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Glendon, take care of yourself. My thoughts and prayers are with you tonight, and may your doctors find the right way to treat you so that you can have a long and healthy life.

BTW, I'm 4 for 4 now this season in breaking up no-hitters late in ballgames when I start watching. I tuned in just to see the Kennedy at-bat..I also did it for the Z against Houston game when it went to the 8th, and 2 other first at-bats this year. Guess I should stop turning on games late.

It's not that Theriot has lost his job. They have said they are going to split time the rest of the season. Bynum starting does not say anything bad about Theriot-it just means they feel the players are close to equal, and they would like to see them both get time. Theriot was hitting significantly better than Bynum when Bynum came back-has that continued? Here are their stats for September (which is about half the time they have been splitting time-a few of their at-bats in August came when they were a DP combo, and yes, Theriot was much better than Bynum in August) Player A (28 AB's)-.250/.382/.500 Player B (17 AB's)-.294/.455/.588 What's the difference between these two players? Who's hotter at the plate? It's hard to tell. It looks like Player B has a good advantage, but the small number of at-bats makes it hard. What can be found is that both players are doing very, very well. BTW, Player A is Ryan Theriot Player B is Freddie Bynum There is a distinct difference in hitting styles between Ryan Theriot and Freddie Bynum. Theriot works a count, takes a walk, and has - so far - been pretty good in the clutch (I am sure someone can dig up the stats, I don't have time right now). Bynum has a worse BB/K ratio, but has good speed and is a "Baker type" because he seems to swing as much as possible. To me, in a pinch I want a guy like Bynum (I thought Randall Simon was the ultimate pinch hitter). I would agree with you that Theriot has had a much better BB/K ratio and been better in the clutch this year. Their P/PA don't reveal that Theriot works the count while Bynum swings at anything and everything though-Bynum is seeing 4.04 P/PA, and Theriot is seeing 3.48 P/PA. Plus, Bynum's BB/PA have gotten better every single month of his career. I just don't see much difference in their hitting styles much right now, with the exception that Bynum strikes out more than Theriot.

If the Dodgers are in a hurry to get out from under Drew's contract, then maybe they take Jones for Drew straight up? Jones @ 2/9 maybe looks better to them than Drew @ 3/33. Obviously the talent/production isn't balanced, but we've all seen crazier salary dumps than that. $24M saved is nothing to sneeze at, especially these days, when GMs are swapping contracts as much as they are players. But, does the extra $23M and 1 season you have to give Drew result in real offensive impact? Is it worth the 50 extra points in OBP and 20 less in SLG? That's a big assumption that there will be that much a drop in SLG. This year, Jones holds a 20 point edge in SLG, but in 2005, Drew had a SLG of 90 points higher as well as an OBP of nearly that amount. In 2004, Drew had a SLG on 140 points higher. I think that it's just as likely that Jones and Drew will SLG at identical clips over the next two years, and also likely that Drew could outslug him. Taken along with the fact that Drew is going to get on base at 50-100 points higher than Jones, yes it is worth the extra. That's certainly true-but it gets more complicated when you add this. Is Jacque and a good platoon partner (costing together between 7 and 8 million dollars for 2 years) have more dollar for dollar value than Drew+a backup outfielder at 12 million dollars combined? I really think it does-a good platoon partner for Jacque still makes Drew's production moderately better. When you throw in though that 1) It's 4-5 million dollars more out of your budget for the option with Drew, 2) Drew is an injury risk and the backup outfielder has a decent shot of starting 30-40 games or possibly more, which will drag down the production at the position and 3) Whoever is on the bench, Jacque or the Platoon Partner will be a better option off the bench than the backup outfielder making a million, then I think the first option is the better option.

