Ronny Cedeño

[Schwarber Fan]

He's having an impressive spring and he's even shown some power. I think if Izturis struggles, and Ronny keeps this up - he could take over as starting SS

 

Thoughts?

[Tracer Bullet]

While I would fully support such a move, I would be shocked, SHOCKED, if it happened.

[CubColtPacer]

They are going to give Izturis some time to get back to playing everyday coming off of the 2 years of injuries. Unless Izturis goes on the DL for a period of time, I doubt you'd see a starter change until at least the midpoint of the season, and then only if Izturis really struggles. Also, Cedeno hasn't made up much ground this spring anyway because Izturis is also having a very good spring (OBP wise anyway, which if you're going to get something out of Izturis this year it will be in OBP, not SLG).

[Abe Frohman]

Hey, if he can get his OB% over .300 - that's an improvement (but still not good enough). I like seeing him being receptive to the new coaching staff, and if he produces, I'd love to see him helping out.

[Balsa]

I think Big C is just rather streaky, and needs to develop some consistency. And I also think that he still has a chance to play as an everyday SS, if not this year or on this team.

[YearofDaCubs]

I'd love to see Cedeno or Theriot take over the SS duties. I don't like Izturis.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

I'd love to see Ronny starting over Cesar soon. I think Ronny will pleasantly surprise folks.

[ConstableRabbit]

I'd like to see a tilde on his uniform, personally.

[Guest]

He's having an impressive spring and he's even shown some power. I think if Izturis struggles, and Ronny keeps this up - he could take over as starting SS

 

Thoughts?

My thought is that I suggested this a long time ago. :)

[soccer10k]

He's having an impressive spring and he's even shown some power. I think if Izturis struggles, and Ronny keeps this up - he could take over as starting SS

 

Thoughts?

 

As long as he doesn't revert back to the player he was after April last year, it would be great if he started. Otherwise, Izturis is a better option.

[Magnetic Curses]

He's having an impressive spring and he's even shown some power. I think if Izturis struggles, and Ronny keeps this up - he could take over as starting SS

 

Thoughts?

My thought is that I suggested this a long time ago. :)

 

he's finally getting the proper instruction at the major league level.

[BigbadB]

And while he did look horrible at the plate last year, I think he was doing exactly what he was asked to do. Swing early and swing often.

 

Heck, Matt Murton was chastized last year for showing patience. And right after that, he slumped big time. Coincidence? I think not.

 

Cedeno showed a lot of promise in his major league debut in 2005. Then, with more time under the 2006 regime, his promise turned to despair.

 

I'm hoping new management turns him around. He might be our only hope at SS for the next few years.

[CubColtPacer]

And while he did look horrible at the plate last year, I think he was doing exactly what he was asked to do. Swing early and swing often.

 

Heck, Matt Murton was chastized last year for showing patience. And right after that, he slumped big time. Coincidence? I think not.

 

Cedeno showed a lot of promise in his major league debut in 2005. Then, with more time under the 2006 regime, his promise turned to despair.

 

I'm hoping new management turns him around. He might be our only hope at SS for the next few years.

 

I think Dusty and company actually helped Murton out. A manager and his staff have to work to try to get every hitter a balance between patience/aggressiveness depending on the hitter's strengths coming in. Dusty's staff didn't do that-they just preached aggressiveness to everybody. For Murton though, it was a good thing-because he came in a little too patient. Sure he slumped during the adjustment period-but when he came out of that slump, he was a better hitter than he was before and was driving the ball a lot more.

 

Cedeno, however, was too aggressive to begin with. Dusty and his staff continued to preach aggression to him, and that just left him hacking at everything and continued to make him worse and worse.

[BigbadB]

I'll have to disagree with you on Murton. He was a great hitter before he ever saw the big leagues. He showed plenty of power in his short stint in 2005. While it is possible that they found a flaw in Murton's swing (he was hitting the ball on the ground too much), the slump was really timed perfectly with mention that he was not aggressive enough at the plate. That also coincided with the great Freddy Bynum getting lots of playing time in Matt Murton's spot.

 

Every player goes through a slump occasionally. I really have no desire to give the last management group credit for correcting Murton's bat.

 

The same management group was in charge when his slump started.

[CubinNY]

I want to know how you got the scwiggly line over the n in Cedeno.

 

Fantastic!

 

I hope Ronny learns a little patience, just a little patience, yea, yea, yea.

[CubColtPacer]

I'll have to disagree with you on Murton. He was a great hitter before he ever saw the big leagues. He showed plenty of power in his short stint in 2005. While it is possible that they found a flaw in Murton's swing (he was hitting the ball on the ground too much), the slump was really timed perfectly with mention that he was not aggressive enough at the plate. That also coincided with the great Freddy Bynum getting lots of playing time in Matt Murton's spot.

 

Every player goes through a slump occasionally. I really have no desire to give the last management group credit for correcting Murton's bat.

 

The same management group was in charge when his slump started.

 

Murton was a great hitter before he reached the big leagues, but he wasn't a great power hitter. His highest ISOP number in the minors was 2005, and that .156 He had a .200 in the majors due to kind of a fluke home run rate (he hit 7 home runs in 140 AB's in the majors compared to 8 in 313 AB's in double A of the same year, also his ground ball rate in 2005 was higher than it was in 2006).

