JC

Where is Ichiro? He could probably beat them all, and I'm not even kidding.

Murton has excellent discipline at the plate and great bat control. He lacks the power a lot of teams desire for a corner outfielder, though. Just to add, in his prime you can probably expect a 25ish homer a year hitter. Nothing more than a hunch, but I think Murton is getting short changed on the power. He is 6'1", 215 right now. From what I have seen, I honestly believe his stroke and his build can lend itself to quite a bit more power. I'm not a big fan of guys like Ryan Harvey. Sure, he puts on shows during HR Derbys and he has projectable size, but I'd rather have a guy with nice swing first, and let the power develop. Rafael Palmeiro comes to mind. I know its mostly a hunch, but I think the kid has the potential for +30 HR power.

I don't think I would have a problem with that. Once the Jaxx season is over if they wanted to call him up to be a pinch runner and get the occasional spot start, it could be good for him. I really hope they let him finish his season at West Tenn. though. The Jaxx have games schduled through the first week of September. I don't know what their playoff picture looks like, or what that schedule is. However, I think the Atlanta series has left a significant mark on the Cubs with respect to not being afraid to bring up young players. I suppose we will see whether that mark was written in indelible or disappearing ink after the break.

Send it to his editor. The Trib must pride itself on collecting really, really bad baseball people. It is laborous to watch Rogers on Comcast.

I don't know that you need to be clairavoyant, seeing how nearly every news outlet has reported Pie would've been at Wrigley already but for his injury. Unless he is still hurting, he will certainly be a September call up.

I hope that if Dunn is available that Hendry will make a run for him. I don't know that we don't have more to offer than the Dodgers. I guess the Dodgers could create a package that includes Edwin Jackson, Andy LaRoche or Joel Guzman. Dioner Navarro might interest the Reds as well. Additionally, I hope that Hendry realizes that the FA market is extraordinarily thin this year. While the Cubs may not have a realistic shot of the playoffs, it doesn't mean they shouldn't start making themselves better for next year. If that means grabbing a guy like Dunn should the opportunity present itself, then thats what has to happen. Like it or not, the OF is still in shambles, particularly when you look at 2006. Burnitz runs way too hot and cold for my taste. Plus, I don't think he is worth his option. I might consider him at a reduced rate, but that still isn't making the club better. IMO, it is incumbent that the Cubs realize the shortcomings of this team now and start addressing them. Otherwise, selling Z for a bat and chasing Burnett (as someone had mentioned) may be the only way to make a significant offseason move.

Try 3-7. You and your bright ideas...

Grant Johnson: Johnson (L, 1-3) 4.2 6 7 1 3 3 1 4.71

Good. He wasn't appreciable better to justify the bath we would have taken.

God, am I tired of Baker...

Hard to believe that Murton has made a better first impression than Nomar did.

Is Z as wild as sportsline makes him look? 67 pitches before the inning started with 4 walks is worrisome.

Or did he mean Bat Cave?

Bruce, your ESPN1000 counterpart, Bruce Levine, has been reporting about Cub interest/attempts to land KC's McDougal. What have you heard about that? Also, did Hendry ever inquire about re-acquiring Alou?

There's one axiom that goes that a GM gets one manager to fire. Dusty is Jim's first manager. The key pivot point here may be how Dusty uses the kids. Yes, their futures are tied together, but if Jim at some points feels he must fire Dusty (that time inevitably comes for all GMs), he'll be allowed to do it and stay on. The Cubs value Hendry's overall contributions since he came on board 10 years ago. I think he is probably a great guy to be around. Nonetheless, I am not a big fan of Hendry's as a GM. Certainly, my opinion is a minority view around here. I just think he has to take some blame for this miserable half season. I hated the organization's offseason approach. To the best of your knowledge, did Hendry dictate most of the offseason strategy, or was he given some specific marching orders (i.e. jettison Sammy, Alou, Farns, Mercker)? Thanks in advance for any response.

"someone fire up the ......BRUCE SIGNAL!.....sorry, really sounded more dramatic in my head-anyway-thanks for the time Mr. Miles-and most importantly the inside scoops! (Psst. Bakersdozen, Batman's real name is Bruce Wayne. Thus, it technically already is a Bruce signal. Spend more time watching cartoons.)

