CubinNY

Steroid Policy anyone? I think it has more to do with poi then steriods.

He played nearly 450 games in CF in his career. Where'd you get that number? Baseball Reference lists 57 games in CF, out of 2850 games played. BP says 446. Baseball Reference lists him as an "OF" for over 2000 of those games. Yeah, I noticed that. I wonder why that is. Anyway, 2,421 games at left versus 446 games at center supports the spirit of neely's post. If you're looking at the fielding stats on Baseball Reference and it just says "OF" rather than RF, LF, or CF, follow that stat line to the far right. It gives the breakdown of games played per OF position. And while the numbers may support the "spirit" of his post, nearly 450 games at a position is a far cry from never playing it. There were two seasons with the Yankees (1985 and 1986) where he was pretty much a full-time centerfielder. I put him in CF becuase I would have Bonds in LF and Gwynn in RF. Rickey could play CF very well, as he did for three years. 400 plus games is a far cry from 0, spirit or not.

He's the starting CF in my all-time team of players who played in my lifetime.

I don't know by Cedeno looks like he needs Vaughn Joshua more than ever. His bad habits have returned with a vengence. I guess Dusty is correct, you can't teach in the bigs.

He was damaged goods when the Cubs traded him. Frankly, I suprized the Cubs didn't get called out.

He's sweet on my wife.

The 1,000th time he grabbed his crotch in the batter's box, June 7, 2005. The time he said to Prior or Z or whomever, "you see this golve, it's made of gold. Make him hit it to me" or something like that.

Just one question. Why do you have Samardzija ranked in the top 25?

in 2002 at GT, Murton slugged .536. in 2004, before being traded to the Cubs, his SLG was .452. he faded once with the Cubs, but that slg would currently rank him tied for 14th in that league. in 2005, he slugged .498 in an extremely pitcher friendly league. if he finished the season in AA in 05 and kept that slg %, it would rank him 10th in the league. instead, he followed it up with a .500 slg % at AAA and a .521 slg % in the majors. there's very little in his past that suggests he won't hit for more power than he is this year. someone brought up Giles. I was just looking at his stats in a different context. look what he slugged when he was 24. look at Edmonds. there are plenty of players that take a year or two of ML ABs to develop their power. Bonds slugged .426 at age 24. Adam LaRoche slugged .455 last year at age 24, right around where Murton will probably end up this year. think the Braves are glad they didn't platoon him and his .555 slg % at age 25 this year. You've got to look at IsoP. His year at Georgia Tech was under .200, not very good at all for a top college player. That .452 SLG was accompanied by a .301 AVG for a .151 IsoP. He did have a better run in his first major league stint, but his performance before and since then have proved that to be an anomaly. It goes back to the point that Minor League numbers in the right context are very good predictors of major league performance. It's not an absolute, but exceptions like Edmonds don't make it any more likely that Murton adds power. why do you call players like Edmonds the exception? seriously, how many players do you think hit 20 HRs at age 24 in the major leagues? 4? maybe 5? I understand the concept of predictability, but I think this is a case of looking too much at the stats and not enough attention to the obvious observations. Murton has the make up (strength, strike zone judgment, patience, etc.) of a guy that can hit for power. some decent coaching and a few adjustments to make him stop pounding the ball into the ground, and he'll hit for power. his IsoP isn't so low because he's slapped singles over the secondbaseman's head. more likely it was because his hits were line shots through the infield instead of line drives off the wall or in the gaps. if he doesn't hit for more power, the Cubs should have three positions in the top three or four offensively in the NL (as pathetic as the NL is, four if they found a different platoon partner for Jones besides Murton), and you can get by with Murton's OBP for another season and see if that power develops. with the potential for an Izturis/Cedeno middle infield, the point I am about to make is not so obvious as it was three weeks ago, but I really don't understand the mentality that says you have to have a power bat in leftfield because that is 'traditionally' what has been done, especially when you have a .900 OPS catcher. give either Cedeno or Izturis the SS position, get a .360 OBP for second and center, get a righthanded platoon partner for Jones in right. .360 (CF/2B) Murton Lee Aram Jones/platoon partner Barrett .360 (2B/CF) Cedeno if Murton's power comes around, swith him with whoever bats seventh and let him drive in some runs. cheap, easy, done. (caveat - I realize this team is heavily dependant on Lee returning to form and Aram coming back, but if both those things don't happen, nothing will matter anyway.) I agree completely. As the steriod era falls by the wayside, guys like Muton will become more valuable. 15-20 HRs 300ish average and 380is OBP will look very good.

Great news.

Dusty's allergic to putting the best offensive team on the field. :jocolor:

And the worst ofensive middle of the diamond position players in the game. Iztuis would be ok if he played for the Red Sox or Yankees, not the Cubs.

