BigbadB

And Neifi will hit into a bases clearing double play right after that walk. Book it!

Check the spelling of his name.... The Riot

And wouldn't Neifi's 20 doubles since the all star break have looked real nice in the 7th or 8th spot in the order where his bad OBP is a better fit?

That was a good article about the best manager in the business.

If Hendry agrees with Dusty's managing philosophies, Hendry should be gone too. You have to believe that he has some sort of respect for Baker and the way he manages a club since he did hire him. How much background work is done to determine whether the person you are hiring meets your requirements? Considering the decisions "you" make as General Manager and that the manager makes as the person who works directly under you can have a direct impact on your future job title, I would think you would find someone who meshes with what you are trying to do, rather than get someone who goes against the grain. So, did Hendry hire someone who goes against the grain? Did he hire someone who's coaching philosophies agree with his? Or did he just hire a guy who he knew nothing about, with the assumption that his track record is enough to justify a 4 year/16m deal (or whatever it was)? I have tried to leave Hendry out of all of this. But, I'm finding it harder and harder to ignore that the most important and glaring weaknesses of this team are ignored day after day after day. This offseason will be very telling. He has the financial resources. He has the talent to trade. He has holes to fill. What he does this offseason will determine whether I want him gone along with Baker.

I may be wrong, but I could have sworn that after yesterday's game, Len said something about the Cubs' record in 1-run games, and it was positive, something like 24-19? I guess I didn't word this properly..... Every team will win games they should have lost and every team will lose games they should have won. It's what happens in the rest of those games that make the difference. I recently showed a prime example of what can happen when you have poor OBP guys at the top of the order in front of your most productive hitters. (See the Lee/100 EXBH thread in baseball discussions). To further break down this glaring problem. Each of those outs in front of Lee reduced the chances of a high scoring inning. Non outs set up for big innings. Because of the decreased chances, it's hard to really only measure 1 or 2 run games. A game that the Cubs lose by 5 might have been a game they could have won if they had quality OBP guys in front of Lee's 3-4, 4-4, 4-5 day. 30 of Lee's 45 HR's have been solo shots. Couple in the other productive bats in the line up along with Lee's automatic increase in production with better OBP guys in front of him, and you end up with a fairly explosive offense, capable of putting up big numbers on the scoreboard. The frustrating part is the team has had the OBP guys on the team all year long. They've just been ignored when it came time to set the top of the line up. Even Todd Walker has 100 at bats in the 6 hole this year. Dusty can ignore this problem if he wants, but the results can't be ignored.

The only way Wilkerson is better suited to hit 6th is if you have better OBP guys hitting 1st or 2nd. Nomar is my ideal #6 hitter. High AVG and good OPS. The high average hitting 6th will drive in more runs than the high OBP from base on balls.

coughsteroidscough What was the farm system like from 1921-1948? Were there 3-5 levels to master before getting the call? Wouldn't players have made quicker calls to the bigs back then? How many players went to college back then? How many baseball scholarships were awarded back then compared to nowadays? What was the average age of guys getting called up from 1921-1948 in respect to the average age of players getting called up from 1995-present?

The top 10 qualified in P/PA in the majors is: Bobby Abreu Casey Blake Pat Burrell Brad Wilkerson Adam Dunn Gregg Zaun David Delucci Jason Giambi Jimmy Maybelline Bill Hall

If I understand what you are looking for, go to ESPN, click on stats, hitting and then thumb through the expanded list of stats and you should find P/PA.

Hey Dusty, are you reading this? Lee is currently at 105. The average RBI's for this exclusive group is 154 RBI's. That's the AVERAGE. The absolute worst anybody prior to Lee, if he makes it, is Albert Belle at 126. Need I go on?

I'm curious if Lee makes it whether he will have made it with the fewest RBI's. I believe I'll go look that up.

I'd rather have Lofton than Torrii Hunter, Jacque Jones and a few other suggested names that have no clue about plate discipline.

I can't believe we are having this conversation. We are sending in Macias and Perez everyday and batting them first. Who's throwing in the towel? We are. Not only are we throwing in the towel, but we are being laughed at. If it really looked like we were trying, we'd have open tryouts in the left field bleachers for Macias' replacement.

