Tracer Bullet

Does that mean he finally gets to stop paying Bartman 50% of his paycheck? Good luck, Gonzo.

I'd settle for seeing him win one. here's a fun fact...how many runs have the cubs scored in hill's four losses? 1 (that's combined) pretty sure it wouldn't matter much if hill had an era of 8 or 1...the offense is the problem, not rich hill. It's really convenient to toss that out and then not mention how many runs he's given up in his games pitched this season. Hell, last season, too. Obviously, the offense is letting guys down, but Hill on the mound typically means you need 5-6 runs just to keep it close, almost every single time. He's a useless sack of meat. Greg Maddux: SEASON TEAM G GS CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB SO W L ERA 1986 ChC 6 5 1 0 31.0 44 20 19 3 11 20 2 4 5.52 1987 ChC 30 27 1 0 156.2 181 111 97 17 74 101 6 14 5.61 He turned out ok. Useless sack of meat!

four times. billingsley's the better prospect. Why because he can throw the ball harder then Marshall? Well...so can Angel Guzman. And I DO consider Angel is the same class with Billingsley. So, yeah...Billingsley is the better "prospect", but the Cubs IMO, have the better PITCHER. Your argument is that Marshall is a better pitcher than Billingsley? I don't think you'll find any baseball expert or analyst that would agree with you.

Not trying to troll. Just thought it was valid to the point, and I'm sure not everyone is aware of it. Pierzinski is well documented as the most obnoxious man in baseball, but this is Barrett's fault. The only thing Pierzinski did that was remotely out of line was slap the plate. If that is enough to incite the leader of a team (as well as one of the last remainging viable offensive options) to throw a punch, then the player either has anger issues or there is something else behind it. I think that something else is just Barrett's competitive dissatisfaction with the team. Doesn't excuse it, but it does explain it. All Cs do this. I'm sure AJP has blocked the plate w/o the ball too. But just as Barrett has to accept that he might get run over by the runner, if the runner rams him when a slide would have been the easier way to score (he beat the ball by a full step & Pods told him to slide), then slaps the plate and then runs into the guy when "getting his helmet" - he needs to accept that the C (who just got rammed) might be a little pissed. Did AJP hope MB punched him so he'd be out a few games and hurt the Cubs even more? Wouldn't surprise me. But I don't blame MB. If that chain of events had happened to me, I'd probably want to punch AJB too.

I hate Dusty Baker. I don't care if it was a clean play or not. Barrett got run over by a relatively big guy. He's frustrated with this bunch of losers who don't play with any intensity and after getting nailed by a guy who everyone in baseball says is a jerk, in the heat of the cross-town rivalry, he punches him in the face. I would have hoped the rest of the Cubs would have seen that and had a little fire lit in them. But they don't have it in them. When I saw Barrett nail him in the jaw I started clapping in my livingroom. He's my new favorite Cub.

Just once, I want to see a Cubs starting player that's not indispensable go on the DL rather than a star. Pierre, Mabry, even Cedeno would fall under that category. Cedeno isn't indispensible, but Neifi is his backup. So I don't want him anywhere near the DL.

Bruce's take. Neifi's quote is great "I've been struggling with the bat right now." By "right now" he apparently means "for the last 5 years."

I'd go: 1. Dusty 2. Hendry 3. The guys Henry brought in this year (Pierre esp - quit grounding out to 2nd!) 4. ARam 5. Luck, Bad (Lee) Dusty gets primary blame for 2 reasons - (1) no this isn't a 100-win team with what Hendry assembled, but it isn't a team that should be shut-out 5 times in a 2-week span or lose 9 straight. Dusty's supposed to be a great player's manager, but he hasn't gotten the most out of these guys. His "be aggressive" policy isn't helping either; and (2) I blame Dusty in part for the injuries to Wood & Prior's arms. He worked them to death in '03 and just overuses young pitchers too much for my taste. I guess if we had won the WS that year, I wouldn't complain. But we didn't, so I do. Hendry gets the blame for bringing in Pierre and Jones to play key roles on this team. And also for the likes of Bynum, Mabry, and Neifi being our primary options off the bench. A disgrace for a major-market team really. I don't really blame the Trib b/c they could give Hendry $400m and he'd blow half of it on crap like Jones and Perez and the other half overpaying for decent players (I still think Hendry overpaid for the bullpen guys). Until we see Hendry hot after a difference maker and get outbid by another team b/c of budget, I can't really blame the Trib.

