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I think one thing Lou has shown is that he can read splits pretty well. Jones got a lot less time against left-handers than any year in his career, until the last couple weeks when the only other option (Pie) was worse than he was. Ward is the first pinch-hitter against right-handers and the last against left-handers. Lou stuck with his plan to only give Fox starts against left-handers because of his splits, while he gave Murton more starts against right-handers because his splits weren't nearly so extreme. Seeing all this, I don't see how Monroe starts against more than 2 right-handers this year. Lou attaches too much value into the splits to disregard Monroe's.

Well, from the column apparently the rest of MLB does not think Prior is worth 3-4 million. The only problem with the Cubs non-tendering Prior is that I'm not sure Prior wants to sign with the Cubs as a free agent to a lower deal (which is all he's going to get from anybody). There might be bad blood still between him and the organization.

Jock can't hit LHP can he? Monroe's good good power and splits vs. lefties. His splits against lefties in his career .277/.321/.501/.822 aren't anything special. He has only hit 2 hr's since the break. He's the right handed Jacque Jones. I just dont see the point of this trade. My comparison is based on what he brings to the table, which is the same as Jacque overall. Does anyone honestly think Lou will use a straight platoon? He hasn't all year, why would he start now? Lou has used a straight platoon at times this year. Jacque/Pagan for example in center was a great example of a straight platoon until Pagan went down. Murton/Floyd was somewhat of a straight platoon earlier in the year (Murton had some at-bats against right-handers as well).

When Lou simply yanked Fox last night without even a double switch, a move did seem somewhat imminent. I can't see Monroe getting much if any PT against right-handers. Soriano, Jones, and Floyd are all easily ahead of him, and Ward, Murton, and DeRosa might be ahead of him as well. Left-handers though are a different story, and that's where Monroe becomes valuable. It also adds a right-handed bat off of the bench, which is needed with both Ward and Pie on the bench most days and Jacque and Floyd some days (with none of the four being able to hit left-handed pitching).

Yesterday's doubleheader took the Rangers from their expected record being 2 games over their actual to 4 games over actual. Considering they only won the 2nd game by 2 runs, that 2 game difference was caused by the blowout.

I think great is probably out. He might be effective. If they tender him what will it cost the Cubs? I am guessing the payroll is getting pretty tight already and the need for another OFer is more important than a questionable starter/reliever. If they tender him, it will cost the cubs a mininum of 3 million (which is right about the maximum 20 percent drop), and possibly up to 4.

Exactly what I came here to ask. Jones and Floyd in the lineup against a tough lefty? The Fontenot came in 2/3 of the way through the game? Did Lou know something I didn't know? What was brutal is the Giants used lefties in relief too. Really showed in that Jones AB in the 10th. Brutal. Jones was embarassing yesterday. Floyd had the key hit so I don't see that argument at all. Sure in hindsight it worked, but statistically speaking, thats a curious decision to start those 2 against a lefty. Jones is going to start against every left-hander right now considering the alternative is Pie, who is even worse against lefties. He's out of the discussion, so the only really curious move was starting Floyd.

Exactly what I came here to ask. Jones and Floyd in the lineup against a tough lefty? The Fontenot came in 2/3 of the way through the game? Did Lou know something I didn't know? What was brutal is the Giants used lefties in relief too. Really showed in that Jones AB in the 10th. Brutal. I still don't quite agree with the decision, but it was a left-hander that is tougher on right-handers then left-handers. Also, Fontenot came in as a replacment for Fox because Fox had just batted (the fact that he simply yanked Fox in the middle of the game is bad news for Fox), and Lou wanted to save Murton for the pitcher's spot which was due up 3rd the next inning. So that's the rationale for those moves, although I would have still started Murton over Floyd (I'd try to let Murton work his way out of his big slump right now). Those 3 went 1-7 with a double and a walk, which is similar to what everyone else did last night.

He unfortunately probably will. If it makes you feel any better, Ramirez got the day off the last time Cain started against the Cubs and they still beat him up. Lee was also gone because of the suspension. Floyd, Jones, DeRosa, and Koyie Hill were the 4 big offensive bats that day.

