CubColtPacer

I haven't seen anything about that (cubs.com shows a 41-man 40-man roster at the moment). My guess is Wood to the 60-day DL. You are correct: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070515&content_id=1966470&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

There's one pitcher listed in the Baseball Encyclopedia that has switch-pitched-his name was Tony Mullane. I know that there were high school pitchers who did it about 20 years ago, but I'm not sure if they made it to college and did it there or not.

10 days later here are the updated totals-this continues to be a strange team Offense Cubs are 6th in runs/game Cubs are 4th in OBP Cubs are 6th in SLG Cubs are 6th in OPS Cubs are 9th in HR Cubs are 13th in BB/game 2nd in BA The offense needs to improve in home runs and walks. The team has slowly been catching up to the pack in walks/game-they are getting very close to passing 3 to 4 teams to get into the middle of the pack in that category, which would be acceptable to me with what should be a high SLG/high BA team. The Cubs current walk pace would be the highest total since the 2002 team. The HR's they should be top 5 in-they can move up a couple spots, but getting into top 5 means that they are going to have to start hitting them on a much more consistent basis. Right now they are on pace for 144 home runs-which is very low for the lineup they have. Pitching 5th in ERA 3rd in BAA 8th in walks/game allowed 2nd in strikeouts/game 2nd in OBP against 4th in SLG against 4th in OPS against 10th in least HR allowed 2nd in WHIP 5th in starter ERA 6th in reliever ERA The high number of HR's is the most glaring stat, espeically since that isn't even a rate stat and the Cubs have played less games than most teams in the NL. The walk rate is the next most glaring stat, but it also is much improved from previous years and it is in the top half of the league.

I'd didn't include organizations that win close to 100 games and make the playoffs each year. It's clearly stupid to include division winners and WS contenders year in and year out with the likes of the Cubs. The Cubs were not about in the middle of the pack. The finished LAST and spent the MOST to do so. Why do you continue defend the Cubs at every turn. I'm not defending the Cubs completely. They are one of the more inefficient big market teams, and it's something that they have to get better at if they want to compete year in and year out. I just happen to not think they are the worst organization. This is the part of your post I was debating: I agree with you on 2006-other than the Yankees, I'm pretty sure the Cubs were the most inefficient money/win, and the Yankees went to the playoffs so the Cubs obviously did a worse job. 2005 is a different story though. Some of the names on my list were not division winners or anything like that in 2005. The Mets spent 101 million to win 83 games. The Giants paid 90 million to win 75. The Mariners spent 87 million to win 69 games that year. The Cubs were not the most inefficient team in 2005 like you claimed they were. You also suggested that the Cubs would most likely be last in dollars per win if you look at the past 3 years. Just looking at my suggested team, the Mariners says that is not true. The Mariners spent 257.2 million to pick up 210 wins over those 3 seasons-that's 1.22 million per win. The Cubs spent 272.5 million over those 3 seasons and won 234 games for an average of 1.16 million per win. I'm sure if I took the time to look at the numbers I could maybe find 1 or 2 others. Yes, the Cubs have been very inefficient, just not to the extent that you said. There can really only be a comparison anyway to the big market teams-obviously a team with a 40-50 million dollar payroll is going to have a better efficiency ratio than a team with a 100 million dollar payroll (the threshold is so much lower-a 50 million dollar team winning 60 games (an awful season) would have to be matched by a 100 million dollar team winning 120 games, which has obviously never been done before). Throwing out the Yankees (who are in a class by themselves) there are so many teams to compare the Cubs to. Of those, the Cubs are closer to the inefficient side then the efficient side, but they are not the worst. It may be semantics, but that's really all I'm claiming. Edit: And after all this time, I finally realized what you meant-you were comparing the Cubs in 2006 to the Mariners in 2006. I am really, really sorry for the confusion, but I think my point about the Mariners overall stands. They have had a high payroll and been absolutely terrible the last few years. I am going to keep the post here, because I worked a while on it, and it still has a little bit of info in it. Again though, I'm sorry for misunderstanding you-it was my fault completely, and I can't believe I did that.

Lou does not trust the bullpen. :lol: You'd think carrying all these damned extra relievers would give him a few more he'd be comfortable with. The team dropped down to 11 today-that probably is in the back of his mind. Z needs to come out-now.

Z is throwing more strikes tonight than he has in most of his starts: 42 pitches through 3, 30 strikes and 12 balls.

