Beware of lineup holes

[RegulusBlue]

I know I'm excited that the Cubs have caught the surprising Brewers, who look like they're falling apart, but our team has huge gaping holes in it.

 

1. Jacque Jones just cannot play a good CF. He misjudged a couple balls in the inning that tied the game, his arm is atrocious at best, and he just isn't a good enough hitter to be a positive for a team shooting for the playoffs. Pagan is better running in the field, but he's not very good at the plate either.

Answer: Felix Pie. It'll take dogged determination to leave him in until he's comfortable, but Felix is the best CF we have, and watching the Brewers succeed with youth should make it obvious that we can as well.

 

2. Koyie Hill and Jason Kendall do not belong on a MLB roster right now. Kendall has picked it up quite a bit since he's gotten here, but the face remains that he's just not 2000-2003 Jason Kendall anymore, and his numbers are as ugly as his facial hair. Hill, on the other hand, does nothing well enough to merit even consideration at this level. He's the worst hitter I may have ever seen, period.

Answer: Geovany Soto. This one is even easier than Pie, because we're trading in Hill, who does nothing, for someone who can throw out runners, and hit a little bit. A Hank White/Soto tandem is ideal eventually for this year.

 

3. Cliff Floyd is no longer an everyday player. He is valuable in his own right, and he's a lefty bat in a lineup that is somewhat short on them, but he literally cannot play everyday, and he risks injury or getting worn down by the end of the year. Feel free to abuse him in October, but I'd rather not get him running on fumes now. He needs to sit more often, or he'll lose effectiveness.

Answer: Matt Murton. Regardless of how you feel about Murton, his numbers suggest that he is at least as good as Floyd at this stage of his career, and he is young enough that wearing down won't be an issue. He is the answer that has the most experience and success at this level. Floyd still gets 2 starts a week, but is largely a pinch hitter to preserve him.

 

4. DeRosa needs to play as much as possible. A player that can play RF, LF, or any INF spot is very useful, especially when he's as good as DeRosa has been. To maximize his value, you have to play him instead of the weakest link on the field. Right now that is Fontenot or Theriot. DeRosa is a second baseman by trade, so it makes sense to slot him over Fontenot.

Answer: 3-5 starts at 2B, 1-2 starts spelling other players per week. DeRosa's value is maximized if he's utilized as a starter whenever possible, but also to give rest to everyday players, such as Lee and Ramirez.

 

5. Marquis is becoming himself again recently. A handful of shaky outings (with one excellent start in there as well) recently has the discerning Cubs fan fearing the next couple months. Last year's bad season for Jason is probably closer to his actual ability than his good season the year previous. How long can he continue to skate by with 4-6 run, 5 inning outings and expect to get a win?

Answer: Nothing. Short of pulling him in the fourth or fifth inning regularly and giving him his own safety pin long reliever, Marquis will likely revert to himself, if he hasn't already. This is one problem with no solution for the Cubs this year, and it will cost us a few games, but we've done well enough so far, so we'll just have to hope.

Edited August 2, 2007 by RegulusBlue

[David]

I'm sorry, I know this overlooks most of your post, but this point of view is really starting to bother me. Come down to our level? We've been the best team in baseball for two months with a .653 winning percentage.

 

Sure, the Brewers have cooled off, but we have charged and charged hard after a disastrous start. One of my bigger pet peeves lately has been people, Cubs fans especially, trying to short-change what they've been doing.

 

As an aside, I agree that this team has holes...some that look like they can be filled from within. Hopefully they are, because there aren't many options, otherwise.

[RegulusBlue]

I'm sorry, I know this overlooks most of your post, but this point of view is really starting to bother me. Come down to our level? We've been the best team in baseball for two months with a .653 winning percentage.

 

Sure, the Brewers have cooled off, but we have charged and charged hard after a disastrous start. One of my bigger pet peeves lately has been people, Cubs fans especially, trying to short-change what they've been doing.

 

As an aside, I agree that this team has holes...some that look like they can be filled from within. Hopefully they are, because there aren't many options, otherwise.

 

It certainly does overlook the point. I'll edit it out to allay further confusion.

[jersey cubs fan]

I feel like there have been 5 or 6 plays Jones failed to make that Pie could have got to pretty easily in the past couple days. If he's going to remain a sub 700 OPS player, there's no reason not to make the switch to Pie. It just doesn't look like he's going to regain the power he had that propped up his OPS vs RHP earlier in his career.

[WrigleyinEngland]

I agree on Pie and i also like having Sotos bat instead of hill (we're stuck with kendall) whe else are candidates for Sept call ups??

[TruffleShuffle]

I was okay with Jock in CF, but after last night's game and the past week or so, I really don't know. His fielding was bad last night, and he hasn't shown any power at all. I'd give him another week or two, but if he doesn't show any power then just throw him on the bench and give Pie a shot. He's got upside, and at the very least he'll help you in the field. Especially when fly ball pitchers (Hill, Lilly) are in the game.

[David]

LOL, nice edit.

 

And yes.. Marquis sucks... Your 3 and 4 really play into one another, because DeRosa (and Murton) can keep Floyd out of the lineup (preferably more often than not).

