Illini Iceman

Yeah, why give some new guy a shot when you can rehash a coach that has failed somewhere else. I mean, if someone has had a head coaching job and been fired he automatically must be better than a guy that has put in the time as an assistant and hasn't gotten an opportunity yet to prove himself.

I think that eight consecutive strike outs qualifies as "starting" a slump. If it was Theriot instead I can't imagine the uproar on this board. Let's just hope Soto snaps out of it quickly. The Cubs need his offense against the Brewers.

Soto's goal here should just be to not strike out.

He better not stink it up tonight or it very well may be good bye Wuertz, hello Ascanio.

2 quick innings, no drama tonight please Wuertz.

I would be happy to snooze through 139 more boring 5-0 Cubs wins.

Who is Lou going to bring in here? Wuertz?

Instead let's kill time by having an argument about whether or not Lou is abusing Zambrano by having him throw over 100 pitches in a 5 -0 game when we have 3 long relievers in the bullpen that need work. That is always fun. Not really much to argue there. Until they bring in Lieber and he coughs up a 3 run homer.

Instead let's kill time by having an argument about whether or not Lou is abusing Zambrano by having him throw over 100 pitches in a 5 -0 game when we have 3 long relievers in the bullpen that need work. That is always fun.

If Wood had closed out the game Wednesday they wouldn't have needed to use Marmol and may have been able to use him Thursday to hold Colorado down and maybe the Cubs wind up winning the game. (Of course, I guess you could also say if Corpas has closed out the game in the top of the inning Wednesday then the Cubs would have lost that one for sure so assuming that closers should never blow a save is probably asking a bit much.)

while we're at it, let's also shift about a dozen of Murton's strikeouts to triples Not to specifically call you out, but I hate when people do this. And what I mean is that when one poster (The Dude in this instance) makes a very good, lengthy post, and then someone else takes a tiny portion of it and says something smartassed. Why don't you just respond to the actual post? Seriously? The Dude says you can equate 2 guys by taking 12-18 doubles from one and making them HRs. In 2800 ABs in the minors and majors, Theriot has 12 total HRs. I think Bob Sanders' response was deserved. How would you suggest responding to "I'm going to create a fiction that supports my point and ignores reality...BAM. As you can see, I'm right." The way I took it was that considering how much support Murton gets here compared to the abuse Theriot takes they are not that far off from each other in production. I like Murton, but I think he either needs to learn to play off the bench or start developing more power, otherwise it is going to be hard for him to find ana regular job in the big leagues. If he was a middle infielder he probably would get some opportunities, but as a corner outfielder that is at best average defensively he would need to find a team with a lot of production other places in the line up to make up for his lack of slugging as a left fielder. As for trading him because it is "best" for him, meh. Keep him around as insurance in AAA unless someone blows the Cubs away with an offer or they can use him as a key component in a multi player deal.

When you bat a guy leadoff, you are making sure they get the most PAs of anyone. Not if they miss a month. To make sure he'd get the most at bats of anyone on the team at this point you'd have to bench Lee for an equivalent amount of time. ;) Or just get rid of Lee. It's my firm belief that Soriano will be Lee's replacement at 1B. It's just a question of when. I actually like the idea of trading Lee if he has a huge year. His trade value would be high enough to get a real nice corner OF to replace Soriano, and putting Sori at 1B would keep him healthy, I hope. For example? That is a lot of production to make up for taking Lee out of the lineup.

He did not spend all of 2007 in the majors. He also pitched 41 innings in AAA so he had about 110 IP total in 2007 between the minors and the big leagues. In 2006 he had 138 IP combined between West Tenn, Iowa and Chicago. Therefore, the 105 IP he is on pace for this year per your calculations would actually be a slight reduction from previous years so I wouldn't worry about his arm falling off just yet.

Official transaction is now on cubs.com. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20080419&content_id=2552356&vkey=pr_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

Let's say it's the bottom of the 6th, the game is tied 1-1. The opposing pitcher has been mowing down your offense all day. In the top of the 7th, 6-7-8 is due up in the order. 6 and 7 make outs. You walk the 8th guy intentionally to force the opposing manager to remove his pitcher. Then say your team scores some runs off the bullpen and wins the game. It was because you were able to force the other manager's hand and force him to act. There is nothing like this in the AL. Has anything like that ever happened? Intentionally walk the 8th hitter to force the pitcher to the plate?

