Bryants Disco Ball

That logic is awful. Play the best player. Don't rely on flukey luck from a crap hitter. Koyie Hills best OPS in a year where he had more then 20 at bats is like .636. .636. I'm betting OleMissCub could approach that now. Don't get me wrong. If Koyie is named the starter over Geo or starts more games every week for the rest of the season, fine. You should complain. But giving Koyie a few starts because Geo is not playing well isn't that big of a deal. It actually makes sense. And even if Lou acts like he's considering starting him over Soto, you know better than to listen to him. This isn't a long-term thing. Koyie has done fine the past two days and Lou's choice to give him a few starts for a slumping catcher is quite normal. And has worked out fine.

The only problem with those numbers is that Soto's used to be much, much better. Considering he was hitting in the high .300's and is now at .254, it's pretty easy to say he's been slumping over the recent past without even having to look up the numbers. I'm not trying to say Koyie is better than Geo, but let's not act like Geo is Johnny Bench here.

Soto may or may not have done something. The point is more that Lou's choice to start Koyie today can't really be considered a bad one since he contributed fine. Soto may have done more, he may have done less. You could say that any time Lou sits a guy.

Koyie picked up Starlin Castro during the game by getting a two-out RBI after Castro failed to get a runner home with first and third and one out. With the fact that Geo isn't hitting much recently, and with the fact that we just don't score much at all ever, the choice to start Koyie today didn't turn out to be a bad one.

We can at least agree that it won't be as popular as the "Fire Lou" one. Thus, I also felt right.

I feel there should a thread for this, too, although it perhaps won't be as popular as the "Fire Lou" thread. He's not better than Soto, but Lou's choice to put another catcher in the lineup on Saturday paid off.

Rich Hill told me over the weekend that three teams had shown interest: The Cardinals, Dodgers and Red Sox. I'd imagine it will be one of those teams.

Adam Dunn has started 98 of 100 games this season, so he doesn't get benched against lefty's all the time. That said, it doesn't matter. This trade makes no sense at all.

This does sound stupid, but.......Dunn is not in the Nat's lineup tonight.

I agree with that part. That Casey is younger and quite possibly could still be developing. But I saw him in his brief stint with the Cubs last season and have watched him with the Brewers this season: I'm just not impressed. Heck, even the Brewers started playing him only because they had to. They also were looking at Mark DeRosa, which means they had to at least be thinking themselves that Casey isn't going to keep this up unless they were going to get DeRosa to bench both the crappy Bill Hall and also Mat Gamel. Like I said before, if McGehee is still hitting over .300 two months from now, when pitchers have a better idea of who he is when he comes to the plate, I'll give him all the props in the world.

Yep, happened to Kendall so it must happen to McGehee. The Kendall example was just that: An example of how people get all hot and bothered over a hot streak instead of realizing the type of player that is currently hot and why they likely won't keep it up. Just because Kendall did it doesn't mean Casey will. Of course. But my point remains the same, and quite honestly, I think you understood that before you even posted.

Man, I know I'm going to be ripped for this and possibly lose the respect I don't even have from my fellow posters considering I only have, like, 22 posts. But I actually wouldn't mind seeing the Cubs give Zambrano away, either. I have nothing against him -- he's a quality pitcher -- but I see how our budget looks over the next three years with the horrible contracts given out by the team in the recent past, and I cringe like many of you. As good as Zambrano is, I don't view him as a shutdown ace of a pitching staff anymore. And that's what he's being paid like. I wouldn't mind seeing his 2010 and 2011 salary of $18.875 million and his 2012 salary of $19 million come off the books to give this team a bit more flexiblity over the next few years while they attempt to absorb the contracts of Soriano, Fukudome and Bradley. I wouldn't mind using the $18 million in a few other ways. (Yes, I realize that many of us don't believe Hendry would use the money in a good way, but still) Although Zambrano would leave a hole in the rotation, I think we could patch it up and get our payroll in better shape in the process. By the way, I would also love to see the Cubs try to trade Soriano (if he'd accept it) to any team that wants him. How? If I were the Cubs, I'd be willing to pay $50 million of the $95 million on the rest of his contract owed to him after this season. That way, the team trading for him would be on the hook for five years at $9 milllion per season, which is much more reasonable. While we would be out $50 million, that money is already gone anyway. So, we would be freeing up $45 million over the next five years -- which would be another $9 million off our books each of the next five seasons -- and could replace Soriano with that money and get perhaps a more complete player for a heck of a lot cheaper.

