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katway

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Everything posted by katway

  1. katway
    You still can't blame Corey for it. He may have taken off later than Mark was expecting but he was within 30 feet of the plate when Prior fouled that pitch off. He just forgot Patterson is really, really fast. Corey still would've scored easily if Prior put the ball in play . So, what your saying is that Prior should have laid it down even if CPatt never broke on the ball? I mean, essentially, he is suppose to assume Corey is fast enough in spite of a poor break on the ball? this doesn't make sense to me. Bottom line -- CPatt hustles to start the play and Prior lays it down according to plan. CPatt fails to hustle and Prior has to consider swinging away to protect CPatt. Thus, if CPatt hustles, we never have prior swinging away in the first place.
  2. katway
    They can imporve defense in house -- Move Nomar to second, Cedeno to short, Pie in center, CPatt in left, Burny in right. ARam is injured, so I give him a slight pass. Aside from his major mistake throw, Barrett is at least average defensively. Lee, of course, is a true gold glover.
  3. katway
    Dubois may or may not be a AAAA player. But, I think the team made the right estimation that he is better served by being in the AL where his defense is not as much of an issue. So, I give dusty a pass on this one since it may have been square peg for round hole. With respect to Murton and Cedeno, I think Dusty has done an awful job, Both players have promise, yet we still have trouble analyzing their potential to be everyday players because they never played everyday for even a short stretch even though they couldn't do any worse that the journeyman veterans. Baker really dropped the ball and aside for his poor lineups, this would be my second biggest reason for terminating him at the end of the year.
  4. katway
    Corey is not the poster boy of the team's failure; but, Corey is the poster boy of the typical Cubs player failing to perform up to expectation by playing poor fundamental baseball. He is perhaps the Cubs' player who most limits his ability with his approach and mental gaffes. To only look at 5 pitches in 4 plate appearances last night, going 0 for 4, is simply an awful approach to the game. Corey is not responsible for the totality of the Cubs' awful season; but he may be the poster boy for a poor approach and lack of fundamentals, traits shared by many teamates, and the team traits that are responsible for this talented, but less than .500 ball club.
  5. katway
    I'm wondering the same thing. That subject was brought up before the game started. The beat writer was ripping on Corey about fundamentals before the game. His comments were to the point of "MLB players should know the fundamentals by the time they are in MLB." I agree with that to an extent, but just because they should know them then that doesn't mean that you shouldn't go over the basics from time to time. The messed up squeeze play frustrated Dusty but I thought it was Prior's fault. Even with a "late jump" even Len mentioned that Corey just about got hit by the swing. I think Prior had to change his approach when Corey took off late. Prior can only glance over to third briefly, if Corey doesn't get a good jump, then Prior has to make his decision based on that fact. Prior can't continue to observe Corey coming down the line with a pitch headed to the plate. Corey needs to get a good jump and not put Prior in that position.
  6. katway
    I don't understand why Kerry would be out for the spring next year, if it's just a scope. I know Matt Morris had a similar situation to Kerry after having TJ and Morris had to go back in for a clean-up scope. He's been pretty solid since, but I don't remember him missing a ton of time after the scope. While no one knows for sure what's really going on w/ the exception of Kerry and the Cubs.........if in fact it's just a cleaning scope as apposed to a structural issue where he would have to have something actually reattached, or rebuilt....................is it really that big of an issue. My point is, he may be able to pitch the remainder of the season, have the scope, and still be ready to go in ST. Or am I off base here? The problem as I see it is that no one knows if his continueing to pitch this year is causing further damage. The Cubs are speculating that it isn't. But, no one can be certain his arm isn't getting worse throwing 100 mph fastballs with debris floating around. The safest approach for Kerry's career and future durability is to shut him down and get him on the operating table ASAP.
  7. katway
    If we are talking about people in the system ready to start next year, then Angel Guzman comes to mind. If he is fully recovered, he takes a spot in the rotation next year.
  8. katway
    Felix Pie (CF), CPatt (RF), and Matt Murton (LF). I hope that's the outfield of the Cubs next year and the team uses money on reliable relief pitchers, a solid starter, Nomar, etc.
  9. katway
    I would prefer a fresh coach that hasn't been fired by at least three teams. I'd like to see a long term stable manager to stick with the team as it develops around Prior and zambrano for the next ten years like a Joe Girardi.
  10. katway
    Pitch counts are the big thing now because no one wants to ruin the arm of the $50 million pitcher with the guaranteed contract. Not every pitcher may need a pitch count, but some certainly do. For every Fergie Jenkins there is a Sandy Koufax that has to hang them up because their arm wont let them pitch any more. The problem without a pitch count is that you don't know whether the pitcher is that durable until it's too late and the pitcher blows out the arm.
