RegulusBlue

Our payroll is 97 million these days I think.

I don't think its really feasible that he gets his OBP up to .390 after nearly 80 games of .301. If he does this, then we offer him arbitration and enjoy our draft pick, but that is assuming that he isn't gone at the ASB, which I think he is.

We have really strong emotional impulses. That, and the fact that people talk crap about a young, developing player who will almost surely make it in the bigs before his approach was decimated by the coaching staff. This is the same coaching staff that is playing Nevin out of position in an ill-concieved attempt to salvage a year in which we're 19 games under .500. I get whiny because of that, as well.

I just KNEW that Dusty posted on this site! I knew it. It's pretty clear to me that that one AB was enough to sit him forever. Man, dude, we need Phil's bat out there, man.

We better bench Murton, he didn't hit a home run. Let's never play him again.

I'll sort of agree with you here. While Leyland does hold his players accountable for everything, its not that Dusty never does. The main problem is that Dusty only holds those players who aren't his favorites accountable. For instance, Neifi had a bonehead that cost us a game against the Braves right after the bunt with two down in the ninth, and Baker came to his defense, and his playing time didn't suffer hardly at all. Jacque Jones can't throw a ball to home to save his life, but he still makes every start out in RF despite numerous circus throws and horrid ABs vs. LHP and RHP. Aramis dogs it nearly once a game whether at the plate or on the basepaths, and Dusty never takes action. Our flaws become pulsing boils, and one third of the team is not held accountable. On the other hand, there are players who receive terrible treatment after similar mistakes. Walker gets benched repeatedly for Neifi, despite destroying him at the plate, and being just fine in the 2B slot. Hell, during interleague Walker had to bat 8th while Neifi batted 2nd! Murton is another player who has recently been blamed for everything, and has clearly seen the end of his starting days despite his replacement being worse. He's been above average in left by every defensive metric (BTT and BP). He's slumping at the plate now with no chance to bust out of it because he'll never play again. Just last night he became our pinch runner! Theriot became another victim of Dusty, but no one knows how he plays! He never got to play in the first place! Dusty treats "his players" great, but everyone else is an excuse and gets benched. Accountability is uneven for the Cubs, and I have my own theories as to why certain players get special treatment.

So what exactly is your kind of player? An overpaid, aging veteran who's struggles in another environment are being fixed by the vaunted "change in scenery," even though his playing time comes at the expense of our future players' development. Dude, he can hit a homer though, man, despite the fact that I could play better LF defense if I was blind. Yeah, you sound like the perfect Cubs fan.

Its really hard to look at the numbers when they tell you one thing clearly, and come up with the complete opposite. Murton has a hard time witih righties, but Mabry is worse! Murton has an average arm at best, but baseball think tank and BP say he is above average in LF this season. He also leads the team in OF assists with 3 (Pierre 0, Jones 1). I certainly hope you aren't trying to defend the benching of Murton for a defensively atrocious Nevin who will bring little more than a slumping first round pick to the plate. Murton gets a lot of slack with many because we recognize that his potential is high, whereas Nevin is siphoning the last few drops from a gas tank running on fumes already (read: he is old). People always have this romantic notion of being last year's Braves and playing the kids, but the moment any mistakes are made, its Dusty time, which means Nevin, Perez, Bynum, or any aging veteran who sucks. The season is blown, the year is over. What reason is there to try and salvage a .333 winning % rather than .222%? Murton's just the next excuse in a litany of cowardice and ignorance, and its not fair to a young player, especially when the decision hurts the team's chances to win!

Holy crap, today was disappointing. Murton brought in for Nevin to pinch run, then pulled so Mabry can BAT??? You really have to question this move, as Murton's splits are better than Mabry's against RHP: Murton .231/.297/.301 Mabry .208/.291/.247 I know we don't need many more examples of Dusty's ignorance, but he's ruining the team almost on purpose it seems. He has decided that Matt Murton is the cause of this team's problems, while at the same time putting him in for his SPEED, which we all know doesn't slump. All we have to do now is pray Dusty's head explodes when confronted with the logic of it all. Somehow, I think that Baker, like Neifi, is impervious to release from the Cubs/injury of all kinds. If he's such a problem, just send him to Von Joshua so he can resurrect the guy's approach and career.

Oh boy, the old standby statistic of RBI. Man, dude, what a great stat there, dude. You really get some good offensive facts on a guy based on RBI dude. Sickening.

