goonys evil twin

For all intensive purposes the game was already over at that point, but thanks for singling him out. It's not like he hit into a triple play with the bases loaded in a 1 run game. Or sent up 2 incompetent slap hitters with the bases loaded, down by 4 with rain on the way when a homerun was your best bet........ intents and purposes

Not to be a suckup, but that's why this is the best baseball forum I've ever read. Your moderators do their job and actually take pride in running a great forum. Amen. I came here because it was a great place to talk baseball with knowledgable people, and no trolls. People on other boards complain that NSBB doesn't allow conflicting opinions which is completely untrue. They don't allow people who come here only to get a rise out of others. And that's what is great. :hand: I completely disagree. just providing a conflicting opinion for the fun of it.

Maddux is leading your team in wins and will probably win 15 again this season. Zambrano only has 5 wins on the season and has not faired so well of late. Z has given up 20 ER in the last 5 games. I know there are a lot of variables that go into winning games, but to me it all comes down to getting a W. Maddux knows how to win games just look at his track record. Speaking of track record, Wood is always injuried. Maddux is a very durable player and will get his 200 innings. Thus deserving the money. Maddux has given up 23 ER in the last 5 games. Wins are a team stat. "Knowing how to win" is a completely made up bogus intangible for the "stats don't matter" crowd. Maddux racked up great win totals throughout his career because he's been a great pitcher on very good to great teams. Now he is a mediocre pitcher on a mediocre team. There is no guarantee he'll win 15 this year. He certainly didn't figure out how to win last night, when he completely blew the game giving up 2 out rallies with more meatballs against a subpar lineup. Staying healthy and racking up innings is nice, but guys like Steve Trachsel did that for years, and it wasn't worth $9 million.

Maddux has not done fairly well. He's been awful this season. He's been mediocre since returning to the team. Many people were excited about his return, but many thought the Cubs grossly overpaid and have been fearing the day when it would be painfully obvious to the rest of the world that he wasn't worth $9m per year.

Let's go Cindy, let's go! Let's go Cindy, let's go! Let's go Cindy, let's go! Let's go Cindy, let's go! Let's go Cindy, let's go! Let's go Cindy, let's go! Hopefully Tropical Storm Cindy can settle in over northwest Georgia for the next 36 hours or so, and rain out the rest of the Braves series. And then maybe Tropical Storm Dennis can veer a little north, and rain out most of the Marlins series. If they only play two more games before the all star break, than they'll only be able to lose 2 more games.

A couple spurts of productivity here and there shouldn't change the direction your team goes in for improvements. Holly and Burnitz don't even come close to fulfilling the team needs at corner OF. What makes you think Barrett is comfortable in the 8 spot? If anything, it's the worst possible spot in the lineup for him. First off, at the bottom of the order, he's got some very bad OBP in front of him, and won't be able to take advantage of the main quality he provides, power. But perhaps more importantly is the fact that he's going to swing at everything anyway, so why put him in a spot where pitchers will not give him strikes? He is hitting .238/.279/.427 in the 8 spot. He's hit much better in the 50+ plate appearances in the 5 and 6 hole. I don't think Barrett is comfortable at all. I think he's perhaps the Cubs' most anxious hitter, even more than Patterson, who at least tries to take pitches from time to time.

I didn't predict they'd be under .500, but I am not at all surprised at how poorly they have played, or how terrible they have looked, for many of the reasons Truffle highlighted. The organization's philosophy is flawed. Their offseason was terrible, the manager is bad, and their roster is highly inefficient. There is a lot of talent on the ballclub, but you don't win with just talent, you win with productive talent.

Go Neifi! =D>

Who is making excuses? Hendry put together a second rate team, Baker manages likes a second rate coach, and the team is players are playing like a second rate team. Why does everybody have to divide it up into black and white. It's not players vs manager, or manager vs front office. The entire organization has failed. Most of the players, most of the coaching staff and most of the front office personel have failed to do their job, that's why the team isn't as good as it should and could be. Again, not an excuse, but don't forget the injuries Many of which could have been predicted. Kerry Wood hurt? Surprise. Nomar hurt? Shocking. Fox blowing out his arm? Every team has big time players get hurt. When you build a fragile team, with enormous weaknesses, the injuries will happen and your weaknesses will be exposed.

