Rapada called up, Murton sent down

[KingCubsFan]

Here's Murton's quote (from Bruce's article). And I like it.

 

“For me, it’s a chance to go out there and get consistent at-bats, to get back in the batter’s box and start to do some of the things I’m capable of doing,” said Murton, who hit .297 with 13 homers and a .365 OBP last year. “For me, 100 broken-up at-bats over two months will surely not define a player.”

 

One thing Murton and manager Lou Piniella appear to disagree on is Murton’s batting stance.

 

“For whatever reason, he changed his stance over the winter,” Piniella said. “I suggested to him that he go to what he did last year, and it was successful. It was just a suggestion.”

 

Murton countered: “It definitely did not have an effect. You can say what you want about mechanics, about hitting, about swinging. I’m always under the belief that no matter how good you are, you can always continue to get better. My swing has not changed. My approach has not changed. Any player that you look at through baseball, they make adjustments from day to day. Over the winter, I continued to work and continued to make adjustments.”

 

I'm really beginning to believe that there is much more to the "half the team hates Lou" thing than is being reported.

 

Nothing is ever his fault. It's always "So and so needs to change his stance" or "get some players in here that can do ". I have not heard Lou say "You know, I screwed up putting Eyre in a 1 run game in the 8th", or "Maybe I shouldn't have Will Ohman face right handers".

If he said something like that, half this board would be up in arms claiming he threw the player under the bus by basically stating that Eyre sucks. It's not Lou's fault that Eyre can't do his job. He gave Eyre a shot, he failed numerous times, and now he's basically not getting any work. He's done that with every player on the team, and some (Theriot) have seized the opportunity. The players that don't like Lou, I'd imagine, are the ones who aren't performing, and the only one with a legitimate reason is Murton. The rest should just go and complain to Dusty.

[USSoccer]

 

I'm really beginning to believe that there is much more to the "half the team hates Lou" thing than is being reported.

 

Nothing is ever his fault. It's always "So and so needs to change his stance" or "get some players in here that can do ". I have not heard Lou say "You know, I screwed up putting Eyre in a 1 run game in the 8th", or "Maybe I shouldn't have Will Ohman face right handers".

If he said something like that, half this board would be up in arms claiming he threw the player under the bus by basically stating that Eyre sucks. It's not Lou's fault that Eyre can't do his job. He gave Eyre a shot, he failed numerous times, and now he's basically not getting any work. He's done that with every player on the team, and some (Theriot) have seized the opportunity. The players that don't like Lou, I'd imagine, are the ones who aren't performing, and the only one with a legitimate reason is Murton. The rest should just go and complain to Dusty.

 

With all due respect, acting as if Lou Piniella hasn't mismanaged his bullpen to an absolutely idiotic degree is just being dishonest.

 

I have yet to hear him shoulder the blame for anything. Accountability swings both ways.

[SouthSideRyan]

Lou partially blamed himself for Tuesday night's game while saying don't blame this just on Barrett, there are 25 guys on the team and a manager that made mistakes.

 

Eyre has no options. He'd have to be DFAd. He'd become a free agent and go play elsewhere. I'm not saying this is a bad idea for the Cubs to do, just pointing out Eyre isn't going to AAA.

[USSoccer]

Lou partially blamed himself for Tuesday night's game while saying don't blame this just on Barrett, there are 25 guys on the team and a manager that made mistakes.

 

Eyre has no options. He'd have to be DFAd. He'd become a free agent and go play elsewhere. I'm not saying this is a bad idea for the Cubs to do, just pointing out Eyre isn't going to AAA.

 

Who said Eyre should go to AAA?

[SouthSideRyan]

Lou partially blamed himself for Tuesday night's game while saying don't blame this just on Barrett, there are 25 guys on the team and a manager that made mistakes.

 

Eyre has no options. He'd have to be DFAd. He'd become a free agent and go play elsewhere. I'm not saying this is a bad idea for the Cubs to do, just pointing out Eyre isn't going to AAA.

 

Who said Eyre should go to AAA?

