BigbadB

With the way he's pitching tonight, Tall Unit might be more accurate. :wink:

I'd say Todd Walker and I are a lot a like. We are outspoken and we want the Cubs to put the best team on the field that they possibly can.

Yeah, I tip my cap to him. I wasn't able to see most of the games last week, but prior to that, I was quite pleased with Dusty sticking with the kids, giving the kids a chance at the top and middle of the order, batting Neifi at the bottom of the order when he does play, dropping Rusch from the rotation instead of "sticking with him" because he's a veteran. We've gone around quite a few times. I'm sure I didn't need to point that out. However, Dusty is doing things that I can't really complain about. Therefore, I'm not. :wink:

So do you want to call him "Tall Smooth" then? Yes.

Tall? Yes. Big? Not so much.

Yep, he should be done for the year.

There is more to the story. The Padres are cheap. Not only did they trade off Loretta (who was fairly cheap considering his production), but they also let Ramon Hernandez go, nearly allowed Trevor Hoffman to leave, nearly allowed Giles to leave, but also dumped Brian Lawrence's contract and Mark Eaton was due to earn an increase via arbitration and they traded him. They traded Nevin last year and would have been happy to move Klesko as well if someone would take him. There is no excuse for how they are currently doing business, and it will catch up with them soon. Look at their attendance. Look at their ticket prices. Instead of rewarding the fanbase, they've kicked them in the crotch. I am absolutely shocked this organization isn't getting boycotted at this point. I'm shocked Trevor and Brian Giles came back. The writing was on the wall. I think I originally pegged San Diego in front of Colorado, but no one else. Right now, they are one of the worst teams in baseball.

Just 2 seperate stat lines: Pre All Star .289/.343 Post All Star .320/.365 Day Games .344/.394 Night Games .285/.334 I hope his stats do pick up to his career norms. However, the stats thusfar, and actually watching him play combined with the stats thus far have me very concerned. He's an absolute hack. Now, his hack philosophy might be what made him the premier lead off hitter management guys seem to like in a guy, but I've always had concerns about a guy who can't hit a ball out of the infield. I was opposed to trading for Pierre. He's here and I hope he puts up numbers like he has in the past. Maybe a lot of those ground balls will find holes soon. But, there is plenty of reason for concern as he was coming off a .326 OBP, which is not good for a lead off hitter. I don't understand why we should all sit back quietly and be ever so accepting of how poor he has played so far. The kid has heart. I'll give him that. But, he really is pretty one dimensional from where I sit. The best thing he could do is to be more patient with his at bats. Drawing a lot of walks would actually make him quite valuable. Unfortunately, because he really can't do a lot of damage with a bat, pitcher's aren't afraid to throw him strikes, so he probably won't walk a whole lot even if he was more patient.

