Fontenot

[Banedon]

Bah...he made an error last night...send him back down.

[CUBZ99]

Is it just perception or have the younger players actually performed better this year under Lou? It seems that nearly everytime Hendry has called up one of the youngsters, Lou has picked his spots and let them get playing time. Pagan, Fontenot, Hill (Defensively), Pie, Theriot, Marshall, Marmol, Guzman (for a short time). With Dusty, these guys would have gotten splinters on the bench.

[Banedon]

Is it just perception or have the younger players actually performed better this year under Lou? It seems that nearly everytime Hendry has called up one of the youngsters, Lou has picked his spots and let them get playing time. Pagan, Fontenot, Hill (Defensively), Pie, Theriot, Marshall, Marmol, Guzman (for a short time). With Dusty, these guys would have gotten splinters on the bench.

 

It's not that they've performed better, it's that they've gotten a chance to perform. But even that has been out of a lot of necessity for Lou.

[Abe Frohman]

He played in the SEC. It's nothing new to him.

 

Are you trying to say Auburn officiating is biased?????

 

I am.

[TheDude]

Is it just perception or have the younger players actually performed better this year under Lou? It seems that nearly everytime Hendry has called up one of the youngsters, Lou has picked his spots and let them get playing time. Pagan, Fontenot, Hill (Defensively), Pie, Theriot, Marshall, Marmol, Guzman (for a short time). With Dusty, these guys would have gotten splinters on the bench.

 

It's not that they've performed better, it's that they've gotten a chance to perform. But even that has been out of a lot of necessity for Lou.

 

Lou should get more credit than that. He still has the option to play JJ over Pie in CF and Izturis over Theriot or Fontenot at either MI position.

 

Dusty would have forced the veterans even when it seemed like it wasn't possible, by plugging Macias at any position.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

He played in the SEC. It's nothing new to him.

 

Are you trying to say Auburn officiating is biased?????

 

I am.

 

I'm saying that game is a prime example of the home team getting the calls that you often see in the SEC. Sometimes it works for you, sometimes it works against you.

[Banedon]

Is it just perception or have the younger players actually performed better this year under Lou? It seems that nearly everytime Hendry has called up one of the youngsters, Lou has picked his spots and let them get playing time. Pagan, Fontenot, Hill (Defensively), Pie, Theriot, Marshall, Marmol, Guzman (for a short time). With Dusty, these guys would have gotten splinters on the bench.

 

It's not that they've performed better, it's that they've gotten a chance to perform. But even that has been out of a lot of necessity for Lou.

 

Lou should get more credit than that. He still has the option to play JJ over Pie in CF and Izturis over Theriot or Fontenot at either MI position.

 

Dusty would have forced the veterans even when it seemed like it wasn't possible, by plugging Macias at any position.

 

Fine, but it would be hard to play the young guys any less than Dusty played them, so I don't know how much credit there is to give. Lou is better at it than Dusty, but being better than the worst isn't exactly a benchmark to get too excited about. Lou still doesn't give Murton the playing time he should be getting to develop, he still plays Izturis far more than he should, and if you recall, Pie was sent back down for a chunk of time because Lou was hardly playing him. It's only when the veterans are very clearly failing to produce that he's gone to the young guys, and even then the vets still get a good amount of starts.

[CubColtPacer]

Is it just perception or have the younger players actually performed better this year under Lou? It seems that nearly everytime Hendry has called up one of the youngsters, Lou has picked his spots and let them get playing time. Pagan, Fontenot, Hill (Defensively), Pie, Theriot, Marshall, Marmol, Guzman (for a short time). With Dusty, these guys would have gotten splinters on the bench.

 

It's not that they've performed better, it's that they've gotten a chance to perform. But even that has been out of a lot of necessity for Lou.

 

Lou should get more credit than that. He still has the option to play JJ over Pie in CF and Izturis over Theriot or Fontenot at either MI position.

 

Dusty would have forced the veterans even when it seemed like it wasn't possible, by plugging Macias at any position.

 

Fine, but it would be hard to play the young guys any less than Dusty played them, so I don't know how much credit there is to give. Lou is better at it than Dusty, but being better than the worst isn't exactly a benchmark to get too excited about. Lou still doesn't give Murton the playing time he should be getting to develop, he still plays Izturis far more than he should, and if you recall, Pie was sent back down for a chunk of time because Lou was hardly playing him. It's only when the veterans are very clearly failing to produce that he's gone to the young guys, and even then the vets still get a good amount of starts.

 

Pie stopped playing because the player in front of him was out-playing him. The same has happened to Murton until the last week (Jones should not be starting consistently in front of him, but Floyd has been better).

 

As far as Izturis-yes, Izturis has started more in the last month than would have liked, but a lot of that was due to necessity-Theriot has had to play another position quite a bit over that time due to injury/days off/etc.

 

Izturis has started 19 times out of the last 29 games. If you take all the days that Theriot was not playing another position and could have replaced him, that takes away 7 of those starts. Sprinkle in 3 off days for Theriot during that time, and it means that Izturis has started a total of 4 times where he wasn't either an injury replacement or giving a day off to Theriot in the last month.

