mg420

even if the cubs were still in the race (in ther real world and not just in dustyland), there is no way that bench players like bynum, blanco & maybry should ever be starting so many games. the cubs know exactly what those guys can do. the same cant be said for the rookies like theriot, soto, & moore. what a wasted opportunity imo.

dempster needs to close until marmol gets some experience in aaa and can take over for him in the majors.

actually he belongs on the bench. moore, soto & theriot should be starting instead of bynum, blanco & maybry.

i honestly dont think the cubs are just a "caberea" away from the playoffs. selling the farm for one position player is ludicrous imo. if it did happen, the cubs would watch the marlins ride yet another group of the cubs young players into the playoffs & perhaps the world series while the cubs flounder aroung the middle or bottom of the division. on the other hand, if they follow suit and play some of these young guys instead of trading them away, they might have a shot next year. i could see a lineup like this sometime in 2007: pierre cf murton lf lee 1b aram 3b pie rf barrett c ep 2b izturis ss with sp of z, prior, hill, marshall, mateo/guzman and a pen of ohman, rapada, eyre, wuertz, aardsma, howry & marmol. that would leave guys like theriot, soto, moore, restovich & pagan for the bench.

Common, be realistic. Do you really think the Marlins let go of Cabrera where the BIGGEST guy in the trade they get is Angel Guzman!? Try Pie, Hill, Mateo, and Ryu then you might have a chance. In the end, to get Cabrera you're going to have to strip yourself of some of the important peices you need for next year. Namely, Hill. i would much rather see the cubs keep hill & pie and let murton play lf in 2007 than to trade them for cabrera.

marmol for closer!

way to root for your team...

90-92 from what i've seen with a few 88 & 89 mixed in.

does this outing qualify?

and with only 2 pitches too. i guess pitching is like real estate-location location location. anymore cries to trade him while he's still worth something? if he keeps this up, the cubs will be very glad they didnt trade him for dunn!

i didnt mean that i thought pie would hit 25 next year only that he has 25 hr potential. the big question is weather to let pie work out the holes in his game at aaa or in the majors. with the current coaching staff in the majors, i'm glad he's not getting the call up yet. having a healthy lee next year should greatly increase the lineup production anyway. again, if the cubs can get some solid starting pitching from guys like hill, marshall and maybe even prior, they dont need a world class offense to contend.

How has he been doing this year? Is his time running out? he slumped before he got injured (if thats what happened to him) but still had a good season. he can also play a little 3b & spell aram once in a while so a theriot/font duo might do well in 07 or until epat makes the jump. http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Mike%20Fontenot&pos=&sid=t451&t=p_pbp&pid=430917

whats wrong with keeping pierre? with his resurgence he can be a .750 (he's already at .727 even with his horrible first few months) ops guy next year. he plays great defense (aside from the noodle arm) and will have 50 steals this year. i dont see any way that they dont try to resign him. i believe the cubs have already said that they see pie as a #5 or 6 hitter anyway rather than a leadoff guy (i think it was oneri?). i think he will be switched to rf in iowa next year. if he takes off in 07 in aaa, they can always trade jones & bring pie up. Keeping Pierre in CF and putting Pie in RF are both disastrous ideas for an already poor offense. i disagree That's a great point. :roll: Even if you want to pretend Pierre is on of the best CFs in the league... Pie in RF would be below-average. His offense is much more palatable as a CF than a RF. Surely we both can agree offense is extremely important for a RF, and Pie is no Bobby Abreu even. take a look at oaklands of. if pie can lower his k's and get on base more, he will be a very balanced player. i dont buy the rf is a power position idea. if a team has good starting pitching & a good pen (look at the a's again), they can do very well with only an average offense. pie & murton can both be 25 hr's guy's in lf & rf imo. abreu has lost his hr stroke since he won the derby last year (he only has 10 hr in 473 ab's) while pie is just coming into his power stroke at 21 years old.

More walks than K's and a WHIP over 1.5 42 bb & 47 k's??

whats wrong with keeping pierre? with his resurgence he can be a .750 (he's already at .727 even with his horrible first few months) ops guy next year. he plays great defense (aside from the noodle arm) and will have 50 steals this year. i dont see any way that they dont try to resign him. i believe the cubs have already said that they see pie as a #5 or 6 hitter anyway rather than a leadoff guy (i think it was oneri?). i think he will be switched to rf in iowa next year. if he takes off in 07 in aaa, they can always trade jones & bring pie up. What about Pierre's past/present makes you think he can put up a .750 OPS over a full season in 2007? He's done it exactly once in the last four years (2004). Over that same time span, he's been under .700 OPS twice (2002 and 2005). perhaps having a .727 even with a horrendous start? Who's to say he won't have a stretch like that again next year? He wasn't close to productive in 2005, and would have to remain hot over this next month to reach your .750 number. If he doesn't, that would put him at .750 once in five years. I see no reason to think he can continue his current hot streak over the length of a whole season at this point. He's not getting any younger. It's possible, but your acting like he's a .750 OPS guy. I would say he isn't. He'd actually have to improve, at age 30, to get there. his career ops is .730 & the way he has come on so strong the past few months indicates to me that a .750 next year is not unreasonable. players do improve at age 30 btw-not every player fits into the production curve.