It's not that Theriot has lost his job. They have said they are going to split time the rest of the season. Bynum starting does not say anything bad about Theriot-it just means they feel the players are close to equal, and they would like to see them both get time. Theriot was hitting significantly better than Bynum when Bynum came back-has that continued? Here are their stats for September (which is about half the time they have been splitting time-a few of their at-bats in August came when they were a DP combo, and yes, Theriot was much better than Bynum in August) Player A (28 AB's)-.250/.382/.500 Player B (17 AB's)-.294/.455/.588 What's the difference between these two players? Who's hotter at the plate? It's hard to tell. It looks like Player B has a good advantage, but the small number of at-bats makes it hard. What can be found is that both players are doing very, very well. BTW, Player A is Ryan Theriot Player B is Freddie Bynum

The problem with that is that Bynum is just as good as the rest of our bench. He's better than Mabry, he's better than Cedeno. He has almost the same stats as Pagan. The only one who he's significantly behind right now is Theriot-and while I think Theriot is a little better than Bynum, we know that Theriot's numbers are pretty inflated. Also, Bynum has been permanantly scarred in most Cubs fans minds for what he did in April and early May-his first major league experience! Here are his numbers since then (since May 8th to be exact): .292/.357/.494 (89 AB's) Are those numbers inflated? I'm sure they are. Has he been a good hitter since that point? Absolutely-and I don't think he's any worse than the rest of the bench.

Here are comments from Bynum and Baker after the game: Pretty good for Dusty. He's right, you shouldn't say something to a player that has been that humiliated during the game, but the inference is that he is going to say something to Bynum, he just hadn't by right after the game. Combine that with that he did take Bynum out of the ballgame after Lowe left, and I have no problem with this one.

I'm glad to see Izturis get that hit-he was really having a tough time of it the last 2 days since he came back, and that has to help his confidence a little bit as he works into getting back to playing (which of course the season will end a week after that happens for him with how much is left)

Soto's OBP so far would be low enough to actually make sac bunting the right move there if he could actually put it down. Soto hasn't had enough plate appearances to have a statistically relevant OBP. And why not just leave Aardsma in to bunt if you're going to call for a sacrifice? I would agree that he doesn't have enough appearances-I was just being a little sarcastic there :D And I might not have left Aardsma in, but if I was going to bunt, I would have definitely brought in a starting pitcher rather than one of my last two position players.

I think so. He was-I'm guessing Soto will stay in the game here to move the pitcher's spot one spot down-Gameday only has one other player listed on our bench at all.

Soto's OBP so far would be low enough to actually make sac bunting the right move there if he could actually put it down.

Big Credit tonight to the bullpen...5.1 IP so far, 2 H, 0 ER..looks like they may have to do a little more work tonight, but a very good job so far!

Furcal's trying to steal Bynum's thunder tonight-that's 2 errors for him as well.

One of the few positives of this year is that we've found some potentially capable back-ups for next year (Riot, Pagan, Bynum, etc.). I would agree with that-the one thing though is that you can't have Theriot, Cedeno, and Bynum on the same bench-I'd like to trade Cedeno though-I'd be fine with Theriot (who has been good since he came up) Pagan (who has been up and down but ok) and Bynum (who has been good at the plate since that awful start for him (April and the first part of May)) all on the bench. Add those 3 to a Platoon Partner for Jones, and a good bench bat that can back up the corner infield, and your bench is decent with very little cost.

We've actually gotten really good production offensively out of the Bynum/Theriot platoon so far in September-I'm glad to see they are both doing well at the plate, but I hope it doesn't mean that we try that platoon at the start of the year next year.

why are you posting this all in the Cubs free agent thread? Haha. Thanks for pointing it out. I thought I was in the game thread. In my defense, the game threads are sparsely attended these days. :oops: No need for a defense-I understand completely, I just was confused :D

why are you posting this all in the Cubs free agent thread?

I'm giving him credit for 2 errors made up for with his 2 hits already..now he needs at least 1 more, and possibly 2 to make up for the other 2 misplayed balls (although he has a little credit left over from last night also with getting on 4 times last night).

