jersey cubs fan

If the Cubs manage to finish the month 3-2, they'll be on pace for 65 wins.

1) What about Floyd? 2) What did he do this time? 1) Excuse me, I must have seen only a partial list-Theriot has been a little higher than Floyd 2) basehit by Floyd, Theriot goes to second. ball gets a little bit away from third base, Theriot tries to run to third, gets thrown out easily. Sounds like some aggressive Baker ball to me. These guys got to learn that getting one extra base is not nearly as valuable as staying on base in the first place.

I could see Lou leaving on these conditions: Cubs continue to flounder, plus new owner comes in looking to make big changes to management. Yankees miss the playoffs and Torre gets canned. At this point I could see the Cubs, Yankees and Lou agreeing to make some sort of deal.

1) What about Floyd? 2) What did he do this time?

Good god I hope so... So when Izterrible loses his job, that will be 4 Mil on the bench, add in extra $$$ that Floyd will get, plus the $$$ Prior is getting...we will have a ton of dead money. Money that could have been used to close the Zambrano deal before the tribune sale. This is why Jim Hendry is one of the worst GM's in the game. 329-339

The only solution might be usurping control from Hendry and overhauling the roster.

That's rationalizing his decision, not defending it. Just because there is traditionalist logic behind his moves doesn't mean they are justified.

They are amateurs, so what's the point of defending them against being called amateurish?

If he's really only going to play against LHP, then AAA is the best option. I'm really just shocked (I don't know why) that anyone would consider only playing Murton against LHP with this roster. Shocked. I shouldn't be surprised (and to some extent, I'm not) but it's absurd. It really doesn't have that much to do with Murton. It has to do with the fact that we have no left handed bats in the infield (save Izturis, and he doesn't count), so we have to get left handers in the lineup somehow (cubs organizational philosophy). That means the left handed bats HAVE to come from CF and RF, hence, no Murton. Except none of that actually HAS to happen.

It's a matter of days before Floyd and/or Jones play themselves out of the lineup - a la Izturis. Weep not for Murton. Unfortunately, he needs both to play themselves out of the lineup.

If he's really only going to play against LHP, then AAA is the best option.

There isn't a single team in baseball that has a lower OPS than the Cubs 3 OF have. In all seriousness, they have to option Murton back to AAA. Get him playing every day again and racking up a 900+ OPS, to either be ready when they finally clear some room on the roster for him, or increase his trade value. You probably won't be able to get much for a guy that you are willingly sitting for Jones and Floyd right now.

They seem to be taking the position that they will not allow the Briggs situation to force their hand. I would say there is a good chance they pass on Posluszny, and look to take either a WR or OL with the 1st pick (or trade down).

Murton needs to learn to contribute on special teams. Maybe he can start making tackles on kickoffs or be a long snapper.

Don't forget to add in Izturis' daily DP. Well, I was just highlighting the baserunning error. GIDPs happen. Getting picked off 2nd when there's a soft liner almost right at the 2B should not happen. Others days it's oversliding a bag, or getting caught stealing in a dumb situation, or pulling a Jacque2006/Soriano2007. For a team with so few baserunners, they have too many of them getting themselves out.

I'll give them credit...yesterday they did get an awful lot of hits...its hard to get that many hits and have so little to show for it. Not really. They only had two walks. This team's problem is walks, they walk too many and don't walk enough. They had 9 hits in 33 AB, that's a .273 AVG which is actually pretty good for a team AVG. They had a .314 OBP last night, which is very bad for a team OBP. That pretty much sums up the Cubs, and is why they "seem" to score fewer runs than they "should". Throw in another runner stupidly getting picked/doubled off and it gets that much harder to score with so few baserunners.

Daily set lineup, yes. But, did he specifically say it was the lineup he fielded on Tuesday? Pretty much every writer insinuated the same thing.

Yeah, Lou's actions haven't exactly matched up well with his words.

How many of those teams were also coming off 90 loss seasons when they started slowly in April? All slow starts are not equal. Of that group, the only one I can think of that was coming off a bad year was the Dodgers.

I picked Tampa. I'd go with Boston, but they're ability to beat the Yankees is overshadowed the overall obnoxiousness of everything about them since 2004. When Tampa beats the Yankees, the Boss goes crazy, and the Yankees are just embarrassed.

Why are people so sure of this? They haven't hit for years, and the team is mostly the same. The Cubs have physically talented hitters, but they don't have many great hitters. Right now you have a CF who may actually be less productive than Pierre was last year, as well as a SS who may be less productive than last year's shortstops. 2B remains questionable, as DeRosa has surprised on the upside with the HRs, but has disappointed in the AVG/OBP department. Lee may have returned to his 2nd tier status as a 1B, without any power he's not elite. Jones had a career year last year after a slow start, and he's off to an even slower start this year, with no guarantee of duplicating those numbers. You've got a C platoon that is basically repeating what they did last year. With Soriano in LF, he'll have to improve a lot just to get to his career averages, never mind his 2006 peak season. And if he just repeats his career averages, he's barely better than last year's LF, and that's only due to a couple more HR's, he'll be a downgrade in OBP. So, even if you get guys who are currently underperforming to get back to their career norms, you could have a relatively weak offense. Bottom line is, we don't know that this team is going to hit. Many people assumed this offense was going to rock, especially announcer types who like the big names of Ramirez, Lee and Soriano. But the same flaws that led them to the back of the pack the past few years are still there: lack of walks, numerous black hole positions, reliance on veterans to repeat career years. They might hit, if guys start turning 180s and some people outperform expectations, but we don't know they will.

Chris Carpenter No he had TJS. I don't remember him having TJS, but I know he missed a season with a torn labrum.

Z is to blame for the loss as well. I know he only gave up 2 runs, but he is supposed to be an ace. An ace takes you into the 7th or 8th inning and doesnt make your bullpen have to sustain a lead for 4 2/3 innings. He got pulled after 5 1/3, that left the bullpen with 3 2/3 innings of relief. If you give up 2 runs in 3 2/3, that's a 5.40 ERA. I agree he should have done more, but even if he gets 2 more outs, and finishes the 6th, that bullpen could have easily blown the lead.

Amen my brother... They use this at Mets and Jets games. It always cracks me up because the speech didn't end up inspiring the guys. They just sat there as he ran out.

You trying to switch from suck to blow?