biittner77

It's embarassing if you're being paid $18M and you're hitting 8th. Which is why I would not be surprised at all to see Soriano bat 3rd so he cane be protected by Lee Theriot Pie Soriano Lee Ramirez Fukudome Derosa Soto That lineup would make sense to someone like Lou Piniella. It has some L-R balance, speed at the top and allows Soriano to use his power for good instead of the evil solo HR that is so terrible.

Which is worse, people mentioning that player x is on my fantasy team or someone mentioning a Cubs mi nor leaguer in an unrelated discussion?

I don't think he has a ton a value at this point anyways. I think he has more value to the Cubs as a spare part than what they have been offered for him in a trade. It sucks for him personally but the Cubs are better off keeping him.

I'm curiuos to see what they do against the 1st RH starter they face. If they play Pie in CF- as they should- that still leaves 4 guys Cedeno, Johnson, Derosa and Theriot for 3 spots. That's not even counting Murton. So who's the odd man out? Theriot Pie Lee Ramirez Fukudome Derosa- LF Soto Cedeno

He must have meant 2 games. Which is good for Gooney since he'll be able to see his 2nd favorite team play his Mets 4 times at Shea. :-"

Jim's main fault in this regard was Dusty, not the player selection. The 2003 and 2004 teams had several veterans with solid OBPs (not great) that underperformed in OBP under Dusty's command because of the philosophy enforced, and the loss of playing time for not hitting. Dusty had too much influence over player decisions in his last two years, and Hendry's worst decisions seemed to all occur during these years. Extremist thinking paints Hendry as a man obsessed with tools and lineup formulas (RH/LH, Speed at 1, etc) and nothing else, but there are numerous personnel decisions throughout his tenure that show more balanced thinking than that, including guys with plate patience and disciplined hitting (highlighted by Lee, Fukudome, Walker, Lofton, Kendall). I'd put him squarely in moderate old school, not on the extreme, with a willingness to flow with his scouting roots (which infers a willingness to embrace aspects of new school numbers). Hoops saw Hendry at a AA game during 2004 and he reportedly said "I don't pay much attention to on base percentage". I think that's still mostly true. He got Lee because he could hit for average and for power. He got ramirez because he was basically free in terms of player costs. Lofton already had a reputation as a good lead off man which Hendry clearly does not equate with OBP (see the Pierre trade and the Soriano signing for evidence) He got Fukudome because he wanted a LH hitter. That he gets on base is a bonus in Hendry's eyes. I used to think that a lot of Baker and Hendry's outrageous comments about OBP were in defense of players they already had. A year on BBTN for Baker proved I was wrong.

I only remember the good times. Remember that time when he got that hit? That sure came out of nowhere.

That was Mark Kanges. I don't post there anymore, so I don't know if he does. I was counting on you to remember his name.

Hill, Soriano, Wuertz and Colvin for Santana. They can have all those guys for less than they're paying Santana. Wuertz solves their set up problem. Hill is a nice addition to their rotation and Soriano replaces the aged Moises Alou in LF. They bat him 5th after Beltran and their lineup looks like: Reyes Castillo Wright Beltran Soriano Delgado Church Catcher- is it Snyder? P That looks pretty good to me

There was a guy on Cubs.com that used to tape every game. I'd try there if no one here can help you. These days I'd guess most people use a DVR rather than VHS but the guy from Cubs.com probably still does.

The O's make it a point to do 10 illogical things before breakfast. Also Andy MacPhail is their GM. They are off to a good start but have sputtered a little. This would be one of those "See, we really are trying to win this year" type moves for the fans.

I'll put this question out there for everyone: If Soriano and Ramirez started the season hitting well would Pie have gotten more starts?

The problem right now for Pie is that the Cubs, Piniella are more concerned with who leads off than what's best for the future of the franchise. I for one don't buy the line that Piniella will be loyal to Reed Johnson the rest of the year because of one good month. Yes, he was loyal to Theriot last year but he did drop him down in the order later in the season. Pie's future depends more on Tyler Colvin than Reed Johnson at this point. If Colvin can make some strides this year at AA Pie gets that much more expendable for that last piece to the puzzle come the trade deadline. Finally, the Cubs did face LH starters the last 2 days. Lets see what happens against the next RH starter. I'm thinking (hoping) it looks like this: Theriot (this may be the only production we get from him, might as well take advantage) Fukudome Lee Ramirez Soto Derosa Murton Pie P

This. This x 2 - except that he lost me during the whole Merker vs. Broadcasters thing. He lost me when he decided to tape a live grenade to Chad Fox's shoulder. augmented

A couple other things. How many AL teams have a full time DH? I don't watch many AL games so I have no idea what teams like KC, Seattle, etc do in this role. 2nd question, doesn't the DH favor big market teams? A full time DH gets paid a starter's salary. Smaller market teams you'd have to think wouldn't be able to afford to pay another starter. So teams like Boston and NY get a much better extra player in their lineup that they can stash away from the rest of the league.

I'd say it's pretty close with catchers. Of course it probably won't happen anytime soon but I could see a time when they added a 2nd DH so that Catchers didn't have to hit. Actually that would be a lot more interesting than 1 DH for the pitcher if you allowed the team to choose which position didn't have to hit that day.

First person to post only his name in capital letters is banned.

So you're saying that there are zero teams that would trade Frank Thomas offense for his bad defense at 1st base? The easiest position on the field? The #1 position for hiding a guy that can hit but can't field or run a lick? Really?

Yeah it could of been handled a better way. It was a total dick move by the ESPN guy. I can sympathize with a 19 year old Tejada doing whatever he can to catch a break (and how pathetic is it that he had to lie about his age to convince somebody to sign him). But he's been misrepresenting his age to employers and potential employers for years, why is it wrong for ESPN to expose him? Could the Cubs void his contract over this?

This past series really summarizes the Dusty Baker experience: get blown out in the first two games of the series, then hit a bunch of HRs to avoid the sweep, then take credit for a young player having a good game, then reward that young player with a couple days off.

Peter Gammons wrote: Peter Gammons also wrote: More recently, Peter Gammons wrote:

That's some ugly equivocation. Bad-hitting MI or Cs are nowhere near the level of pitchers. You're missing the point. People say they'd rather watch Travis Hafner hit than a pitcher. A more accurate statement would be they'd rather see Henry Blanco hit than a pitcher. Of course crappy position players are still better than most pitchers but they aren't all that much fun to watch. In fact I'd rather watch a pitcher try to hit because he does it's a bonus whereas a position player ought to be able to hit. When they can't it's that much worse.

Baseball < 1900 pretty much isn't even recognized anymore. "Throw your best apple, Hurler." "If that pitch were any lower, I'd have to dig to hades itself to hit the apple."

The only really compelling argument for the DH is that it prevents people like Dusty Baker from overmanaging games. The "I'd rather watch Travis Haffner, Frank Thomas, David Ortiz" argument ignores the fact that these guys could all play somewhere else 1st base/ LF if they had too. The other part of that argument " I don't want to see a pitcher K or bunt" ignores the reality of crappy hitting MI or C that play for some AL teams who do a lot of bunting or striking out.

Speaking of walks, how did Hart manage to walk C-Patt last night?