Bruno7481

Or, you're reading something into the post that isn't there? His splits are very strange. That was my point. Fair enough. Although anybody's 0-2 splits are going to be pretty bad.

Unreal.... The guy has pretty much played beyond expectations all season, and been one of the two most consistent hitters (other being Barrett) all season. Yet, in order to reach the "bash Jacque" quota, a crazy stat like this has to be posted.

Wow, vintage Steve Stone on ESPN. Wondering aloud why Maddux is hitting, considering everyone is rested. Said it makes no sense whatsoever.

What are the suppose to say? Of course they back the manager....then they support the new manager, just the way it is. Why the bother printing this I'll never know. That is my exact point. Eyre received some criticism on here a few days ago for the same type of comments. I seem to remember a line about all he does is "eat ho-hos and injure D Lee". It is a non-issue, 99.9% of players will publically back their manager regardless.

The tone is the same though, both players feel the focus should be off Dusty. It is completely natural for them to stand up for him, I wouldn't expect otherwise. It is not their decision of whether or not he is reatained though, and that is a good thing.

Zambrano made some comments yesterday about allowing Dusty to finish out the year and to blame the players, not him, etc. Is he going to get attacked like Eyre was for his (very similar) comments?

Hmm... nothing like a little self-promotion.

I wonder how many would be so forthcoming face to face.... Putting myself into Eyre's situation I might feel the same. It is obvious he has respect for Baker, I don't find it odd that he is supporting him. It is no secret the team has struggled, the Tribune knows that, Dusty knows that, so does Eyre. I don't think they are trying to lose. Dusty, faults and all, wants to win. I'm sure the team wants to win as well. Saying Eyre took time out from eating ho-ho's and injuring Lee is ridiculous. Come on.

Ahhh... Wouldn't be a Cubs/Brewers game without Carlos Lee hitting a HR.

which begs the question why double switch?im not worked up. but seeing it day after day gets a bit old Baker doubleswitched because he wanted to keep Novoa in the game, without having him hit in the 8th. If you bring in Novoa straight up he would have been leading off the top of the 8th. By double switching you can put in Pagan and have him hit instead.

didnt this happen last night too? or am i imagining things? it happens almost everytime Matt gets a start Is it that big of deal in a blowout? Getting Pagain some time isn't that bad of an idea. Murton has been in the pretty much everyday and playing well lately. I don't think him missing out on one AB is going to ruin him. i'd rather see him going in for jones or JP, murt needs the playing time...and didnt Pagan drop a ball on his first chance last night? It is one inning and one AB, not going to get too worked up over that. He doubleswitched w/ Murton because he is furthest down in the order. Double switching w/ Pierre, who was due up 2nd in the inning would have made absolutely no sense at all.

didnt this happen last night too? or am i imagining things? it happens almost everytime Matt gets a start Is it that big of deal in a blowout? Getting Pagain some time isn't that bad of an idea. Murton has been in the pretty much everyday and playing well lately. I don't think him missing out on one AB is going to ruin him.

Angel "Carlos Beltran" Pagan strikes again...hehe.

Who knows, but if he is truly injured then Prior is about as frail as my grandmother. The argument that he has just been victimized by freak injuries as opposed to being injury prone is loosing steam/

Why? I didn't look at the stats, Hairston's numbers may be a bit better, but if so they probably aren't by much. I should have said that they were similar players, yet Hairston never got this treatment.

Nobody that plays as often as he does is insignificant. Who cares if somebody else has been worse? The fact is he's dreadfully awful. There's no getting around that fact. He's proven it time and time again over the course of a long career. I care, because I think it is major hyperbole to repeatedly claim he is "the worst player in the league, worst in history of MLB, etc." He is a lightning rod and he shouldn't be. Blame Baker/Hendry and Co. for signing him. Personally I think Neifi has contribute more to the Cubs in a positive manner than Jerry Hairston Jr ever did.

