching coach. He seems to know more about pitching then anyone else I've ever heard. A lot people posted comments on this blog expressing resentment for the present pitching coach. Get rid of Dusty and Larry and bring in Stoney.
I do think think that whole situation with Steve Stone and the Cubs could have and should have been handled more professionally. I always thought the fans backed Stone more than they backed the organization during that disagreement. So, no, I don't think the fans owe Stone an apology. It's part of the game.

As a White Sox fan, I can still appreciate Steve Stone's professionalism. He really helped Harry get through his final years with class and a sense of humor. I never understand why team owners (and managers, coaches, etc.) bother to deny the truth. They should just stay silent or have their publicity hacks do the misinformation campaigns.

This all assumes that Prior was indeed hurting at the time Stone made his comments and that Prior kept an injury hidden, lied about it and knowingly jeopardized his future health.

That's quite an assumption.

i am a sox fan who watched every cub game just to listen to steve stone. what a waste. time for a new regime on the north side. if there is a " situation " on or off the feild you can ba assured present personal will mishandle it. E /wgntribcubs.

The Cubs have over the years never really been able to judge talent. Prior is a case in point. A trade to Baltimore for the best SS in the game would have looked pretty goood right now. Dusty hates to play anyone but veterans. The Cubs need to remake their entire organization beginning with Hendry. He allowed some real quality players to go when he ran the minor leagues. They rewarded his poor judgement by making him GM. Time for a real change from top to bottom. Stone would make a great GM.

Well now that Prior is hurt, I can give up on the cubs early again, they should have traded him when they had a chance, when are the cubs going to wake up? I think that they should do what the Marlins do, trade the whole roster for young prospects, and win a World Series every 6 years, but knowing how stupid management is we would trade our roster for injured nobodies

One does have to wonder about the Cubs' trainers as well as the pitching coach. We went through this with Sutcliffe, Eckersley etc. Of course if there is no bullpen to go to, they end up staying in longer than they should sometime. It does get old after awhile.

Three weeks into spring training and he hasn't thrown a single pitch in a live game!!??? Come on people!!! You cannot possibly believe he has been 100% healthy up to this point. Sav, put the blue kool-aid down and step away slowly!!!.

i knew prior had an injury too...what bothers me is why they didnt have him checked out in February !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...u lose nothing by doing that, and u woulda gained a month...thats what im pissed about...i believe Jim and Larry and Prior when they say they thought nothing was wrong, but at least be precautionary and have him checked out!...whats the big damn deal???...

Had the pleasure of knowing Steve when he first came up with Baltimore. Even as a kid, it was evident that he would blossom into something special for our great game. Why he is not at the helm of a major league team remains a mystery.

Steve Stone IS the best analyst in baseball. I do remember when he was in the booth with Harry as well as Chip, he used to basically call the next pitch. If Steve would come back to the Cubs television booth they need to bring him back.

It's over. Before it started it's over. All the false hope and the "sky's the limit" talk is now bull. Wood won't be back until JUNE guaranteed. Prior's a huge question mark. It wouldn't suprise me if he was getting his shoulder "cleaned up" soon and be out until All-Star break. Cedeno is already struggling and Lee's shoulder is hurting too!! What the hell are these guys doing in the offseason? Our pitching staff is a joke past Big Z and Madd Dogg. We have prospects like Pie ready to play and make an impact yet we have Jacques Jones in the OF for the next three years?! I agree with Scott...we should pull a Florida Marlins, keep Z, Aramis, Barrett and Lee and just start from scratch.

Yeah, Steve Stone was right. And he's not afraid to tell you so, over and over, ad nauseum. Biggest baseball know-it-all I've ever endured. Stone would have a little more credibility with me if he didn't sound so gleeful when he trashed Kerry Wood and diagnosed Mark Prior's injury.

Stoney, I'm sorry I ever doubted you. Never again. Please come back!

I'm a Sox fan, but I'd have to say that Steve Stone was the best thing the Cubs have had in a LONG time, then they let him get away. If I ran the organization he'd be my manager...or at the very least the pitching coach.

Stone rules. Quit wasting our time and money. Maybe Steve can come back and pitch. He'd be more durable. APOLOGIZE losers

Long ago Dr. Mike Marshall who has a pitching school in FL said that all students of House (read Prior) are subject to breakdown. Mike pitched most every day in relief for the Dodgers and is a schooled (PHd) expert on body mechanics.

GG,

Are you suggesting Prior and the Cubs knew he was hurt but didn't do anything about it for weeks? If so, why? What would be the point?

The Cubs (like all Chicago Sports Teams) have always (at least in my lifetime) been more interested in public perception than actual success. This is why anyone who says anything negative, however true, puts there job in jeapordy. I wouldn't be surprised if teh reason the Sox are not on 1000 anymore is due to candid questions posed to Reinsdorf. So yes, Dusty and the gang would hide an injury as long as possible, but no we the fans do not owe Stone an apology. the Cubs management, especially Hendry and Dusty owe him an apology. He would probably make a good manager, pitching coach, or GM; and definitely makes a great analyst. Sox fans must love this whole scenario.

