Nice article on Murton

[oldcubsfan]

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/527717,CST-SPT-csep25.article

[TruffleShuffle]

kudos to him for the good attitude.... if i had a solid season and then was benched for a series of inferior players, i don't know if i'd take it so well

[Peoriaman]

It is hard not to root for him. He needs to start hitting, and all will be well.

[salukifudd]

It is hard not to root for him. He needs to start hitting, and all will be well.

 

He won't be given the chance the rest of the season, so don't worry. If Lou hasn't played him up to this point, he's not going to play down the stretch-run.

[Tracer Bullet]

I love the Cubs, but man do I hope they trade him to a decent team that will give him a chance to play. Watching Floyd, Jones, and Monroe play every day would be a little easier if I didn't know we had a less expensive, younger player that could match their production (if not easily exceed it).

[KingCubsFan]

I love the Cubs, but man do I hope they trade him to a decent team that will give him a chance to play. Watching Floyd, Jones, and Monroe play every day would be a little easier if I didn't know we had a less expensive, younger player that could match their production (if not easily exceed it).

How long has Monroe been on the team? And when talking about Jones, are you referring to Pie as the younger player?

[Handlebar McSkullet]

kudos to him for the good attitude.... if i had a solid season and then was benched for a series of inferior players, i don't know if i'd take it so well

 

too bad that doesnt apply to murton, considering his season is nothing near solid.

[Peoriaman]

He has plenty of at-bats this season. He hasn't produced. he doesn't have a 5 or 6 year career of success to point to. Lou needs a guy to get a clutch hit or two now. Murton continues to get chances almost every game either as a starter or pinchhitter. He needs to take advantage of those.

[Tracer Bullet]

I love the Cubs, but man do I hope they trade him to a decent team that will give him a chance to play. Watching Floyd, Jones, and Monroe play every day would be a little easier if I didn't know we had a less expensive, younger player that could match their production (if not easily exceed it).

How long has Monroe been on the team? And when talking about Jones, are you referring to Pie as the younger player?

 

Monroe? A few days. But he's going to platoon with either Floyd or Jones. I expect that Murton will get very few ABs for the rest of the year. Monroe's presence (as the RH part of a platoon with either Floyd or Jones) all but guarantees that.

 

And yes, for this year, I'm referring to Pie in CF. But next year if JJ is still here, I'm guessing the OF is Soriano, Pie, JJ/RH platoon. I'm praying that RH player isn't Monroe. Either way, I think Murton should have had a starting job in our OF from the start of this season (esp given the alternatives). Part of that is Floyd's presence, to a much lesser extent, JJ's presence, and for the next month, Monroe's presence. Next year, if Pie is deemed ready to play CF, JJ will slide to RF.

[Tracer Bullet]

kudos to him for the good attitude.... if i had a solid season and then was benched for a series of inferior players, i don't know if i'd take it so well

 

too bad that doesnt apply to murton, considering his season is nothing near solid.

 

I'm quite sure he was referring to last season, which should have earned Murton the starting gig in LF (or RF) to start this year. Or were you arguing that last season he wasn't solid?

[Warren Brusstar]

He has plenty of at-bats this season. He hasn't produced. he doesn't have a 5 or 6 year career of success to point to. Lou needs a guy to get a clutch hit or two now. Murton continues to get chances almost every game either as a starter or pinchhitter. He needs to take advantage of those.

 

Interesting. In the Kendall thread, when someone pointed to his 1 for 15 start, which followed four months of utterly putrid baseball, which followed 2 more below average seasons, you noted that this a great lesson that "patience is a virtue."

 

But when Murton has a 3 for 19 stretch with men in scoring position (a stretch in which he hit 3 home runs, BTW), you've pointed out repeatedly that Lou "needs a guy to get a clutch hit or two."

 

Please take your own advice.

[Peoriaman]

kudos to him for the good attitude.... if i had a solid season and then was benched for a series of inferior players, i don't know if i'd take it so well

 

too bad that doesnt apply to murton, considering his season is nothing near solid.

 

I'm quite sure he was referring to last season, which should have earned Murton the starting gig in LF (or RF) to start this year. Or were you arguing that last season he wasn't solid?

 

 

It did earn him the starting position early this year. Then he lost it on his own.

[Peoriaman]

He has plenty of at-bats this season. He hasn't produced. he doesn't have a 5 or 6 year career of success to point to. Lou needs a guy to get a clutch hit or two now. Murton continues to get chances almost every game either as a starter or pinchhitter. He needs to take advantage of those.

