jersey cubs fan

I'm thinking Houston wins in extras, which will convince the Cubs they are making the right decision by keeping Patton (and his 1 June inning pitched) in the bullpen instead of an actual player who can contribute to the team.

What's at the heart of the "can't come through when it matters" problem? The Cubs have one guy with more than 100 AB and an OPS over 790. They have 7 guys with more than 100 AB who have an OPS below 775. They have 6 guys with over 100 AB and an OBP below league average (.333). They a platoon guy who can't hit righties (Johnson) who they regularly use against righties, and his platoon partner who kind of can hit lefties has barely faced any this year. They have a guy in AAA who has absolutely mashed AAA pitching and did very well against major league pitching, but because they want to keep Aaron Miles, Ryan Freel, Andres Blanco, Bobby Scales and a completely useless 7th reliever, he is back in AAA and not the first bat off the bench. They have a lack of weapons and a GM/manager incapable of, or unwilling to, even use those weapons they do have.

DH in interleague away games.

It feels to me like the hitters aren't hitting well at all. If, by chance, somebody is good enough to get a hit, the guy responsible for driving him in is probably going to be less likely to get a hit, since he won't be a good hitter. This is like the 2005/2006 lineup, a couple decent bats, but a whole bunch of bad ones. When the good ones gets on, the bad ones aren't good enough to be counted on. When you run out Hoffpauir, Fontenot, Hill, Blanco and pitcher for 5/9 of your lineup, you are asking for trouble. When you have a not hitting in any situation Bradley in the middle of the order, he's going to leave people on. When you have Theriot, who has done very little against RHP throughout his career, followed by Fukudome against a LHP for like the 5th time this year, and DLee, who stopped being a dependable middle of the order hitting in May of last year, it shouldn't be a surprise if they leave people on base. I buy that except that no one hitter has been consistently good all season and our hitters have taken turns being good. It's just unlucky that we haven't been able to string anybod these hot streaks together at the same time. No, all of them have not taken turns being good. The Cubs have the 3rd fewest ABs in the NL with runners in scoring position. They suck at it, but they aren't really getting there anyway. They have a horrible team OBP, .313, with nobody on base. They have essentially the same AVG with runners on (.250) as with nobody on (.251). The OBP goes up both with runners on, and with RISP (as compared to nobody on). That tells me that in the unlikely event that they actually get a runner on, pitchers are little more likely to walk guys, probably the ones who are more likely to do any damage. Also, the Cubs may be in a "just put it in play" mode with runners on as their SLG plummets after getting a man on base, despite the AVG staying relativley stable.

It feels to me like the hitters aren't hitting well at all. If, by chance, somebody is good enough to get a hit, the guy responsible for driving him in is probably going to be less likely to get a hit, since he won't be a good hitter. This is like the 2005/2006 lineup, a couple decent bats, but a whole bunch of bad ones. When the good ones gets on, the bad ones aren't good enough to be counted on. When you run out Hoffpauir, Fontenot, Hill, Blanco and pitcher for 5/9 of your lineup, you are asking for trouble. When you have a not hitting in any situation Bradley in the middle of the order, he's going to leave people on. When you have Theriot, who has done very little against RHP throughout his career, followed by Fukudome against a LHP for like the 5th time this year, and DLee, who stopped being a dependable middle of the order hitting in May of last year, it shouldn't be a surprise if they leave people on base.

Not me, I'm hoping they win the division and make some noice in the postseason.

cubs need bats

I wonder if they are going to take their own advice and use caution with him the rest of the year.

Why would you platoon a player who is in the top 8 for many offensive categories in MLB at his position? Assuming you are talking about Ryan Theriot, I would platoon him at 2nd because he's not a very good defender at SS, he's never shown the ability to have any sort of significant offensive presence over an entire season and he's significantly better vs LHP than RHP, while Fontenot is the perfect mirror opposite. Theriot's current rankings among MLB SS are largely meaningless to the discussion. I highly doubt he'll have an 800+ OPS by season's end.

I'm pretty sure McClain was a FA invite. Scott Moore is one of the guys they got for the Tigers.

Why didn't I know this was a day game? I set the DVR to record what I assume is going to be a replay, that will be blacked out anyway, at 8.

Why? If they can't sign a guy who might be demanding $50 million, how that does mean they won't be able to sign next year's #1 and #2?