By the way, topics like Casey McGehee often annoy the heck out of me. A guy goes through a really nice stretch, and people start getting all hot and bothered (not here, just in general). See me two months from this date. If Casey is still doing this after scouting reports began to circulate, after he goes through a bit of a slump, after he gets a bit tired, etc., then I will give him credit for having a better single season that I ever would have predicted or imagined possible. But I had to listen to a lot of Brewers fans act like Jason Kendall had found the fountain of batting youth early last season, only to tell them to sit back and wait while I had to be annoyed listening and waiting until it happened. And it happened. Same thing will happen to McGehee.

that wasn't him. casey was taken out in a double switch earlier in the game.

I've sometimes wondered if we are all weird for being grown men and women and being so passionate and crazy while watching grown men playing a game. Those grown men don't know most of us nor do they care about most of us. Even if the Cubs or any other person's favorite team wins a World Series, what the heck does that even mean? What the heck do we even REALLY get out of it? We don't get a fat bonus. We don't get a nice, new car. We get to jump up and down for a few minutes, and then realize that our lives really don't change the next morning when we have to get to work and pay our bills. Sometimes I hate thinking like this. It's kind of a downer.

This is the type of comment that really makes me feel sorry for all of us. We continue to try to hope that something, anything, will turn this team around. And it's even more frustrating to admit this isn't going to be our season when the division we play in is crappy enough that nobody is pulling away from us. But the bottom line remains the same. The same that it has been the past two months we have been watching this: This Cubs team isn't going to turn a corner. Not this year. We have to accept it, because nothing is going to change enough -- not even A-Ram's return -- for us to finally do something that surges us to first place and into the playoffs.

I would like to third this post. Very, very solid. Agree with all of it. I was never as big of a fan of DeRosa as many Cubs fans -- I just couldn't shake the feeling that he never seemed to get many important hits and would boot a play in the field at the worst time -- but do understand his value much more now that we don't have him. That said, DeRosa would not turn this current Cubs team around. Right now, our offense, bullpen and defense are bad. Most games, two of those three things won't be working. It continues to be why we are around .500. While DeRosa would help the offense more than some of the guys we have, he's not not enough of an impact bat to really make a noticeable difference. Let's face it, the guys who we MUST dance with just ain't getting it done. If they do, we'll win. If they don't, we won't. There is nothing we can do about it at this point but sit back, watch and enjoy baseball. Anyway, great post.

If Freel is thrown out there with just one out in the inning, are people still thinking it's a great choice by him to go? Just wondering is all.

Is it just me, or does it seem like the rare games we score four to six runs are the games that our often strong pitching staff that often only gives up one to three runs ends up giving up five to seven? Wow. That might leave some of you dizzy. But my point remains the same.

I would have to disagree, WSR. I actually think the Tigers are where they are because of a bunch of power arms in both the rotation and the bullpen. Their pitching is WAY better than the Indians. The bullpen has several guys who throw some heavy gas. I haven't looked to see who the starters will be the next two days, but Rick Porcello is a highly touted 20-year-old prospect who has done well so far this season, and while Armando Galarraga's stats aren't great, he certainly will be better than anybody the Cubs saw in the Indians series except for Cliff Lee. We are an underdog heading into this series, because I'm not sure we can score enough runs against this overall pitching staff. While I don't think the Tigers have a GREAT offense, they probably don't need to be to take at least two of three from us. Hope I'm wrong.

So, you're saying there's a chance!!!!!!!

That article just says that Hendry wanted Ethier or Broxton. Just because Hendry was trying to get those two guys doesn't mean Colletti was willing to trade them for Maddux. Exactly. I was just showing that the person who said Hendry passed up on Ethier in favor of Ceaser perhaps was remembering wrong.

Agreed. Harden would be the one Cub, if even close to healthy, that the Cubs would be able to trade. Just not sure what type of prospects the Cubs would get for him. After all, it ain't like we gave up the farm to acquire him last season.

This story from the day Maddux was traded says that the Dodgers wouldn't give Hendry rookie outfielder Andre Ethier or future closer Jon Broxton, and that Hendry eventually gave in and took Cesar. Hendry for GM of the year! He correctly wanted two future stars, but just couldn't get them! http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/sports/abox/article_1229309.php

As much as I would love to see the Cubs be able to trade some of these players, NONE of them can or will be traded. Not even Lilly. Due to the market and economy this season, no team is going to be interested in taking a contract that still calls for a good deal of money to be paid this season along with next season (i.e. Lilly and Lee). In addition, the Cubs can't and won't eat a lot of the money on these contracts to ship these guys out, even if Lee waived his no trade. It's a terrible season to be a seller.