I think the Cubs are out of it. However, if by some miricle that they manage to get back into by mid-september, to a large extent, it will be because of rookies and young players. I hope this fact isn't lost on Dusty and Jim. Even if they don't get back into it, they've played much better as of late. But even if they do it will be in spite of Dusty and not becuase of Dusty. FREE MATT MURTON!

Probably... An interview with Jim Hendry in the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Easily the highlight: hilarious. I wonder what Hendry's answer was. Simple. They're baseball players, not artists. It isn't fair to expect them to be able to draw anything. :lol: That is funny! But in reality, I don't know if hendry believes in the concept of drawing a walk. I think he thinks walks are something a pitcher allows. But really something that is not a big deal, at least not as important as BA w/RISP.

Nothing else. Oh yea, I heard Sam Jackson has a new movie out. Someting about snakes and planes. It should be @##$%R%#$%@$% fantastic

They could have tried to get him in the offseason, but instead Hendry went for JJ.

There's no way the Yankees give up A-Rod's offense for just pitching, especially damaged goods like Prior. He couldn't just come back healthy next year for this to work...he'd need to at least be back at his 2003 level. The Yankees need pitching and they need it badly. They already have the best offense in baseball, and with the addition of Abreu they can afford to sacrifice some offense. The Yankees are a smart, well-run organization. I think they would need to see if Prior was healthy b/f they would consider the deal.

The one in the mid-80s was a 12-6 curve and the one in the low 80s was probably his change. Why did Homer only go 4.2 IP? It's good to see Evan back in the lineup and healthy. Gotta root for the local kids. :) He was a little wild and gave up back-to-back doubles in front of a single that should have beeen grabbed by the third baseman.

(If Prior is 100% healthy) I am probably living in fantasy land here, but if I were Hendry I'd explore an A-Rod for Prior deal. Take on all of the salary the Yankees are paying. No prospects. I'd put A-Rod back at SS and move Neifi, Jr. for whatever I could get. Then I'd keep Murton in LF. Everyone wants the Cubs to get a big bat in LF. Is Carlos Lee that player? I don't think so. In addition, he will be fabuously over-paid for the remainder of his time in the bigs. Murton A-Rod Lee Aramis Barrett Jones Cedeno Slappy (I'd like the Cubs to explore other options in CF but I don't know who is available) That is a batting order that will compete for the WS, not just the division.

I was at the game in Montgomery AL. I also saw Evan Longoria who plays for the Biscuts. Bailey has a real smooth delivery. It looks like he just tossing the ball and then you hear the pop of the mit. He was working in the low to mid 90's all night. topping out at 95. He seemed to have two off speed pitches, one in the mid 80s and another in the low 80s. I couldn't tell from my seat what they were though. Bailey was impressive, but his fastball was very hittable (at least last night). He gave up 6 hits and two runs. Longoria was 2 for 3, with two singles and a K. He's batting over .400 now. Next week I'll be going to a Memphis Redbirds game. Going to all these minor league games this week makes me think what a hard job it must be to be a scout.

OK, My non-souting report. -Gallagher was a man amongst boys tonight. He was 90-93 with his fastball which he threw about 80% of the time. Great hard breaking curve ball for Ks and mixed in a few change ups. The umpire did have a huge strike zone tonight though. -Eric Patterson showed great patience at the plate. He struck out in the first on a real low strike, groused to the ump for a second or two amd walked back to the dugout. The next AB he ripped a single up the middle on the first pitch and then walked twice. The second time on a 3-2 count. The ball was in the same spot as his first k. - Thomas Atlee closed out the last two innings and dominated the Bay Bears. He was in the mid-90s with his fast ball. -Ron does a great impression of Harry Carey during the 7th inning stretch. - The stands were empty, M-T - Jake Fox gave my wife the eye and I think she liked it. -Aaron Weston looks like a baseball player but I don't know how good he is. Other than that no one else stood out on the D-Jaxx. One thing, Brandon Sing was riding the pine and Richard Lewis was at first. I was disapoined. For Mobile The catcher #34, Colt Morton crushed a long HR off of Sean in the 6th. He looks like a player.

My wife and I are going to Jackson to see Gallagher pitch and root on the D-Jaxx's. I let everyone know how things went.

Why do you write that? Is it because he is the proverbal horse? Even a Clidesdale will break down if it is driven too hard.

I love Ron Santo on the radio. It's like sitting next to your uncle who's a huge Cub fan. To me he and Pat make the games much more entertaining to listen to. I am probably in the minority, but I don't care.

Squeeze Box is one of my favorite all time songs, but I had I will played by a string quartet at my wedding, so I'm going witht the Beatles on this one.