jersey cubs fan

But then look at their record vs teams outside the division. They've beaten up on some bad teams, White Sox, Nationals, Giants, while struggling versus every contender or pseudo contender in the rest of the NL, AZ, LA, SD, NYM, PHI, ATL, with the lone exception of Colorado. Of course, the sweep against FLA muddies that picture a bit.

This looks like 03' and 04'. The result was just better in 03'. Yeah, it's funny that the general consensus is 2003 was better, when in fact, they won one more game in 2004. The difference is the competition. It's sort of similar to serving praise on a clutch hit by a guy who puts a dribbler through the hole or being pissed at a guy who hits are sharp grounder right at somebody. If this team wins the division with 85 wins, people are going to place it well above the 2004 team and say they "came through".

A long reliever does not mean the game is already won or lost. Your starter could get knocked out, for one reason or another, in the 4th or 5th, or even the 6th, with the back of the bullpen all tired. I wouldn't put Wood in anything close to that roll. I would think they are looking for somebody to be a long reliever, and spot starter. They will need a 6th starter at least once, with the DH coming up. And some of the other guys could use a rest.

I'd rather he start and put Marquis for the long man. I doubt they suddenly pull Marquis from the rotation now, especially since in the last month he has stopped his downward trend. Most likely true. It was going to take a lot to get the 3-year contract out of the rotation anyway. Marshall and Lilly both have 180 inning issues, and Hill could probably use a bit of a break at any moment.

Why do so many characterize it as super man love? The vast majority of the pro Murton crowd thinks he can be a good, but not great, hitting LF if he plays everyday. The greatest value is that he can produce for cheap, which allows you to spend big elsewhere. Murton produced in the minors, and he's produced in the majors both in 2005 and 2006. Over the second half of last year he was tremendous, 912 OPS. He also does something the Cubs as a team do not do, but need to do more of, which is accept walks. He gets on base. Going into this year, all signs were pointing up. Career OPS+ over 100, 25 years old, solid approach, $350,000 salary with no longterm committment. People like guys who produce. People don't like when management wastes resources on marginal improvements over guys that produce or actually get guys who produce less than the guy they liked in the first place. People aren't putting Murton in the HOF, they were putting him in their starting lineups. The Cubs have put him on the backburner.

Right now we've got Jones playing against both LHP and RHP. Tell me, does adding Monroe into the mix to face the LHPs strengthen or weaken the OBP situation? Try and keep up man.

Whoa doctor, Hendry and his love for the 30 year olds. Are we looking forward to a 2008 OF that features Monroe and his .258/.303/.448 97 OPS+ career line in a prominent position? I really hope we only see this guy on the roster for the next 10 weeks. More needless piling on and assuming all sorts of facts not in evidence. The evidence suggests Hendry and co. see Monroe as the RH equivalent of Randall Simon or Daryle Ward -- a useful reserve/spot starter with a specialized skillset (in this case hitting LHP) and some defensive flexibility. There's absolutely nothing here to suggest that Hendry's got bigger plans than that for the guy, either now or in the future. And so what if the guy's 30? That's not even close to old for a typical ballplayer. Hendry's right to expect he's still got a lot left in the tank. You're really reaching to find fault with Hendry for making this deal. You are really clueless. I've said multiple times I don't have a problem with the deal. I'm merely raising an eyebrow to some comments by Hendry, comments that align themselves with his tendancy to provide unwarrented contract offers to undeserving players. The point about 30 is Hendry clearly doesn't understand the concept of players' prime years. Over and over it's been shown the prime of a career is 26-29, but Hendry repeatedly acts as though prime years are in the 30's.

