Jon

The wind was fierce that day, my friend. I don't really remember Corey's HRs too well, though, since they both only brought the Cubs within a run. And Lee's should've gone out. :( Corey only hits solo shots. Duh. Yeah, I thought Lee's shot was gone too. And to bring it full circle, I sat within a section of you (and Mark?) at that game and never saw you guys. Yeah, it was Mark. Such an exciting and agonizing game. Looking it up, Corey went 4-6 in the leadoff spot with 2 RBIs (stupid solo HRs), 2 runs scored, and a walk. After that game, he was at .285/.336/.479. By the time the season ended less than a month later, he was completely gassed and finished at .266/.320/.452. With regular playing time, I think he can have an .800+ OPS season in 2007.

The wind was fierce that day, my friend. I don't really remember Corey's HRs too well, though, since they both only brought the Cubs within a run. And Lee's should've gone out. :(

The one early in his career? Silly J.D. Drew. That's certainly up there on my list. My favorite moment, though, would be when he hit the wind-blown game-tying HR late in a game against the Pirates and then the walkoff HR in the 12th inning in mid-September of 2004. That was incredible.

But he did make adjustments. That was the problem. They were completely the wrong ones to make. He fashioned himself a middle of the lineup run producer because that's the kind of player he is, yet the Cubs decided to ignore what his talents with the bat actually were. If or when he progresses to a point nearing his ceiling, the middle of the lineup is exactly where he was going to be. He led the Lugnuts in 2Bs, 3Bs, and HRs and the Diamond Jaxx in 2Bs and HRs right before making his big league debut at the age of 20. That's a middle of the order hitter. Corey had a ways to go before getting there. Contact and strike recognition were his main problems and he had to really work on that. Everyone knew it wasn't going to be easy for him and yet they decided to pile it on by trying to change his whole game. It ruined his season. And Pie was going to be up last season at the age of 20 if not for his ankle injury. Hendry already confirmed that. Patterson's Minor League numbers are not necessarily representative of the type of player he can become in the MLs. One thing is for sure, he has never shown the kind of discipline necessary to be considered a contact hitter. Major League pitchers make adjustments on hitters. Corey was not able to tailor his swing to counterbalance the changes others were making against him. Were the Cubs suppose to allow him to continue swinging wildly in the middle of the lineup when more effective options were available? Absolutely not! Yes, Pie would have been called up last year. The Cubs season was already over so there was no reason not to give him a look. That doesn't necessarily mean they would have considered him to start CF in 2006. Pie, like Patterson has some strikeout issues to overcome. The fact that he hasn't shown the kind of discipline necessary to be considered a contact hitter is exactly why you don't try to turn him into a slappy leadoff hitter. Rather, you stay with his skills and try to turn him into a power hitter that can make better contact. The mechanical adjustments to make him a leadoff hitter were quite different from the adjustments needed to increase his contact while maintaining his power. And more than anything else, his main focus probably needed to be on strike zone recognition. You can't expect a guy to drastically improve in strike zone recognition when he has a new swing, new approach, and new objective at the plate that's different from anything else he's done in his entire baseball career. And if the ankle injury never occured, Hendry intended to bring up Pie well before the Diamond Jaxx season even ended. I believe there was talk of him coming up before the Southern League playoffs if he recovered in time.

Only 30 ABs. And he actually put up a .900 OPS batting third. But it's not about where they hit him as much as it is the kind of hitter they tried to make him. The effects from the failed leadoff experiment lasted the whole season since they significantly altered his mechanics. He didn't/couldn't just go back to his 2004 swing when he was really struggling.

But he did make adjustments. That was the problem. They were completely the wrong ones to make. He fashioned himself a middle of the lineup run producer because that's the kind of player he is, yet the Cubs decided to ignore what his talents with the bat actually were. If or when he progresses to a point nearing his ceiling, the middle of the lineup is exactly where he was going to be. He led the Lugnuts in 2Bs, 3Bs, and HRs and the Diamond Jaxx in 2Bs and HRs right before making his big league debut at the age of 20. That's a middle of the order hitter. Corey had a ways to go before getting there. Contact and strike recognition were his main problems and he had to really work on that. Everyone knew it wasn't going to be easy for him and yet they decided to pile it on by trying to change his whole game. It ruined his season. And Pie was going to be up last season at the age of 20 if not for his ankle injury. Hendry already confirmed that.

Yeah, small trumps fast. I remember Keller raving about how well the ball jumped off Corey's bat and how you rarely see that from a guy that small. But he did recognize the power pretty quickly.

Gotten a clue to start. It shouldn't take that long to realize that the answer wasn't to continue to turn him into leadoff hitter. Things went south in a hurry. The best option was to go back to his original swing and work from that. He needed to continue to work on his contact and strike zone recognition. It's normal progress that should've been emphasized with more time in the minors to being with, but since they can't go back in time, that should have been the primary focus. It wasn't. How many young players are going to have good seasons when the management and coaching staff tries to completely change a player's mechanics and approach at the plate in the big leagues while the season is in progress and have other basic areas they need to work on? Very few.

