Iceblink

Lou's being diplomatic.

I think we could call up Colvin right now, put him in RF, and he would be just as sucky as Jones.

That ump just said: "Edgar, you're our favorite player and we think you're super cool. Remember that time you won the World Series with the Marlins? You remember that? That was awesome."

Way to expand the strike zone, D.

Curve inside - eject him.

Wait until Marmol's ready to be taken out. Send Rothschild out to tell him that you're about to be hooked, bust the next guy in the junk.

Ohman might have to come in to pitch the 3rd inning. Very nice.

Noice, so the ump makes it so that we lose and wreck our bullpen for the next 3 games. Etiquette demands that he and the 2nd base ump should get fruit baskets for the holidays from the Braves.

Throw to first and let it hit him. BTW, Renteria was out on the slide into Fontenot.

If a Cub had done that, the ump would find a reason to take the run off the board and eject the hitter.

This is so much cooler than the days when Marshall got no run support. The game would be on the line in this half inning a couple weeks ago.

Sorry, Mr. Burns. I don't go in for these backdoor shenanigans. Sure I'm flattered, maybe even a little curious. But the answer is no.

I refreshed the MLB draft tracker and 4 more college players joined the Cubs list....all pitchers, too.

Am I counting right? 17 of 19 so far are college players?

Little brother, I'm guessing? EDIT: I guessed wrong.powers voice> Third cousins.

Selig's probably just hoping for the Mitchell "investigation" to get any kind of credibility. Giambi's got a lot to lose by cooperating. I'd think he'd stay mum about anything substantive - other than talking about himself - until it's post-career book time.

That's just silly. The 2005 White Sox won with Scott Podsednik as their left fielder. And they had above average offensive output from RF, 1B, DH, 2B, and 70+ RBI from both SS and CF. They didn't go into the season thinking they could have an average guy in LF. They got enough production to compensate...and Posednik was at least as productive as Murton was last year. A good team isn't going to look at the trade deadline and hope to add an average player in LF. If he's a throw-in or comes at no real cost, then sure.

This is all pointless nonsense. A good team could very easily plug in a player like him into LF. If he's an .800+OPS player, then sure - but he won't bat in a run producing spot until if & when he shows himself to be that kind of player. If he's hitting like he is now, they can do it only if they can absorb the offense elsewhere. LF is not where you put complementary players.

You want him to be a superstar? I'm sure everybody does, but that's not realistic. There's nothing wrong with a player not being a superstar. And why can he only play for an average team? A team could go far playing Murton everyday. He gives you above average production for well below average cost. I want him to be a superstar because I like the kid. I don't think that's a realistic expectation, but I hope he does well. That's all I was saying. That said, he's nowhere near "above average production." His numbers last year were average for a corner outfielder, and that was mostly due to his OBP. They were good considering his salary. His numbers this year in part-time play are very weak. Yes, I know he hasn't gotten much of a shot. He can't really play anywhere but LF, and he's no better than average there. He might develop power, but he's got a strong ground-ball tendency that he'd have to lose. He runs the bases well (not so much this year), but isn't a threat there. Like I said, he's a cheap player who can start on an average team. A good team can't plug him in as a starter because he can't be counted on to generate runs like a good team needs from its left-fielder. Another year or two of playing full-time and he might be an 80 RBI type player. He's a good guy to have on the Cubs because he's still one of the few players who'll draw a walk. He also seems to have a good attitude. That and a little bit of a batting average are all he really brings at this point, however. Average teams love those kind of players. Good teams put them on their bench.

The A's had Barrett a couple years ago and pretty much gave him away to us. I suppose they could have had a change of heart. Still I wouldn't expect much in return. Other teams are going to look at Murton and see the same thing we're seeing: good OBP, poor SLG that'll probably be average at best, no speed, average or worse defense. I want him to be a superstar, but he hasn't shown any reason to think he'll be more than an adequate starter on an average team. Someone might see more upside in Murton than he's shown. Murton or Barrett could start for a lot of teams, and Barrett might be a starter for a contender if he got back to his level from the last two years. Still, I wouldn't think we should expect much in return for either of them since they're both contributing very little. Zambrano's the only marketable non-prospect chip we've got at this point.

I don't need to see "The most realistic baseball sim ever" commercial ever again.

Send Lou out anyway!

That went in! Send Lou back out.

Hehe. Nice "don't look at my black eye" glasses on Barrett.

No way. We're scoring 17 today. They're going to score 0, and three Braves will be found to be corking their bats. Two other Atlanta players will lose on "Smarter Than a 5th Grader."