Murton's Power Stroke

[NewUserName]

Giles is going to get way too many years and way too much money for a 35 year old free agent. If Murton is a "risk" I would take the risk over just about any sure thing that the Cubs could resonably attain this off-season for lf. Personnally I think that Murton is Brian Giles in 2 years if given the shot.

[goonys evil twin]

Giles is going to get way too many years and way too much money for a 35 year old free agent. If Murton is a "risk" I would take the risk over just about any sure thing that the Cubs could resonably attain this off-season for lf. Personnally I think that Murton is Brian Giles in 2 years if given the shot.

 

Are you saying that Murton in 2 years will be as good as Giles in 2 years? Or are you saying Murton in 2 years will be as good as Giles now? I don't think the 2nd one stands a chance of coming true. And I doubt the 1st as well. Regardless, it's not a Murton or Giles situation. The Cubs need to solve both LF and RF. They've gotten abysmal production from LF this year, but they haven't gotten much from RF either. They could go with Murton in LF and Giles in RF, and be pretty well off. But Murton's presence should not influence the decision to sign Giles. You need 2 starting corner OF, and if you want to go with Murton in one spot, then you absolutely have to get a difference making impact bat in the other spot.

[mg420]

i would like to see the cubs go young with murton & cedeno ala the braves. with pie & ep on the horizon and pitchers like pinto, nolasco, marmol & gallagher (not to mention guzman & marshall if they can stay healthy) i hope the cubs fill some of their future holes within their organization instead of spending $ on long term contracts for overpriced aging veterans as they have in the past.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Murton needs to be penciled into left next season because he is more of what this team needs -- a baseball player and not an "athlete with potential". He not only plays the game, but you can tell he thinks about the game and has an idea of what is needed in a particular game situation. This team needs all the baseball instincts it can get.

 

Exactly! I'd say the same thing about Cedeno.

 

i agree with both of you. it appears that these players just know how to play without having to think too much. ballplayers, billy beane would call them.

 

i could live with murton in left and cedono getting siginificant time in the middle infield spots, preferably backing up nomar and walker.

 

murton also provides a cheap option that affords us the luxury of spending big in right field, centerfield, and getting another sp and reliever. i think the only possible way that we don't land giles is if giles simply does not want to play anywhere other than crappy southern california. we have the most money to spend and hendry knows that he has work to do.

 

Why is Southern Ca crappy?? The chances of the Cubs giving Giles enough money to leave SoCal is slim and none.

 

i've just never had any use for it. i've always counted the hours of my departure whenever i've been there. anything north of santa barbara is cool, though.

 

Don't worry Sulley, we have no use for you either.

[NewUserName]

I couldnt agree more with you MG. It is an approach that the Cubs have never come anywhere near doing in my lifetime. I know alot of people on here will say that the Cubs have given young players chances. To them I ask name two position player the Cubs have given a full time starting job for at least a year since 89. I can only think of one(Patterson) Looking at every team with a winning record this season, I could name at least 3 from every organization. Like I said I would much rather take a "risk" on Murton or Cedeno than bring in any for sure guy who is short of a future HoFer still in his late 20s.

 

gooney, Why doesnt Murton have a chance to be as good as Giles? I also wasnt saying not to get Giles to give Murton a chance. I just think that Giles is going to get a 3 to 4 year deal that will be an albatross around somebodys neck in a couple of years. (see Thome) I would be more concerned about us not being able to resign some of our own players that we have now or be able to get younger more valuable free agents down the line. Also since only one team in baseball history has ever gone from being under 500 then signed a bunch of free agents and won the WS, we are probably at least 2 yrs away from contending. So why not save our money this off season when there isnt very many good free agents, Play as much youth as possible next, Then attack the market and fill in some holes after next off season. Then I am guessing we will be able to acguire a younger just as valuable player as Giles for about the same money

[XZero771679666304]

Murton needs to be penciled into left next season because he is more of what this team needs -- a baseball player and not an "athlete with potential". He not only plays the game, but you can tell he thinks about the game and has an idea of what is needed in a particular game situation. This team needs all the baseball instincts it can get.

 

Exactly! I'd say the same thing about Cedeno.

 

i agree with both of you. it appears that these players just know how to play without having to think too much. ballplayers, billy beane would call them.

 

i could live with murton in left and cedono getting siginificant time in the middle infield spots, preferably backing up nomar and walker.

 

murton also provides a cheap option that affords us the luxury of spending big in right field, centerfield, and getting another sp and reliever. i think the only possible way that we don't land giles is if giles simply does not want to play anywhere other than crappy southern california. we have the most money to spend and hendry knows that he has work to do.

 

Why is Southern Ca crappy?? The chances of the Cubs giving Giles enough money to leave SoCal is slim and none.

 

i've just never had any use for it. i've always counted the hours of my departure whenever i've been there. anything north of santa barbara is cool, though.

 

Don't worry Sulley, we have no use for you either.

 

Don't take it so personally, Raisin. Not everybody likes smog, violent crime, horrible congestion and superficiality. :P

[Tim]

I couldnt agree more with you MG. It is an approach that the Cubs have never come anywhere near doing in my lifetime. I know alot of people on here will say that the Cubs have given young players chances. To them I ask name two position player the Cubs have given a full time starting job for at least a year since 89. I can only think of one(Patterson) Looking at every team with a winning record this season, I could name at least 3 from every organization. Like I said I would much rather take a "risk" on Murton or Cedeno than bring in any for sure guy who is short of a future HoFer still in his late 20s.

