Oh, how I hate the mainstream sports media...

[goonys evil twin]

Actually, I'm treated quite nicely by the Cubs. I think it's a case of being able to agree to disagree.

 

I, for one, would have no problem agreeing to disagree with the Cubs, and I'm sure Hendry & Co. would agree to disagree with me as well.

[USSoccer]

I just can't figure out why someone didn't ask Hendry why he ate Maddux's contract if he was going to do the Dodgers the favor of taking Izturis' awful deal off their hands.

[Warren Brusstar]

Bruce, do you think the Cubs, as an organization, will ever "get it?"

 

Not unless the current people do some serious soul searching and say, "You know what? The way we're doing things just isn't working, and it leads only to hit-and-miss results." That hasn't happened yet.

 

Great job as always, Bruce. You are truly a beacon of light in an increasingly dense fog.

 

Your co-hort, Barry Rozner's column was laughable today.

 

 

Rozner's only concerns appears to be the happiness of Greg Maddux. I've never noticed such blatant sycophantic journalism in the sports world, outside of a Derek Jeter article. Several times a year he writes about how great Maddux is and about the Cubs responsibility to do right by Maddux. Imrem's take was interesting in comparison.

 

I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest the Rozner is more than friendly with Boras. If you recall correctly, it Rozner that suggested during Maddux's 2004 free agency that he had an offer of something like, IIRC, $60 million/4 years (or something similarly absurd).

[CP_414]

It's not really "journalism" but Mike Murphy hit the nail on the head on the Score this morning. He was very critical of the return in the Maddux trade basing his argument around OBP. He said the Cubs simply "don't get it," and will be the last team to figure it out. Sabermetrics has been around for decades and the Cubs are clueless. He also said you simply can't afford to have both Cedeno and Ceaser on the team because neither one can bat above the 8th spot on a good team.

 

There are some people in the sports media who get it, but there are far more who don't.

[JWCUB]

It's not really "journalism" but Mike Murphy hit the nail on the head on the Score this morning. He was very critical of the return in the Maddux trade basing his argument around OBP. He said the Cubs simply "don't get it," and will be the last team to figure it out. Sabermetrics has been around for decades and the Cubs are clueless. He also said you simply can't afford to have both Cedeno and Ceaser on the team because neither one can bat above the 8th spot on a good team.

 

There are some people in the sports media who get it, but there are far more who don't.

 

Very nice post. And it's your 700th. :D

[cheapseats]

It's not really "journalism" but Mike Murphy hit the nail on the head on the Score this morning. He was very critical of the return in the Maddux trade basing his argument around OBP. He said the Cubs simply "don't get it," and will be the last team to figure it out. Sabermetrics has been around for decades and the Cubs are clueless. He also said you simply can't afford to have both Cedeno and Ceaser on the team because neither one can bat above the 8th spot on a good team.

 

There are some people in the sports media who get it, but there are far more who don't.

 

Yep, I don't listen to Chicago sports radio (or any sports radio, for that matter), but Murphy isn't bad.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Murphy was also hammering on the fact that Hendry once called Furcal's contract "absurd" then last night called him a great player. "How can he be absurd and then great?"

 

Hey, Murph. He thinks the contract was absurd. He likes the player.

[NorthsideAvenger]

The Phil Rogers column today makes me want to vomit.

 

Izturis is "an excellent all-around player"? No, he's only valuable on defense. It's true that a run saved is (almost) as valuable as a run scored, but the Cubs are ALREADY the 5th best defensive team in baseball, believe it or not.

 

We have the 2nd-lowest OBP in MLB, the 3rd-lowest OPS, and Izturis is going to make us worse in those departments, not better.

 

He's signed through 2007 with a club option for '08. His presence should allow the Cubs to move rookie Ronny Cedeno to second base, where he has a chance to be a standout.

 

What? Out of 50 players who have played shortstop this year, Ronny is dead last in offensive production (measured by VORP). Last. He can only improve, but what are his chances of becoming a "standout" at a position in which more offensive production is expected?

 

The point is they don't care about offense. It's manly to talk tough on defense, whereas offense if for pretty boys. Tough teams defend, and there's no better market than Chicago to play up the defense concept, regardless of the sport, or the relative value of defense in that sport.

 

the cubs should sign ben wallace.

 

AND Ron Artest.

[TruffleShuffle]

The Phil Rogers column today makes me want to vomit.

 

Izturis is "an excellent all-around player"? No, he's only valuable on defense. It's true that a run saved is (almost) as valuable as a run scored, but the Cubs are ALREADY the 5th best defensive team in baseball, believe it or not.

 

We have the 2nd-lowest OBP in MLB, the 3rd-lowest OPS, and Izturis is going to make us worse in those departments, not better.

 

He's signed through 2007 with a club option for '08. His presence should allow the Cubs to move rookie Ronny Cedeno to second base, where he has a chance to be a standout.

