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While I'm not a fan of using just batting average to show it, I have to agree with the thought that Bradley's numbers (before yesterday's homerun) didn't show any indication of turning anything around from June to July. Yes, his OPS was 40 points better and his OBP was around 70 points better. His production had certainly improved from June to July. However, that increase lied in a completely unsustainable walk rate and one that was mostly based upon luck. Normally, when a player improves his walk rate it is a function of 1 of 2 things. 1) The player changes his approach to be more patient. or 2) The player has become a bigger power threat and teams pitch around them. Bradley, however, both in observation and statistics already had a very patient approach. His ISOD was over .1, which is as close to as high as you can reasonably expect from all but the biggest power hitters. However, the increase in his OPS from July was caused by an ISOD of around .2 even with poor power production. When you are only a decent threat for power and pitchers are throwing that many pitches outside the zone, it's luck. The most patient approach in the world can't sustain walking that much. So while Bradley had better production in July, his projection for August would be no higher than his production in June because his walk rate would very likely fall right back to a normal number. That means he hadn't really done anything to turn it around so far in July that would actually cause a change in his future projections. However, his home run yesterday also increased his ISOP from last month, which is something that is much more sustainable for Bradley. That's where his improvement is going to have to come if he's going to have a more normal .850-.900 OPS (along with a higher batting average that will raise his OBP and SLG).

Marmol's numbers in July: 12 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 6 BB, 17 K Nice to see him come back. Still a high walk rate but Marmol is always going to have a high walk rate..as long as it wasn't a batter an inning like it was the first 3 months combined he'll be really good.

Nope. Not until Ryan is ready at the very least and probably not after that (and that's assuming Ryan is ever ready which is questionable in itself). Hart will remain in the rotation and Dempster will essentially just replace Lilly when he comes off the DL next week.

Berg is already on the 40 man roster so he has already used his option for this year. If Parker had been put on the 40 man roster, he would have used his first option when he was sent down in two weeks. If they wait until September or later to add him, he'll still have all 3 options next year.

Depends on what you mean by "better" More impressive achievement is how they were discussing. But I can't think of a definition that would make me think Kerry pitched a better game that day than Buehrle did yesterday If Wise drops the ball in the 9th inning and the batter gets a double/triple, does that change anything in your thinking? Or what if Orie fields the ball for Wood? Wood shouldn't be punished because his fielder didn't make the play and Buehrle's fielder did, especially when Buehrle made his fielders make a lot more plays than Wood did.

There have been many comments (both here and on Bruce's blog lately for example) that they are happy that Theriot is going to right most of the time again and isn't focused on both pulling the ball and driving the ball. Should we lump those two together though? Has Theriot really turned into the player that went to right first and center second? Here are his July hits: July 1st: Theriot singled to right center, Theriot singled to left center July 2nd: Theriot singled to left, Theriot singled to left July 3rd: Theriot singled to left, Theriot singled to second base July 5th: Theriot singled to right center, Theriot singled to left center July 6th: Theriot singled to SS July 7th: Theriot doubled to right July 8th: Theriot singled to left, Theriot singled to center July 10th: Theriot singled to center, Theriot singled to right July 11th: Theriot singled to left, Theriot singled to SS July 12th: Theriot doubled to left, Theriot doubled to right, Theriot singled to right July 16th: Theriot doubled to deep left July 18th: Theriot tripled to deep right center July 19th: Theriot singled to left July 20th: Theriot singled to center July 21st: Theriot singled to right July 22nd: Theriot bunt single to 3rd, Theriot singled to left, Theriot singled to SS 27 hits in the month broken down this way: 7 singles to left 3 singles to SS 3 singles to center 3 singles to right 2 singles to left center 2 singles to right center 2 doubles to right 1 single to 2nd 1 bunt single to 3rd 1 triple to deep right center 1 double to deep left 1 double to left Has Theriot become more like the 2008 version? Of course. He has a better walk rate and a better strikeout rate this month. 3 of his extra base hits were line drives down the line. He's only had 2 balls that fell in for hits that were driven past the OF's. It's obvious that the uppercut part of the swing is gone. He is nothing like last year's version though in the fact that he still prefers to pull the ball. He is using all fields with a definite preference for going to left. But without the uppercut, he's been able to get good results with the line drives. This is how the power surge has done a lot of good for Theriot. He is much harder to defend now that he is consistently using all fields. And his ISOP from this month is still about 30 points higher than last year because he is willing to drive the ball occasionally. So Theriot is not focusing on driving the ball anymore. But he is still pulling the ball quite a bit and going to right field IMO hasn't been the primary cause of the change this month like many people are intimating.

I'm not up on all the rules, but I think I remember reading somewhere that MLB clubs are allowed to have their position players play in 10 minor league games before they need to be activated. I would imagine Miles is close to that number. I also think David Patton will be activated after he max's out his number of minor league appearances (I really thought they would try to hide him on the DL until September). I thought the rule was something like 10 games until the player can demand to be called up. So, if you have an agreement in place you can go longer. But maybe I'm wrong. I think pitchers can stay longer. If it is 10 games they could pitch Patton every 5 days and call him up in Sept. regarding Miles, how much ML service time does he have? Couldn't the Cubs option him to AAA (assuming he cleared waivers LOL)? I don't believe he has enough big league time to ask for his release. Miles has just enough service time to where he could ask for his release.

