GaborBako

It is when your arm is terrible. And to the other guy who compared it to Ramirez improving at third base. The difference is that Ramirez always had the tools to be a good third baseman. You can't learn to have a good arm, you either have one or you don't. Murton's a mediocre defender in left, and is going to have to find a new team if he's ever going to play again. This is the first time you've mentioned arm in your stance against Murton's defense. Like I said, there have been glowing reports of him doing well at AAA, including one play where he ran down a fly ball in foul territory then gunned down a guy at 3rd. We aren't talking about Juan Pierre type arm strength here. And again, we have to relate his ability against what we have. Floyd can barely touch his toes without pulling something anymore, and he's not about to uncork any laserbeams from the corner to gun down baserunners either. And yet, Floyd is playing right in Chicago and Murton is in Des Moines. Those reports must be glowing. So glowing that Jake Fox ended up in Chicago instead of the red headed stepchild.

http://allstar.rotoworld.com/scb/lm/reports/player.asp?sport=BB&Leaguenum=9592&Mode=&X=7670&Y=0 That quote is from April 26. What does that prove? That three months ago Lou wasn't sure that Theriot could play short? He seems to be sure he can now.

It is when your arm is terrible. And to the other guy who compared it to Ramirez improving at third base. The difference is that Ramirez always had the tools to be a good third baseman. You can't learn to have a good arm, you either have one or you don't. Murton's a mediocre defender in left, and is going to have to find a new team if he's ever going to play again.

You are right, it is the high altitude of the road parks in the PCL that contains the secret to that potent I-Cubs lineup. Murton's home average: .379 Murton's road average: .229 Pie's home average: .414 Pie's road average: .333 Cedeno's home average: .404 Cedeno's road average: .292 Des Moines' altitude is 944 feet, nearly one fifth of a mile. Must be why the ball is jumping. Look, I like Matt Murton, he was very impressive as a rookie in 2005, even if all of his numbers dropped in his first full season (most glaringly a 70 point drop in slugging). He probably didn't get enough at bats consistently enough this year, but there was a reason for it. When Soriano moved to left full-time, there was no place for Murton. He can't play right field. He makes Cliff look like Vlad Guerrero out there. You can ignore it all you want, but he dropped two routine flyballs in only 20 starts in right. Lou doesn't trust him and obviously doesn't want him around. The Cubs need another offensive player, but Murton's not the answer, because there is nowhere for him to play on defense. Oh, and nice try blaming Quade for the preponderance of baserunning gaffes by Murton. If you're on third and you have to wait for your coach to tell you to go on a grounder to the middle infield it's already too late. Murton's a high average hitter who is below average in every other facet of the game.

Sure, except this Ryan Church bats lefty, can catch a flyball and score from third on a ball hit to shortstop. The only valid argument in that post is that he is a left handed bat. I guess I imagined Murton dropping two routine flyballs in right field. I guess I imagined the three times early in the season when his crippling indecision as a runner at third cost the Cubs runs. All you need to know about his future with the Cubs is that Lou has referred to him on several occasions as "the guy who played a little right field for us earlier in the year." Lou hasn't spoken Murton's name since he left. They called up the great Jake Fox and then Scott Moore instead of Murton. Lou's "get me somebody who can run the bases and catch the ball tirade" was directed just as much at Murton as it was Barrett. I know Murton's hitting .326 at Iowa. Good for him. I also know that Felix Pie and Ronny Cedeno are hitting .372 and .360 there. Apparently Des Moines has sprung a mountain range since we last looked and the I-Cubs are playing at altitude, it's the only explanation for why guys who can barely hit their weight in Chicago are excelling down there. Murton's only position is left field and that's booked for the next seven and a half years. Try not to get too attached.

Sure, except this Ryan Church bats lefty, can catch a flyball and score from third on a ball hit to shortstop.

Right, why would you get excited when the team you root for posts the best record in baseball over a 40 game span? Take a look at the rest of the Cubs' schedule. There will be very few teams on it who "stink" less than they do. Three with the Mets, three with Milwaukee and four with the Dodgers. All at home. Those are the only teams with a better record than the Cubs left on the schedule. You can throw in the Diamondbacks and Phillies to be fair (the Cubs have passed them both). That's three at home with Arizona, four at home with the Phillies and three out in Phoenix. That's it. Time to get overly excited. 71 games left, 20 against teams over .500.

