jersey cubs fan

If it makes you feel any better, my original intention was to comment on Brain, but when I saw that was taken care of, I went with the backup plan.

I think you need to revisit your expectations. 2005 was a flukey career year. He's not going to repeat that, and he was probably never going to repeat that even before the wrist injury. Lee has been better than I thought he would have been since he came to the Cubs. The only disappointing part is that he got hurt.

He hit .392 .468 .567 in April. That's absurdly good no matter where he hits in the order, and ideal for any 3 or 4 hitter.

I saw the numbers and had to shut up haha. It seems Lee starting slow has been a big topic every start of the season, I was wrong. I do have to say that I've been a little let down by Lee, I hope he has a great season. This spring, or as a Cub in general. If it's this spring, I don't understand what there is to be let down by. Spring training results do not matter at all.

Great point. the slow starters seem to be focusing only on the homers, but Lee was hitting like crazy. He was racking up doubles like nobody's business. Yes, very good point. He was hitting over .400 for a long time and could not stop hitting doubles.

Eckstein probably does.

Not really. Hillary could quit tonight. It could go all the way to the convention. And even if we do know the specific date the primary will die, the discussion could still continue. Both are going to live for the next couple weeks, because even if either thing hits a climax within a day or two, the discussion will continue. Even if it goes to the end, there's a set date as to when it will end. Even if it morphs into a national election thread, we know when that will end, too. If his point is to wonder when general political discussion will end as opposed to a thread about a Baltimore Oriole, well, then it's an even dumber comparison than I thought. My final thought on this whole mess is this: I think it's as legit a poll question as most. We have two dates in mind for the Roberts trade, Opening day and the trade deadline. For the primary thread you basically have PA and the convention. If the Roberts trade happens tomorrow, the thread will live for a bit then die, probably before the Democratic candidate for president is decided. I really don't see the problem with the question - other than the somewhat illiterate manner in which it was posted. He's talking about two specific threads, and basically asking which thing you think will happen first, Roberts traded to the Cubs or the candidate determined. If you think Roberts will never be a Cubs, then you think the primary thread will end first. If you think he'll be traded soon, you think that thread will end sooner.

Lee's batting average on March 12th has absolutely no impact on how he will start the season.

And this is a ridiculous mischaracterization of what I wrote. Spring training matters. Getting in game shape matters. Getting your timing down, seeing pitches, stretching arms, the daily grind, all that stuff matters. The results don't matter. The results should not have any effect on decisions. It makes no difference whether Lee is hitting .500 right now or .100. I was going to post this. Lou wants Pie to quit swinging for the fence and utilize his other talents. He wants Soto to try hitting to the opposite field. I'd rather this be worked on now, not during games that count. Same for Lee, work on it now, don't wait for the season to start. They are working on it now, and nobody is asking for anything else.

Even if Lou can somehow see that Lee is getting the timing down, he can't punish a guy (ie, work him harder) into fixing such a problem. Hitting is a funny thing over the course of an entire season. It's downright hilarious in spring training. I'm hoping Lou was just tired of answering questions about the closer spot and Pie's nuts and decided to just make up a new story that he knew the writers would be forced to run with. Because if he actually is upset with the hitters for not hitting and thinks they need to completely change their plan based on two weeks of results of sporadic spring training stats, then he's an idiot.

Not really. Hillary could quit tonight. It could go all the way to the convention. And even if we do know the specific date the primary will die, the discussion could still continue. Both are going to live for the next couple weeks, because even if either thing hits a climax within a day or two, the discussion will continue.

I think his problem is he feels like he has to say what he said, rather than actually believe it.

And this is a ridiculous mischaracterization of what I wrote. Spring training matters. Getting in game shape matters. Getting your timing down, seeing pitches, stretching arms, the daily grind, all that stuff matters. The results don't matter. The results should not have any effect on decisions. It makes no difference whether Lee is hitting .500 right now or .100.

Isn't this the same crap they've done with the Red Sox for years? I certainly wouldn't call it a new attitude.

I think you are grossly mischaracterizing people's reactions to what Lou said.

I hope he's concerned about this. It's his job to be and to get the team ready to play come Opening Day. Derrek Lee will hit, and likely as soon as he needs to. Risking overextending anyone, especially him, is the opposite of smart. These guys are doing repetitive hitting drills and/or taking batting practice every day. Do you really think an additional 3-4 at bats in a Spring game is overextending him? I certainly don't. Especially with a guy like Lee who is used to playing 150 games a year. It's not quite as simple to say he'll start to hit when he "needs to." Nobody is saying anything about one extra game. The point is, spring training results are meaningless, and adding work to try and fix "bad results" is foolish. Making any sort of decisions based on spring training results is stupid.

I hope he's concerned about this. It's his job to be and to get the team ready to play come Opening Day. Derrek Lee will hit, and likely as soon as he needs to. Risking overextending anyone, especially him, is the opposite of smart. This whole idea of "overextending" someone is a construct of this thread and has nothing to do with anything. Are you suggesting it's impossible to use a guy too much in the spring? That there is no need for off days or rest, or easing into the everyday grind of the season?

It's actually quite true. Hendry has put together a highly flawed expensive team. With the resources he's had, there's no reason why this team should have ever finished below .500 once in his tenure, let alone be under .500 for most of it. And not one 90 win season is just despicable. Hendry sucks.

Houston is definitely not in the southwest. Well not technically, but close enough for me. I find Texas as a whole to be closer to Southwestern in nature (if not geography) than anything else. But isn't he in Florida now anyway?

Too old for training he is.

But they do like Woodson. I didn't like him in the 1st, but if the Bears can get him later, I'd be fine with it.

While Lee got his power back in the second half, I think it's still fair to say it didn't return all the way to where it was at its peak. Slugging a high number for a half a season is not the same as repeating what you did in your carer year. It's still very much in doubt how much power Lee will have going forward. It's almost certainly not going to compare to 2005.

Yeah, I have mixed feelings on this. If he follows through on the threat, it's stupid. If he's really upset that guys aren't hitting well, it's stupid. But if these are just words, and lighting fires under asses a bit, fine by me. It's a nice change of pace to see a Cubs manager actually hold veterans to some sort of standard and not use all their critical words on the kids.

They probably should. They aren't going to be good for several years, wasting his best, and most cost effective years, and he's bound to be hurt by then anyway.