Last night I was at the game, and they had the attendance game thing in the sixth inning. Their answer was 39,600 or so despite open seats everywhere all over the ballpark. It was actually kind of depressing when I realized that no one else was coming. It looked to me like 35-36K rather than 39K. BTW, I yelled Neifi sucks before every Neifi AB despite his play, because he sucks and needs to know it.

We might find out how powerful Baker is if this keeps up. Its only a matter of time before the fans boil over with rage and bury him alive under the pitching mound after a 27,434-1 loss (Nevin HR). God, please strike down the Cubs front office.

He is the only position player on the team other than Cedeno who has any options. The problem is caused by the fact that we can't have less than 43 pitchers in the pen at any time, despite every inning ever going to Eyre and Howry.

I keep hearing that my boy is going to be sent down on Monday, which is the first and only Cub game (probably) that I will see this year. What a traumatic turn of events for me. I know he'll finally get some playing time, but I am still very frustrated. Whoever is running the team after Baker better recognize the talent in Murton, especially his ability to walk. My question is this: Are their there other plausible, or even possible scenarios where Murton will remain with the club?

WELCOME BACK MATT MURTON!!! Jesus Jones, it took him forever to get back on the horse, but 2 for 3 with a BB, near HR (2B), an RBI, and a run is fine for me. I'm sure he'll be on the field next month sometime as well.... once.

You're going on the assumption that Hendry/Baker/MacPhail would have addressed team performance and needs even without the current distractions. Don't fall into that trap. There will always be scapegoats and reasons other than management itself for our problems. The problem is that not everything will always be there, namely myself. If this team isn't fixed in some appreciable way by next spring training, I'm finished with this garbage. There are 29 other teams, and at least six of them are run correctly. Faith and perseverance are fun if they are trying to deliver the goods, but that isn't happening.

Yeah, we totally do, except that Isiah is ruining his team in an effort to make it better while our guys have a deal with Satan to just hurt innocent women and children.

I don't think the Trib can stand to take much more of a black eye on this issue, regardless of the current attendance. When you consistently put an infuriatingly terrible product on the field, there is no way it can continue without hurting the bottom line of an already flagging corporation. All of us here know that the tickets are already sold for this year, but next year the single ticket sales day WILL see the diffierence, especially if Dusty gets resigned and nothing changes, other than a few tweaking trades and second place finishes in FA signings. No one --I repeat-- no one will support a 100+ loss team without overhauls. The Cubs are in danger, for the first time ever, of losing Chicago to the Sox. They have characters on their team, a fireball of a manager, and they win constantly, second only to the team that destroyed us this weekend. The media is already completely on their side, and a large chunk of people in this country believe whatever the picture box tells them. We're also in danger of losing our national fanbase, as well. Arizona now has a team and is no longer the Cubs stronghold it once was. They have a good DBacks team out there, and the fans WILL watch a winner eventually. The Arizona effect is taking place in many cities and areas now with the last few expansion teams sniffing out all possible fanbases. When I think of the Cubs these days, I am always pissed. At times, I wish we would tank and the dollars would disappear. I would love to have no other choice but to hire DePodesta to run a 45M dollar ballclub, trying to win fans back while attendance hovers at 60-80% unless the Cards or White Sox are in town. We say it'll never happen, and we're right. At this point, if we lose the fans and cease to be a top team in fanbase, nothing will change anyhow. I wonder how Jim and Dusty will sleep at night if they are the architects of the fall of the Lovable Losers, a team adored for sucking. Congratulations guys, you've run the ballclub so badly that the true fans root against you to incur change, and the bandwagon fans root against you as new opposing fans. Thanks.

Let me start by saying that this weekend was an awesome success. More opposing fans than I have ever seen at a Cubs series, an embarrassing sweep at home, and Santo/Brenly are chafing at the team publicly. I think Ron will endanger his job soon with an explosion if this keeps up. If we can just hold out and keep circling the drain like this, Baker will become the next scapegoat and we can turn this ship around in time for next season. Surely we can count on the stubbornness and cowardice of the front office to sacrifice the manager for their own good. This team is helping its cause whether or not they know it, because leadership and success start at the top levels and trickle down. Note: Notice the Marlins have won seven straight. Very interesting to see a team with a 15M payroll blow us away in performance.