Just shows you that I'm reading the site every day. Now if we could only get Dusty to do the same... No offense meant to Dusty, but I don't think he seems like the kind of guy that would sit down at a computer in the first place. Kind of like I would expect my grandfather to use such a confounding machine. Having said that, he likely carries a labtop, IPod, Blackberry...

In a chat session, Bruce, you once agreed with me that the futures of Baker and Hendry are pretty much tied to one another. Do you still feel that way? Personally, I don't see Dusty getting shown the door anytime soon, but there is a lot of speculation (not unexpected) that he may be wearing out his welcome. Thoughts?

My thread title was like the Bat signal.

I need to go to our offices in Saarbrucken (Germany) this summer for a meeting. I'll try to check out their access to NSBB when I'm there. Thanks, Werner. I can't wait. Werner: "Tim, it appears the concerns about NSBB access in Germany are confirmed. I couldn't get on line directly." Tim: "Oh." End of conversation.

I'm thoroughly confused then. Lets say Cedeno is sent down, does he have to pass revocable waivers? How about Mitre or any of the other players with options? It looks like I need to retract my argument earlier with 10 man.

Well that was a little out of left field? #-o It was just a pathetic dig at me based on the title of the thread. Because I indicated Bruce touched on NSBB themes, he is assuming that I was saying Bruce got his ideas from NSBB for his article, which wasn't the implication.

Let me put on my Mariotti hat and give it a go. "All is not well in Cubdom. The Rev. Johnny B. will need to hold a revival rivalling the Sermon on the Mount to get this bunch of non-believers to even show up at Chapel Wrigley, let alone try to win. Indeed, the Tribsters no doubt are fuming this morning following the Lovable Losers' eighth straight loss to a bunch of kids from AA Bravo Town. Shelling out $100M and being four games under .500 in July will do that to you. (Though, had they spent money on the numberous free agents instead of being constrained by chronic tight-fistedness, they may be in a better position than relying on Hollandsworth, an unproven Dubois, et al.) Baker and his boys will see themselves hung in effigy on Sheffield when they return to the Not So Friendly Confines. All the while, you have to wonder if they had acquired the Sheffield playing in right for the Yanks when he was ripe for the picking if they'd be in this situation. That was Cubdom's Sheffield of Dreams. Now, they are lost. Desperate to do something, the manic Jim Hendry finally dumped underachieving Corey Patterson, banishing him and Dubois to the minors late last night. The scapegoats have arrived! In their steads, youngsters Adam Greenberg and Matt Murton were summoned as personal water boys for Baker and his No So Good Pitching Coach, Larry Rothschild. Never fear, Cub fans, Kerry Wood will return to the hill and throw a gem, striking out 1 billion Marlins, and life will be good again. Cubdom will rejoice, "We've turned the corner! Woody's back!" The next day, Wood's arm will be in a cast, having torn every soft tissue structure from shoulder to little finger, and Baker will wonder why everyone is so made that Wood threw 243 pitches. Steve Stone, of course, will be smiling. Advice to Jim Hendry: Next season, look for Cub ballplayers, not Cub Scouts. Proverbial fork, meet bearhide."

He was set up and in for the fastball - Novoa missed location. But it was stupid to even call for a fastball in that 0-2 situation. He had looked bad against breaking pitches last night. And why did Rusch throw fastball after fastball after fastball? That was stupid. All year I've been wondering if Barrett calls the pitches or does he get them from Rothschild. I don't think it was stupid. Barrett wanted the pitch so high that he was almost entirely out of his crouch. I thought, at 0-2, it was smart to bust him off the plate a little with a high, tight fastball. Novoa could then wipe him out more easily (in theory) with a pitch away. Novoa missed about as badly as you can.

Link Bruce seems as fed up as us in his latest effort. He has touched on several themes that we have long discussed here. It was nice to see a collective number of them in print, particularly in the same article. When these complaints are strewn over a number of different articles, the tend to lose their punch. Without trying to suck up, Bruce demonstrates again that he is the premier Cub's beat writer. (Emphasis added).