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TruffleShuffle

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Everything posted by TruffleShuffle

  1. maybe next time we dump millions on a draftee, we should make sure he knows how to throw more than one pitch
  2. No. Hill, Lilly and even Marquis deserve to go ahead of Maddux.
  3. not really... Jim Thome had a monster year in 2004, which was also the year that Howard broke out. All you can really criticize the Phillies for is having him in the minors for half of 2005, and during that time Thome was on the team.
  4. Fun fact - of all players with 150 PAs this season, a grand total of three (A-Rod, Magglio, Bonds) have a higher OPS than Cust. Good times.
  5. but does Von feel the same way? are we at risk of losing him to a ML job by wanting him to stay in the minors? Hard to say. He's bounced around a lot, and I doubt he's a guy that other orgs are going to target as their hitting coach at this stage in his career. I say you cross that bridge when you come to it - if another team shows interest in him at the big league level, then you try to find him a job (hitting coach, bench coach, whatever) with the Cubs. But I agree that he's a valuable resource with Iowa - perhaps moreso than with the big club. Let's face it, guys like Soriano, ARam and D-Lee aren't going to change much with coaching. But if you're talking to a guy like Theriot, Fontenot, Cedeno or Murton who's trying to get to the next level, they're probably very coachable. He's helped some guys with marginal talent (Theriot, Fontenot) improve, and I'm hoping that he can help turn Patterson, Cedeno and Soto into regulars with the big club.
  6. Homer #13 for Jack. He's hit a home run on a beastly 43% of his fly balls, leads the team with 8.5 RC/27. For a AAAA player, he's made quite an impact.
  7. buchholz isn't untouchable, but if they deal him, they're going to want somebody better than buehrle. And I'm not saying Buehrle is bad, but you don't deal a cheap, good, young pitcher like Buchholz for a guy who's no better than a #3 at this stage of his career.
  8. JR Mathes is getting crushed... 7 H and 2 BB in 1.2 innings. I-Cubs down 6-0 already.
  9. Huzzah! 4 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 9 K/4 BB. But they're losing 1-0. Is there some kind of gametracker thing you got those stats from that I can watch? http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/scoreboard/ pick whatever you level you want to follow
  10. Theriot is beter on the basepaths, but I've heard that Fontenot is the superior feilder. I don't think you heard correctly. I wonder how long the Fontenot/SS project will go on? I don't know how much SS he has played in his career. I do know that Theriot is originally a SS and feels the most comfortable at that position. Looks good having Theriot, Fontenot, and DeRosa - all capable of playing 2B, SS, and 3B (if needed. Theriot can be an average to below-average SS at the big league level. Fontenot won't - he'll be lousy. If he played every day, he'd probably be the worst fielding regular SS in the big leagues. His range is marginal, and his arm is bad. I'm not saying that he shouldn't get a chance at SS - if he can put up a line like .280/.360/.450/.810, his production would outweigh his defensive shortcomings. But if you put him at short for his bat, you have to be willing to take your lumps defensively.
  11. Buehrle would be crazy to sign for $50 million. Unless something horrible happens in the second half, he is probably going to get offers in the $75-$80 million range. for 4 years?!?!?!?
  12. A lot of more casual Cub fans probably have no idea who this guy is, but he's the I-Cubs hitting coach. He spend 3 years with West Tennessee -- didn't have many good hitters to coach, though Dubois, Sing, and Brendan Harris had some good performances with him there. He's been at Iowa for a couple of years now, and one can note the improvement in players like Pie and Fontenot under his tutelage. I'm also excited about the drop in Eric Patterson's K-rate during his time at Iowa, and Ronny Cedeno's consistent strong performance there as well. Many of us have bitched about the Cubs' inability to develop position players in recent years, but I think Von Joshua is a really good hitting coach, and deserves recognition. Keep up the good work, Von.
  13. feel free to poop out that horseshoe anyday now, brewers
  14. Illustrating this point.... Fontenot K% (2002-03 #s should be very close, but maybe not perfect): '02: 21.4% (yikes) '03: 17.3% '04: 18.8% '05: 17.1% <-- first year in Cubs system '06: 15.3% '07 (Iowa): 13.7% '07 (Chi): 12.5%
  15. I find this curious: The fielding thing has been repeated often, but I haven't seen anything in his swing that is close to being "long, slow, overly segmented." His swing looks very compact to me, and during his time with Iowa, his K-rate declined from where it was during his years in the Baltimore system. This could be another Von Joshua success story of shortening a guy's swing and closing off some of the holes that could make it vulnerable to big league pitching.
  16. Not as nice. Generally around a 275/330/360 line, OPS around 690-700. That's about what I'd expect... a little better than he's done this year, but nowhere close to 2006.
  17. PECOTA for Fontenot: 2007: 260/336/400 (736) 2008: 271/351/425 (776) 2009: 267/342/416 (758) 2010: 264/346/406 (752) 2011: 266/342/410 (752) Sounds about right. For a utility player in the middle infield, those are very solid numbers, and if you can get that at a cheap price, be happy about it. I've been on the Fontenot bandwagon for a while, and didn't know why teams wouldn't give him a shot at a utility role on their club, especially considering that they're willing to pay considerably more for retreads who can't hit for beans. Obviously he will not continue to hit near a 1.000 OPS, but I don't think .800 is out of the question. He's a good hitter with few holes in his swing, and it's a nice compact stroke, the type that isn't vulnerable to more advanced pitching.
  18. haven't you people learned not to start threads like this in the middle of a game?
  19. I'm the starter of the marmol bandWGN. ::pats self on back:: I think you've tried to start bandwagons for 80% of the players on the team
  20. i think you're right, if the cubs trade him. If they don't, his arm falls off next year.
  21. still, nice to see that he has a big arm and was (at least for the first inning) pounding the strike zone
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