The simple fact is that management will never look at themselves with any blame ever. This team is undermanned, mismanaged, and many other negative adjectives, but the biggest problem is that there is no owner. At no time will the Trib ever feel like its letting the fans down and putting on a joke of a show, because the buck doesn't stop with anyone. There is no one man or small group of men to blame that we can see because they hide like cowards behind the company name. Its just the Trib that takes the hit, and counts money regardless of the team's performance. Invisible suits refuse to fix front office problems, and all we see is the wool pulled tightly over our eyes. Because of this lack of leadership and accountability at the top, there is no one policing the front office. No one demands results, no one questions moves and makes strong personnel decisions. The authority of this baseball team is split between a man who is only out to make money, the worst and most damaging manager in baseball history, and a proud man who can't admit he's wrong. Hendry can't live with admitting fault by firing Dusty, so he will circle the drain with his boy eventually. This current setup is in danger of making it very clear to baseball fans exactly what we've suspected for a long time. The Cubs are dangerously close to becoming a business rather than a baseball team, which is a step in the wrong direction for an organization to win dollars and not games. People aren't business fans. I can't remember the last time forty thousand fans showed up to cheer for Dillards Department Stores. If the Cubs become a business rather than a team, the White Sox, Brewers, and Cardinals will be waiting with a good roster and winning spirit. I for one will have to buy new hats if Dusty gets extended, because I will not root for the Chicago Cubs Bank and Trust.

I am foaming at the mouth right now. They are taking the only reason I watch the Cubs away from me half of the time. I think Dusty is trying to ruin the fan support. Words aren't strong enough for the anger and despair I feel right now. I don't even care when they lose anymore. I don't even care when they win. I just want to see Cedeno and Murton develop, and eventually Pie. I actually think Hendry should keep Pie in AAA so Dusty can't talk to him. Its clearly ruining Murton, which is despicable. My detachment from this team and the fall of Murton is making me think crazy things like "Why don't we trade Murton so he can actually have a career?" Its the humanitarian thing to do. He swings at the first pitch all the time now, and its killing him. The only way he was getting around his problems driving the ball was by working the count enough to get something he could dink into the OF or drive on the ground somewhere. At this point, I would sell off every player but Z, Prior, and Lee and bring the AAA team to the majors. We might find a few more surprises before we own the FA market in the offseason with all the money we get.

Nah dude, he's got speed and athletic ability, as well as tremendous upside. A change of scenery will really help him earn the 400 million we throw at him over 23 years. Speed doesn't slump. Plus, Neifi needs some new friends to play with in the starting lineup. That said, anything is an improvement over Pierre, as long as Cedeno and Murton aren't sent away. If that happens, the Cubs might as well extend Dusty and find some other fans to take money from.

If you would like to talk about haters, then you should point at people like me. I could easily be considered a Prior/Wood hater. The job of a starting pitcher is to pitch, and when the pitcher pitches, its expected and often great, if he is a real talent, as both Prior and Wood are. If the pitcher doesn't pitch, he isn't doing his job. Its even more pronounced if he doesn't pitch when getting paid a ton of money, or if we hang our whole season on them, fair or otherwise. Regardless of the litany of reasons, excuses, and arguments, the simple fact is that neither of these men have pitched much for the Cubs this year, and one of them hasn't really done much pitching for the Cubs in the last few years, aside from brief stints on the 15-day non-DL. It makes me very distressed to see our team lose without our best players, because we put our faith in injured pitchers. Its just a health thing with these players, apparently. Zambrano has been the PAP whipping boy the past few years, and is no worse for the wear so far, and Maddux led the team the past two years in IP, and he's still playing, so the ghosts of 2003 are all but gone. Our guys need to win back the people by going out and simply pitching. It doesn't have to be sub-2.5 ERA stuff, but they have to take the mound, and throw the ball. It is, after all, what they get paid to do.

If the last sentence of your post is what you want to know, then you may want to rename the post. At any rate, I think Murton is gaining a large swell of support from alot of fans. There's no question he's recognizeable and talented, despite a recent swoon. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a demand for Murton jerseys these days.

Its because the pitcher only controls the earned runs he gives up, his own fielding, and 1/9 of the entire offense at the bottom of the order. There is no magic here. The same pitchers always lead the league in K/BB ratio and ERA. It doesn't translate to wins because errors (re: the Reds) and lack of run support (re: the Cubs) are different elements, not some magical random force. As stated earlier, there is terribly little randomness over 600+ PA, 200 IP, or 162 G. There IS randomness in small sample sizes, but as statistics state at every turn, small sample sizes lead to flawed perception, which is what you and Joe Morgan have right now. The element that confuses old baseball people is that the qualities that make a great player are only visible in retrospect, through their stats. The ability to wait for the right pitch, and work the count for a walk, or foul off pitches until the meatball pitch comes are all intangibles when not considering numbers. Scouts view those qualities as crapshoots, despite their easy availability on the internet.