4 games like that is a little annoying, but not a big deal.

 

As far as even when the young guys who are producing still give up a fair amount of starts to the veterans, I disagree with that as well. Pie has started 9 games in a row now. When Theriot was producing, he was getting just as many starts as DeRosa was. When they stopped producing is when the veterans started stealing their starts again.

[Keener98]

Is it just perception or have the younger players actually performed better this year under Lou? It seems that nearly everytime Hendry has called up one of the youngsters, Lou has picked his spots and let them get playing time. Pagan, Fontenot, Hill (Defensively), Pie, Theriot, Marshall, Marmol, Guzman (for a short time). With Dusty, these guys would have gotten splinters on the bench.

 

It's not that they've performed better, it's that they've gotten a chance to perform. But even that has been out of a lot of necessity for Lou.

 

Lou should get more credit than that. He still has the option to play JJ over Pie in CF and Izturis over Theriot or Fontenot at either MI position.

 

Dusty would have forced the veterans even when it seemed like it wasn't possible, by plugging Macias at any position.

 

Fine, but it would be hard to play the young guys any less than Dusty played them, so I don't know how much credit there is to give. Lou is better at it than Dusty, but being better than the worst isn't exactly a benchmark to get too excited about. Lou still doesn't give Murton the playing time he should be getting to develop, he still plays Izturis far more than he should, and if you recall, Pie was sent back down for a chunk of time because Lou was hardly playing him. It's only when the veterans are very clearly failing to produce that he's gone to the young guys, and even then the vets still get a good amount of starts.

 

Pie stopped playing because the player in front of him was out-playing him. The same has happened to Murton until the last week (Jones should not be starting consistently in front of him, but Floyd has been better).

 

As far as Izturis-yes, Izturis has started more in the last month than would have liked, but a lot of that was due to necessity-Theriot has had to play another position quite a bit over that time due to injury/days off/etc.

 

Izturis has started 19 times out of the last 29 games. If you take all the days that Theriot was not playing another position and could have replaced him, that takes away 7 of those starts. Sprinkle in 3 off days for Theriot during that time, and it means that Izturis has started a total of 4 times where he wasn't either an injury replacement or giving a day off to Theriot in the last month.

4 games like that is a little annoying, but not a big deal.

 

As far as even when the young guys who are producing still give up a fair amount of starts to the veterans, I disagree with that as well. Pie has started 9 games in a row now. When Theriot was producing, he was getting just as many starts as DeRosa was. When they stopped producing is when the veterans started stealing their starts again.

 

First of who is outplaying Murton in RF? Secondly, when was Murton given the amount of starts in a row like Jones has been given to try and find it?

[CubColtPacer]

Is it just perception or have the younger players actually performed better this year under Lou? It seems that nearly everytime Hendry has called up one of the youngsters, Lou has picked his spots and let them get playing time. Pagan, Fontenot, Hill (Defensively), Pie, Theriot, Marshall, Marmol, Guzman (for a short time). With Dusty, these guys would have gotten splinters on the bench.

 

It's not that they've performed better, it's that they've gotten a chance to perform. But even that has been out of a lot of necessity for Lou.

 

Lou should get more credit than that. He still has the option to play JJ over Pie in CF and Izturis over Theriot or Fontenot at either MI position.

 

Dusty would have forced the veterans even when it seemed like it wasn't possible, by plugging Macias at any position.

 

Fine, but it would be hard to play the young guys any less than Dusty played them, so I don't know how much credit there is to give. Lou is better at it than Dusty, but being better than the worst isn't exactly a benchmark to get too excited about. Lou still doesn't give Murton the playing time he should be getting to develop, he still plays Izturis far more than he should, and if you recall, Pie was sent back down for a chunk of time because Lou was hardly playing him. It's only when the veterans are very clearly failing to produce that he's gone to the young guys, and even then the vets still get a good amount of starts.

 

Pie stopped playing because the player in front of him was out-playing him. The same has happened to Murton until the last week (Jones should not be starting consistently in front of him, but Floyd has been better).

 

As far as Izturis-yes, Izturis has started more in the last month than would have liked, but a lot of that was due to necessity-Theriot has had to play another position quite a bit over that time due to injury/days off/etc.

 

Izturis has started 19 times out of the last 29 games. If you take all the days that Theriot was not playing another position and could have replaced him, that takes away 7 of those starts. Sprinkle in 3 off days for Theriot during that time, and it means that Izturis has started a total of 4 times where he wasn't either an injury replacement or giving a day off to Theriot in the last month.

4 games like that is a little annoying, but not a big deal.

 

As far as even when the young guys who are producing still give up a fair amount of starts to the veterans, I disagree with that as well. Pie has started 9 games in a row now. When Theriot was producing, he was getting just as many starts as DeRosa was. When they stopped producing is when the veterans started stealing their starts again.

