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I wish someone would give Alfonso Soriano some outfield practice From what I've heard, he actually works pretty hard at it. Which makes it even scarier.

While I agree with you're overall point, and would absolutely love to see Dunn as a Cub... you really don't think there'd be a significant difference in the numbers the two would put up over the course of their respective contracts? That's assuming performance in Wrigley over that time. There's a reason their numbers are very similar but their OPS+ is like 16 points off. There's also a reason AG is sitting at 5.6 WAR and Dunn is at 2.9 WAR.

Des Moines? Who did you piss off? j/k Are you planning on asking him some questions that will either thrill posters here or turn this forum into a warzone? My idea to come here. We aren't doing a full schedule of Cubs travel yet (better than last year, though), so I thought this would be a good idea. I don't know about the questions thrilling people or not, but maybe the answers will. Hope you enjoy Sec Taylor..err Principal Park. Tonight should have great weather, don't know about tomorrow though. If it weren't for my son's football practice, I'd try to make one of the games this week.

Des Moines? Who did you piss off? j/k Are you planning on asking him some questions that will either thrill posters here or turn this forum into a warzone?

Except that really doesn't do that at all. He had a really interesting start to his career but he's been pretty terrible for a while now that he's been playing with more regularity. It was always a pretty safe bet to say Colvin would see a fair amount of playing time, but his numbers, .277/.320/.465 341k/105bb/1800PA in the minors indicate he's probably not going to be very good. His major league numbers, .247/.306/.487 90k/26bb/344PA show much of the same, with the lone exception of a few more HR than expected. And I really don't see how his mechanics can be considered so pretty when he looks so clueless so frequently swinging at absolute garbage and missing by a mile. How does an .815 OPS in his first full season in ML baseball mean that he's been "pretty terrible", when his minor league OPS was .785? He has clearly been better in 2010 as an everyday player than he was as an everyday minor league player. His K/BB ratio is a little worse since being in the ML, but that should be expected for a guy who hasn't even had 350 AB's in the ML. As I stated in a previous post, . He has much more to learn, but the hardest part, sound mechanics, is the least of his worries. Maintaining, and improving upon, those mechanics will be the most vital component of his career. He's had 344 plate appearances in his first full season of ML baseball. It's not unusual for a young player to look awkward at times at the plate. He's going to get fooled, but his sound mechanics are allowing him to overcome some of those shortcomings. For the 3rd time, I'm not saying that he will be an all-star or a hall of famer, I'm simply pointing out that mechanically, his 2010 swing is indicative of someone who should have had better minor league numbers. This would lead me to believe that he has made some mechanical improvements and/or added strength to account for the offensive improvements. He said he's been terrible for a while now, not the whole season. He was very good through May. As for " How does an .815 OPS in his first full season mean he's been pretty terrible", I'd say at least some of it is luck and small sample size. He's been regressing pretty substantially the last 2-3 months. If he can hold on this year, then put up similar numbers in coming years, then you'd have a point. If he continues his downward spiral this year, and is as bad or worse next year, I'd be leaning towards the terrible tag. He hasn't shown, during his time in the minors, any reason to expect .815 OPS in the majors. He has shown that he can be counted on to hit for decent power, not walk much and strike out a lot. When you're doing that in the minors, it doesn't suggest success in the majors unless you correct a few things, particularly plate discipline. Unless he corrects some pretty major flaws there, he'll never amount to anything in the majors.

Why couldn't they send Hill back instead? He's the freaking spokesperson of this team. I've never seen a more inconsequential and incompetent player take such a prominent role in the team's conversation with the media. You can't get rid of that. Gotcha.

Niether did Joe Girardi when he took over his first team. Not a Sandberg supporter but that argument might be out Wasn't Girardi bench coach for Torre for a season before becomming a manager?

Why couldn't they send Hill back instead?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-spt-0823-haugh-chicago--20100822,0,141333.column So does that mean they'll actually give Gonzalez an actual chance? This pleases me. I still stand by my statement that I'm more concerned with who is GM, however.

