SteveSarley

Rogers says: 'That they were unable to break Patterson's slide, is an indictment of Baker and his two hitting coaches, Clines and Matthews.' 'Should Patterson somehow turn in a good season—25-30 homers isn't out of the question, it would be a huge indictment of Baker and his coaches.' Which one was supposed to swing the bat for Corey, Dusty, Clines or Sarge? If Patterson has the putrid season I would expect, based on past performance, is that a huge indictment of Phil Rogers?

Why is it always the manager and never the player. Corey swings at pitches over his head? Dusty's fault! Hollandsworth can't get a hit to save his life? Dusty's fault for playing him! Give me a break!

What does he bring to the table, except promise? How long does promise last before it finally turns to disappointment? This kid has three batting coaches in Baker, Clines and Matthews. He had a manager and batting coach in his AAA stint. Is he able to change? Is he willing to change? Do we just let him pick the spot he likes best in the batting order, stick him there and hope for the best? He'll do us no good on the opening day roster. I just hope we can get something decent for him. I hope Hendry can use him in some type of multi-player transaction to try to hide how little we can get for him and save the organization some embarassment.

I don't mind the signings at all. If Grissom can return to 2004 he is a fine backup OF with a nice combo of OBP, speed, power and defense. Restovich? Why not take a look? He'll probably be a big help to the AAA team in the long run. Augie? The same Augie who used to get the "Au-gie Au-gie" chants? Why not? The orginazation seems to have always liked him. He doesn't have a chance at making the team but will play in AAA quite a bit. I am still not happy with our OF situation. Grissom is a big "?" and Mabry is a #5, at best. Please don't say Corey's name, because he will be gone. This team needs a 4th outfielder who can play some center and fill in for about 80 games among the three spots combined, barring injury, of course. If Grissom fills this spot, fine. I just cannot bank on a guy his age coming off an injury.

I actually think that this is the best run website for baseball chat in the entire universe. Crusade? Not me! Most of the posters here are insightful and intelligent. So you say that Bruce Miles has a source and that Hoops has a source, therefore Hoops is as legitimate as Bruce Miles? Or are you saying Hoops is Bruce Miles? Or are you saying that Hoops and Bruce Miles share the same source? Stretching a bit, aren't you? Exactly what is a source? Seriously? The switchboard operator at Wrigley Field? Hendry's butcher? People who claim they have sources are like guys who run around telling people they are "connected" to the mob. They are not very close at all. By the way, the length of time a person has spent at a message board has no bearing on his ability to post, whatsoever. Maybe you think Marquis Grissom will be an All Star because he has been in the league for eighty jillion years? Same reasoning, isn't it? By the way, Sulley - They have doctors and medicines that can do a wonderful job at calming severe paranoia. Try a Google search. I am sure that there is help for you out there.

Oh great King BBB - it seems that there are a lot of court jesters running around this kingdom.

I stand corrected. My apologies to BBB

"I have confirmed (just yesterday in fact) that the Cubs had no interest in Giles, and hence, did not even try to talk to him or his agent." - Hoops How did you confirm this? Are you Hendry? Are you Giles? Are you Giles' agent? Did you read Rotoworld? This usage of terms like "confirm," "my sources," and "insider," absolutely crack me up.

I wouldn't mind seeing it at all. We need either another power bat or an excellent #2 hitter to make this team go anywhere. I wouldn't mind seeing Vidro batting second and having Cedeno starting at SS and hitting eighth. With Soriano, you'd need to have Cedeno batting in the two spot. A rookie batting 2nd scares me a little. By the way, Vidro wanted to play for his home country in this International game deal, but Washington will not allow him to. It seems like he may be healthy enough to try trading for. The choices: Pierre CF - Pierre CF Vidro 2b - Cedeno SS Lee 1b - Lee 1b Ramirez 3b - Ramirez 3b Jones RF - Soriano 2b Murton LF - Jones RF Barrett C - Murton LF Cedeno SS - Barrett C

Oh my God! No one has disagreed with my opinion that we are a better team than last year! I'm quitting while I am ahead and going to bed!

