johnnyba99

You've got the wrong OF. Laynce Nix is that OF. What about Catalanotto? Possibly a cheaper version of Dellucci, although both would need to platoon with Murton (check the vs. lefty split, ugly).

Luis Gonzalez and Yadier Molina would be a good deal for those 3 guys in my opinion. :lol: P.S. I have a "special interest" also.

Apparently the Cubs thought today was a 5 inning game, because the pitching stopped at that point too.

How is that we continually give up big hits to people like Aurilia, Valentin or Damian Miller. That is what is most annoying, a guy couldn't hit off a tee, but lights up the Cubs.

It hurts to almost defend Dusty, but Casey is hitting .412 against Dempster in his career.

No kidding. Maddux at that park has pitched 16 innings and given up 16 earned runs, 6 HR's, a WHIP of 1.56 and BAA .328. I hope for a better game today!

I was just trying to give at least a more realistic option. I seriously doubt that the Cubs will trade for Baez, Wagner, Guardado, etc. I just don't trust Novoa to handle the 8th inning and who's to say Williamson will remain healthy once he returns. Novoa has done well the last 2 games, I'll give him that.

A third? That's a bit of an exaggeration. For his career Pierre is a 74% base stealer and this year he's at 80%. A slight exaggeration. That's still 10% less than a player like Podsednik, and his OBP still stinks this year. At this point, we're better off with what we have now, especially considering what the Marlins would want for him. I'm not as impressed with Jerry Hairston as some here are. I have yet to see the guy hit a ball the other way (wish I could see his hit chart somewhere), I don't see all the games, but the ones I have he seems pull happy to me. His career OBP is .335 with a SB % of 68%. Pierre is younger than Hairston as well. I'm not saying Pierre is the answer, but he's better than Jerry Hairston in my opinion. Hit Chart I too am not a huge fan of Hairston. However, I don't like him for the same reasons that Pierre doesn't appeal to me. Both are good OBP guys who don't hit for many extra bases. I'd rather not acquire an improved version of Hairston, since he's not exactly the type of player I want in the lineup. Thanks for the hit chart. That's cool. More of an even spray than I thought.

I do agree with that, meant to put that in my post. If he came cheap then I'll take him, but we shouldn't give up anything valuable. If they'd take Hairston straight up I'm in.

A third? That's a bit of an exaggeration. For his career Pierre is a 74% base stealer and this year he's at 80%. A slight exaggeration. That's still 10% less than a player like Podsednik, and his OBP still stinks this year. At this point, we're better off with what we have now, especially considering what the Marlins would want for him. I'm not as impressed with Jerry Hairston as some here are. I have yet to see the guy hit a ball the other way (wish I could see his hit chart somewhere), I don't see all the games, but the ones I have he seems pull happy to me. His career OBP is .335 with a SB % of 68%. Pierre is younger than Hairston as well. I'm not saying Pierre is the answer, but he's better than Jerry Hairston in my opinion.

I don't recall exactly, but they are very very very bad. Like worse than Neifi and Corey in their slumps bad. I will be disappointed if we get Kearns or Pierre for anything less than peanuts. yah, those 31 or so at bats he's had in Wrigley field are certainly enough to assume that would be his career numbers if playing here :roll: When did I say that? He asked a question and I answered it. Not advocating one way or another on Pierre, but career at Wrigley (61 AB's) .279/.343/.361, 17 hits, 13 runs, 5 BB, 4 K's, 6 SB, 0 CS. Interestingly enough, his career split in day games is .346/.395/.430.

I'm not saying he's the best option, but he could help. As far as the Maddux factor, Bottalico seemed to do just fine in New York last year. EDIT: maybe he just catches my eye because he dominates the Cubs and that's the only time I ever see the guy pitch.

We are in obvious need of help in the pen. What do all of you think about Bottalico? He's available:

#311. Horrible Nightmare 349 not too bad (or should i say good?).

and just as unusual the other teams pitcher has a higher pitch count than ours. i don't know what's going on here, but i like it!!

As far as the pitchers go, you're talking about a maximum of 8 games played by the winning team in the tournament. Each team will have 27 players and must have at least 12 pitchers. I know most everyone on the board disagrees with this, but I like the idea. I personally find it more interesting than interleague play. Just the thought of the Dominican Republic lineup is a scary thing. It may not work out well in the end, but it is an interesting event and one of Bud's better ideas.

