wastra

Part of the reason we suck is that our previous GM changed his entire roster strategy every off season. One year it was athletes, then it was pop, then it was "guys who can catch the ball," then it was "left handers regardless of whether they can catch the ball," and then it was "live arms," etc. It setup a roster that made no cohesive sense, which magnifies the shortcomings of those who struggle and fails to properly maximise the potential of anyone on the roster. Contrary to the tenets of Jim Hendryism, the roster must be built with a philosophy in mind, not a perennial parade of "find any decent player for spot B." If defense is the philosophy, you cant trot Soriano out there and make him a huge chunk of your payroll, or commit to Castro at SS from day 1. If power is your philosophy, you don't sign Fukudome. If it's pitching, you don't sign retread after retread near the end of their careers and hope they have a rebound year. If it's guys who get on base, you don't go after guys who swing at every pitch (Soriano) If you're looking ot build a good "team," you don't sign a Milton Bradley. Any of these philosophies might have merit to some degree, as well as any dozen other roster-building philosophies. Some obviously make more sense than others. But you can't constantly jump around from one idea to the other and expect a miracle to take place and suddenly have guys you signed for their power become great defensive players and fit in with a roster like that. And it only takes one bad apple to ruin a clubhouse atmosphere, so you can't complain too much about the "chemistry" when you're the GM who signed both Zambrano and Bradley. the only pseudo-philosophy I could find with hendry was "athletes," or "toolsy" guys, which is more suited to scouting (and not necessarily the right approach there) than roster-building. I would argue that while some philosophies make more sense to me than others, inconsistancy is far worse than choosing the wrong philosophy. I think we got both with the old regime. Does Fielder fit with Theo's philosophy? Maybe. I guess we'll see. He seems like the "type" of player theo likes to have on paper, though maybe not at his price tag.

I know it's consiered "bad form" to call out your teammates, and I know that outbursts like this aren't exactly uncommon from Zambrano. But he's right. This is not a good team, and the ijuries have made it worse, but there really can't be any question that there are a lot of players on this roster who, even with all that in mind, aren't pulling their weight. If it takes publicly embarassing them to make them focus and perform they way they're paid, then so be it. Zambrano, despite his chidlishness in some ways, he put a lot of work into beign a btter pitcher this year. He's pitchedsmartly, been in shape, and been largely successful. The effort is undeniable. With all the hemming and hawing, apologizing, rationalizing, and excusing we hear every time someone puts a microphone in front of players, managers, or front office people, it's no wonder that there never appears to be any sense of urgency with this team. It's no wonder there seems to be such a lack of focus or intensity. There's a difference between "just not hitting well" for a period, or just not having the command on a given night and not focusing and making mental mistakes. Servign up a homer to Pujols is excusable. He's among the best hitters ever to play the game. Him being able to hit yoru pitches is unavoidable. Choosing to pitch to him at all in that situation is not excusable. That's an error that could have and should have been avoided. Having Theriot hit your best pitch is an excusable error. He's a major leaguer who can put bat on the ball. throwing that instead of a fastball when you know he doesn't hit the fastball well is not excusable. That's somethign you completely have under your control and can avoid easily. And that's the story of this team this year. Injuries have hurt, but even with them, the players underachieve. I'm kind of glad someone is saying it.

Was Reuben Quevedo 'ruined' by Dusty or Baylor? Maybe he should be in the support group, I can't remember...

We're ALWAYS using a hodge-podge of backup infielders at 3rd base. Ramirez is ALWAYS hurt. Why would we blame jarmillo when teh Cubs hitters are basically doign the same thign they always do? Ramirez is always hurt. Lee always starts out hitting like a parapalegic slug. Fukudome always slumps miserably for a month at a time. Soriano always sucks it up for two weeks before hitting a 1 week streak, then sucks again. The problem isn't how the guys are coached...the problem is the guys. They're always wildly inconsistant from month-to-month every year. Why we keep expectign anything different form this core is beyond me.

