goonys evil twin

So, for Greg Maddux and $12 million or so over the next three years, we get a guy who is learning how to hit AND field? Kill me now. Be patient. He's an Omar Vizquel just waiting to happen. Actually it has already happened, and we're just too foolish to recognize because we've never played the game, or don't watch enough games, or don't appreciate the finer parts of his game, or something.

He is neither the worst pitcher on the staff (Rusch), nor has he been since last June. Prior in the second half of 2005 was better than any other Cubs pitchers since that time, aside from Zambrano.

When people defend Dusty's use of Prior and Wood down the stretch in 2003, by saying he "had to use them to guarantee the playoffs and because the bullpen stunk" just look at what he's doing with Zambrano in a completely lost season. It has nothing to do with being forced into extending those guys down the stretch. He's a selfish, reckless idiot with blatant disregard for the health of his pitchers and a stubborn refusal to think maybe he should change his ways.

Who is "you"?

Izturis is just flat out good.

Dusty, why did you leave Zambrano in to throw 117 pitches in a meaningless game? I've got to save my bullpen, they've been overworked and I don't want to risk those guys wearing down late in the season. Unless you think there's absolutely no correlation to pitching and pitching injuries, there's just no justification for this stupidity. When weighing the value of protecting one over the other, you protect your stud ace long before you even think about the health of your relievers.

You mean the offense not showing up against a young lefty with control problems?

um, yeah so, ahhh, nevermind.

You mean, by like 2007?

The guy before him walks, then Ronny swings 4 straight times. It's been a problem with this entire team for years now.

I think so too. Will be interesting to see what he can do with consistent playing time, something he hasn't really had a lot of between SD and NYM. Politely disagree. Nady is a poor man's Craig Wilson, and Pittsburgh already had the real Craig Wilson. Odd move. Wilson makes a lot more money than Nady.

??????? When you're 4 games above the last place team (read Second to last) and playing out the string too, let me ask you how you've been doing playing at the level of other teams???? They manhandled STL, hung with the Mets and are up on the Reds. It may or may not be 100%, but the Cubs recent history has been to struggle against some of the worse teams while playing well against the best. They've sucked against Florida, Atlanta and Washington.

Pittsburgh did well on that Nady deal.

I'm not sure I totally buy this on a universal basis. It may be more projectable to future plans, but the potential extra bases that other baserunners could get from the higher SLUG could also be more important. In reality, it all comes down to whether those walks/hits form part of a team-wide rally or not. Let's just say that high OPS is good, period. OBP is more closely tied to runs scored than SLG, it should account for a higher portion of OPS than SLG. It's not about being projectible.

Not in 2007 at least. If Wood pitches next year and is healthy enough to show signs that he could return to somebodies rotation someone will sign him for 2008 and will give him a close to $10 million. Definitely. The thing is, Hendry is just going to spend that "saved" couple million on another Rusch or Neifi.

I would give lots of credit to Hendry's imagination if he pulled this off.

The daily double leadoff combo with a brilliant start to the game, 5 pitches combined.

Not in 2007 at least.

For my own sanity, I refuse to consider scenarios for 07 that include Dusty. LOL! No doubt! I just feel it coming. If Dusty wants to come back he's a Cub next year. I don't think so. Personally, I think Hendry's already told Dusty he's gone after this year. I think they agreed on the rest of the year so that Dusty could leave and not be "fired". That's the feeling I get. I refuse to allow myself to believe this is true, because it would both be one of the stupidest things to do (allowing a manager with no stake in the future to make managerial decisions) and something that I've been hoping against hope to happen for 4 years.

What? No way Pierre says that! Why not? Most any other manager would have demoted him for his crap play. Dusty kept putting him out there at the expense of the team. Players like managers who kiss their butts and let them do whatever they want, without consequence.

The key is those were his first 280 AB's, of his regular playing career, and he was just 24, still a couple years from predictable peak performance. 24/25/26 are usually the biggest improvement years. I didn't expect much out of Murton, despite my belief that he's got a bright future. That's partly why I hate the Murton/Pierre/Jones OF, because it meant Murton would have to be great for that OF not to suck. It would not be at all surprising if Murton was at .300/.370/.450 next year (although I'd predict less at this time). I was hoping for more SLG out of Murton, but I also thought he'd have some really bad stretches, and it looks like he is past those. He could very easily end the season at your predicted levels, .285/.350/.420.

Status quo in LF doesn't have to be terrible. I'm going to assume that a 25 year old Matt Murton is better than the 24 year old version. He could put up a line like .295/.365/.420, not particularly good, but not a drag on the team either, especially with that OBP. The key is to get better elsewhere, whether that means moving Jones to center and getting a better RF, finding an impact 2B, getting proper bench players to help with platoons, etc. It would be asinine to go into 2007 with the entire lineup as status quo, but there's no reason why LF can't be the same, as long as improvements are found elsewhere.

So, a third place finish this season without Lee for the majority, without Wood for the entirety, and without Prior for the majority is on the wrong track? Come on, I hate Dusty too, but some of these comments are ludicrous. However, this could be much worse than it is. http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a118/Claypool1/rick1.jpg Yeah, it's the wrong track. Don't give me the excuses, show me the results. Short-term blips are one thing, but we're talking about a team that will go 4 straight years with a top 3-4 payroll in the NL and no 90 win season, plus back to back sub .500 seasons. I don't give a crap about those excuses, this is the wrong track.

What other year were we last in the league? Last year we were much closer to the middle then to last. They were last in walks, but 11th in OBP (out of 16 NL teams) thanks to ranking 3rd in AVG (2nd in SLG). They were .005 away from last place, but .009 away from the midpoint. So, while they were closer to the middle in terms of rank, they were actually closer to last in terms of the actual number. Combined over the past two years they probably will have the worst total OBP. The lack of walks is, by far, the single greatest contributor to the poor offensive performance during the Dusty Baker era. They've had good batting averages and bad averages. They've hit well with RISP and poorly with RISP. They've hit for lots of power and no power. But they've consistently been at or near the bottom of the barrell in the NL in the walks department (14th, 14th, 16th, 16th). It's a huge problem, they refuse to admit it and fix it, and far too many fans and experts accept that as perfectly OK since the walk just isn't the manly thing to do.

He's actually close to the pace I thought was most likely for him in his rookie year. He's maintained a respectable average and OBP, and has struggled with SLG. But people need to remember he only had a .451 SLG in the minors. He is probably on pace to be a solid major league contributor, and at his cost, there's no reason he can't be in a contender's lineup next year. His OBP is going to be well above average, and his SLG is probably going to improve. While he might still be nothing more than a 790-800 OPS guy next season, even with improvement, that will be anchored by the more important OBP. The key is filling out the rest of the lineup properly. That is where the Cubs have the biggest problems so they might feel forced to replace one of their best OBP guys, even though the smarter thing to do would be to replace Jacque Jones or platoon him. Jones has kept his OPS over 800 most of the season, but it's SLG dependent, which lowers its actual value a bit, since OBP is more valuable when it comes to run production. And he is hitting just .219/.260/.370 since the All Star break. He is currently outpacing his career norms, although his AVG and OBP are right in line with those numbers. Basically, his SLG is inflated, and will likely decline by the end of the season. Jones could finish the year not too much higher than Murton in the OPS department, but at 11 times the cost. And while Matt is likely to improve as time goes on, the 31 year old (32 next April) Jones will be lucky to maintain his career numbers (he's missed that mark the past 2 seasons). Unfortunately, the Cubs probably don't even recognize this situation for what it is, and they'll be much more likely to push aside the kid with the good OBP in favor of the aging/declining veteran with the subpar OBP.