I'd be pretty fired up about anyone's .900 OBP. Dusty would surely bat him 8th. :roll:

ok so all the cubs have to do is find a future hall of fame 2nd baseman while adressing all their other needs. Where's Roberto Alomar when you need him...... :cyclopsani:

They were killed in separate accidents (Baxter in 2001, Darr in 2002). An A's prospect was killed in the same accident as Baxter. The other person killed with Darr was not a player (although a Padres minor leaguer, Ben Howard, was injured). Ahh. That's right. Thanks for the correction. What a relief that I at least got the names right. :-k

If Baker is "open to a lot of stuff", I suppose requiring a decent OBP to hit at the top of the order is asking for a bit too much. :roll:

I doubt it's the first time Corey has heard of a sports shrink. A-Rod was seeing one earlier this year.

I believe Gerik Baxter was the prospect that died in the Mike Darr car accident about 3-4 years ago. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

The Cubs would have 4 there if they included a manager. :P

I could see it, but Colorado would be stupid to pay him much of anything. Sammy at $5m playing in Coors (start every home game, and half the away games) would be an interesting investment for that squad. I wasn't referring to Colorado giving him big money. He'd be a nice draw at the ball park as he chased 600. It's whether Sammy could bite off a chunk of pride and except a low base salary with incentives. Who else will be interested? How much will they be willing to pay? The NL West is a horrible division right now. Colorado had a somewhat down year from Helton, Barmes was hurt for a good portion of the season, Atkins has a year under his belt now. Add a veteran bat here and there (RF, 2nd and C) and they have an opportunity to leap frog over a couple of teams next year.

It saddens me to see Baker eulogize a player who is still in uniform. Is this "breaking news" going to turn Corey around? If anything, it only makes matters worse. What's even worse is if anyone on this team needs a trip to a psychologist, it's Baker himself. To have such a love affair with horrible OBP at the top of the batting order is not healthy at all. It would be nice to see someone turn the tables on Baker and suggest he get mental counseling for this blatantly obvious flaw.

The lineups stunk this year; however, I think you're underestimating just how poor our starting pitching and bullpen were for many parts of the season. I don't think he is underestimating how poor the starting pitching and bullpen have been. A one game swing from the loss column to the win column has the team at .500. A two game swing from the loss column to the win column has the team with a winning record. I don't think it's out of the scope of reality that the Cubs could have won 2 more games with quality OBP guys at the top of the order. I don't think it's out of the scope of reality that they could have won 10 more games with productive OBP guys hitting in front of Derrek Lee all year. Fair enough. I just think there were games this year that we won where we should've lost and definitely vice-versa. I'm just saying even with the crappy lineups that Baker trotted out there, there were many games that we had the lead in the seventh inning or later that the bullpen gave up. And I don't disagree that there were games we won that we should have lost. However, for every game they won and should have lost, there were other games that we had no chance of winning because of who they had hitting at the top of the order. Every team will win games they should have lost. Every team will lose games they should have won. It's not those games that determine the final standings. It's winning the close games. It's making the most use of your line up. The Cubs didn't do that this year. They assembled line ups that virtually made them no better than a .500 team. As bad as the bullpen has been this year, a decent line up card might have helped this team make the playoffs. I don't give Baker a whole lot of credit for how bad the bullpen has been, but he certainly played a part in that as well. Neifi Perez and his below .300 OBP had the equivilent of a half a season's worth of at bats in the top half of the order this year. Add in other poor OBP guys (Patterson, Macias, Enrique Wilson), and you're closer to a full season of crap top of the order hitters, dragging down the team. And what's worse about this than anything else, there were TRUE options to hit there and do much better. Cedeno, Murton, Walker and Hairston are 4 guys who have good OBP's at the top of the order. Nomar would be a 5th candidate, but I really prefer his AVG and OPS in the 5th or 6th spot.

The lineups stunk this year; however, I think you're underestimating just how poor our starting pitching and bullpen were for many parts of the season. I don't think he is underestimating how poor the starting pitching and bullpen have been. A one game swing from the loss column to the win column has the team at .500. A two game swing from the loss column to the win column has the team with a winning record. I don't think it's out of the scope of reality that the Cubs could have won 2 more games with quality OBP guys at the top of the order. I don't think it's out of the scope of reality that they could have won 10 more games with productive OBP guys hitting in front of Derrek Lee all year.