Lou Says Cubs Will Be Playing in October

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Link.

 

"I like this team and all I'm gonna say is, we're going to be playing in October this year," Piniella said. Cubbie fans can count on that."

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Here are the keys Lou lists as needed for a successful season:

 

"That's going to be big for us," Piniella said. "Soriano gives us a lot of energy in center field with his speed out there and it also frees up the corner spots for Cliff Floyd, (Matt) Murton, Jacques Jones and Ward. If you ask me what the keys to this season are going to be, I'd tell you Soriano's successful conversion to center field, keeping my shortstop (Cesar Izturis) healthy and getting our closer (Ryan Dempster) back, confidence-wise."

[b_wiggy_66]

I think we would be better off if Izturis wasn't healthy :lol:

[Mephistopheles]

Izturis' health isn't all that important.

[Danny82]

Izturis' health isn't all that important.

 

If he plays gold glove caliber defense and hits about .280+ in the 8 hole, I think his health is definitely important.

[Yeti]

Izturis' health isn't all that important.

 

If he plays gold glove caliber defense and hits about .280+ in the 8 hole, I think his health is definitely important.

considering that izzy has a career OBP of .295 i'd be shocked to see him put up a .280 BA

 

EDIT:career BA of .259, hitting .280+ once, in 2004(.288)

Edited February 18, 2007 by Yeti

[UMFan83]

So he's predicting the last game of the season against the Reds on September 30th is going to go 40 innings and end at 12:01 AM on Oct 1

 

It almost scares me how many confident promises Lou delivers. I mean you can't predict what can happen between now and October.

Edited February 18, 2007 by UMFan83

[Mephistopheles]

Izturis' health isn't all that important.

 

If he plays gold glove caliber defense and hits about .280+ in the 8 hole, I think his health is definitely important.

youre too optimistic

[Danny82]

Izturis' health isn't all that important.

 

If he plays gold glove caliber defense and hits about .280+ in the 8 hole, I think his health is definitely important.

youre too optimistic

 

Perhaps we even things out then.

[Mephistopheles]

Well izturis has batted .280 once in his career and has failed to top .260 over any other seasons with 150 AB. I wouldnt call it pessimism id call it realism.

[Soul]

He's probably thinking more of Izzy's defense, which is, indeed, quite important.

[USSoccer]

Izturis' health isn't all that important.

 

If he plays gold glove caliber defense and hits about .280+ in the 8 hole, I think his health is definitely important.

 

If Cesar Izturis hits over .280 I'll buy everyone here a Coke. Because the odds are signifigantly stacked against him.

 

As was noted, his career OBP is .295. He's only OBP's over .300 twice, and one of those was a hearty .302.

 

He's terrible, and he'd help the team more on the DL than he would in the batting order.

[CubColtPacer]

Izturis' health isn't all that important.

 

If he plays gold glove caliber defense and hits about .280+ in the 8 hole, I think his health is definitely important.

 

If Cesar Izturis hits over .280 I'll buy everyone here a Coke. Because the odds are signifigantly stacked against him.

 

As was noted, his career OBP is .295. He's only OBP's over .300 twice, and one of those was a hearty .302.

 

He's terrible, and he'd help the team more on the DL than he would in the batting order.

 

I'll remember that, because if he had stopped when he got hurt initially in 2005 rather than trying to play through the injuries he would have hit 280+ in 2 of the last 3 years, and 2006 was another injury-filled season. If he gets healthy, who knows what could happen from him-he could be the 2004 or 2005 healthy version, or he could be the other Cesar Izturis who has shown himself so far after the injuries-I have no idea which one it will be.

[Danny82]

USSoccer:

 

When you put such little emphasis on defense at the SS position, I can understand why you feel that way.

[USSoccer]

When you put such little emphasis on defense at the SS position, I can understand why you feel that way.

 

At the expense of having a player who's a negative factor on the offense? You're right I don't. It's not mutually exclusive; you can find a good defense SS who isn't incompetent when he hits.

 

I don't buy that Cesar Izturis can suck at the plate but be an asset simply because he plays good defense at SS. This team is not good enough to have a complete cipher in the batting order.

[Mephistopheles]

Not only that, IF Izturis goes down because of an injury the most likely replacement for fulltime duties is still Ronny Cedeno. Ronny's defense may not be as good as Izturis, but it's not THAT big of a dropoff. We're talking a few runs over the course of 162 games. Both guys can't hit though. So really our replacelemt for Izturis is essentially the same player (and by some projections better) so that makes Izturis' health not all that important because if he goes down we replace Izturis with Izturis.

