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Is this coming as a surprise to anyone? That freaking team could sign Neifi Perez and Jose Macias and drag 100 OPS+ seasons out of both of them, complete with gold gloves. No they couldn't, and Ankiel isn't that big of surprise because we've known all along he could hit. His batting average in the major leagues right now is 28 points better than his OBP in the minors. Everybody knew that he could hit home runs (although 1 every 10 at-bats like he is doing right now is ridiculous) but everyone thought that at least his OBP would be under .300 in the majors (it was .314 in the minors). Instead, his OBP is around .390.

A pretty nice mostly fluff article on Soto here-here's a couple quotes: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070906&content_id=2192781&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

That's the thing. We have Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, DeRosa. At the other 4 spots we have Pie, Murton, Theriot, and Soto being possible cheap everyday options. Which one do you upgrade, and which 3 do you say are your starters for the next couple years?

No he doesnt suck, he can hit, but he shouldnt be starting I agree. He is starting because we don't have Aram in the lineup today. There are better options Ward's easily the best offensive player the Cubs have to play RF. There is no one else even close. Murtons 2nd half disagrees CCP. And hes a career PH for a reason, the guy cant field, cant run. Murton's 2nd half: .295/.353/.526 Ward's 2nd half: .368/.442/.684 It's not like Murton's the best fielder or baserunner either. When Ramirez is out, the Cubs have to put their best pure hitters at the plate in order to try to generate some offense, and that's Ward.

No he doesnt suck, he can hit, but he shouldnt be starting I agree. He is starting because we don't have Aram in the lineup today. There are better options Ward's easily the best offensive player the Cubs have to play RF. There is no one else even close.

Hopefully it's just a rest for Ramirez to get him ready for the stretch run. Considering that, not a bad lineup overall-taking Ramirez out really necessitates putting Ward in RF for his offense.

True, although Marquis has been pretty good at the sinker this year (1.59 G/F ratio, 26th out of 152 NL pitchers with 80 innings)-sorry about the strange cutoff, I was just trying to get most of the relievers out quickly. He's certainly not a complete sinkerballer like Lowe is though. I'm hoping Marquis can break his pattern today. He has been alternating good and bad outings since the All Star Break, and he's due for a bad one. Let's hope he can break that string. Marquis's sinker was good the first few months but it's been attrocious lately (just ask Ping Hitter who'll complain about its location). He has been leaving more sinkers up in the zone, but that hasn't been reflected in his ground ball/fly ball ratio. Here are his last 8 starts: 9/5 9/5 10/5 11/4 7/8 13/3 8/5 9/6 Total: 78/41, or a 1.90 G/F ratio. So he's doing something to get a lot of ground balls the last month or so, if that's his sinker or something else.

Here's some info about TN: Good for Ceda especially. I really hope he can get in a couple games in relief. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070905&content_id=2191442&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

Their offense more than makes up for the pitching difference, IMO. They've been losing games on the road because that's what young teams do. Once they figure out how to win on the road, they're a 95 win ballclub despite pitching issues, which will likely mitigate themselves as Sheets comes back and a few of their younger guys get more experience. The difference in offense is so completely overwhelming it's ridiculous. That difference in offense has translated into 48 runs over the course of the season. The Brewers are 5th in the NL in runs while the Cubs are 8th. The Brewers are an easily better offensive team, but they are no juggernaut on offense. They've had their stretches where they have struggled offensively as well (for example, in August the Cubs as well documented were 15th in the NL in runs/game. The Brewers were 14th. In July, the Cubs were 8th in runs/game while the Brewers were 12th.) So basically, while the Cubs have been being called out for their lack of offense the last couple months especially (which is completely justified), the Brewers have scored a total of 13 more runs since July 1st. They've hit a lot more home runs, but they haven't scored a lot more than the Cubs. As far as pure talent, the Cubs have better talent on offense then they've shown, and the Brewers have better talent in their pitching staff then they've shown. I think the Cubs have a slight edge thanks to their bullpen and defense, but the difference is not very large.