 

Personally, I'd play less Fontenot, more Murton in RF and DeRosa at 2B...but I'm not sure if Lou is willing to go that way.

 

BTW, was anybody else wondering what the hell Lou was doing when he moved Ronny to 2B when he brought in Theriot? I mean, the only explanation I can see is that he didn't want Riot to get thrown off by playing a different position than he's playing everyday.

 

 

As for catcher, we're gonna either have to call up Soto, or hope that Kendall recaptures something for the next two months. Hill is flat out garbage but will continue to get AB's, nothing we can do there.

[ronsanto10]

more matt murton, i agree....he did good last year when he played every day.....for me the jury is still out on J JOnes....i mean, i never really liked him as a defender, you never know where he will throw the ball, and his misjudging flyballs is frustrating, but i dont feel the holes are that big really....maybe its the 30+ years of being a cub fan, but i think things are ok...who can they get anyway to fill the holes??

[badger1679666666]

Didn't Marquis have a 6 inning 3 run quality start the other day? He's a serviceable 5th starter for now.

[David]

Didn't Marquis have a 6 inning 3 run quality start the other day? He's a serviceable 5th starter for now.

 

The quality start statistic is so stupid.

 

3 ER in 6 IP = 4.50 ERA

 

Is that really what anyone would consider "quality" pitching?

[ronsanto10]

i guess its " a quality start" if it keeps the cubs in the game......

Didn't Marquis have a 6 inning 3 run quality start the other day? He's a serviceable 5th starter for now.

 

The quality start statistic is so stupid.

 

3 ER in 6 IP = 4.50 ERA

 

Is that really what anyone would consider "quality" pitching?

[Sammy Sofa]

Didn't Marquis have a 6 inning 3 run quality start the other day? He's a serviceable 5th starter for now.

 

The quality start statistic is so stupid.

 

3 ER in 6 IP = 4.50 ERA

 

Is that really what anyone would consider "quality" pitching?

 

For Marquis?

 

Dear Lord, yes.

[badger1679666666]

Didn't Marquis have a 6 inning 3 run quality start the other day? He's a serviceable 5th starter for now.

 

The quality start statistic is so stupid.

 

3 ER in 6 IP = 4.50 ERA

 

Is that really what anyone would consider "quality" pitching?

 

From the worst pitcher on my squad? I'll take it from my #5.

[CubmanPi]

Didn't Marquis have a 6 inning 3 run quality start the other day? He's a serviceable 5th starter for now.

I agree. He's been bad enough to justifiably cause much hand-wringing among Cub fans on days he starts, but he's let few enough games get out of hand that as a fifth starter, he is doing an acceptable job this year. The original post is also right that his track record of ineptitude will certainly come back to haunt the team and cost a few games before the end of the season.

[USSoccer]

Barring some sort of crazy waiver deal, the best solutions to our CF, SS, C, Marquis and RF issues are:

 

-Play Pie full time in CF. Hit him 7th or 8th, and at least get above average defense out of it.

 

-Your middle IF should be Theriot and DeRosa, or Cedeno and Theriot with DeRosa moving between 2B and RF.

 

-Play Murton and DeRosa more in RF.

 

-Call up Soto and play him over Kendall.

 

-As far as Marquis goes, if we get into September and he sucks, I'm sure Lou will do what Dusty did with Shawn Estes in 2003 and stick him in the bullpen and go with a 4 man rotation. We don't really have an in house replacement for a starter right now.

 

I can see Fox, Moore, Pie, Soto, Miller, Cherry, Gallagher and Petrick all being September callups.

[David]

Didn't Marquis have a 6 inning 3 run quality start the other day? He's a serviceable 5th starter for now.

 

The quality start statistic is so stupid.

 

3 ER in 6 IP = 4.50 ERA

 

Is that really what anyone would consider "quality" pitching?

 

From the worst pitcher on my squad? I'll take it from my #5.

 

I'll accept it, but I won't like it.

[CubColtPacer]

Kendall has a nice little hot streak going. It's only about 25 plate appearances so far though, so another couple weeks will tell a lot more on that front.

 

Hill's only value is to Z, and I think Soto could provide that to Z as well. So a change there would be really nice.

 

If Jacque's defense keeps up the way it has the last couple of days, they might have to make a change. He's hitting the ball a lot better to the opposite field than he did in May and June especially, but he needs to get some of that power back now. I think the ship has sailed on Pie for this year-by the time he would get through his struggles and make adjustments, the season would be over. I think I'd rather risk Jacque there right now, at least for another week or two (to see how his offense and defense is doing). If Pie does come up, Pagan needs to keep platooning with him like he is doing with Jacque.

 

As far as Murton, I definitely think he should get his chances. He probably will have to just hit well against left-handers and wait for Floyd's next injury to get at-bats against right-handers though. If he produces then, he probably will get more of those at-bats as the season finishes. The other good thing here is that the chance of Floyd hitting his options in his contract at this point is really, really small at this point.