 

Amazing_Grace

[TruffleShuffle]

Lou partially blamed himself for Tuesday night's game while saying don't blame this just on Barrett, there are 25 guys on the team and a manager that made mistakes.

 

Eyre has no options. He'd have to be DFAd. He'd become a free agent and go play elsewhere. I'm not saying this is a bad idea for the Cubs to do, just pointing out Eyre isn't going to AAA.

 

Who said Eyre should go to AAA?

 

I said Eyre should go away

[Amazing_Grace]

Lou partially blamed himself for Tuesday night's game while saying don't blame this just on Barrett, there are 25 guys on the team and a manager that made mistakes.

 

Eyre has no options. He'd have to be DFAd. He'd become a free agent and go play elsewhere. I'm not saying this is a bad idea for the Cubs to do, just pointing out Eyre isn't going to AAA.

 

You assume someone else would sign him and put him on their ML roster. Even if that happened, it would save the Cubs however much money the other team was paying him. If his agent told him, "sorry, there's nothing out there, nobody wants a reliever with an ERA of over 10 who can't throw strikes to save his life" then he'd go to AAA. He wouldn't like it, but he would.

[CubColtPacer]

Lou partially blamed himself for Tuesday night's game while saying don't blame this just on Barrett, there are 25 guys on the team and a manager that made mistakes.

 

Eyre has no options. He'd have to be DFAd. He'd become a free agent and go play elsewhere. I'm not saying this is a bad idea for the Cubs to do, just pointing out Eyre isn't going to AAA.

 

You assume someone else would sign him and put him on their ML roster. Even if that happened, it would save the Cubs however much money the other team was paying him. If his agent told him, "sorry, there's nothing out there, nobody wants a reliever with an ERA of over 10 who can't throw strikes to save his life" then he'd go to AAA. He wouldn't like it, but he would.

 

If nobody wanted him, I don't know why he would go to Triple A. He would force the Cubs to either keep him in the majors or pay him to sit on his couch.

[Amazing_Grace]

Lou partially blamed himself for Tuesday night's game while saying don't blame this just on Barrett, there are 25 guys on the team and a manager that made mistakes.

 

Eyre has no options. He'd have to be DFAd. He'd become a free agent and go play elsewhere. I'm not saying this is a bad idea for the Cubs to do, just pointing out Eyre isn't going to AAA.

 

You assume someone else would sign him and put him on their ML roster. Even if that happened, it would save the Cubs however much money the other team was paying him. If his agent told him, "sorry, there's nothing out there, nobody wants a reliever with an ERA of over 10 who can't throw strikes to save his life" then he'd go to AAA. He wouldn't like it, but he would.

 

If nobody wanted him, I don't know why he would go to Triple A. He would force the Cubs to either keep him in the majors or pay him to sit on his couch.

 

If he said he would do that, I'd call his bluff. His only chance of getting another big contract is if he's pitching. Now maybe he's one of those rare birds who saves up his millions and lives well within his means without accumulating a lot of liabilities like big payments on house, car, credit card, etc., and he's got enough saved up to retire whenever he likes, but I wouldn't bet on that. I doubt he really wants to retire at this point in his career. If another team would sign him, of course he would leave, but if he had no other options, he probably would go to AAA.

[jersey cubs fan]

If he said he would do that, I'd call his bluff. His only chance of getting another big contract is if he's pitching. Now maybe he's one of those rare birds who saves up his millions and lives well within his means without accumulating a lot of liabilities like big payments on house, car, credit card, etc., and he's got enough saved up to retire whenever he likes, but I wouldn't bet on that. I doubt he really wants to retire at this point in his career. If another team would sign him, of course he would leave, but if he had no other options, he probably would go to AAA.

 

He's 35 year old and his contract expires at 36. I'm sure there's a strong chance he'll be willing to retire when he's done with the Cubs, whether that is today or next year. He's got millions guaranteed, and for him to earn another contract he'd have to work his butt off.

[SouthSideRyan]

Eyre would certainly be offered a minor league deal elsewhere, and he'd definitely go somewhere else to play in AAA than stay for us. Guys don't get DFAd and decide to stick around and work their way back to the majors when they're 35.

