RegulusBlue

I wonder if he can catch the ball?

I hate Oswalt more than any other pitcher not named Buerhle. Screw that WGN.

I don't think anything less than a near playoff miss will save Dusty's job. We just have to count on Jim Hendry to not make a great deal and rejuvenate the team, and on Dusty to not get anything close to the best out of this team, and HE GONE.

Murton needs to be given the Juan Pierre treatment, in that he cannot earn a spot on the bench, nor should he be switched out for. I have faith in him to become a great player for many years in one of two paths: A) The Sean Casey Path (.306/.371/.464) If the power spike never comes, and he regains his stride as the NL pitching becomes familiar, and talent takes over for inexperience and pressure. His walk rate returns, and he continues to spray the ball all over the field, clogging up the bases for many years to come. He becomes a run-scoring force at the leadoff or second spot in the lineup. As a bonus, he isn't the slowest man ever to play baseball second to only Cecil Fielder, so he will score even more (speed doesn't slump). B) The Chad Tracy Path (.335/.389/.468) Following a predictable power surge in the next year or so, Matt begins to better recognize and turn on the inside pitch, driving it into the gaps and out of the park. His walk rate remains stable or increases as pitchers now have something to fear in him. He becomes a high OBP second, fifth, or even third hitter at times and an overall textbook good corner OF. I see A as the less likely of the two scenarios, because his minior league numbers are favorable for this reality (.309/.380/.451) only if you ignore the upward trend in his slugging over the minor league years (2003=.397, 2004=.437, 2005=.504). Tracy's numbers in the minors are misleading (.335/.389/.468) because he also trended upward drastically at the end of his stint. Tracy is also a fair comparison because of their physical similarity. Murton is actually a bit beefier than Tracy at 6'1'' 226 compared to 6'2'' 190 (Hair color is an obvious sticking point as well). Body size to power correlations are easy to refute, especially when Sean Casey is already in the discussion, but the figures are there, and Matt clearly has good legs under him for power production in the future. I apologize for my earlier eruption of emotion and anger against our manager. I hope this is a much more objective analysis of Matt Murton, and a clear argument for why he should be allowed to struggle when it happens, rather than be switched out or outright benched for Bynum. He can easily become a special player in the very near future. Don't forget how pivotal he was to this team's success early in the season when it still meant something.

Dusty is killing me with his recent usage of Matt Murton, my favorite Cub. I cannot stand to see him benched over and over in favor of Freddie Bynum, whether he rides the pine the entire game, or is a victim to the ferocious power of the double switch. I despise our manager more every day that he sits our developing future stud in favor of a fair at best AAAA player. While guys like Pierre and Mabry get constant clean slates with Dusty, a simple 0/3 is all it takes to get Murton on the pines. This is clearly the incorrect approach to take with a player who needs ABs to grow as a hitter. Also, Murton has been benched after three separate great games this year (he also did this to Todd Walker after a 4/5 game, sending him into that horrid streak earlier in the year). There is no way to ask what Dusty is thinking without covering this page in filthy language, so I'll refrain. All you have to do is look at Cedeno's usage to see that leaving a young guy in is the way to get production from him. Cedeno languishes (with Murton) constantly at the bottom of the order, for better or worse, and he has busted a few slumps during that time, even putting together some hitting streaks. Murton gets thrown around like a rag doll on the lineup card, inevitably settling at the six or seven spot, where his current lack of pop and 2nd-3rd highest OBP on the team is totally wasted. Taking into account the lack of good baseball played by the Cubs this year, I am forced to find pleasures inside the game, rather than the game itself, and our chances of winning. A Murton at bat is exactly what I look forward to every game, in addition to Walker at bats, and, of course, hilarious baserunning blunders by Jacque Jones. No one on the roster has a harder time staying on the field daily (despite continued sucess and high OBP) than Matt Murton, and his career will be held back by it. I dislike Dusty Baker more than cancerous bedsores and chocolate-covered feces put together, and I hope that he gets fired very soon. Fight the good fight, Matt, and please continue to work the count and take walks in spite of the worst manager in baseball history.

The PR machine told the Cubs brass that they had to cut ties with the hateable KP, and so they did the corporate dance and disposed of him the same as Sammy. We're the New Red Sox.