So, what is a coach suppposed to do? Don't you think that they work with him? Don't you think that between Baker, Clines and Sarge that they have tried everything? He doesn't change his grip. He doesn't change his stance. He doesn't shorten his swing. AND - he still swings at pitches up at his eyes. It is not the fault of the coaches, I think this kid is uncoachable. Oh yeah! Remember when he said in the minors last year that nobody ever talked to him before about shortening his swing? Do you actually believe that? Why can D. Lee, a successful hitter, alter his stance and improve himself at his age, while a kid like Corey keeps failing time after time with no change in his approach? Oh yes, it's the fault of the coaches! -I do not believe for a second that Baker, Clines or Mathews have the skills needed to encourage plate discipline. Nearly every public statement they make regarding the offense preaches aggresiveness. -I do believe that no one talked to him about shortening his swing in the minors. He was never a top of the order hitter until he got here and the coaches saw that he was short and fast. Throughout his entire baseball career up until 2002 Patterson was developed to be a middle of the order run producer. Thus, there would have been no reason for anyone in the system to encourage him to shorten his swing. It would have been contrary to his supposed eventual role with the ML club. -Derrek Lee had a much more correctable flaw in his swing, and less baggage with which to deal with. He opened his stance to be able to turn on inside pitches. With Corey, at this point it would be like trying to alter the flow of a river. -And FWIW, Corey did make minor adjustmetns to his hand position and his stance. None of them were effective long term, because his role was constantly changing, and because once he began to struggle after making an adjustment, he'd begin to press and fall back into bad habits. Look, I don't think Corey will ever succeed here in Chicago. I think he needs a fresh start elsewhere, but that doesn't mean he's untalented or uncoachable. I only wish Corey the best. He is a fine young man and my heart bleeds for him when I hear him so mercilessly booed at Wrigley. Patterson, though, said that no one in the major leagues had ever told him to shorten his swing. I would believe that to be a total falsehood.

I said that I would loved to have seen Wilkerson in right field, playing next to Pierre. I wouldn't have minded seeing him in center if we had a quality lead-off man at another position. As far as Bradley goes, he is a suspension waiting to happen. Yes, I do scoff at what Bradley could have been for us. No way! I am glad it did ot happen.

Error - see next post Sorry!

So, what is a coach suppposed to do? Don't you think that they work with him? Don't you think that between Baker, Clines and Sarge that they have tried everything? He doesn't change his grip. He doesn't change his stance. He doesn't shorten his swing. AND - he still swings at pitches up at his eyes. It is not the fault of the coaches, I think this kid is uncoachable. Oh yeah! Remember when he said in the minors last year that nobody ever talked to him before about shortening his swing? Do you actually believe that? Why can D. Lee, a successful hitter, alter his stance and improve himself at his age, while a kid like Corey keeps failing time after time with no change in his approach? Oh yes, it's the fault of the coaches!

Pierre's 2005 would still have gotten Lee another 25 RBI's for us last year. Feel free to call me on it at the end of the season. Pierre will be a big plus

Is Pierre a better center-fielder than Patterson? (That's Patterson in 2005, not the past or the imagined future.) YES Is Jones better in left than Burnitz? Let's call it even, although Burnitz is at the end of his career and going down while Jones is still younger and has a better chance of getting back to form. EVEN Is the bullpen better than last year? YES! YES! YES! Bench? Mabry in Macias out. Not done yet, but better already. YES Is Murton better than Hollandsworth in left? God, I hope so! YES Is the Cedeno/Perez, Cedeno/Walker, Cedeno/Hairston DP combo better than last year's? EVEN Starting pitching? Same as last year. EVEN Lee, Ramirez, Barrett? Same. EVEN I still don't think we are done making moves, but it looks like, as of right now, that our 2006 team is already vastly improved over the 2005 edition. Could we have already done more? Sure! But I like the direction in which we are headed.

rawaction posted: With all due respect, what makes you believe this? What makes you believe that Hendry is that creative? This is the same guy who let all the OF options go by last year because he hadn't traded Sosa. This is the same guy that was so hellbent on Furcal that when he lost out on his speedy leadoff hitter, he passed up the more productive Bradley and Wilkerson and had to have Pierre. There's no evidence to support that Hendry ever makes a deal to set up another deal. Pierre is a better table-setter and lead-off hitter than Wilkerson or Bradley. He will make our offense go. I like Wilkerson and would have liked to have seen him in right field, next to Pierre. What has Bradley ever done? Oh yes, he has untapped potential that is ready to blossom as long as he doesn't have a mental eruption that gets him banned from the game first. Neither Wilkerson or Bradley is a lead-off hitter. Maybe Hendry hasn't been creative in the past but he's made some pretty damned good deals. I think a new middle infield is coming our way.

