Lee (fractures, 8-12 weeks) and Eyre (day to day) hurt

[LoneStarCubFan]

Does this remind anyone of last year's Braves? Chipper got hurt and the national media threw in the towel. They dipped into their minor leagues, Andruw had a huge year, they held it together, and did what they always do.

 

IMO, ARam has chance to establish himself as the best 3B in the League if he can get hot and carry this team the way A. Jones did last year, and guys like Murton and Cedeno could become the Francour of this year. The Cubs really have a chance to show us something here. I was impressed that they did not fold up the tents last night.

 

Yep. This could wind up being a season-changing win, in a good way. No chance last year's team finds a way to win a game like that.

[rawaction]

Does this remind anyone of last year's Braves? Chipper got hurt and the national media threw in the towel. They dipped into their minor leagues, Andruw had a huge year, they held it together, and did what they always do.

 

IMO, ARam has chance to establish himself as the best 3B in the League if he can get hot and carry this team the way A. Jones did last year, and guys like Murton and Cedeno could become the Francour of this year. The Cubs really have a chance to show us something here. I was impressed that they did not fold up the tents last night.

 

Only problem. Chipper is less of a loss than Lee. The Braves had Wilson Betemit (who's hit everything for the last year and a month) and Andy Marte to take his place. The Cubs have Mabry or Hairston/Perez if they move Walker to 1b. And it doesn't mean anything, but Francouer is/was a better prospect than Murton or Cedeno.

 

Edit: The good thing is the Cubs possibly get 3 of what could be the league's best SPs back in the next few weeks, which could keep them afloat if Derrek is out for a while.

Edited April 20, 2006 by rawaction

[ltb]

I can't believe people are trying to pretend a Lee-less lineup is not a bad lineup. This is already a mediocre lineup, at best, with Lee in it. Without him, it's terrible. That's not to say it will be impossible to stay in the race if he is out for a while, but it doesn't make any sense to lie about the quality of the replacement lineup if Lee is out. It would be flat out awful.

 

exactly.

we're going to struggle to score runs with lee IN the lineup - take him away, replace him with neifi 75-80% of the time (pretty sure anyone thinking hairston is going to get the starts at second is wrong), and you have an absolute abomination of a lineup.

[C.C.]

Does this remind anyone of last year's Braves? Chipper got hurt and the national media threw in the towel. They dipped into their minor leagues, Andruw had a huge year, they held it together, and did what they always do.

 

IMO, ARam has chance to establish himself as the best 3B in the League if he can get hot and carry this team the way A. Jones did last year, and guys like Murton and Cedeno could become the Francour of this year. The Cubs really have a chance to show us something here. I was impressed that they did not fold up the tents last night.

 

It'll be real tough because DLEE is the heart and soul of this team. They aren't only going to miss his run production but his glove also. I honestly don't see this team competing on a high level without him. If he's gone for a couple of weeks they can survive, but 4-6 weeks? Man, let's just say it's not good, not good at all. Why can't Pujols ever get hurt? This sucks because I really sense something special with this team. Terrible, just terrible.... :x

[noisesquared]

Does this remind anyone of last year's Braves? Chipper got hurt and the national media threw in the towel. They dipped into their minor leagues, Andruw had a huge year, they held it together, and did what they always do.

 

IMO, ARam has chance to establish himself as the best 3B in the League if he can get hot and carry this team the way A. Jones did last year, and guys like Murton and Cedeno could become the Francour of this year. The Cubs really have a chance to show us something here. I was impressed that they did not fold up the tents last night.

 

Not to beat the 2003 horse again, but how about the 2003 Cubs? When Sosa went down in early May that year, he was carrying a .980 OPS, and was out for about 3 weeks. Patterson was inserted into the 3 spot, and did a fine job in the interim. I'm not sure where they were in the standings when Sosa went down and when he came back, but that was a case of an offensively-challenged team losing their best offensive player for an extended stretch and not having it ruin their season.

 

That being said, I am in favor of giving Murton a shot in the 3 spot. I'd go:

 

Pierre

Walker

Murton

Ramirez

Barrett

Jones

Mabry

Cedeno

[ltb]

Does this remind anyone of last year's Braves? Chipper got hurt and the national media threw in the towel. They dipped into their minor leagues, Andruw had a huge year, they held it together, and did what they always do.

 

these comparisons DO NOT WORK.

 

dlee is orders of magnitude more important to the cubs than players like rolen or chipper jones are to their respective clubs. they can survive without those players for extended periods of time. this club is going to have a lot of difficulty doing so.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Does this remind anyone of last year's Braves?

 

Absolutely not. Not even a little bit.

[rawaction]

Another thing that sucks....Brian Dopirak's opening day broken foot. The way he hit this spring, if he'd carried that over to the regular season, he'd have a good shot of being called up if Lee is DL'd.

[C.C.]

Does this remind anyone of last year's Braves? Chipper got hurt and the national media threw in the towel. They dipped into their minor leagues, Andruw had a huge year, they held it together, and did what they always do.

 

IMO, ARam has chance to establish himself as the best 3B in the League if he can get hot and carry this team the way A. Jones did last year, and guys like Murton and Cedeno could become the Francour of this year. The Cubs really have a chance to show us something here. I was impressed that they did not fold up the tents last night.

