fromthestretch

You still run into the problem that there are very few worthwhile catchers in free agency this year. Soto at 1B would also hurt Soto's value substantially since his bat is premium-level for a catcher, but only somewhat above average at 1B. Even if Castillo could hit at an average level for a catcher, I don't think that would help the offense. It's better to have an average 1B and an elite catcher than two average to slightly above average players at 1B and C. I guess a lot depends on how well a combination of Castillo/Chirinos/Some new catcher could produce offensively. You also have to wonder if Soto could produce at a slightly higher level offensively than he is (or at least maintain this level of performance for a longer period of time) if you take away the physical toll of catching. If you look at this year's numbers, Soto's rate stats would be well above average for MLB 1B. MLB 1B in 2010: .268/.352/.456/.809 Soto in 2010: .288/.401/.519/.920 Obviously, not quite the offensive advantage he holds as a catcher, but he wouldn't be killing this team offensively by playing first (provided that the Cubs can get some production out of the catcher position with different personnel there). I'm not advocating moving Soto at this time, but I wouldn't completely dismiss it as an option. If the Cubs can get Dunn or another dominant bat to play first, then that's certainly the better route to take.

So he's OK in pressure situations, but not situations where "you could cut the pressure with a knife". I'm curious how he is if the pressure is tender enough to cut with a fork. Maybe baseball-reference should have a split for those situations.

The Cubs did draft him in 2004, so they have obviously shown interest in him before.

I posted this when Chipper got hurt. Please let this be true. :beg: Prado will probably see more action at third, with Infante getting more time at second.

As Tryptamine put it, a win vs. the Nationals still counts as a win. Saying that the Cardinals are the only team that count is...well, it's stupid. Lee has failed in some clutch situations, and he's produced in others. Lee's career: .282/.367/.499/.865 w/RISP: .283/.390/.489/.879 w/men on: .282/.376/.480/.857 on 3rd, <2 out: .345/.407/.619/1.026 on 3rd, 2 out: .223/.372/.394/.766 w/2 outs: .266/.366/.479/.845 2 outs, RISP: .249/.386/.442/.828 Late & Close*: .295/.393/.502/.896 *Late & Close are PA in the 7th or later with the batting team tied, ahead by one, or the tying run at least on deck. Tie Game: .281/.377/.480/.857 within 1 Run: .284/.375/.491/.866 within 2 Runs: .284/.371/.490/.860 within 3 Runs: .286/.370/.501/.871 Within 4 Runs: .284/.368/.497/.865 Team Ahead: .284/.370/.502/.872 Team Behind: .282/.356/.509/.865 High Leverage: .283/.381/.494/.875 Medium Leverage: .295/.373/.506/.879 Low Leverage: .272/.355/.495/.851 And as has been pointed out... vs. Cardinals: .313/.398/.550/.948 His numbers against other NL Central teams aren't much to complain about either. And in case you only want to know how he did against St. Louis since becoming a Cub: 2004: .420/.500/.783/1.283 (81 PA) 2005: .393/.514/.821/1.336 (70 PA) 2006: .400/.500/1.000/1.500 (only 12 PA) 2007: .349/.414/.587/1.002 (70 PA) 2008: .281/.349/.368/.718 (63 PA) 2009: .268/.300/.393/.693 (60 PA) 2010: .286/.306/.686/.991 (36 PA) Yes, he's struggled overall this season. I don't think anyone's refuting that. Of course, everyone would want more production from their #3 hitter. However, to basically label him as someone who chokes when the pressure is on is ridiculous.

I hope you're right about Bade, because he looked completely lost and very slow last season. I'm hoping Barlow can stay smart on AND off the court. The guy was an immature d-bag last season, and I'm hoping he's grown up quite a bit. I also like what I saw from Byrd, and I'm hoping he can build off of the success he had at the end of the season and give the team some good minutes. The one player that I'm really excited to see is Marcius. Purdue could really use a guy his size in the paint. A full season of healthy LewJack (and obviously Hummel, that goes without saying) will be really nice.

Well, he couldn't hit anything at the major league level this year in a tiny sample – .607 OPS in 120 PAs. He's not hit much in the minors this year either – .746 OPS in only 11 games. He was hurt much of the year and is having TJS, I believe.