I'll lay money 2 of them are our starters next year. If I were a sports betting man, I would take that bet-I think only 1 of those players will be a starter next year (start at least half the games for the team next year)

Sure...Duke was 43-17 with a 2.38ERA and Rich Hill was 19-19 3.90ERA. Why can't you compare the two again? So did you not read what he said, or did you do that on purpose? Duke had a Minor League K/9 of 7.25, Hill's is an obscene 12.59. I didn't read the K part...Sorry 'bout that...I thought it said look at their minor league stats... I'm just saying you can't rely on a guy to be your 2-3 starter that has had a good 2 month run. So are you siding with Goony and saying we have to go out and sign a #2, #3, and #4? Regardles if you think Hill is a 2,3,4, or 5th starter you still need a 3 more starters right? Unless you are counting on Prior to be healthy... Yes, but the difference is that if we see Hill as a 3 or a 4, we can hold an open competition for the 5 spot between the rest of the young pitchers. That makes one less veteran pitcher you have to go out and sign-if Hill is only a #5, suddenly you have to go out and fill another slot with your available budget.

as if thats good Carrie... :roll: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060911&c ontent_id=1657178&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc With a 1-2 lineup like that the Cubs are assured of picking 1 or 2 in the draft. Where did the Dodgers bat Izturis? In 2004, Izturis batted about 2/3 of the time at leadoff, and about 1/3 of the time in the 2 spot. In 2005, it was just about all at the leadoff spot. I'm thinking that they batted him primarily in the 7 spot when he came back to the team this year, but I don't have the splits with the Cubs and with the Dodgers in front of me here.

Oh boy, was I rooting against that late last night. I was tied with my opponent in one of my fantasy leagues going into last night, and I was done and he had Sebastian-I thought all hope was lost. As the game progressed, I thought there was a chance of them shutting them out, and then when I saw the Raiders calling timeouts against the Chargers backup defense I was upset again. I thought the guy had scored on the last play of the game, and when I saw the ref rule him out of bounds on the 2 I couldn't believe I had pulled out the tie.

It is actually impossible for the Bears to win this poll now-all they can do is tie with the Cubs having 3 wins in September now.

well...if he tries, then i don't mind that he's not very good. as long as he tries. To answer the first part I think Baker was talking about his work ethic and also the fact that he is healthy. He lets the first pitch go by and then swings at the rest. The problem is pitchers aren't worried about throwing strikes to him because they know he can't do any damage power wise. It's absolutely foolish to walk him, it's like pitching to a pitcher. That is actually very true, and is sort of what Baker was trying to say. The pitcher knows that Pierre is going to look at the first pitch, and most of the time it is a strike. After that, it does not usually help Pierre to take many pitches, because the pitcher is looking for him to hit the ball into play. So I would agree that it is harder for Pierre to amass the walks like some other hitters-but pitchers not being afraid of him to that point is still a big detriment to Pierre, and the low walk total is one bad symptom of that.

not very many. Like I said, I could point to you at least a dozen outs since he's come back that Lee made that the other first baseman wouldn't have made, due to Lee's quick feet and his ability to stretch out for balls. Don't you think that saves us some runs? You're exaggerating. I really am not..I believe, for example, that the 1st and 3rd outs of the Braves 6th inning are not made by John Mabry (and that's not counting the stretch in the 2nd where he should have had the out called on the stretch of Ramirez's throw). I've seen multiple plays like this in several other games as well since he's come back. so you're not only assuming that other 1b wouldn't have made those plays, but you're also assuming that they wouldn't have made those plays AND their inability to make them would have led to runs. not to mention the fact that you're somehow crediting him with preventing a baserunner that actually reached base by citing to ramirez's error. Like I said, I didn't count Ramirez's play-even though it should have been, it wasn't-so it doesn't go into my count. Second, I know they are not always going to lead to runs-just like every hit or walk is not going to lead to runs, but we'd love to see somebody get 12 more hits or walks over a few week span, and Lee preventing hits has the same result for his pitchers-Lee has decreased the opponent's OBP with his great defense over there.