Amazing_Grace

This is probably an indication that neither Theriot nor Fontenot will be sent down, regardless of what's done with EPatt.

DeRosa actually can play right field. I wouldn't mind seeing him split time with Floyd in right and Theriot/Fontenot at SS and 2b.

Yeah, Theriot can't play SS.

It would be really funny if one of the two fans that got booted ended up with that ball.

Now that fan was very clearly over the fence. What an unbelievable coincidence to have it happen twice in one game.

I agree. That fan's going to have a rough rest of the game. The basket is huge though. There's no way that anything a fan can catch is not a HR. Any umpire should know this.

So Izturis isn't really that great at SS and he's barely even better than Theriot. I guess we're all pretty stunned at that revelation.

Now if only the rest of them would retire.

Don't know if this has been said in 7 pages, but if the Cubs brass aren't satisfied with Murton's defense in RF, they will almost definitely not view Dunn as a solution to that problem. To me, worrying about defense from a corner outfielder is pretty silly to begin with. How bad can Dunn be that his offense won't outweigh his defensive shortcomings.

He has a contract and Hendry is still the GM.

He could be showing his unhappiness that the team didn't get his contract done and won't sign him now due to the pending sale. It may be his attempt to threaten the Cubs by insinuating he'd go to our biggest rival, kind of like Clemens with Boston/NY a while back. It won't work of course, since the Cubs don't really play one upsmanship with the Cardinals the way Boston and NY do. Still, one can see why he'd make the attempt. The other and more likely possibility is that he was joking and the reporter took it way too seriously.

I have to believe Gallagher will get sent down at some point. It probably isn't great for his development to be put in the pen at this point. If they release Eyre he'll probably stay though. The position player getting sent down should be Izturis, Jones, or Pagan, but will most likely be Fontenot or Theriot.

NCCubfan mentioned in the Barrett thread that Soto had a shoulder injury and has been playing 1b/DH instead of catching, which would explain why Koyie Hill got called up.

Ah, I see. Do they know when/if he'll move back to catcher? His numbers don't look nearly as good as a first baseman.

Or, they could just RELEASE SCOTT EYRE. Yeah, if they go back to 12 pitchers and call somebody up. The question is who do they call up. Daryle Ward if he's healthy and Moore if he isn't. 12 pitchers is already too many. 13 is ridiculous.

You assume someone else would sign him and put him on their ML roster. Even if that happened, it would save the Cubs however much money the other team was paying him. If his agent told him, "sorry, there's nothing out there, nobody wants a reliever with an ERA of over 10 who can't throw strikes to save his life" then he'd go to AAA. He wouldn't like it, but he would. If nobody wanted him, I don't know why he would go to Triple A. He would force the Cubs to either keep him in the majors or pay him to sit on his couch. If he said he would do that, I'd call his bluff. His only chance of getting another big contract is if he's pitching. Now maybe he's one of those rare birds who saves up his millions and lives well within his means without accumulating a lot of liabilities like big payments on house, car, credit card, etc., and he's got enough saved up to retire whenever he likes, but I wouldn't bet on that. I doubt he really wants to retire at this point in his career. If another team would sign him, of course he would leave, but if he had no other options, he probably would go to AAA.

Or, they could just RELEASE SCOTT EYRE.

Yeah, I agree. If you need to PH, it will be for your worst hitter (Izturis), and the odds are virtually 100% that our bench guys each game will be one of the 3 middle infielders, the backup catcher, and Pagan/Jones.

You assume someone else would sign him and put him on their ML roster. Even if that happened, it would save the Cubs however much money the other team was paying him. If his agent told him, "sorry, there's nothing out there, nobody wants a reliever with an ERA of over 10 who can't throw strikes to save his life" then he'd go to AAA. He wouldn't like it, but he would.

That is the big question. They can't go long with Eyre on the roster and a manager who is unwilling to throw him in anything resembling a close game. Why don't they just option him to Iowa. He won't be picked up off waivers at his salary and I really doubt anybody is going to sign him to anything other than a ML minimum contract and put him on their AAA team till he stops playing horrible. He'd probably be foolish to refuse the assignment as he'd stand a real chance of being out of baseball for good. I wonder if Lou and Jim are feuding over this. I get the sense there's one or two guys Lou would like off the team and Jim isn't accomodating him.