I don't recall that being anything more than a sports radio rumor. He also went to Mesa first to work with Keller...in July...during the day...outside. And reports indicated that he worked a lot down there. He did more than plenty, clearly outweighing the benefit of playing winter ball. There's no reason that should overshadow his other work. One of the biggest cliches in sports right now is to not get too high with the highs and too low with the lows. That describes Corey very well, yet his lack of visible frustration let the media and fans walk all over him. Corey went into the season needing to work on increasing contact and improving strike zone recognition. The bottom line is that the coaches decided not to focus on that without drastically deemphasizing his power while reconstructing his swing. They made a big mistake. The organization made a big mistake by rushing him and allowing that mistake to be made. And none of them were penalized. Clines and Sarge are still the hitting coaches. There is no indication that this organization learned anything from all of this. That's what scares me.

By all accounts, Corey did everything else that was asked of him. He worked extra hours so they could screw up his swing even further. He allowed them to try to change his style of hitting because they needed a slappy leadoff hitter much worse than a power hitter trying to improve his current swing and OBP. He accepted his demotion to AAA. He worked on his swing this fall. Baker and Clines commented on the radio about how happy they were with his effort, just not his progress. Listach was quoted as saying positive things about his work. There wasn't anything wrong with his work ethic that was visible to anyone outside of the organization. And let's not forget about them bringing up Patterson before he was able to have any kind of consistent success at the plate in AAA. That would have been a pretty good time to work on his swing in game situations. Corey's fate was sealed before the season was over. His value off the bench would not have been very great, especially considering he needs to play every day to improve. Hendry knew very well that Juan Pierre or a Juan Pierre-type was going to be one of their main goals. Unfortunately for them, Patterson couldn't be converted. He and Baker talked non-stop about needing a leadoff hitter. Left field was going to Murton and whichever veteran they signed to start instead of him. And I don't think they wanted to keep him around for right field. I'd have to believe the only reason why it took so long to move him was because he's more valuable in a multi-player trade for an impact player than in a trade like this.

Corey doesn't have much room to blast anyone. The Cubs (especially Hendry) would have loved for him to have had a productive 2005. Patterson's refusal to go to winter ball cemented his exit. I'd have to believe winter ball was nothing more than a convenient excuse for Hendry to use. Corey worked with a hitting coach (and a good one, at that) down in Arizona during the fall, which in my opinion, is much more important than just going down to play winter ball. That is if he re-overhauled it, of course. Going down to play winter ball with what the Cubs were trying to do to him wasn't going to do any good, anyways. And they talked his demotion up to be about clearing his head. If that was really their intention, not having a few months off to just forget about baseball, spend time with family, and stay in shape is quite the opposite. The day that certain people in this organization will finally be held accountable for jerking around and hindering development of young players will be a happy one for me.

Hendry rewarded them with new contracts because of Neifi's great performance. How professional baseball coaches can't realize that you're asking too much of a young player when you try to 1) turn a power hitter into a slap contact leadoff hitter by overhauling his swing and footwork, 2) work on strike zone recognition and improve walk totals (the player's biggest problem by far), and 3) drastically improve bunting ability and frequency all at the same time with different coaches and during a major league season is beyond me. And how can a GM can allow that? I can't wait for them to rush Pie so he can get started with these coaches as soon as possible and learn the strike zone in the big leagues.

Glad they also addressed some of the main reasons why he struggled so much last year. So when can Pie start working with Clines and Sarge to become that leadoff hitter Hendry wants so much? And if the give Pierre an extension, why not two leadoff hitters? Hopefully his work this fall with Von Joshua has him back on the right path. I wish him well.

Bears stats from the previous meeting: Orton: 15/26, 136 yards, 1/1 Jones: 25/87, 0 TDs Peterson: 4/37, 0 TDs It's not the skill players that the Panthers need to stop, although Grossman adds a whole new dimension that they didn't see before and the running game should be more productive. The game was clearly won by the Bears linemen. Mr. Happy-feet himself Kyle Orton wasn't sacked at all while the Bears brought down Delhomme 8 times. The pressure, if I recall correctly, forced two huge Vasher interceptions that gave the offense a very short field. And don't forget that the Panthers fumbled it 3 times (2 by Delhomme and 1 by Smith), only to recover them. If the lines can take control of the game from the beginning, which they should at Soldier Field, we'll be playing for a trip to the Super Bowl.

Bribing Mods is encouraged. Especially ones with seniority.

Haha. That deserves a long talkin' to. What the heck was he thinking?

You can find the Forbes data for 2005 and years prior here. And here's a linked article about how profitable the Mariners have been.

The wind chill would likely make it feel about 10 degrees colder than it was in New Jersey today. I'm anxious to see the healthy secondary do its thing.

It looked like he certainly meant to make contact, but that was about it. I don't think it was that dirty.

Sunday, January 15th at 3:30 PM CT on Fox. It's on.

Carolina really hasn't looked THAT impressive.

Two blown fumbles by the officials in the third quarter.

Ugh. Stupid Giants.

They're shooting extremely well against a pretty good defense.

Michaels gets flipped off in the parking lot? Good to know.