BigbadB

Here comes Verlander. :D He was facing the Royals, but the guy was throwing 99 MPH in the 9th inning yesterday.

Well, my team is 0-7, but is my team really "that" bad? My opponents have scored more than 2100 points against me. That's more than 100 points more than opponents have scored against any other team. 6 teams have scored less points at this point in the season. A little bit unlucky, I'd say. Not saying I have a good team. Just that they aren't necessarily as bad as the record shows. The Cubs, on the other hand, are much worse than their record shows.

Yep. I mentioned Loretta, Bradley and Crisp. And I could go on and on with players with better OBP's than the scrubs the Cubs gathered this offseason. I just listed a bunch off the top of my head. Ethier tearing it up is hindsight, plain and simple. Don't even go there. Marte is a great prospect. So is Pie. So is a combination of Nolasco and Marshall. Look at tonights box score. How many walks did the Marlins draw? How many did the Cubs draw? How do the walks compare with the outcome of the game. Sure, batting average and power are good too, but a whole team of guys who have no clue about patience at the plate will give you exactly what you are getting from this Cubs team. I don't want a whole team of guys who do nothing but walk. Don't even go there with me. I want guys who can hit, can draw a walk when there is nothing good to hit, and when they do hit, they hit for a respectable average. A 100m payroll team can afford to have those kinds of players throughout their line up. Heck, the Florida Marlins appear to have more patient hitters than the Cubs, and these guys are all fresh out of the minor leagues.

Are they playing the A's?

Beat me to it. Nolasco= 1 HR Pierre= 0

Looking at those numbers, I'd say it's a safe bet Alfonzo will be a Cub very, very soon.

Tampa wanted the world for Lugo and/or Huff. Can you imagine the asking price for Gomes?

The more interesting stat for 3-2 is how many times has each team reached a 3-2 count?

I know there are many people that would argue with me regarding putting people in specific spots in the line up and how it would affect run scoring or producing over a long season. And we will have to agree to disagree. A DH typically hits somewhere in the middle of the batting order. The 9th spot hitter in the AL is typically going to be the worst hitter on the roster. In the NL, yes, the pitcher bats. But, he also gets pinch hit for late in games. I would venture to guess that over the course of a long season, unless a team has 9 solid hitters, the production of lefty/righty pinch hit match ups combined with the pitchers at bats would provide nearly equal production, but the edge would go to the AL #9 hitter. But, there is another reason that teams don't bat the pitcher first in a ball game. Poor OBP. If that reason isn't enough, then consider the fact that the lead off hitter will get another at bat before any other player on the team. Considering this fact, it makes all the sense in the world to bat someone who does a much better job of getting on base than someone who isn't so good at getting on base. I don't find it the slightest bit coincidental that Derrek Lee's 107 RBI was far and away (and not even close) the worst RBI production of any of the players who achieved 99 XBH's or more in a season. I would venture to guess that you could follow down that list all the way to 90 at bats and not find someone with so few RBI's for a guy with that kind of production. If you do find someone who matches that kind of RBI production, I'll bet that person suffered the same lack of OBP. If Lee is the most productive person at driving home runners, I think it would make a tremendous impact on his RBI opportunity if you have sub .300 OBP guys hitting directly in front of him and two .350+ OBP guys hitting directly in front of Henry Blanco and Neifi Perez. Is Perez going to drive in 100+ RBI's with two .350+ OBP guys hitting directly in front of him? If that's the case, why isn't he batting 3rd or 4th in the order? I think what will really happen, is that you boost the amount of GIDP's Perez will ground into. I will agree that moving a bunch of poor OBP guys around in the order isn't going to have as much impact as it would to get rid of the poor OBP guys, but Hendry doesn't appear all that interested in getting good OBP guys. He'd rather have the Juan Pierre's and Jacque Jones and Neifi Perez's in the line up than have good OBP guys. And because of that, this team is going to suffer. I like Ronnie Cedeno, but I knew his OBP was not going to be good. That's what made him the ideal #8 hitter in this line up. A good AVG, but lack of discipline. A bat like that should not be hitting in a key spot in the line up. A bat like that shouldn't be taking up umpteen spots in the line up either, and the Cubs have that with Cedeno, Perez, Jones and Pierre. Did I know they were going to be this bad? No. Do I think they will be better? Yes. Better than last year? Not necessarily. Pierre was coming off a .326 season. Jones has never put up good OBP. All the talk in preseason was that Neifi would be manning 2nd base regularly. I was around the entire offseason. You better believe they were still shopping Walker after the Furcal deal fell through. There was talk of trading him a week before the season started. Cubs brass considered him a malcontent and wanted to be rid of him. He isn't a malcontent. He just wants to win. He does open his mouth more than he should, but most of what he says is dead on. But, what he says is an embarrassment to the people who pay his salary, and they apparently can't have someone pointing out the obvious like that. Where do you play Loretta? 2nd base. If you have Walker and Loretta, you have depth. Something this team completely ignored in the offseason. The bench that Hendry put together this offseason has to be among the very worst in baseball. The San Diego Padres 65m payroll features bench guys that are actually pretty good at being bench guys. Geoff Blum, Eric Young, Mark Bellhorn, Adrian Gonzalez, Ben Johnson and Josh Bard. Gonzalez was thrust into the 1b job when Klesko left for surgery. The Padres didn't miss a beat. They had depth to cover 1b when someone got injured. That team beat the Cubs 7 straight games. And they did it with some rookie pitchers mixed in with veteran pitchers. Most of those pitchers don't hold a candle to the Cubs pitchers, but when Neifi Perez is your replacement for Derrek Lee (instead of Gonzalez for Klesko), what do you expect? Yeah, I felt strongly about Giles. I felt strongly about getting any guys who provided a good OBP, bonus if they also had a good SLG. Jones sucked before they signed him. He still sucks now. What you are seeing out of him today is pretty much his plateau. If that's the best he can offer, pass on the 3 year deal. Swing a deal with the D'Backs for Shawn Green. Swing a deal with some other team looking to move a fairly large contract that provides decent production. Offer the world to Brian Giles. I totally disagree with anyone who says he's in decline. His numbers aren't as good as when he played in a more hitter friendly division (Central), but they are still better numbers than most players on the Cubs provide. But, that argument has been made too many times to get into it again.

