jersey cubs fan

Why can't it be? If a pitcher hits well enough, they should be considered part of the bench. If you count this year, then 3 out of the last 4 years Marquis has hit .292, .310, and .273. Also between 2004-2006, he was 6-19 as a pinch hitter with 1 2B and 1 3B. With the Cubs roster right now, putting Marquis up there is just as effective as Izturis, Cedeno, Blanco, or Pie. ...which should tell you exactly how much trouble we're in. Marquis is a .225 lifetime hitter, according to the stats I saw last night on screen. That is true, but that's because he went 7 for 73 in his years with Atlanta. Somebody with St. Louis taught him how to hit. In the past 3 1/2 years, he has been a .262 hitter overall. Still not awesome, but pretty good for a back of the bench guy. For pretty much any team, when you get to your 3rd or 4th best bench option, that's about as much as you can hope for. Talking about his 3 best AVG seasons is skewing the facts. He's a good hitter, FOR A PITCHER, but that is about all he is. He's a lifetime .224 hitter with a 563 OPS. Last season he hit .179 with an OPS of 466. He's had one, remotely decent season at the plate, 2005, when he put up a line of .310/.326/.460. Every other season that he's had more than 2 ABs, his OBP is sub .300. Nobody would think of somebody like this as a viable pinch hitter. It's quite likely that his 87 at bats in 2005 were more a fluke than anything else, and he's going to be a 500-600 OPS kind of guy from here on out, much like Neifi Perez's April 2005 was a fluke.

Does anyone really think that Fontenot is that much better than Izturis and or Cedeno? It sure doesn't seem like the Cubs do. They could have brought up Fontenot on many occasions and didn't. In fact they moved in the opposite direction by removing him from the 40 man roster. In order to promote him they'd have to drop someone else from the 40 man roster. Perhaps they are anticipating moving Prior to the 60 day DL. It seems to me that the best we could hope for is Fontenot replaces Cedeno on the 25 man roster and he splits time with Izturis. That to me seems more like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The Cubs don't, but this is the same organization who had Wuertz down in Iowa for nearly half a season last year. I like Fontenot and think he is a better option than Cedeno and Izturis. And I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who believes this. I think there's a good chance he'd be better offensively, but not sure if he has any chance of playing a competent SS.

So Floyd is on pace to easily eclipse the PA threshold of 425 he needs to guarantee his 2008 salary. He's going to rack up bonuses for this year as well. I believe I heard the deal started at 1 year $3m guaranteed, but could be worth as much as $17m over 2 years. That right there should be reason enough to start sitting him more frequently, let alone his sub .300 OBP and 634 OPS. Play him too much and you risk making the already dangerous payroll situation that much more unmanagable.

Hendry is responsible for each and every reason why they suck. He's the GM. He puts together the team. You don't diregard the poor record because a couple of the guys he got are doing well. So I guess whichever team wins the world title, no credit should be given to the players or manager, but just to the GM for "putting the team together." Hendry is not totally to blame. Yes, this is a flawed roster, and for that he incurs blame. Lou incurs blame for a few questionable decisions (none of them last night IMO) and the fact that he told Hendry repeatedly to not bring anyone else in. The players get blame for under performing what people like Hendry or everybody else would expect of them. There's too much blame here to put it on one person. There's plenty of blame to go around. But Hendry is ultimately the main problem. The GM is the most important person in an organization. And the Cubs have a really bad one.

What, do you mean Lou said Fonz is staying in LF even after his hammy is healed? I haven't heard that. I thought LF was still officially a method of aiding Fonz's healing process and not a permanent assignment. Everything I've read gave me the impression that it's permanent. But I'm not sure if Lou specifically said it's permanent.

Hendry is responsible for each and every reason why they suck. He's the GM. He puts together the team. You don't diregard the poor record because a couple of the guys he got are doing well.

And more than one season has ended in April. I'll never understand why Cubs fans get so uptight when other Cubs fans start to panic after a horrible start to the season. The Yankees are 1/2 a game out of last place and just lost to those last place Devil Rays. Should we write them off too? Again, we're talking about the Cubs. The Yankees are 2 games under .500, but have a recent history of early struggles still ending up with 90+ win seasons. If the Cubs won 90+ for the past 10 years, I don't think I'd be very concerned about the start. But they are 5 games under .500, playing .368 ball, coming off a season when they played just .407 ball. So your comparison is worthless.

And more than one season has ended in April. I'll never understand why Cubs fans get so uptight when other Cubs fans start to panic after a horrible start to the season.

What do you mean? I mean, his offensive ability is unique at 2nd, same as center. As a LF, he's just another bat, nowhere close to deserving the type of contract he got. He's a 2nd rate star to begin with, now he's going to be playing the easiest to fill spot on the roster (taking away his value). Add this to the fact that he's clearly not a leadoff hitter, yet he's going to be leading off for the Cubs for the foreseeable future, and it becomes clear the Cubs are getting the least bang for their buck as possible. Obviously, that's par for the course with Hendry.

He's simply not that valuable as a LF. This could really hurt whatever chance he had of living up to that contract.

Fired? They're getting bonuses from the networks for mazimizing their potential ratings.

Jets need DT help, and prefer the big boys stopping the run, as opposed to the quick guys who rush the QB. They take Paul Soliai from Utah. sorry for the delay, I've been away

Just because you keep repeating it doesn't make it true. The Cubs lack of success is their own damn fault, quit with the excuses.

Isn't that sad? Brings me back to the days of Coomer. All I hoped for when he was up with men on was a strikeout.

awesome

thanks for the story Ron.

Rich Hill laughs at Looper's credentials.

How are you blacked out in Miss if they're in Chicago? He's drunk.

Didn't somebody do that last night?

I've got the over if we're getting technical. On the 6.5 or the 5.5? The 5.5 but 6.5 wouldn't surprise me. I think they beat the Heat and scare the Pistons. Well then why all the complaining about the line? :D Seems like the number was pretty good.

I like it I don't. I don't like it. But given the crazy two day road trip, 2 flights in 48 hours, day game after night game, 8th game of 13 in a row combo, this makes some sense.

Multiple issues Day game after night game. 1st day back after a road trip. 2nd flight in 2 nights. 2 day series screw with players' rest. Felix came up from Iowa on Tuesday, debuted in the majors. Flew to Atlanta and played twice, then flew back to Chicago 2 days later. He's had a whirlwind tour. Barret resting is only par for the course. I don't like the lineup. But it's not like it's a forfeit lineup.

No. I think he'd be fine there for a couple years.

I am so sick of this term. It became the vogue phrase this March, moreso than I've ever heard. Mike and Mike said it 50 times every morning.

Too bad we couldn't have kept Prior in the minors for an extra 4 years. Or kept Baker out of Chicago for the past 4.