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Link Isn't Theriot a "true" shortstop? Hasn't he logged sufficient minor league innings at the position? Doesn't he play it pretty well? Yeah, I don't understand that. From what I've heard, Theriot and Bynum have both played shortstop a decent amount in the minors (Theriot probably more than Bynum because Bynum has played a little bit of everywhere). I'd like to see Cedeno get a day or two off to clear his head again and go with a Theriot/Bynum DP combination (I don't care whatsoever which way you go with that-but probably Theriot at SS and Bynum at 2B). After that, put Cedeno back at 2B where you wanted him to learn the position. The only good thing is-the longer he's at SS, the less likely we pencil him in as the starting 2B next year.

08/21 - 08/27 AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS Blanco 9 1 4 2 0 0 6 1 0 1 0.444 0.444 0.667 1.111 Barrett 18 2 1 0 0 1 4 3 1 2 0.056 0.105 0.222 0.327 I can only assume, since you didn't type any text, that you think these stats support Baker's decision. I don't care if Barrett is in a terrible slump (though he's also recovering from injury, may not be fully healthy, and some of the days covered by your stats, he clearly wasn't 100%). The fact that Blanco is 4/9 in his last 2 games doesn't justify putting him in a tie game w/ the division leader (and your rival) over the guy who has been your best and most consistent hitter all season. Seriously, we're making decisions based on 9 ABs? I think the more important numbers were Barrett there. He is just coming back from his injury, and he is 2 for 18 since-and didn't look that good on his swings Sunday night. So even if Blanco remains at his career numbers, he might be just as good as Barrett right now (obviously Barrett when he gets his hitting stroke back is 100 times better). Also, Dusty was looking at a tie game and already using his 3rd reliever in the 7th inning. He didn't want to have to use his 4th reliever in the 8th already in case the game went into extras (especially since we knew the limit for Howry was 1 inning and Ohman can't go all that long either-so the only people who could give you innings down there was Dempster and Rusch). He had to try to stretch Novoa out to a couple innings at the time, and so he had to double switch-and Barrett not hitting well was the most obvious choice at the time.

Because he tried to steal third a few games back, and got thrown out. That's why. Bynum is the new Nefti Perez. That comparison would be fine if Bynum was starting over a player like Todd Walker who would definitely outproduce them by a wide margin-Theriot has had a great 40 at bats in the majors, but before that their two minor league careers were very, very similar. Neither player is any better than a 25th man (please note that I would love to see Theriot start while he is hot here-but his numbers are way over his head right now).

It's still the Cubs. They might not be the most attractive place to play right now, but they are more attractive then some clubs-and if they offer the money, people will come. Also, if you are a big hitter (say Soriano) you still know that you are going to be in one of the better middle of the orders in the league.

I think Murton can be just fine without getting up to .500 SLG, but it is not going to be easy for him to get up to that level. To compare, Pat Burrell is at .501 this year, and there are plenty of players we'd expect to be at .500 that are not (J.D. Drew, Ordonez, Abreu, Giles-the highest slugging for any of the 4 of them is .459). I'd expect more of a .450 to .460 SLG with a .375-.385 OBP-he'll be an above average corner outfielder that way who is cheap.

Yup-I can't believe that the LF situation is going to change anytime soon either way Since August 4th: Pittsburgh: Murton started 2 out of the 3 Milwaukee: " " Colorado: " " Houston: " " St Louis: " " Philadelphia: Murton-3 out of 4 starts in LF St. Louis: With the start tonight, Murton starts 2 out of 3 again. It looks like we will see Pagan just about once per series in LF the rest of the season, along with a few more starts in RF. It's not what we want, but the pattern is evident-more than most of Dusty's patterns anyway.

Sample size :D

Cubs have no need for Howard (and Ryan can't play anywhere else but 1st) with Lee on the team, so I would say CHASE UTLEY or bust.... With that said... People automatically assumes that Pierre who could be classed as a Type A Free Agent, would be offered arb. But what happens if Hendry doesn't offer arb to Pierre, ie like Nomar, and he leaves without getting any draft picks in return? Or better yet, what happens if Hendry does offer ARB, and so a team goes Boston/Clement on us? Meaning the Cubs would have to settle for a 2nd/3rd/4th rd pick at best for Pierre? Nomar was likely to get more in arbitration than in free agency, and so would be much more likely to accept arbitration. Pierre is very unlikely to accept arbitration, as he has a great chance of getting a multiyear deal from somebody. If he declines arbitration, and we only get a 3rd or 4th round pick, it still might be worth more than the Phillies would give up for 1 month of Pierre.

