TrueBlueCubFan

WOW! Mr. Clutch does it again! btw, that swing by Corey @ the high FB was absolutely horrendous.

It looked like Bagwell hit it off the end of the bat, b/c it seemed to be knuckling just before Corey got to it.

He made that look easy. That's a very difficult play!

The idiocy of Dumbsty continues: 1. J Macias, 2B .264 1 13 4 2. N Perez, SS .273 9 53 8 3. D Lee, 1B .339 45 105 15 4. N Garciaparra, 3B .276 9 29 0 5. M Murton, LF .328 6 12 2 6. J Burnitz, RF .258 24 87 5 7. M Barrett, C .272 15 58 0 8. C Patterson, CF .218 13 33 15 9. G Rusch, P .132 0 0 0

Isn't this Carpenter's 1st post-season appearance?

Why is Corey on a major league roster? He's a headcase!

Very nice play by Neifi.

Is it me or does anyone else notice the problems Cubs pitchers have had in the 1st inning the last two years? Is it a lack of preparation by Cubs pitchers or coaches or both? Larry Rothchild & Dusty seem to go under the radar in this problematic area. My guess it is coaching. This pitching staff has much more talent than the Cardinals, but struggle on knowing what pitches to throw early in a game. Despite the injury problems, this team still should be a top 2 or 3 NL team in ERA every year. IIRC, they are either middle of the pack or in the bottom tier. Thoughts??

4-1 Twins, J.Jones 2 run scoring RBI double

Except the Cardinals!

The opposing bullpen is up & ready. They will counter with whatever PH you choose, so RH/LH doesn't really matter.

& Corey starting in CF. None of those 3 should be starting any games @ anytime. With Aram & Cedeno out, I don't have that much of a problem with Neifi, but he should be hitting no higher than 7th. It looks like Dusty has Walker in a platoon situation the last few weeks. My guess is TW is not coming back next year. Dusty has cost this team @ least 10 games singled- handedly by not understanding the purpose of the # 1 & #2 hitters. No Dusty it is not Bunting ability & speed!!!

Sweeney or Branyan would be nice a addition for the bench next year. However, that's what I thought about Hansen when he was invited to ST this year & released in favor of Macias. :shock:

Are all Cardinal fans this big homers? Good Lord. Eckstein is better than Nomar when healthy? Yadier Molina's defense makes up for the massive difference in offense (30 VORP for Barrett versus 8 for Molina)? Grudz is better than Todd Walker? So Taguchi and a bunch of bench guys are better than Burnitz? 2 Cy Young winners? Hey, the Cubs have one in Greg Maddux... yee haw. Mulder may have a Cy Young award but he clearly isn't pitching that way the last two years. Jocketty has proven that he might be the best in MLB? John Schuerholtz has proven that by putting a team on the field that has won their division 12 years in a row. Jocketty has proven that he's good, but come on. It's good that you support your team, but it doesn't make you any less of a fan to see things in an objective manner. The only thing I'd agree with on Wizard's list is that I'd rather have Molina than Barrett. Barrett has been better than Molina by far offensively this year (although citing VORPs doesn't take into account the time Molina missed). I'll take Molina long term; he's a better catcher and he will be better offensively. On the GM front, I think it's safe to say Jocketty was better this year. I didn't like Schuerholz' move to start the year with Mondesi and Jordan in the outfield and the Capellan for Kolb trade was a disaster. His decision to let Drew go obviously turned out to be a good one in hindsight, but they gave up quite a bit to get him for one year. He did rob Beane in the Hudson trade though. Molina will probably be better defensively than Barrett. However, How do you know Molina is going to be better offensively? You don't! Barrett is a very good offensive C. I agree that Jocketty has been a better GM than JH.

If Jones is brought in as a replacement of Patterson, it will be an upgrade. JJ is a very good defensive OF. However, one move they have to make is Brian Giles. He's exactly what the Cubs need. The Cubs & JH will have plenty of cash to work with this off-season.

I agree that he has come up with some timely hits. Unfortunately, with a better hitter at the top, DLee's RBIs increase, putting us in fewer critical late game situations. What the hell does that mean? someone who gets on base hitting at the top of the order means we score more runs so we aren't tied 2-2 in the 8th So hits in the late innings like Perez just got don't mean anything? One has nothing to do with the other. It sounds like people will say anything rather than give Perez credit for anything. Neifi has a .310 OBP (which at times was below .300 earlier this season). He's been bad. Not as bad as Corey, but Neifi hasn't gotten on base. Being placed in the 2-hole for much of the season has hampered the offense. I agree that Neifi should not be hitting in the 2 hole @ anytime. However, he has been much better this year than I would ever have expected. Some people here won't acknowledge the good things Neifi has done for this team b/c of the unexcusable hate they have for him. He has been a far better asset for this team than has Corey & it's not even close.

