NCCubFan

We don't know if he would have come around if he remained with the Cubs, though. Maybe things were so tense he needed a change of scenery. I'm not saying he wouldn't have come around with the Cubs, just that we can't assume he would have. We'll never know one way or the other.

If they don't come up before then I hope the Cubs bring Cedeno, Murton, and Pie up by the Aug. 31 deadline for postseason eligibility (assuming they're still in contention). If necessary, put Jones, Izturis, ane Floyd/Pagan on the DL with phantom "injuries" to make room. That would give the Cubs a lot of postseason flexibility, because the players on the DL and the players called up to replace them would all be eligible for postseason. At least in the case of Floyd, it's almost a given that he'll have some nagging injury that would make a trip to the DL credible anyway.

No, next is your favorite Jerry Blevins moment. :D And yes, I think this poll is unnecessary, but it's also harmless. It's basically a way of saying "we hardly knew ye."

While that is a unique characteristic of Oakland, then it would be within reason to expect his FB% to be high last year too. However, last year was right inline with his career. He has 104 FBs as opposed to 130 all of last year and right around 150 the previous years. I don't know anywhere that tracks pop fouls, but that'd have to be an awful lot of pop fouls this year over last to account for the disparity. Also, I wonder if those would be counted as infield fly balls (most of the extended foul territory is in the IF and rarely do corner OFs make it all the way past the line to make foul catches). Hes right inline with his career on that stat. Has anyone mentioned that Gerald Perry (Kendall's hitting coach last year), was heavily in favor of the trade. Maybe Perry has already pinpointed something that Kendall is not doing or believes he can easily get Kendall turned around? I haven't read many of the articles to see if there are quotes from Perry, but word is that this is a Gary Hughes acquisition. I imagine though that being the hitting coach and working with Kendall last year, Perry had a pretty decent say in the matter, so if Perry wasn't behind it, thge trade probably wouldn't have happened. Actually, if Perry wasn't behind it, Hughes most likely wouldn't have even been scouting Kendall. I think a likely scenerio is that Perry recommended Kendall based on his familiarity with Jason from last year, so Hendry sent Hughes to scout him. Hughes then presented a favorable report, so Hendry pulled the trigger.

Dempster is expected back within the week, and Wood may return in August. The bullpen is in fine shape as it is.

If he's able to return there's no doubt in my mind that he would return as backup catcher and Hill would go. I'm not sure how certain it is he will return, since he had a recent setback with a shoulder injury.

Actually it was for Kendall and Burke, who seems to be coming on lately in the minors.

9948 (9901 through 2006 plus 47 so far this year). They'd need to win 99 games in the regular season to reach 10,000 this year. Ain't gonna happen. Yeah..... sez who ??? :bluekoolaid: If they do it will be the best tasting crow I've ever eaten in my entire life. :D

Lou's made both good and bad moves. Over the course of the season to date I think the good outweighs the bad.

Yep; like in the third inning last night, for example. Oh, wait. And what was the point of that post? It doesn't change the fact that he has a whopping career OPS of 579. That is basically an auto out. I was pointing out that you were overstating things (although admittedly not by much). He's horrible, but not quite an automatic out. Having said that, though, I'd still much rather have Soto as backup catcher.

Yep; like in the third inning last night, for example. Oh, wait.

Please use existing thread to continue discussion. Thanks.

Walker's sure piling up the frequent flyer miles. Iowa to Daytona to Tennessee in less than a week.

In other words, you hate them this year. :D

Dempster's return is good news if for no other reason than it should allow Gallagher to go back to Iowa and actually pitch.

Jenkins and Sandberg were well after the terrible Phillies teams of the 30s and 40s. I know that, but they were still terrible for a few years after the Jenkins trade (not so much after the Sandberg trade; they were good by then). I didn't mean that they would have won more championships without those trades, but I'm sure they would have won more games and therefore taken longer to get to 10,000 losses.

It is if a player is coming back to replace an injured player, but I don't know about a trade. It wouldn't be applicable in this case anyway, because the player the Cubs are receiving (Kendall) replaces the player the Cubs traded (Bowen), so there isn't a vacant spot on the roster to be filled. In fact, someone needs to go down (probably Hill or Soto) to make room for Kendall since Petrick came up.

No. He was sent down July 13.

What's your opinion of the trade? Note: Edited--I forgot to click the Add Option button for Bad the first time.

I only listened to the game, so I didn't get to see any of his pitches, but from the sounds of things he was definitely sharper, early on especially. It also didn't hurt him that he got to pitch against the Giants. Especially a Giants' team not on Barroids. :D

Harry said the same thing in Holy Cow!. That was because of his stroke, I believe. He had to give up drinking.

My fantasy team is sad. I'm happy. :D

I think sending him down is an alternative too.His wife makes a good buck with her acting career. Who is his wife? Julie Bowen, on Boston Legal. Not true. Bowen's birth name was Julie Bowen Luetkemeyer; she dropped her last name professionally. She married Scott Phillips in 2004 and gave birth to her first child in 2007. Before Boston Legal she was the female lead in Ed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Bowen

It was mentioned on the WGN telecast yesterday that Blanco had a setback (a problem with his shoulder). It didn't sound like it was expected to set him back much, though; hopefully just a few days.

I'm starting the week with Ichiro on the bench because he was hurt yesterday and is considered day-to-day. His status for tonight wasn't known by the deadline for setting today's lineups. I plan to put him back in my lineup when he returns.