Well then, if Cedeno was so "obviously" playing him to pull in such a sever manner, shouldn't Walker have been playing virtually up the middle? I guess that depends on what the spray charts say. Also, I don't remember Baker ever saying "walks are overrated". Does anyone have a link? Maybe I missed it. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2669 Nice work! Lots of really interesting quotes in there. Is it merely a coincidence that each year the Cubs are poor at OBP and scoring runs? Is it merely a coincidence that seemingly every time the Cubs pitchers walk the opposing hitter, that opposing hitter eventually scores? I'm certainly not against an aggressive approach given certain situations. However, I am a firm believer that drawing walks is a good thing. A walk, in and of itself, is boring. Everyone wants to see smashmouth hit and run baseball. A walk won't do that for you. However, a walk gives the next hitter the opportunity to provide smashmouth hit and run baseball. A walk extends an inning. Aggressive or not aggressive, the players that are currently on the Cubs are going to hit pretty much the same as they typically do. For example, Jacque Jones will probably end the season at .280 (+ or - .010) AVG. That's "acceptable" production in regards to AVG. The critical part is how often he gets on base via "other ways". If his OBP is only .300, then his .280 is virtually worthless in the big picture. If his OBP was .380, then he's providing many more extended innings and RBI opportunities for his teammates. Dusty asking players to be aggressive is likely not going to change the overall picture of their batting averages. It will, however, deeply affect their On Base Percentage. And that is where there is a real danger in what he preaches. That is why Hendry and Dusty will justify giving Jacque Jones a 3 year deal. He has 20+ HR power and his batting average is typically a respectable .270-.280, something these guys seem to cherish. True, walking to first base will typically NOT drive in a run. But, if you go in and look at the teams who score the most runs all year long season after season, the teams who score the most runs are the teams who have the best OBP, not the best AVG. Offense isn't the only thing involved with creating a winning team. Solid pitching, good defense and health are other very important factors, which is why the White Sox and Astros found their way to the World Series last year. OBP has been an extremely sore subject for me with this team over the past several years. Mainly because management clearly has no desire to consider the importance of it. Last year, the Cincinnati Reds hit .261 as a team. The Cubs hit .270 as a team. You would think that the team with the higher batting average over the course of the year would score more runs, but.... Cincinnati scored 820 runs last year. The Cubs scored 703. AVG or aggressive hitting isn't what had Cincinnati score more than 100 runs more than the Cubs last year, and it wasn't power either. It was the ability to get on base. The Cubs OBP last year was an atrocious .324 compared to Cincinnati's .339 OBP. The argument regarding "timely hitting" is one that I usually stay away from. One could argue that guys who get hits when people are on base are guilty of timely hitting or clutch. My counter-argument is that the more often you have guys on base, the increased likelihood that you will have more oppotunities to be found guilty of timely hitting. How does that happen? By having runners on base. Derrek Lee could have had 150 RBI's last year if he had guys with really good OBP's hitting in front of him all year. We can't argue that he just isn't very good at driving in runs. That would be a ridiculous argument. The correct argument is that he had a whole lot less opportunities to drive in runs, because the guys who were employed to hit in front of him were miserable failures of what should have been their most important job when asked to hit in front of him. GET ON BASE! I apologize for the rant. I won't be able to respond to any rebuttals as I'm heading out of town for the week. Improving OBP wasn't the only issue that needed to be addressed this offseason. They did improve the bullpen and they also improved team speed and defense. But, they set themselves up for failure by ignoring the importance of OBP, when there were so many options and so much money available to spend to improve it. Milton Bradley currently sports a .375 OBP. The A's gave up 1 minor league player to get him, and he makes HALF of what Juan Pierre makes. Juan Pierre was coming off a year he provided a .326 OBP. We gave up 3 pitching prospects and pay him quite well. The "need" for a lead off hitter isn't really what the Cubs needed. The "need" was really someone who could get on base 38% of the time instead of 29% of the time. Granted, Pierre is an improvement over the abomination that Dusty sent out there last year. But, I never thought it was enough. I won't even bother discussing Jacque Jones.

Without a winning ticket, all the lottery tickets in the world won't get you a bag of cash. :wink:

"Hey, Cracky!".

Please see the Cubs line up thread w/o Lee started by CubsfaninCA in this same forum.

Well, until the next ROOKIE who registers takes your place, why, yes, yes you are a beer fetcher. We reserve the right to haze our newbies. It's a longstanding ritual here. :wink: The good news is you'll be able to tell the next ROOKIE to get YOU a beer. :D Just make sure you shake up the beer real well before giving it to BBB. Throw it up in the air and catch it a few times, roll the can along the floor... he loves that sort of thing. ;) :twak:

Murton hasn't been in the bigs very long, but from what I've seen of him so far, the person most qualified to be giving hitting advice in the Cubs dugout is Matt Murton.

Intervention....seriously...you neeeed help. You have to admit that's just more fun than saying "I'd prefer Dmitri Young". I just got that after reading it 10 times. It took me about 20.

I gave up tequila shots the night I found myself vomiting uncontrollably in a strip club urinal. RETIRED! That was nearly 20 years ago, and it's one lesson I'll never forget. But, I still drink margaritas! :D

I think everyone needs to take a deep breath and step away from the ledge.

Cedeno and Murton haven't disappointed. Pie could breathe some life into this team. Sure, he's probably not entirely ready, but they discussed bringing him up last year before the injury. Atlanta sure doesn't seem to have any trouble mixing and matching rookies with their veterans.

I actually wouldn't mind that at all. Though, I'd probably still bring up Restovich also. DFA Bynum and Pie can play against the righties and Restovich plays against the lefties. Restovich becomes the big bopper off the bench.

Just remember that we all have to have our margaritas before you get yours. So, you'd better get busy. There' quite a few of us.

Oh, it is Friday, isn't it. That's right! Yes, I will have a margarita!

If it's any consolation, the next newest member should be along shortly. It's a pretty short lived job title.

Nice sig. I am very impressed with Murton's veteran qualities.

Okay, I might be stretching it a bit to say mysteriously, but it's just another in a long line of freak accidents. I suppose now you're going to tell me it wasn't an accident. :D

I only read the first 2 posts in this thread, but that was my thinking exactly after reading the first one. If Lee is only good for a couple of extra wins per year, maybe we should have given Neifi, Mabry and Hairston that 65m. Joking of course. And Lee isn't missing a whole year anyway.