Not when you have Sammy going absolutely nuts. Those were pre-steroid Bonds-numbers. If one player could carry a team then the Rangers would have won the WS all three years they had ARod. Sosa's numbers were still better in 2001 than ARod's best year with the Rangers-which was actually 2001 as well Sosa: .328/.437/.737 64 HR 160 RBI's-OPS+=201 ARod: .318/.399/.622 52 HR 135 RBI's-OPS+=164 Their pitching also was terrible that year. They had 1 starter with an ERA under 5, and only 2 under 6. The Cubs pitching however was really, really good that year. 2 ERA's under 4, our 5th starter had an ERA of 4.52 All the relievers who pitched 45 innings or more had an ERA under 4 (Todd Van Poppel led the way with a 2.45 ERA) One player can carry a team on one side-it was basically Sosa and the pitching, but that was almost enough.

I think that's the whole reason for bringing him back. Obviously he won't help win this year, but he can gain confidence that he's fully healed and back to his usual effectiveness heading into next year. Derrek Lee is (after Pujols) the second best position player in the NL. He's not some rookie that needs to gain confidence at the big league level. He knows what he is capable of. Yes, but he is a player who has never had a significant injury before in his life. When you have that first huge injury, you still have doubts about if you will ever be exactly the same again. If he is healthy, then erasing that doubt in Lee's mind about exactly how much he can do will maybe mean that he won't have to test it at the start of next year, but rather can come into camp ready to have another big year.

That's not a terrible thing for you..he's just a career minor leaguer that has bounced around. He was with St. Louis till 03, then went to KC, then he went to Florida's organization in 05, then to the Cubs in 06. He has a 3.83 ERA in Iowa this year at age 29.

I would actually agree with this. Matsui is not a significant enough upgrade to both spend 13 million a season on him and trade away the pieces it would take to get him. If we were going to get someone to replace Murton, it might as well be Lee so that we don't have to lose the people we'd trade. Of course, I don't think Lee is worth the money either as an upgrade over Murton, so I would rather keep that money after Soriano is signed to 1) sign a platoon partner for RF and 2) Add the extra money to the pitching rather than replace an already decent piece to the puzzle.

I doubt they will care much if somebody claims Walrond in the offseason. He is turning 30 before next year-if he's not ready to pitch in the major leagues now, it's doubtful he will ever be.

If the Cardinals get into the playoffs and the numbers stay the same way they are, then Pujols will win. If the Cardinals miss the playoffs or Pujols slumps, then Beltran will win-anybody else will have to have an absolutely monster month to win.

Well, Nevin wanted to be traded..that home run might be his ticket out of here.

Well, he didn't exactly fault Mateo last night. In fact, he was very complimentary of Mateo's pitching after the game.

I definitely like straight winners for the pro game..if you want to do point spread in college that's fine, but I'm ok with straight there as well.

Sounds like Jacque should have had 2 walks today already.

St. Louis's catchers just own us..I have no idea why.

It's nice to see the Cubs work Carpenter for 20 pitches that inning even though they are not getting very many good swings off of him.

I would guess Wood would go on the 60 day DL at this point-I'm pretty sure they still have that option.

Good for him. He's not a prospect, but neither are the other pitchers we were considering for tomorrow (I'm not counting Ryu because he obviously cannot pitch tomorrow now). So, barring a prospect pitching, I like the idea of giving a guy 1 major league start-he's been up for a cup of coffee one time before, but never a start.

Space was tight in the paper for today, but Dusty lamented a number of "questionable calls" on Pierre's attempted steals and that catchers have been throwing it "right on the toe" to nab Pierre. It's true that there are several times he has been safe at 2nd in the past month that they have called him out on-but that's part of the risk of stealing. It is almost always a close play at 2nd, and you're going to have a higher number of bad calls there than just about anywhere else. You have to factor that possibility in when deciding if to steal or not.

If a fan from a smaller market team came up and told me that we might not have won the title if we just didn't have the money to buy everyone in sight, I would agree with them. I'd still happily take that bargain though and take the title :D