If the Cubs do keep Monroe for next season, and platoon him with Jones in RF, with Pie in center, on the surface, it might sound good. But think about that OF OBP. The AVG OBP in the NL this year is .332. That includes, obviously, pitchers, catchers, middle infielders and bench players. Last year it was .334. Right now, only Soriano is above that level, at just .336. But he's only surpassed that number twice in his career and is a career .327 guy. Pie is certainly no great bet to beat the .332 mark next season (and neither would a dark horse candidate like Colvin). Monroe and Jones would seem to be a potentially great platoon in right, but neither is a sure thing to succeed against the opposing armed pitchers. Jones has just a .318 OBP against RHP this year, and Monroe is .317 vs LHP. Of the two, Jones is the only one with a relatively decent OBP against his potential platoon, at .341 for his career. Monroe is just .322 career vs LHP. And of course Soriano, Monroe and Jones would all be more than a few years past their prime producing ages. You might see above average power out of that OF (might), but more likely than not, you'll be getting below average OBP, and in comparison to other OF, well below average. The last thing this team needs is more weakness in the OBP department.

I'm not so sure success of 2007 will determine Hendry's job status at all. I think it depends greatly on when the ownership change takes place. The earlier, the better chance they overhaul the front office. If it's not for a while, then I think the current regime remains status quo. If they tank from now until October, then maybe they make a move to placate the fans. But a deep run into the playoffs is not necessary. Even if they miss the playoffs, they will spin anything above .500 as a tremendous success, coming off last year's failure. I understand the making the guy feel good routine. The problem is I've seen Hendry make new guys feel good by offering unwarrented extensions to people like Neifi, Rusch, Blanco and Alfonseca. It seems pretty clear to me the Cubs have more or less given up on Murton. There has to be some thought about 2008 right now, and more likely than not, they will have to go with a relatively cheap RF, given all their other financial commitments.

I'm pretty sure there's no way this is true.

Whoa doctor, Hendry and his love for the 30 year olds. Are we looking forward to a 2008 OF that features Monroe and his .258/.303/.448 97 OPS+ career line in a prominent position? I really hope we only see this guy on the roster for the next 10 weeks. I think he pretty much said it right there. If Monroe performs like he is likely to perform, he will probably only be with the team for the remainder of the season. Now if he tears it up for the next 10 weeks..... Of course when the time comes, there is no guarantee Jim will be the one making the decision whether to keep him or not. The question then is, what would Jim consider to be tearing it up? I'd imagine Monroe could come up with some big timely hits and homers, and be considered by some to be tearing it up, while still actually putting up some seriously pathetic numbers overall. Regardless, even if he does do something like OPS 900 the rest of the way, does that justify trying to keep a guy like Monroe around? His peak is clearly in his past, his age 27 season .293/.337/.488 115 OPS+ (which, oddly enough, was heavily weighted toward hitting RHP). He pulled back to his more normal numbers as he approached 30, and is now nothing more than one trick pony. Granted, that trick is fun and all, and I've got no problem with him being on the team right now. But any sort of attempt to bring him back next year at anything more than a nominal one year contract would be very foolish, regardless of how he finishes up 2007. *I'm operating on the assumption that Hendry will be very much involved in decision making this offseason until I see the actual news release of his dismissal. He's already lasted 2 more seasons than he deserved and is signed through 2008.

I don't think the motivation was to specifically give them time to decide between Murton and Pie in the playoffs, rather, it provides them flexibility in general, not having to send anybody down for Soriano when he returns.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=24253 Whoa doctor, Hendry and his love for the 30 year olds. Are we looking forward to a 2008 OF that features Monroe and his .258/.303/.448 97 OPS+ career line in a prominent position? I really hope we only see this guy on the roster for the next 10 weeks.

How so? First and foremost, negligent usage by an inept manager that most likely led to some of his injuries. Secondly, the Cubs have more or less played along with the crowd who believes Prior is a wuss who isn't man enough to pitch through pain. They repeatedly said there's nothing wrong with him, when in fact, it turns out there was some serious problems.