 

They go to somebody else's AAA team for a few weeks, get up to the majors for 3 weeks, still suck, and retire.

[brinoch]

What needs to happen is give JJ to anyone that will take him, let Murton start every day and make Floyd a reserve (spot starting). Sending Murton down to AAA doesn't fix our problem b/c you still have to get rid of JJ and Floyd (or convince Floyd to be a bench player) in order to bring Murton back up.

They don't have to "convince" Floyd to be a bench player, they need to TELL him that. Floyd doesn't make playing time decisions; Lou does.

 

Well, Lou needs to start making better ones. For all his talk, the vets get a lot of playing time.

 

That's pretty much always been the case with Lou. He's almost as bad as Baker for having a veteran fetish.

[brinoch]

Lou partially blamed himself for Tuesday night's game while saying don't blame this just on Barrett, there are 25 guys on the team and a manager that made mistakes.

 

Eyre has no options. He'd have to be DFAd. He'd become a free agent and go play elsewhere. I'm not saying this is a bad idea for the Cubs to do, just pointing out Eyre isn't going to AAA.

 

You assume someone else would sign him and put him on their ML roster. Even if that happened, it would save the Cubs however much money the other team was paying him. If his agent told him, "sorry, there's nothing out there, nobody wants a reliever with an ERA of over 10 who can't throw strikes to save his life" then he'd go to AAA. He wouldn't like it, but he would.

 

If nobody wanted him, I don't know why he would go to Triple A. He would force the Cubs to either keep him in the majors or pay him to sit on his couch.

 

Well, that's better than paying him to sit on the bench. If he isn't going to be used, he needs to be removed from the roster.

[killthegoat06]

Lou partially blamed himself for Tuesday night's game while saying don't blame this just on Barrett, there are 25 guys on the team and a manager that made mistakes.

 

Eyre has no options. He'd have to be DFAd. He'd become a free agent and go play elsewhere. I'm not saying this is a bad idea for the Cubs to do, just pointing out Eyre isn't going to AAA.

 

You assume someone else would sign him and put him on their ML roster. Even if that happened, it would save the Cubs however much money the other team was paying him. If his agent told him, "sorry, there's nothing out there, nobody wants a reliever with an ERA of over 10 who can't throw strikes to save his life" then he'd go to AAA. He wouldn't like it, but he would.

 

If nobody wanted him, I don't know why he would go to Triple A. He would force the Cubs to either keep him in the majors or pay him to sit on his couch.

 

Well, that's better than paying him to sit on the bench. If he isn't going to be used, he needs to be removed from the roster.

 

Hopefully he'll be off the team next week.

[NomarSammy]

Does anyone know why Murton did not play tonight at the Iowa Cubs game and he was not even listed on their roster??

[NCCubFan]

I believe it was mentioned in the Minor League forum that he's reporting to Iowa tomorrow. A player has 72 hours to report after being sent down.

[oldcubsfan]

I doubt the Cubs are impressed with his decision to take the 72 hours.

 

His production better really step up and his defense in RF better really improve or he won't be seen in Chicago for a very long time.

[Laura]

Is this going to be another 'someone is late even though they aren't really late!!1' discussion?

 

I read somewhere that Murton was getting married this past off-season, so he's probably not just moving himself with the reassignment. The Iowa Cubs are on a roadtrip. Players can't always move themselves and their families in a couple of hours, then teleport to wherever their new team is playing.

 

That's probably why clubs give players a few days to make arrangements and join their new teams.

[Guest]

Plus Father's Day is tomorrow, Murt could easily want to visit his family before he has to report (it's been done before as guys returned to the minors...I think Theriot or Murton did it a few years ago).

 

Anyways, he's expected with Iowa today. If taking the full 72 hours is the reason Murton doesn't make it back to Chicago earlier than he should, there's an even bigger problem with Cubs management than I thought.

[frostwyrm]

The rules allow 72 hours to report, so Murton is not doing anything improper, but it's possible he is signaling some disgruntlement. If I were Murt I would be looking to join a different organization. There's no chance the Cubs view him as a long-term solution in RF, and LF is blocked for the next 8 years. He has no future here except as a platoon or bench player.

