BigbadB

Get the pitchforks out. This year's Jacque Jones just made a mistake. Let the avalanche begin. didn't see much from the anti-theriot crowd after his game-winning rbi yesterday. plus, isn't it generally a good idea to try to hit the ball hard? that's what he did in the 8th inning; unfortunately it was a line drive right at helton and it was a dp. I've taken a back seat to who should actually start since both are playing well and the team is playing well, but do you honestly believe that the ball Theriot hit in the 8th inning was a hard hit ball? That's not the way I saw it. And I will admit that Theriot has hit some balls hard these past few weeks.

Quoted for the purpose of adding the switching out of starters for the 7 start rule.

Soriano was on pace to score 115 runs last year, playing a good portion of the season with a bad wheel. Jose Reyes (speedy, decent OBP, lead off hitter) scored 119. Grady Sizemore scored 118. Curtis Granderson scored 122 runs. Brian Roberts scored 103 runs last year. All of these guys had healthy wheels last year and didn't miss any significant time. Soriano scores just as much as most other lead off hitters. It does not hurt the Cubs offense to have Soriano lead off.

If he was in LF today, all I can say is he could pass for DeRosa's twin.

I would take it a bit farther. I think you should be able to: Switch out a player who has the ambulance symbol. Switch out a player if you have someone coming off the DL, assuming the DL player is replacing the guy you want to want to remove from your line up. Switch out a player who has been benched by the major league team for a number of reasons, like bereavement, suspension, lost his starting job, sent to minors, etc..... Suckiness just doesn't cut it, IMO.

the reason it was brought up in the earlier thread was because a relief pitcher was sucking. i was just surprised that someone other than me had a relief pitcher that sucked...i thought i cornered that market. I thought that this was revolving around the injured player talk, and if he had to be DL'ed or what to replace him. Never thought about the sucking. The sucking would allow you to take out daily and make changes when ever you want. Exactly. A guy who is expected to put up zero points tomorrow (due to his team being off that day) would be expected to be sucky that day, therefore a replacement would be in order. Thus, daily roster changes. To me, I like the fact you are stuck with a sucky player all week because you were dumb enough to put a sucky player in your line up to begin with. If the sucky player gets hurt or if the team actually converts your sucky player into a bench player, only then should you be able to get the suckiness out of your line up.

that's funny because it's true What's even funnier is he actually came closer to hitting a pick off throw than a pitch right down the middle of the plate.

I'm skeptical. I do not like what Soriano brings to the table, and he doesn't get on base enough for me. I hope Lou finds his balls and banishes him to be the best 5-7 hitter in the MLB. Getting on base is only part of the equation. In the bigger picture, scoring runs is the most important stat in baseball, because runs win games, hits and walks do not. Last year, Soriano led the team in runs scored and he only played in 135 games. He drove himself in 33 times via the home run. He had 45 doubles and 5 triples. Theriot, Fontenot or Reed Johnson will not provide that kind of production, so why let those guys step to the plate more often than Soriano? If Theriot, Fontenot or Johnson could provide a really good OBP, then I might join the battle to move Soriano down in the order. But, they aren't assured to have an OBP any better than what Soriano provides, therefore it makes much more sense to bat Soriano at the top and allow his bat more opportunities to manufacture runs. I would also argue that if you had better hitters hitting in the 6-8 in the line up, which the Cubs can very easily do with the current roster, Soriano would have a shot at 100 RBI as a lead off hitter. He had 95 in Washington as mostly a lead off hitter with a whole bunch of really crappy hitting teammates. Technically, he scored 102 runs in 131 games and he drove in 81 as a lead off hitter that year. Soriano fits the mold much like Curtis Granderson and Jimmy Rollins. Neither of those guys put up stellar OBP's, but the XBH power generates a lot of runs. Guys who can generate runs with such ease should be occupying line up spots that give them as many opportunities as possible. Period.

Yeah, I don't understand why non injury related substitutions are happening. Basically, this opens the door to daily substitutions since the definition of sucky can be a pretty wide open interpretation. And I didn't think we wanted daily substitutions.

