Iceblink

The navy BP unis are nice, and I think I like that more than the royal blue, but navy isn't our color. Besides, we'd look just like the Twins (some Johnny come lately getting our own midget, pappy.) The alt-unis get waaay too much wear, but I guess the players like them. Should be a once-a-week uniform, at most. I'm partial to the 60's look, but I grew up with the Cubs in pinstripes, so I'd vote to stick with them. The grey road unis are fine - teams wear white at home, grey on the road. Home uni has the logo, road uni has the city name. That's how it should be. The one positive thing I'll say about the Yankees is that they haven't given in to the alt-uniform craze. And at least we don't have a mustard colored road uniform (SD).

Encouraging...but seeing as his performance at the plate is his primary (only?) on-field contribution, he's got to get that OPS closer to .900 than it is to .700. Hopefully just a slight bump in the road. If someone had told me he'd play a full, healthy season and put up an OPS in the .600's, I'd have called them a crack smoker.

Just to continue the thought that Matsui isn't the remarkable player it seems you think he is, Burrell - with 118 K's - has better RISP numbers than Matsui. Which means nothing. A counterpoint to statements above. RIF.

Just to continue the thought that Matsui isn't the remarkable player it seems you think he is, Burrell - with 118 K's - has better RISP numbers than Matsui.

Aramis is a huge part of the lineup. About the only negative thing I'd say is that he's not a leader, and he could stand to get moving when he hits long fly balls. I understand he's been hurt and taking it easy, but that doesn't excuse watching fly balls that might get out. To give an example of what I mean by "not a leader": during Rich Hill's disastrous start in New York, Ramirez caught a hard-hit liner that was right at him. The camera was on him after the catch, and he just kind of resignedly tossed the ball back to Hill and turned away. I noticed it because there was a real chance to walk to the mound and pat a young pitcher on the back in a tough situation, and Ramirez didn't even make eye contact with him. Still, after a decade or two of Buecheles and Laws, I can live with that.

Done when we had the losing streak recently. The Astros broadcast was saying last night that the Cubs hadn't been more than 6 games above or below .500 all year. This is an average team, with below average moxie. None of those players are even probable to be traded - though Maddux is a maybe if he's really considering retirement. And while there's no reason to see Murton get fewer AB's than Burnitz or Lawton, that's probably guaranteed. A month and a half of average players with average/below-average futures playing out to an average record.

"Whatever it takes" to get Matsui? He's 43rd in OPS and has good numbers in RBI situations. Plenty of guys with better numbers are also clutch enough to be interesting. Pat Burrell, for one, has better numbers and is 3 years younger. Why that much priority on Hideki? For potentially damaged goods in Wood and a A-ball slugger with one possible position and a horrible OPS this season, you'd maybe get in the door to talk about someone like Troy Glaus...but you'd have to add at least one more ML-ready top-level prospect, and probably more on top of that. That package might get you a sometime All-Star, but not remotely worth a HOF'er. Until you include Prior or Zambrano, the ARod talk is silly.

If only Murton could play 2B or bat lefty, he'd probably get a shot. As a right-handed OF'er, he's not old enough to start for Dusty.

107 IP, 131 H, 47 BB, 25 K. No thanks. A blind monkey could miss more bats.

The article on cubs.com ( link ), has an extra quote that slants the story differently: Quoting Maddux:

I've read a couple things saying Huff's defense has regressed to the point where he should only be at 1B. Actually read similar things about Lawton's defense - not that he should play 1B, but that he couldn't play the OF well any longer. I don't know how much faith to put in those reports of Huff, but Lawton certainly hasn't shown much as a defender. If Huff is a stiff in the OF, or his offense stays in average land, or Tampa overvalues him (which they've always done), then I'd pass. Any of those three being true makes me not interested.

