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Ding, you win I think it's in a little better shape than you are making it out to be. No...it's not. It's pathetic. Agreed. Seems terrible to me, position-player wise. All we have to show for ourselves at the moment are a couple of admittedly eager college prospects with pretty low ceilings and another "toolsy" CF who is, not suprisingly, floudering at the plate. Others we have recently tried out, such as Cedeno & Murton, seem to be close to tanking. And it's been this way for 20 years. I don't see how it could be classified as anything else other than bad. I look across the Illinois/Wisconsin border, and I see a farm system up there that makes us look like idiots. While I won't argue the Cubs have been better at developing players than the Brewers have (because I don't believe they have) looking at position players only obscures your point. In pitchers, the Cubs have a key advantage. Z, Hill and Marshall in the rotation plus Wuertz, Marmol, Ohman, and Gallagher/Petrick in the bullpen compared to Sheets and Gallardo for Milwaukee. That still doesn't make up for the Brewers advantage in position prospects, but it makes up ground (and a large part of the remaining difference has been problems with injuries for the Cubs-Patterson, Wood, Prior, and Guzman having major injuries really hurt the farm system record of success) I'd sacrifice a few of our arms for positional talent, becuase arms tend to have a much shorter shelf life even if they prove out at the majors, due to increased possibility for injury. A little balance would be nice rather than simply developing pitchers and being absolutely horrid at everything else. Also, you're painting a pretty rosy picture here. CPatt didn't pan out because of injury? You can't be serious. He didn't pan out because he's clueless at the plate and has one of the worst swings I've ever seen (developed by the Cubs). He would have failed regardless of his injury in '03 because his plate talents are far too low to succeed for more than a short stretch. Also let's not just talk about right now. Let's talk about the last 20 years or more. Since Grace, not 1 bona-fide talented hitter developed by the Cubs. Even Grace is arguable -- he probably benefitted from being a maverick and knowing when to ignore bad coaching than anything else. If we don't stop at Grace, then we're looking at a black-hole abyss of minor league development that probably goes all the way back to Santo. I don't think 20 years ago has much bearing on the discussion. Sure, it might be frustrating for Cubs fans who want to put a pattern together, but it's completely different management, different coaches, and different players. To evaluate the current version based on what past versions did is unfair. With that said, this current version better hope that some of their positional prospects work out soon. Out of Pie, Soto, Cedeno, and Colvin, two of them at least better be average major league players when all is said and done.

If Lou is wanting to keep Pie's confidence up like he claims, he's not going to throw him back into the lineup against a left-hander where Pie is going to have an almost certain 0-4. The only chance for Pie to start before the break is tomorrow.

The most highly optimistic view would be that the Cubs really do value Murton highly, and see them as part of their future, but sent him down for two reasons: 1 - to get consistent ABs, and 2 - to get himself comfortable in RF someplace other than in the bigleagues. Now whether that interpretation has any validity is anyone's guess. But just because a young guy gets sent down, and a lesser player assumes his spot on the big club, doesn't automatically mean that the team doesn't value that young guy. What does Murton need to work on? The idea that RF is *that* much different than left is balderdash. The difference is longer throws to third and a different POV on the game. Murton doesn't have a great arm so he seems more suited to LF. The problem is the Cubs think they need to get a run producer out there. Maybe they do, but they also need guys to get on base too. Although I don't think the Cubs will do it, Soriano seems much more suited for RF and Floyd/Murton seem better suited for LF. I guess they don't want to switch Soriano again. Which brings me to my last point, Murton doesn't really have that much trade value as a stand alone. He's not going to be an elite outfielder and most teams want power from the corners. A team like the A's, Boston, or San Deigo might value Murton's skills but they are not likely to want to give up much to get him. I think the Cubs will have to package Murton with some other talent to get any value for him at all. The fact that you're asking this suggests that maybe you didn't see him playing RF much for the Cubs. He was bad, and looked uncomfortable there. It seemed pretty clear early on that OTJ training with the big club wasn't the most prudent approach to acclimating Murton to RF. I'm sure your eyes never lie. The Murton in RF was different than him in LF. Unless you are willing to admit that Murton in LF would: repeatedly allow bloop hits that fell in front of him to bounce right past him (3 times) drop easy fly balls or popups (twice) throw the ball to nobody in particular (once) make crazy dives that allowed the ball to bounce past him (at least 3 times) Those were the types of mistakes Murton was not making in LF last year, and he did all that in a month in RF. Sure, he had only average range and average arm strength, but he played the ball well off the bat and tended to catch the things in his range while in LF. In RF, it was completely different. He was not taking proper angles to the ball, which was causing him to get there late and have him dive at a few balls, and also improper angles to bloops that allowed them to bounce past him for extra bases. He definitely could eliminate most of that through practice, but there was a definite difference in his defensive play in RF in late April-early June then his defensive play in LF that we've seen out of him the past couple years. Errors themselves do not tell all that much (most of what I've listed above ended up being labeled a misplay rather than an error), but I'll include this last note: Murton had 3 errors in 133 games in LF last year, and 0 in 9 games there this year. He had 3 errors in 24 games in RF this year.

Yup, and the hardest part (catching the other teams in the first place) the Cubs seem to be doing quickly right now. Only 4 games out of the lead, 2.5 out of 2nd, and 1 out of 3rd, and those numbers continue to drop. If the Cubs can win the Pittsburgh/Houston/Giants series coming up, then they could very easily be only 1-2 out of the lead when Arizona comes into town in a couple of weeks.

so is it still Lilly-Z on July 7/8? Yes, it is. Z will end up pitching back to back turns in the rotation on the last game before the break (the 8th) and the first game after the break (the 13th).