 

DeRosa should stick to the infield for now with both Fontenot and Cedeno struggling (nothing against DeRosa, he plays just fine in RF, but the team has more capable OF's than IF's at the moment). Those two should only be used if people in the infield need a day off.

 

As for Marquis, Lou just needs to have a little quicker hook on the innings where Marquis loses it. If he does that, Marquis becomes not that much of a problem. Take the Cardinals game for example-Marquis pitches pretty well for 4 innings or so, and then walks the pitcher who is trying to bunt. As soon as he did that, Lou should have had the bullpen up. When Marquis hit Pujols with the bases loaded, Lou should have pulled him.

If a reliever comes in and gets out of the jam, the outing for Marquis looks a lot better. Marquis doesn't implode in the middle innings like that every game, but in the games he does Lou needs to be ready for it.

Edited August 2, 2007 by CubColtPacer

[David]

Barring some sort of crazy waiver deal, the best solutions to our CF, SS, C, Marquis and RF issues are:

 

-Play Pie full time in CF. Hit him 7th or 8th, and at least get above average defense out of it.

 

-Your middle IF should be Theriot and DeRosa, or Cedeno and Theriot with DeRosa moving between 2B and RF.

 

-Play Murton and DeRosa more in RF.

 

-Call up Soto and play him over Kendall.

 

-As far as Marquis goes, if we get into September and he sucks, I'm sure Lou will do what Dusty did with Shawn Estes in 2003 and stick him in the bullpen and go with a 4 man rotation. We don't really have an in house replacement for a starter right now.

 

I can see Fox, Moore, Pie, Soto, Miller, Cherry, Gallagher and Petrick all being September callups.

 

I don't recall Dusty doing anything this smart. Estes was still starting games in late September. I remember a skipped start or two, but I know for a fact that he started a game in the early Sept 5 game series with the Cards and that HUGE game he won for us in Cincinnati (which I was at).

 

EDIT - I guess a couple skipped starts constitutes what you were saying. I'm still bitter about Dusty trotting him out every 5th day for most of that season. It drove me nuts that Cruz wouldn't get some starts in his place.

[Soul]

God, I'm gonna get so blasted for this.

 

Kendall, last 7 days:

 

 BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  
.350  .435  .450  .885

 

I'm not a Kendall fan but he is doing much better recently. Obviously he won't keep this up, but what if he settles in at a reasonable rate of offensive production?

[ronsanto10]

are you crazy!!! :lol: actually i was just about to do that...i think kendall is ok...i mean not great, but he will do.....

 

God, I'm gonna get so blasted for this.

 

Kendall, last 7 days:

 

 BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  
.350  .435  .450  .885

 

I'm not a Kendall fan but he is doing much better recently. Obviously he won't keep this up, but what if he settles in at a reasonable rate of offensive production?

[badger1679666666]

God, I'm gonna get so blasted for this.

 

Kendall, last 7 days:

 

 BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  
.350  .435  .450  .885

 

I'm not a Kendall fan but he is doing much better recently. Obviously he won't keep this up, but what if he settles in at a reasonable rate of offensive production?

 

And what if Heidi Klum knocks on my door and tells me to ravage her?

[Danny82]

Didn't Marquis have a 6 inning 3 run quality start the other day? He's a serviceable 5th starter for now.

 

The quality start statistic is so stupid.

 

3 ER in 6 IP = 4.50 ERA

 

Is that really what anyone would consider "quality" pitching?

 

From the worst pitcher on my squad? I'll take it from my #5.

 

I'll accept it, but I won't like it.

 

How many teams in baseball have a #5 starter with a 4.50 ERA or better? I would guess not many.

[USSoccer]

Didn't Marquis have a 6 inning 3 run quality start the other day? He's a serviceable 5th starter for now.

 

The quality start statistic is so stupid.

 

3 ER in 6 IP = 4.50 ERA

 

Is that really what anyone would consider "quality" pitching?

 

From the worst pitcher on my squad? I'll take it from my #5.

 

I'll accept it, but I won't like it.

 

How many teams in baseball have a #5 starter with a 4.50 ERA or better? I would guess not many.

 

That doesn't make it acceptable.

[SouthSideRyan]

It's getting annoying that people keep making judgments about a player's defense based on a couple games. Jones is fine in CF. He's no Pie out there, but he's not nearly as bad as people try and portray him. He's perfectly average defensively. That said, Pie probably deserves another shot, cause Jacque just isn't turning it around at the plate like I thought he would.

[jersey cubs fan]

Didn't Marquis have a 6 inning 3 run quality start the other day? He's a serviceable 5th starter for now.

 

The quality start statistic is so stupid.

 

3 ER in 6 IP = 4.50 ERA

 

Is that really what anyone would consider "quality" pitching?

 

From the worst pitcher on my squad? I'll take it from my #5.

 

I'll accept it, but I won't like it.

 

How many teams in baseball have a #5 starter with a 4.50 ERA or better? I would guess not many.

 

The problem is Marquis has an ERA of 5.09 and 6.29 in June and July. If a 4.50 ERA game is the best he can do, and he's regularly doing worst, that's a big problem.