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And why are we benching DeRosa tomorrow, who just had a day off on Thursday and has been quite hot the last 8 games he's started? Just trying to work Cedeno in there, and Theriot isnt going anywhere. Ronny had a great knock today. Should have been an extra baser. I'm just not prepared to give a guy off who's well rested and has hit over the past week: 28 AB's (.464/.516/.678) for a guy in Cedeno who is 3 for his last 18, no matter if he's been robbed a couple times or not. Now I might support moving DeRosa to first for a day, but there's no way I'd sit him. We'd normally be talking about how hot he was except for how unbelievably hot Soriano has been.

And why are we benching DeRosa tomorrow, who just had a day off on Thursday and has been quite hot the last 8 games he's started?

The scary thing is Wuertz will be unavilable, Marmol and Lieber uncertain, so the first lines of defense from the pen will be Fox and Howry. Did Neal Cotts hit on Lous daughter or something? Marmol and Lieber uncertain? They pitched 1 inning each and both had at least 2 off days before that inning. They'll each be ready to throw another inning, 2 if absolutely necessary. Wuertz will be gone, but he's the only one probably unavailable tomorrow.

Tough choice for Piniella now. He's already confined Marmol to the 9th inning today (which is the small mistake). Howry and Wood are both probably unavailable. Wuertz and Eyre have been used. That leaves Lieber and Fox to choose from here.

Nah, just in the wrong part of the order for today in that last inning. The 3-4-5 hitters are a combined 0-9. The other 5 position players are 8-11 with a BB.

In the 8th or 9th, I'd seriously think about dropping it. Not in the 5th though, where the threat of the big inning is much worse.

Wuertz has been very good lately (the last 5 innings he's given up 1 hit and no walks), and he's typically a high strikeout guy. I can understand wanting Marmol here, but I don't have much of a problem with Wuertz either.

My guess is that Wood is unavailable and Marmol is in the closer role today, but I haven't heard anything official on that.

Lineups Pittsburgh AB R H RBI BB K LOB Season Avg F. Sanchez 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .244 N. McLouth cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .303 J. Bay lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .271 A. LaRoche 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .191 X. Nady rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .323 D. Mientkiewicz 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .238 R. Paulino c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .225 B. Bixler ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .176 Z. Duke p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .118 Totals 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chi Cubs AB R H RBI BB K LOB Season Avg A. Soriano lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .265 R. Theriot ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .329 D. Lee 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .302 A. Ramirez 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .286 K. Fukudome rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .322 G. Soto c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .328 M. DeRosa 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .293 R. Johnson cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .258 C. Zambrano p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .286

So are we not supposed to not talk about any of the team's success because we are only in mid-May? I would say that a 5-1 record, sub 2.50 ERA and top 20 ranking in Ks is worthy of a little Demp recognition. Jason Marquis in 2007 after eighth start on May 14: 52 2/3 IP, 5-1 record, 2.22 ERA, 0.968 WHIP with opponents batting .183/.254/.251/.505. He finished with a 4.60 ERA, a 1.39 WHIP, with opponents batting /.256/.335/.409/.744. Which means after his start on May 14, in his final 25 starts and one relief appearance, he went 7-8 with a 5.50 ERA, a 1.55 WHIP and opponents batting .281/.362/.464/.826. So yeah, it's nice what he's done so far and I'm happy with his performance, but it doesn't mean that it will continue. Agreed, but even Marquis's final line was a lot better than most people (including me) expected out of Dempster this year. The fact that Dempster's gotten off to a good start gives him a lot of wiggle room for the rest of the season, just like it did for Marquis.

I don't think anybody's questioning if the Brewers should keep Braun or not. He's a very good player, and yes, I definitely wish I had his service time and that contract in LF over Soriano. This contract is just not necessarily a move that the Brewers needed to make quite yet though. They could have let Braun play for 500K this year, and given themselves a little bit more info on his potential career path, if it's going to be good, very good, or great. It's not like Braun leaves the Brewers tomorrow though if he didn't sign that contract. He wasn't going to hit free agency for 6 years.