 

What? Out of 50 players who have played shortstop this year, Ronny is dead last in offensive production (measured by VORP). Last. He can only improve, but what are his chances of becoming a "standout" at a position in which more offensive production is expected?

 

The point is they don't care about offense. It's manly to talk tough on defense, whereas offense if for pretty boys. Tough teams defend, and there's no better market than Chicago to play up the defense concept, regardless of the sport, or the relative value of defense in that sport.

 

the cubs should sign ben wallace.

 

AND Ron Artest.

 

World Series rings all around!!!

 

 

God, this organization sucks.

[forbez18]

Okay it is possible to be positive sometimes. Yes, this guy went way over board on the trade. So what he likes him on a defensive side. I belive having a great middle infield defensivly is a great idea. Now do I think they should upgrade the outfield? YES. Do I think they need to figure out their pitching rotation for next year? YES. But, having a good middle infield that could have Cesar and Cedeno in there almost every day is okay with me. How many power hitting great OBP middle infielders are there, that can play good defense? With LEE, RAMERIEZ, BARRET in the infield they can cover up a weaker middle infield a long as they get a power hitter in the outfield, you then bat Cesar or Cedeno second and eight.

[TruffleShuffle]

How many power hitting great OBP middle infielders are there, that can play good defense?

 

How many teams have the worst-hitting middle infield in baseball?

[CubColtPacer]

How many power hitting great OBP middle infielders are there, that can play good defense?

 

How many teams have the worst-hitting middle infield in baseball?

 

Once again, we don't have the worst hitting middle infield in baseball-at least not this year. Check out the A's-Ellis and Crosby are worse.

[Chocolate Milk]

How many power hitting great OBP middle infielders are there, that can play good defense?

 

How many teams have the worst-hitting middle infield in baseball?

 

Once again, we don't have the worst hitting middle infield in baseball-at least not this year. Check out the A's-Ellis and Crosby are worse.

 

Really?

 

Crosby: -5.3 VORP

Ellis: -7.5 VORP

 

Cedeno: -10.8 VORP

Neifi: -5.7 VORP

Izturis: -4.4 VORP

[USSoccer]

How many power hitting great OBP middle infielders are there, that can play good defense?

 

How many teams have the worst-hitting middle infield in baseball?

 

Once again, we don't have the worst hitting middle infield in baseball-at least not this year. Check out the A's-Ellis and Crosby are worse.

 

And again, those 2 guys make about as much as one of Perez or Izturis. That matters.

[CubColtPacer]

How many power hitting great OBP middle infielders are there, that can play good defense?

 

How many teams have the worst-hitting middle infield in baseball?

 

Once again, we don't have the worst hitting middle infield in baseball-at least not this year. Check out the A's-Ellis and Crosby are worse.

 

And again, those 2 guys make about as much as one of Perez or Izturis. That matters.

 

Yes it does-and so if the people said we have the worst value hitting middle infield, then that would be correct. We don't have the worst hitting middle infield though.

 

Here are the numbers: Crosby: .229/.297/.339

Ellis: .219/.289/.320

Cubs: Izturis: .260/.308/.366

Cedeno: .254/.279/.338

Ellis and Cedeno are pretty close-that's pretty much a wash, and Izturis is better than Crosby in every category.

[TruffleShuffle]

How many power hitting great OBP middle infielders are there, that can play good defense?

 

How many teams have the worst-hitting middle infield in baseball?

 

Once again, we don't have the worst hitting middle infield in baseball-at least not this year. Check out the A's-Ellis and Crosby are worse.

 

And again, those 2 guys make about as much as one of Perez or Izturis. That matters.

 

Yes it does-and so if the people said we have the worst value hitting middle infield, then that would be correct. We don't have the worst hitting middle infield though.

 

Here are the numbers: Crosby: .229/.297/.339

Ellis: .219/.289/.320

Cubs: Izturis: .260/.308/.366

Cedeno: .254/.279/.338

Ellis and Cedeno are pretty close-that's pretty much a wash, and Izturis is better than Crosby in every category.

 

Yes, but this year is anomolously bad for the two A's hitters, who have career lines of:

 

Crosby: 244/318/406/724

Ellis: 267/339/367/736

 

 

While Izturis (I'll ignore Cedeno b/c this is his first real year) has a line of:

 

261/295/353/635

 

 

I'd bet my house on Crosby and Ellis easily outperforming Izturis and Cedeno next season.

[USSoccer]

How many power hitting great OBP middle infielders are there, that can play good defense?

 

How many teams have the worst-hitting middle infield in baseball?

 

Once again, we don't have the worst hitting middle infield in baseball-at least not this year. Check out the A's-Ellis and Crosby are worse.

 

And again, those 2 guys make about as much as one of Perez or Izturis. That matters.