[Soul]

When you put such little emphasis on defense at the SS position, I can understand why you feel that way.

 

At the expense of having a player who's a negative factor on the offense? You're right I don't. It's not mutually exclusive; you can find a good defense SS who isn't incompetent when he hits.

 

I don't buy that Cesar Izturis can suck at the plate but be an asset simply because he plays good defense at SS. This team is not good enough to have a complete cipher in the batting order.

 

I know, but Tejada didn't wind up here ;)

 

Think of it this way: we either get stellar defense out of Izzy and at least get *something* out of the position, or we fall back on Cedeno and suck on both sides of the ball at SS.

[RynoRules]

Not to get back to the original point of this thread or anything, but "Go Lou, go!"

[David]

Izturis' health isn't all that important.

 

If he plays gold glove caliber defense and hits about .280+ in the 8 hole, I think his health is definitely important.

 

His defense could be the best ever, and it wouldn't matter. He's that bad with the bat.

 

I would've ripped all my hair out if I were a Mets fan in the mid to late 90's.

[David]

Izturis' health isn't all that important.

 

If he plays gold glove caliber defense and hits about .280+ in the 8 hole, I think his health is definitely important.

 

If Cesar Izturis hits over .280 I'll buy everyone here a Coke. Because the odds are signifigantly stacked against him.

 

As was noted, his career OBP is .295. He's only OBP's over .300 twice, and one of those was a hearty .302.

 

He's terrible, and he'd help the team more on the DL than he would in the batting order.

 

I'll buy everyone a Pepsi if he does, too.

[Guest]

Here are the keys Lou lists as needed for a successful season:

 

"That's going to be big for us," Piniella said. "Soriano gives us a lot of energy in center field with his speed out there and it also frees up the corner spots for Cliff Floyd, (Matt) Murton, Jacques Jones and Ward. If you ask me what the keys to this season are going to be, I'd tell you Soriano's successful conversion to center field, keeping my shortstop (Cesar Izturis) healthy and getting our closer (Ryan Dempster) back, confidence-wise."

My five keys to a successful Cubs season:

 

1) A healthy and fully recuperated Mark Prior

 

There is nothing bigger than this that is still up in the air. Adding a 2003/2004 Mark Prior to the rotation would make this the team to beat in the NL.

 

2) Soriano hitting like 2006 instead of 2005

 

Biggest x factor on the offensive side

 

3) Hill is for real

 

If Hill can show that his control gains from 2005-2006 and that his home run prevention from 2006 are sustainable...he's going to be a very, very good pitcher. Because he's going to strike a whole bunch of people out.

 

4) Supplanting Izturis at SS

 

The light bulb that went on for Ronnie in the second half of the winter where his walk rate quadrupled is a very hopeful sign. He may not be the 2003 version of Izturis in the field, but neither is the 2006 version of Izturis. If Ronnie could push Cesar out of a job by the break, it could be great thing for this team.

 

5) Wood able to close

 

If Kerry is healthy enough to pitch a closer's load from the pen, we don't have to be concerned with whether or not Dempster can close. If Ryan hangs onto the job through great performance, fantastic. Otherwise we have a potential dominator out there if he can go.

 

 

If these five things go the Cubs way (and they all very well could), this team will be a powerhouse. Heck, if even the first few of them go the Cubs way, we'll be the team to beat in the NL.

[Amazing_Grace]

Here are the keys Lou lists as needed for a successful season:

 

"That's going to be big for us," Piniella said. "Soriano gives us a lot of energy in center field with his speed out there and it also frees up the corner spots for Cliff Floyd, (Matt) Murton, Jacques Jones and Ward. If you ask me what the keys to this season are going to be, I'd tell you Soriano's successful conversion to center field, keeping my shortstop (Cesar Izturis) healthy and getting our closer (Ryan Dempster) back, confidence-wise."

 

He's right about Soriano. He's wrong about the rest of it, IMHO. Izturis is at least as bad with the bat as he is good with the glove, and unlike every other pro sport, in baseball offense>defense. He won't hit .280. We'll be damned lucky if he hits .250 with a .300 OBP. With both Theriot and DeRosa on the team and B. Hill and Cedeno in camp, I don't think it matters much if Izturis even plays a game.

 

Dempster is irrelevant. Closers are easily replaced as every year some washed up starter or reliever stuns baseball by being an effective closer. Most don't last, but teams usually find somebody for one season. Dempster himself wasn't viewed as a closer at all until he suddenly was thrust into the role in 2005. People already on the roster that could conceivably replace him include Wood, Howry, Wuertz, and Eyre.

