BigbadB

And here all along I thought he was only starting because of his outstanding ability to hit into double plays. Neifi Perez= extremely poor on base percentage, poor plate discipline, ground ball hitter to the extreme, little to no power. These are NOT the type of characteristics you want hitting 2nd in your line up. Ever. Period. 2nd is also not where you hide a guy in your line up when they have these characteristics. If the only reason Neifi is starting at 2b is because of his defense, why will he be batting 2nd in the order? Sounds to me as though Dusty thinks he can contribute offensively.

We were 4-14 against the Mets in 1985. They flat-out owned us that year. That was back in the glory days before the NL Central. The Mets were probably more hated as rivals than the Cardinals. People your age will probably never appreciate the hatred people my age and older hold for the Mets. A lot of it has gone away since the Central was added, but I still remember those days. I just hate the Mets because they are a New York team and I tend to despise all teams from New York in any sport. I understand it's not the same thing. Read up on the 1969 baseball season to get the full effect of Met hatred among elder Chicago fans. It was the one true chance for guys like Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Fergie Jenkins and Randy Hundley to make the playoffs and possibly win a World Series. There are a lot of years of service with the Cubs for the names listed above. It's a shame they never reached the promised land. That was a good Cubs team.

Giles will play about 15 games in wonderful Coors Field, also. :wink:

I'm not complaining.

I'm pleased they made the right call. Jim Tracy isn't. He got tossed.

I'll be right on the money when Dusty doesn't double switch Neifi out of the game. He may double switch Neifi over to SS, and have Hairston take over at 2nd, but Neifi will not come out of the game. Book it!

I like how they announce Neifi as the starter way in advance, as if people will come running to Wrigley from all directions attempting to get tickets to see Neifi play.

Matt Lawton is currently on suspension from the league. When he comes back, I don't believe he'll be anything more than a bench guy, and a very limited one at that. Seattle has Carl Everett at DH and he's a pinch hitter. Ibanez, Reed and Ichiro in the OF make Lawton a poor fantasy player. Jeremy Reed might be available. Some of those young guys in Florida look pretty speedy, like Abercrombie. I doubt if Freel is available, but he'll likely get his regular starting job back once the Cincinnati manager realizes how bad Womack is. Luis Castillo has been skipped over in many fantasy leagues. If Murton is available, he'll probably get some decent steals this year while providing a decent bat. Aaron Miles? Milton Bradley? Gathright is a speed demon in Tampa, and he's starting in CF until Baldelli comes off the DL.

Holy dog poop, Batman. Shelton is a stud. I hadn't yet checked the Roadkill game center before commenting on Shelton. 30 points already this season! :shock:

One other thing I might point out is that a back up catcher is probably last on my list when it comes to reserves. They sit more than most regulars, and their teams off day could fall on the same day as your regular starting catcher, so you might find it rare that you ever have a need for a back up catcher. How deep is your bench? I try to go with back up at every other position and carry a couple of extra pitchers, depending on how many bench spots your league allows.

Doumit just crushed a 2 run homer. He's got power, and he's a switch hitter.

Darned if you do and darned if you don't. In this case, you have a good catcher and I'd just stick with him. If you want a back up catcher, consider one that is already a free agent and maybe got overlooked? Danny Ardoin is the starter in Colorado, and Colorado is a great hitters park. Watch some of these other young kids like Mathis in Anaheim, Willingham in Florida, Doumit in Pittsburgh, etc... Once that high ranking waiver claim is gone, you'll probably never get back to that spot. There is always a good chance that Barrett doesn't get claimed. If he becomes a free agent, you can pick him up at that time without losing your waiver position. Then, when someone dumps a "really" good player, you will be higher up in the pecking order. Besides, you really don't know how much playing time Blanco will get this year. He really had a spike in games caught last year, and with Dusty, you just never know.

Has he ever spent any significant time on the injured list? Seems like he plays everyday and has at least 1 hit everyday.

I'm glad you didn't. I was shocked he was waiting for me in the 3rd round of the draft. He even called me after my second pick and expressed how badly he wanted to play on my team. How could I not pick him?

I think someone needs to go back through the box scores. What game didn't Ichiro get a hit?

I don't have a problem with Maddux requesting a certain defense if he'd do all of us fans a favor and keep the ball in the yard so the defense has something they can actually field.

I did switch out Cuddyer, but I switched him back since he is playing today. I'll just tough it out with the part timer. Thanks for honoring the request anyway.

Derrek Lee on pace to botch 81 plays this year. :D

:cheers: I'm going to do one better than that. I predict Neifi will bat 2nd AND he won't be double switched out of the game.

I had the same question about Michael Cuddyer. He's had 1 at bat so far this season in 2 games.