The bunting with Ty Wright thing bothered me, but I'll admit I don't expect him to bunt in the first inning with a middle of the order guy if he manages the Cubs. I do think, from that event and from things he's said, that he prefers the more traditional type of baseball that emphasizes batting average and small ball. Baseball might be moving in that direction as a whole. Pitching has been pretty dominant this season. Regardless, all the bitching about Ryno bunting his #3 batter is nonsense. The point of the minors IS TO DEVELOPE PLAYERS. That's what he was doing. I've seen books and such that stated that the big league club lets the minor league coaches know what they want certain players to work on. As far as Ryno's statement that grounding out to second to get the guy to third is not a bad thing... it's not when the other outcome is the batter striking out and now your sitting with a guy on second and one out. I think what he's referring to is the exact reason that Dunn, Howard, and a multitude of other HR hitters will never be near the player that Pujols is. Pujols makes sure to put the ball in play. Striking out is not OK most of the time, especially in the fore mentions scenario. Part of what Ryno is saying, is that the HR hitters in his day were for the most part "baseball players", not just HR hitters. Dawson, Schmidt, Canseco (I know), Bonds, Griffey, Evans, etc., these guys were all around players, not just one dimensional strike out artists. If Nolan Ryan pitched now, he might strike out 6k batters. I don't have the table memorized, and I don't have either book here, but I'm almost positive your run expectancy goes down from a runner on second and no outs to a runner on third and one out. That would mean intentionally giving yourself up to move a runner over is a bad thing. If it just happens, ok, but they (the old timey guys like Sandberg) talk about doing things like that on purpose to help the team. In reality, things like that cause you to score fewer runs, which in turn, hurts the team. Agreed, it does go down, but guess what's even lower... a runner on second and one out after Mark Reynolds just struck out because he's incapable of making contact on a regular basis. Point being, doing it intentionally is a bad thing. If you can hit the ball well enough to intentionally hit it on the ground to the right side, you should be able to hit it somewhere other than to the right side weakly. I'd rather a guy like Dunn or Howard go up there trying to do what they normally do and reap the rewards often, than have them go up in situations like that and change their swing to intentionally ground out to the 2B. They will provide a much greater benefit to their team by NOT changing their approach than by altering it in certain circumstances.

The bunting with Ty Wright thing bothered me, but I'll admit I don't expect him to bunt in the first inning with a middle of the order guy if he manages the Cubs. I do think, from that event and from things he's said, that he prefers the more traditional type of baseball that emphasizes batting average and small ball. Baseball might be moving in that direction as a whole. Pitching has been pretty dominant this season. Regardless, all the bitching about Ryno bunting his #3 batter is nonsense. The point of the minors IS TO DEVELOPE PLAYERS. That's what he was doing. I've seen books and such that stated that the big league club lets the minor league coaches know what they want certain players to work on. As far as Ryno's statement that grounding out to second to get the guy to third is not a bad thing... it's not when the other outcome is the batter striking out and now your sitting with a guy on second and one out. I think what he's referring to is the exact reason that Dunn, Howard, and a multitude of other HR hitters will never be near the player that Pujols is. Pujols makes sure to put the ball in play. Striking out is not OK most of the time, especially in the fore mentions scenario. Part of what Ryno is saying, is that the HR hitters in his day were for the most part "baseball players", not just HR hitters. Dawson, Schmidt, Canseco (I know), Bonds, Griffey, Evans, etc., these guys were all around players, not just one dimensional strike out artists. If Nolan Ryan pitched now, he might strike out 6k batters. I don't have the table memorized, and I don't have either book here, but I'm almost positive your run expectancy goes down from a runner on second and no outs to a runner on third and one out. That would mean intentionally giving yourself up to move a runner over is a bad thing. If it just happens, ok, but they (the old timey guys like Sandberg) talk about doing things like that on purpose to help the team. In reality, things like that cause you to score fewer runs, which in turn, hurts the team.

This. I'm much more concerned with who will be GM come spring training than who is the manager. I'd prefer Fredi Gonzalez, but I would take Ryno in a heartbeat if it meant getting a good GM.

