WilcoFan

Wow. Just wow. That's just pathetic. It's pathetic that management's idiocy forces us to hope for these things to happen in order to get our best players on the field. Meanwhile, Carlos Marmol is protecting three-run leads while our mop-up guy is pitching in one-run games. No. Its pathetic that people feel the need to express their own idiocy by wishing injury on someone, regardless of how well that person is playing. End of story.

Wow. Just wow. That's just pathetic.

God bless game thread overreactions.

Sheets just toyed with Pie there.

The person who was going to take my tickets for tonight bailed on me. Anybody want my tickets? They're Sect. 436, Row 2. Face is $40 each. I'll gladly take $75 for the pair. PM me if you want them.

I understand how desperate you seem to be to get last word in, so you may want to direct this comment at whomever made the lineout comment.

Thanks for the advice. It truly means a lot to me. I'm touched by your concern for my epidermis.

Actually, Johnson, at his best (2006 in 134 games) had an OBP of .390. If that's a "league average OBP sort of hitter," can we have a lineup full of league average sort of hitters? Do you think that he's going to repeat his 2006 performance? Because I don't think it's especially likely. Ignore 2007 and you've still got to regress to the mean and apply an aging curve; ignoring 2007 is ignoring valuable information to add to our forecast. And so while his .390 OBP for the Jays two years ago was nice, I don't know that it qualifies as the best case scenario for Johnson this season. I can't use Excel at work, sadly, but if I'm remembering correctly, Johnson's composite forecast for this season wasn't especially spectacular, with an OBP around .325 or so. I have no idea whether or not he's going to repeat his performance, seeing as how he was injured most of last year with a herniated disc that required surgery. 2007 should not be ignored, but it also needs to carry a caveat. Given that he had one year of .390 OBP, got injured, then posted a year of .305 OBP, and considering his performance thus far this year, I would not be surprised to see him end the season closer to the .390 than the .305.

Seriously. Ryan Theriot hit a single yesterday. I want you to find me a quote from anyone that says that Ryan Theriot will never hit a single. I'll wait. Take all the time you need. Oh? Nobody has said that? Okay then. The argument against Ryan Theriot is not that he will never, ever do anything, and will hit .000/.000/.000 with zero putouts and zero assists. The argument is that over the course of a full season, Ryan Theriot is unlikely to be especially productive at shortstop - his median forecast is basically right at replacement level, and his high-end forecast still falls short of league average production from his position. He will occasionally have good days, sure - I'm sure I can find some game-winning hits from Neifi Perez if I go back and check the play-by-play records. But over time, the likelihood is that the bad days will outnumber the good. That said. If for whatever reason you will only be satisfied with Ryan Theriot's detractors if we say bad things about him even on the good days - I am there. I am so there. If that's really all that you need to... well, I have no idea why this seems to bother you, but if it does, I will go ahead and provide that valuable service to you. So far as I am capable, I will go ahead and find a way to communicate to you, personally, Ryan Theriot's worth as a starting shortstop - in game threads, in postgame discussions... any time, any place. You're welcome in advance. I think I am in love with this post! Welcome to the boards. Me too, because just what these boards need is more condescending posts.

Actually, Johnson, at his best (2006 in 134 games) had an OBP of .390. If that's a "league average OBP sort of hitter," can we have a lineup full of league average sort of hitters?

Get the pitchforks out. This year's Jacque Jones just made a mistake. Let the avalanche begin.

The reactions by the coaches when he hit that home run definitely signal that they want him to succeed probably more than anyone on this board. That was a fun moment.

I think Fukudome has seen upwards of 30 pitches himself tonight.

Only 2 runs for the Cubs, but they've forced Maine to throw 88 pitches. Yay new Cubs offense.

This is not so much an argument as much as a question for those more attuned to MiLB than I: Wasn't Theriot a switch hitter through much of his minor league career with some pretty nasty splits that might affect the crappiness of his overall minor league numbers?

The guy is ridiculously hot, and will cool off. His numbers will drop. HOWEVER, what's significantly more impressive is his at bats. He has become much better at drawing walks, and if he continues to do so (regardless of how much his BABIP levels off), he'll be a very solid option in the lineup.

As awful as the 7th inning stretch is now, its nice to see actual Cubs fans do it.

The patience this team has shown over the last few weeks has been infinitely more impressive than the hits. Of course the team will go through stretches where it can't hit the ball, but if it continues this impressive ability to take pitches, it should avoid those long, agonizes stretches of 1-2 runs scored per game that absolutely aggravate most of us here.

As I wrote in the game thread, it has just taken a year to get the Dustys out.

So you're saying that Johan Santana and Jake Peavy should pitch relief because they'd be more valuable there. Not necessarily, but I'm just not sure what kind of upgrade Marmol provides to this team relative to overall team wins for the season if he were to be a starter versus a reliever. However, if you could theoretically bring in Johan Santana or Jake Peavy to any game that is close throughout a season and had competent starting pitching, I could see how an argument could be made that they would be more valuable to overall team wins using that strategy. I'm also not sure if that strategy would even be physically possible. I guess the rule is that you want your best pitchers pitching in the situations that are most likely to help your team win the most games. You want a really ridiculous, out-of-the-box idea? Eliminate "starters" and "relievers" and just have every pitcher on the team throw until they run into trouble (or, for obvious reasons, run into pitch count issues). Inevitably, your best pitchers would throw more innings, and the remainder of your pitchers could (theoretically) throw the innings that involve the least risk. You can throw the Kevin Harts and Jason Marquises of the staff against the least successful offenses, and be able to bring in Carlos Zambranos when games are on the line. I'm sure there are arm issues raised by this strategy, but hey, its out there.

Wouldn't it be nice to have an argument about which of our two <.800 OPS shortstops should play on a regular basis? I hope you mean >.800 OPS. :wink: Yeah...that's what I meant (stupid not remembering that "the Pac-Man eats the bigger number")

Wouldn't it be nice to have an argument about which of our two <.800 OPS shortstops should play on a regular basis?

Ned Yost also took Braun out in a tie game for defensive purposes. :lol: So he sucks that badly in LF? Ouch. Well at least Ned thinks so. He does suck badly in LF, but taking him out in a tie game is nothing short of idiotic.

Ron just said he didn't look like he was hurting in the slightest. Current hopeful explanation is simply to give Ward some garbage time ABs. I hope this is true. The note at the end of the live box score is very worrisome: " CHICAGO FIRST BASEMAN DERREK LEE LEFT THE GAME IN THE TOP OF THE SIXTH INNING WITH AN UNDISCLOSED INJURY. " Len and Bob just said it didn't seem like a big deal.

I understand that, and I have no problem with it whatsoever. Personally, I believe that, over the long haul, Cedeno would be an improvement, too. HOWEVER Theriot has not in any way hurt the Cubs chances to win thus far this season, and yet many people will not let a Theriot at bat (or defensive play, or quote in the paper) go by without making a stupid "grit" joke, or talking about how he's a "black hole," or making Neifi Perez comparisons. So many people rightly want to call out stupid broadcasters, media people, etc., for perpetuating ignorant stereotypes about players like Hill, Pie, etc. I just wish some of them would take their own advice and let the numbers be their guide, not try to guide the numbers with the same arrogance the ignorant media people do.