 

Interesting. In the Kendall thread, when someone pointed to his 1 for 15 start, which followed four months of utterly putrid baseball, which followed 2 more below average seasons, you noted that this a great lesson that "patience is a virtue."

 

But when Murton has a 3 for 19 stretch with men in scoring position (a stretch in which he hit 3 home runs, BTW), you've pointed out repeatedly that Lou "needs a guy to get a clutch hit or two."

 

Please take your own advice.

 

 

Except Murton was a starter early this year. He has had 180 at-bats this year. That is the difference.

 

People were ready to throw Kendall under the bus. I have never been that way on Murton. I would also add that regardless what you think of Floyd, Ward, DeRosa, etc. the options at catcher were much more limited than in the outfield. Kendall also had a long history of high OBP and solid hitting.

 

I would add that Murton's BA with RISP has been dramatically lower than his BA for his whole career. That does worry me.

[Warren Brusstar]

He has plenty of at-bats this season. He hasn't produced. he doesn't have a 5 or 6 year career of success to point to. Lou needs a guy to get a clutch hit or two now. Murton continues to get chances almost every game either as a starter or pinchhitter. He needs to take advantage of those.

 

Interesting. In the Kendall thread, when someone pointed to his 1 for 15 start, which followed four months of utterly putrid baseball, which followed 2 more below average seasons, you noted that this a great lesson that "patience is a virtue."

 

But when Murton has a 3 for 19 stretch with men in scoring position (a stretch in which he hit 3 home runs, BTW), you've pointed out repeatedly that Lou "needs a guy to get a clutch hit or two."

 

Please take your own advice.

 

 

Except Murton was a starter early this year. He has had 180 at-bats this year. That is the difference.

 

People were ready to throw Kendall under the bus. I have never been that way on Murton.

 

I would add that Murton's BA with RISP has been dramatically lower than his BA for his whole career. That does worry me.

 

Kendall had far more at bats than that and had a .261 OBP with Oakland. Yet, you claim his success now shows that "patience is a virtue." You can't have it both ways.

[Warren Brusstar]

kudos to him for the good attitude.... if i had a solid season and then was benched for a series of inferior players, i don't know if i'd take it so well

 

too bad that doesnt apply to murton, considering his season is nothing near solid.

 

I'm quite sure he was referring to last season, which should have earned Murton the starting gig in LF (or RF) to start this year. Or were you arguing that last season he wasn't solid?

 

 

It did earn him the starting position early this year. Then he lost it on his own.

 

Patience is a virtue.

[Skyballer]

kudos to him for the good attitude.... if i had a solid season and then was benched for a series of inferior players, i don't know if i'd take it so well

 

too bad that doesnt apply to murton, considering his season is nothing near solid.

 

I'm quite sure he was referring to last season, which should have earned Murton the starting gig in LF (or RF) to start this year. Or were you arguing that last season he wasn't solid?

 

 

It did earn him the starting position early this year. Then he lost it on his own.

 

Patience is a virtue.

Actually he didn't start off with a horrible year, he was just immediately limeited to platoon playing time.

[NewUserName]

kudos to him for the good attitude.... if i had a solid season and then was benched for a series of inferior players, i don't know if i'd take it so well

 

too bad that doesnt apply to murton, considering his season is nothing near solid.

 

I'm quite sure he was referring to last season, which should have earned Murton the starting gig in LF (or RF) to start this year. Or were you arguing that last season he wasn't solid?

 

 

It did earn him the starting position early this year. Then he lost it on his own.

 

 

I may be wrong about this but I think Floyd was starting about 1/2 the games within the first couple of games of the season. Also after Murton's nice stretch recently he had a bad series against the Cardinals and hasnt started since. It was just 3 games. I just wonder why a bad series doesnt seem to effect Uncle Cliffy's PT.

[Sammy Sofa]

While I agree that Murton should have gotten more time early on and Floyd is most certainly NOT a better option, it's not like Murton hasn't had any chances this year to show that last year wasn't just an extended fluke or a young player hitting ahead of himself before the league got a look at him. He's had fits and spurts of quality this year, but, in my opinion, overall he's played way under the potential he showed last year. I understand the argument for more playing time, but how is he helping his cause by showing that he's potentially as pseudo-useless as Floyd (but much younger) when he does get a chance to play? Are we really saying that Murton is "forgetting" about good baseball if he isn't playing reguarly? He's pretty far from being that green a player.

 

Look, I'm not slamming the guy like he's awful, but he's shown little to indicate he's an OFer with this team down the line given the current construction of the team. I want guys like Floyd and Jones gone and I think Murton could hopefully help fill their slots...but as trade bait. Ssdly, his trade appeal seems to be slipping with almost each appearance.