 

In 2006, he started off what his minor league numbers would indicate (.156 in April, .125 in May). By August and September, he had developed into a much better power hitter (.244, .228). I'll give you this-the staff should have worked harder with him in the offseason so that he didn't have to go through the slump he did, and the time off during the season probably prolonged the time it took him to learn this-but he did develop much more power over the course of last season, and I think a little more aggression helped him in that regard, so I credit Dusty and his staff for that.

 

If there was one thing Dusty and his staff were all right at, it was developing power in hitters-unfortunately for the Cubs, the organization bringing up aggressive hitters (Patterson and Cedeno to name two) combined with Dusty's aggressive approach was a really bad combination, and so only hitters that had learned patience in other places (Lee, Ramirez, Barrett, Murton) really came into their own under that coaching staff.

[BigbadB]

The problem with your theory is that it has no more likelihood of being true than my theory.

 

Players go through slumps all the time. The best players in the league go through slumps. You have no idea what causes those slumps. Focus, stance, timing, follow through, etc......, but it happens to the best of them.

 

It's all guesswork, but his slump started on Dusty's watch and ended on Dusty's watch. I'm sure he slumped at other times under someone else's watch.

 

For all we know, Derrek Lee saw what was wrong with Murton's swing and helped him correct it.

 

I have yet to hear from Murton himself how his slump was busted. Until I hear it from him, we are all just blindly speculating. Now, if you have proof that Murton's GB ratio was fixed by Dusty and the Clowns, feel free to share.

 

Until then, no love for Dusty from me. :D

[Amazing_Grace]

I'll have to disagree with you on Murton. He was a great hitter before he ever saw the big leagues. He showed plenty of power in his short stint in 2005. While it is possible that they found a flaw in Murton's swing (he was hitting the ball on the ground too much), the slump was really timed perfectly with mention that he was not aggressive enough at the plate. That also coincided with the great Freddy Bynum getting lots of playing time in Matt Murton's spot.

 

Every player goes through a slump occasionally. I really have no desire to give the last management group credit for correcting Murton's bat.

 

The same management group was in charge when his slump started.

 

Murton was a great hitter before he reached the big leagues, but he wasn't a great power hitter. His highest ISOP number in the minors was 2005, and that .156 He had a .200 in the majors due to kind of a fluke home run rate (he hit 7 home runs in 140 AB's in the majors compared to 8 in 313 AB's in double A of the same year, also his ground ball rate in 2005 was higher than it was in 2006).

 

In 2006, he started off what his minor league numbers would indicate (.156 in April, .125 in May). By August and September, he had developed into a much better power hitter (.244, .228). I'll give you this-the staff should have worked harder with him in the offseason so that he didn't have to go through the slump he did, and the time off during the season probably prolonged the time it took him to learn this-but he did develop much more power over the course of last season, and I think a little more aggression helped him in that regard, so I credit Dusty and his staff for that.

 

If there was one thing Dusty and his staff were all right at, it was developing power in hitters-unfortunately for the Cubs, the organization bringing up aggressive hitters (Patterson and Cedeno to name two) combined with Dusty's aggressive approach was a really bad combination, and so only hitters that had learned patience in other places (Lee, Ramirez, Barrett, Murton) really came into their own under that coaching staff.

 

Dusty was a poor fit as manager of the Cubs right from the start. He was known as a veteran friendly manager who didn't preach patience and was coming into an organization that needed someone to develop talent from one of the league's top farm systems and teach Hendry's 'toolsy' guys how to wait for a hitter's pitch, work the count, run the bases correctly, hit to all fields, and just generally play smart baseball.

[biittner77]

I have yet to hear from Murton himself how his slump was busted. Until I hear it from him, we are all just blindly speculating. Now, if you have proof that Murton's GB ratio was fixed by Dusty and the Clowns, feel free to share.

 

Until then, no love for Dusty from me. :D

 

I don't think he's saying that Dusty was able to fix Murton. I think he's saying that Baker's advice accidentally helped Murton.

[ChiCubsFan]

I forgot, how many years does Izturis have left on his contract?

[BDWeav71]

I believe Cesar is in his final year, with a club option for next year.

 

He makes somewhere around 4 million this season.

[Abe Frohman]

I saw one at bat last night for Cedeno (against Seattle), and I was totally impressed. He worked the count full and smoked one to the CFer. That alone impressed me enough to realize that this kid got messed up pretty good last year, and he indeed has potential to be a great ballplayer. I hope he gets a chance and shines.

[Soriano12]

Cedeno has looked good at the plate, but has he learned to throw the ball to the first baseman's mit, not 10 feet over his head?

[mg420]

if cedeno can have a break out year in 2007, i can see him starting at ss in 2008 along with ep at 2b (if his defense can hold up) & pie in cf. along with murton, that gives the cubs a very good young core of position players for years to come.

[RichHillIsABeast]

Cedeno has looked good at the plate, but has he learned to throw the ball to the first baseman's mit, not 10 feet over his head?

 

Yes. His throws have been outstanding from what I've seen. He's even eaten the ball a couple times instead of forcing it (after making a great play to keep the ball in the IF).