I don't know who you're breaking it to, but I think just about everyone on this site would agree with you on that. It still doesn't mean there's really a place for Holliday though. Both Soriano and Fukudome are locked up into long-term contracts, and convincing Fukudome to move to CF permanently would be the only real way to find space for Holliday.

Ok, I'll be gone a decent amount tomorrow, so I'm going to put this in with spoiler tags for now so people can continue guessing if they want to. Thanks for the replies I've gotten so far:

I agree. He got ripped off. If he'd have waited for FA, he easily could have gotten $100 million over the 8 years. It has to be remembered that 3 of these 8 years are years in which the Brewers can pay him the minimum salary in baseball if they so desire (which goes up slightly with every year of experience). Then you have 3 more years in which open bidding can not drive your contract up, and your money is somewhat limited by a certain scale based on your performance. If Braun doesn't sign this deal, there's no way that he makes 100 million over the next 7+ years. He might have made 70-75 if he was really good, but that's kind of doubtful. He'll also be 32 when the contract ends and ready to sign his 100 million dollar deal then. Yup. This contract is perfect for Braun. He'll probably still be hitting pretty well when he becomes a free agent, signs a huge deal with somebody, and then they watch as he slowly declines on their dime (yes, I know, we have one of those). Having free agency before 32 is probably better for him than before 30 just because it will be easier for him to sign a deal that will pay him big money until he's close to 40.

Well, he did give you the walk you wanted :D. Unfortunately, I've noticed a really disturbing trend with Colvin that I hope when I finally break down and review all the game logs becomes just my perception and not reality. My perception though is that Colvin really is terrible in games he walks in. He either hits or he walks. He doesn't seem to be able to do both in the same game. I believe it was true last year (in the rare times he did walk, but of course he hit a lot more last year) and I'm almost certain it has been true this year. That is a very interesting perspective, and I would be very interested in hearing what your findings are if you look into it further. I do remember reading somewhere last year that some instructor in the system (don't remember who) said Colvin would never take many walks for a reason very similar to what you describe. Very preliminary findings. I took a quick look at the game logs for this year. Colvin is 4/26 with 1 2B in games he takes a walk in. Pretty awful, but I'm going to try to at least find the numbers for last year to get a better sample than 26 at-bats.

I really wish they'd report on why Samardzija's control has completely lost him. Is it because he's working on things, or has he lost the one thing he was ok at? It just doesn't make sense for a guy with a walk rate well below 4 in every year of his career to suddenly lose it and walk the world for several starts in a row. Something doesn't add up, and it has very little to do with his other question marks as a prospect. 5 walks and 5 hits given up by Shark in the first 3 innings tonight. Predictably, he's also given up 4 runs.

I thought it would be interesting to see how perceptions and reality conflict. I've found that this time of the season especially, perception can be an interesting contrast. So here's my challenge to you. Without looking, try to guess the Cubs NL ranks in certain categories. Remember, 16 NL teams. I'll post the answers later. Is it real, or is it not? A big thank you to whoever participates. I really do appreciate it. Offense: Runs per game OBP OPS Walks SB % Starting Pitching: ERA OBP Against OPS Against WHIP K rate Relief Pitching: ERA OBP Against OPS Against WHIP K rate

Womack Pierre Walker Ramirez Jones Cedeno Bynum Blanco Maddux 6-5 win. Pierre Theriot Jones Murton Mabry Blanco Moore Cedeno Marshall 14-6 win

I agree. He got ripped off. If he'd have waited for FA, he easily could have gotten $100 million over the 8 years. It has to be remembered that 3 of these 8 years are years in which the Brewers can pay him the minimum salary in baseball if they so desire (which goes up slightly with every year of experience). Then you have 3 more years in which open bidding can not drive your contract up, and your money is somewhat limited by a certain scale based on your performance. If Braun doesn't sign this deal, there's no way that he makes 100 million over the next 7+ years. He might have made 70-75 if he was really good, but that's kind of doubtful.