You have been around long enough to know that people who treat Hendry like he shot their dog will not let facts get in the way of their arguments. Why do you see fit to make yourself the commentary critic of NSBB? What makes you superior to us mere mortals? Tell me please, I'd really like to know. Was it your upbringing or your education? Enlighten us all with your wisdom. Please get over it. I was hardly commenting on all of NSBB. My comment was directed at a vocal minority who seem to allow their hate of Jim Hendry to color their opinions. The irony of your post is that you often respond to hyperbole with sarcasm. So when you take that tact it's "ok", but when others do it it's not? Here's a thought: If you don't like what I post, put me on ignore or pm a mod. Otherwise, quit trolling everything I write. Anybody in particular?

I suspect this as well. I think it's likely that the Cubs' only chance to keep Prior for another year is to tender a contract and fork over the $3M. Prior may legitimately feel that the Cubs treatment has already cost him millions of dollars he would have earned this year, and next, by making him unavailable (yes, they did also pay him millions, but that was justified by his draft status and early success). I think the only way to get him to come back, without just tendering, is to offer him something like $1m guaranteed next year, with the potential to make $8-10m in incentives, via different things, like making the 25 man roster, throwing 25, 50, 100, 150, 180 and 200 IP, etc. Then throw in a $10m team option, with a $1.5m buyout. Brings the total guarantee to about $2.5, below what he'd get in a tender, but because of that, you're giving him a chance to make $20m additionally.

And he will start Thursday...bye bye Al Alburquerque! I also irrationally hate certain 21-year old Dominican kids on the basis of 11 appearances. Theres never any hatred. But he gave us no chance to win and get in the playoffs and thats what we are playing for. He was way overmatched at this level and always "hurt" The only thing they are playing for is possibly developing into future major league baseball players. Getting Peoria to the playoffs is pretty meaningless.

Buck Coats was designated for assignment. Was wondering when he'd finally be removed.

I'm thinking this as well, but I don't remember if it was the same guy. I do remember Lou slobbering all over some obscure guy though.

Damn good? $100m and we're barely over .500, and he's been damn good? Or we could be the White Sox? Over 100m and in last place? Some guys find anyway to bitch about anything that happens trade-wise. We could get Albert Pujols in a trade for Derrek Lee, and sign him to a 7 year deal, and people would still complain. And then we could get Vlad, and people would still complain about getting him because we traded away our best prospects. it's never ending. (I'm not stating Monroe is anywhere close to the talent of these two guys, but give the guy a chance before you bitch about it.) Very stupid post. It's all true. Actually none of it is. Nobody would complain about those trades. Comparing a $100m that's about a game over .500 over 4 years of Hendry with no 90 win seasons with a last place team that won a WS 2 years ago is asinine. This stupid concept that we have to be happy about anything because somebody else has it worse off is ridiculous. And to top it off, this stupid post was in response to me and I wasn't even complaining about the Monroe deal.

Damn good? $100m and we're barely over .500, and he's been damn good? Or we could be the White Sox? Over 100m and in last place? Some guys find anyway to bitch about anything that happens trade-wise. We could get Albert Pujols in a trade for Derrek Lee, and sign him to a 7 year deal, and people would still complain. And then we could get Vlad, and people would still complain about getting him because we traded away our best prospects. it's never ending. (I'm not stating Monroe is anywhere close to the talent of these two guys, but give the guy a chance before you bitch about it.) Very stupid post.

Damn good? $100m and we're barely over .500, and he's been damn good? Could he predict that Soriano, Ram and D-Lee would all be injured and/or suspended? I think having them in the lineup would have resulted in a few more Ws....not to mention we're on pace for a ~ 20 game improvement from last year. The Sox are at $105, but KW is considered a genius. You could predict Lee would struggle a bit considering the injury he was coming off of. And ARam banged up is no new thing. Soriano is usually healthy, but he's also not usually nearly as productive as he was last year. The problem with Hendry is he expects career years and doesn't account well enough for the likelihood that guys will have setbacks. He's an optimist who thinks that if a guy hit .300 once he's a .300 hitter.

Damn good? $100m and we're barely over .500, and he's been damn good?

This isn't old. At all. Hendry's crappy signings are.

But then we would hear it even worse every time he gets a hit with his new team. Sweet, more ignorant baseless dramatization of what people are saying about Murton. Awesome.