Cedeno Over Cintron / Fontenot Over Murton - Paul Sullivan

[David]

I wish they'd trade ARam. He deserves to win a WS title and I understand why he's not getting one here, so I wish they'd trade him to the RED Sox or Yankees..

 

wat?

 

 

 

If we're going to get rid of murton for the sake of letting him start on another team, we might as well let our truly awesome players flourish in a better setting.

 

It would be a terrible idea to have as many quality players as possible, regardless if they are starting for us.

 

You nome sane?

 

Ya. That went right over my head. I'll go ahead and blame it on last night's binge drinking.

[davearm2]

I'd just like to throw my own equation out there...

 

No $130+M on Soriano after 2006 = cash available for run at ARod after 2007

I can appreciate where you're going with this, but you're going to have to take at least one other big name out of the equation (Zambrano? Fukudome? Both?) before you've got an apples-to-apples comparo.

 

Oh and also wipe out the playoff appearance in 2007 too.

[NCCubFan]

I'd just like to throw my own equation out there...

 

No $130+M on Soriano after 2006 = cash available for run at ARod after 2007

And Markakis instead of Harvey in 2003 = no need for Soriano.

[sneakypower]

I'd just like to throw my own equation out there...

 

...Markakis...

utterly ridiculous.

 

a high school half pitcher-half right fielder. yeah, we wouldn't have had any problems developing him into a useful major leaguer...

[Tracer Bullet]

i don't think it's necessarily fair to say "we should've signed tejada and vlad, and not soriano" or whatever, just because that is 20/20 hindsight. we should've drafted pujols and gotten johan santana in the rule v draft too. there were a LOT of people on this board clamoring to sign j.d. drew and jason schmidt, and those contracts look terrible now. yes, one can say that hendry could've allocated his resources more effectively, but i don't think you can say "if he'd done this then he could've done "

 

The problem with the hindsight argument is that many people knew the minute Soriano signed that his contract was a disaster. The only way it's possibly worth it is if we win a WS in the next year or 2 before he becomes a horribly overpaid SLG-heavy .800 OPS LF, rather than a horribly overpaid SLG-heavy .900 OPS LF.

[CubsWin]

I'm not too big on the hindsight stuff. I like to deal with the present moment. And, at present, I'm pissed at the decision to send Murton down and keep both Cedeno and Fontenot.

 

My concern is that Fukudome has looked pretty bad against left-handed pitching. I don't know what his splits were in Japan, but when I visited Mesa this spring, he was fliching and backing out of the batter's box whenever a lefty threw him a breaking ball. If Reed Johnson was brought in to play CF against lefties, then perhaps the Cubs should have kept Murton to platoon with Fukudome.

 

The common argument against this is that DeRosa can take over RF against lefties (assuming Fukudome continues to struggle against them) with Theriot moving over to play 2B and Cedeno playing SS. But Murton is a better hitter with more power than Cedeno and would be the best power option from the right side off the bench. He doesn't have great HR power, but he can split the gaps well enough.

 

Piniella played Fontenot at SS quite a bit this spring and I thought Mike handled himself well. Apparently, Lou disagrees with me because it makes no sense to carry two back-up SS, three if you include DeRosa, when you have a professional hitter like Murton on your 40-man.

[Illini Iceman]

I'm not too big on the hindsight stuff. I like to deal with the present moment. And, at present, I'm pissed at the decision to send Murton down and keep both Cedeno and Fontenot.

 

My concern is that Fukudome has looked pretty bad against left-handed pitching. I don't know what his splits were in Japan, but when I visited Mesa this spring, he was fliching and backing out of the batter's box whenever a lefty threw him a breaking ball. If Reed Johnson was brought in to play CF against lefties, then perhaps the Cubs should have kept Murton to platoon with Fukudome.

 

The common argument against this is that DeRosa can take over RF against lefties (assuming Fukudome continues to struggle against them) with Theriot moving over to play 2B and Cedeno playing SS. But Murton is a better hitter with more power than Cedeno and would be the best power option from the right side off the bench. He doesn't have great HR power, but he can split the gaps well enough.

 

Piniella played Fontenot at SS quite a bit this spring and I thought Mike handled himself well. Apparently, Lou disagrees with me because it makes no sense to carry two back-up SS, three if you include DeRosa, when you have a professional hitter like Murton on your 40-man.

 

No matter what your perception was of how Fukodome handled lefties in spring training (and I think it may be a bit flawed) there is NO WAY the Cubs are having Fukodome platoon with any one.

[UMFan83]

I'm not too big on the hindsight stuff. I like to deal with the present moment. And, at present, I'm pissed at the decision to send Murton down and keep both Cedeno and Fontenot.

 

My concern is that Fukudome has looked pretty bad against left-handed pitching. I don't know what his splits were in Japan, but when I visited Mesa this spring, he was fliching and backing out of the batter's box whenever a lefty threw him a breaking ball. If Reed Johnson was brought in to play CF against lefties, then perhaps the Cubs should have kept Murton to platoon with Fukudome.

 

The common argument against this is that DeRosa can take over RF against lefties (assuming Fukudome continues to struggle against them) with Theriot moving over to play 2B and Cedeno playing SS. But Murton is a better hitter with more power than Cedeno and would be the best power option from the right side off the bench. He doesn't have great HR power, but he can split the gaps well enough.

 

Piniella played Fontenot at SS quite a bit this spring and I thought Mike handled himself well. Apparently, Lou disagrees with me because it makes no sense to carry two back-up SS, three if you include DeRosa, when you have a professional hitter like Murton on your 40-man.

 

No matter what your perception was of how Fukodome handled lefties in spring training (and I think it may be a bit flawed) there is NO WAY the Cubs are having Fukodome platoon with any one.