Treebeard posted: "i like to think that the coaches could actually do something beyond just saying "hey don't swing at bad pitches." And what might that be? How does a coach stop a player from swinging at pitches over his chest? How does a hitting coach stop a player from swinging at the first pitch every time up? There is a major difference between helping a batter re-gain his lost timing or correcting a hitch in a swing than there is in getting a pig-headed, uncoachable kid to stop swinging at pitches out of the strike zone.

This is not the team that will take the field on opening day 2006. 1 - I firmly believe that Patterson is gone. How can everybody blame the coaching for his lack of plate discipline? If you tell a batter not to swing at high pitches when he is walking to the on-deck circle and he still whiffs at a chest high fastball, is that the batting coach's fault? Patterson has been figured out by the league and he doesn't seem to want to adjust. 2 - Jerry Hairston will be gone. Have you heard them mention his name as being in the picture in any capacity next year. The organization didn't like his missing signs, mediocre fielding and horrendous baserunning. 3 - Todd Walker will be gone. Say what you like, his poor range, the inability to turn the double play and the fact that it takes three base hits to score him from first, all seal his fate. When I read that some people think he is as good as Soriano, I couldn't believe it. I believe that Hendry took the option of a right fielder that cost him nothing but cash as the best way out because he needs the prospects to bolster the middle infield. A double play combination of Tejada and Vidro, anyone?

I don't understand comparing Jones to Patterson and using money as a qualifier. Is Jones adequacy at $5 million worth more than Patterson's absolutely horrid play at a lesser figure? Who cares anyway? Jones is an upgrade from Patterson and it is not my money being spent. All I read about is people complaining that we have money to spend but do not spend it. Now we spend it and we'd prefer they go on the cheap. I don't get it! Before I get jumped on, I would have preferred Giles from the beginning or a trade for a bigger bopper. That said, I see Hendry signing a top quality fourth outfielder. (Boy, will that start the "Dusty will never play Murton" talk or what?) I also see an upgrade at a middle infield position, if not both of them. Tejada & Vidro anyone?

I like Murton because of his plate discipline, among other good qualities. I think that gives him a better chance at consitency and improvement than a lot of other splashy rookies. It will be tough to try to pitch around him or exploit a weakness because he has a swing that looks like it doesn't have holes in it. I always worry about relying on rookies being given starting jobs. I also worry about relying on proven veterans who are on the decline, only hoping that a "change of scenery" will turn their careers around again. And, please, don't tell me about Atlanta going to the playoffs with rookies or how Carl Everett turned around with the White Sox. Everyone can name exceptions.

Any consideration to the possibility that Corey is out of potetntial and that it just took a season-and-a-half for the league to catch up with him? The pitchers figured him out and he has not been able to adjust. Maybe he'd just a flash in the pan that flashed a little longer than most. That's also a reason why Murton concerns me.

Good call, Pedro!

Sorry! I was, indeed, unfair to Rich Hill. That said, how can anybody use the fact that Podsednik plays left field and that the Sox had excellent pitching try to negate the fact that Juan Pierre is tremendous at the top of the order and can be a sparkplug for our entire offense? As far as statistical analysis goes, many people here will use the numbers from the back of his baseball card to try to say that Todd Walker is the second coming of Rod Carew. Watch him play. His range is limited. He can't turn the double play. His hitting is not what I would call timely. Statistical analysis needs to be tempered and adjusted through the activity of actually watching the players play the game on the field. Statistics do lie. Anyone who pulls out Patterson's stats from his 1-1/2 good years and tries to use that information to posit that a 2006 rebound is likely, is only fooling himself. Watch Patterson. He doesn't have a clue. It makes no difference what the old stats say. They are merely memories.

That story is from Mr. Gloom-and-Doom, Barry Rozner. He knows that Dusty has no interest in being the manager of the Cubs. He knows that Dusty wants to manage the Diamondbacks. He knows that Dusty wants to manage the Dodgers. Of course, if you ask Dusty, he says exactly the opposite. Why believe a man who is brutally honest, almost to a fault, when he looks you in the eye and tells you something? Isn't it more fun to believe someone who never leaves his newsroom and fills his column out with e-mail humor sent in by readers?