According to Bruce (in the transactions thread), Cherry got optioned to Iowa to make room for Fontenot-apparently DeRosa didn't need to go on the DL after all.

what do the Arizona Cardinals have to do with anything? I thought he was talking about the Clippers. I don't know about other sports, but to me the Cubs are the clear favorite for worst run organizations in baseball. They're efficency is mind bogglingly bad. And they keep having the same problems over and over and over. The one constant is Hendry. He needs to be gone as soon as the ink is dry on the new owners mortage note. It just goes to show us that working hard is much less important than working smart and having a good strategy. I would say the Mariners are worse run then the Cubs. They have about the same payroll as the Cubs. Their 5 million or more players are Sexon with 14 million, Beltre 11.5 million, Ichiro 11.5 million, Washburn 9.85 million, Weaver 8.9 million, Vidro 7.5 million, Guillen 7.25 million, Johjima 5.65 million, Batista 5.5 million. Who among those players is a true impact player? To me, they are in worse shape and have been run worse than the Cubs have-they haven't even had that much of a problem with injuries the past couple years, and yet they still are mediocre at best (Felix is hurt, but that could be partially their fault). http://www.onestopbaseball.com/TeamPayroll.asp Cubs win. 94 million (66-96) Last place 1.4 million/win 87 million (78-84) Last place 1.15 million/win I'd venture to guess that the Cubs are worst on 3year averages too. Either way it's not good company in which to do business. It will be interesting to see if it gets any better this year. We are almost certain to win more games than in 2006, but how many more would we have to win to improve the ratio given how much we've spent. The payroll figures only have the Cubs at 6 million more than last year. By the way, I don't know why CubinNY had the Cubs as last in money per win in 2005. The Yankees spent 2.192 million per win that year. Boston spent 1.30 million per win. The Mets spent 1.22 million per win. The Dodgers spent 1.16 million per win. The Mariners spent 1.27 million per win. The Giants spent 1.20 million per win. Out of all the big market teams, the Cubs were about middle of the pack in efficiency that season, so I don't know how they can be seen as last for 2005. http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/a-look-inside-the-2006-open-day-payrolls/

The Cubs were 4-5 in games that Pie started. I'm not sure about games he appeared in, but that would be a pretty flawed stat-Pie for half the time he was here was primarily used as a defensive replacement, and a defensive replacement comes in when the team is leading late-it would stand to reason that the games he came in under that scenario would be games the team would normally win.

what do the Arizona Cardinals have to do with anything? I thought he was talking about the Clippers. I don't know about other sports, but to me the Cubs are the clear favorite for worst run organizations in baseball. They're efficency is mind bogglingly bad. And they keep having the same problems over and over and over. The one constant is Hendry. He needs to be gone as soon as the ink is dry on the new owners mortage note. It just goes to show us that working hard is much less important than working smart and having a good strategy. I would say the Mariners are worse run then the Cubs. They have about the same payroll as the Cubs. Their 5 million or more players are Sexon with 14 million, Beltre 11.5 million, Ichiro 11.5 million, Washburn 9.85 million, Weaver 8.9 million, Vidro 7.5 million, Guillen 7.25 million, Johjima 5.65 million, Batista 5.5 million. Who among those players is a true impact player? To me, they are in worse shape and have been run worse than the Cubs have-they haven't even had that much of a problem with injuries the past couple years, and yet they still are mediocre at best (Felix is hurt, but that could be partially their fault).

I'm not satisfied with the current MI depth, even if I do like the three guys you mention. They should never stop looking for a guy who can be an everyday impact middle infielder, especially at shortstop, where they have the least depth. I think a team with the three guys you mention handling 2B and utility roles, with a legit SS could be something special. imo theriot is a legit ss. even if they do trade jones for rodriguez , i dont see any reason not to use a middle if of theriot, fontenot & epat. If the team plans to go without Barrett next year, one of the middle IF positions will have to be upgraded with an impact bat. EPatt is the only one that could be that, and the chances of him being that in his first year is questionable.

I'm pretty sure the rumor wasn't the clubs talking before, but rather simply speculation on a trade that would work for both teams. Here is the link where we saw it before: http://ussmariner.com/2007/05/08/three-trades-that-should-happen-tomorrow/ The fact that the clubs are actually discussing it is quite a big step-thanks hoops for the scoop.

I missed it to somewhere-what happened to Ceda?

My guess is that Fontenot will mostly rot while he's up here. I'm not too concerned about that, because that's not really hurting his development. He may get a start or two, but with Theriot and Izturis both playing well at the moment they are going to get most to all of the starts. Being the only backup at 2nd, SS, or 3B as well, Fontenot won't get as many chances for PH either, as Lou will want to save him as long as he can in games just in case.

