CubinNY

Dave Otto. You gotta be some kind of strong... I miss Ron:sad:. Get well soon Ron.

Who is that with Pat on the radio?

Holy Crap, Floyd in RF. I'm not that into defense, but that is really bad. That at least would seem to indicate that they want Soriano to stay in left for quite a while. If that's the case the Cubs should trade Murton and keep Jones. Murton would net more in return from a competent GM. I knew this would happen when they went after Soriano.

Holy Crap, Floyd in RF. I'm not that into defense, but that is really bad.

That's why I have hope for the Cubs. Lou is results oriented.

All the above

The thing is that the numbers don't mean a whole lot when there are so few opportunities. In other words it is premature to make any predictions about SLG, ISOD, ISOP, or BABIP. Instead of looking at this year's data I think its better to look at the sum total of his previous work. He just hasn't seen enough playing time to know whats going. That's why previously, I wrote that "one could make the case that...". There is no way to demonstrate anything with the numbers he's put up this year. However, talking about driving the ball, and watching every game mean very little to me. He hasn't hit for much power yet, but he hasn't hit much yet either.

Then I'd like some of whatever Murton is smoking that makes him the luckiest player on the planet. .357/.400 without hitting the ball hard. Pass some of that to the rest of the team, Matty. That lack of power is concerning. Not necessarily HR power (although a couple would be nice) but the ability to hit 2B's. Murton had 22 2B's and 3 3B's with 14 HR's last year. He only has one 2B this year, and that was a bloop the other day. He might be hitting the ball hard on the ground to get singles, but he's not driving the ball at all. If he continues to not drive the ball combined with that poor walk rate, he's not going to be a productive corner outfielder. Do I expect that to continue? No, I'm sure he'll figure out a way soon to work through this-but that's why think he needs to work through some things. Again, if .357/.400 is Murton struggling, then I think I'll be able to live with his production if he can get consistent playing time. Without driving the ball, he cannot sustain that .357/.400 line-if you look at his BABIP as a starter, it's extraordinarily high-which means that he's getting quite lucky right now for so many singles to fall in the way they have. Ok, I'll give up the jig. I know Murton hasn't been amazing this year (I do think he's been good when given regular AB's, though). I'm just pointing out how ridiculous all the talk of Murton't tremendous struggle is. You can't really say that someone hitting .357/.400 when they start is lost at the plate. You can if you put more faith in subjective distinctions like luck, looks, and driving the ball. It's great fun. I think the thing is that we really cannot say how Murton is doing because he hasn't played enough yet. However, we have a pretty sizable chunck of data from previous years that suggest how he could do if given more time. Murton is not a big bopper (a run producer). That's his main problem with baseball men like Hendry and Lou.

Just wait until Manuel gets fired and they bring in Dusty. Hamels has already broken his arm once That would be outstanding. The media in Philadelphia will eat Dusty for breakfest. I can already see Bill Conlin salivating.

Murton also got a couple lucky IF hits and weak bloopers to drop. I wouldn't get too excited about his numbers as a starter. Murton is struggling at the plate. That's pretty apparent if you watch him. First pitch hacking and failing to work the count really stand out with a player like Murton, who is a very good 2 strike hitter. IMO, with such a small sample size, it's better to go off what you see with the naked eye than look at a player's stats. However you want to look at it, if a .357 AVG and .400 OBP is Murton struggling, then look out world. Exactly. One could make the case that he is struggling becuase of sporadic use and PHing. That sporadic use and PHing are a direct cause of Murton's struggles. Put a young player in a position where he has to produce to "save" his job and he's going to get hacking.

I'm hoping the Cubs aren't planning on Colvin to do anything at this point in time.