The risk would have been completely reasonable if Hendry had even done a moderate job of filling out the rest of the lineup. Every team should try and blend in a kid or two a year, it'll allow them to spend more on actual difference makers. The problem is when you need those guys to be really good in order for your lineup to be any good. With the way this lineup was constructed, Murton had to platoon with Jones and they needed another impact corner OF. Agreed. Having Cedeno and Murton in there together wouldn't be as bad if the lineup was better. I'm not against playing young guys, I enjoy watching them play. I just don't expect huge production from them either.

No, it's not decent, a .299 OBP is pathetic. It's terrible overall, and it's bad even for a shortstop. Then what would you consider Ronny's line against lefties to be? This arguent blows up every couple of weeks it seems. Put me in the cam that believes Neifi catches a lot of unncessary criticism. SHould he have a 2 year deal? No. Would it hurt my feelings if he wasn't on the team? No. Is he as bad aas everyone wants to make him out to be? No. He's insignificant and doesn't merit as much discussion as he seems to generate. His playing time doesn't support the claim that he is insignificant. And yes, he is as bad as people claim him to be. No he's not. There have been a few guys in the past few years that have been as bad or worse than Neifi. I'm not saying he is good, don't get me wrong. Neifi doesn't control his playing time, neither do I, neither do you. He is rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

I'm not sure where Nomar would have played, really liked the guy, but I can't flame hendry too much for not committing more money to him. I'm with you on Cedeno/Murton though. It was a risk, despite the "play the kids" drive that was going around at the time. I'm all for playing them if they are good enough, so far they haven't been.

No, it's not decent, a .299 OBP is pathetic. It's terrible overall, and it's bad even for a shortstop. Then what would you consider Ronny's line against lefties to be? This arguent blows up every couple of weeks it seems. Put me in the cam that believes Neifi catches a lot of unncessary criticism. SHould he have a 2 year deal? No. Would it hurt my feelings if he wasn't on the team? No. Is he as bad aas everyone wants to make him out to be? No. He's insignificant and doesn't merit as much discussion as he seems to generate.

Who knows what will happen here. It is obvious Pie is not ready, unless he goes on a tear to finish the year I think it would be a mistake to hand him the CF job next season. Maybe they will investigate extending Pierre, or maybe they will look outside of the organization.

Since when did 150 innings become enough to blow out a pitcher's arm? Watching pitch counts is one thing, but this is a little absurd. You don't think there's any reason to be careful with a pitcher who is on his way to completely destroying his previous career high in innings pitched in a year? It's not a matter of shutting him down, but how about taking some preemptive measures with a pitcher's health instead of just assuming that health is completely up to chance? You'll have to point the area in my post where I stated there is no reason to be careful with a young pitcher...I can't find it either. I'm asking how 150 IP is the new arm blowout total, especially given 200 IP the gold standard for a durable pitcher. Marshall has only eclipsed 100 pitches twice this year, and those games were 102 PC. Seems to me Dusty's staff has been pretty careful with Marshall thus far. The kid needs to build up big league arm strength and putting him in long relief right now or removing him from the rotation only hurts his development. When you called it absurd that people were voicing concern of Marshall's IP numbers you pretty much insinuated there's no reason to be careful with his IP numbers. Nobody said 150 IP is the new arm blowup level. But 150 is beyond his career high, and he has had injuries in just about every year, so it's not absurd at all to say you would hate to see him cruise past his previous highs and blow his arm out. I think the staff has been very protective of Marshall so far this year, I don't have any complaints in that regard. I understand that 150 IP would exceed his career high. But when is it "OK" to let him exceed his career high? He is going to have to do it sometime. Would next year be ok? The year after? As long as he is handled properly, which he has been this year, you would think he' be fine. I wouldn't like to see him approach 200IP, but I wouldn't want to completely shut him down either.

Bill Hall is also a free agent after the season. Why we would want him considering that is beyond me though. Well, could always sign him and play him at SS or 2b

I don't believe that. Do you know what the league average is for the past few years? I tried finding it, but came up empty. I would think it would be way above league average. Just from personal expereince, from someone who played 4 years in college, I know how good you have to be to make it. Hitting .282 throughout your minor league career is nothing to sneeze at.

Hmmmm... I think there is a bigger chance of me becoming a White Sox fan than this happening.