 

First of who is outplaying Murton in RF? Secondly, when was Murton given the amount of starts in a row like Jones has been given to try and find it?

 

Floyd is outplaying Murton in RF in the same amount of time that Murton has had:

 

Murton (116 AB's)-.259/.338/.345

Floyd (111 AB's)-.306/.364/.423

 

Against RH's, the order should be Floyd/Murton/Jones

Against LH's, it should be Murton/Floyd/Jones

[badgercub]

Is it just perception or have the younger players actually performed better this year under Lou? It seems that nearly everytime Hendry has called up one of the youngsters, Lou has picked his spots and let them get playing time. Pagan, Fontenot, Hill (Defensively), Pie, Theriot, Marshall, Marmol, Guzman (for a short time). With Dusty, these guys would have gotten splinters on the bench.

 

It's not that they've performed better, it's that they've gotten a chance to perform. But even that has been out of a lot of necessity for Lou.

 

Lou should get more credit than that. He still has the option to play JJ over Pie in CF and Izturis over Theriot or Fontenot at either MI position.

 

Dusty would have forced the veterans even when it seemed like it wasn't possible, by plugging Macias at any position.

 

Fine, but it would be hard to play the young guys any less than Dusty played them, so I don't know how much credit there is to give. Lou is better at it than Dusty, but being better than the worst isn't exactly a benchmark to get too excited about. Lou still doesn't give Murton the playing time he should be getting to develop, he still plays Izturis far more than he should, and if you recall, Pie was sent back down for a chunk of time because Lou was hardly playing him. It's only when the veterans are very clearly failing to produce that he's gone to the young guys, and even then the vets still get a good amount of starts.

 

Pie stopped playing because the player in front of him was out-playing him. The same has happened to Murton until the last week (Jones should not be starting consistently in front of him, but Floyd has been better).

 

As far as Izturis-yes, Izturis has started more in the last month than would have liked, but a lot of that was due to necessity-Theriot has had to play another position quite a bit over that time due to injury/days off/etc.

 

Izturis has started 19 times out of the last 29 games. If you take all the days that Theriot was not playing another position and could have replaced him, that takes away 7 of those starts. Sprinkle in 3 off days for Theriot during that time, and it means that Izturis has started a total of 4 times where he wasn't either an injury replacement or giving a day off to Theriot in the last month.

4 games like that is a little annoying, but not a big deal.

 

As far as even when the young guys who are producing still give up a fair amount of starts to the veterans, I disagree with that as well. Pie has started 9 games in a row now. When Theriot was producing, he was getting just as many starts as DeRosa was. When they stopped producing is when the veterans started stealing their starts again.

 

First of who is outplaying Murton in RF? Secondly, when was Murton given the amount of starts in a row like Jones has been given to try and find it?

 

Murton has been a disaster in RF defensively. Murton is a man with no position right now and that is why he is not getting as many starts.

[davearm]

Murton has been a disaster in RF defensively. Murton is a man with no position right now and that is why he is not getting as many starts.

Folks really, really need to start getting their heads around this.

 

Murton's fate with the Cubs was sealed the day Soriano signed.

[Amazing_Grace]

Murton has been a disaster in RF defensively. Murton is a man with no position right now and that is why he is not getting as many starts.

Folks really, really need to start getting their heads around this.

 

Murton's fate with the Cubs was sealed the day Soriano signed.

 

If that's really the case and Murton is so bad in right that he'll never be an everyday player there, then the Cubs should be looking to trade for a passable right handed RF or an offensive SS upgrade so they can use the Theriot/Fontenot platoon at 2b and play DeRosa in RF. I highly highly doubt Floyd can stay healthy and perform at his current level the whole year, and Jones isn't going to cut it if the team wants to contend.

[ToThePain]

I've enjoyed watching Fontenot - for 5'8"/170# he can slap the ball around surprisingly well. He seems to have some speed, although his minors numbers don't really reflect it. I think he'd be more valuable to the Cubs if he could be counted on to swipe a bag now and then.

 

Regarding DeRosa, I don't see him going anywhere this season since he can literally play every position and Lou's going to need that kind of versatility. Especially with Daryle Ward on the DL, DeRosa is the only backup corner infielder we really have. Izturis and Theriot can play 3d but who among them can backup Lee?

[davearm]

Murton has been a disaster in RF defensively. Murton is a man with no position right now and that is why he is not getting as many starts.

Folks really, really need to start getting their heads around this.

 

Murton's fate with the Cubs was sealed the day Soriano signed.

 

If that's really the case and Murton is so bad in right that he'll never be an everyday player there, then the Cubs should be looking to trade for a passable right handed RF or an offensive SS upgrade so they can use the Theriot/Fontenot platoon at 2b and play DeRosa in RF. I highly highly doubt Floyd can stay healthy and perform at his current level the whole year, and Jones isn't going to cut it if the team wants to contend.

That's really the case.

 

Murton is so bad in right that he'll never be an everyday player there.

 

The Cubs should be looking to trade for a passable right handed RF or an offensive SS upgrade.