I don't think it would be worth the bad blood that would be created by blocking a sale for the other owners to do it. Plus, without much knowledge of how buying a franchise works, I can't imagine that they can block a sale for any reason they want. If that were the case, all the worst owners in baseball history would still be in charge because the other teams would fear competition from a better owner.

I'll kill myself and everyone else if we trade away Murton. Period.

Our OBP between the 1 and 2 spots this year right now is lower than the Neifi and Patterson duo of last year, even at their worst. I'm lovin it.

Lets just get this over with and sell off some parts before the Cubs mystique injures all of them gravely, not to mention that a firesale is the most exciting time of the year for a crappy team, when a bunch of new faces hit the field for once. This team is stale goods, and Pierre, Jones (who is now tradeable, thank god), Nevin need to go to bring in something else.

Clearly the return of Prior, Wood, and Lee will help us lose slightly less games than we're already going to. Projected Record with current roster: 75-87 Projected Record with P, W, and L: 79-83 That's really what I think we're looking at here. Closer to mediocre, but still bad.

I'm afraid, and you should be too, that this is the real Woody these days. Maybe he can become more crafty and learn some tricks so he can remain in the bigs, but the reality is that he is most likely done as a starter. God, I hope I am wrong, but I doubt it.

We are turds for not giving this guy a chance again. What a horrible turn of luck for him. We really should have just thrown this guy a bone when he was ready and given him a week or so to earn a bench spot because our bench can not get any [expletive] worse.

Ditto. Extending this man would be just the commitment to losing and failure that I would need to say F this team and just wait for football and basketball to come back. The only hangup I would have is Matt Murton, whom I adore. I'll probably still check on him to see that he is progressing, but a Dusty Baker led team is no team of mine after this year. He is the worst manager in baseball history, and I believe that with every ounce of my heart.

I noticed that he managed to take a shot at Murton in the same breath that he whines about us not having any OBP. What a total fool. LF has been the least of the Cubs' problems so far this year, especially with the recent power surge by Matt over the last four or five games. We can surely fix our OBP problems by trading for Soriano (.347 OBP) and putting Murton (.363 OBP) on the bench. Great strategy, moran. He just makes it obvious that he only did some research for the article, and the rest of it is just freelanced. Cedeno can hardly be considered a huge problem either. We don't have a better shortstop right now, and he's not even that bad, although his average is taking a consistent slide as the season progresses, and he doesn't have the above average OBP of Murton.

Yes, it already does look good. Murton is at .362 right now, which is just about thirty points above average (.333 IIRC). Thanks for playing.

Sometimes statements can backfire badly. Here is some crow.

Hell of a protest by the fans, turning out in record numbers. Here's your money!

They are afraid that their pride will be hurt if they admit doing any wrong, but the tide is coming in finally. The Cubs used to be able to mess everything up, but they would still rake in the cash even so. Now the sucking sound is so violent that there is no sating the fans (us). While admitting failure would be the first step to creating a better philosophy and future, they will stick to their guns, and be the first males (clearly not men) to solve the riddle: How do you ruin fan support even when its not contingent upon success? The answer is having less success than imaginable while lashing out at the media, the fans, and opposing catchers. Have the manager only give excuses and ruin good players and bad, but play only the bad ones. Oh yeah, lose constantly and at all costs. Go Cubs.

That's really exciting news for the fans, who are the real winners here.

I wouldn't say that this attempt at producing more power has failed... yet. He's still got plenty of time this season to figure some things out. I like that he recognizes his need to put more oompf into the ball, especiallly on a station to station baseball team like we have right now. I'm getting sick of bad calls against Matt. He had an AB only in name against Garcia this weekend. He struck out looking at a low pitch way away, and a high inside pitch. Umps have to make the right calls, or no one is a good hitter. I think we'll still see the same Murton after two strikes, but harder swings and an effort to pull a little more earlier, especially when ahead.

At least it fired us up and we won the game because of a gutsy decision.

You can, however, blame him for letting putting Theriot in Neifi's rightful role (the guy who never gets to play).

http://www.angelfire.com/in4/kraftfoodsinc/kool-aid_man.gif and http://www.retrocrush.com/toons/judyjetson.jpg My guess...

I'm really glad I can't see the future, because I'd already be painting the walls with my brains after Corey destroys Pierre's stat line this year.