RegulusBlue

There are two broken records. One is me whining about Murton. The other is continuous losing and bad management. They are linked this year.

The truth is that Murton is a better player than two of our starting OFs right now, and he's been below 4th OF on the depth chart this year. What a crappy strategy this is.

It should be noted Murton lined out after a good AB in which he worked the count. He still is up there with DLee and Aram in having good ABs, and he tagged the ball right at Freel. It happens sometimes, but still a good, solid AB. Hopefully he'll average more than 0.9 PA/game next week. Somehow, I doubt it.

This will be easily the most important game of Murt's career. If puts up an 0-fer he's a platoon player. Truer words were never spoken, IMO. The Cubs have done nothing to show that they believe in Matt, and that they are actually against playing him. Why else campaign for him starting, then pull the rug out after one game?

well, that's twice floyd's made the third out "with the game on the line." changed your mind yet? Ruh Roh Aramis Fan, Floyd just completely crapped his pants to end today's game. So that's one to three in favor of Floyd in our small sample size bonanza of baseball wisdom. This is a bigger joke than Murton sitting the bench. Edit: Sorry Aramis Fan, but this analysis is why we play the wrong players and lose constantly.

Murton is a better player RIGHT NOW. Two years ago? You gotta give it to Cliff, but his day is past. The better chance to win now is with Murton batting 2nd in the lineup and starting 75% of games in LF and spelling Jones one day a week in RF.

Who even cares anymore. Wood and Prior are both vestiges of a once promising run that never happened. Game over, guys.

The Cubs' future is analogous to the handling of Murton, as previously stated by others. Mishandling this guy who happens to be a cheap, talented answer to the OBP problem this team has had for years and years is the story of this god-forsaken franchise. That's why he is so popular. We can't get on base a lick, but then a AA prospect comes out of nowhere and can't be kept off the bases. Add to that distinctive red hair, and a cult hero is born. It takes a particularly narrow worldview to not realize that getting on base is the key to scoring runs, but Hendry, Baker, and apparently Lou have all managed this herculean feat. Instead we will reap what we sowed in the signing of another aging veteran on the downside of a once decent career. For christ's sake, he can hardly run in the outfield. This operation is giving us a window into their minds when they bench a player at least as good as the injured guy in his spot after claiming that he was the starter all offseason. This disregard for team needs is the story of why we will not win with our current setup of the last 100 years. Thank god management is about out the door here. Murton will not win us any WS alone, but the way the Cubs deal with this player and future young guys will win or lose us one. What if we add a ready Pie to the OF and are minus Floyd and Jones in two years? Add Soriano and Eric Patterson playing well to Lee and Aram to that, and that projects as a very good squad suddenly. Would you rather have an aging Floyd clone out there, or a well groomed above average LF (certainly feasible considering his second half OPS was .900 last year)? Can we even count on the Cubs to develop Pie and Patterson, or will we sign a few dudes to start over them as they try to develop? That's the Murton difference. We will continue to flounder forever if we don't play Murton metaphorically. We will continue to be less than we could be this year by as many as 15-25 runs on the year if we don't play Murton immediately. My prediction is that Murton's playing time will directly result in missing or making the playoffs. 50-65 points of OBP can do that.

And Murton gets another late game single AB to try and earn a start, despite him being the "starter"? Awesome. Keep playing Theriot, Izturis, and Cedeno, Lou. That will surely save us. Especially when Aram is out, and Soriano is a steaming pile. Gotta love Floyd's OPS though... /vomit

Initially hiring Lou scared the hell out of me. Then he said all the right things in the offseason and the spring and I felt better. He was lying. We're done for.

You're right, but I am not fan of stealing bags. We will continue to lose as long as players with bad OBP bat ahead of Lee and Ramirez, especially while they try to figure out how to hit a HR.

This team is not as good as they can be as long as Murton is not out on the field. We will lose over and over if Theriot, Cedeno, a 80% Floyd, DeRosa, and Izturis are consistently on the field.

Theriot came in to pinch run for Murton in a game where Matt was 1/3 with a BB and a run scored. He then got thrown out stealing.

? blue equates theriot to neifi ;) Only in that he gets to play any position over players who are better than him, and he gets played constantly just because he's the new manager's favorite for whatever reason. I understand that he's in for Aram today, so whatever, but I don't want to see him playing LF or RF ever. We already have 4 outfielders.

