Rob

With all due respect, I would appreciate it if you responded to my well thought out post on page five, rather than simply going after the people who acted childish.

Meph, why would we trade that much value when Renteria could probably be had for much less? The other options out there are just too good to justify spending our resources in this wya.

He, "on purpose", grounded out, bringing our run expectancy from 1.17 down to .98, and you want to reward him for ten years for doing that sort of thing on a regular basis? Sorry man, but that's just ridiculous.

From BP: Jerry Blevins, LHP, Triple-A Sacramento (Athletics) Blevins began the year as a little-known reliever who began the year with the Cubs’ High-A Florida State League affiliate, but he’s finishing it in the majors. He was arguably the best reliever in the postseason at any minor league level, finishing up with 20 strikeouts in nine shutout innings, while giving up only four hits. A 17th-round pick in 2004 out of the University of Dayton, Blevins was converted to a sidearm delivery by the Cubs last year, but ‘unconverted’ this year and absolutely took off. Including his postseason run, he recorded 122 strikeouts against just 20 walks in 86 1/3 innings across four levels, and he pitched a perfect inning in his big league debut over the weekend. This is quite likely not a temporary assignment, and Blevins will play an integral role in the Athletics bullpen next year.

94 Damn.

The post was referring to his range, not his arm. Though I don't really agree with Murton rating as below average range wise. He makes a good deal of errors, and sometimes takes bad routes on balls that are already hits (that results in a decent number of extra bases), but in terms of pure range in getting to flyballs, he's at least average. What he does after he gets to them is the only problem.

Actually, it is right now. The only real holes have been C, CF, RF, and SS this season. Kendall and Soto are doing fine at C, Jacque's been pretty good in center since the break, and Murton and Floyd are on fire in RF. And Theriot is playing like he belongs in AA at the moment.

First off, no, I never said I'd rather have Cedeno play. I didn't even say Cedeno was better defensively. I was just using him to make the point that Theriot doesn't have much range, and that is a fact. Theriot does an excellent job at the balls hit right at him, but so does almost every other shortstop in the league, and they all make a lot more plays outside the normal range than Theriot does. He's solid, but he's nowhere near above average. And why on earth would you subtract September from his season to make a point? I could cherry pick and get rid of his July to do the same thing. Without his July, he gets much worse than he gets better subtracting his September. If any month is the anomaly that would deserve to get cut, it would be July.

Big difference between SS and RF. Theriot's SS or 2B production is acceptable in a lineup that has big production elsewhere, and has some compensation production at another non-traditional offensive spot. Burnitz's hustle in RF didn't mask his production shortage. Why do people keep responding to my original point like Theriot has matched Burnitz's offensive output or projects to even come close to matching Burnitz's offensive output? Ryan has had his bright spots, but his career up until this point and his age is likely indicative of his offense being well below his high points. I can live with him as a backup utility guy, but to want him hitting any higher than 7th or 8th or on a regular basis simply because he's cheap and has been decent for short periods in a very small sample size strikes me as not being good for the team at all in the long run. And no, I'm not trying to argue that Burnitz was the right RFer for this team, but I think straight up comparing his output with the bat to Theriot's definitely weighs in Burnitz's favor. Go root for the Yankees Are you seriously equating pointing out the shortcomings of a mediocre player to Yankees fans who demand an all star at every position, or are you poking fun that those who use this ridiculous tactic to brush off comments by those who are interested in seeing the Cubs get better? Kinda both, I think every lineup needs to have a singles hitter that can get on base (with the exception of September) and play good defense. The Angels are built around them, the Red Sox have Ellsbury and Lugo. The D'Backs have Hudson, the Phillies have Rollins (yes, he is better than Theriot, but the point stands), the Mets have Castillo (I am not going to compare Reyes to Theriot). The Cardinals have Eckstein. Do I need to go on? I realize going to root for the yankees is an extreme. Theriot has a .330 OBP, compared to the league average of .347. And again, Theriot really isn't a good defensive player.

1) Theriot is NOT above average defensively. He is certainly quite surehanded, and accurate with his throws. However, his range is abysmal and his arm strength is nothing to write home about. He's diving and missing at balls that Cedeno is getting to standing upright. Theriot is quite good at balls hit right at him, but he's not making any plays that the average shortstop wouldn't. At best, you can make a case for him being solid... but he's certainly a tick on the short side of average. 2) If you have to look that closely to find any semblance of value in a player, the odds are pretty good that you're reading too far into it. 3) Let's suppose for a moment that you are right and that Theriot has some sort of intangible value to the rest of the team. How much do you really think he adds? 4) We should always be looking to upgrade everywhere. If we can get Chase Utley at 2B for a reasonable cost, I would hate to have us pass up on it because Mark DeRosa has done a pretty darn good job there. If we could trade DLee for Pujols, or Aramis for Miguel Cabrera, we'd be stupid not to. Upgrading constantly is the sign of a good team and good management, not something to be abhorred. Don't get me wrong. I'm fine running with Theriot for a while, and his production is certainly decent enough for the paycheck he's collecting. But his value is more in line with the first infielder off the bench on a good team. And when he starts getting arbitration-eligible and in line for a 4 million dollar payday, he's past the point where his play would justify his salary.

