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See, this is what bothers me. If Lou were to play Murton in RF, would Murton all of a sudden turn into a pumpkin? We now know that Jacque can't hit lefties worth a lick, so why not just let Murton sub in for Jones when the Cubs face one? Its because Jock is a proven veteran. Murton deserves to play just as much as Jones, Derosa and Isturius. Somehow these 3 are given starting jobs because of what they did in the past. Murton does not?

Truthfully you may have been disgruntled by the lockout. However it took a full year off for the owners to establish a viable salary structure that is fair for every team in the league. Hockey certainly took a short term beating for the lockout. In the long run the league will be much better off though. They still need to fix some other problems(getting tv coverage on a network everyone has, unneeded violence)

I have no problem with a manager doing this. He just better do it for Griffey also if he was to dog it.

vs sucks. I didnt have Vancouver and Dallas last night. Go Wings!!!!

I think I read somewhere that they have come out in support of him. Hank Aaron was kind of surly back in the 70s. I wonder if he played now how many people would suspect him. He hit a lot of HRs late in his career. As for Bonds breaking the record, I cant wait. Let the hypocrasy machine start. No one was complaining back in 98 when Sosa and McGwire were "saving" baseball. For those who say they didnt know, I say you were just being naive. Or that you did suspect but didnt want to admit it because Sammy and Mac were likeable guys, unlike the big Ass Bonds. Everyone turns a blind eye when a player on their favorite team is an obvious user. I just read alot of crap about Bonds on a Tigers board but funny didnt read a thing about Sheffield. I am willing to bet a paycheck that there are players on the Cubs using right now. If all of us were Giants fans we would be singing a different tuneLastly its just a individual record. Aaron, Ruth, Mays and Frank Robinson(the past top 4) all won WS. I am sure they wouldnt trade those for any HR record. I have said it before and will always say it. Until games are actually forfeited for players using banned substances they will always be users. Until owners, GMs, Managers and fans feel the pain for a player using they will endorse the fact that the player uses.

Do you really think this for the long term betterment of theteam how long term are you talking? The Cubs are (supposedly) built to win now, so no, I don't want a struggling-yet-promising hitter in the lineup over an aged-yet-producing veteran if it costs an already struggling offense runs Also I wouldnt go as far as saying hitting .250 in 4 games in struggling. If we are going to use that mentality than Barrett needs to be benched also. Murton earned his time last year. A .800 ops in his first almost regular season. Only the stupid Cubs would even bring in a player to take time away from a young player who had that kind of first season. I dont see them taking time away from Jock. Why not? Whats the difference between him and Murton. AGE. Until the Cubs let young players play without hindering them with MEDIOCRE at best veterans they are not going to win a Championship. First off, Floyd is not necessarily mediocre at best. Against right-handed pitching, he could be very dangerous (of course, the injuries could continue to cause him to decline as well). So far, his swings have shown him to be closer to the former, although the numbers haven't been completely there yet. Second, there is one fundamental difference between Jacque and Murton besides age. Jacque plays a position that the only other players who can play it are infielders. Murton, however, plays a position that 3/5 of the bench can also play, including their most dangerous guy off the bench who can only play LF. Therefore, Jacque is going to see a good amount of playing time because there simply aren't that many options for RF if he doesn't play there. If they felt Murton could play RF, I'm sure they would start him against some right-handers there just like they are starting him against some of the right-handers in LF. How come a RH RF was not brought in then? Ward is certainly a waste of time in Floyd is on the team. Surely we could have gotten a 34 past prime RH that could play RF. This kind of move would have made the Cubs better this season. Like I said only the Cubs or any other mediocre thinking team would bring in a player that will take time away from their best young player who had a .800 ops in his first season. Also it really doesnt make a difference how good Floyd is this year. Like I said we are not going to win the WS anyway. Floyd being good this year will only mean he is taking Murtons ABs next year also.

Do you really think this for the long term betterment of theteam how long term are you talking? The Cubs are (supposedly) built to win now, so no, I don't want a struggling-yet-promising hitter in the lineup over an aged-yet-producing veteran if it costs an already struggling offense runs We are not built to win this year. If we were in the American league we would be lucky to be a .500 team. This is the same old pie in the sky chasing mediocrity crap that the Cubs have done for years. Bringing in past prime players to block young talented players time is what mediocre teams do. This is exactly the same kind of stuff that we hated about Dusty. Also I wouldnt go as far as saying hitting .250 in 4 games in struggling. If we are going to use that mentality than Barrett needs to be benched also. Murton earned his time last year. A .800 ops in his first almost regular season. Only the stupid Cubs would even bring in a player to take time away from a young player who had that kind of first season. I dont see them taking time away from Jock. Why not? Whats the difference between him and Murton. AGE. Until the Cubs let young players play without hindering them with MEDIOCRE at best veterans they are not going to win a Championship.

Do you really think this for the long term betterment of theteam

The Cubs are really not World Series contenders this year. I know the Cardinals backed into one last year but you would have to consider that the exception not the rule. I see no reason to play Cliff Floyd on a semi-regular bases unless it is in RF. Matt Murton should just be allowed to play regularly to help his development or to see if he is worth keeping in LF.