Those that dwell in the past have no future. I say the Cubs will be 3 games below .500 by June 1st. I watch the game yesterday and actually like what I saw. It's not over.!! I can understand not dwelling on '05. But, the games that have already been played this year cannot be considered "past" since they still count in the overall standings. Not only do they count in the overall standings, they count negatively towards anything they do the rest of the way. Only the KC Royals have scored less runs than the Cubs. KC has scored 154 to the Cubs 156. The Cubs have played 2 more games than the Royals. So, unless KC gets shut out or only 1 run combined over those two games, the Cubs will officially be the worst team in the league at scoring runs. And when you think about how bad KC is, how bad Pittsburgh is and how young Florida is, it doesn't get much more pathetic than this.

Yep, the White Sox had OBP problems last year too. But, they went out and added an OBP stud. Who did the Cubs get? Jacque Jones, he of the OBP impaired. When the White Sox pitching struggles, their offense will pick them up occasionally. They have tremendous balance now. The Cubs pitchers need to throw shut outs everyday if they want to win.

Yes, the White Sox OBP was pretty putrid last year, also. But, they made the best of their situation. They had an OBP of .338 from the lead off spot, and .335 from the #2 spot, right in front of their big bats. The Cubs, on the other hand, had an OBP of .299 from the lead off spot and a .314 OBP from the #2 hitter, right in front of the big bats. Check this out. The Sox #3 hitters were basically pretty atrocious last year, combining to hit .234 AVG for the season in 624 at bats. The Cubs #3 hitters combined to hit .308 AVG in 633 at bats. Much better than the White Sox, yet the White Sox got more RBI out of the #3 position in the batting order than the Cubs by 10. Suppose that .299 OBP and .314 ahead of them might have had something to do with it? I sure do. Imagine Todd Walker and Matt Murton batting 1/2 (two guys with very respectable OBP's) in the line up most of last year instead of Neifi Perez and Corey Patterson. How many more RBI's would Derrek Lee have put up with his amazing season. That's the difference. The White Sox scored 741 runs last year to the Cubs 703. The Cubs did have a better OBP, but Guillen recognized the importance of putting decent OBP guys in front of the more productive hitters, and they scored more runs than the Cubs. If the Cubs had a clue, they would have focused their energy this offseason on getting guys that are good at getting on base instead of focusing on guys who can catch the ball or on guys who are speedy. This year, the Cubs have an even worse OBP and are at or near the bottom in runs scored. It's not really rocket science. Instead of signing poor OBP guys like Jacque Jones, bring in guys who can get on base. Juan Pierre was coming off a season in which his OBP was .326. They traded 3 prospects for a guy who just had a lousy season. The Padres traded Mark Loretta for Doug Mirabelli, a back up catcher. Loretta is an OBP stud. Hendry couldn't come up with a better offer than that? I certainly believe he could. The problem isn't that he couldn't. It's because he doesn't recognize the value of drawing a walk. And that's truly amazing when you consider how many of our very own pitchers give up walks that eventually turn into runs for the OTHER team. If the Cubs pitching staff was completely healthy and they were as dominant as they all can be, this team would still be hovering around .500 because Hendry focused on speed and defense instead of the ability to get on base. There were players who had speed, good defense AND a tremendous ability to get on base that were available this past offseason, and they are playing for other teams. Milton Bradley and Coco Crisp to name a few. This Cubs management team is blind in one eye and can't see out of the other when it comes to what recognizing how to put a winning team on the field. That's because they do not value a walk. Mark Bellhorn will probably end up as the best lead off hitter this team had in the decade of 2000-2009. He's not fast and he's not all that great defensively. But, the guy sure could get on base. And he scored a ton of runs as a lead off hitter. The best lead off option in 2005 for this Cubs team was Todd Walker. How many times did he bat lead off last year? He logged 2 at bats in the lead off spot last year. Murton had 10 at bats there and had a .364 OBP. The two best options last year to bat first logged 12 at bats, or the equivilent of 3 games. Todd Walker had 228 at bats in the lead off spot in 2004 and in a total of 60 games. His OBP? .370 He scored 45 runs in 60 games. What team wouldn't want a lead off hitter that gets on base 37% of the time? Apparently, the Cubs. Interestingly enough, the Cubs already had their answer at lead off. He makes less than half as much as the guy they traded 3 prospects to get. And he would have been a whole lot better than the guy they traded for. Interestingly enough again, Hendry and Co. tried everything they could to get rid of Walker during the offseason. What should that tell you? Could you imagine how how much worse this team would be without Todd Walker on the roster? I shudder to think. Of course, this team makes me shudder enough as it is, so I'll stop thinking about it.