Mets fans are really fretting over their OF situation. Alou, Beltran and Green have all been banged up, while most think Alou is completely done. They've had a couple kids up but none of them have done much. I could definitely see them having interest in Jones. Hey Omar traded Kazmir for Zambrano so who knows what they would fork over... :) That was Steve Phillips I believe. Actually, it was Jim Duquette.

Why pay him for two months when he can't play?

Give garbage, get garbage. Good riddance to the dumbest player in baseball.

I don't think the Tribe is looking to trade Michaels. They signed Trot Nixon and David Dellucci to play against righties with Michaels spelling one of them against lefties. Soriano volunteered to play center during the Cubs Convention to the surprise of Lou and Hendry. The only promise was that after a few weeks of spring training if he wasn't getting comfortable they'd move him. But you'd think that would likely mean him going to right and he's never played there, either. We better just hope he learns to like center. At Wrigley it shouldn't be much of a problem, there's less ground to cover in center than in most parks and it's the easiest sun field of the three, with right being one of the worst in all of baseball to play there. Plus, center is typically easier because batted balls tend to have less severe hooks or slices when they are hit to center. Some of the bigger outfields in road parks could be an adventure for all three parts of this defensively challenged outfield.

He's struggled since he got shot. Probably not a coincidence.

Where do the Cubs go from here? Fourth place.

I think the biggest downside is that Dusty will play Wilson AND Jock, not one or the other putting Murton on the bench.

That's right, because Guzman, Bedard and Hill are so much younger than Prior.

Q. What do the Cubs and Pirates have in common? Clear shots at 90 losses in 2006?

I'm sure Milton, the switch hitter, is going to love being platooned.

I heard the interview and this is not what Nightengale said. What he said was that the Mets needed a third team to do any deal for Manny. He then said that if the Mets got Manny and still had Cliff Floyd that the Cubs would probably want to trade for Floyd. He never said anything about the Cubs being in a three-way deal involving Manny.

Why? LoDuca is a career .285/.339/.417 hitter, which is merely decent for a catcher, he's not that special behind the plate, he's 33, and remember that catchers age early, and he's got $12.5m owed him over the next two years. Well, at least he's a real clubhouse guy. I agree that LoDuca's overrated. I just wish Michael Barrett was actually better than him. It'd be interesting to see the Cubs put Barrett on the block see what they can get for him and then get in on signing Hernandez or Molina.

Seconded, I know, Wood on the DL at some point of 2006 is a certainty but, when healthy there's no denying he's one the best pitchers in Baseball. As selfish as it sounds, I'd rather see him on the DL for the Cubs than go on to Texas and have a healthy season. Pretty safe bet you'll get your wish.

Soriano will probably get 10 million this year in arbitration. I want no part of that, as he fills none of our needs. Soriano road splits 2005: .224 .265 .374 .639 Soriano raod splits 2004: .244 .291 .444 .735 Scar-ee. Don't put too much stock into his home/road splits. He put up the same numbers (better actually) in Yankee Stadium, and A-Rod's home/road splits with Texas were out of whack (though he was A-Rod so they were good, but he hit much better at home). That's not to say that Soriano's the answer to any of the Cubs' questions. But the home road stuff isn't that important in this case.

I think they're using something similar to the Hendry Wheel of Misfortune: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/eriklj/wheelofmisfortune.jpg :lol: That image is terrific. Even better though in its original context. http://www.desipio.com/2005/11/09/jim-hendrys-wheel-of-misfortune/

I'm surprised there's a z in surprised.

Players who are 10-5 guys or who have negotiated no-trades do not have to accept a waiver assignment. You can waive them, a team can claim them, you can decide you don't want to pull them back, but if the player (for example Junior) doesn't want to play for the team who claimed him, he can refuse and stay in Cincinnati, and he cannot be put on waivers again during this season. Players without 10-5 rights or no-trades have no choice if a claim is put on them and their current team doesn't reclaim them from the waiver wire.

Manny certainly knew he was involved in the trade talks for A-Rod. In fact one night when it looked like it was going to happen he apparently called John Henry and begged to not be traded. He has, however requested a trade in each of the last four seasons. He thinks Boston, while a big city, is too "small" and that in his mind going to New York would actually give him more privacy, what with there being two NY teams, etc. Nobody ever said Manny wasn't nuts. The Red Sox main motivation for trading him now is that after this season he becomes a 10-5 guy which will hurt their options and right now he has 65 million guaranteed dollars left on that huge contract he signed five years ago and the Sox know if they will eat about $5 million a year that they have a window (which likely closes Sunday at 3 p.m. our time) where they can actually get value for him, since $15 million per year for three years is probably something a team (like the Mets) can justify paying him.