This season mirrors 1984.High expectations on the south side after major success, and doom predicted on the north side. Look for similar results. Prior, Wood, and Miller will be a force by mid May, and the Cubs will be winning big. &*%$ Stoney

The problem with Steve Stone is not his arrogance or his decision to quit the number one network in chicago to go to a bottom scraper. The problem is people who know nothing about baseball and have never played the game seriously that assume stone is the greatest baseball mind ever.
he is far from it.
he is a pompus ass, and people who cling to his words like he is a prophet are mental midgets when it comes to baseball.

Steve Stone is the best baseball man in the industry. he should be managing somewhere. What a shock that the Cubs got rid of him. Every year, more of the same. I'm sick of it!

Steve Stone was always a whiney know-it-all.

Who cares about him, a apid anti-Cub shill now, or the awful team that is the Cubs?

I'm not surprised. When the Chicago Cubune feeds lies to the sheep that actually pay money to watch the worthless Cubs, they get caught and blame it on the guys like Stone. He is one of the best in the business and I'm sure he is glad he got out of there. Next the Cubune will pit all the blame of their lies on the coaching staff, and the sheep (aka Cubs 'fans') will follow suit like the good little lemmings they are.

Thank god for the World Champion White Sox.

Sav, I believe they (Cub management) knew he wasn't 100% and they DID do something. They developed a separate, slow spring training program for him. That was PRECISELY what they SHOULD have done and that is not the problem. The problem was perpetuating the myth that everything was ok and he was on target for an April 5th start. We can only speculate as to why. Maybe they're just eternal optimists. Who knows? The result is the same.

If Steve Stone is such a freakin' genius, why doesn't anybody else in baseball hire him? He's like the Sammy Sosa of baseball announcers. Without Chicago, he has no career.

I have been a Cub fan since I moved to Chicago in 1979. I have found out I really enjoyed listening to Steve Stone and his insites moe than I loved the Cubs. If he were to switch to broadcasting the White Sox...I would switch.
If the sox were smart they would make this move and this would soon become a sox town and the Cubs would be 2nd fiddle.

Jim Curry,
Thanks for another example of why cub fans are a joke nationally. If you think Wood, Prior and Miller will be force by mid-may, you must also believe in Santa Claus, and The Easter Bunny. The season starts in early April, not mid-May, and by then the adorable little Cubbies will be done, Enjoy your beautiful Ivy, and hitting on girls, that's all Wrigley is about anyhow.

Steve Stone is the best analyst in baseball period. It's a shame that he was basically blackballed by the Cubs for all of his years of loyal service. All he did was provide insightful comments and tell you what was going to happen before it actually did.

He really should be a general manager of some team that would truly appreciate his many talents.

The Cubs need to fire Andy McPhail and replace him with none other than Steve Stone. I really believe this would allow the organization to become serious about putting a solid team on the field every year. I'm tired of the Cubs selling hope and wasting our time trying to convince us next year is it. Stone would be an excellent president and would hire the best in the business, he knows baseball.

Steve Stone always told it as he saw it for better or worse. Take it or leave it.
After all, isn't that what he is supposed to do?

I still watch the Cubs but I do resent the fact that the organazation only wants to deal in pumped sunshine and doesn't understand that honest critic, good bad or otherwise, is good for the game as far as fan interest is concerned.

I myself miss Stony as part of the Cubs a GREAT deal. Stony was outspoken but I don't believe he had anything to apologise for by doing what he was hired to do. On the other hand, yes I think Stony deserves an apology.

I felt Steve Stone had slipped a little, when he came back a couple of years ago. He seemed a bit more hesitant, and his analysis wasn't as sharp as it was during his first run with Harry. I think this has all become a little too personal for him, and I agree with Michele, that he seems to display a little too much glee when discussing the Cubs pitching woes.

Steve Stone knows the game and I enjoyed what he added to a broadcast, but to say he was right on March 3rd means Prior, O'Neal, Rothschild, Baker, Hendry and others are ALL liars and I don't buy it. They, by the way are all paid to win ballgames and Stone is only paid to make noise!!!!

Djm...
Wrigley is a treasure, and all about some of the things you mentioned. But don't get too full of yourself, and your team.
Your ballpark could soon be empty and blue again, despite the efforts made to imitate Wrigley.
You, pathetically, assume the role of many Sox fans, who always seem to worry more about the Cubs, than your own team.
Good luck to both, and please....grow up.

I've been a Cubs fan all of my life. But, I've never seen such overpaid, underachieving, injury prone sissys as Wood and Prior. And I've never seen bigger liars than Hendry and Baker. Cub fans need to wakeup, your being taken advantage of. they all must go. Get some pitchers who are real men and while your at it replace Rothschild too, he knows nothing.

Steve Stone would be much more tolerable if he didn't spend the first 5 minutes of every radio appearance trying to settle personal scores. It's obvious why no one in the game has given this guy a front office job. If Prior had gone though a "normal" regiment and arrived at this point, he would have been the first to criticize the Cubs for not making an adjust in his spring training routine and learning from past mistakes. Stone is a self-serving whiner who is still clearly bitter towards the Cubs.