I thought he had a good chance of being terrible, I was very glad to be proven wrong. And yes, he could be terrible the rest of the season, but that would still likely mean he was average over the course of the season unless he truly blows up. He's also been a bit lucky about who he faces. He missed the Phillies and the Rockies. He's faced 3 teams (Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cincy) who are much better against left-handers than right-handers a total of 6 times, and he's also faced the Padres and Nationals. Cincy is the only team that should give Dempster trouble out of that group of 5 teams, and unsurprisingly they have in his 2 starts against him. The only really good offense so far this year against right-handers he's faced is Arizona, and even they are much better against left-handers. The teams we need Dempster to avoid facing are teams like the Braves, Marlins, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Phillies, Reds, and Rockies. The Braves and Marlins especially are prime candidates for the Cubs to throw all their left-handers against.

I am going to guess because the hitting coach normally isn't a topic of conversation unless the offense is sputtering, and then the conversation is when is the hitting coach going to be fired. I agree though that I love watching this Cubs offense, and Loue and Perry deserve credit for the turnaround. I don't know about that. The same logic should apply to the pitching coach, yet Rothschild is in the media much more. Maybe Perry just isn't a good interview or something like that. Kind of like Soriano, ever notice how Soto, Lee and others get interviewed alot but they never talk to Fonzie? Either they don't like interviewing him, or he's dumb as a box of rocks so they just leave him alone. It's not really either. It's mostly because he's really, really hard to understand, so that hurts his TV interviews quite a bit. I've seen quotes from him more in print, but I've noticed they're usually talking about him when that's the case, and tend to go to the 4 "spokesmen" of the team (Lee, Z, DeRosa, Theriot) when they have a team issue and are looking for a quote. As for Perry and Rothschild, part of that is just the nature of a hitting coach and pitching coach. Hitters tend to be viewed as going through slumps that they themselves have to work through, and pitchers have mechanical issues that you run to the pitching coach to get a quote from. Add to that Lou has been much more high-profile in working personally with certain hitters (Jones, Pie to name 2) while he knows much less about how to fix pitchers, and Perry can get lost in the shuffle sometimes.

The Brewers are saving 10-15 million on this deal....if he doesn't get hurt. While he was under team control, if he was hurt or started tanking, they could have gotten out from him and not have to paid nearly as much. That option has now disappeared. Now, they're saving 10-15 million if he's pretty good, and losing 20-35 million if he's not for some reason or another. It's still probably a pretty good deal, because Braun isn't that high of a risk. But it's certainly IMO not a steal.

Yup...and that would automatically disqualify him in the eyes of the Cubs organization, regardless of availability... I just LOVE our front office!! meh :cray: 2010:$21M, 2011:$23M, 2012:$21M, 2013:$21M, 2014:$21M That right there is what should automatically disqualify him. Yup, plus he had a .706 OPS last year, and has a .787 OPS so far this year. 4 of his last 5 seasons have been less than an .810 OPS. He's basically Soriano's contract without nearly as much productivity to back it up, even accounting for the positional difference. Simply a horrible option.

My guess is with everyone else that Blanco and Edmonds both get the start tomorrow, especially in the case of Edmonds because the Cubs will face 3 more lefties over the weekend. If Blanco does start, it will be interesting to see if Fukudome moves up to the 2 spot tomorrow, or if they save that for a day when the 8 spot is not full already. If they don't move Fukudome, then the logical place in the lineup for Edmonds would be 7th IMO giving you this: Soriano Theriot Lee Ramirez Fukduome DeRosa Edmonds Blanco Dempster Of course if Soto starts, Fukudome will go to 2nd, Theriot to 8th, and Edmonds to 5th. With Blanco the same thing might happen except Theriot would bat 7th, not 8th.

I wouldn't be against sitting him tomorrow. Soto, too. That would be an interesting lineup: Soriano Theriot Fukudome Ramirez Ward Edmonds DeRosa Blanco Dempster