I've already pretty much given up on this season, it's been beyond frustrating. Jim Hendry is the absolute king of doing the same thing year-in and year-out and expecting different results. How many times does Ramirez have to spend a 3 weeks on the DL before we realize he's not reliable? How many times does D.Lee have to stink it up for the first two months of the season before we realize his end-of-the-season numbers were accumulated after we were out of the race? How long do we go with a patchwork bullpen? But, hey! Howry was a failure last time he was here, I'm sure it'll be different this time. And I bet THIS is finally the year Zambrano puts it all together. The only people on this team I'm particularly interested in seeing back for the second half are Castro, Colvin, Cashner, and...umm...yeah. Byrd would be fine, but I don't particularly care either way. This team has to start over. Hendry HAS to realize the core of this team is just flawed. It's just NOT VERY GOOD. He's got to find a way to change the core of the team...NOT the reclamation guys on one-year deals.

I really don't think Calipari has any knowledge of Bledsoe's issues. I doubt he had any knowledge of Campby or Rose either- at least, no more knowledge than most people had. But by the same token, it's not just "dumb luck" that things like this follow him. Calipari recruits kids who other folks are afraid to touch for LOTS of reasons. he takes chances on kids who other schools are willing to take risks on. Most of them pan out perfectly. Once in a while, they don't (2- now maybe 3- recruits out of 18 seasons' worth of basketball). . So while I think it's clear why he and his staff haven't been implicated in these problems, it IS their fault that they keep following him because he CHOOSES to recruit kids with all sorts of shady characters hanging all over them and all sorts of rumor and innuendo following them. By the way- he didn't leave UMass on probation...UMass was never found guilty of or charged with a single NCAA violation.

Okay...maybe, just MAYBE, it's time for Tyler to start playing more, Lou.

Were it not for Theriot's .872 ASR, he wouldn't be worth much at all, would he? (asr = "Adjusted Scrappiness Rating")

Well...when guys liek Andres Blanco, Bobby Scales, and Aaron Miles get significant at bats over the course of a month or so on a team that thinks it's a contender, you're edging dangerously close to Neifi/Macias territory. This team is just flawed from a roster standpoint. Too many guys past their prime. Too many guys with injury concerns. Too many guys kept aroudn as "defensive" backups with very little history of being able to cut it at the plate. What that leads to is a bad offense when one or two of your guys are injured or slumping because there's no one to pick up the slack. What we have now is the double whammy of injury PLUS slumping with guys who really aren't even good minor league hitters trying to take up the slack for that. Our minor league position players are lacking, to say the least. the only one we had who was really an offensive threat is defensively abysmal (Fox). the others are not even prospects- they're career minor leaguers who were cast-offs from other teams. Jim Hendry has proven time and again he cannot build a roster. Short of just dumping money at the biggest name free agents, he has very little insight into the number behind players. He's STILL too concerned with "versatility" even when that means guys can play multiple positions poorly. he's STILL too concerned with what hand a guy signs his autograph with regardless of whether there are just better hitters who use the other hand. he's STILL too concerned about "tools" guys instead of consistant producers. he's far too enamoured of "what they did last year" as well, completely unable to spot career abnormalities. And without Aramis, he's put together a lineup that is bereft of any serious power. There are a lot of guys with "live bats," but no actual major power threats on the roster. I'm not going to be over-awed by the homerun, but when your roster is all line-drives and singles, it requires MULTIPLE people in the lineup to produce in the same inning to score a run. So to rally from 1 or 2 down, we're generally going to need more 3-4 hit innings than if we had 1 or 2 guys who could more consistantly put us on the board with one swing. And really no one on our roster is likely to hit for a really high average, either. there are a lot of guys who should, in normal seasons, hit that .270-.295 range, but few of them would normally have a high OBP to go with that average. In other words, we have a lineup of good, but not 'great' hitters. That might work in a crappy division, but the Central has some players now, and "good" doesn't cut it.