I believe a couple of the catchers had what would be termed "full time" duty. Also, Grace broke in after '89, didn't he?

 

gooney, Why doesnt Murton have a chance to be as good as Giles? I also wasnt saying not to get Giles to give Murton a chance. I just think that Giles is going to get a 3 to 4 year deal that will be an albatross around somebodys neck in a couple of years. (see Thome) I would be more concerned about us not being able to resign some of our own players that we have now or be able to get younger more valuable free agents down the line. Also since only one team in baseball history has ever gone from being under 500 then signed a bunch of free agents and won the WS, we are probably at least 2 yrs away from contending. So why not save our money this off season when there isnt very many good free agents, Play as much youth as possible next, Then attack the market and fill in some holes after next off season. Then I am guessing we will be able to acguire a younger just as valuable player as Giles for about the same money

I wouldn't say that Murton doesn't have a chance to be as good as Giles, but you have to realize just how good Giles has been and how few players reach that peak value to see how unlikely it is for any prospect to reach that level.

[bhogg]

grace was 2nd in ROY voting in 1988

[Tim]

grace was 2nd in ROY voting in 1988

thx. How could I forget Grace & Clark going at it in the '89 playoffs?

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Another HR by Murton tonight. He's looking like he ate his wheaties.

[ltb]

Another HR by Murton tonight. He's looking like he ate his wheaties.

 

nah, he was just put in a position to succeed. davis didn't have the book on him.

[imb]

Guys, Murton hit a homer tonight because Dusty decided that he liked this particular pitchers repetoire enough to let Murton swing the bat.

[bhogg]

Guys, Murton hit a homer tonight because Dusty decided that he liked this particular pitchers repetoire enough to let Murton swing the bat.

 

 

well, duh. what other explanation would there be?

[nilodnayr]

My good friend is a huge Braves fan and reads all their message boards. He says Giles would give anything to play ball with his little bro. My friend has one of those jobs he can check on his team all day long. He knew the Braves love for Farnsworth way before he ended up there.

 

Add another team that's probably ahead of the Cubs in the Giles sweepstakes. I got SD, LA, Anaheim, Houston, St. Louis, Boston and Atlanta for starters.

 

Yeah, will all the tons of money the braves will have available next year they will most likely want to bench Francouer and sign Giles just to make him happy. :roll:

 

And thats no news that Brian wants to play with Marcus, its been reported since the beginning of the year and probably before then.

[brinoch]

Guys, Murton hit a homer tonight because Dusty decided that he liked this particular pitchers repetoire enough to let Murton swing the bat.

 

 

well, duh. what other explanation would there be?

 

Dusty's actuallly been batting for Murton all this time. He stole TLR's hologram device. Duh!!

[burnt out cubbie fan]

Guys, Murton hit a homer tonight because Dusty decided that he liked this particular pitchers repetoire enough to let Murton swing the bat.

 

 

well, duh. what other explanation would there be?

 

Dusty's actuallly been batting for Murton all this time. He stole TLR's hologram device. Duh!!

That explains why Matt had been performing so well in the peak of summer!!

[Diffusion]

My good friend is a huge Braves fan and reads all their message boards. He says Giles would give anything to play ball with his little bro. My friend has one of those jobs he can check on his team all day long.

 

Ah, but this is easily solved!

 

All the Cubs have to do is sign Marcus Giles.

 

Then Brian will come running.

 

And of course with Marcus around we can trade Todd Walker!

 

What on earth am I going on about? Well, Tracy Ringolsby in the Rocky Mountain News thinks that...

 

Atlanta won't know how to approach arbitration until it knows whether it can re-sign free-agent shortstop Rafael Furcal. If Furcal returns, the Braves could decide to nontender second baseman Marcus Giles

 

And we thought we had it bad with Paul Sullivan, Phil Rogers et al!

[RyCubsFan]

Just a side question:

 

Will Murton qualify as a rookie next year? (I'm assuming the answer is "no" if Murton has over 130 AB's, which he projects to have. Am I right on this?)

[Diffusion]

Just a side question:

 

Will Murton qualify as a rookie next year? (I'm assuming the answer is "no" if Murton has over 130 AB's, which he projects to have. Am I right on this?)

 

He won't be a rookie next year. Regardless of whether he gets the at-bats, he's got more than 45 days of service time already.

[JGalt73]

Murton just passed Neifi in VORP 13.3 to 13.1, in 445 fewer PA. Next up Zambrano at #6.

 

Murton is now #17 in VORP for MLB among rookie position players. He is also 1st among rookies in VORP(rate) for players with 100 PA - just AHEAD of Jeff Francoeur. While I'm not ready to anoint him the next big thing, he's been very productive.

[RyCubsFan]

Just a side question:

 

Will Murton qualify as a rookie next year? (I'm assuming the answer is "no" if Murton has over 130 AB's, which he projects to have. Am I right on this?)

 

He won't be a rookie next year. Regardless of whether he gets the at-bats, he's got more than 45 days of service time already.

 

Oh well, no ROY chance for Matty. Guess he'll have to go for the MVP!!

 

:D

[ltb]

Just a side question:

 

Will Murton qualify as a rookie next year? (I'm assuming the answer is "no" if Murton has over 130 AB's, which he projects to have. Am I right on this?)

 

He won't be a rookie next year. Regardless of whether he gets the at-bats, he's got more than 45 days of service time already.

 

isn't it 45 days BEFORE september?

 

in that case, i believe he'd qualify by something like 1 or 2 days.