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The fun with minor league baseball. Castro steals 2nd for Daytona and advances to 3rd on an error. That's not a huge deal...except the error was on the SS who threw the ball wildly back to the pitcher after the base was stolen.

Especially considering his roller coaster ride to get here the past few weeks. First hes flown to Chicago to learn that hes going back. Then He gets up and does OK for himself. Then in comes Freel, and its apparently the end of the line for him. Then down goes Ramirez and he stays some more. Seriosuly between Scales and Freel, they need to shop Miles. Why bother shopping him? We ate Vizcaino's contract, just DFA him and if no one takes eat his contract too It's a little different eating a contract that has money for next year in it. The Cubs already know their budget for 2009 when they cut Vizcaino so they know how that will affect it. They don't know how much wiggle room they will have for 2010. Plus, Vizcaino was a candidate to be cut from the time he put on a Cubs uniform. It's not like the Cubs really wanted him, which is different from the commitment they have shown to Miles.

Yes, if we know 1 thing about Lou, it's that he's patient. And besides, it wasn't even Soriano's performance that got him moved from CF. He seemed to be doing just fine there and the coaching staff was saying things to that effect (and btw, it lasted into the regular season, not just ST) and then he got hurt diving for a ball in the middle of April, and Lou suddenly decided while he was out for a few games that his bat was too valuable to risk his legs like that so he moved him to LF. So Soriano playing LF has nothing (or very little) to do with him not being able to handle CF and all about Lou's thought process that a corner OF is much less susceptible to injury than a CF. Oh, I forgot the other reason. Soriano had been originally offered to move to left by Lou not because he was struggling with the glove, but because he was slumping at the plate, and Lou thought he might be more comfortable at the plate if he didn't have to concentrate as much on his defense. Soriano had declined but then he got hurt the next day and Lou made the move anyway. Here's Lou's quote on that from the day of the injury:

Anybody who has been removed from the game can't come back in. Anybody who is new on the roster is eligible to play. If Dukes is on the DL, then they would just substitute anybody else on the 25 man roster the day the game is resumed that hasn't already been in the game.

He was actually smart and finished his schooling and has a degree in business from USC Yes, but clearly "rehabbing" is far more lucrative and less work than trying to make what he makes now in business. Yeah, it's pretty much a no brainer for him to choose rehab over selling insurance, especially in this job market. And it's obviously a much better option than coaching at a lower level. What's he going to be an assistant high school coach? Haha, right. Plus, though I'll admit I'm pretty ignorant on this, but what does it mean for him to be rehabbing? How much time does he really spend in the day doing anything but hanging out and watching television? Sure, you do your workouts and your strength exercises, but [expletive]. That beats a 9-to-5 every day of the week, especially for the ridiculous coin he is pulling in. It really depends on the injury. Some injuries the rehabbing experience is one of the most miserable there is. 8 hours a day pushing your body beyond what it feels like it can go. Other injuries require the rehab to be much less intense. I'm not sure in Prior's situation which one it would be, but I do know that rehabbing is not always a walk in the park.

That's because he hit another one earlier today.

Rice is very unlikely to help you guys. The Colts gave him a shot in 07 when Freeney went down and he got to play alongside Robert Mathis. He should have been a perfect fit for the system, but he was so incredibly slow at that point. The 1 sack he did get was complete luck and an extreme coverage sack to boot. The Colts were desperate for pass rushing the last half of 07 and they quickly cut him after that 1 sack game because he didn't have any athletic ability anymore. Now he's a year and a half older. It's no problem bringing him in, but he'll just be cut in training camp.

Harrison was playing pretty well in 07 in the first 3 games. The only reason he didn't have more stats is because the Colts were really spreading the ball around nicely in the beginning of that year. That injury against Denver on a freak play really killed his career. I'm not sure his knee was ever the same, and even if he was able to rehab it the timing loss of being off the football field for pretty much a year really hurt last year (Harrison got open several times last year on deep passes that Manning couldn't connect with..it almost felt like Harrison could still beat people but he couldn't run a consistent speed that Manning could hit in stride). It's a sad end to a career, but that sort of thing happens when you have a major injury at 35 years of age. He just got unlucky because he still had 3-4 productive years left. Howard Mudd is leaving? Because of a pension plan? That is just absolutely awful news. And Moore could have the same problem? Thanks NFL for potentially taking the two best coaches on the roster who are some of the best assistants in the league and showing them the door.

Ascanio gives up a single in the 5th but also strikes out the side. 9 K's on 76 pitches through 5. I have to keep reminding myself that he only just turned 24 and that he very well could be developing right now. The years he has controlled the walks he has been very good (especially at 22 in AA although that was as a reliever).

Vitters has really got the power going now. Another home run to add to his total, making him 3 for 4 for the day with a home run, a double, and a single.

It might have to do with the time he missed last week, plus he's only proved that he can play the field 3 days in a row as of today. They might be waiting to make sure he doesn't have a setback before moving him up.

Remember also that Lincecum is the type of guy who it is a little better to play small ball with. He doesn't allow very many home runs. The only thing he really does do is walk people. Stolen bases and walks both become much more important against him than a normal pitcher. So sending up a bunch of contact hitters and telling them to be very patient isn't a terrible strategy against him. For example, Gathright would have been productive yesterday even without the single in the first just because he made Lincecum throw 18 pitches in his 3 at-bats to him. It's still not as good as having your regular lineup in there. But that lineup is a lot closer in production to the regular lineup against Lincecum than they are against most starters.

You can find them on the expanded stats on ESPN's team pages. Here is the link for the Cubs in 2008: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/batting?team=chc&cat=pitchesPerPlateAppearance&season=2008&split=0&seasonType=2&type=exp Fukudome was at 4.29, Soto at 3.98, Lee at 3.95, and Soriano at 3.73.