I'm a big fan of small ball & sacrifices in general, but it generally is a better idea when your team is a high contact team, especially with RISP, that actually more often than not cashes in on a man on second with one out. Statistics show that you have a better chance of scoring with a man on first and 0 outs than a man on 2nd with 1 out. Really? I'm interested to see those statistics. http://www.tangotiger.net/RE9902.html A little dated, but still works... Ummm...just out of curiosity...doesn't that probability of scoring runs with a man on first and no outs also include instances where the runner is then sacrificed to second? I mean, that table is runs scored through the end of the inning, not on that at bat, so those probabilities can't be compared because they don't isolate innings where the leadoff hitter reaches first but ISN'T sacrified.

Actually, it appears that there is very little wrong with the Memphis program at all. The worst of the problems are with the women's golf coach. With men's basketball, Rose may have had his brothr take the SAT for him in Chicago, before he committed to Memphis. Memphis wouldn't have anythign to do with it, and the NCAA clearinghouse verified the score, so there likely wouldn't be any real "punishment" of the program (and they've already said Calipari had nothing to do with it regardless) except to declare Rose ineligible after the fact, worst case scenario. That would vacate the 07-08 season, but wouldn't have any restrictions placed on the program, and wouldn't constitute a violation on Memphis' part. The guy who flew on the charter plane actually got a bill from Memphis for the travel, according to the memphis consitution, and the NCAA found out about it because they saw Memphis' follow-up letters asking for payment, which again appears to be no issue other than the guy not paying all of his bills(he paid for other trips with the team). Not that it's okay for a kid to have someone else take his SAT, but it's not a Memphis Basketball Program issue- it's a Derrick Rose issue. Now the women's golf coach...that lady is screwed.

I blame Hendry for being a sucker for scouting reports and not "understanding" the statistics that can either support or discount those reports. It's what makes him a slave to "recent performance" without the ability to predict a "return to normal" performance with any accuracy. Dempster/Miles are good examples...a good season amidst a lot of mediocre ones combined with scouts who love their Stuff/tools convinces him they've just "found it" instead of "had career years that they won't repeat."

it sure makes the idea of ncaa basketball being for "student-athletes" seem pretty comical. but we pretty much knew that already. If coaches can jump schools without punishment, why shouldn't the athletes who made their college choice assumedly in large part due to the coach be able to make the jump too? From what I've heard, Kentucky will have to give several players the boot if they're going to get Calipari's Memphis recruits because they only have 1 scholarship available for next year. That will be an interesting situation if they do it. I'd love to hear the PR spin put on that one, assuming nobody leaves of their own free will or academic issues. As it stands, Kentucky has 13 scholarship players committed for next year. It's likely that the point guard- Michael Porter- is leaving. He's not destined for a pro career, and graduates after this season (aftrer 3 years), and jsut had his first kid. He had already hinted at that. Beyond that, there ahve been rumors of academic issues with DeAndre Liggins and recently Matt Pilgrim (recent transfer from Hampton who sat out this year). Also, it's hard to iamgine a guy as imobile as Josh Harrelson sticking around to play in Calipari's offense. So there are definitely several possibilities, and it would be surprising if at least one or two guys didn't transfer anyway after the coach left, and it's still POSSIBLE that Patrick Patterson and/or Jodie Meeks leaves for the pros. They also already had oen kid, Donald Williams, who Gillispie took at the last moment this year with the public udnerstanding that it was for one year only...if he wanted to stay past his freshman year, he had to walk-on, so that 13 number includes him transfering or walking on, plus Jon Hood and Daniel Orton...UK's existing incoming freshmen who have signed and not asked for a release.

It's silly to try to pin blame on Hendry or Piniella and excuse the other. Hendry is the general manager, Piniella is a manager. They work together. they come up with a plan for the on-field product together, and it's hendry's job to find a way to make it work financially, in terms of numbers, and still consider the rest of the organization. In terms of roster management, this duo has issues. .