Jay Jackson would take issue with that. Cashner is a better prospect than Vitters. I wouldn't say so yet, but I think he's closer to Vitters than he is to anyone behind him. I definitely think there's an argument to be made there..I'd just like to see a few more longer outings from Cashner before I feel good enough about his starting abilities to push him to the level of Vitters.

Ramirez is also in that lineup batting 4th. Fox should have gotten in the game somewhere last night. Moyer, other than being left-handed, is exactly the type of pitcher that Fox would have a lot of trouble with, so I'm not surprised they wouldn't want to play him today.

Am I the only person that thinks our farm has taken some big steps forward this year, and could actually be average by league standards next year? No, you are most definitely not. The article is right-for one reason or another, the drafts of 2003-2006 were really bad. That has left a void in the high minors right now which causes the bad rankings and lack of possible trades (not much MLB ready talent). 2007-2008 was much better (2009 doesn't really have any sample yet) which is going to flip the rankings around once again as they are getting to the high levels of the minors. The international signings have also helped and we haven't even felt the full impact of that yet. Rhee and Lee have been noticed while Ha and Jung haven't been yet because while high schoolers drafted high typically get a grace year in the prospect rankings before they start sliding international prospects especially from Asia have to prove themselves first since so little is known about them. This year many of our interesting prospects have taken big steps forward, especially at pitching and SS.

I had a feeling Lou might go for the combination of defense from Johnson and gamble on the fact that Johnson has absolutely destroyed Blanton in a tiny sample of at-bats: 5 for 10, 2 2B's, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 K, .500/.545/1.000

So a couple years of not giving out new deals means' he's done? He still gave a $10m contract to Samardzija who's being used out of the pen, he traded for a "proven closer" just before the end of his arbitration years and could very easily feel the need to extend. He let Kerry Wood walk due to injuries and the fear of future injuries. But there's plenty of examples of him handing out big money deals to free agent relievers to justify including them into the potential future payroll. The Samardzija comment is irrelevant to the discussion. They didn't give him 10 million dollars to be a reliever just like they didn't give Ryan Harvey over a million to never make it past AA. They so far have somewhat whiffed on his starting development so they are trying to get value from him where they can. Gregg is the one reliever that I'm worried that he'll extend due to Marmol's struggles this year so that the Cubs will have a good closing candidate. I do think it's reasonable to consider that a possibility, especially if Gregg has a good second half and is willing to sign for something like 7 or 8 per. But I'm not worried about him signing relievers from other teams to multi-year deals. It doesn't fit into how the Cubs have treated relievers the last couple years (which has continued to get more and more home grown as time goes on) and it doesn't fit that he's stockpiled the minors with good relief candidates. I don't think Hendry will see the bullpen as a problem when he has so many options in Iowa and Tennessee and already has a young mostly home grown bullpen in the major leagues. I'm hoping he'll take that same look at the starting rotation. IMO, the Cubs should not sign anybody for the starting rotation in the next 3 1/2 years. That includes not re-signing either Harden or Lilly. If they do that, the Cubs will have plenty of money for both the offense and 1 bullpen arm. But I have no idea how Hendry is going to treat his pitching depth down in the minors. It's something he hasn't had in several years if ever.

The contracts won't really be a hindrance after, probably, 2011. In 2012, we only have $54 million committed and will likely have a payroll of $130+ million (luxury tax won't kick in that season until $170 million, though, so we could be higher than we are now). That's assuming the Cubs stop giving out big contracts. Soriano's contract is going to be a hindrance regardless of what everybody else's situation is. However, just because Ramirez and Lee may be gone by then, they might by then have resigned Lilly to another deal. It's possible Hendry will have committed to a 30-something Theriot before he reaches full free agency. You also will have Soto in his later arbitration years, plus a need to fill both CF and RF by then. If Ramirez and Lee are both gone they will likely have spent big on at least one of those positions, and then there's the bullpen, where Hendry has showed over and over he's more than happy to hand out 3 year multi million dollar deals. The fact that the Cubs "only" have $54 million commited (really a ridiculous amount of just about any team) doesn't mean payroll issues cease to be an issue in 2011. What he's saying is that the Cubs will have the flexibility to make moves to rebuild the team. Yes, Soriano's contract will be a hindrance. The only other contract that looks somewhat likely to be a hindrance is Bradley's though, and that is only for two more years. Sure Hendry could make bad moves to replace the players that will be leaving or re-sign people to bad deals. That is always an option. But the current contracts will not be a huge factor in precluding the Cubs from competing in 2012 and beyond. It's the moves that Hendry does over the next 2 1/2 years that will determine that. To say that the current contracts are going to hurt the Cubs significantly in the long-term (3-5 years) is not right because most of the contracts don't run that long, and most of the contracts that do run that long are assigned to players who will earn most of that money (with the big exception of Soriano). And Hendry hasn't given out a big multi-year deal to a reliever in the past 3 offseasons and actually refused the last potential one. The Cubs have 0 relievers right now on multi-year deals. That's not exactly a sign of a GM who loves to give out contracts like that.

