Three Finger

Good to see Fukudome had a great July-- I'm one of the few people here who actually thinks he's capable of being a great player. This month: .321 AVG / .408 OBP / .560 SLG... His line on the season is .274 / .386 / .449 ... That makes an .835 OPS on top of damn fine defense. Its hard to complain about a lead off hitter with a .386 OBP (only .009 lower than Ichiro's, by the way.)

It depended on the ballpark, but in general yes it was higher. In 1904 they standardized the ruling to where it had to be 15 inches above the baseline. Wasn't it lowered slightly following Bob Gibson's ridiculous season with the 1.12 ERA?

I would have to go with Billy Williams myself, as a couple of you all ready have. He was the complete package, as far as hitters go. Its hard to argue anyone but Ernie Banks as far as power hitters for the Cubs go, but Billy was the absolute package in every aspect.

Why would the Cubs even think about pursuing Halladay? We are a team full of holes, but the starting rotation is not one of them. If you're going to deal big money and prospects for someone at the trade deadline, it ought to be someone who can help turn the offense around.

Wish they'd move out to Portland. I might be relocating there and it would nice to have a team.

After today's game, his OBP is .379, highest on the team not counting Fuld and Ramirez. That should be enough to see that Fukudome should be leading off. It helps that he sees tons of pitches. If he manages to tack another .020 onto his AVG as he gets his swing back in order, his OBP will hover around .400. He's no Ichiro, but he has potential to be a good lead off hitter for a few years.

How is Fuku any better than a career minor leaguer at this point? This guy nosedives in the second half faster than a kamikazee pilot. That is based on a single season in the majors. He was still doing quite well at this point last year-- perhaps we'll luck out and he'll be more up and down this year than constantly getting worse. His OPS is still .825 with a good .380 OBP. Even in Soriano's best year, his OBP was .351.

Who do you think we have the disposable talent to trade for that will be an improvement at second? There aren't many options.

The gaping hole is in the offense, not the bullpen. Trading offense for a "veteran" middle reliever will do nothing for this team. A backup who will get a pinch hit appearance every third day once Ramirez comes back. Ramirez returning will help the offense. Our bullpen is awful. What do you propose we deal that would get us an upgrade in offense? The only thing we have that is expendable that other teams would be interested in, is starting pitching. Being that our great starting pitching is the only thing that is keeping us in contention in the division, getting rid of a starter for offense would be a draw at best. Getting a better relief pitcher for a prospect is much more likely, and our bullpen (especially in the middle) is awful.

On what basis could you even make such a statement? How often do you see every single first basemen in the National League? You couldn't possibly be able to make a good judgment on how he compares to everyone else. I'm not trying to finger you out in particular, but statements such as "I would suggest his is still top 5" well... on just anecdotal and observational evidence its very hard to make a strong claim to that. I don't see every single first basemen in the NL, thats true. But I See at least one other every time the Cubs play, and watch just about every game that is on ESPN. Its a moot point, though, simply judging based on what you see is as good as a method as any. You really think things like fielding percentage are infallible? If not, perhaps we should just simply not make judgments on defense, because we can't "see every first basemen play." Not even Kurkjian or Gammons watch every single baseball game. Derrek Lee saves errors constantly. It seems every game, one of our middle infielders makes a piss-poor throw that D-Lee has to dig out. Being that there are sixteen teams in the national league, and thus, roughly sixteen starting first basemen, I don't think its a big stretch to say he's top five in the NL.

True, but we're at the beginning of July and Soriano isn't even playing decently. This might be bordering on requiring another topic all together, but is benching a perennial all-star who is vastly underachieving a viable way of lighting a fire under him? Or do you let him stay at the top of the lineup and remain a black hole until he figures out his swing again?

I think Fox has more upside, but not enough upside that we shouldn't trade him while he still has value. He's young enough to appeal to a team that is trying to rebuild, and perhaps we could pick up a veteran reliever in the mix. Fox isn't going to be an everyday player when we get Ramirez back, so we would be better served to test his value in the market to fill the gaping hole in our bullpen.

If you're suggesting Fuld as an everyday player I think that would be a huge, huge mistake. I don't expect him to hit .600, but can we get worse than Soriano? He's hitting in the low .200s, with an OBP that doesn't break .300. Even if it isn't a permanent thing, it would at least light a fire under Soriano when he realizes his big contract isn't enough to guarantee him a spot in the lineup.

I say flip-flop Soriano and Fukudome in the lineup. Nothing could be worse than Soriano, with his OBP that isn't even at .300, and even when Fukudome isn't swinging the bat, he still draws enough walks to have an OBP in the .370-.380 region. He has good enough speed, sees a lot of pitches (which you want in a leadoff hitter- gives the team a chance to see the pitchers stuff more early in the game) and has general baseball sense that is required in a good lead off guy.

How about Soriano goes to the bench where he belongs, we move Sam Fuld to right, Bradley to left?