 

Not to beat the 2003 horse again, but how about the 2003 Cubs? When Sosa went down in early May that year, he was carrying a .980 OPS, and was out for about 3 weeks. Patterson was inserted into the 3 spot, and did a fine job in the interim. I'm not sure where they were in the standings when Sosa went down and when he came back, but that was a case of an offensively-challenged team losing their best offensive player for an extended stretch and not having it ruin their season.

 

That being said, I am in favor of giving Murton a shot in the 3 spot. I'd go:

 

Pierre

Walker

Murton

Ramirez

Barrett

Jones

Mabry

Cedeno

 

The 2003 starting staff was head and shoulders above this years staff right now. They survived without Sosa because the staff didn't give up any runs.

[rawaction]

Also of note, the schedule isn't all that tough for the next month. At St. Louis will be tough and Milwaukee (end of April) is always tough. But the Cubs see Florida 6 times. Washington 3. Have a road trip outwest, but that's a very weak division.

[USSoccer]

About the only thing that works out is that if Lee is out for any length of time, it's during April and May and not in June or July when our schedule is a lot tougher.

 

I actually think that whoever bats 4th is going to be a very big key. Ramirez has to step up, but will he see anything good to hit without someone decent behind him in the order?

[Derwood]

anyone know the ETA on the next medical update?

[BeerHere]

Time to rally the troops. Hopefulle DLee is ok, but good teams overcome these types of things. This is a good time for ARam and Barrett to step up.

[chicago_bradley]

sometime in the late afternoon or early evening

[Ding Dong Johnson]

This would be a great time to play the Marlins and Royals for about 4 weeks straight.

[badgercub]

There are a few things that have to happen for the Cubs to stay competitive if DLee is out for an extended period of time:

 

1. Pitching, as someone mentioned earlier, will be the biggest key because this lineup will be offensively challenged.

 

2. Not only does Aramis have to step his game up, but more importantly they have to start getting production out of Jones. If they want to give Aramis some protection they will probalby have to bat Walker behind him.

 

3. They have to play error free ball. No more mental mistakes (trying to pick the pitcher off and balking, or throwing it away) and although physical errors will occur they have got to limit them, Cedeno in particular.

[Chocolate Milk]

Yeah, so I went to bed before the game was over. I got up and saw "Cubs 5 Dodgers 4" on the ESPN bottom line and thought, "Yes!" Then it continued to scroll... Now I am sad.

[RynoRules]

Does this remind anyone of last year's Braves? Chipper got hurt and the national media threw in the towel. They dipped into their minor leagues, Andruw had a huge year, they held it together, and did what they always do.

 

these comparisons DO NOT WORK.

 

dlee is orders of magnitude more important to the cubs than players like rolen or chipper jones are to their respective clubs. they can survive without those players for extended periods of time. this club is going to have a lot of difficulty doing so.

 

Not sure why the caps were necessary to drive home your point.

 

In any case, I was only trying to spin this into a (possible) positive light, particulalry in light of the way in which the team fought back last night after Lee got hurt. Tha was very encoraging, IMO.

[RynoRules]

There are a few things that have to happen for the Cubs to stay competitive if DLee is out for an extended period of time:

 

1. Pitching, as someone mentioned earlier, will be the biggest key because this lineup will be offensively challenged.

 

2. Not only does Aramis have to step his game up, but more importantly they have to start getting production out of Jones. If they want to give Aramis some protection they will probalby have to bat Walker behind him.

 

3. They have to play error free ball. No more mental mistakes (trying to pick the pitcher off and balking, or throwing it away) and although physical errors will occur they have got to limit them, Cedeno in particular.

 

Very much agree. As noted above, they are 16th in team OBP in the NL, yet they are 5 games over .500. With teh way ARam and Jones have played, this is good sign. If those two play well in DLee's absence, we might just survive this.

[chicago_bradley]

i know this is pretty unrelated. But check this out. Before the season started i bet one of my sox fan buddy the combination of homers from thome/konerko vs. Lee/ramirez. The only stipulation was that any stint longer than 15 days on the DL voids the bet. I look pretty screwed at this point. It could get ugly fast.

[Bote McBoteface]

It's disappointing, but not the end of the season. Good teams overcome injuries, and so far this is a good team. The Cardinals were without one of their top players most of last year (Rolen), and they still ran away with the division. With good teams other players step up when a key player gets hurt, and I think there's a good chance the Cubs can do that. That's if Lee is even out for an extended period, which we don't know yet.

 

what would the cards have done if they lost pujols?

 

because if you want to make the comparison, we just lost our pujols.

 

That quote just made me laugh. Alot.

[indifferent]

Why is always the small, scrappy guys causing these fluke injuries? Furcal to Lee, Giles to Prior, Cintron to Rolen (OK, Choi's a pretty "big" exception). Beware of Eckstein this weekend.

[ManEatingTarp]

This sucks guys. I hope both Lee and Eyre are back soon.

[minnesotacubsfan]

this blows

 

I just saw the injury on chicagocubs.com

 

this totally blows..

[EricG]

Should have signed Furcal, at least then he wouldn't have run into Lee.