The long list of Latin American players who struggle in cooler weather at the beginning of a baseball season is quite lengthy. Many have started heating it up of late, and I don't see any reason why Soriano would be any different once he comes off the DL. The Cubs won plenty of games last year with Soriano leading off and I'm sure they will win plenty of games this year with Soriano leading off. It's not the most ideal of situations to have one of your worst OBP guys hitting at the top of the order, but let's not pretend we are talking about Neifi Perez here. Soriano makes up for his poor OBP by supplying a healthy SLG. And as the argument has been debated long enough, the answer never changes. Lead off is not a position. It's simply a spot in the order. In a typical game, the lead off hitter might only hit "lead off" one time in an entire game. If I were filling out a line up card, the best hitters on the team would be receiving the most at bats, and the way to get the most at bats is to bat them ahead of the poorer hitters on the team. In other words, I want Soriano at the plate more often than Ryan Theriot. Period. An argument can be made that next year it might be a good idea to put a guy who doesn't do well in cooler weather down in the order, but I think we'll be fine with Soriano once his bat heats up. Soriano seems to feel more comfortable hitting first in the line up. With a much better looking 6-8, Soriano should see more RBI opportunities along with a better bench pinch hitting in the 9 spot. I'm very pleased with how well the Cubs have played without one of the better hitters in the line up for the last few weeks. Nothing would thrill me more than when some of these guys start cooling off, Soriano starts heating it up.

I might start Pie in CF even though the Rockies are starting a lefty tonight. That spacious outfield is dying for a good defensive CF to track down Rich Hill fly balls.

I know I'd much rather hear "we want players that will get us to the World Series" over "we want players who can catch the ball"

This is so that he can score on a sacrifice fly. Oh, wait...... :D

I would not trade a good starter for a closer in a keeper league unless I got a decent position player along with the closer. In the world of closers, someone new steps up to be a closer just about every week. Look at teams who have struggling closers. Those players could end up being dropped or replaced. I'd comb the other teams and look for closers that are currently benched and offer up a reserve offensive player and keep your rotation intact.

Today looks like a big day for Juan. 4 starters (Morales, Cain, Lowe and Arroyo) will possibly dictate whether this will be a showdown to the end or a blow out. I'm out of town on Sunday through Saturday of this coming week, so I won't be around to see how it finishes. I'll just have to hope I have a commanding lead on Saturday. And I'll have to hope everyone is healthy next week because I won't be around to bench anyone.

I don't have a problem letting superstitions take a back seat for once. They aren't real.

How serious is Cliff Floyd's injury?

Yes. I mean, what could possibly be better than to have our noses rubbed in the hopes that a Cubs prospect achieves success at the major league level by a supposed fellow Cub fan? Stay classy, Hardcore! :roll:

No he doesn't. Maybe, but probably not. No, he doesn't, and I'm not sure it's even close. Maybe, but again, probably not. I admire your keen ability to distinguish between sarcasm and reality.

Yes. But, I'd prefer to see him at 2nd.

Now I see what you're referencing. Just wasn't clear how we got to Coco Crisp since it seemed to be more a debate about what if any value Lofton or Bonds would add to this club. The answer to either is not much since neither would have a true spot to play once Soriano comes back in little over a week. Agreed. Besides, we are facing 4 lefties in the next 6 games. Murton will be fine filling in for Soriano during that time.

This seems misplaced. Though I agree San Deigo needs Crisp much more than the Cubs do now. It probably is misplaced. But it was more of a response to the person who referenced Gammons stopping the Crisp to Chicago nonsense.

Rich Aurilia and Omar Vizquel are the Giants infield of the future. :D

San Diego is the team that should be shopping for Coco Crisp. They really screwed up when they picked up Edmonds to play CF. From what I've seen so far, Edmonds looks like he has lost several steps, which doesn't bode well for him when you consider how he positions himself. I've seen balls drop in front of him and balls get over his head. Yesterday, on a double steal attempt, Josh Bard rifled the ball to 2nd and only because Khalil got a nice bounce did he glove it. What was Edmonds doing on the stolen base attempt? He certainly wasn't backing up the play. If the ball gets by Greene, the guy on 3rd scores easily. The Padres need Coco Crisp.

Sam Fuld equals Carlos Gomez. Sean Marshall equals Philip Humber Jose Ceda equals Deolis Guerra Billy Petrick equals Kevin Mulvey Now that Johan has incensed the Mets organization, think they'll take that offer? :D