Against the Pirates on 4/22/10, the Brewers batted around in the 7th and again in the 9th, en route to a 20-0 victory. It's no "11 consecutive hits", but batting around twice in one game is batting around twice in one game. Pirates lost seven straight from 4/20-4/26 Pirates allowed 25 hits in the aforementioned game against Milwaukee. Only one less. The Brewers batted around in the 3rd and 8th innings against Pittsburgh on 4/26/10. This in addition to the previously mentioned game where they batted around twice against Pittsburgh only four days earlier. Brewers had 21 ABs with RISP in the 20-0 game against the Pirates. However, it would have been more if not for a couple of homeruns with two guys on base, as opposed to only one homer against the Cubs. Furthermore, while Milwaukee had 29 ABs wtih RISP against the Cubs, they tallied 12 hits for a .414 avg in those situations. Against Pittsburgh, they went 10-for-21, for a .476 avg with RISP. The 2-3-4 hitters are at least typically some of the better hitters in the lineup. The Pirates allowed the Brewers 6-9 hitters to go 11-for-22, including two hits by the pitcher. Later in the game, they gave up a hit to a relief pitcher that was inserted higher in the order on a double switch. This is irrelevant as it's not like an injury to any player was going to hurt the Cubs chances at this point in the season. The same can be said for the Pirates during their streak, even though it was April (sorry, Jake). Pirates were outscored 72-12 from 4/20 - 4/26. The Pirates never even led late in any game during their streak to even allow for a walkoff. And while they didn't allow a cycle, Edmonds came close, hitting a single, two doubles, and a homer in one game. They also managed to give up four hits in a game to Greg Zaun of all people. This is only looking at 2010. I'm sure if anyone went back through the years, they could find SEVERAL examples of bad weeks that rival or surpass what the Cubs have done.

I'm sure that no other team will emply the old "get him" strategy. ;) Well, the only two teams that get a say before the Cubs are Pittsburgh and Arizona, and I can't really see either of them putting in a claim. Then again, I don't see the Cubs putting in a claim either. I do think the Giants should jump all over this if no one claims Dunn before them. My point really wasn't about waiver order. The Nats aren't just letting Dunn go...they're going to want something for him. Exactly. Better to trade any over-valued prospects we have than losing draft picks by signing him in the off-season. I'm delusional in thinking the Cubs will make Dunn a priority to replace Lee, but it's a happy world in which I live. I would imagine (hope) that if the Cubs by some chance make a claim AND work out a trade agreement, it would include a window of time to negotiate an extension with Dunn.

I'm sure that no other team will emply the old "get him" strategy. ;) Well, the only two teams that get a say before the Cubs are Pittsburgh and Arizona, and I can't really see either of them putting in a claim. Then again, I don't see the Cubs putting in a claim either. I do think the Giants should jump all over this if no one claims Dunn before them. My point really wasn't about waiver order. The Nats aren't just letting Dunn go...they're going to want something for him. Of course. This isn't an Alexis Rios situation.

I'm sure that no other team will emply the old "get him" strategy. ;) Well, the only two teams that get a say before the Cubs are Pittsburgh and Arizona, and I can't really see either of them putting in a claim. Then again, I don't see the Cubs putting in a claim either. I do think the Giants should jump all over this if no one claims Dunn before them.

There's no chance he gets through to the point where the White Sox could claim him and try to work something out with the Nats.

Somewhere, Marlon Byrd just died a little on the inside. Real fans know that black players can't hustle, d'uh. My bad.

Somewhere, Marlon Byrd just died a little on the inside.