Good call. My fault. The riot is in for Aram. I like Theriot the player, just not when it hurts Murton.

God I hate Theriot. Screw the coach's kid!

This is ridiculous. Theriot is Neifi 2.0. He gets to play anywhere on the field over more deserving players consistently. He isn't as bad, but dislike him because he is the new coach's kid. Today he's playing SS when Cedeno is at 2B? Is this a joke? Glad to see Murton is a non-entity in the lineup now. Glad I believed the smoke signals of him batting 2nd and starting. I hate Lou Piniella so far. We're playing like crap and putting strain on Floyd's weak achilles needlessly while another inferior player always gets valuable innings.

I'm only really upset that we're putting more than two second basemen on the field whenever Theriot is in the OF. Floyd is doing better right now, and his career suggests that he is the better player, so no problems there. Theriot finishing games is garbage though.

Oh come now, Danny. This bothered me in game two when he didn't start, but it was a little early after only one game. Now the trend is emerging. Thanks for trolling, though. PS- If we were 6-0 we still wouldn't have our best lineup out there with Theriot getting so many chances, and that's a failure for the manager.

Dammit dammit dammit!!!!! I thought Murton was gonna get to play a little after being named the starter, the whole BS with him not being platooned with Floyd, and being written into the 2 spot for the year. I thought Baker was fired last year. Apparently he lives on in Lou, playing worse players instead of the ones that should be out there. Yesterday Barrett replaced Blanco AFTER Henry hit the previous half-inning?!? Murton PINCH RUN for? 7th inning substitutions that put a worse looking defender on the field, not to mention losing OBP at the same time? What is this crap? Can we please be properly managed? Put the best OFers on the team out there and get them their ABs. One of the best OFers is not Theriot. God, we have problems stringing together scoring innings at times, so we better put our best on-base guys far away from each other and split them up with Izturis and Cedeno. This problem WILL catch up to us, and this [expletive] lineup build will cost us runs and wins.

I still think the cards aren't that good. WS or no WS, they just don't have many good players on the field, and their pitching staff is kinda weak. They played good ball for a postseason and won. Great. For god's sake, the white sox WS team would handle them, IMO.

I've been talking to a bunch of people lately about baseball in anticipation of the new season, and (in Milwaukee) the idea is that the Cubs and Brewers are in a two team race to win the division, with the Cubs having a slight edge. Do you guys think we're holding the advantage going into the season? If not, how far away are we?

I was very negative a week ago about this hire, but then I realized that Lou has proven that he can manage in different ways to win with different teams. Let's hope he can catch on to this new O.B.P. and have an epiphany. Yeah, he is better than Dusty, though. I am really biased about it, however. I think Dusty is the worst manager in baseball history.

Sweet Lou is in. Great... But what happens to Murton if we get Carlos Lee, which looks very likely, and if we get Soriano, but put him in the OF? Is Jones still gonna receive the free pass he got last year and get to start all the time against lefties? I am distraught about this, because we are developing a good player in Murton, but we may bring guys to start over him, stunting a promising career. Here are the scenarios that I can live with: 1) We don't get Lee, Murton is the LF. 2) We get Lee, and Murton platoons with Jones while spelling Lee and pinching. Hopefully 350-450 AB. 3) Lee and Jones start, Murton takes over in CF, or takes RF and Jones goes to center. This team WILL become less fun to watch and be worse overall if Murton is not an appreciable part of the team. I just hope that Murton buys Piniella a big box of chocolates in ST. Luckily, we don't have a manager who will just sit him for reasons that don't apply to baseball, such as resistance to summer heat. PS- Lou just said he doesn't like to wait for the three-run homer. Gross.

I'm growing concerned that the cubs might string together another decent stretch with the likes of blanco, jones, cedeno, et al. playing above their normal levels of suck. This is horrid news, because it will convince our leadership that some of these pieces are actually worth a crap, which will set us back. About a month ago we were in full meltdown mode and it was all good. I hope we can get back to top form soon. This is scaring the hell out of me. I don't want Jim to think that anything short of a huge overhaul to every position not held by a man with an OBP of .350+ Please God, help us lose.