jersey cubs fan

Alright, somebody edit this already.

I think that's way too harsh. It's obviously a big concern and it has to be improved at some point, but it doesn't completely negate everything else. He can't hit that at the majors, and if he won't take a walk pitchers will prey on that. It doesn't negate everything, but it negates a lot. It doesn't negate everything else, but it's not like everything else is all that impressive. It would be one thing if he was hitting .350/.375/.560 with that terrible K/BB ratio and extremely low walk rate. But he's hitting just .302/.325/.489 in the minors this year. He's not a league leader with a flaw. We're talking about a guy with decent numbers and a huge red flag flaw here.

Is that right? Outstanding. As soon as he's "healthy" and pitching well, trade him before the duct tape and bailing wire break. Or the Cubs could decide if they want him as a RP or a SP and not jerk him around. The Cubs do plenty of things wrong, but you are really stretching to blame them for Guzman's fragility. I'm not blaiming them at all. But let me run this by you and see what you think. A GM of a team has a talented but frequently injured young pitcher. He has been injury free for a while. The GM decides break camp with him as a reliever for the MLB club, then after approximately three weeks of inconsistent and infrequent use he decides he wants him to start so he send him back down to AAA to "stretch" his arm. He gets three starts in AAA then he gets sent back to the MLB club. Then from May 6 to May 17 he gets 3 starts in the majors. He doesn't do bad but cannot get out of the 5th inning. Then the GM and manager decide they want him in the bullpen where he is used approximately every two days until he comes up with an injury about a month later. Would you say this is a good plan for a "fragile" young pitcher? The Cubs always seem to take the "if he's going to get hurt, he's going to get hurt" approach to dealing with young arms.

I would take the under on 24 wins, but 88 should win the division with plenty of room to spare.

What guy doesn't want a poorly rendered illustration of his wife removing her panties PERMANENTLY TATTOOED to his arm? I'm sure his kids won't be embarrassed when he takes them to the beach. What makes you so sure that's a poorly rendered illustration?

I definitely think he's got more of a chance to be a solid everyday CF, defensively. But there's still a chance he'll be pushed to a corner, where his productivity wouldn't be as special.

Does anyone know of any good outfield bats coming into free agency this year? Sulley's a big Andruw fan. He give up on Edmonds yet?

I get annoyed when people purposefully cause conflict by purposefully twisting words. Come on goony. You know that prefering Murton over Floyd = thinking Murton is a perennial all-star, MVP candidate whom you worship in the shrine to him that was once your living room. Admit it. Oh that's absolutely true, I was just letting him know what I get annoyed about.

I get annoyed when people purposefully cause conflict by purposefully twisting words.

Does anyone know of any good outfield bats coming into free agency this year? Abreu might be.

You were one of the few. I'm pretty sure most here wanted Murton to play the outfield full-time (including me). I'd say it's a fair wager Murton would have been much better early in the season had he not been playing for his job every time he actually did play, which wasn't often. I expected Floyd to be better than he's been (the fact that he has a lower IsoP than Pierre last year is cause for his immediate dismissal), but I still thought it was a redundant/pointless signing. I thought he was redundent, but I didn't have a big problem with the signing. I wasn't gung-ho for it, but I've always liked Cliff and was hoping for a comeback season. I was hoping it would be Murton in Left 75% of the time though, with Jones in center and Soriano in right.

Anderson is a name to keep in mind when thinking about Tyler Colvin's future. His best year in the minors was age 22 in AAA. He hit .321/.356/.499 with 93 K and 28 BB in 505 AB. His career minor league line was .291/.329/.399 with 428 K and 122 BB in 2130 AB. He was a regular in the majors by age 23 and hit for average from Day 1. Power came with time, as he peaked in the 28-38 HR range in his late 20's and early 30's. Anderson was a year ahead of Colvin, as his only AA time was half of his age 20 season, and he played a full year of AAA at age 21. Colvin's got a bit more power already, but that may be partially offset by him being a little older. Colvin's got a significantly worse K/BB ratio. But he's got a similar good (but not fantastic) average, terrible patience, and marginal power. I believe Colvin is significantly more athletic, as Anderson has never possesed any significant SB potential, but both were kind of tweeners between CF and a corner spot. If Colvin were to mirror Anderson's career, it would be viewed as a success story, and he could provide value to the team. But they'd have to cut bait long before he signs a free agent sized contract.

Fine...so playing Murton won't help this year...but it might help next...or the year after that. I guess I feel like we're getting on some crappy plane, and there's only two seats left. They're both just as semi-comfortable...both recline only half of about what they should...but one is newer and has some better upholstry. When all else is the same, why would you sit in the older, beat up, and maybe slightly lumpier chair? You should have checked in on-line 24 hours in advance and gotten a better seat.