Who is making excuses? Hendry put together a second rate team, Baker manages likes a second rate coach, and the team is players are playing like a second rate team. Why does everybody have to divide it up into black and white. It's not players vs manager, or manager vs front office. The entire organization has failed. Most of the players, most of the coaching staff and most of the front office personel have failed to do their job, that's why the team isn't as good as it should and could be.

I'm sure you're right but it just seems like there are better tartgets than someone who is as hot at Hollandsworth has been. I suspect they are unaware that he has been hot. Hot streaks don't matter in the big picture. Who cares if he's been hot for a couple weeks? Overall he's been awful. Throughout his career he's been awful. Short-term blips do not mean much when talking about player value.

I don't see how interesting it is to have less than deserving players playing everyday at positions they should not be playing everyday at. Field, computer, paper, or clay tablet, Hollandsworth just isn't worthy of a starting job, and the Cubs OF sucks.

Where do we draw the line? Is it Baker and his coaches and they're inability to get the team to play good fundamental baseball or is it Hendry's recently poor decisions in acquiring the talent that can play that type of game? I don't think it's one or the other.

He would probably make more contact if he took his glove to the plate too. And if he overthrew the cutoff man from the plate, that would be a good thing.

Were they in the West, really? I don't remember that detail for some reason. ummmm...Zane Smith...Claudell Washington..Odibe Mcdowell. That's about all I have from the top of my head...Even though the Braves were much closer to where I lived in the 80's, the Cubs were still my team. They sure were in the West. Remember in 1993 when the Giants finished one game behind them and didn't make the playoffs despite winning 103 games? Yeah, not only were the Braves in the West, so were the Reds. I was a pretty good student, but that always screwed with my geography. Plus, the White Sox were in the west, while the Brewers were in the AL East.

Not sure why a stat outfit like Rotoworld would dig on anyone for starting Todd Hollandsworth when his OPS for June/July has been .918/1.204. They're probably a little more intersted in his full season (.278/.329/.428) and career (.279/.336/.446) numbers that indicate he's got no business starting as a corner OF on a big budget ballclub. Good thing they play the game on the field and not on paper! What's this mean? Hollandsworth is an awful candidate for starting in a corner OF spot. They're beyond justified in poking fun at that fact. Whether it's on paper or the field, the Cubs lack of production in the OF is killing them, and Hollandsworth has played a major role.

Depends on how you define Corey's minor league career. Corey was better in the Midwest League than Pie was, although he was a year older. Corey never had the chance to play in the FSL though, and moved directly to AA. This was only his 2nd professional season. Pie had the chance to play in the FSL before moving up to AA, and that was his 3rd pro season, and those numbers were behind what Corey did in his 2nd season. Corey was pushed way too fast, came up too early, and was a victim of gross neglect by the organization as he yo-yoed from 2001 on.

I don't see any point in trading him unless you think his performance to date is a fluke. You'd just be back in the same boat next year trying to fill a critical position that the Cubs have been trying to fill long-term for 20 years, and likely overpaying to do it. One of the positives from this year is that the Cubs may be able to build a very good bullpen for next year for less than $10 million, which is less than what they're paying Hawkins, Remlinger and Borowski this year. You wouldn't be in the same boat. For one, you'd have Williamson available. But more importantly, you'll have a lot more money to play with than Hendry had this offseason. JoBo, Latroy, Remlinger and Dempster would all be off the books from the bullpen. Then of course the Sosa money would be free. The more success Dempster has this season, the more expensive he'll be in the offseason. One way or another you'll be paying a high price for relief help. I'm not talking about just letting the guy go. But if the closer market heats up this month, and the Cubs fall out of the hunt, they shouldn't turn down all requests for Dempster just because they've had bad luck looking for closers recently. Remember, this is a team that has employed about 8 of the top 20 saves guys in the history of the sport. It's not impossible to find guys to fill the spot, in spite of all the angst between 2004 and earlier this year.