I didn't think we had the players to make a trade at the deadline, and I don't think that's changing soon. With few shiny FA's - and those probably getting overpaid because of the shortage - I'll look at what we've got. Patterson might up his value by playing well the rest of the way, but he's still more useful to us if he can figure it out and be a decent hitter. *If* he hits a bit the next two months, there's no reason to trade him. Add Pie, and I remove Lawton or Burnitz before Corey (if Corey is a .270 hitter and not a .230 one.) An OF of Pie, Corey, and Lawton/Murton would be a low-power one, but might be the best we could piece together without a miracle move. Lawton's approach at the plate would be welcomed next year, but his defense has been underwhelming. I'm not sure he can even handle LF at this point - though we had "unecessary dive" Alou out there for a few years. Still, we've GOT to have a lead off hitter, and Lawton is currently the best option - even if it means crappy D in left and Murton loses AB's. With hesitation, I'd probably try to resign Lawton. Lee and ARam are the heart of the lineup. They'll be back. We could really use a power lefty bat to break them up, but I'm not sure where that would come from. Burnitz is a gamer, but he clearly isn't that bat. Walker is a boost from a non-offensive position, but is getting older. The Soriano efforts that might've included Walker leaving make me think he might not be back. Cedeno might factor in at 2B if Nomar decided to take another 1 year attempt at proving he can still play healthy (which is silly to think about.) Defensively Cedeno should play SS over Nomar. I expect that Nomar leaves, Perez plays SS while Cedeno watches, and Walker or a warm body plays 2B. The tears flow freely on the board when it happens. I'd scale back Zambrano for the rest of this season. If his back bothers him at all next start, I shut him down. No sense in him overcompensating with his arm and screwing something up. Pray for Prior's health. If the rotation is roughly the same next year and either Prior or Z get hurt, .500 is the best we can probably expect. Anything Woody can give us is a bonus - though another injury-ridden year at his salary is a boat anchor on the payroll. We can't get appreciable value for him until he's had his shoulder work and pitches well next year. And even if he does, we'll have to pick up some salary to move him - especially if he's still relieving. Since a trade now would bring less than nothing, I'd only trade him - next year - if it becomes clear he wasn't coming back in 2007. Maddux will almost certainly be back. He makes too much for his stats, but I'm hoping there's lots of intangibles the young pitchers are soaking up. I know that's hooey given the 5.00+ ERAs they have, but I like to pretend. I like having him on the team and he'd be a fine #5 (if we had a #3 and #4), but wish he was cheaper. Bullpen. Bullpen. Bullpen. Dempster has had some nice moments. Ohman is fine as our situational lefty. That's about the nicest things I can say. Novoa, Wellemeyer, Wuertz should be competing for one spot at the back of the pen. They all have promise, but shouldn't be counted on. Hill and Mitre might factor in here, but Mitre is wired for starting and Hill needs to show he belongs in the bigs. A lefty hitting catcher with anything at the plate would be a nice addition - even if it's only to get 2 of every 5 starts. Barrett is as good a catcher as we can get, but he tends to slump. While Blanco has been fine the last month, a second catcher who could make good use of about 200 ABs would keep Barrett's cold streaks on the bench. Oh, and put my dead cat on the bench instead of Dusty.

No team in MLB has stolen fewer bases than the Oakland A's. The Cubs have stolen twice as many bases as the A's. The A's have 14 sacrifice bunts on the year. The Cubs have 48. The Cubs have more than three times as many sac bunts as the A's. Just to back you up, the Cubs have 23 bunts from pitchers - so 25 bunts are from position players. The A's have 1 bunt from a pitcher, 13 from position players. Take the pitchers out of the equation and we still bunt twice as many times.

Totally rocks. The EPatt bandwgn grows.

Grady Little? Me no likey.

I didn't know much about Fredi Gonzalez and googled him (A9'd him, actually...come on 1.57%!). The third hit was from a recent Marlins forum post asking the same question: link Seems the fish fans want Girardi or Piniella. One post says Girardi & Gonzalez can't be contacted (though the Marlins fans were talking in-season, seems to me.)

