Banedon

I think he's done a lot better lately, but gave a lot of vets a lot of playing time when they were playing really bad, and let the young guys rot on the bench. Murton, Pie, and Soto didn't get any significant playing time until just recently, and Pie still hasn't. Jacque, Floyd, Izturis, Koyie, Trachsel, Miller, and Monroe have all gotten far too much PT. Lou has corrected many of his mistakes though...that's where he beats out someone like Dusty, who just rides his mistakes into the ground. I know that some of that has to do with Hendry handing him these players, and that he's had to make do. I recognize that, and I do give Lou credit for what he's done with this team. But he's had his fair share of mistakes this year. Waiting till now to unleash Soto is one of them. I don't care what other managers would do. They'd be wrong too. Well the last sentence just means that you choose to look at it with no perspective at all. Some of your playing time gripes are just ridiculous. Monroe has gotten 46 plate appearances in the 30 games since being acquired. Murton didn't get any significant time until recently? Really? Jacque disappeared in the first half when he stunk. Lou went back to him after Felix struggled in June and Jacque got hot. He cooled down but he still has an .800 OPS in the second half and no one else could contribute that this year in CF. Wade Miller had a total of 3 starts. Izturis only got 50 PA's in the 24 April games. In May his production wasn't much off of what Theriot has done (.350 OBP). Following that in his last 44 games on the roster he got 69 AB's. On the contrary Pie got 44 PA's in his first 12 games here. He had 100 PA's in June. That's not significant playing time? That's much more than the guys who you claim got too much time and it was 4th most on the team in June. You're always going to have non-productive players getting time, especially when your roster consists of what we had at C, SS and the outfield. Guys have to fail before they get their time taken away. Then in most cases, when someone produced he kept them in the lineup. The point of my last sentence is simply this. If someone does something badly, I'm not going to be giddy with someone that does it less badly. Maybe you are. That's fine. I'm not. Look I'm not trying to bash Lou. I think he's done a reasonably good job with this team this year. But I do have gripes with some of his personnel decisions this year. You were obviously fine with Floyd and Jones getting playing time when they were struggling, and Murton sitting on the bench getting periodic playing time. I wasn't. And yes, Murton hasn't gotten regular playing time until this past month. Before that it was highly erratic. I agree, Miller was probably a bad choice for me to point out, and Izturis did go away, so I'm willing to concede those points. Pie had 87 PA's in June. Jones and Pagan combined for 91 PA's in June. So Pie got less than half the total PT as Jones and Pagan. So Lou didn't exactly let him get steady playing time. Instead he broke it up into a couple games on then a couple games off. He had no rhythm. Jacque was flat out terrible in June. And Pagan is not someone in the Cubs future. It just didn't make a lot of long term sense. I agree, that Lou is a lot better at letting players earn their spots, but he was slow to pull the trigger in some instances in this season, and I happen to think they were mistakes and cost the Cubs. (FYI, I'm not complaining about what Jacque has done in the second half. But the Cubs were about to trade him away, so they thought he was toast too. So it's not like it was amazing foresight on Lou's part to let him stick it out.)

Good. Hopefully the Cubs get KC instead. I'm always irritated that the Cards get 2 series against KC each year. The Cards do not play KC twice each year. That is a well spread myth. They do play in KC every year, but not vice versa. And they aren't the easiest games in the world. KC really gets up for those games. They have 4 of the last 6 years. Not sure why they didn't in 04 and 05...thought KC was their "natural rivals"...blech. In any case, here's the Cards records since 2002 against the Royals (494-577 since 2002): 3-3 4-2 2-1 3-0 3-3 5-1 Total 20-10 Now, the Cubs vs the Sox (507-459 since 2002): 5-1 2-4 3-3 4-2 2-4 3-3 Total 19-17 I'm not a huge fan of the unbalanced schedule, but if you're gonna do it, at least have it be a rotation. I hate the "rivalry" matchups. Wouldn't Cubs-Sox be a ton more special if it was a series or 2 every 3 years? (The 2002 date was just arbitrary because I was using ESPN and that's as far back as they have schedules)

I'm unwilling to buy any of this gear until after the Cubs are eliminated. I don't want a division champs shirt and then have to buy another when they win the NL...or more....:P

I think he's done a lot better lately, but gave a lot of vets a lot of playing time when they were playing really bad, and let the young guys rot on the bench. Murton, Pie, and Soto didn't get any significant playing time until just recently, and Pie still hasn't. Jacque, Floyd, Izturis, Koyie, Trachsel, Miller, and Monroe have all gotten far too much PT. Lou has corrected many of his mistakes though...that's where he beats out someone like Dusty, who just rides his mistakes into the ground. I know that some of that has to do with Hendry handing him these players, and that he's had to make do. I recognize that, and I do give Lou credit for what he's done with this team. But he's had his fair share of mistakes this year. Waiting till now to unleash Soto is one of them. I don't care what other managers would do. They'd be wrong too.