whats wrong with keeping pierre? with his resurgence he can be a .750 (he's already at .727 even with his horrible first few months) ops guy next year. he plays great defense (aside from the noodle arm) and will have 50 steals this year. i dont see any way that they dont try to resign him. i believe the cubs have already said that they see pie as a #5 or 6 hitter anyway rather than a leadoff guy (i think it was oneri?). i think he will be switched to rf in iowa next year. if he takes off in 07 in aaa, they can always trade jones & bring pie up. Keeping Pierre in CF and putting Pie in RF are both disastrous ideas for an already poor offense. i disagree

whats wrong with keeping pierre? with his resurgence he can be a .750 (he's already at .727 even with his horrible first few months) ops guy next year. he plays great defense (aside from the noodle arm) and will have 50 steals this year. i dont see any way that they dont try to resign him. i believe the cubs have already said that they see pie as a #5 or 6 hitter anyway rather than a leadoff guy (i think it was oneri?). i think he will be switched to rf in iowa next year. if he takes off in 07 in aaa, they can always trade jones & bring pie up. What about Pierre's past/present makes you think he can put up a .750 OPS over a full season in 2007? He's done it exactly once in the last four years (2004). Over that same time span, he's been under .700 OPS twice (2002 and 2005). perhaps having a .727 even with a horrendous start?

whats wrong with keeping pierre? with his resurgence he can be a .750 (he's already at .727 even with his horrible first few months) ops guy next year. he plays great defense (aside from the noodle arm) and will have 50 steals this year. i dont see any way that they dont try to resign him. i believe the cubs have already said that they see pie as a #5 or 6 hitter anyway rather than a leadoff guy (i think it was oneri?). i think he will be switched to rf in iowa next year. if he takes off in 07 in aaa, they can always trade jones & bring pie up.

this sort of " hindsight logic" is worthless. if a player or team does well despite what people thought they were supposed to do, the nay sayer's jump on the band wagon. if the player or team fails, they are the first to point fingers that they were right and everyone else was wrong. everyone is very disapointed at this season but with the year dempster had saving games in 2005, what were the cubs supposed to do? if they dont sign him and he goes elsewhere & saves 40 games, the cubs would have been idiots for letting him go. who else was going to close this year? novoa? howry? this team was let down by the manager & coaching staff first & foremost imo.

if aardsma can get his breaking pitch over the plate he can be very effective imo.

alot of dempsters struggles have to due with his lack of use imo. when he doesnt get regular work he loses his control and gets rocked. i think he can bounce back in 07 if the cubs have a manager who knows how to use a bullpen. i also look for marmol to be switched to closer in the minors next year.

i think the cubs will resign pierre & pie will be switched to rf in 07. that said, it is probably a good thing that baker & his crew dont get a chance to mess pie up. he would probably just sit on the bench & watch bynum play in the OF anyway.

what about giving fox a try at 3b? he seems to have the body & the bat for it and his defense behind the plate leaves much to be desired. with robinson at daytona being a very good defensive catcher, maybe it's time for fox to change postions.

Do you really think the bullpen is fine? We have lost a lot of games thanks to the pen this year. Howry has not been as good as advertised. howry & eyre would be fine if dusty wouldnt pitch them every single game. dempster would be much better with regular work. novoa needs to go asap.

soto will be barretts backup in 07 imo. would love for them to get kottaras from the padres. robinson seems to be taking to the cubs and is doing great in a limited # of games. he might be the catcher of the future with fox's very limited defensive abilities. get rid of cedeno. i havent seen much if anything that he does well. i'm sure the switching between 2b & ss hasnt helped but theriot and/or fontenot(what ever happened to mike btw?) should be at 2b unless and until epat is ready to take over. murton needs to play every day in lf. it would be a big mistake imo to trade him as i think he can be a solid .300 25 .850 ops guy in the near future. if pierre is wants to come back, pie probably switches to rf. if pie surges in iowa next year, trade jones and bring him up. other than carlos lee, i dont see many options for rf unless they want to trade the farm. either way, jones needs to be platooned in rf. no idea what they will do if pierre doesnt come back. lofton & pagan perhaps? the rotation isnt as bad as u think imo. z is the only established guy but hill, marshall & mateo have been impressive imo. prior is the big key of course. they need to get 1 more guy like schmidt or zito (they should have the $$ to overpay for a starter) in case prior goes in the tank again. either marmol or guzman needs to be switched to closing imo.