Does he really have the right to refuse to go on the DL if he really is injured? We're not talking about a phantom injury to allow another player to be called up; as long as the player really is less than 100% I'd think the team would have the right to place the player on the DL even against the player's wishes. Sure, they'd have the right, but he'd also have the right to bitch about it and claim that it was an effort to prevent him from reaching his games played clause instead of for baseball reasons. Not that I think that would really happen, considering how easily he can reach that clause.

Doesn't Milton have a games-played clause this season that guarantees the final year of his contract? I'm guessing he'd be against going on the DL so he can reach that limit. From everything I've read there's really very little chance he won't hit that number of games. They could probably put him on the 60-day DL and he'd still make it. Taking one month off isn't going to lose him money.

They've tread water without Ramirez, and essentially without Bradley so far. Your idea pretty much leaves them in the same position they are already in, and theoretically makes them better in the 2nd half.

Which leads me to suggest my longtime favorite option of finding a new SS and platooning Theriot and Fontenot at 2B. Who that would be, I have no idea. Unless the Mets fall apart and feel the desire to move Carlos Beltran, I'm not really sure what they can do to improve the team at this point. There's just far too many hitters making big bucks but not putting up big numbers, and they are all on the wrong side of the age spectrum.

I don't necessarily see him as a "five tool" guy unless he proves he can steal bases and hit HRs. To me, he's more of a "well rounded" type who can do a little bit of everything, but doesn't really excel in all areas either. http://baseballbeginnings.com/2009/05/27/brett-jackson-qa/ I'm rooting for the kid, he has the right attitude about things. Yeah, I don't understand how anybody can call him a 5 tool player considering he can't make much contact, can't hit for power, and by all accounts is just okay at throwing the ball. If he's 5-tool, that really devalues the concept of 5-tool, although it's a pretty worthless concept already.

I don't think he's really healthy. I think he's hurting and Lou would rather play him at 80% or so than DL him. It's hard to blame him, given how limited our replacement options are. But would it really be that bad to play Fukudome against LHP? I don't think it's hard to blame him at all. Fox and Hoffpauir can platoon in RF, and Fukudome can play more often against LHP if necessary. It's not like he's keeping a productive bat in the lineup despite injury. He's keeping a guy who can't hit worth a crap and is a clumsy bastard in the OF. Plus, it's in the best interest of the organization if Bradley does not play in games in which he is not 100%.

The Cubs have been terrible recently at hitting with runners on/in scoring position. The Cubs are 28th in baseball in BA, R and OPS with RISP. Last year we were 4th in all 3 of those categories I think. It's a major major problem and a huge reason why our offense is nowhere near as good as last years. The Cubs rank low in general. It's not just a RISP situation. It makes sense that with so few quality hitters, that when those guys do get on, and in scoring position, the only remaining hitters available to hit in those situations are the lessers hitters, who would be expected to put up worse numbers. It's not a RISP thing, it's a hitting thing, in general. They have too many weak spots and no high performers.

Downers North sucks!

And he went to the No School. http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?topic_id=4961152&content_id=4847307

Probably from his Theriot like baserunning gaffes. However, if he was ever your favorite Cub, than maybe the stupid label is misapplied. Didn't he get doubled off of 2nd base 3 times in a 2 week span? I think that was Moises Alou. Alou had some issues as well, but I'm pretty sure Jacque did the same or similar things. And I believe it was during his first couple weeks with the team.

Yeah, I don't understand targeting specific positions in the draft, especially that early. They seem to have tried to address organizational catching depth a little later, which is fine. But early on, why do they have to fit specific team needs? My impression of Wilkin's picks since coming to Chicago seems to be that he likes guys with a strong chance of making the majors, but maybe not much of a chance to do anything impressive once they get there. As somebody who hates seeing them waste big money on veteran relievers and bench players, I like that kind of guy in the system (that's how I thought of Theriot before he came up). But if you end up spending multi millions on a draft pick who might become a 4th OF or lefty specialist, then you're not better off than you are signing guys like Reed Johnson and Neal Cotts.

I have to say, I've never heard of a guy learning how to make contact after becoming a pro. I've heard about power developing later, but I've never heard about that about contact. And if a guy is going to be a 5 tool guy, making contact seems to be a prerequisite for such a description. Is there any sort of history of a limited power guy with significant trouble making contact who actually turned into a quality major leaguer?