Maybe Murton's just been lucky. Maybe Murton isn't nearly the prospect Francouer is (few are). Maybe there's an age minimum to play regularly for the Cubs (unless, of course, you're a pitcher - in which case we experiment with how many pitches you can throw before you're 25.). And so, an outfield rotation of Burnitz, Macias, Hollandsworth, and Lawton continues to get the bulk of the AB's to prove that they're average (at best) major leaguers for two months. Come next spring, we'll still be wondering if Murton or Cedeno can hit well enough to be counted on. Greenberg might be a useful OF'er the rest of the way and next year, but we won't know that, either. Sweetness.

I'd prefer Greenberg so CPatt can keep working, but Murray > Macias in CF.

I want Joey G, but I'm not sure he's ready yet.

Patterson's D behind Prior in that game was great. Just watched DLee's 4-4 night against the Pirates, capped with the 9th inning 2 run homer to give us the lead. That was better than a breadtangle of pizza.

I can't take any more negative vibes, so I'm going for something positive: What single play is your favorite from the first 4 months of the season? Mine is Corey's catch & double play against Milwaukee in Wrigley. Neifi's granny against the Cards, Aramis' 2 out homer to tie Washington in the 9th, and Murton's first single are close on the list. (EDIT - On the chance you didn't know, you can go to mlb.com's multimedia center & filter by team to see many of the Cub's highlights - for free, no less.) Edit #2 - just watched Aramis' slam against the ChiSox. Hearing Harrelson's dejected "It's four-nothing, Cubs." is a joyful lack of Hawk noise.

My top 5 would be about the same - I like Cedeno, though and think he can be a regular if he can hit around .270. I'd probably put him just above Sing, though I admit I might be giving him too much credit for one good season with the bat. I'm encouraged by Harvey's RBI totals (80 in 89 games), but he's got to show improved patience and handle breaking balls better as he moves up the ladder. Dope has slipped for now. As Mr. Potesta pointed out, the jump from A to AA is the more difficult one. Dopirak has a sub .700 OPS, and has most of the season - is he looking at repeating Daytona to start next year? Moore has slid back a little after his hot early season, and his K's and E's are troubling (though Dopirak's 13 E's at 1b look worse than Moore's 20 at 3b.) I really hope he bounces back, but this season is almost done, and he's still doing very little. Murton's lack of power at a corner OF position is always going to be brought up, but he looks like a quality, patient hitter. We've got good enough power spread around the team, and I'd like to see Murton get a shot. Maybe his professional approach to ABs will rub off on some of the hack-happy veterans - or at least offset some of their horrible OBP's. Pie, Murton, Cedeno and Sing get the highest ranking from me because they're performing at AA or higher. I really hope Dopirak can get it back together, and Harvey can continue to produce as he moves up.

Coach Dickerson - Thanks for taking questions from the board. Really appreciate your time. I grew up in Baton Rouge and passed through Thibodaux many times - what do you remember about your Louisiana college days? Did you always think you might get into coaching once your playing days ended, or was it a decision that you came to after being in pro baseball? Being a college player, did you give any thought to coaching in college? Thanks again - and best of luck the rest of the season and beyond.

Adam - thank you for taking our questions. When you were called up, there were lots of good words about your defensive reputation. What kind of strides do you feel you've made as an outfielder since you've become a professional? Also, you played a lot of RF in West Tenn, but are often listed as a CF'er. Do you think of yourself as being better at one of the OF positions over the others? If you had a chance to chose, which position would you play everyday? Best of luck with the rest of the season, and in getting back to Chicago as soon as possible. We'll be pulling hard for you.

Andy - thanks very much for answering questions for us. When did you move to the bullpen, and what (or who) made that decision for you? What's life like in a bullpen during the first few innings of a game, and does it change as the innings pass and the possibility of pitching moves into the pitchers' minds? Thanks again, and best of luck this season and beyond. Hope to see you pitching well in Cubbie blue soon.