If they leave Soriano at leadoff (which Lou said they will when Lee comes back) then it's better to have Theriot in the 2 spot then Murton, and Murton in a middle of the order spot (5/6/7). Why? The same reason that people want to move Soriano down in the order-they have similar OBP potential right now but Murton has a lot more power potential. That is better utilized in having more opportunities to drive runners in at 5 or 6 than at 2. Also, while Lou is better at this than some managers, he still likes to use his 2 hitter sometimes to go up there to make productive outs. I'd rather use the weaker bat of Theriot in those situations rather than the better bat of Murton's. Finally, and this is a very small reason and doesn't factor in much, but Theriot's speed will make him slightly more likely to score on a Lee or Ramirez double. Now, Theriot's not going to play everyday, and Murton should be in the 2 spot on those other days.

If they leave Soriano at leadoff (which Lou said they will when Lee comes back) then it's better to have Theriot in the 2 spot then Murton, and Murton in a middle of the order spot (5/6/7).

I don't know about Wuertz. Haven't we seen this act from him before? I seem to remember him starting out good one other year and then tanking. I'm not sure I would give him all that much more time. He seems to be unable to maintain any consistency over the long haul. It's been the opposite actually. Wuertz has been typically poor in the first half, and unbelievable in the second half. Here are his combined numbers from 2004-2006: Pre All-Star-60.0 IP, 5.40 ERA, 62 H, 9 HR, 59 K/37 BB, .273 BAA Post All-Star-85.1 IP, 2.32 ERA, 55 H, 6 HR, 102 K/36 BB, .182 BAA

He has some spasms in his neck. They sent him to Chicago to get examined yesterday. It doesn't sound serious, but like they said, when it's the neck you just want to be completely sure. He'll probably be out a couple more days and then be back.

Boy, has DeRosa been struggling as of late. Yeah, DeRosa really has struggled lately with the bat. Thankfully, his ISOD is very high right now, which is helping keep his numbers from dropping any further. Here are his May and last 7 day totals: May: .160/.364/.200 Last 7: .077/.368/.077 His total numbers still look pretty good though-.240/.350/.440. I think most people expected him somewhere around a 750, so he's still exceeding that on the season, mostly due to his large amount of walks. Hopefully he can turn it around, but if injuries are ever at the right time, last night's might have been it for him (as it was for Soriano) in order to let him sit a few days and come back hopefully out of his slump.

Novoa released Wood to 60 day DL Buck Coats Dopirak My guess would be Wood to the 60 day-with the retroactive date, that's what-15 days away? That seems like the very easy answer to me.

If they were going to release Izturis, it would be weeks ago. They aren't going to release him after having a fantastic May so far. DeRosa sprained his wrist-right now the Cubs are down to 2 MIF's if DeRosa can't go tonight. Another MIF would have to be brought up so there at least is one backup, and Fontenot is the best option. If DeRosa doesn't go on the DL, I guess one of the pitchers would have to go down.

I agree. It's the same old, which is what many expected when he got hired only to be fooled by his bs lies during spring training. why wouldn't he start Floyd, or even Ward at 1B? on what planet would it ever make sense to bat Izturis 2nd? i really can't wait to see Floyd get run out into RF for a week straight so Lou can show him some "respect" now that he's complaining. good times. Floyd and Ward are both terrible against left-handed pitching-I might have started Floyd just because of his numbers against Glavine, but I can understand why Lou put DeRosa in instead (DeRosa hits left-handers hard along with Theriot, and Theriot and Izturis have both been hot). As far as Izturis being 2nd, did you see the lineup yesterday? I would rather have seen Izturis bat 2nd than 6th, which is where he would have fit in otherwise with that lineup. Plus, he's batting .394/.444/.485 so far in May. If Lou puts him there constantly, that will most likely be a horrible thing, but the combination of Lee being hurt/Barrett resting/Izturis being hot/facing a left-hander made him a good option for the 2 spot last night.

I don't think Floyd should be traded or released, but I do agree with you that the last thing I want to see is a trade that makes it much easier for him to hit his options, especially the second one. At his current pace, Floyd isn't anywhere near the AB's needed to make even the first option, which is good at the moment (I won't mind the first option if he starts hitting better, and I think hitting much better is the only real way other than a trade that he has a chance of hitting that one-I don't want to see him hit that second option under any circumstance).

The bullpen officially gave up only one run, but Cherry also let both inherited runs score in the 6th. While I agree the offense should have scored more than 4 last night, scoring at least 4 runs has been found as a good indicator of winning. The bullpen hasn't been the biggest reason why the Cubs have the record they have, but it was the biggest reason why they lost last night.

It still would be ridiculous to send Wuertz down at this point, but his struggles were there before last night. His last 6 1/3 innings have been this: 10 appearances, 0-2, 6.1 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 3 K He's going through a rough stretch right now. That ERA could be a lot worse too-only 1 of those runs was a run that somebody else inherited, and other relievers have saved him multiple times with runners on base. Let's hope he can work through this and become the dominant guy he was at the start of the season.