Isn't DeRosa in RF? I don't understand why you wouldn't put Pie in CF and move Jacque to LF. Well you traditionally put your 2nd best range guy in RF, and that's definitely Jacque. Maybe Lou doesn't want to change the angle all 3 OFers see the ball. That or he's lazy and wants the least amount of changes possible. I'm really not sure if they think DeRosa is comfortable in left. They haven't put him there once this year, and there have been several times where it seemed like DeRosa was the most likely candidate to go out there and instead he was put in right and the right fielder switched to left. As for Jacque, I want no part of him in left field. The Cubs tried that for a couple games earlier this year, and he was having a terrible time reading the angles off of the bat, and he also let a couple balls bounce past him because of not positioning himself correctly to catch it on the bounce (the best example of this was in the 14th inning of the Padres game early this year where he let a ball bounce in front of him and then right past him). It was pretty obvious he has not seen much time in LF, as those were not usual mistakes that he made in RF. So my guess is that the Cubs feel that DeRosa can only play right, and Jacque can only play center or right, so that left Pie as strangely the only OF left to play left. In pretty much every other game, they have put Pie in center and switched Jacque over to right, so DeRosa being there was probably the reason why they changed that tonight.

My guess is it will be Dempster if they take the lead, and Marmol will pitch another inning if they are tied.

Pie is in a bit of quandry when it comes to PT. He would get some PT against right-handers, but the Cubs have a million guys to hit against RH's (Jones, Floyd, Ward, and Murton are all ahead of Pie). Against left-handers, the Cubs have a shortage of OF's, but Pie is the absolute worst Cubs OF against left-handed starters, so he's not likely to play there either. That's actually why Pie went down the first time and Pagan came up-there simply isn't that much room for Pie to play right now considering his skill set and the skill sets of those who he'd be replacing. Pagan at least was able to slightly fill the hole against left-handers. Pie will likely still be the starter next year, but he will continue to have a hard time finding time right now.

Well, Theriot has already clinched this with his 7 pitches at least :D

What an ignorant post. Murton has put up a .820 OPS the month of August, and you dont get that by just hitting 2 solo shots. Murton has actually been propped up bigtime with his 3 HR's in August 55 AB's, .273/.333/.473, 3 HR, 2 2B Now that's just fine-HR's are a great way to prop up numbers because there is less luck involved. Really though, with such a small sample of at-bats, 2-3 home runs can mean the difference between being good and being awful. For example, Murton without those 3 HR's: 52 AB's, .231/.298/.269 So yes, the only thing Murton has done this month is those 3 HR's, but HR's are such a big scoring play that those are enough to make him have a good month so far anyway. So taking out HRs makes a guy's numbers look bad??? Weird. I think it's his 3 outs that are dragging down his numbers. Let's magically transform his numbers to this instead. 288/351/500 Fun!! The way people talk about Cliff Floyd around here you'd think he was Jesus Christ. That was fun too! Did you read my full post? I said that while that the original poster said was technically correct (that all Murton had done was hit a few home runs and has done little else) that was still valuable with the number of at-bats he has had. I was defending Murton with that post, not bashing him.

What an ignorant post. Murton has put up a .820 OPS the month of August, and you dont get that by just hitting 2 solo shots. Everytime I see him he gets an an out. .820?? I find it hard to believe.. I think it's all the Murton love that has lead me to hate the guy You're probably remembering his recent slump and projecting it on to the earlier games. He is 4 for his last 29, but he was hot before that.

What an ignorant post. Murton has put up a .820 OPS the month of August, and you dont get that by just hitting 2 solo shots. Murton has actually been propped up bigtime with his 3 HR's in August 55 AB's, .273/.333/.473, 3 HR, 2 2B Now that's just fine-HR's are a great way to prop up numbers because there is less luck involved. Really though, with such a small sample of at-bats, 2-3 home runs can mean the difference between being good and being awful. For example, Murton without those 3 HR's: 52 AB's, .231/.298/.269 So yes, the only thing Murton has done this month is those 3 HR's, but HR's are such a big scoring play that those are enough to make him have a good month so far anyway.

News outlets were reporting today that Soriano wants to come back now, but the Cubs will probably hold him back until Labor Day (September 3rd). I've also heard a September 1st timetable.

