goonys evil twin

SF announcer is ripping the Cubs for this absurd strategy. Sac bunting down 5 early with your leadoff hitter? Morons. I think Dusty wants to get fired.

He had a quality start until the moron of a manager let him go out to face the top of the order for the 4th time with 90+ pitches already thrown. If it was Maddux he would have pulled himself out since he hates facing guys 4 times a game (and routinely gets pulled in the 92 pitch range). Sorry if Hill can't get past 4 innings then no matter what it's not a quality start in my book. It was 6 IP and 3 ER, a quality start. It was the 4th time through the top of the order. It was by no means a great start, but he was holding up well, and a halfway decent manager would have taken that and gone to his pen, which had rested pitchers in it.

He had a quality start until the moron of a manager let him go out to face the top of the order for the 4th time with 90+ pitches already thrown. If it was Maddux he would have pulled himself out since he hates facing guys 4 times a game (and routinely gets pulled in the 92 pitch range).

Totally agree. Rookies are going to have bad games. Heck, look at the next phenom Felix H. in Seattle. He's been bad all season. Marshall has looked great except for today. Guzman and Hill need more seasoning though. Veterans are going to have bad games as well.

Jon Miller is tripping over his own stories.

The best is Yahoo sports mlb. Click on players and I think you'll find what you are looking for in split stats. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/batting?team=chc http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/batting?team=chc&season=2006&split=31&seasonType=2&type=reg http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/splits?playerId=6349

If you were filling out the lineup, would you have put Mabry 5th and Murton 8th? Well, I'd probably have Giles 3rd and Ramirez 4th with Jones 5th today.

For the record, I have no problem with Murton batting in the 8th spot. I'm much more concerned with who is in the lineup rather than where they are, and Murton isn't doing anything against RHP anyway.

The weird thing is nobody even thought this could be a problem in the offseason, it totally came out of the blue. I think the problem was recognized, just not addressed properly. that was the purpose of inviting Grissom and Restovich to camp. I doubt it. I don't think they ever thought of platooning Jones.

I don't know about that, Theriot is not much of a threat to do anything productive. Yeah, it was kind of a stretch, but anyway what's the point of having him up? Pretend you're doing something.

I don't know about that, Theriot is not much of a threat to do anything productive.

Generally, we like to have 9 guys playing defense instead of 8. If Murton platoons with Jacque, there's no one in left field. There is if Hendry found a real OF in the offseason, or the previous offseason.

The weird thing is nobody even thought this could be a problem in the offseason, it totally came out of the blue.

Could he be the platoon option with Jones?

That's kind of strange. Despite the reputation, Zambrano isn't really that much of a strikeout pitcher. I mean, he gets his fair share, but he's not really a threat to lead the league in K's unless he leads the league in innings pitched as well. In the minors he was at around 7.4 K/9, in the pros he's been around 7.7 K/9. This year he's been at 9.99 K/9. does anyone have the numbers on his peformance relative to his walks? It seems like when he gets a lot of ks he struggles but that might be a biased perception. 6.1 BB/9 this year. 4.25 in the minors, 3.92 in the majors. 2005 was his highest k/9 year of his career (8.14) and the lowest BB/9 and WHIP year of his career (3.47/9 - 1.15).

That's kind of strange. Despite the reputation, Zambrano isn't really that much of a strikeout pitcher. I mean, he gets his fair share, but he's not really a threat to lead the league in K's unless he leads the league in innings pitched as well. In the minors he was at around 7.4 K/9, in the pros he's been around 7.7 K/9. This year he's been at 9.99 K/9.

funny how?

Maybe he catches them on the fly, but he's not good and picking it up off the grass.

Yeah, what he said. But it doesn't help that he's not living up to the good defense claim and seems to make non-stop mental errors, then makes up BS excuses and cries about the fans not being nice enough.

The picture I saw looked like they were dipped in a bottle of Pepto. http://www.theconservativevoice.com/ap/img/ae2292cd-6aab-4f5a-97a5-65abd8fb9bb6.jpg

My biggest point in all this "next manager" talk is, I don't need a celebrity manager. I don't need a name. So many kneejerk sports writers constantly ridiculed the cubs for not getting name managers, yet they went out and got some of the bigger name guys in the game in Baylor and Baker, and the results were not good. Up until the day he signed many were ridiculing the Cubs saying they'd never get a guy like Baker who was supposedly so out of their league. I don't want a manager who feels like he has to come in and have his signature on every move. I don't need a guy like Baker who not only thinks he's the star and should never be questioned, but also worthlessly utilizes moves like the pitch out (even with guys who have control problems), double switches, worthless sac bunts etc, just so he can show how many tricks he knows. I also don't need a guy whose sole purpose is to light a fire. This isn't a great team that's playing lackadaisically. This is a talented, yet baseball skill deprived team that plays an inefficient brand of baserunners. Part of that is Hendry, part of that is Baker asking for that type of player. Anyway, at this point I think I'm willing to take anybody who is not Dusty. But I would not for a second put all my faith in a guy like Lou to finally answer all the questions. He is not the difference.

That's all well and good, but running around ranting and raving like a manaic doesn't mean you are holding guys accountable and making them concentrate. There's an enormous difference between not making excuses for players and making a complete ass out of yourself. As far as I can tell, Sweet Lou has had some of the most talented players in baseball history and has had mixed results. Then he quit on that team and wanted warm weather, and less demand for success. All he does is yell. I don't see a yeller making the difference.

Were there any other personnel differences in those seasons? Say Jimmy Rollins or Pat Burrell. Stuff like that? Burrell was there in 2000, and Rollins didn't even have that good a year in 2001. Burrell was also 23 in 2000, and still improving. He was also the 1B in 2000, putting a Ron Gant Kevin Jordan platoon in LF. In 2001 Burrell moved to LF (solidifying that position) and Travis Lee played a full season at 1B. As unimpressive as Lee is, he was 26 (ie. peak year) and much better than the LF platoon that was there in 2000. Plus, Philly's pitching staff was in shambles in 2000, with an oft-injured Schilling. In 2000 they had a worthless Jeff Brantley as closer and in 2001 they got an absolutely dominant Jose Mesa (183 ERA+) in that role. Philly's starting SS had a 75 OPS+ in 2000 and Jimmy had a 92 in 2001. Scott Rolen also played a full season in 2001 after missing a large amount of time in 2000. In 2000 Morandini got the bulk of the 2B time and had a 62 OPS+, while Anderson had a 97 in 2001. There were major differences in personel that have nothing to do with a manager who yells at people.

Some of his walks yesterday were the result of a ridiculous strike zone. Even SF announcers called a few a gift from the umpire. Zambrano also pitched around a couple of at-bats, with bases open. Yes, control is an issue, but I think it's getting better. I think he's getting over his post WBC slide and will keep improving.

And they got rid of Bowa a couple years later when they stagnated and went with another soft players manager. Personality isn't what is holding back the Cubs. It's baseball ability, both players and coaches.