[CubColtPacer]

kudos to him for the good attitude.... if i had a solid season and then was benched for a series of inferior players, i don't know if i'd take it so well

 

too bad that doesnt apply to murton, considering his season is nothing near solid.

 

I'm quite sure he was referring to last season, which should have earned Murton the starting gig in LF (or RF) to start this year. Or were you arguing that last season he wasn't solid?

 

 

It did earn him the starting position early this year. Then he lost it on his own.

 

 

I may be wrong about this but I think Floyd was starting about 1/2 the games within the first couple of games of the season. Also after Murton's nice stretch recently he had a bad series against the Cardinals and hasnt started since. It was just 3 games. I just wonder why a bad series doesnt seem to effect Uncle Cliffy's PT.

 

I don't agree with Murton not starting in any of the last 3 games, but it wasn't simply a bad series against the Cardinals. Going into that series with the Cardinals, Murton's was in the middle of a 4 for 19 stretch. Now, that has become a 4 for 31 stretch. He still should have played at least once or twice the last 4 days (and should start tonight), but Murton was starting to struggle again even before that bad Cardinals series.

[TruffleShuffle]

Matt Murton's 2007 game log

 

I'm not sure how anyone can say he had a full chance this year and blew it. He started only 10 games in April, and 4 of the first 11. He did get some more playing time in August, mostly because the Cubs had no choice, but after getting on a pretty good roll he had three consecutive oh-fers and now he's banished to the bench once again.

[soapy]

Kendall had 282 at-bats in the first half. He put up this line: .227/.263/.280.

 

Here are some of the things that were said about him:

 

Not to derail this Hendry/Kendall bashing party....but hes only started 5 games guys...Pujols first fiave games with the birds this year he got 1 hit.......he's a 3-4 outting away from being the being solid.

 

In fairness, he had a good OBP (.360 range) last year, a .345 the year before and .399 the two years before that. He hasn't had a good OPS because his slugging has been terrible, but that's always been an issue.

 

Murton's OBP last season: .365

 

Kendall hit .295 in the month of June with a very solid OBP...there is still a reasonable chance of him "doing something good" this year.

 

I think the Hendry bashing is a little overboard re Kendall ... just my opinion. Kendall may be done - or maybe he's not - the book hasn't been written on him yet.

 

All he needed was time, he's a career .300+ hitter, no matter how old he gets he knows how to hit and has seen enough pitches in his time to be able to take walks.

 

Murton's career AVG coming onto this season: .303

 

 

Honestly, some of the same people saying these types of things about Kendall are the people who are so down on Murton and the 180 ABs he's had to "prove himself". The opposite can be said as well. Many (including myself) got very down on Kendall and didn't think it was likely for him to do what he's done the last month or so.

 

Clearly Murton has underperformed expectations. I don't think anyone would deny that. Also, nobody expects him to be a super-star. People think he's a better option than Floyd or Monroe, which is basically what people were saying re: Kendall v. Bowen/Hill. I just think it's a good idea for everyone to take a deep breathe and think about a players ability and past performance before we banish them. That goes for people like Murton and Kendall.

 

Now I'm just rambling on and not even making sense to myself. Maybe noon is too early to start drinking.

Edited August 25, 2007 by soapy

[Peoriaman]

It is also hard to patient with any player who isn't established when the team is sucking. If you are winning, you can carry a guy and hope he hits. Tough to do when the sharks are screaming for blood.

[TruffleShuffle]

Murton was established, he did that all of last year. I'm not sure why everyone talks about him like 2006 didn't exist.

[soapy]

Murton was established, he did that all of last year. I'm not sure why everyone talks about him like 2006 didn't exist.

 

that's what i was saying but took half a page to do so.

[NewUserName]

Matt Murton's 2007 game log

 

I'm not sure how anyone can say he had a full chance this year and blew it. He started only 10 games in April, and 4 of the first 11. He did get some more playing time in August, mostly because the Cubs had no choice, but after getting on a pretty good roll he had three consecutive oh-fers and now he's banished to the bench once again.

 

 

In the games he started in April he was actually hitting .272 with a .333 OBP.

 

Also noted in May he was .295 .377 .803 for the month which led to his PT getting diminished in late May and early June. To be demoted by mid June.

 

His season also seems to be litttered with a lot of 0 for 1s. 20 of them. He obviously isnt a pinch hitter.

 

So even though he had a solid May his PT was reduced after a couple of bad games. Which again seems to be the case here in August. His overall numbers as a starter are not bad. He just doesnt seem to have a very long leash. He isnt allowed to play through his down times, even though he has EARNED the right after his season last year.