Dempster is coming back the game after the All-Star Break. Who is he going to replace? Here is what Lou has to say: So now we have a new date for this process-Lou wants a 12th pitcher by the end of the All-Star break. It says Lou will have to decide what to advise Hendry on as far as what position player that is going to be though as Lou does not know. Does this mean that Gallagher is going to stay up with the team, or are they going to call another reliever in his place? http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070705&content_id=2069124&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

So they like him, but they are afraid to use him back to back right now. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070705&content_id=2069124&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

The rotation after the break will be: Zambrano, Lilly, Marquis, Hill, Marshall http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070705&content_id=2069124&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

Since the start of the White Sox series, the Cubs have gained 4 games on the Cardinals. The Cubs have gone 11-2 The Cardinals have gone 7-6 I'm not too worried about them yet. They have gone 5-2 over their last 7, but I still think the Cubs are the better team and they play the Cardinals enough times to prove that on the field in the second half.

Well, looks like I was 1 run short on my brave prediction-oh well. Come on Howry-make these 4 runs hold up!

Marmol is not the closer-Howry is. Marmol will probably pitch the 8th though.

I know DeRosa is trying to take everybody's job, but he can let other people run too :D

He hasn't gone very deep in the game since coming back from the DL. He's still working his way back. I'd let Floyd hit, and then I'd probably PH for Jacque in this spot. Or you could pinch-hit DeRosa here and then pinch-hit Pagan for Jacque.

He was 2 for 5 in game 1 2-4 in game 2 1-4 in game 3

It's something with the Bergmann-Jones matchup. Jones has had 5 at-bats against him this year, and has 3 doubles and 2 balls that were drilled and caught against the wall with the wind blowing in.

Yeah-they said Rothschild, Hill, and another person or two had been going over a lot of tape between starts but nobody had found anything yet that would indicate he's tipping. It's also interesting to note that apparently Bowen couldn't tell him anything about how the Padres managed to figure him out either.

Well, in my defense, most of the people who started tonight also started against Bergmann in May and did well. Soriano was 2/4 with a double Ramirez was 1/3 with a double Floyd was 1/2 with a BB Jones was 1/3 with a double (and his two flyouts were to the wall-this was the day we thought Jones really was putting it together because he hit 3 balls really hard) Izturis was 1/3 with a double So I may turn out foolish tonight, but it's not out of the question for me to be right :D

I'll be brave and say the Cubs will score 5 tonight.

Lee, Derosa, Theriot, and Bowen are all RHers. Jones instead of Pie though....?!?! Lou said he was going to get Jones in pretty soon here. I guess he doesn't want to get Pie in there until after the break (he won't start Friday or Sunday).

This lineup is not good at all-one note of slight optimism: Jason Bergmann Against LHB: .222/.321/.422 Against RHB: .174/.232/.261 It doesn't make it all better (or probably even close), but at least it's not quite as bad as it appears at first glance.

That's the only thing that concerns me. I don't really care if they shuffle bullpen arms every 2 days-who is it really hurting? I hope this is the last time for Gallagher though before he is up for good. Find another long man that you can bring up during blowouts (or use Cotts when he comes back up from the DL-bringing him up and down won't make much difference to his development, and a long man is only mainly supposed to pitch in blowouts anyway).

Ding, you win I think it's in a little better shape than you are making it out to be. No...it's not. It's pathetic. Agreed. Seems terrible to me, position-player wise. All we have to show for ourselves at the moment are a couple of admittedly eager college prospects with pretty low ceilings and another "toolsy" CF who is, not suprisingly, floudering at the plate. Others we have recently tried out, such as Cedeno & Murton, seem to be close to tanking. And it's been this way for 20 years. I don't see how it could be classified as anything else other than bad. I look across the Illinois/Wisconsin border, and I see a farm system up there that makes us look like idiots. While I won't argue the Cubs have been better at developing players than the Brewers have (because I don't believe they have) looking at position players only obscures your point. In pitchers, the Cubs have a key advantage. Z, Hill and Marshall in the rotation plus Wuertz, Marmol, Ohman, and Gallagher/Petrick in the bullpen compared to Sheets and Gallardo for Milwaukee. That still doesn't make up for the Brewers advantage in position prospects, but it makes up ground (and a large part of the remaining difference has been problems with injuries for the Cubs-Patterson, Wood, Prior, and Guzman having major injuries really hurt the farm system record of success)

At least the Cubs have one good thing against LaRoche, the batter-pitcher matchups: Against Marquis-2/14, 1 HR-.143/.143/.357 Against Lilly-2/6, 1 2B, .333/.333/.500 Against Z-1/11, 3 BB, .091/.267/.091 So he's been terrible against both pitchers who ha has had more than 10 at-bats against, and he hasn't destroyed Lilly.

I guess they wanted a true long man for the next 3 games. Since Dempster is going to be back on Sunday anyway, Gallagher is just being brought up in case one of the starters bomb early.

Marshall for Escobar? Then bring up either Guzman or Gallagher to start? I think I would like that. I'd hope we could enlarge the deal a bit. Marshall + Izturis + cash for Escobar and Reyes or Ascanio. You think Izturis could pull in Ascanio or Reyes? I like both (especially Reyes) but I really doubt Izzy would pull either of them. I think that Vance believes that Marshall is worth more than Escobar. Izzy would be filler to give them a backup SS and then one of those two would make up for the difference in the quality of the centerpiece players.