BigbadB

He didn't say he wanted to be traded to a contender. He assumes that if he is traded, it will most likely be to a contender. Who else trades for a pitcher in the last year of his contract at the trade deadline? He was just giving the typical "I love it here and I hope to be here all year" company line.

I've never believed the argument that batting order has very little effect on run production. How many more RBI would Derrek Lee have had last year with 2 .400 OBP guys hitting 1st and 2nd in the order? How many more RBI would Neifi Perez have had? How many more RBI would Burnitz have had? Good OBP gets wasted when it is followed by poor AVG/SLG. There is a particular reason that it makes sense to have good OBP guys hitting first in the game. There is also a particular reason that it makes sense to have your biggest boppers hitting directly behind those guys. And just less than 1 run is a significant increase offensively. Just less than a run a game would propel this Cub team from 30th in the league to 10-12th in run production. That is very significant.

I'm the killer BBB. :D

For the record, I was ragging on Jacque Jones before he ever stepped into a batter's box with a Cub uniform on. If it was a 1 year deal, I wouldn't have complained. He's playing better than I expected at this point, and I will give him credit for that. However, this organization's lack of ability to fill holes these last few years is what makes the Jones signing worse than it should have been. If Jones and Murton were a platoon tandem in LF all year and there was a stud RF, I doubt Jones would get ridden as much as he has. You're right with Grieve. For a pinch hitter, he doesn't make enough contact. The Kelton, Choi and Cruz lovefests, for the most part, are fans of a team that want nothing more than to see this teams minor league system blossom. Heck, who doesn't want that. What I don't understand is why you aren't more interested in having discussions like this one about this team. To me, you seem more interested in flaming posters by tossing out Choi and Grieve every chance you get. Just because you don't agree with someone doesn't mean we all have the same opinions. That's what these message boards are. A place to form and announce those opinions. Agree or disagree. Your Todd Walker thread wasn't started as a debate about whether Walker should be DFA'd. It was started to incite posters. How do I know this? Because you tossed out names like Grieve and Choi in the first post of that thread, as if they have ANYTHING to do with Todd Walker. I can take Todd Walker or leave him. I've hollered loud that he needs to shut his cake hole and just play ball. At the same time, I think he's the best option we have at 2nd base. I also think that part of his lack of focus is partially to the way he's treated by this organization. Call it a fault, but I can't really blame him. And I most certainly can't put any more blame on this sorry excuse for a team any more than anyone else that has anything to do with this team. The problems start with upper management and stop with the players.

I'm not bold enough to predict that he'll improve on his numbers. I do know that we're close to the 3/5 point of the season, and he's been horrible at getting on base. I want someone who is consistent all year at setting up the big production guys. He's a great guy, but he needs to be a great guy somewhere else. When he was a .360+ OBP guy, he had value. He isn't providing that value now. If I thought he could be a .360+ OBP guy again, I might have a change of heart. But, there is nothing in his approach at the plate that would lead me to believe he can be that guy again.

Juan Pierre is on pace to play every game this year and score 80 runs. That is absolutely unacceptable from a lead off hitter. 80 runs from the lead off spot is what I would expect to see from a last place team. His .322 OBP is slightly worse than his .326 OBP last year. As long as Pierre is a Cub, he will lead off. The Cubs need to go out and find someone who can get on base. Bringing Pierre back would not even remotely enter my mind in discussions about the 2007 team. I'd trade Pierre for whatever I can get and call it a loss. Of course, if I was the GM, Pierre never would have been here in the first place. At least not at the cost of 3 pitching prospects.

Hasn't Oakland gone through a lot of injuries on offense? Ellis, Crosby, Chavez, Thomas, Bradley just off the top of my head?

Steve Finley was brought in as a 4th outfielder. Randy Winn would be there normally. Finley would mostly be spelling Bonds in LF if everyone was healthy. Tavares is Pierre, but league minimum. Patterson makes 1/3 of what Pierre makes. Brady Clark, Gabe Gross and Anthony Gwynn make less than half what Pierre makes, and all 3 are probably capable of providing equal or better OBP. Jose Bautista in Pittsburgh has a better OBP. My point is that Pierre makes way too much money for so little. If Pierre could provide a .360+ OBP, I'd shut up and let him play. He hasn't come near that number since 2004.

Nope. Murton makes league minimum, so that kind of production is acceptable. Pierre is getting big dollars.

Because Ronny Cedeno, our most ready rookie right now (not counting Murton-he's had a little more service time) certainly is playing as well as Pierre-except that's not true, and the gap is widening every single day. So no, the minors are not full of guys who can provide Pierre's production. I'm sorry. I wasn't referring to just "our" minors. Just about every team has a guy that could provide CF production that Juan Pierre has provided. I was referring to the fact that Juan Pierre 2006 production could easily be matched by minimum salary replacement. I think the Cubs could put Buck Coats or Sam Fuld in CF tomorrow and you wouldn't have much of a drop off. Is it worth 6m or more to bring Pierre back when you can the same production from a rookie? Cedeno is a SS and he's hitting exactly like I expected he would.

Whoops. I missed that. Anyway, Juan Pierre 2006 is easy to replace. The minors are flooded with guys who can provide Juan Pierre 2006 production.

Besides getting someone to play CF in a trade, what internal option is there? Pie is far from ready. He certainly isn't a good lead-off option. I would love for Hendry to improve upon Pierre in CF, but he may have to do so via the trade. Is there someone I'm not thinking of? Adam Greenberg?

Wow.

I don't think Hendry could have written that article any better, himself. I believe Phil Rogers has a steak dinner coming, courtesy of the Cubs GM.

I keep forgetting, are the free agent rankings based on 2 or 3 years? If it's this year and last year, I could see Pierre ranked as a B rather than an A. Clement and Nomar were both ranked B's after their time with the Cubs.

What blows me away is how Dusty can continue giving the bunt sign on the first pitch after Pierre gets a single. That might be the dumbest call in the history of sports, and he does it frequently. Why? Waste an out to get a guy to 2nd base that 9 times out of 10 Pierre can get without anyone else's help. Not only is this team horrible in relation to OBP, but they also waste precious outs way too often when they do have runners on base.

Can we get some really bad Muzak piping through the speaker system of this virtual waiting room, already? Just having to hang out in here just isn't enough pain. Thank you!

Sorry for shouting, but....... WHERE IS THE LOVE FOR THE 'HORN? Geez!

Wait a minute. The Cubs are off again tomorrow?

A lot of those power guys provide good OBP, though. A power guy with a good OBP is better than a non power guy with a good OBP.

There was a lot to evaluate today. It might take a few weeks to get through all that data.

Mmm. That would require scoring runs against a soft tossing lefty. That's quite a stretch.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm cheering Dusty to have the worst season in baseball history. I do applaud Dusty's new way to lose a ball game today. 2 Grand Poobah's in the same inning. :cheers:

And here is where this argument ends. The Cubs are not a very good team.

Meanwhile, Jacque Jones has been gunned down by outfielders as many or more times than all of our outfielders have assists. :roll: It had to be said. #-o