Well since this is the same as the other thread, I'm gonna merge them...

I think you just misunderstood the article. He says that Soriano "stars" in the song. I think it's just that his name was mentioned in the lyrics. It's poorly worded. (shocking)

Hmm...I don't know how much credit should go to Lou here. I'm sure he has a lot of input on which minor leaguers to bring up, and the Cubs didn't want anything to do with Soto most of the year, instead preferring to trade for Kendall and give Koyie Hill far too much PT. Soto got called up because he was the league MVP, and he's playing everyday because even Lou can't sit a guy that's hitting near .500 and hitting just about everything that's thrown his way. I'll give Lou credit for a lot of things, but I think Soto forced this with his performance. I think any manager could justify using Kendall over Soto without taking a lot of heat for it. He wouldn't be right, but he wouldn't take much heat. It'd be the old, "Well the kid is hot, but you have to go with the seasoned vet in a pennant race." Especially at a position like catcher, where people seem more inclined to over-value defense (not that I don't think Soto is better than Kendall at that, anyway) and "veteran savvy and leadership." Hell, Plesac was on the radio the other day saying that if it were up to him, he'd rather have Kendall starting than Soto. Just because there are people that are stupid doesn't mean that Lou should get a bunch of attaboy's for not being stupid. Lou has done some nice things for this club. But it took far too long for Soto to be installed as starting catcher. Lou talks about how you have to take risks at the end of the year with these pitcher on 3 days rest and what not, but then he's not willing to take a risk in the middle of the season with a young hot-hitting catcher.

Hmm...I don't know how much credit should go to Lou here. I'm sure he has a lot of input on which minor leaguers to bring up, and the Cubs didn't want anything to do with Soto most of the year, instead preferring to trade for Kendall and give Koyie Hill far too much PT. Soto got called up because he was the league MVP, and he's playing everyday because even Lou can't sit a guy that's hitting near .500 and hitting just about everything that's thrown his way. I'll give Lou credit for a lot of things, but I think Soto forced this with his performance.

http://www.northsidebaseball.com/PremiumForum/viewtopic.php?t=44261 viewtopic.php?t=44261 Not sure if this is the same one...

Good. Hopefully the Cubs get KC instead. I'm always irritated that the Cards get 2 series against KC each year. But the Cubs are lucky to face a worse White Sox team. This year. But the White Sox at least sprinkle in a few good years. KC is pretty consistent in it's suckitude. Thanks UM...I wouldn't mind Tampa Bay either...seems like we missed them in our last AL East go round...

Good. Hopefully the Cubs get KC instead. I'm always irritated that the Cards get 2 series against KC each year.

Man this makes Kerry seem old. And since I'm about 6 months older than him, it makes me seem old. Me no likey.

There's apparently a specific rule against players owning a team, or negotiating future ownership. And even if there wasn't, MLB would be pretty pissed at a future owner that did that, and may not approve ownership.

GIS for "crap happened here": wow how the hell does that happen It was riding on top of something? I'm really disappointed I can't find more info about this on Snopes or anything...

No, it's fine. And yes, you're right...simply remove "premium" from the URL and it will work just fine.

Actually Gammons was talking about how dangerous the Cubs could be in the playoffs. The pitching is doing very well, and the hitting is covering for the pitching's few mistakes.

Ok, so Wednesday is the earliest that we can clinch...yes?

Same with the message board fans. Looks like the umps blew a couple calls. Tough loss, I know how that feels. Still though -- 3 run lead late, pitchers can't get outs. That's kind of the Brewers '07 in a nutshell. Every team has a few "ump" losses. And the Brewers just crumpled with the bad calls.

Same with the message board fans.

Up until today, football was much higher in my book than baseball. Now they're equal. I still love my Bears.

Yes. And tomahawk chop ensued.

Agreed. I'd like to be able to let Hart and Gallagher start two of the final three games. Yeah....if we can have Marshall, Hart and Gallagher start those last 3, that would be beautiful.

I'm rooting to clinch before the final series. I don't want this going down to the last game.

Guys, I haven't let this team "in" until today. I'm really really pumped now. I'm ready for the playoffs!!!!

I miss Kerry as a starter....:(