Let's raise our expectations a tad, shall we? I'm calling 2 of 3 from the Phils I don't think it's unreasonable to expect just one from this series. The Phillies have won 8 in a row, 12 out of their last 13, and are playing in their home ballpark. I'd expect them to take two out of three against any team in the league right now. If the Cubs can take two I'd be very happy, but I don't think only taking one says anything poorly about the team in this case. Getting swept however would be a disappointment and would be giving back the unexpected extra win the team picked up against the Nationals.

Its not what I expect from Gregg - I would just like to have a dominating closer. Fewer walks and fewer flyballs would be a good start. He reminds me too much of Bob Howry. The Cubs don't have a guy like that now. Gregg is who they have, and he is getting the job done. Try to project out a little bit. Gregg is a 3 run jack in the playoffs just waiting to happen. He'll get owned by the better hitters in the NL, in a playoff situation, with a ton of pressure brought to bear. People are rightfully worried about his abilities. Gregg has shown most of the year that it's not really the quality of hitters that is a big deal to him. He's gone through lots of quality hitters just fine in his dominant stretch. When he blows up (like he has a couple of times this year) just about anybody can hit him hard. Gregg doesn't look like he has great stuff, but the results and the good strikeout numbers say otherwise. And he's not a control pitcher (like Howry was for so many years) to where he hits precise spots to be successful, so he has to have good stuff to get the results he does.

Who's left? Samardzija is all I can think of. Is Stevens still here? He is since he's the guy who will likely go down tomorrow for Hart (although with the bullpen tired from the last two nights, they might send down Fuld instead). Those are the two remaining. Samardzija needs to not pitch tonight since he's the only guy who can really go multiple innings tomorrow if need be with Hart on the mound. With Gregg likely unavailable either way tomorrow, might as well pitch him for the 9th.

This bullpen has put together the most dominating 2 months out of a bullpen that I think I have ever seen out of a Cubs team. They have simply been brilliant since late May. Tonight hasn't been their best night though. Hopefully Gregg can somehow get out of this one.

It probably wasn't Theriot on that play..the contact play looked on there. Theriot broke immediately.

Oops..posted in the wrong thread before. Carpenter is now through 5. A little control problems (3 walks and a HBP) but still pretty dominant: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 9 K It's been a weird game in Daytona. Carpenter has hit 1, and the opposing pitcher (who isn't terrible with his control) has hit 5 batters including Chirinos all 3 times he has come to the plate so far.

That post was made before Vance's post. And please bring it up privately to a moderator if you feel somebody else should be banned please.

Basically, these are players who did not enter themselves into the regular draft, and then found out they were ineligble for playing in college next year for one reason or another and so decided to turn pro. In Jarmon's case, he tested positive for a supplement and was ineligible for his senior year, which is why he came out now, but it wasn't in time for the regular draft.

Two, apparently. And there's also the possibility of moving Chad Fox to the 60-day DL. Ahhh, Chad Fox. I almost blocked him out of memory. Forget the 60 day, he could just be dropped. No one else is going to claim him. No one. But since we have two slots open already, it's a moot point. Moving him to the 60 day is much preferable to dropping him. As long as Fox stays on the DL, that means the Cubs have a playoff roster exemption with him. Basically, it means the Cubs can replace him with anybody on the 40 man roster when it comes time for the playoff roster. So if a pitcher or hitter comes up as a September callup and has a big month, that means the Cubs have the flexibility to add them to the playoff roster as a replacement for the "injured" Chad Fox. Without any DL'd players, any player who was not on the 25 man roster on August 31st would be ineligible for the playoffs. Fox is serving an important role with this team as long as he doesn't come back.

Thanks UM. It's certainly not easy. The relievers especially feel wrong, although there's one or two numbers in the starters that are surprising as well. If you just asked what were the best 2 bullpens out of those 5 teams, I doubt you would get those two as answers together more than 2-3% of the time.

I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I know some people like trying it so I thought I'd throw one of these up here. The Cubs have had a lot of good pitchers come through Chicago the past few years. The question is..going by ERA, rank the 5 Cubs starting rotations of possible playoff teams (2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009) and the 5 Cubs bullpens of those same years. If you would like some more info to help you out, I'm including in spoilers the average ERA for each year in the National League. Answers to come later. I would definitely be impressed with anybody who could get either list of 5 right without looking.

Either that or Lilly wanted to throw a side session in between starts (which would have been the All-Star game if he had pitched) and since he would have only thrown that side session yesterday he can't pitch tonight. Nobody else is on correct rest so that forces the Cubs to pitch Harden.