Sammy Sofa

I understand the bullpen is [expletive]. But, I feel like he doesn't put the team in the best chance to succeed sometimes, with regards to his handling of the bullpen. Case in point, last night Svuem leaves Camp in the game to face Saltalamacchia, who struggles against lefties in his career, instead of bringing in Russell, who wasnt even warmed up yet. And low and behold, Camp serves up the game winning hit. Sveum has done this numerous other times this year, whether that is leaving Russell in to face a lefty-killer or a righty in to face a righty-killer instead of not having the appropriate reliever warmed up and ready. Its like he cant think ahead with the bullpen. I dont know, these are just my observations. He does the same thing with LaHair. He sits him against lefties and then in important late game situations with runners on base he won't bring him in to face right handed relievers. He doesn't hit lefties, he doesn't play great defense, he's on the team to hit right handed pitching. It makes no sense. He does the fancy 'newfangled' shift stuff (hey, if the math says it works, I'm all in favor, let's try it) on defense yet he ignores other obvious uses of statistical data. Ideally you want to bring in LaHair when people are on base, so when we see people griping about him using Baker or Johnson or whoever as a pinch hitter instead of LaHair with nobody on base they're just not thinking. Last night you've got people clamoring for him to pinch hit LaHair for Barney, nevermind they're both hitting at about the same clip over the last month and nevermind you'd be pulling Barney's defense from the game. Sveum is an unremarkable manager. You're looking too hard for things to be bothered by with a team this bad.

I understand the bullpen is [expletive]. But, I feel like he doesn't put the team in the best chance to succeed sometimes, with regards to his handling of the bullpen. Case in point, last night Svuem leaves Camp in the game to face Saltalamacchia, who struggles against lefties in his career, instead of bringing in Russell, who wasnt even warmed up yet. And low and behold, Camp serves up the game winning hit. Sveum has done this numerous other times this year, whether that is leaving Russell in to face a lefty-killer or a righty in to face a righty-killer instead of not having the appropriate reliever warmed up and ready. Its like he cant think ahead with the bullpen. I dont know, these are just my observations. It's not a video game; you don't always play a strict match-up like that, especially with limited bullpen resources. And all you're doing is highlighting how bad the bullpen is by making Russel and Camp as your examples. They're the Cubs' best relievers and you're talking about them like they effectively need to be treated as specialists. Sveum IS thinking ahead; he's thinking, "[expletive], my bullpen is [expletive] is this is one of the few reliable guys I have so I can't afford to pull him so I can use my other good reliever as a LOOGIE on Jarrod [expletive] Saltalamacchia."

The bullpen is [expletive]; there's nothing to manage.

Yeah, I was so pissed when they didn't get Schmidt.

Glad you broke out of the funk of inexplicably being humiliated by how many Fox broadcasted-games the Cubs have lost.

Jesus Christ, just relax. Can you not enjoy a game at all unless they win?

Why do you say these things? Can you not control yourself?

LIKE NINJAS AND [expletive].

I just had assumed that Dempster was on one of the WS Marlins team, but apparently his career with them was bookended by both wins.

Please do not tease or feed the animals.

http://withleather.uproxx.com/2012/06/the-dugout-matt-cains-perfect-game

No, this one is enjoying all of the work.

http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs4/1751719_o.gif

Mather's current line .264 .322 .415 .737. Isn't that almost exactly what we might have realistically expected from Stewart? The biggest difference is the defense.

This guy is obsessed with Stewart.

I hope you get caned.

erik takes such a suggestion VERY seriously.

The FA market doesn't just sit around like that.

The nice thing about retreads is you have so little invested. They allow you to take your time with your prospects and not have to worry about rushing them.

Wooh, yeah, man, those Cardinals...an 8-12 record over the last 3 weeks is something pretty special.

This is true. But he's also not at the Rizzo or Jackson level any more where he has to be coddled and you risk ruining a promising career by bringing him up too early. He's also not at the Valbuena level where he hangs out in AAA until the Cubs need someone. He's kind of in-between. If Valbuena comes up, tears it up, it doesn't show the Cubs anything. He's still never going to be more than a utility player. If you bring Vitters up, he tears it up and plays good D, he could potentially be a full-time solution at 3B. I don't imagine Stewart could do much the rest of the way to be brought back next year, especially with the wrist. But best case with Vitters is he hits well and fields adequately enough to stick. Worst case is he sucks, gets sent back down and a guy that is iffy to stick in the majors in the first place doesn't stick. Whether he's bad or he's in Iowa the rest of the year, you're still going to need a long-term option at 3B anyway. I'd at least take the chance that he is actually good while you have a chance. Coddling him? What the [expletive]?

Blah.

Well, that was pretty cool.

Bad breath? Cheeky dispositions?