I think they were 4 out of 5 with RISP last night. Thanks. Also, what happened on that triple the Giants had to the RF corner later in the game? My view of the corner was blocked, but I saw some people over there, and the ump giving a safe signal made it seem like the Cubs were looking for a ground-rule double for some reason. What was the deal over there? From what I heard on the radio, the ball rolled under the bench in the bullpen, and the Cubs thought that was a ground rule double but it apparently was in play.

I think they were 4 out of 5 with RISP last night.

I think what Warren is trying to say is that Murton has already been decided as the OF against left-handers. The question becomes-who do you play against right-handers, Murton or Floyd? The best way to figure that out is to look against their splits against right-handers. How they hit against left-handers isn't really relevant to the discussion, so there's no reason to look at their total numbers when deciding who to play against RHP. They've been identical against right-handers the last two years combined, so putting Floyd in against right-handers is not going to give you any different results then Murton. At the same time, being that the results are identical, Murton is younger, faster, and every at-bat he goes up there gives the Cubs a better picture of what to do with him in the next few years. Therefore he should be given the at-bats even if the only expectation is that he'll continue to be about the same to what Floyd would do. So I understand Warren's point, but I believe that the Cubs should give the at-bats to Murton unless Floyd has proven to be significantly better against right-handers, and he has not done that this year.

The Cubs have some run producers in the middle. If Murton is significantly better without runners on than with, that doesn't mean he needs to be taken out of the lineup. He just needs to moved to a spot in the lineup that will allow him to thrive (1st, 2nd, or 8th would be the 3 best spots for that). Plus there simply isn't enough data to make a definitive conclusion for his career, although the split is large enough that it will be hard to make up anytime soon.

I'd be curious to see what those number look like over the course of his (brief) career. I think we all know that "clutch hitting" seems to fluctuate from year to year usually ending up about the same as the player's over all numbers. I can't give you his RBI percentage, but here goes: 2005 Overall: 140 AB's, .321/.386/.521 Nobody on: 85 AB's, .388/.447/.682 Runners on: 55 AB's, .218/.297/.273 RISP: 32 AB's, .188/.317/.250 2006 Overall: 455 AB's, .297/.365/.444 Nobody on: 264 AB's, .318/.371/.485 Runners on: 191 AB's, .267/.357/.387 RISP: 127 AB's, .299/.389/.417 2007 Overall: 178 AB's, .253/.328/.371 Nobody on: 107 AB's, .271/.339/.411 Runners on: 71 AB's, .225/.313/.310 RISP: 45 AB's, .200/.294/.289 Career Overall: 773 AB's, .291/.360/.441 Nobody on: 456 AB's, .320/.378/.504 Runners on: 317 AB's, .249/.337/.350 RISP: 204 AB's, .260/.357/.363 RISP/2 outs: 97 AB's, .247/.336/.320 I was a little surprised by these numbers. I expected to find that Murton went back and forth like most players. With only 773 AB's in his career, he still has time to do that. However, at this point in his career he has been significantly better with nobody on the base than with runners on base. It shows up every year, and that's why there is over a 150 point difference between his career numbers with nobody on and with RISP, and almost a 200 point difference between nobody on and runners on.

Actually, it wasn't. I'm pretty sure after Piggy's 1 pitch outing on Saturday Eyre said that he had an outing where he threw exactly 0 pitches. He came in, picked the guy off of second to end the inning, and then his team hit a home run to win the game the next inning.

Peyton's not the 2nd best fantasy value-Steven Jackson is. As much as I like Peyton, he really can't be considered that much until at least pick 5 or below.

Actually nothing like Bo Hart. Bo Hart saw more than twice as many AB's in his fluke season - Theriot's #s last year could be attributed to a small sample size. Also, Bo Hart's #'s the following year were not even in the same ballpark as Theriot has been this year. To be fair, yes Bo Hart's at-bats were twice as much as Theriot's last year, but they weren't nearly as good. He had a .277/.317/.395 line for the season in 2003-he was good for a month or two, but then he was awful after that. Also, the next year, Hart only had 13 AB's in the major leagues. Now there is one thing to consider-getting lucky with Hart for a month or two was big for the Cardinals because it helped them remain in contention in 2003 until late September. For the Cubs, Theriot's huge first 130 at-bats came at a time when they were hopelessly out of the race.