LeftCoastCubFan

Is May over with yet?

I believe that would be April 28th

After the 13 runs today, we're officially last in the NL with a 5.00 era.

I think you're falsely correlating low K totals with patience. As you said, his walk totals were never anything great. There are tons of hitters that aren't patient that barely strike out, i.e. our (s)crappy leadoff man. On the other hand, some of the most patient hitters have very high strikeout totals (i.e. Dunn). They almost go hand in hand. If you're taking a lot of pitches, you're also taking more strikes. I said "reasonably", I didn't say he was great....but "the dude" did still had an OBP near over .350 10 times in his career, therefore he was semi-patient. In '68 when Dusty came up the NL OBP was .295. For the main part of his carreer (110 games or more from '72 to '85). The NL averaged a .317 OBP. He also played a good part of his career in Dodger's stadium and has a translated .355 obp; so he definitely showed some patience. Wouldn't someone with an obp .30 points over league average (.327 last yr) look good in a corner outfield spot? But Dusty didn't go up there looking for a walk; unlike our hitters he took it when it was given.

Only his ego is bruised

Yeah my thoughts too. Pat said the attendance was 40,000 plus, which is shocking and disappointing. And have they been disapointed so far? The game ain't over yet. Don't underestimate this team. Don't curse them now! Also, attendance announced hasn't been by turnstile count for about 25 years. It's just tickets sold. So if it will make you happier, attendance may have been 39,999 and 1/2.

Yeah my thoughts too. Pat said the attendance was 40,000 plus, which is shocking and disappointing. And have they been disapointed so far?

Neifi saved us!!!!! :D

Cabrera is eligible for arbitration after this season. That 350K will skyrocket. Just because they own his rights does not mean they can keep him. Florida has a 15 mil payroll theis year. Being a first year arbitration eligible player he will get about 4 mil at most. There is no financial burden to Florida. They won't be dumping salary for him. It'll likely be 7-10M. No, a 1st year arbitration eligible player cannot be compared to players over 1 year more of service (See Gagne after CY young losing and getting 5 mil in 2004). He'll get 8 - 10 in 2008.

Cabrera is eligible for arbitration after this season. That 350K will skyrocket. Just because they own his rights does not mean they can keep him. Florida has a 15 mil payroll theis year. Being a first year arbitration eligible player he will get about 4 mil at most. There is no financial burden to Florida. They won't be dumping salary for him.

3 year deal how did a slim free agency market force his hand for 3 years? Jones was likely plan A for at least 3 teams; the Cubs, the Cards, and at least one other (or Encarcion wouldn’t have gotten 3 years too). The Cubs beat them out and signed Jones for 3/16. Encarcion and his .284 obp got 3/15 from the Cards as their plan B. You can argue whether Jones should be here, but Hendry just paid the market price. I think you overestimate Cabrera’s availability. He’s making 350k this year, and the Marlins cut 45 mil in payroll next off-season. They own him till 2009. I can’t see him being moved until at least mid 2008, if then. If we had Cabrera and Hendry traded him for the package you propose, you’d be calling for Hendry’s head. Why would Florida do it? Teams that could offer better talent and be in the market would start with Arizona and both LA teams. Boston and both NY teams would jump in and try. So would a few more. There is nothing wrong with JJ on his own. Minnesota won 3 divisions with him in right. St. Louis wanted him and they would still be in 1st this year with him. The problem is the makeup of the entire team.

It’s not nice for a Cards fan to kick Cubs fans when they are down. Actually tomorrow we unveil Hendry’s master plan. Last time the Cards were in town we collected some hairs from their dugout. The cloning process is complete and here is our starting lineup. 1. Juan Pierre CF 2. Neifi Perez 3B 3. Todd Pujols 1B 4. Ronny Pujols SS 5. Tony Pujols 2B 6. Freddie Pujols RF 7. Jerry Pujols LF 8. Henry Pujols C 9. Carlos Zambrano SP If they all show up with mascara, they grabbed the wrong hair brush.

And Valium for the fans

Is that a rectal thermometer? It looks painful.