I've gotten used to the a lot of things this organization does to piss me off, but playing worse veterans over already better younger players is one thing that I just can't get over. This includes starting vs. pitching out of the bullpen. The biggest problem with Marmol throwing 40 pitches in relief is that the Cubs aren't isn't maximizing his production. If he's throwing that many pitches in an outing, certainly not all of them are coming in high leverage situations relative to the typical late inning relief appearance. Of course, if he theoretically throws only in high leverage situations, he's not racking up the innings to maximize his production, either. The simplest solution is to make him a starter. And as for Marshall, I'm mostly speechless: 4/18 - 0.1 IP, 2 pitches 4/17 - 0.1 IP, 2 pitches 4/13 - 0.2 IP, 11 pitches 4/11 - 1.0 IP, 13 pitches 4/9 - 1.0 IP, 16 pitches That's 3.1 IP with 44 pitches over 1.5 weeks. Based on his averages from starts last season, if he made two starts over the same 1.5 weeks, we could have expected 10.2 IP with 168.4 pitches. And he's better than Marquis and Dempster. What on earth are they doing to him? Yes, let's make Marmol a starter so every time he has over 100 pitches in the 6th inning you can start crying about Piniella abusing him. The role he has now is good. He works late innings in tight games. Yesterday was fine, he locked down the win in a close game where the Cubs weren't scoring many runs. So maybe he doesn't pitch again this weekend, but you go with the win you have in hand. Having a guy that can come into the game in the 7th or 8th inning and shut down the opponent to get the game to Wood is huge. Hopefully Howry can regain 2007 form so Piniella can go Howry, Marmol, Wood, game over but for now he is going with the guys he can trust. As for Marshall, if Piggy could have done the job he would be getting those opportunities. Marshall has been moved into the role and is doing fine. Pitching in relief for a few weeks until Eyre comes back won't hurt him. He will then go back to AAA to be stretched back out and be ready if Marquis or Dempster can't hold their spot in the rotation.

I think Murt will begivn left, at least for now, with D Ro back to 2nd. Lou should give this lineup a shot 1. Kozuke 2. Murton 3. Lee 4. Ram 5. D Ro 6. Soto 7. Theriot 8. Johnson 9. P. Looks better than anything in the NL. He will do... 1. Johnson 2. Theriot 3. Lee 4. Ramirez 5. Fukudome 6. DeRosa 7. Soto 8. Murton

Maddon, if anything, is probably overly conservative with pitch counts so I don't think anyone can accuse him of abusing his young starters. Kazmir only averaged about 6 innings per start last year but was going deep into counts with a lot of hitters which caused him the throw a lot of pitches. Don't know what more Maddon could have done short of consistently pulling him after 5 innings.

You will get your wish once Eyre is healthy.

Even if Lou intends to take him out why burn a pinch hitter? The near disaster at 2nd base would be one reason. Why is Lee still in there instead of Ward? Why isn't Patterson out there or Blanco? When you're up 9 in the bottom of the 7th, you can afford to have a reliever take an AB. Worrying about him running the bases seems a bit paranoid. It's not a worry so much as it is distaste for a 100% unnecessary risk. Imagine how you'd want to react if he DID get hurt. There was really nothing to gain with an 8 run lead. He has about as good a chance of getting hurt being hit by a line drive sitting in the dugout. The guy is not fragile. OK, that's hyperbole. It doesn't matter that he's not fragile. There was no reason to have him in there. Absolutely nothing to be gained other than for Z to have some fun. Why do it? Because Z wanted to have some fun and there was absolutely no reason to think he would get hurt. And, by the way, he didn't.

Even if Lou intends to take him out why burn a pinch hitter? The near disaster at 2nd base would be one reason. Why is Lee still in there instead of Ward? Why isn't Patterson out there or Blanco? When you're up 9 in the bottom of the 7th, you can afford to have a reliever take an AB. Worrying about him running the bases seems a bit paranoid. It's not a worry so much as it is distaste for a 100% unnecessary risk. Imagine how you'd want to react if he DID get hurt. There was really nothing to gain with an 8 run lead. He has about as good a chance of getting hurt being hit by a line drive sitting in the dugout. The guy is not fragile.

Even if Lou intends to take him out why burn a pinch hitter? The near disaster at 2nd base would be one reason. Why is Lee still in there instead of Ward? Why isn't Patterson out there or Blanco? When you're up 9 in the bottom of the 7th, you can afford to have a reliever take an AB. Worrying about him running the bases seems a bit paranoid.

Even if Lou intends to take him out why burn a pinch hitter?

Good. Not good when you consider that Murton's value is now lower than Marlon Byrd now. News flash. It has been lower than Marlon Byrd for quite some time. That's why the Rangers wouldn't make the trade.

I can't believe they would promote him to sit. My guess is that he starts most games with DeRosa in LF except against some lefties where Cedeno may get starts. If he proves he can hit at this level it frees them up to do with DeRosa what they wanted when they were going after Roberts and gives them the leadoff hitting lefty Lou seems to covet. If he can't cut it they go back to DeRosa at 2B. Not surprising the reaction here given so much Murton love on the board. Personally if EPatt is any good I don't see how he is any of a downgrade from Murton. Murton would just go right back down when Soriano comes back, at least by doing this the Cubs get a chance to better evaluate how ready Patterson is to play at the big league level.