RichHillIsABeast

I wonder if Coats is going to make the opening day roster. He sure is getting some playing time.

What's wrong with Izturis? He was promoted through the minors b/c of his defense and his bat is still catching up. His hitting has improved, especially his plate discipline. Izturis has speed and plays ridiculously well at SS. He's not Tejada at the plate, no question, but he can be very useful. What's our other option? Ronny Cedeno? lol Theriot would be an option. Theriot should be a better offensive player, if only slightly, but he can't touch Izturis in the field. If there is one position on the field where defense matters, it's SS. Theriot might be able to handle everyday SS defensively at the ML level. Izturis is a wizard defensively at the ML level. Theriot had a great ML debut, but it was a fluke. Don't expect that kind of offensive performance, or anywhere near it, over a full season. Theriot will be a good supersub in the Ryan Freel mold (although not as good), but he's not a ML starter. Regardless of what defensive position it is, it's not of equal weight as their offensive contributions. Whether that means Theriot is a better SS option than Izturis remains to be seen, but offense and defense are not of equal importance, not even at SS. When you have two groundball pitchers (Z and Marquis) on your staff, it sure is. Aramis has mediocre range at best. Izzy makes up for that in a big way. DeRosa has good, but not spectacular range at 2B. Izzy is going to prevent a lot of hits from getting through the infield. That's worth as much as getting the hit yourself as far as I'm concerned.

You laugh, but Cedeno IS Izturis when Izturis was breaking into the bigs. Izturis at 22: .232 .253 .303 Izturis at 23: .251 .282 .315 Cedeno at 23: .245 .271 .339 And when Cedeno's glove comes anywhere close to Izzy's, I'll show him some love. Right now Cedeno's glove and throws are inconsistent. Cedeno's problem isn't his offense - that will come. It's his defense. He has all the potential in the world with his range and arm, but the consistency just isn't there.

What's wrong with Izturis? He was promoted through the minors b/c of his defense and his bat is still catching up. His hitting has improved, especially his plate discipline. Izturis has speed and plays ridiculously well at SS. He's not Tejada at the plate, no question, but he can be very useful. What's our other option? Ronny Cedeno? lol He's got a career .295 OBP. Not really setting the world on fire. He has improved. Why would career numbers refute/contradict that?

What's wrong with Izturis? He was promoted through the minors b/c of his defense and his bat is still catching up. His hitting has improved, especially his plate discipline. Izturis has speed and plays ridiculously well at SS. He's not Tejada at the plate, no question, but he can be very useful. What's our other option? Ronny Cedeno? lol Theriot would be an option. Theriot should be a better offensive player, if only slightly, but he can't touch Izturis in the field. If there is one position on the field where defense matters, it's SS. Theriot might be able to handle everyday SS defensively at the ML level. Izturis is a wizard defensively at the ML level. Theriot had a great ML debut, but it was a fluke. Don't expect that kind of offensive performance, or anywhere near it, over a full season. Theriot will be a good supersub in the Ryan Freel mold (although not as good), but he's not a ML starter.

What's wrong with Izturis? He was promoted through the minors b/c of his defense and his bat is still catching up. His hitting has improved, especially his plate discipline. Izturis has speed and plays ridiculously well at SS. He's not Tejada at the plate, no question, but he can be very useful. What's our other option? Ronny Cedeno? lol

Because he can situationally hit, bunt, steal a base, and hit the fastball better than offspeed stuff.

Dan Plesac

Angel Guzman, your table is ready.

Great AB from Barrett. 8-)

Too high. Too high.

Jacque due up with the bases juiced.

Bruce should have karate chopped Plesac in the throat.

Nice work, DLee. Good baserunning by Izturis.

A walk. :shock:

Nice job, Rich.

But the Cubs have a lineup like an AL team. I'm confused Dan, why don't you explain for another 5 freaking minutes. :evil:

Dang. I was really hoping we'd get to see Soriano up there with the bases juiced.

Perez with an absolute BOMB!

Extend that man!

Nice eye, Jacque. :lol:

fixed

Muy excellente!

hahaha. K

I think we might actually miss Pierre in CF. :(