Apr 29 Mil: 16-2, down 7-0 after 2 ½ (Rusch 7) Apr 30 Mil: 9-0, down 7-0 after 4 ½ (Zambrano 7) May 2 Pitt: 8-0, down 8-0 after 5 ½ (Guzman 6) May 4 Az: 6-0, down 5-0 after 4 (Hill 5) May 7 SD: 6-3, down 6-3 after 5 (Guzman 5) May 8 SD: 8-3, down 7-1 after 4 (Maddux 7) May 9 SF: 6-1, down 2-1 after 4 (Hill 5) May 11 SF: 8-3, down 8-0 after 4 (Marshall 9) May 12 SD: 10-5, down 8-2 after 4 ½ (Guzman 2, Rusch 6) May 14 SD 9-0, down 1-0 after 4 ½ (Hill 3, Novoa 4) May 19 Sox: 6-1, down 5-1 after 3 (Maddux 6) May 20 Sox: 7-0, down 5-0 after 2 (Hill 5) May 21 Fla: 9-1, down 7-0 after 4 (Marshall 7) May 23 Fla: 9-3, down 6-3 after 4 (Maddux 6) How many of those games could we have won with a few different hitters (outside of Pujols etc.) We have a bigger OBP issue, Our Best Pitchers, as well as OBH(itters).

Agreed. It's against the Trib's management philosophy of paying two people to do one job. And from a business standpoint, the Hendry era has been the most profitable, and the Cubs are a business first. They've fired plenty of management types midseason and kept on paying them. Field managers yes, management no. Ed Lynch? He resigned. He offered it in May. MacPhail didn't accept it till July.

Agreed. It's against the Trib's management philosophy of paying two people to do one job. And from a business standpoint, the Hendry era has been the most profitable, and the Cubs are a business first. They've fired plenty of management types midseason and kept on paying them. Field managers yes, management no.

We are 5-20 in the last 25 games. Yes the offense has sucked, scoring only 60 runs (though skewed by scoring 6 in the first 8 games of the string, 54 in the last 17). But how many of those games has the pitching kept us in? When you break down the games: 0-14 in games we gave up 6 runs or more (118 runs in 14 games) 0-2 on blown saves 5-4 in the other games Most of the discussion here has been focused on the offenses role. If everything was clicking on offense, we may have pulled out a few of the 16 losses I attribute to pitching, but going 4-12 instead would still have us reeling. The injuries to Wood and Prior, the inconsistencies (or if you prefer suckage) of Rusch and Williams, and the need to trot out 3 rookies every 5 days is why we are where we are at.

Agreed. It's against the Trib's management philosophy of paying two people to do one job. And from a business standpoint, the Hendry era has been the most profitable, and the Cubs are a business first.

Mike North got ya 8) ...... http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cs-060522soxbrite,1,1757043.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