DePodesta inherited some bad contracts. Could take a couple fo years to clear those and get the players he wants in there.

I'd say this game is a must win at this point. And we'll need 2 of 3 in Florida. If we can get to the break at a minimum of 6 games out, we've still got a good shot. The teams in front of us will be playing each other a lot in the second half and I think that is to our advantage.

Here's what I don't get about the obsession with the number of pitches a player sees per AB. Nomar has been one of the best hitters in the league over his career, and yet swings at everything, if Neifi Perez takes 2 pitches before he makes his out it's still an out. Fact is he just can't hit, so does it matter if he grounds out on pitch 1 or 8? I'm not convinced it does. I do however think that several players swing at a bunch of bad pitches and they are not good enough hitters to make up for poor pitch selection. If a hitter sees 8 pitches in an AB, thats about 1/12 of a normal pitch count. If 12 guys see 8 pitches, even if NONE of them get on base, the starter will have 96 pitches by the end of the fourth inning. I'm also pretty sure it's easier to hit a pitcher when he is fatigued, and worried about walking guys. There are other advantages in long AB's, such as seeing a pitchers entire repertoire so he can't suprise you in the fifth inning, giving your pitcher more time to rest, etc. Nomar is one the modern era's best hitters, so he has gotten by prettu well with his approach. If you notice, though, he has thrived in a lineup that has always had other hitters who work the count. I understand exactly what you're saying, but with the hitters on this team (excluding Lee, Aram, and Walker) it doesn't matter if you bring in a 15 year old in the 5th inning they just CAN'T hit. I'm just very frustrated with the whole team at this point. I guess my point was not about your theory in general, just applying it to this team. If the Red Sox, Cards, Angles, Rangers, etc. used your approach (and they probably do) it would be successful, the Cubs are a different story.

no....we can hope all we want but hendry would never do it midseason with that much money left on his contract If we're paying Sammy 12 million to not play for us, then we can pay Dusty however much he is owed to not manage for us. How much is he slated to make next year, by the way? I wrote a letter to the Cubs expressing that I understand the financial implications on them to pay out Bakers contract and that I am willing to manage the team for a mere $100,000 per year and they could fire me anytime they wished.

Here's what I don't get about the obsession with the number of pitches a player sees per AB. Nomar has been one of the best hitters in the league over his career, and yet swings at everything, if Neifi Perez takes 2 pitches before he makes his out it's still an out. Fact is he just can't hit, so does it matter if he grounds out on pitch 1 or 8? I'm not convinced it does. I do however think that several players swing at a bunch of bad pitches and they are not good enough hitters to make up for poor pitch selection. If the Cubs took some pitches I highly doubt Ramirez would be able to finsih the game. How many 1 and 2 pitch at-bats did we see today? It's ridiculous. Changes need to be made right now, for the sake of respectibility. You're right changes need to be made, but would it matter if Ramirez reached 100 pitches in the 7th? I mean it's Horacio Ramirez, if we can't hit him it doesn't matter who's in the pen. I'm just frustrated. Now we must win tonight against Smoltz. Chances of that??

Here's what I don't get about the obsession with the number of pitches a player sees per AB. Nomar has been one of the best hitters in the league over his career, and yet swings at everything, if Neifi Perez takes 2 pitches before he makes his out it's still an out. Fact is he just can't hit, so does it matter if he grounds out on pitch 1 or 8? I'm not convinced it does. I do however think that several players swing at a bunch of bad pitches and they are not good enough hitters to make up for poor pitch selection.

as usual a guy with a sub 250 batting average gets a big hit for the opposition.

24 now. and only 25 K's.

I wouldn't say Clement is any better than he was when with the Cubs. His ERA and WHIP are nearly identical. He has more wins because the Red Sox are better than the Cubs. Now, why did we let him go? Good question. It really wasn't a choice between Maddux and Clement, as Maddux was already signed through this year. I agree that we should've kept Clement, I thought that when he left and still do. I believe he said he loved Chicago and would've stayed for less money, but Hendry had no interest.