I think that was a little different situation. Molina had hit what the umpire ruled a single. Molina was then replaced with a pinch-runner, and then the umpires went to replay the play and ruled it a homer instead. They refused to let Molina back into the game so the pinch-runner ended up scoring the run on the home run that Molina hit.

The hit and run forces hitters to make contact with bad pitches. The lead runner is never going at full speed on the hit and run (always has to slow down and look back) and any relatively well-hit ball to the left side should be able to get the lead runner. Lee's problem is that he always ends up pulling garbage on a hit and run right to the SS or the 3B to start the double play. He doesn't have the speed to make it a close play at 1B, either. A ground ball on a hit and run is very rarely turned into a DP. It's very difficult to pull off. Most of the time they won't even try to get the lead guy, they will just throw to first. Yeah. I'm not sure I've ever seen a grounder to 3rd be turned into a DP off a hit and run (I'm sure there have been a few). Grounders to SS are usually only even attempted if the fielder is either playing in slightly or if the ball is to his left. The same thing happens at 2nd..unless it is to his right and the ball leads the fielder right to the bag, there won't be a DP attempted.

80

Then its their fault. This is solely about today's game and thus belongs in today's game thread. If you choose to not read the game thread then so be it, but don't start a thread about something already being discussed in the game thread. This discussion has implications that go beyond today's game. It is a discussion on when and how you rest players. It's perfectly fine being discussed both here and the game thread.

This is the best type of day to have a lineup like this. Great pitcher on the mound, day game after night game, opponent that means less to you with a division opponent the next day. Not a huge fan of where Gathright is in the order, but other then that I'd rather have this lineup today than spread the off days out. With this lineup though, the main thing they need to do is to work Lincecum. Keep battling him and forcing him to throw lots of pitches and then get to their bullpen in the late innings and win a close game at the end with the help of their awesome bench today. I feel bad for the people who purchased tickets to this particular game hoping to see the stars, but I think this is a good long-term move for the team.

The Orioles have managed to make the decision that makes the least sense here. Want to give Pie a little more time? That's a reasonable option. Want to bring Reimold up and give him his shot? Also reasonable Want to forget all 3 of them and put Luke Scott back in LF? Ok. Giving Montanez more at-bats at this point probably really isn't the answer though.

Agreed. The only thing I'm worried about is the reports that he had sort of fringy stuff, but I can't remember if that was mostly speculation or scouting reports on him. They might have underestimated his sinker when looking at him though. I figured Colvin would go down with another injury (which I assume that tis is). He hasn't been the same player since he mysteriously left for a couple days a week or so ago. He was really struggling when he came back and my guess is that he has the same problem as he did before, although we still don't know what that was.

Searle with another very good outing today. 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 7 GO/3 FO His ERA is down to 1.88 after that performance.

From the Cubs.com article, Ramirez is out again today. They hope to start him tomorrow.

We had talked about the Theriot conundrum in the offseason. With the swing he showed in 08, he had no possibility of getting much slugging. He hit line drives either to straight right field or center. Those rarely stayed up in the air long enough to be able to split fielders. He occasionally hit grounders down the lines which is where a decently large percentage of his extra base hits came from last year. The question was if he could add power without hurting the other parts of his game too badly. His power in 06 and 07 was better, but he also wasn't as effective in 07 using that stroke. I think he can still hit more fly balls than last year and be effective. His worst ground ball/fly ball split has still been 1.59 in his career so he's still going to be primarily a ground ball/line drive hitter. I do not believe his power is an anomaly here (although the home run numbers are inflated..he probably would be very happy to finish between 5-10 home runs and he has 2 after just more than a month) but instead I've seen a completely different approach from Theriot this year. My concern is that his strikeouts are up and his walks are down. If those stay anywhere near where they are, he is going to have issues if his BABIP doesn't start to line up with his LD percentage. It looks like Theriot is swinging at pitches more often this year and is simply missing more pitches inside the strike zone, so his peripherals would indicate a continued decline in the walk rate due to his approach but I'm not sure if he will continue to miss pitches that are in the zone. This change in approach is risky but it probably was needed. Theriot needed some room for error and some room to avoid being unlucky with his BABIP like he was in 07. His power is still exceptionally poor and he cannot hit too many home runs even with hitting the ball as squarely as he can, but as long as his fly balls are hit squarely he should be all right even though it will likely result in more outs being made.

On a happier note, we got three guys who will probably never wear a major league uniform in exchange for DeRosa. Woohoo! Hey, I'll trade you these 3 pieces of chewed up bubblegum for 1 piece of unused bubblegum. It's 3 pieces. Not one, not two, but three pieces. You in? I still don't like the DeRosa trade one bit. But the thought that the three guys that were traded for him will likely never see the major leagues is not really right. One of them (Stevens) is pretty much a lock to reach the majors as a reliever. Another (Gaub) has a pretty good shot as another reliever, and the last (Archer) could either flame out completely or be better than the first two. Archer still also has the potential and the stuff to be a starter. The main problem is that you typically don't want to trade players for prospects who profile as relievers. But the first two guys are still decent prospects even with their low ceilings precisely because they are very likely to be able to contribute to the major league ballclub in the future. And Archer is the classic high ceiling prospect who nobody can hit but with the question of if he can hit the strike zone often enough.

Ramirez thinks he's just a couple days away from returning and the Cubs decide to send Scales back to Iowa (who was waiting in Chicago in case he needed to be activated): http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/1905#comments Although Lou has this to say: From Lou and Hendry's quotes, it looks like they aren't ready to give up on their original plan for the roster but they are much closer to making a change then they were before.