Sammy Sofa

Ah, the conundrum of Cedeno. Gets to balls nobody else can get to, but then fires them anywhere but where they need to be.

Holy crap, ultimate winnar of all time.

Nah, it's the WGN feed. It's blacked out on channel 9, too.

OK, taking pitches is obviously a good thing...but when mashers like Soriano, Lee and Ramirez see a juicy first pitch they think think they can clobber, they shouldn't hold off just to take some pitches.

Oh, really? I thought they were trying to score runs and win the baseball game. How stupid of him to try and drive a good pitch which he almost hit out.

Seems to be that way, unless his wrist still hurts from being hit by a pitch. He did get in the game for defensive purposes yesterday though, so who knows. Kind of ridiculous that they didn't even give him a week into the season before they benched him if he has in fact been benched. Supposedly his hand was still hurting him. Supposedly.

Sit 'em both today and use Wuertz to close. It's the freakin' Pirates.

yeah, because theriot is to cedeno what ramirez is to fontenot. good point. yea because the sample size of cedeno is large enough to draw meaningful conclusions from it. (not directed to anyone in particular but) when are we going to realize and acknowledge Cedeno and the Riot BOTH suck big time? And they're our only options at SS right now, so between the two, especially on days they've decided Pie can't play, I'd like to see Cedeno get some at bats instead of wasting them on a journeyman minor leaguer pushing 30.

Jeez, Lou...please start Cedeno over Theriot.

Why?

The main things keeping him out are his annual escalating walk and home run rates. Hopefully this year isn't more of the same.

I'd mock, but then I remember who the Cubs ae starting at SS.

Salut, sham closer.

Idiots. Sit Pie...BUT MAKE SURE RYAN GETS HIS PLAYING TIME!!! Disgusting.

A-RamMVP, why do you have the mostly blank space Cubs.com banner as your sig pic?

SAMPSON SIMPSON. LORDAMERCY.

What anti-gamers. Did they not take their grit pills? I'll bet tomorrow they don't even make it to the ballpark while Theriot shows up 9 hours early.

Oh, you know. Science and studies and stuff and junk.

HOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!! AAAARRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

people say "a whopping 683 plate appearances" as though it's extremely uncommon for players to reach the majors having had fewer than this many plate appearances at the more advanced minor league levels. it's not. it's actually quite common. and he performed at a decent level in west tennessee in 2005 (it's a pitcher's league and a pitcher's park), beat up pitching in iowa during 2005, and played well for the big club in 2006. it was time to see if he would sink or swim in 2006; starting him out at iowa would have been pointless. in if ronny was "rushed" then i would guess you could say that most of the starting players in baseball were also "rushed." Ryan Theriot wasn't rushed. He was a 27 year old rookie. If only Ronny was afforded the same luxury. He could go mash in AAA for another couple years. And what good would that do? (I assume you were being sarcastic) I agree that Ronny is probably a better player than Ryan, but he played an entire season at SS in 2006 and was Macias-level awful in over 500 AB's: .245 .271 .339 In virtually the same no. of AB's last season, Theriot put up: .266 .326 .346 The argument that Cedeno is so clearly better than Theriot is belied by the facts. The argument is that Cedeno's ceiling is higher, not that he's necessarily better at this exact moment. Given Theriot's age and minor league history, that line in 2007 is likely around the best you can expect from him. Given Cedeno's age and his minor league numbers, it's reasonable to expect that he underperformed in 2006 and has a great chance of doing much better if he gets to play.

Good Lord. Can we stop plunking batters, please?

Look at his dramatic and consistent away splits over his career: http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/bsplit.cgi?n1=greenkh01&year=00 Stop pretending he isn't hampered by hitting in those giant ballparks out west for most games each season. i don't know who he was referring to, but it wasn't khalil greene. khalil is 28, not 29, he's had a hell of a lot more than 975 ABs, and his OPS is .756, not .683. Yeah, it confused me too, but I figured maybe he just made a mistake. It's definitely not Theriot, either.

lol. and i gave one example (want more? jose reyes. hanley ramirez. khalil greene. miguel tejada. rafael furcal. derek jeter.) who were similarly "rushed" to the majors at or before the age of 23, but performed admirably at the big league level and were able to continue playing productively at that level. It's a false point to compare Cedeno to almost all of those players. Even his biggest supporters here aren't saying he's Jeter or Ramirez or Tejada et al. To put up their career tracks as standard or expected models is absurd.

Yes and yes, especially if it means Marmol was moved for a serious impact player. Hording excess relievers while the team has gaping holes in everyday starting positions is just flat out stupid and supremely Cub-like.

Look at his dramatic and consistent away splits over his career: http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/bsplit.cgi?n1=greenkh01&year=00 Stop pretending he isn't hampered by hitting in those giant ballparks out west for most games each season.