Given his history, Jason Marquis isn't a lock to be better than (or as effective as) Jason Marquis was last year.

Part of this is also likely being done for Pie's sake, not just the cubs. I know we like to think of the roster as an inanimate object of stats and names, but the Cubs are an organization..a business like any other. As such, they have to think about how they treat players- you don't want to get a reputation of an organization that will stunt the development of young players beause it's good for the team. You'd never get young players to come to the team. We're not likely to use pie this year, even if he made the roster. that means not only will we get nothign from him, but he won't get the at bats he needs to maybe- just maybe- develop into a serviceable baseball player. The risk here is very small, at this point, that he develops into anything more than a backup. So let him go find someplace that could use him. it's best for both parties to part ways at this juncture.

Meh. Looks like Hendry just wanted an experienced CFer in the minors as a backup to Fuku/Johnson/Gathwright since Pie is unlikely to make the major league roster, and thus will be out of the organization. Gawd only knows why Hendry was desperate for a THIRD backup CFer. We're loading up on sucky center fielders with speed, though. We've got that market cornered.

I'm not saying he IS worse, I'm saying there's a legit chance he won't be as good as kerry was last year. Marmol was really not godo with RISP last year, which is a situation clsoers find themselves in pretty often (wood didn't exactly shine in that situation either). He wasn't particularly great in the "late innings of close games" stat from MLB.com if you buy intot hat (not sure I do). The main point is that the pressure on a setup guy is far different from the pressure of closing. Some guys have no issue with it, some guys crack under the pressure. A young pitcher in his first season as the full-time closer- it's not unreasonable to expect some dropoff from his previous season's metrics.

Our bullpen could be anywhere from solid to attrocious. Changes: Closer: Marmol < Wood Setup: Vizcaino = Howry Gregg < Marmol and if Marshall is in the rotation, we have only Neil Cotts from the left side. Good lord we need Gaudin to be healthy and effective. Hendry has taken a HUGE risk with the way the pen is shaping up.

Maybe we'll use him for batting practice, then, so we stop getting beat by soft-tossing no-names. (more of a problem in previous years than this past one).

I don't think Theriot is a particularly great player, but if he's among the weakest links in your otherwise potent lineup, with a solib OBP and non-disasterous defense at short, I'm not going to complain too loudly. He's not a huge plus, but he gets on base often enough to make him valuable if used correctly- if only because he doesn't kill you and allows you to spend more freely elsewhere.

I actually lived in Hyderabad, India for over a year. While I was there, I ran into more than 1 American businessman looking to make inroads with baseball into the society. But what is more likely- and what I was seeing right before i left india, was a movement to "baseball-ize" professional cricket there. Currently, there are few full-time "leagues" as there are here in America with MLB, just a national association repsonsible for organizing the Indian National team for international competition. Lately, there has been a push for full-time professional leagues where stats are tracked and available on the internet setup more similar to a professional sports league in america with permanent teams and ongoing seasons rather than just regional teams trying to get its players qualified for the national team. Right now, there is no real effective centralized crickett organization to keep track of or organize anything. I would be surprised, based on casual conversations I had there with interested persons, if ESPN doesn't have a hand (i.e. takes on the job of organizing it themselves for ESPN Asia) in developing a full-scale franchised Major League Crickett organization across EurAsia through the south pacific in the next decade. There's too much interest and too much money to be made for them to leave it as decentralized and unorganized as it is. It's going to need financing first, however...lots of it. the more organizaed crickett becomes, the easier it will be for baseball, with its obvious similarities, to make a deep impression there.

Theriot with a very gritty steal of second.

Fukudome catches Clement's drive against the wall and almost doubles up Wilkerson at first. that ball was apparently tagged.

Contron grounds into 5-4 fielder's choice. 1 on, 2 out K.Hill up Hill fleis out to center. no score.