Yes, the White Sox OBP was pretty putrid last year, also. But, they made the best of their situation. They had an OBP of .338 from the lead off spot, and .335 from the #2 spot, right in front of their big bats. The Cubs, on the other hand, had an OBP of .299 from the lead off spot and a .314 OBP from the #2 hitter, right in front of the big bats. Check this out. The Sox #3 hitters were basically pretty atrocious last year, combining to hit .234 AVG for the season in 624 at bats. The Cubs #3 hitters combined to hit .308 AVG in 633 at bats. Much better than the White Sox, yet the White Sox got more RBI out of the #3 position in the batting order than the Cubs by 10. Suppose that .299 OBP and .314 ahead of them might have had something to do with it? I sure do. Imagine Todd Walker and Matt Murton batting 1/2 (two guys with very respectable OBP's) in the line up most of last year instead of Neifi Perez and Corey Patterson. How many more RBI's would Derrek Lee have put up with his amazing season. That's the difference. The White Sox scored 741 runs last year to the Cubs 703. The Cubs did have a better OBP, but Guillen recognized the importance of putting decent OBP guys in front of the more productive hitters, and they scored more runs than the Cubs. If the Cubs had a clue, they would have focused their energy this offseason on getting guys that are good at getting on base instead of focusing on guys who can catch the ball or on guys who are speedy. This year, the Cubs have an even worse OBP and are at or near the bottom in runs scored. It's not really rocket science. Instead of signing poor OBP guys like Jacque Jones, bring in guys who can get on base. Juan Pierre was coming off a season in which his OBP was .326. They traded 3 prospects for a guy who just had a lousy season. The Padres traded Mark Loretta for Doug Mirabelli, a back up catcher. Loretta is an OBP stud. Hendry couldn't come up with a better offer than that? I certainly believe he could. The problem isn't that he couldn't. It's because he doesn't recognize the value of drawing a walk. And that's truly amazing when you consider how many of our very own pitchers give up walks that eventually turn into runs for the OTHER team. If the Cubs pitching staff was completely healthy and they were as dominant as they all can be, this team would still be hovering around .500 because Hendry focused on speed and defense instead of the ability to get on base. There were players who had speed, good defense AND a tremendous ability to get on base that were available this past offseason, and they are playing for other teams. Milton Bradley and Coco Crisp to name a few. This Cubs management team is blind in one eye and can't see out of the other when it comes to what recognizing how to put a winning team on the field. That's because they do not value a walk. Mark Bellhorn will probably end up as the best lead off hitter this team had in the decade of 2000-2009. He's not fast and he's not all that great defensively. But, the guy sure could get on base. And he scored a ton of runs as a lead off hitter. The best lead off option in 2005 for this Cubs team was Todd Walker. How many times did he bat lead off last year? He logged 2 at bats in the lead off spot last year. Murton had 10 at bats there and had a .364 OBP. The two best options last year to bat first logged 12 at bats, or the equivilent of 3 games. Todd Walker had 228 at bats in the lead off spot in 2004 and in a total of 60 games. His OBP? .370 He scored 45 runs in 60 games. What team wouldn't want a lead off hitter that gets on base 37% of the time? Apparently, the Cubs. Interestingly enough, the Cubs already had their answer at lead off. He makes less than half as much as the guy they traded 3 prospects to get. And he would have been a whole lot better than the guy they traded for. Interestingly enough again, Hendry and Co. tried everything they could to get rid of Walker during the offseason. What should that tell you? Could you imagine how how much worse this team would be without Todd Walker on the roster? I shudder to think. Of course, this team makes me shudder enough as it is, so I'll stop thinking about it. First, I’m not trying to argue that OBP isn’t important. I am just pointing out that the offense did pick a good time to slump since the pitching was the biggest problem. Unless they became the Yankees they were still going to lose most of those games. Second, batting order does not have a great effect on runs produced. Yes it would have added individual numbers to Lee’s RBI totals, but would not have been a huge difference in runs scored by the team. 38 runs difference between the Cubs and Sox has more to do with the DH instead of a pitcher then batting order. We will have to agree to disagree on this one. Last, do you really believe that this is a .301 obp team? Yes they are obp challenged, but on paper it should be slightly above last years .324. It’s only 43 games into the season and after a horrendous 3-week team slump. Walker was being moved only when it was anticipated that we were acquiring Furcal and moving Cedeno (not Neifi) to second. When the deal fell through Walker stayed. Doesn’t sound like anything wrong to me. Where would we have played Loretta with Walker still on the team? I know you feel strongly about Giles, but all we know is neither side seemed interested in the other. Giles at 35 is being paid 33 mil over 3 years. I have no problem with Hendry not trying to outbid them. Anyway, I’m not arguing obp; just that it won’t matter until the pitching is better.

You will have problems finding contracts back that far, but USA today has team and player opening day salaries back to 1988. http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/default.aspx

First let me point out that the Cubs OBP last year was .324 and the White Sox was .322. With adding only Thome the Sox are at .353 this year, and I attribute most of that to a weak early schedule. It will drop. Pitching has been our biggest problem. We are 12th in era, 8th in whip, and 1st in walks allowed. In the last 22 games we have given up 5 runs or more 14 times (6 or more 12 times). We’re 0-14 in those games. Maybe if we were hitting better we could have pulled out a few of those but we would still be sucking. We’re 5-3 in the other games. Our starting pitching has kept us out of most games, which shows that a healthy Wood and Prior mean more then a few more walks.

There is really no reason to trade Miggy (or Dontrell for that matter). Florida has a 15 million payroll after dropping from about 60 from 2005. Every major league team had at least 110 million in revenues. Florida will get a check from MLB for 60 to 70 mil this year alone (between shared revenues and revenue sharing). Their gate receipts were only 24 mil last year, so even if it drops a bit this year it won’t make much of a dent in 119 mil in revenues they had last year. If Miggy gets 3 or 4 million more next year, finances are not in any way a factor (he is only making 472k this year). So they would unlikely trade him, especially this year. If they would it would be due to insane overpaying. Even offering our top 3 prospects of their choice wouldn’t likely get it done. And as has been pointed out a lot of other teams can come up with a better package then we can.

Why would any of the three contenders in the three biggest markets and media outlets in baseball trade for a rookie pitcher with 8 mlb starts under his belt. They are looking at pitches like Willis or Zito, not Sean.