Of course, winning or making playoffs does solve a lot of my issues. :D

Ha ha Gooney. But the blue cool aide is still strong in my vains right now. Don't be fatalistic. It's to early for that plus the JH signing will be Staurday followed by Dusty. I can respect your opinion's Scott, but I just can't agree. I was just as excited as you were in 2003. However, it's been a slippery slope downhill ever since. I sorta gave 2004 a so/so grade, but I wasn't happy with the finished product. 2005 was a horrible season to be a Cub fan. Corey Patterson and Neifi Perez batting 1/2 practically all season long. LaTroy Hawkins bombed as a closer in 2004. Who does Dusty appoint as his closer in 2005? LaTroy. How many times did LaTroy need to prove he isn't closer material? Way too many. I watch every Cub game I can. I know you know frustration, but watching Patterson and Neifi bat 1/2 in the line up and LaTroy blow another game as the closer has been more frustrating than any Cub season I have ever encountered, including 2003. That's how bad 2005 was for me. In 2003, the Cubs had a very strong farm system. They got out of some bad contracts after that season, and they had money to spend and talent available to trade to improve the team. The 2004 team was not as good as the 2005 team. The 2005 team was not just a talented team that encountered too many injuries. They were also a very poorly managed team. You have a bunch of free swinging hackers throughout the line up and a manager encouraging them to be even more free swinging. Assembling an everyday line up was a circus. It's now 2006. The Cubs had over 40m in payroll available to spend, a roster crunch and tons of quality talent to trade. What do we have to show for it? Glendon Rusch and Neifi Perez sign 2 year deals. Jacque Jones signs a 3 year deal. They traded 3 prospects for a guy in the last year of a contract, a guy who could end up walking at the end of this season (Pierre). They've traded away guys who are absolutely at the lowest value they could possibly be (Sosa, Patterson, Mitre, Hawkins, etc...) With the horrible offseason that this team had this year, I'm not the slightest bit interested seeing any extensions given out this offseason. Hendry has made some good moves, and Hendry has made some bad moves. Dusty (and this is just my opinion) has been horrible with his in game management. And, after seeing how he operates, I'm not really sure how he developed a reputation for being a guy everyone wants to play for. I think it's probably more true that mediocre veteran players love playing for him, because he's going to give them playing time they might normally not deserve. If this team flounders offensively, I want Hendry and Baker gone. I want a management team that understands the importance of plate patience and OBP instead of a preference for an aggressive plate approach. I'm going to prefer a management team that limits starters to pitch counts, and will even consider removing a starter in a blow out game. I want a manager that makes his in game decisions based on percentages and scouting instead of hunches. I want a manager that will bench a guy who doesn't hustle, not reward him with more playing time. I want a guy who knows that sitting a guy on the bench for not hustling is teaching a valuable lesson, even if it hurts the team as a whole to sit that player on the bench for a game. There are guys who WILL hustle if your starter won't. No player is bigger than the game, and no player should be treated as if they are bigger than the game. The manager needs to instill this into each of his players and get the most out of each player everyday. Maybe that's another reason players like playing for Dusty. He doesn't make them hustle and there is no disciplinary action for not making them hustle. But, that's just me. I don't care about stability. There's hardly anyone left from the 2003 team, and the minor league teams have taken on quite a different look since then as well. Do I know who should replace Hendry and Baker, or do I know that the guys hired to replace these two will be any better. I can't answer either question. I'm not in a position to answer that question. But, as a hard core fan that watches nearly every Cubs baseball game, there are issues with this team and there are issues with this management team. And I've seen enough that I want someone gone. I wanted Dusty gone last year. If the same stupid in game decisions happen again this year, I want Hendry and Dusty gone. I've spent most of this offseason listening to how the Cubs front office wants to be rid of Todd Walker. Why? Even if it's what they really want to do, why is this public information? All he does is go out there and play his best every game and he provides plenty offensively. Sure, he runs his mouth, but I can't say I blame him. I'm running my mouth right now. I'm not happy with this organization right now, and I can see how some players who want nothing more than to win might be a little unhappy with the organization as well. How any manager could allow any player to sit on their butt in the clubhouse and watch the game on tv, and then allow them to be critical of the guys in the booth is beyond ridiculous. These guys make millions of dollars to play this game. A manager needs to remind these players that they need to respect this game a little bit more than they have. While I wanted Sammy gone just as much as the next guy after the 2004 debacle, the Cubs management team crapped all over him through the media. It didn't need to go down like that. But, to save face or to make themselves look better, they do it anyway. They drove Sammy's value down so bad, no team wanted him. While his skills were diminished to the point where he didn't have much value, not every team may have been completely convinced he was done. We should have gotten much more for Sosa than we did. I could go on and on, but I won't. I can respect your opinion, but I can't agree with it. I'm not happy with this management team and I haven't been since 2003.

Awesome! Thanks.

Maybe my math is a bit fuzzy, but by my calculations, Fielder struck out zero times "BETWEEN" AAA and the majors. :D No, I believe he k'd once on the plane and twice in the cab on his way to Miller Park. I stand corrected. Fielder will be a nice pick up once he gets dropped from all those fantasy teams. Now that he's got that bad week out of the way, he'll soon be facing off against Cincinatti pitching. :wink:

Home plate was like 3 feet wider back then. :D