I mostly agree with this. The only thing that makes me wonder is that it seems pretty obvious to me that Blanco is going to retire after the year. If Blanco retires, Kendall will likely be signed back, and then it will probably be an open competition in ST next year. Do you think so? Clearly he should, and there does seem to be some signs that he will. I'm just not sure I see any reason for him to throwaway that money though. Guys usually wait until they no longer have any guaranteed money coming to them before they retire. And while I could see the Cubs and Henry agreeing to some sort of buyout, I could just as easily see Blanco stick around to keep drawing the check. He'd likely stick around on the 60 day DL, though.

I'd like to know who the opposing offense is too. Are they heavy on righties? Lefties? Do they walk a bunch? Hit a ton of home runs? Play small ball? Facing the Yankees with the wind blowing in? Hill. Wind blowing out? Z. Facing the Red Sox with the wind blowing in? Lilly.

Semantics aside, you most certainly did call people dumb in this thread. If you see an axe swinging, it probably won't be aimed at others in this thread. What if I fly completely off the handle? I think I could probably do something worth banning me for.

We've got a lead in the division and what should(Key word)be a cake-walk schedule the rest of the way. Oh yeah, and it's mid september. I think it's about time that we can start talking about this stuff. with a one game lead and a week of games against teams we haven't been able to beat much? Regardless; it's september 17 and we're in first place, it's time to think playoffs. I am thinking about playoffs. I'm thinking about how one slip and a Crew sweep of a series would be all it might take to flip it in their favor. Seems like it's pretty much up for grabs still. But hey -- I don't want to tell anyone what to discuss. I'm just commenting that it still seems a bit presumptuous. It'd be presumptuous to be skipping starts to begin putting our postseason rotation the way we want it. Talking about who might make the roster seems pretty reasonable though.

You really think so? I'm not sure Hendry is thinking the same thing, and I know Kendall said he'd be very interested in returning.

I wonder what they were at last monday. They were at 8.75646% chance. They had peaked at a 21.50100% chance on Sep. 5th when they had climbed up to a 68-67 record.

Cards are down to a .04609 chance to make the playoffs, according to the BP playoff odds report. They were at 3.something percent when I left to go to St. Louis on Friday afternoon.

I'm just worried that Lou is going to insist on making Marquis the 3rd starter in the playoffs, just so that we don't have Lilly and Hill going back to back.

But if he's traded in the middle of his contract doesn't he have the right to declare for free agency? I'm pretty sure they took that out of the new CBA. Did they really? Well that would help things. IMO, the O's would want Hill, Pie and Marmol. I'm not sure I'd trade any of them straight up for Tejada. I certainly wouldn't. We've got control of the lot of them for another 4 or more years... Any one of them is likely to put up more value in four years than Tejada would over two.

Correct. Add Tejada or ARod to this lineup and you have: Soriano Theriot Lee ARod/Tejada ARam Derosa (RF) Kendall / Soto Pie / Jones Looks quite a bit different, IMO. Even considering Murton's early year-slump, his numbers are much much better than Theriot's. Why on earth would you sit him and move DeRosa to right just to get Theriot in the lineup? Also, why throw Tejada in at 4th in the order? He's not a better hitter than Aramis.

Hanley Ramirez is good I'm soooooo glad Furcal decide Chicago wasn't good enough for him. Well for what it's worth, Furcal is 23 runs better with the glove than Theriot, if you believe FRAA. Those two full wins would have come in pretty handy right now.

But if he's traded in the middle of his contract doesn't he have the right to declare for free agency? I'm pretty sure they took that out of the new CBA.

EqA for NL starting shortstops. (min. 250 PA) Hanley Ramirez - .320 Edgar Renteria - .302 Jimmy Rollins - .290 Jose Reyes - .285 Troy Tulowitzki - .275 Jack Wilson - .267 Khalil Greene - .263 Alex Gonzalez - .262 David Eckstein - .262 JJ Hardy - .262 Mark Loretta - .254 Rafael Furcal - .245 Ryan Theriot - .243 Felipe Lopez - .236 Stephen Drew - .231 Omar Vizquel - .216 He'd look much better in the AL, where teams can afford to hide below-average bats thanks to having a DH... but he's not even a pretty good bat for an NL SS.

Depending on what happens this inning, I can see Lou leaving in Trachsel to bunt, and then to head back to the mound to start the 6th.

If you ask any teams' announcers, players, coaches, gms, or owners, the problem with the team is that they aren't hitting in the clutch. Any team.