srbin84

Or maybe he just needed to be coached by people who know what the hell they're doing at least every once in a while. Corey himself said he thought he should be batting lower in the lineup, specifically as a #6 hitter. Well, the Orioles are doing just that, and letting him work there. And look at the results. Wow, what a radical approach...nobody could have EVER thought of that! Corey definitely had some ego "issues," but if what he's doing now with the O's continues, it should prove he was VERY far from being uncoachable, or terrible or a headcase, or whatever other excuses want to be made. His success should be one of the most scathing indictments of how bad the Cubs' management and coaching staffs are right now. corey had plenty of ab's in the 7/8 hole last year. sure some blame should be placed on the cubs coaching, but most the blame falls on corey. He was yanked around the lineup and expected to change his role on a near weekly basis. The Cubs' plans for him seemed to change with the winds. That kind of inconsistency and blatant misunderstanding of your own farm pick is murder on the game of a younger playing still trying to find his role and skills. It's obvious even the Cubs realized that. Look how much playing time Murton and Cedeno have gotten towards the bottom of the lineup. Most of their switches have been to the two spot. Consistency. Corey was seemingly expected to be everything except the three and four hitters. And I'm not saying he may have not been a difficult player to coach. But those players are going to come around enough that having coaches that can't deal with those situations are a real problem. Look at what it means we might miss out on. He is hitting .290 with less than 150 AB's. I will hold out judgement until August or September after the "book" gets out on him in the AL. Maybe he will keep it up, but I have a feeling that over the course of the season teams will discover the flaws that we all know still exist in his swing and hitting approach and his numbers will come back down to more closely resemble his career averages. Shoulder high fastballs?

even a blind squirrel can occasionally find an acorn. Kyle has all the talent in the world. Unfortunately he is saddled with a 2 cent head. but this obviously has nothing to do with poor coaching with the cubs, right? one couldn't possibly explain his success in 2005 by pointing out that he finally went to teams that could harness his talent, could they? this year is not a significant sample yet, either, so i'd wait until the end of the season before saying he's not going to succeed as a setup man / closer. He had great seasons with Cubs coaching too, so that's not an excuse.

Agreed. Nobody likes it when Lofton is brought up.

:shock: ---- The Cubs, IMO, will contend before Howry's cotnract is up. So I much rather hold onto Howry---who have been impressive.... (.88/.209/2.16) so it would definately take MORE then just Brandon McCarthy to land Howry. Add in the "rivalry factor" and I would ask for Jerry Owens along with McCarthy for Howry. But since Howry isn't GOING ANYWHERE, this is a moot topic. I love both of those guys. McCarthy is a very good young starting pitcher.

Signing Farnsworth to be your setup man helps too.

He was just as good as stealing bases with the Cubs. He didn't get on base very much though. He went through a lot of hitting coaches here, so there is more to it than just different coaching. He primarily worked with Clines in terms of trying to convert his swing to slap the ball around. He worked with others for bunting and fielding, but Clines was his primary hitting coach last season. And before that he was doing a pretty decent job at the plate. I think there's a pretty clear link between the coaching staff and Corey's struggles last year. I'm just glad that Elia knew what the Cubs did wrong (and made a nice little dig at them in the process). I was talking about Jeff Pentland and Billy Williams.

It seemed like he had given himself a different diagnosis than the Cubs doctor.

Indeed. And, furthermore, you sprain a ligament and strain a muscle. Either a strain or a sprain involves tearing of the muscle or ligament involved. Sprain your ankle? You likely have a tear, perhaps even a complete one, in your anterior talofibular ligament. And in six weeks, you'll be running. How long does it take to recover from a shoulder strain/tear? several months, judging by the date on that article Well, Hamels is also injury prone and young, and he just went on the DL with a shoulder strain, so let's see how long he takes. Miller and Wood both had shoulder surgery and could beat Prior back. We'll just have to keep watching and see what happens. Um, last time I checked, Wood has pitched 3 games and already HAS beaten Prior back. I was talking about both of them accomplishing it.