[Amazing_Grace]

Here are the keys Lou lists as needed for a successful season:

 

"That's going to be big for us," Piniella said. "Soriano gives us a lot of energy in center field with his speed out there and it also frees up the corner spots for Cliff Floyd, (Matt) Murton, Jacques Jones and Ward. If you ask me what the keys to this season are going to be, I'd tell you Soriano's successful conversion to center field, keeping my shortstop (Cesar Izturis) healthy and getting our closer (Ryan Dempster) back, confidence-wise."

My five keys to a successful Cubs season:

 

1) A healthy and fully recuperated Mark Prior

 

There is nothing bigger than this that is still up in the air. Adding a 2003/2004 Mark Prior to the rotation would make this the team to beat in the NL.

 

2) Soriano hitting like 2006 instead of 2005

 

Biggest x factor on the offensive side

 

3) Hill is for real

 

If Hill can show that his control gains from 2005-2006 and that his home run prevention from 2006 are sustainable...he's going to be a very, very good pitcher. Because he's going to strike a whole bunch of people out.

 

4) Supplanting Izturis at SS

 

The light bulb that went on for Ronnie in the second half of the winter where his walk rate quadrupled is a very hopeful sign. He may not be the 2003 version of Izturis in the field, but neither is the 2006 version of Izturis. If Ronnie could push Cesar out of a job by the break, it could be great thing for this team.

 

5) Wood able to close

 

If Kerry is healthy enough to pitch a closer's load from the pen, we don't have to be concerned with whether or not Dempster can close. If Ryan hangs onto the job through great performance, fantastic. Otherwise we have a potential dominator out there if he can go.

 

 

If these five things go the Cubs way (and they all very well could), this team will be a powerhouse. Heck, if even the first few of them go the Cubs way, we'll be the team to beat in the NL.

 

Your keys are better than Lou's. I'd only add that I think Lee, Ramirez, and especially Barrett must be healthy most of the season.

[CubinNY]

Here are the keys Lou lists as needed for a successful season:

 

"That's going to be big for us," Piniella said. "Soriano gives us a lot of energy in center field with his speed out there and it also frees up the corner spots for Cliff Floyd, (Matt) Murton, Jacques Jones and Ward. If you ask me what the keys to this season are going to be, I'd tell you Soriano's successful conversion to center field, keeping my shortstop (Cesar Izturis) healthy and getting our closer (Ryan Dempster) back, confidence-wise."

My five keys to a successful Cubs season:

 

1) A healthy and fully recuperated Mark Prior

 

There is nothing bigger than this that is still up in the air. Adding a 2003/2004 Mark Prior to the rotation would make this the team to beat in the NL.

 

2) Soriano hitting like 2006 instead of 2005

 

Biggest x factor on the offensive side

 

3) Hill is for real

 

If Hill can show that his control gains from 2005-2006 and that his home run prevention from 2006 are sustainable...he's going to be a very, very good pitcher. Because he's going to strike a whole bunch of people out.

 

4) Supplanting Izturis at SS

 

The light bulb that went on for Ronnie in the second half of the winter where his walk rate quadrupled is a very hopeful sign. He may not be the 2003 version of Izturis in the field, but neither is the 2006 version of Izturis. If Ronnie could push Cesar out of a job by the break, it could be great thing for this team.

 

5) Wood able to close

 

If Kerry is healthy enough to pitch a closer's load from the pen, we don't have to be concerned with whether or not Dempster can close. If Ryan hangs onto the job through great performance, fantastic. Otherwise we have a potential dominator out there if he can go.

 

 

If these five things go the Cubs way (and they all very well could), this team will be a powerhouse. Heck, if even the first few of them go the Cubs way, we'll be the team to beat in the NL.

 

Not to be a suck up. I agree with your assessment 100%.

 

I'd also list #6: Matt Murton. He is poised to have a breakout season. If he gets enough ABs.

[Rob]

Much maligned though Cesar Izturis is (and rightfully so) take a look at his IsoD since he broke into the big leagues.

 

2001 - 0.010

2002 - 0.021

2003 - 0.031

2004 - 0.042

2005 - 0.045

2006 - 0.050

 

He's shown steady (if not spectacular) improvement in that regard, and he'll be working with a great hitting coach (two, if you want to count Lou) in his age 27 season.

 

I don't like Izturis much either... but all the markers of a potential breakout season are there. Granted, his breakout would be a league-average offensive shortstop... but it's still something to be cautiously optimistic about.