Not sure why a stat outfit like Rotoworld would dig on anyone for starting Todd Hollandsworth when his OPS for June/July has been .918/1.204. They're probably a little more intersted in his full season (.278/.329/.428) and career (.279/.336/.446) numbers that indicate he's got no business starting as a corner OF on a big budget ballclub.

In what alternative universe would Dusty Baker play Pie every day? Or, just what do you think would have to happen to this team to see Dusty leave the team by August?

If the Cubs keep floundering, I'd have no problem trading Dempster. But I take issue with the idea that his success as a closer is a complete surprise, and do not think for a second that he's bound to crash. Personally I thought he was a good comparison to Isringhausen, when he made the conversion.

Who do you replace him with? Henry Blanco is a fine backup catcher, but do you want his .200 BA in there everyday? Is there any catchers out there that are available that will significantly upgrade the position? It is fine to say we need to replace someone, but is it realistic to say that you are going to be able upgrade? I am not trying to be sarcastic, but who would you replace Barrett with? Soto? I'm not crying for him to be replaced. I'm just saying that Barrett and his approach add to the problems on this team. Corey is part of the problem, but I'm not begging for him to be replaced either. Some guys who are part of the problem, Neifi, are easily replaced. Others are not, and need to fix things themselves if the team is to be improved.

He certainly is part of the problem with this lineup. OBP is OBP. It's needed everywhere. Michael has a terrible approach at the plate. He's talented enough that if he adjusts, he should be fine, but he hasn't shown any indications that he will. The "he's settling into the position" excuse is growing thin with MB. He's 28 years old. He played C exclusively in 2001, 2003 and 2004. He played C virtually exclusively in 2002, with just 6 appearances at 1B. Until he shows that he can be more than a first pitch hack who routinely grounds into double plays because of his tendency to swing at pitcher's pitches designed to ground into double plays, then he will remain part of the problem.

They don't mirror each other. Corey's were better, he had much more power in the lower ranks. But both struggled with BB/K ratios, and neither was a solid OBP guy. Unlike Corey, Felix has had a chance to hit each stop along the way and receive ample time to prove himself at those levels. But that process is not over, and the Cubs should not place any pressure on Pie to be the savior, especially not when he'd be replacing another player put in that same spot too early.

Felix is actually not as bad a comparison to Cabrera as some may think, from strictly a numbers standpoint to this point in their careers. Neither guy was putting up particularly special numbers leading up to his breakout AA season. But there are a couple of things working against your plan. First of all, as far as I can tell, Pie is still out with an injury that he suffered a couple weeks ago. Plus, his numbers, while very solid, were significantly less than Cabrera's breakout AA season. *And finally, Pie is not a great leadoff candidate. His walk rates are not that high, and his OBP is dominated by his AVG. Even a slight drop in AVG, which would be expected going from AA to the majors, would equate to a lackluster OBP, certainly not anything we can dub "the answer" to leadoff*. And on top of that, Cabrera was eased into the backend of a lineup that wasn't having any problems getting guys on base at the top. Calling up Pie, a relatively less accomplished prospect, to fill a major hole in this lineup, would be quite different than the situation Cabrera was in. *Just to tie it in with the Cabrera comparison, Miguel was hitting .365/.429/.609 at AA when he was called up. He was used primarily in the 7 hole, and ended up with a line of .268/.325/.468, close to a 25% decline across the board. If Pie came up and experienced similar declines from his AA numbers to the majors, we could expect something like .228/.261/.415. Even if his decline was much less dramatic than Miggy's, he's still likely be significantly below anything we could consider season saving. It's not worth the risk at this point of losing such a talented player.