And he's only 24 years old. I'd like to see Barrett traded and Soto get the rest of the year to see what he can do in the bigs. Of course, I'm pretty much in favor of having a fire sale and playing everyone under the age of 30 in hopes some of them will end up being decent.

Maybe their organization preaches patience, OBP, and the importance of the walk. We shouldn't get too excited yet. Fontenot's been up for all of two weeks, Pie has hit well since his 2nd callup, and Theriot's been mired in a slump recently. None of these guys are superstar prospects. Still, they are a better option than Izturis, and definitely show how stupid it is to pay the likes of Neifi Perez 3M per year. Actually Pie is a pretty big prospect Yeah, Pie is definitely a star prospect, in terms of potential. He may never be a superstar, but he could end up flirting with the 900 OPS level out of CF, which would be perennial all star kind of production. Theriot and Fontenot are not ideal starters. I like them both as bench players and occasional starters. Or, if you fill the rest of your lineup with studs they are economical filler. In 2008 I'd like to see Patterson, Fontenot and Theriot battle it out for 2B and utility roles, assuming they get a real SS. Or, if they find a real RF, then those three plus Cedeno could probably adequately fill the 2B and SS positions. Mark Derosa cries in the corner. DeRosa is, by the numbers, the team's fourth best hitter right now. He should play every day somewhere.

Maybe their organization preaches patience, OBP, and the importance of the walk. We shouldn't get too excited yet. Fontenot's been up for all of two weeks, Pie has hit well since his 2nd callup, and Theriot's been mired in a slump recently. None of these guys are superstar prospects. Still, they are a better option than Izturis, and definitely show how stupid it is to pay the likes of Neifi Perez 3M per year. Actually Pie is a pretty big prospect Oh I wasn't referring to Pie. I was referring to Theriot and Fontenot. They're both in their upper 20's so they aren't prospects by anybody's definitions. Pie is definitely a good prospect.

Theriot has shown that the more he plays the worse he gets. He's been awful for the past week. His May wasn't any better than Izturis's May. Neither player is an everyday shortstop. Each is capable of having semi decent stretches. I think the only hope is to see if Lou can have the magic touch in terms of who he uses. Theriot's OBP is still over .330 despite his average being down to .268. Izturis's OBP is .305 with an AVG of .247. Theriot has the third most walks on the team with 19 in 220 TPA, a rate of .083, while Izturis has 12 walks in 168 TPA, a rate of .071, but two of Izturis's walks have been for some unknown reason, intentional. Take away those two and the rate is .059. The difference is not huge and I'm not saying by any means that Theriot is the long term answer at SS. He clearly isn't, but he is a better option right now, and if he plays well enough the rest of this season, he could be a useful trading chip. Izturis is a FA at season's end with a buyout of his contract being almost a lock. Playing him gets us nothing.

The Cubs have a black hole at SS this year. Last in the NL with an OPS of 555. And before you say Theriot has turned that around, his OPS at SS is 474. Fontenot doesn't play SS. Neither is "good enough" to make this team better. They are 13th in RF and 12th at catcher. The other positions are middle of the road or near the top. The best way to improve this team is to improve the production they get at SS, RF and C. Since it's going to be impossible to improve at C, the choice is finding a real RF or a real SS. They currently do not have either. There is a chance that when all is said and done that a platoon of Floyd and a revitalized Murton will put them at least to middle of the road at RF. As for SS, they basically have zero chance of getting respectable production out of the group they currently have in the fold. But there's no stat to account for Theriot's scrappiness... 8-[ So you would rather have Izturis start over Theriot? I would rather have a real SS. Barring that, the only real option is to try and get the most out of a Izturis/Theriot platoon. Why bother with a platoon? Theriot has at least shown by his short MLB time and his minor league numbers that he can get on base at a reasonable clip. His success may or may not continue, but we know with a fair degree of certainty that Izturis sucks. Trading for Tejada would be a great idea but... I don't think the Cubs will trade for Tejada for the same reason they won't sign Zambrano. They won't spend any more of someone else's money with the pending ownership change. I'm fairly certain any deal we see will involve trading minor pieces for other minor pieces, unless they have an all out fire sale.