 

He isn't talking about things that the Cubs would actually do. He's talking about things that they SHOULD do.

[Illini Iceman]

I'm not too big on the hindsight stuff. I like to deal with the present moment. And, at present, I'm pissed at the decision to send Murton down and keep both Cedeno and Fontenot.

 

My concern is that Fukudome has looked pretty bad against left-handed pitching. I don't know what his splits were in Japan, but when I visited Mesa this spring, he was fliching and backing out of the batter's box whenever a lefty threw him a breaking ball. If Reed Johnson was brought in to play CF against lefties, then perhaps the Cubs should have kept Murton to platoon with Fukudome.

 

The common argument against this is that DeRosa can take over RF against lefties (assuming Fukudome continues to struggle against them) with Theriot moving over to play 2B and Cedeno playing SS. But Murton is a better hitter with more power than Cedeno and would be the best power option from the right side off the bench. He doesn't have great HR power, but he can split the gaps well enough.

 

Piniella played Fontenot at SS quite a bit this spring and I thought Mike handled himself well. Apparently, Lou disagrees with me because it makes no sense to carry two back-up SS, three if you include DeRosa, when you have a professional hitter like Murton on your 40-man.

 

No matter what your perception was of how Fukodome handled lefties in spring training (and I think it may be a bit flawed) there is NO WAY the Cubs are having Fukodome platoon with any one.

 

He isn't talking about things that the Cubs would actually do. He's talking about things that they SHOULD do.

 

And platooning Fukudome with Murton is not one of them.

[javy knows my name]

I'd just like to throw my own equation out there...

 

...Markakis...

utterly ridiculous.

 

a high school half pitcher-half right fielder. yeah, we wouldn't have had any problems developing him into a useful major leaguer...

Yeah, this. Thanks for putting in into perspective.

[GoCubsGo1679625768]

I'm not too big on the hindsight stuff..

 

Many of the gripes in this thread are not hindsight.

[soapy]

I'm not too big on the hindsight stuff. I like to deal with the present moment. And, at present, I'm pissed at the decision to send Murton down and keep both Cedeno and Fontenot.

 

My concern is that Fukudome has looked pretty bad against left-handed pitching. I don't know what his splits were in Japan, but when I visited Mesa this spring, he was fliching and backing out of the batter's box whenever a lefty threw him a breaking ball. If Reed Johnson was brought in to play CF against lefties, then perhaps the Cubs should have kept Murton to platoon with Fukudome.

 

The common argument against this is that DeRosa can take over RF against lefties (assuming Fukudome continues to struggle against them) with Theriot moving over to play 2B and Cedeno playing SS. But Murton is a better hitter with more power than Cedeno and would be the best power option from the right side off the bench. He doesn't have great HR power, but he can split the gaps well enough.

 

Piniella played Fontenot at SS quite a bit this spring and I thought Mike handled himself well. Apparently, Lou disagrees with me because it makes no sense to carry two back-up SS, three if you include DeRosa, when you have a professional hitter like Murton on your 40-man.

 

No matter what your perception was of how Fukodome handled lefties in spring training (and I think it may be a bit flawed) there is NO WAY the Cubs are having Fukodome platoon with any one.

 

He isn't talking about things that the Cubs would actually do. He's talking about things that they SHOULD do.

 

And platooning Fukudome with Murton is not one of them.

agreed, but keeping murton still would have been a good idea as insurance for Fukudome and Soriano seeing as both have a recent history of injuries.

 

having said that, it wouldn't be a big deal to call Murton up if one of them does go down and, in the meantime, he'll get regular at-bats.

[Tyrant]

Im not going to lie, I may shed a tear when Opening Day happens and Matt Murton is on another team.

 

Shed a tear over an .820 OPS corner outfielder who can't play defense? Seems a little extreme.

[CubsWin]

I'm not too big on the hindsight stuff. I like to deal with the present moment. And, at present, I'm pissed at the decision to send Murton down and keep both Cedeno and Fontenot.

 

My concern is that Fukudome has looked pretty bad against left-handed pitching. I don't know what his splits were in Japan, but when I visited Mesa this spring, he was fliching and backing out of the batter's box whenever a lefty threw him a breaking ball. If Reed Johnson was brought in to play CF against lefties, then perhaps the Cubs should have kept Murton to platoon with Fukudome.

 

The common argument against this is that DeRosa can take over RF against lefties (assuming Fukudome continues to struggle against them) with Theriot moving over to play 2B and Cedeno playing SS. But Murton is a better hitter with more power than Cedeno and would be the best power option from the right side off the bench. He doesn't have great HR power, but he can split the gaps well enough.

 

Piniella played Fontenot at SS quite a bit this spring and I thought Mike handled himself well. Apparently, Lou disagrees with me because it makes no sense to carry two back-up SS, three if you include DeRosa, when you have a professional hitter like Murton on your 40-man.

 

No matter what your perception was of how Fukodome handled lefties in spring training (and I think it may be a bit flawed) there is NO WAY the Cubs are having Fukodome platoon with any one.

I'm not advocating platooning Murton with Fukudome right now, only if he continues to perform against lefties the way he did during spring training. Were you watching? Did you go to any of the games? He looked bad. Real bad against lefties. The grandma sitting in front of me was commenting on it. It was obvious.

 

I suspect Kosuke will do okay, but after watching him flinch and back out of the batter's box any time a lefty threw him a breaking ball, having Murton on hand to play against lefties (as well as provide some right-handed power off the bench) might not be a bad idea. After all, its the same justification the Cubs used to acquire Johnson. I liked that move and Pie actually looked okay against lefties this spring, especially compared to Fukudome.