fromthestretch

That's like winning a gold medal at the Special Olympics. Is that really anything to brag about? Since when is a .943 OPS a bad thing? That's what he's done as a Cub, and it's definitely not something to complain about.

You need to do better at something so I'm not letting you practice it anymore. Maybe he is seeing a pattern of just "putting on a show" in BP instead of actually working on their games? Perhaps he is "taking away their fun" until they show they have come out of this slump in actualy game action? It almost like Lou saying: " No X-BOX or PS3 kids until your homework is done". Maybe he doesn't know what to do so he's trying something random. Not a real comforting thought, but that's what occurs to me. Yeah, taking away batting practice when the offense is slumping doesn't exactly sound like the greatest idea. If you don't like the approach your players have during batting practice, address the issue. Don't just take it away. To me, that's like saying, "Zambrano didn't throw strikes today, so I'm not going to let him warm up before his next start."

They've been playing the soundbite all morning on XM. Lou certainly didn't sound happy, but he wasn't exactly yelling and screaming. It was more of a matter-of-fact statement. After reading this thread, you'd have thought he was standing on the table, breathing fire.

Your right about that, and D Lee has been doing that all year. Most especially on the road. He has no plate discipline, and won't take a walk these days. Derrek Lee in 2008: 2 outs, RISP .259/.355/.296 (31 plate appearances) Late & Close .292/.365/.523 (74 PA) Tie Game .283/.355/.520 (141 PA) Within 1 Run .306/.380/.537 (245 PA) Within 2 Runs .308/.373/.533 (324 PA) Within 3 Runs .309/.371/.538 (362) Home .290/.340/.544 Away .311/.387/.451 I'm not claiming he's been a world-beater, but he hasn't been nearly as bad as either of you are making him out to be.

Your eyes have deceived you. Lee's average is higher this season with runners in scoring position than it is with the bases empty. He hasn't hit for much power with RISP, but to say he doesn't get hits in that situation is false.

Career .785 OPS. I think people expect too much out of him based on one great season. He's put up an OPS+ of 110 this year, which is about what you can expect from him.

Upton might not be hitting as well as last season, but he's still been productive. He has vastly improved his walk rate this season. Pena's overall numbers aren't all that impressive, but he's put up an OPS of .822 since the first week of May. That's not great, but did anyone really expect him to repeat his performance from last season? Torii Hunter is producing like Torii Hunter. He's pretty much at his career averages this season. You could make the same argument about Rollins, although it's easy to be disappointed about his power numbers this season after what he did in 2006 and 2007. As for Zimmerman, he's been playing with a tear in his shoulder this season. He's been disappointing, but it's most likely due to injury.

Gorzo: Too many innings last year. I think it was 40 more than the year before. And, all to get that magical 15th win on a losing team. Snell: nobody knows. Velocity is good. control is good. Seems to be all in his head. It'll be interesting to see what he does tonight. Control is good? 2007: 2.9 BB/9, 7.7 K/9 2008: 5.2 BB/9, 6.8 K/9 He's walking a lot more batters this year. Very true. But, the problem is not defined in the stats. The problem is he's afraid to throw his fastball. Thus, he's throwing more breaking stuff, or nibling on the plate more. Therefore walking more batters. It's not that he can't get his fastball over. He isn't throwing it as much. He's not challenging hitters. When he's aggressive, as he was all of last year, he throws strikes. Does this make sense? I understand what you're saying. It seems you're pointing more towards an issue with his confidence in his fastball. However, if he truly is using his secondary pitches more, then his command with them sucks. If that's the case, he's most likely falling behind hitters early with offspeed and breaking pitches and then having to come back with the fastball behind in the count. I'd be curious to see the percentage of fastballs thrown this year compared to last year as well as what he's starting hitters off with.

i too watch the games and think to myself what it would be like if he were playing CF hard to conceptualize, it's just such a maverick idea i wonder if any manager would ever try playing him there if only he had 265 games in CF to really know for sure Why did they put him in RF to begin with...? He started his career in the US as a right-fielder, most likely because they had Mike Cameron at the time, who was no slouch in CF. Not only that, but Ichiro's arm made him a good fit in RF. In late 2006, they moved Ichiro to CF, and he stayed there until about a month ago, when they started giving Reed more playing time. I don't think they view Ichiro as being bad in CF, but they probably want to give Reed one final chance to see if he can do anything at this level.

You won't hear me defend Joe Morgan much, but I've heard him speak very highly of Utley on multiple occasions. If he harbors any ill will towards Utley, he's done a good job hiding it.

Gorzo: Too many innings last year. I think it was 40 more than the year before. And, all to get that magical 15th win on a losing team. Snell: nobody knows. Velocity is good. control is good. Seems to be all in his head. It'll be interesting to see what he does tonight. Control is good? 2007: 2.9 BB/9, 7.7 K/9 2008: 5.2 BB/9, 6.8 K/9 He's walking a lot more batters this year.

I've heard the White Sox are interested. If they land him and Duchscherer can stay hot then watch out. I've got to think that landing Duchscherer would require a lot of talent at this point though. One thing to remember about Duchscherer is that he hasn't pitched 100 innings since 2003 and didn't even pitch 20 innings all of last season. You have to wonder if he's going to tire out soon. On top of that, opponents have a .208 BABIP against him this season.