He's probably starting to figure out that the Cubs will not pick-up his option for next year.

Chi Cubs AB R H RBI BB K LOB Season Avg J. Hairston Jr. cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .266 R. Cedeno ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .280 D. Lee 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .344 N. Garciaparra 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .270 M. Barrett c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .280 J. Burnitz rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .268 N. Perez 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .286 M. Murton lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 C. Zambrano p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .265

Getting anything for CPatt is a +. Keeping him on the roster for 06' will only hurt the Cubs. He's pathetic! Why the majority of people here, don't understand that yet, is beyond me! Good riddance, Corey! His approach @ the plate hasn't changed in 2 years! Why would it change in 06'?

It boggles my mind why somebody would want to sign J. Jones, who isn't much of an offensive CF himself. He's making $5 million now, and could easily demand $7+ in this market. I don't think either Corey or Jones is a good option. I think the guy Hendry could be targeting to play CF is Preston Wilson, who is a free agent after this season. If his knee holds up, he is a good fielder with a very decent arm. On the plate side, he has a low OBP, but decent SLG, so I would bat him 6th/7th if I managed him. I could see Hendry giving him a 1-2 year deal in the $5-6M per year range. I will say this: similar to the Burnitz situation coming into this season, signing Wilson only makes sense in conjunction with signing (e.g. Giles) or trading for (e.g. Dunn) a corner OF, who will put up better OPS than Preston. If the Cubs sign Preston, and he happens to lead all Cub OFs in the OPS category, it will be another long season. On the other hand, if the Cubs opening day OF is Giles, Wilson and Murton, then very good things could be on tap. Hoops IIRC, JH is high on Wilson. If healthy he might be a good fit & could put up some nice power numbers @ Wrigley. I do agree Wilson or Jones should only be options if the Cubs get Giles. I'd rather have JHJR as the Cubs starting CF than the K or pop out player they have now.

I am so sick of stop gap OF's. Hendry has to trade or sign an impact corner OF or 2006 will be just like 2005. That's why B.Giles is a must sign!

As a longtime Corey supporter who would like to see him given one last chance, I have to admit that I completely understand where you're coming from. It's very difficult to justify bringing him back. The only good reasons I can think of is there aren't any good available CF to replace him, and Felix Pie should not break camp with this team next year. He missed half of this season and prior to this season he wasn't exactly lighting up the stat sheets. I'd rather have him in AA or even AAA next April, showing that the first half of 2005 was for real. I'd like to see an improvement in plate discipline, most notably in the k/bb ratio, and he still needs work on the baserunning. Remember, the majors isn't a place to learn, at least that's what the manager thinks, and if he hasn't shown the willingness or ability to develop any other kids, there's no reason to think he'll do so with Pie. There's still an outside shot that Corey could have a decent season next year, if only they'd stop trying to turn him into Otis Nixon. No, I don't have much confidence in that happening, but I don't see much of a realistic alternative either. Sign Giles & J.Jones & either bench CPatt or send him back to the minors. He is no longer a capable big league hitter, which his performance the last two years has proven. His defense is stellar, but the big league is meant for good overall players & CPatt is no where close to the major league level for a hitter. He does not belong on anyone's big league club. I still don't get why anyone would still consider starting this guy in CF for 06! It boggles my mind. Everyone's entitles to their opnion, I guess!

I agree with everything you said except CPatt. Why would you want someone on the roster who is completely healthy & has a .260 OBP & has 19 walks & 103 K's in limited AB's? I don't get it!

Seriously, can we please cut Corey now? Cut him, release him, designate him for assignment----anything to end his career as a Cub. There's no question he would rather not take another at bat as a Cub. And frankly I don't care to see him take another at bat as a Cub. End it already. It's over. Amen to that! I doubt he would even crack anyone's big league roster!

Why? B/C CPatt's a major liability offensively. He is clearly not big league material. An absolute joke @ the plate. The games don't matter anymore. Wouldn't it make sense to have Corey try and improve his trade value(or earn a spot on next year's team, however you look at it)? We pretty much know what we've got with Hairston. Besides, with the defensive differential, Hairston's only marginally better than Patterson on the whole. I agree we should be taking a look at both Patterson and Murton to see what we want to do with them next year. Hasn't the CPatt experiment already been run into the ground? Time for the Cubs to cut their losses & get rid of this head case! PLAY MURTON BENCH K PATTERSON!!!