 

Yes it does-and so if the people said we have the worst value hitting middle infield, then that would be correct. We don't have the worst hitting middle infield though.

 

Here are the numbers: Crosby: .229/.297/.339

Ellis: .219/.289/.320

Cubs: Izturis: .260/.308/.366

Cedeno: .254/.279/.338

Ellis and Cedeno are pretty close-that's pretty much a wash, and Izturis is better than Crosby in every category.

 

Izturis has 123 AB's. Ellis has 256 and Crosby has 345. Give Izturis' sample size a chance to catch up.

[jjgman21]

Bruce (if you get this)

 

please don't follow the advice I give in the other thread. the last thing we need is your access being limited.

 

still, someone really should follow up with Hendry by pointing out the that the player acquired does not address the weaknesses on this team. every position on the team besides the least important, leftfield, either has low error totals or good to great range already while adding Izturis and moving Cedeno to second adds to the biggest weakness on the team, complete and utter blackholes in the lineup.

 

it need not be confrontational...."Izturis' defensive abilities can't be denied, but doesn't his addition exacerbate the Cubs biggest problems, lack of OBP and power and only marginally improve an area that isn't all that important with a high K staff?"

 

of course the problem is getting him to address that question instead of getting a (Tony) Snow job.

[Hacking Out Machine]

Bruce, do you think the Cubs, as an organization, will ever "get it?"

 

Not unless the current people do some serious soul searching and say, "You know what? The way we're doing things just isn't working, and it leads only to hit-and-miss results." That hasn't happened yet.

 

Great job as always, Bruce. You are truly a beacon of light in an increasingly dense fog.

 

Your co-hort, Barry Rozner's column was laughable today.

 

 

Rozner's only concerns appears to be the happiness of Greg Maddux. I've

never noticed such blatant sycophantic journalism in the sports world, outside of a Derek Jeter article. Several times a year he writes about how great Maddux is and about the Cubs responsibility to do right by Maddux. Imrem's take was interesting in comparison.

 

I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest the Rozner is more than friendly with Boras. If you recall correctly, it Rozner that suggested during Maddux's 2004 free agency that he had an offer of something like, IIRC, $60 million/4 years (or something similarly absurd).

 

Rozner often makes baseless, devoid of logic observations, and then tries to pass them off as fact in order to support whatever his topic is. Yesterday, the point of his article was probably to remind everyone that he is friends with Greg Maddux, just like he periodically does with Sandberg. However, there has to actually be substance to the column, so he talks about what a great job Hendry did in the Maddux trade. In order to support that, he has to sneak in phrases like "bona-fide major leaguer" "All Star" and "Gold Glove" . He also has to justify that moving Cedeno to 2nd is a good idea, so he says, "There is no doubt that Ronny Cedeno has a bright major league future, but anyone who has watched him this year can tell it's not at shortstop." What basis is there for either part of this sentence?

 

This type of writing is trying to fool the reader without really presenting anything other than conjecture as a basis for the argument. The Maddux 4 yr 60 million contract is another example. If you read him regularly(which I don't, since I'm not a subscriber to the DH, but I catch him whenever I visit my in laws in Arlington Heights), you'll notice this kind of thing a lot with him.

 

I am not a fan of Barry Rozner.

[goonys evil twin]

"There is no doubt that Ronny Cedeno has a bright major league future, but anyone who has watched him this year can tell it's not at shortstop." What basis is there for either part of this sentence?

 

That sentence pissed me off. It's like he was intimidating readers into assuming that was fact, so as to not sound foolish by thinking otherwise. I'm a supporter of Cedeno playing. But I have lots of doubts about the brightness, or lackthereof, of his future. If he does have a bright future, I see no reason why it couldn't be at shortstop. It's just an asinine statement that he probably feels comfortable writing because he knows the Cubs aren't going to give Cedeno a chance at shortstop anymore, so he can't be proven wrong.

[soccer10k]

FJM rips into Downey pretty good.

 

this love letter disguised as a piece of sports journalism. Someone named Mike Downey thinks Cesar Izturis is the best thing since the Spontaneous Multiple Orgasm Machine. What, that hasn't been invented yet? Well, then Izturis must be the best thing ever.

[cheapseats]

MLB Trade Rumors with an analysis of the snow job by the Trib writers:

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2006/08/chicago_tribune.html

 

On Phil Rogers, for example:

 

Phil Rogers: In Izturis, the Cubs have landed themselves an excellent all-around player.

 

Shouldn't an all-around player not be among the worst hitters in baseball?

 

He won a Gold Glove in 2004 and began '05 as one of baseball's best hitters, collecting 75 hits through May—the first Dodger to do that in the era of divisional play.

 

This is the first of several times the sportswriters mention Izturis's good two months among the 2364 at-bats of his career as a sign that he can hit. How selective is that stat? How about the rest of 2005, when Izturis hit .173/.218/.222?