Man, people here are not grasping the concept of "facts" today. erik, you didn't prove or use "facts" to show that only the Cubs could have had a week of baseball this bad. To do so would require you point out some kind of previous "winner" of worst week ever and then showing how the Cubs' week was worst. You did nothing of the sort. You rattled off a bunch of reasons why the Cubs sucked this past week and then subjectively declared that they amounted to the suckiest week that the sucky Cubs ever sucked. There is nothing anyone can do to "prove you wrong" because you never proved your own point in the first place. There is exactly something someone can do: Prove a worse week by another team. Again, I'lll even let a few things slide here and there, and they can be approximations. Nothing has to be exact. This is why I said way back when that it wasn't worth getting into it because not your or my opinion on the matter would be changed, and neither opinion has. CUBS 7/27/10 - 8/2/10 0-6 record outscored 63-17 PIRATES 4/20/10 - 4/26/10 0-7 record outscored 72-12 Show me the stats that matter. # of cycle walk-offs, total # of hits for 2-3-4 hitters over a 3 game stretch, you know the ones that mean something. Well, I can provide the # of cycle walk-offs, only because someone else on the B-R blog did that research. There have only been four others that were found: Cesar Tovar (September 19, 1972) vs. TEX George Brett - 2 HRs (May 28, 1979) vs. BAL Dwight Evans (June 28, 1984) vs. BOS and of course Ken Boyer (September 14, 1961) vs. CUBS I don't have a subscription to the play index, so I'm not going to bother looking up the other stuff that erik had posted. But there are plenty of other random terrible things that have happened to teams that don't play on the north side of Chicago. Hell, in 2002 when Darryl Kile passed away mid-season, there was probably some Cardinals fan saying "only the Cardinals". Then again, that did happen during a series with the Cubs...

Man, people here are not grasping the concept of "facts" today. erik, you didn't prove or use "facts" to show that only the Cubs could have had a week of baseball this bad. To do so would require you point out some kind of previous "winner" of worst week ever and then showing how the Cubs' week was worst. You did nothing of the sort. You rattled off a bunch of reasons why the Cubs sucked this past week and then subjectively declared that they amounted to the suckiest week that the sucky Cubs ever sucked. There is nothing anyone can do to "prove you wrong" because you never proved your own point in the first place. There is exactly something someone can do: Prove a worse week by another team. Again, I'lll even let a few things slide here and there, and they can be approximations. Nothing has to be exact. This is why I said way back when that it wasn't worth getting into it because not your or my opinion on the matter would be changed, and neither opinion has. CUBS 7/27/10 - 8/2/10 0-6 record outscored 63-17 PIRATES 4/20/10 - 4/26/10 0-7 record outscored 72-12 Ok, so that was one of the things I listed. Good job. Someone can acuatlly use faxcts to backup an argument... im soshocked i think im having a smallstroke *falls over, twitching* The Pirates are also on a five-game skid where they've been outscored 34-5. Bottom line is that this kind of stuff happens...not just to the Cubs.

Man, people here are not grasping the concept of "facts" today. erik, you didn't prove or use "facts" to show that only the Cubs could have had a week of baseball this bad. To do so would require you point out some kind of previous "winner" of worst week ever and then showing how the Cubs' week was worst. You did nothing of the sort. You rattled off a bunch of reasons why the Cubs sucked this past week and then subjectively declared that they amounted to the suckiest week that the sucky Cubs ever sucked. There is nothing anyone can do to "prove you wrong" because you never proved your own point in the first place. There is exactly something someone can do: Prove a worse week by another team. Again, I'lll even let a few things slide here and there, and they can be approximations. Nothing has to be exact. This is why I said way back when that it wasn't worth getting into it because not your or my opinion on the matter would be changed, and neither opinion has. CUBS 7/27/10 - 8/2/10 0-6 record outscored 63-17 PIRATES 4/20/10 - 4/26/10 0-7 record outscored 72-12

:lol:

The same as Castro's, since both Lake and Castro are from the Dominican Republic.

That's basically the same thing that they got when they dealt Todd Walker to the Padres.

damnit He hit a rough patch there a few weeks ago, but he's been very good over his last five starts, including this one.

I typically check baseball-reference every morning to skim box scores or see the top performances from the previous day. Earlier this season they started listing the top-5 players in WAR in each league. Angel Pagan is fourth in the NL in WAR. Angel Pagan. Fourth in the NL. In WAR. His last year with the Cubs, I thought he was a serviceable fourth outfielder, but he's really taken it up a notch since rejoining the Mets organization.

A hitter whose strikeout-to-walk ratio makes Tyler Colvin look patient.

Here's the official website of Nippon Professional Baseball: http://www.npb.or.jp/eng/ Here's Murton's player page: http://bis.npb.or.jp/eng/players/53155131.html

Kosuke wasn't considered a prodigious home run hitter. I don't know what prodigious is in Japan, but he hit a HR every 16.27 ABs his last 4 seasons in Japan. That'd probably put him in the top 10 in the MLB this year. It would not. For reference, Dunn is 10th in the majors with a HR every 15.3 AB.