That's an incredibly biting article...and well deserved. Great work, Bruce!

Did you intentionally leave JP and his sub-.270 OBP out of the list of "killers"?

Um, 2003: Prior, Wood, Clement and Z combined for 126 starts and were all good to fantastic pitchers. 2004 Prior and Wood made 21 and 22 starts. Maddux, Z, and Clement were actually pretty good. 2005 Maddux and Z were fine. Prior was great in 27 starts. Wood started just 10 games and Rusch started almost 20 times (yikes). If there's a way to make our pitching staff as good as '03 again, having Prior and Wood throw a combined 420 innings of incredible baseball would be where I'd start, not by trading away the catcher with the .860 OPS. That's just me.

2/38? Is that better or worse than his average w/ the bases empty?

ding ding ding ding Honestly, he hasn't had a ton of plate discipline in the minors either, in terms of walk totals. But Dusty preaching "be aggressive" isn't going to help him be more selective.

I don't disagree, but the other guys in the league don't deserve to have one team get the benefit of a deal like that.

One of the best? Hardly not. Cedeno .385, Walker .371, Jones .349, Barrett .385. Yes he has Neifi .255 and Ramirez .291 (though it is unlikely he will by season end), and Pierre .317. Even with Ramirez and Pierre slumping and sucking terribly; their .715 and .695 OPS against righties exceed Murton’s .670. When Lee returns with .417. So he is one of the worst hitters against righties on the team when compared to the starters in OBP and SLG. You also need to realize he dropped from an April OPS of .809 to .676 in May. So he sat for a few days. He’s started 10 of 13 games. I don’t understand the problem with giving a struggling rookie a few days off. He’s still the starter. But if you look at his 3-year splits (2003-2005) which is more telling of his hitting, he has a .365 OBP against righties in 679 plate appearances (.747 OPS), coupled with his .382 this year says he’s likely to produce better in the short term. I’m not advocating this, but just pointing out that Murton is not there yet, and is still a work in progress, not a savior (unless it’s with his 1.100 OPS against lefties). Dusty has been more then fair with his development and playing time. The last few weeks yes, but shouldn't this be in rants? You make some good points, but I just don't believe that Dusty is looking at OBP or splits or anything like that to determine who starts against whom. If he were, Jones would never face a lefty pitcher. I don't mind if Murton gets a night off now and again, but with Dusty's reputation, I don't think fans can be faulted for getting anxious when he seems to be dropping a rookie in the order and getting him more time off.

I'd prefer it if Dusty didn't speak English. Then when he tells Murton to be more aggressive and stop taking all those walks, Matt could just look at him curiously and go up to the plate and patiently look for a ball to drive.

Man that would look nice at 1B right now.

This question is complete overreaction, but I wouldn't call Dempster a tremendous closer just yet. He got the saves last year, but as I recall, he didn't strike out a ton of guys as a reliever. He also had a pretty high WHIP (around 1.50 or so). I always got the feeling that he got a little lucky last year. Blowing 1 save this year shouldn't result in comparisons to Hawkins, and his WHIP and K rate are incredible after 1 month. But he hasn't been the kind of guy that you see warming up and think "this one's over."

I think I'd go: Cedeno Walker ARam Barrett Murton Jones Pierre Hairston But Baker won't do that either.

Wow, no 6 run homer by Pujols? Pujols didn't play. Actually, Edmonds didn't start and Rolen is still out. It's horrible that the Cards can, w/o those 3 in the lineup and with Ponson on the mound, take a 2-2 tie into the bottom of the 9th.

I've been a commish in a few private leagues for different sports and I'd step in on this one. I don't like to get involved often, but unless SBs are worth 50 times more than they are in most leagues, this crosses the line. My 2 cents.

He's not going to jail for fipping his bat underhanded and hitting an umpire (who, btw, was wearing a chest protector). Nor should he. If you or I were playing a rec game and did the same thing, we wouldn't be jailed, nor should we. This isn't nearly as bad as the two hockey incidents you mentioned. If he had hauled off and whacked the ump with a swing of the bat - that's another thing. But this was minor compared to those two things. It was stupid on his part and he'll get a suspension, but jail? Seriously?

Couldn't find anything either - but people around here never fail to have inside knowledge about just about every team.

I've always thought the Cubs should embrace the history of THAT AREA. Perhaps even paint THAT SEAT a different color. If they do that, they should also put a gigantic X where AGON muffed the easy double play ball.

Oh to not have a job...I'd love to be at this game.