Florida is going to be sitting pretty by the time they deal Cabrera and Willis. Maybe not this year or next, but very soon they will have balance and depth.

What are they gonna do, set up a fight in the alley after today's game? AJ does nothing after getting clocked, but then he calls out Barrett? A.J. will probably just use Contreras' fastball to get payback. I doubt it since contreras would then be tossed from the game. not to mention he will be batting in wrigley in july. Agreed. The easiest way to get back at Barrett is to put another 7-0 on the Cubs today.

Good Times! The AJ non slide, the Barrett roundhouse, Hill's comments, Guillen's comments. They all mean nothing in the big picture. What has happened is the media has been rerouted to something different to report about, which gives Dusty and Hendry time to breathe. And that's a shame. The Cubs lost this game 7-0. Heads need to roll. Everyone now wants to discuss how Guillen is a tool, while completely ignoring Dusty. I'd trade Dusty for Guillen in a Chicago minute. It's really a no brainer. Your the GM, who do you hire? 1) The guy who is best friends with everyone on the team? The guy who excuses poor fundamentals and actually rewards it with more playing time? The guy who fill out his line up card upside down everyday? The guy who always has a new excuse for why the team is not playing well? The guy who thinks walks clog bases? Or do you want the guy who: 2) Holds players accountable for their mistakes? Gets the most out of his players for fear they will be verbally abused in the Sunday papers? Wins a World Series?

Yep! Only took a month and a half of the 2006 season to make this team the easiest team to hate. Actually, I never did like this team as it was assembled from October of 2005. Completely the wrong direction. I'd trade anyone. Derrek Lee? Yep. I'm embarrassed for him. He should play for a better team. He should play for a team that he doesn't have to dig for excuses day in and day out. He's a class individual and it's horrible that he is stuck here for the next 5 years. Unless they do something NOW! Start firing anyone who believes catching the ball and speed wins games. Pujols is about a half dozen wind blowing in games in Wrigley from passing the entire Cubs team in HR's. But, the only way to truly fix this mess is to go all Florida Marlins on this team. Sell off everyone. Trade them for young talent that haven't achieved their millions yet. Quit bringing in the lazy and uncaring. Quit offering up the big contracts to the talentless guys who don't deserve big contracts. But, if they do this, they need to start with management first.

Wow. They cut some big contract there.

The guy who signed him is a tool.

That's too far down the line to predict whether his arm will still be attached.

Murton=major league minimum Neifi Perez= 8x Murton's salary Rusch= 9x Murton's salary Jacque Jones=18x Murton's salary Shall I continue?

So, other than that, how's your day going? :D

Link please. Welcome back. Haven't seen you around much lately.

Just wow.

Every team in sports has injuries. Good teams can over come them, especially with a good front office who prepares for them. Let's look at the other side of town. Last year, Thomas hurt and Orlando Hernandez sore, resign Everett and bring up McCarthy. This year, Contreras gets hurt, oh, there were 6 capable starters on the team anyways. At some point you also have to look at the coaching staff. There's an issue when the same guys keep getting hurt. Do you look at the specific coaches, trainer, GM for putting so much stock in these guys, or GM for not getting backups in the offseason (the pitching didn't knock your socks off with everyone healthy anyways, unless you like 4 man rotations, plenty of starters were out there). It makes it worse with a guy like Wood who has never really proven anything (remember when someone found his scouting report in the clubhouse and it was one of an average pitcher. He's making a living off of one game) and when guys not affiliated with the team or city are pointing out mechanics problems Derek Lee was a freak accident, but this Cubs bench is horrible, you need some suitable backups! Welcome to NSBB!

Outside of a few HOFers, I can't think of a whole lot of people in this era that are millionaires many times over that moved straight into coaching from their big league career. Not saying it can't happen, but it would surprise me if Maddux did it.