  11. katway
    I don't see why a Pie, Murton, CPatt outfield will not work from an offensive perspective because of a perceived lack of power. Look at the Whitesox outfield. Corey can at least give us Dye's production. Pie can easily probably hit for more power than Podsednik (0 homers). Murton can probably give us Rowand's (9 homers thus far) production in a full season. That's the outfield of the best team in the AL and Pie, Murton, and CPatt can probably equal its production and play just as well, if not better, defensively. The fact is that fewer players are hitting homers without the roids. Corner outfielders with 35 homers+ per year is no longer the norm and teams can easily win without them. Especially teams like the Cubs, which can get power from their infield. Let the kids play next year, bring in some quality pitching and this team will finally win the games they are supposed to win.
  12. katway
    I agree. Defense can make a tremendous difference. Especially in all those 1 run games and in light of homeruns occurring at a lower rate this year without the roids. An outfield with Pie and Corey can really run down a lot of would be hits, turn doubles into singles, etc. There aren't that many 30 homerun guys without the juice, so I don't see glaring need for a power hitting outfielder, especially if we keep the infield intact with Lee, Ramirez, and Nomar. Corey should hit 25+ homeruns a year if he focuses at the plate and isn't asked to lead off. Pie will probably hit more homeruns than most leadoff hitters and Murton is going to get probably around 15 in his first full season along with a lot of doubles like Mark Grace.
  13. katway
    I heard this as well. If it is truth, Dusty must be asking to get fired.
  14. katway
    He still keeps his name if he moves to 2nd and would probably be the best offensive 2nd baseman in baseball. Like Arod, he makes the All-Star team at a different position.
  15. katway
    =D> At 25, he and the organization may not be able to afford a couple of bad years in the majors until he gets it. In reality, with his curve all he needs is one more pitch to make a quick jump in the majors. The Cubs organization will need to focus on getting him to develop that pitch because almost everyone in the majors can hit a fastball and a curveball if all they have to do is sit on that pitch.
  16. katway
    Rothschild has been overhyped as a pitching coach. He has never really had extended success with pitching staffs. He had a good year with the Reds in the early 90s and was the benefactor of the Marlin's spending sprees for Al Leiter and Kevin Brown in 1997. Not to say that he is not a good pitching coach, but he doesn't seem to have the record of a great pitching coach by any means.
  17. katway
    I think a move to 2nd would help both him and the Cubs. We could bring up Cedeno and move Nomar to 2nd. That gives us a better defensive infield than Nomar at SS and Walker at 2nd. Although I like Walker, I would have no problems trading him for a consistent middle reliever. For Nomar, such a move could extend his career since his range at SS has decreased and his numbers from 2nd base would equal or rival Jeff Kent's.
  18. katway
    Yankees will not trade Arod unless getting back more than he is worth. He's in Jeter's generation, so they will want to keep Arod to solidify their future playoff runs. I also have concerns whether Arod can resume playing shortstop. He seems to have put on some wieght playing third and his mobility seems to have tailed off a little. He used to be among the best at defensive shortstop, but 2 years at third may have diminished his skills.
  19. katway
    Maybe someone else will let the kids play, but it will have to be an interim. I'm hoping for Joe Girardi or Fredi Gonzalez next year.
  20. katway
    Even if Beltran was available, the team didn't have the budget to sign him following the Sosa trade. Beltran is being way overpaid by the Mets because they wanted to make themselves appear serious to other free agents. We are still eating the majority of Sosa's contract on that one and would not have matched the Mets offer.
  21. katway
    ](*,)
  22. katway
    While Maddux is not worth what he will be paid next year if he reaches his innings, it seems to me that it would be poor form to let him go at this point to simply prevent him from vesting when he actually is our third best pitcher following Prior and Z. In other words we would DFA him not because he is the worst starting pitcher, but because we simply want to prevent him from vesting. I just feel like the organization made the vesting deal based on innings without contingencies for ERA, etc. The organization made that deal and should stick to it, to do otherwise when the player is still better than most of the starters on your team is somewhat dishonorable.
  23. katway
    yep. he's done...i can tell all i need to know about a guy after four starts. this whole season is the fault of hill and patterson. Who talked about CPatt there? Does anyone actually read anymore? Anyway, I'm not saying Hill is a failure or to blame for the season. What I'm pointing out is that a lot of people thought Hill was a sticking point in a trade for Dunn or any Reds outfielder. Since this poor performance is against Reds, chances are they will no longer want him as much in a trade. In other words, this performance decreases his value to the Reds if there ever was a trade to discuss with the Reds.
  24. katway
    With this performance, any Hill plus extras for Dunn trade this offseason can be kissed goodbye. Once agin, another player has successfully devalued himself in a Cub uniform.
  25. katway
    Milton works the count better than any Cub hitter. :evil:
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