I feel like there's an enormous gulf just between the lower minors and the majors. I'll admit I haven't watched a ton of minor league ball, but the games I've been to -- it has seemed quite noticeable the dropoff in basic defensive ability. And the guys who can defend at a higher level tend to stick out much more, too. At least that's been my observation. I agree, but you have to also take the low minors with a grain of salt when talking about defense. From the examples I've seen, the fields in the low minors suck. I got the chance to play on 3 different MiL field when I was in HS, and two of the three, Cedar Rapids and Clinton, were as bad as any I played on in HS. From the reports and discussions I've seen, there hasn't been a big change since then. That's part of the reason I'll somewhat ignore a guys errors if they're mostly fielding problems and not throwing. There's as big of a gulf in the quality of the infields as there is in fielding.

Um, there was only one year in the 70's where they had a winning % as low their current season (1974), and it was at their current %. Two years in the 80's (80 & 81), no seasons in the 90's and two in this decade (2000 & 06). This year is already as bad as it ever got in the 70's. They could, however, increase their suck a little and catch that 1980 where they went 64-98. I could go for a nice little historical season and finish with only their 3rd 100 loss season ever.

They're going for the number three pick?

Nah, I disagree with that. The Cubs have the fanbase they do due to the size of the city they play in, their longevity and, most of all, WGN TV and radio. Anyone who defines themselves as a Cubs fan by the team's futility is just the worst. Agreed. My grandma, who I mentioned earlier, was a Cubs fan because of her dad. He learned baseball by watching the Cap Anson led team in Chicago. He passed that love of the Cubs on to his children. And it's gone through the generations since. The WGN TV/Radio greatly assisted that. My granparents and dad/uncles could listen to the games in NE Iowa during the 30's, I could watch during the 80's and my kids can watch now. Them being crappy have nothing to do with our love of the team.

My grandma was a huge Cubs fan, married to a Cards fan. She died in 2007 at the age of 96. She told me numerous times about what is was like to see the Cubs in the WS (she actually attended games in 29 and 32). However, she also said how depressing it was that she had never gotten to see a Cub WS title. That was from a, then, 90 year old woman. That's WAY different than a Pirates fan that is my age, 41, who remembers the 79 Pirates. It's all about perspective, once you start thinking about the things that have happened in the intervening years.

We've been wondering that since around May.

my boy loves Soriano, but I'm trying to get him focused on Soto, Castro, and Colvin. Both of my son's favorites are Soto and Castro. My older son updates me every morning what they both did the day before.

http://economics.huji.ac.il/facultye/gould/canseco_nov_11_2007.pdf Not exactly on topic, but an interesting claim. http://www.slate.com/id/2262202/ Hmm, and all this time I thought it was TLR and Duncan that had the pixie dust, when it was really Canseco?

I guess a Baker/DeWitt platoon is possible, but not Fonts/DeWitt since they're both LH. My guess is DeWitt is the regular starter.

Chicks dig the sac fly, and Soriano will be paid like the KING of sac fliers. :P HeHeHeHe! He said "sac". Shut up, Beavis. Huh, Huh huh.

If their approach would have been to get guys out, they would have gotten the job done. It's easy to strike out major league hitters.

Shut up. You sound like an idiot with statements like this. We all know the sacrifice fly would have been nice. But it's absurd to say the GM should be fired because two outfielders did not hit sac flies. It's baseball, guys cannot hit the ball on command. On command? When did I ever say that!? Look, it's 2-1 now in the 12th and the inning still isn't over. Those two guys didn't get the job done, end of story. I can hit a pop up too for $17 million. This is only part of the reason why Hendry should be fired. No you couldn't. And the whole premise of this thread is that Hendry should be hired because Soriano couldn't hit a Sac Fly, how is that not doing it on demand?

His approach should be driving the ball center, right-center to end the game. Bottom line. His approach should be trying to hit the ball the way he has all year, hope for a hit, but take a flyout. When you change your approach, all you do is screw yourself up. You can't just hit a long fly ball on demand against ML pitchers, they're kinda good too.