How do people miss this? To elaborate on my earlier post: parking — Why? getting there — Ride the damned train. concessions — Vastly improved, and prepared by the same folks who do the Cell, home to supposedly superior game food. bathrooms — See Davis' post. seats all suck — Wrigley boasts the best sightlines and the most intimate seating arrangement in all of baseball. Most ridiculous post ever! edit: Sorry about the misquote make it just plain "ridiculous post" also to elaborate parking: why not getting there: do not live in city. hopping on train would still involve me driving there and parking at a train terminal and then hopping on train. I would also say that more than 50% of the people at any given game do not live in the city concessions: I will concede that they are better than they used to be in quality. Still long lines though bathrooms: I am going to disagree with this one. Better bathrooms could be had that would still give everything that Davis mentioned. In better I mean the ability to wash hands and think they are cleaner after washing. seats: Are uncomfortable and by saying intimate I am guessing you mean crammed in. I agree about the sightlines though. I like Wrigley field. I have gone to games there since the early 70s. Truth be told right now its "trendy" this could easily be "dump" in 5 years though. Like any old house the upkeep will soon become more and more of a price drain. So either major renovations need to be done or a new stadium needs to be built. If I owned the team I wouldnt spend money on renovations when about equal money with cities competing could get a new stadium that would cover all of the problems that cannot be covered in Wrigleyville

Its new park time. I prefer in the city but if the burbs make a better offer so be it. Wrigley is really a terrible place to see a game. Yes I like the atmosphere and all, but parking, getting there, concessions, bathrooms, seats all suck. Atmosphere could be had anywhere. I think it would be hard to replace all the things I mentioned at Clark and Addison.

I have watched in the past and may watch again in the future. I also feel like the choices really limited my vote.

Not to be a alarmist but we are last in the league in hitting with runners in scoring position. Actually in this case I think its a good sign. It will improve and we are in the middle of the league in OBP. A little more pop and less bad timing and our offense will improve.

He also played RF on Friday. Cattanollato(sp) DHed. If his defense is so bad that it is better to have Sammy in the OF I am glad we didnt get him.

be still my beating heart If they have Darin Erstad as a top the order guy, they have completely shown me how stupid they are. They didnt lose last year because of lack of hustle or not bunting enough. They lost because of the dropoff in pitching. I dont think they did anything this offseason to improve their pitching for this season. They are still relying on Contreras to pitch as well as he did for one year. I think Garland has developed into a good 2 or 3 guy. Vasquez, Buerlhe and Danks are all three kind of big question marks. On offense Thome is getting older, Dye had a career year last year and will probably decline. Same as AJ. Podsednik is good if he plays like he did in 2005, If not he is also a burden at the top of the order. In that division I wouldnt be surprised if the White Sox dont finish .500.

I think it's the entire 7th now. I've always been curious, why doesn't Pat Hughes call the whole came? Is it something in his contract, or does WGN want to avoid having to pay one play-by-play guy for a full 9 innings? I mean, if the game goes into extra innings, Pat still calls those. So why do they need this stand-in guy? I liked Andy, but always thought it was strange that he only stepped in for a half inning, the same inning, every game. Never varied. He was obviously there in the booth for the whole game, "tracking the scores" as Pat says. Congrats to him on his new gig, must be nice calling a whole game for a change. I think its smart business to keep grooming younger people to step in. I know in Mazur case it may have back-fired.

What I got from AZ Phil was that Alfonso Soriano's defense in CF is going to make us miss Juan Pierre. Yeesh. And Cliff Floyd's probably should be DHing in the AL. He would have to be pretty bad to make up for the major increase in offensive production. The Cliff Floyd thing really is a concern though.

Reading this post I was kind of hoping that Prior would sport some long straggly hair and a long goatee and go behind the mound and get psyched up rubbing up the ball. Than later on in life become a lousy Cardinals announcer.

Bellhorn and Neifi are similar. Stat guys will defend Bellhorn. Traditional guys will defend Neifi. Truth is they both suck.

Correct.

Who is pitching for his top 2 teams? I have some other issues but dont want to point them all out. Really no problem with his Cub assessment. I really like how Rich Hill is not getting any pub whatsoever. Like he isnt even on the team.

I read an article a couple of months ago about "Cinderella teams" The guy went back through history and found 10 such teams and looked at things that all these teams had in common. A couple of things that I remember are young players coming into prime and career years. The one that really got my attention is poor competition. Usually there was a great team getting old or injured and several others who didnt quite have enough. Anyway for some reason the author didnt use this to try and predict a Cinderella team for this year. Maybe he was just letting his audience have some room to think for themselves. I thought of the Pirates. I certainly think that most of the 3 things I mentioned are possible. This isnt me predicting them to win division, but I could see it happening though.

I dont think he is slow. He gets a little too much attention for being a bad outfielder. He isnt great but he also isnt bad. I do predict he will be out of baseball by 35 though. Can we say Jose Canseco type.

Pirates have a better offensive team than the Reds?

The Gonzo, Pierre, and Nomar signings are all a bit strange to me. Kemp and Loney need to be playing at the major league level, and for some reason Coletti signed people to fill in all the positions they can play except for RF... where Ethier is anchored down. I'm honestly surprised he didn't sign Aaron Boone to a three year deal to play third and block LaRoche. I am glad to see the Cubs are not the only team that just cannot give a job to a rookie without bringing overpriced and overrated veterans for managers to tinker with.