He was just as good as stealing bases with the Cubs. He didn't get on base very much though. He went through a lot of hitting coaches here, so there is more to it than just different coaching.

If you heard it, it seemed like Prior was trying to say the injury was more serious than everybody thinks. He was talking about how he knows his body the best and knows what is wrong when something happens. He wasn't just trying to give an alternate definition of a strain.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/baseball/14660146.htm?source=rss&channel=philly_baseball

Indeed. And, furthermore, you sprain a ligament and strain a muscle. Either a strain or a sprain involves tearing of the muscle or ligament involved. Sprain your ankle? You likely have a tear, perhaps even a complete one, in your anterior talofibular ligament. And in six weeks, you'll be running. How long does it take to recover from a shoulder strain/tear? several months, judging by the date on that article Well, Hamels is also injury prone and young, and he just went on the DL with a shoulder strain, so let's see how long he takes. Miller and Wood both had shoulder surgery and could beat Prior back. We'll just have to keep watching and see what happens.

Indeed. And, furthermore, you sprain a ligament and strain a muscle. Either a strain or a sprain involves tearing of the muscle or ligament involved. Sprain your ankle? You likely have a tear, perhaps even a complete one, in your anterior talofibular ligament. And in six weeks, you'll be running. How long does it take to recover from a shoulder strain/tear?

Willamson and Howry for McCarthy.

There's no point in arguing with him now.

That's just baseball.

I can't link to the radio, but if I said it was said, you can trust it was said.

Teams lose expensive players all the time. And the Cubs knew the injury risk a long time ago. Not to mention, they are very likely largely responsible for the injury situation given their usage of those players. For the first year, MAYBE two, ok. Those guys, at least Prior, should have recovered from the 2003 overuse by now.

When your best and third best starter make 2 starts the first two months, it's unfair to compare the payroll to the product on the field. At least substrat thier approx. 15 million because they haven't had anything to do with this team.

A .317 OBP is absolutely terrible. A .500 SLG and 30 homers is better than average though. It balances out to be a solid season for what he his being paid.

A writer that was at his rehab start said after the game, Prior said his injury "was a tear. Let's not fool anybody." That's very interesting.

If he ends up .280/.317/.497 with 31 HRS 95 RBI and no injuries like he is on pace to have, I think that's fair for his salary this year.

I might be missing something here, but how does giving up more talent than you are receiving make you a better team from year to year? It's something all good teams do once in awhile. I'm talking about prospects for major league stars. Most of our top prospects have lost a lot of value, but last year or in the offseason, they probably could have gotten an allstar player for Hill, Guzman and Pie.

Hendry's comments during the broadcast with the Cards anouncers were scary. He said he didn't make a deal to help the club when Lee went down because the overpaying to make trades has gotten way out of hand. Newsflash Jim, you have to overpay in trade to get good players. His unwillingness to do just that is one of the major reasons this team has continued to get worse since he took over.

All in all, that was infuriating to read. Rusch should get the next start. Who would you rather have make that start? Someone else that has the slightest hope for improvement. Williams, Hill, Guzman, Ryu, etc. It talks about Rusch earning it with 9 K's and ignores that he gave up 7 baserunners, 4 runs, and 2 home runs in 4 innings. He's been awful for quite a while now, but since he can't get demoted he sticks around until we give him another undeserved shot at the rotation. And then there was the nonsense about Wuertz "just not being 'there'". Williams is pitching horribly down there, and I think he is down there until he adjusts his attitude as well. The Cubs weren't happy with him in spring training IIRC. As for the other three, if it is the Cubs fault Corey Patterson played so terribly because they rushed him to the big leagues, then why would we want them to rush Hill, Guzman and Ryu? I think it's very clear those three have a lot to work on before they are ready for the big leagues.