Nope. Most pitchers probably don't hit enough batters for it to make that big of a difference. If you want to see how much of a difference it would make, take a look at Kerry Wood. He's at 1.007 for the season without HBP. With HBP, he's at 1.141. That's with six hit batsmen in 44.7 IP. Thanks grass because I was thinking of it with Wood in mind. Funny thing is that even if you include his HBP this season, his WHIP is still better than any other season in his career.

Nope. Most pitchers probably don't hit enough batters for it to make that big of a difference. If you want to see how much of a difference it would make, take a look at Kerry Wood. He's at 1.007 for the season without HBP. With HBP, he's at 1.141. That's with six hit batsmen in 44.7 IP.

False. As a sub, Ward has hit .250/.429/.438 in 42 plate appearances. As a starter, he's at .300/.300/.400 in 20 plate appearances. Small sample size, but you're looking at a difference of .166 in OPS. He hasn't done the greatest job as a pinch-hitter this season, but his overall numbers show that he's a decent option off the bench.

You keep saying this, but it absolutely ridiculous to blame Soriano for the Cubs postseason failures last season. It really is amazing how convinced you are that he is the sole reason the Cubs got swept by Arizona last season: Fifteen plate appearances in the playoffs last year do not define Soriano as a hitter. It's not his fault that Floyd & Murton combined to go 1-for-9 or that Ramirez went 0-for-12 or that Theriot posted a .558 OPS or that Lilly, Hill, and Marmol pitched like garbage in that series. Soriano certainly didn't help matters in that series, but the rest of the team failed, as well. Honestly, man, get over it.

And then the follow up is why were we doing a favor to the Reds organization? One little phrase to remember, "You scratch my back, and I will scratch your's." It's make dealing with a divisional rival go smoother, if you work out deals like this. Let's be thankful, that Josh Hamilton is not with the Red anymore, and smile. How did they scratch our backs? In the end, The Rangers get one of the best hitters in the game, The Reds get one of the best pitchers in the game, and we get what now? Granted, The Reds and Rangers still suck, but its the principle of the matter. First of all, the Cubs got cash out of the deal. Secondly, you do realize that teams do this all the time, right? There was no reason to deny this favor to the Reds, unless the Cubs were planning on using that Rule 5 pick themselves, which they obviously weren't. So if you can get anything for that pick, it just makes sense to do so. It's good business.

My guess is that any discussion of that nature takes place before the game. The manager should be going into the game knowing who is and is not available out of the bullpen.

I keep reading about going to the local bar for games I can't see at home. Am I missing something? Why does a bar get games that I don't? I believe businesses that allow their customers to watch pay a higher fee to be able to show just about any game. Basically, the business is profiting off of the viewers. I understand that they pay a higher fee, but by paying the higher fee they aren't subject to blackout rules? I don't believe so. They get an expanded package (that's what she said), which allows them to get just about any game. My guess is that the league gets a higher percentage of revenue from these subscriptions than they do from an individual subscribing to a sports package.

I keep reading about going to the local bar for games I can't see at home. Am I missing something? Why does a bar get games that I don't? I believe businesses that allow their customers to watch pay a higher fee to be able to show just about any game. Basically, the business is profiting off of the viewers.

Yes, but Fontenot would probably not put up those numbers as a starter. It always amuses me that NSBB favorites (i.e. Murton) are obviously impacted negatively by not playing better every day (and thus their numbers should be ignored), but players that are competing with NSBB (i.e. Fontenot with Cedeno) would obviously falter if given a chance to play everyday. Competing with NSBB? Seriously? I didn't know that a message board had waged battle with some players.

Wait, what? You realize those numbers aren't even close to each other, right? Yes, but that doesn't mean Hill is "better" per se, his ERA may be a hell of a lot "lower", and the WHIP are completely "different", but all things being "equal" they are the "same" and none is "better" than the "other". whoa...i am not one of the "Hill can do no wrong" folks on here, but holy crap man...i have seen hill on his game and it is nasty, marshall is good, but hill can and has been dominant... That's a very large sarchasm right there. sarchasm? whatever...i guess we are both still sleepy there's no "h" in sarcasm guys. nor is there a "e" in Lilly. :banghead:

Is that Aaron's brother?

There's been some nice finds, there. But it is a hit and miss list. Cabrera is a superstar among the Latin American guys, but the rest aren't anything exciting. Hit and miss? I see Cabrera and Wang? Am I missing somebody else that should be qualified under the hit category? Hong-Chih Kuo seems to be coming into his own, but certainly hasn't had the sustained success of Cabrera or Wang. BH Kim had a few good years, although he fell apart pretty fast after that.

Wait, what? You realize those numbers aren't even close to each other, right? Yes, but that doesn't mean Hill is "better" per se, his ERA may be a hell of a lot "lower", and the WHIP are completely "different", but all things being "equal" they are the "same" and none is "better" than the "other". whoa...i am not one of the "Hill can do no wrong" folks on here, but holy crap man...i have seen hill on his game and it is nasty, marshall is good, but hill can and has been dominant... That's a very large sarchasm right there. sarchasm? whatever...i guess we are both still sleepy See my sig for a definition.