[CubbieSouthpaw]

What needs to happen is give JJ to anyone that will take him, let Murton start every day and make Floyd a reserve (spot starting). Sending Murton down to AAA doesn't fix our problem b/c you still have to get rid of JJ and Floyd (or convince Floyd to be a bench player) in order to bring Murton back up.

They don't have to "convince" Floyd to be a bench player, they need to TELL him that. Floyd doesn't make playing time decisions; Lou does.

 

Well, Lou needs to start making better ones. For all his talk, the vets get a lot of playing time.

 

That's pretty much always been the case with Lou. He's almost as bad as Baker for having a veteran fetish.

 

I don't see that in Lou at all. When did Baker start 3 rookies in one game as Lou did Wednesday night? As far as playing Floyd over Murton? Maybe if Murton would have been hitting the ball better he would have gotten the majority of the playing time. All I see is lou playing to win games.

[Amazing_Grace]

It's possible that he's going down to the minors to learn to play RF. If that's the case, maybe he comes back when the Cubs people think he's ready. If he isn't going to play RF, he needs to be traded while he still has some value left, and the Cubs need to get a legitimate right fielder. Jacque Jones just isn't going to cut it over the short or long term, and I'm not betting on Floyd staying healthy and productive all year.

[Iceblink]

What needs to happen is give JJ to anyone that will take him, let Murton start every day and make Floyd a reserve (spot starting). Sending Murton down to AAA doesn't fix our problem b/c you still have to get rid of JJ and Floyd (or convince Floyd to be a bench player) in order to bring Murton back up.

They don't have to "convince" Floyd to be a bench player, they need to TELL him that. Floyd doesn't make playing time decisions; Lou does.

 

Well, Lou needs to start making better ones. For all his talk, the vets get a lot of playing time.

 

That's pretty much always been the case with Lou. He's almost as bad as Baker for having a veteran fetish.

 

I don't see that in Lou at all. When did Baker start 3 rookies in one game as Lou did Wednesday night? As far as playing Floyd over Murton? Maybe if Murton would have been hitting the ball better he would have gotten the majority of the playing time. All I see is lou playing to win games.

 

 

Right on. I like Murton, but he's hit and produced runs about as well as Izturis has. For all the talk about how Fontenot has more RBIs than Cesar, he's also got more than Murton put up.

 

A corner outfielder has to produce runs - either by driving them in or scoring them. Matt wasn't doing either...and was playing a bad RF.

 

Floyd and Murton have almost exactly the same number of plate appearances. Murton had one more run scored, but Floyd has 25 RBI to Murton's 8, and Floyd has a .788 OPS to Murton's .667. I know Floyd is an older player who can adjust to part-time work better, but this offense isn't good enough to let Murton find himself again. Piniella didn't really have a choice.

[CubinNY]

Right on. I like Murton, but he's hit and produced runs about as well as Izturis has. For all the talk about how Fontenot has more RBIs than Cesar, he's also got more than Murton put up.

 

A corner outfielder has to produce runs - either by driving them in or scoring them. Matt wasn't doing either...and was playing a bad RF.

 

Floyd and Murton have almost exactly the same number of plate appearances. Murton had one more run scored, but Floyd has 25 RBI to Murton's 8, and Floyd has a .788 OPS to Murton's .667. I know Floyd is an older player who can adjust to part-time work better, but this offense isn't good enough to let Murton find himself again. Piniella didn't really have a choice.

 

This is a perfect example of using statistics badly to prop up a weak premise.

 

Murton has played poorly at times. However, Murton's been given sporadic, inconsistent playing time and a handfull of ABs. There is no reason to try to bring in numbers to prop up an extremely lame argument. They don't give the opinion any more validity at all.

 

And just for future consideration; RBI are at least partly dependent on your teammates and where you bat in the order.

Edited June 17, 2007 by CubinNY

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Until Floyd begins hitting better than Murton did for an entire season last year, I'm going to remain annoyed that this dumb platoon was instituted in the first place. Floyd's .100 IsoP is also irritating.