True, although Marquis has been pretty good at the sinker this year (1.59 G/F ratio, 26th out of 152 NL pitchers with 80 innings)-sorry about the strange cutoff, I was just trying to get most of the relievers out quickly. He's certainly not a complete sinkerballer like Lowe is though. I'm hoping Marquis can break his pattern today. He has been alternating good and bad outings since the All Star Break, and he's due for a bad one. Let's hope he can break that string.

I'd like to see Soto again today...The Dodgers have the two speedsters at the top of the lineup that Kendall has no chance of throwing out, Kendall's still a little tender anyway, and Soto had a good night with the bat last night...no reason to rush him back out there..save him for tomorro when he makes a triumphant return to Pittsburgh and goes 4-4. With 3 catchers on the roster, I doubt they'll typically play any catcher in a night game and then a day game the next day. It will probably be Kendall or Blanco today.

Theriot has been a slightly below average shortstop this year. Out of 26 qualified SS's in the majors: 13th in BA 13th in OBP 18th in SLG 18th in OPS 5th in SB So he has been an average OBP, below average slugging, above average stolen bases. Add in average defense, and you have a slightly below average player. He's not a pressing concern to replace, because he is cheap and good shortstops are hard to come by. The Cubs shouldn't hesitate to replace him if a better option comes along though. I also don't want to see any option where he might be a starter at 2nd base because his numbers would be terrible there.

I doubt it. Lou probably just wanted to tack on, and Pie against a left-hander is not the best way to do that, and since he still had Jones on to play defense he pinch-hit to try to put the game away.

Hopefully Pie. Need better outfield defense. Either of them would improve the outfield defense. Monroe is an upgrade over Murton in right, and Jones is an upgrade over Monroe in center. But, now they've just come back, and Lou left him in.

I wouldn't be shocked to see them pinch-hit for Murton here with Jones or Pie.

DeRosa with a very good series. Hopefully he's coming back to have a good September after struggling for most of the second half.

So tired you felt it needed posted it 3 times huh lol 4 Actually it was 5, the same post appeared a couple pages back as well. Probably just a computer problem-it happens sometimes. There you go Monroe! We need you here Soto.

A caught stealing? Monday. Unless you count the pickoff yesterday (which is officially a CS) then it was yesterday.

I have no idea why people would try a delayed steal against the Cubs. That's 2 that have been thrown out in the last few days against the Cubs doing that. If they just try a straight steal, he's probably safe easily running off Lilly.

I hope Cedeno goes 2-3 with a HR and a walk each day and starts a lot more down the stretch. Even if he did that the next two days, I couldn't assume that it would continue for the rest of the month. Cedeno has much more upside, but he also has a lot more downside than Theriot. I have no confidence whatsoever that Cedeno could outperform Theriot down the stretch, even though Theriot has been pretty terrible the last month. I also think they are at least equal defensively at the moment until Cedeno can show he can keep the throwing errors down, which he didn't last year and he couldn't at Iowa this year either (15 errors in 75 games at Iowa). Now Cedeno gets to balls that Theriot cannot as well, so it's hard to say how those two factors balance.

Hopefully the Soriano-Monroe-Murton thing stays against left-handers, so I am desperately hoping that Monroe looks decent in CF tonight. I also like to see Soto get mixed in-while I don't necessarily need for him to get many starts here down the stretch, 3-5 would be nice and would help Kendall rest a little more for possible playoffs. I hope today and tomorrow are the last days that Cedeno starts for the rest of the year. That's my guess to what will happen with Lou giving Theriot 2 days off in a row.

How high will he be ranked on prospect lists? A supplemental pick that has a 1.062 OPS in Boise as a catcher has to be put pretty high, doesn't he? The Donaldson pick was compensation for losing Pierre. Finally, the Cubs got some good value out of that Pierre trade. :D

Look at the schedule coming up for all 3 teams. It was pretty easy to predict that the Brewers and Cardinals would make up ground this week, and by the same token the Cubs should have the advantage for the last couple weeks of the season.

Maybe like Raisin said it's just because he is coming out of the bullpen, but I did not know that Hart threw a 95 mile per hour fastball.

That's a typical Trachsel outing right there. 6 innings of a decent outing. He typically can never shut down a team, nor does he blow up very often. BTW, for those that like the QS stat (which is mixed on this board), That's 5 in a row for Trachsel and he would have 7 in a row except he went 5 2/3 in one game.