Who gives a crap what side of the plate a guy hits? I don't care if the Cubs have all lefties or all righties as long as they hit. What side of the plate a guy swings from is right up there with one of the most silly ideas in baseball. Lou Piniella cares. He plays the lefty/righty odds straight by the book. I don't see why it's silly - better odds is better odds. I suppose you want Jacque Jones hitting against lefties? You are missing the point. Getting worked up about what side of the plate someone hits from is less important (the point it's not important) than than whether they can hit. I don't want the Cubs getting a starting position player simply becuase he hits X handed. I don't want the Cubs to worry about trading a player simply because he hits X handed. I want the Cubs to start the best 8 position players they can regardless of what side of the plate they hit from. If the Cubs had a lineup of Damon CF Utley 2nd Bonds LF Caberra 3rd Abreu RF Dunn 1st McCann C Jeter SS I wouldn't complain that they had too many left handed hitters.

Who gives a crap what side of the plate a guy hits? I don't care if the Cubs have all lefties or all righties as long as they hit. What side of the plate a guy swings from is right up there with one of the most silly ideas in baseball.

Honestly, I hold little to no hope that they can turn things around enough to make a run this year. That's part of the reason I advocate going this route with Pie, Murton and Theriot. Let's see what we have here and move forward. I see little benefit in sticking with guys like Jones, Floyd and Izturis at this point. The problem with your scenario is that Murton isn't a right fielder. He doesn't have the arm. I knew Hendry would would hurt Murton's progression when he went ga-ga over Soriano and then went after Floyd. Floyd by-the-way, is someone who Hendry has been after since he coached college baseball. I'll say this for the guy, when he has a mancrush he holds it for a very long time. I feel bad for Murton. But I feel worse for us. We have to watch this mess unfold. My hope is that Lou can overcome and adapt. It really seems like he's trying. I like that.

I believe he can't be traded until June 1. Floyd is currently sporting a .647 OPS. He's also slow, a below average defender, has serious health questions, and is coming off a bad season. If he can get a hot streak going he might be marketable, but I don't think we could get anything for him now. Hendry was able to get him at a cheap price precisely because he lacked marketability. Hendry was able to get him cheap because Floyd turned down several more lucrative offers to come home. It was reported that there were 5 other teams that wanted him, and most of them were wanting him to be a starter full-time. Reported by who? Floyd's agent. He's old, comming off surgery, and can't throw the ball. He's a DH. I said this in January and we are now seeing the results: The Cubs are put together like a jigsaw puzzle with several pieces that don't fit. The sooner Hendry is gone, the better off the Cubs will be unless they hire another "baseball man" like Jim Bowden.

This is the Cubs we're talking about. It's always an option. A terrible option but one I could see happening. The Cubs fire Hendry at the end of the season, they do a "deliberate" search for a new GM. In the meantime Z signs with the Yankees for 5 years and $100,000,000.

Weurtz is great! I would like to acknowledge that I called Miller "done" after his first outing in ST.

Aramis is great!

I agree, I think you are grading the face on a curve though.

From what I saw on RealSports, his family life wasn't all that great as he had to turn to his baseball coach for support. Anyway, it's still a good story.

He's the Sammy Sosa for the 21st Century. What was 2001 Sammy then? The Sammy Sosa of the 20th Century, only 1 year older?

Obviously, if what you say is remotely accurate, I mean even remotly, what pitcher in his right mind doens't through Aramis a 58 foot breaking ball on two strikes? And remember, before you can get strike 3 you have to get strike 2.

He's the Sammy Sosa for the 21st Century.

If you're talking about Aramis, not that many You must be joking. Aramis swings at just about every breaking ball on 2 strike counts, no matter what the location is. http://www.fangraphs.com/graphs.aspx?playerid=1002&position=3B&page=4&type=full You can check BB% and BB/K if you would like too. Doesn't matter whether he K's or not, he still will swing at bad 2 strike pitches and if he happens to make contact its usually weak and in the infield. Doubt you have stats for that. I could find them, but something tells me you wouldn't pay attention to them anways if they proved you wrong. Well, something's telling you incorrectly. Hey Einstein, if Aramis siwnings at just about every breaking ball on 2 strike counts, no matter what the location is he would not have the walk totals he does nor the K totals. But keep going with the "gut" observations, it seems to be working well for you.

What happened? I'm watching on Gameday. Hill slipped and fell while pitching. He appears to be ok as he Kd Edgar.