Why the hell are you breaking out splits? Murton was productive last year. Floyd was not. It's freaking simple. There's no need for clarification......................... So you'd agree that Jacque Jones was productive last year and there's no need to break out splits? WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING Good Lord. We should either be mindful of splits or we shouldn't. But you can't have it both ways. What in the bright orange squeaky hell are you talking about? The statement you're calling into question is that Murton has been productive recently and is more likely to perform productively in the futire, and that Floyd isn't. That has absolutely nothing to do with splits. Floyd is 1.8 bajilion years old. his power is gone, he's injury prone, and he's not very valuable. Murton has struggled, but he put up a .800+ OPS in close to a full season last year, and he's in his prime years. That's the point. Splits have jack to do with that, yet for some reason you keep bringing up splits. Have you even read anything you're responding to? And then you bring up Jacque Jones. Why did I even ask? Of course you're not actually reading what people are saying. I think it's you that's not reading what's being posted. Please see my enumerate point No. 1 above. I'm calling into question how anyone can say with a straight face that Murton has been productive over the last two years against RHP but Floyd has not. NOBODY SAID THAT. THAT'S MY POINT. Holy crap. Nobody said exactly that, but it was strongly implied via the statement that Murton has been productive and Floyd has not. I don't think that the splits bear that out. It wasn't strongly implied. It's just a fact. Murton has been productive in the recent past, and Floyd has not. It's freaking stupid to bring up splits vs RHP when we are talking about overall performance. It has nothing to do with the conversation.

Why the hell are you breaking out splits? Murton was productive last year. Floyd was not. It's freaking simple. There's no need for clarification.........................

I went to bed just as the 8th ended. I was able to keep opening my eyes for each pitch in the top of the 9th, until the Cubs actually took the lead. Then I decided not to fight the sleep and just watch the rest of the 9th on DVR this morning.

Actually, it wasn't. I'm pretty sure after Piggy's 1 pitch outing on Saturday Eyre said that he had an outing where he threw exactly 0 pitches. He came in, picked the guy off of second to end the inning, and then his team hit a home run to win the game the next inning. Yeah, I think he said it was in college, so technically, that wasn't during his career. :D

I can't believe you really need an explanation, it's fairly simple. Matt Murton was productive last year, and Floyd was not. Given their ages, it could be expected to see improvement in Murton, and not Floyd. Seriously, you didn't need that explained. What I needed explained is why you think Murton's .782 OPS v. RHP "was productive" but Floyd's .765 OPS v. RHP "was not productive." Unless, in your view, the line at which a player becomes "productive" falls between a .765 and .782 OPS. What a stupid post. Nice laydown. Seriously, you're asking me to explain something I never said. Murton was productive last year and is at an age where you can reasonably expect improvement. Floyd wasn't productive last year and is clearly broken down. It's just asinine to try and pretend the two are in the same boat.

I can't believe you really need an explanation, it's fairly simple. Matt Murton was productive last year, and Floyd was not. Given their ages, it could be expected to see improvement in Murton, and not Floyd. Seriously, you didn't need that explained. What I needed explained is why you think Murton's .782 OPS v. RHP "was productive" but Floyd's .765 OPS v. RHP "was not productive." Unless, in your view, the line at which a player becomes "productive" falls between a .765 and .782 OPS. What a stupid post.

Yeah, he was pretty good, but nothing special, for a brief time. And now he's old, and not good.

I can't believe you really need an explanation, it's fairly simple. Matt Murton was productive last year, and Floyd was not. Given their ages, it could be expected to see improvement in Murton, and not Floyd. Seriously, you didn't need that explained.

If......... then? Maybe I'm just not watching much, but I don't see the hype. They are hyping up the upcoming season, of course, but I don't see them hyping up preseason games specifically.

Haha, nice move trying to dump him off on the Cards or Brewers I was wondering about that quote, whether it indicated Hill didn't want to go back to the minors, and the Cubs are trying to accomodate him, or if the Cubs have no interest in keeping him around, given the relative depth of the position down there now.

Slugging Percentage: Floyd .380 Murton .371 I'm just saying. Murton has 4 hrs and 9 doubles in 178 ab's while Floyd has 4 hr's and 8 doubles in 220 ab's. Floyd hasnt hit a hr since June 26, my God thats pathetic. OPS: Cliff Floyd .744 Matt Murton .699 The bottom line is that they're both terrible and should not be starting corner outfielders for a pennant-contending team. And yet, one of them will be, and only Murton has shown signs of being productive within the past year.

I don't know if I'm evenly divided or not, but I tend to go on a long run of one or the other. I'll read 5 or 6 history (war, president, nations, etc) books and then a bunch of fiction (crime mostly). But I haven't read much in the past few weeks. I need to go on a new buying spree.