Old News: Stone should be manager, Tribune should sell. Not a doubt in my mind that Stone gets us in the playoffs in '04, when Dusty single-handedly loses us at least 5 games (along with his best buddy La Troy - oh Dusty you are so loyal - to anyone that kisses your ass!)
Tribune afraid to admit Dusty sucks. He IS a moron, a liar (I don't know anything about no steroids, dude!) no doubt about it. SELL CUBS, TRIBUNE YOU LUCKY DOGS, YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE REAL FANS WITH YOUR MONEY-MAKING, BLEACHER BLOATING, OVER-CHARGING, DUGOUT BOX-ING, AD-BOARDING CON JOBS YOU SUCK!

Perhaps one of the reasons that there is a perception of a vendetta is that Stone never seems to miss an opportunity for a sarcastic or biting comment towards the Cubs, and Kerry Wood in particular. Maybe if Steve would take that "high road" that he suggests for Wood, he wouldn't be perceived as biased and bitter.

He was an excellent broadcaster, but has become a difficult listen in his new gig.

Steve Stone was the reason I enjoyed watching the Cubs. His wisdom about the game, the players, the plays, the strategy is without equal. Please come back Steve.

I've learned so much about the game from Stoney. So much so, I've felt like I could manage a major league baseball team. His ability to always know exactly what's about to happen and explain why is uncanny.

Steve Stone has always been on target. I think his days as a broadcaster are oveR but, he would make a great Cubs coach.

I have a question.

Why does it seem that Kerry Wood can't pitch over three innings when the weather is hot or is over 85-90 degrees?

He always gets shelled...

Please someone check out the stats.

Steve Stone has more baseball moxie and knowledge than all of the Cub coaches put to together, and their manager.
He was right about either learn to pitch or go sell cars, but it is difficult to learn to pitch with Rothschild as the coach.
I always read that he is one of the premier pitching coaches in baseball. I don't believe it.
Sure, when he was with Florida they won the series, but at what price.
They had a pitching staff even better than the Cubs had when he got there. What happened? After one great year most of the Florida pitchers were injured, in one way or another, Why? Rothschild.
Now he is at work on the Cub pitching staff, which when he arrived was one of the tops in baseball. What happened to this terific group of young arms? Most have never matured nor improved since he's been here. The rest are injured in one way or another. The blame has to fall on the pitching coach.
It's time to buy Rothschild a bus ticket and a box lunch, and Hire Steve Stone...

THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!

I love Steve Stone as much as the next guy, but he isn't always right. Fact is, he lucked out and seems right - but Prior was not injured until Tuesday.

All of you people are going to forget all of this during August & September when Zambrano, Prior, Wood, Miller, and Maddux - together with their dominant bullpen - are on top in the Central.

Everybody take a deep breath. It's March, people.

Any Cub fan dissing Steve Stone for opining correctly again on Wood and Prior should slap themselves. The gentleman who critized fans who support Stone for not knowing baseball is so off base it is comical. He was the best part of the broadcasts and educated many of us on the nuances of the game. I grew up with him correctly FIRST guessing on pitch selection, describing in game scenarios, etc. Now, I'll admit Stone hasn't met an opinion he won't give you but that's his job. There is no glee for him when a player is injured even Kerry Wood. His sarcasm is missed by many I guess. The Brokeback take was a little over the top for sure but amusing due to the fact Wood can't stay healthy. This is a no win situation for Stone or the Cubs due to the way the relationship ended. However, I'd rather have him poking fun and calling out those in the Cubs organization than remaining silent. As for knowing the game, I tell you this - I certainly know the hallmarks of losing baseball having witnessed all of 7 winning seasons in 20 plus years of following the team that this year is not shaping up for number 8. Certainly not a World Series title which is why you play the game, remember? Listen to the Cubs brass speak - how often do they mention the hope of competing? Competing? That's bunk - your job is to win the World Series. Anything else is a failure. Until fans and those in the organization think like this Wrigley will remain nothing more than a beer garden. Certainly not a place where quality baseball is on display.

steve stone was unquestionably the best baseball analyst ever. his insights were amazing , and you would appreciate hearing the truth , rather than being a homey . he said wood would always have injuries unless he changed his mechanics , and he is still right .he critisized baker for some decisions and he was absolutely right . the cubs will never win under baker . i watch all the games nad yell at stupid decisions he makes , and it turns out i was right and baker wrong .they dumped the wrong people .

Cubs games suck without me to listen to...

Some washed-up analysts and paranoid Cub fans owe Mark Prior an apology

http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/cst-spt-cub18.html

Jim Curry,

Sounds like you are the one full of himself, and also make assumptions that are incorrect. I am in fact from downstate, a Cardinals fan, and it looks like you are the one obessed with that team across town, I'd wish you good luck, but even that can't save your team...

Steve Stone as a pitching coach? Hell no at least not for the cubs. First of all you people have to realize that being a REAL GOOD pitching coach requires as much mental "coaching" as physical coaching and even more important a great working relationship between coach and player. Okay, so maybe not for the Cubs maybe Steve "know it all" Stone somewhere else, again, being able to talk about something and do it are two different things, maybe some day som