Outshined_One

Cubs have hit the cycle in this inning. Yay.

Hornsby? Dizzy Dean. Len thought Hornsby, but apparently he doesn't have a logo on his cap. Ditto Alexander. Trick question!

Lou Brock is one of them for the AFLAC trivia question. The other former Cub in the HOF as a Cardinal? Hm...

Pagan versus Murton was brought up in this thread because Pagan was starting in place of Murton in LF. Marmol was not starting in Rich Hill's place in today's game. If he wants to start a thread comparing Marshall and Marmol to Hill, he's more than welcome to do so.

Eckstein bunted poorly with men on first and second. Marmol grabbed it and threw the ball to Ramirez in a nice play. Ramirez tried to get Eckstein at first, but airmailed it over Walker's head (Mabry was charging). Marquis came around to score and the guy backing up Walker made a horrible throw to Barrett, allowing Eck to take second.

It's one thing to start new discussions about these matters. It's another thing altogether to throw them into a discussion where it has little to no relevance.

Somehow I'm not surprised that happened.

Come on Tony, screw this up somehow.

My problem is that he has been involved in a number of heated discussions regarding Rich Hill on this board (including one in yesterday's game thread). There's nothing wrong with his opinion, but it's getting to a point where I'm absolutely sick and tired of people stirring the pot just to cause trouble. We've covered Rich Hill's ability/inability to perform as a major leaguer. There is no reason to keep drudging it up again and again to backhandedly bash other posters, prove a point, or just make trouble. There was absolutely no need to bring Rich Hill into the conversation of Marmol's ability.

Seriously dude, this is unnecessary. It's obnoxious and troll-like. No one was talking about Hill vs. Marmol and Marshall in here. You brought it up. Please knock it off.

Eh, they could gut it and rebuild it from the inside out like Yankee Stadium.

I prefer the Montgomery Biscuits.

A THREE HOUR TOUR! ...sorry, I had to make that joke the moment I saw Len and Bob wearing those hats. :D

The Midwest League is about 21.9, so it has to be higher in the FSL. Was that the average age before or after this year's draft?

I'm impressed the Rangers didn't have to give up Danks, Diamond, or Volquez in this deal.

Ehhhhh...Short Season A is usually the starting point for most guys drafted out of college. I may be mistaken, but I believe all of the Cubs' HS draftees are currently down in Mesa while almost all of their college guys have started out in Boise. Colvin, Samardzija, Lansford, Clevenger, Muldowney, Kopach, Camp, Canepa, Papelbon, and so on are all college draftees. The only college guy who hasn't played at Boise this season for the Cubs is Ryne Malone, who started his season at Mesa. Colvin's level of competition isn't that far behind him in termsof player quality, which is rather promising given his numbers. I would like to see him pushed up to Peoria soon, given he could stand to face guys at a higher level.

The AZL has moved to 7:00 PM games for the rest of the season. It's how things work out there; first half is 10:30 AM, second half is 7 PM.

Box Scores Iowa lost 11-6 Box Score CF F. Pie 1/3, BB, R, 2B (19), K, Assist (3B) 2B M. Fontenot 0/4, K 3B C. McGehee 1/4, R, RBI RF/LF M. Restovich 1/3, BB, 2 R, K SS/RF B. Coats 1/3, BB, R RF L. Montanez 0/1 1B M. Hoffpauir 0/4 C G. Soto 2/4, 2B (16), K SP A. Guzman 5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2/2 K/BB, 3-10 GO-FO RP W. Chavez 2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2/2 K/BB, HR, 1-2 GO-FO (The Jose Macias trade comes full circle!) West Tenn lost 3-2 Box Score CF C. Walker 0/3, BB, K 2B E. Patterson 1/3, BB 3B R. Lewis 0/4, RBI, K 1B B. Sing 0/4, 2 K C J. Fox 1/4, 3 K RF M. Negron 1/4, R, K PH S. Moore 0/0, BB SP JR Mathes 7 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 1/2 K/BB, HR, 14-6 GO-FO RP I. Pavlik 1 scoreless, 1 H, 1/0 K/BB, 2-0 GO-FO Daytona won 10-9 with 4 runs in the 9th Box Score CF S. Fuld 0/4, BB, R, SB (22), E (2, throw) SS J. Mota 2/5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B (5), K 1B M. Craig 0/5 RF R. Harvey 4/5, 4 R, 6 RBI, 4 HR (16) (That last one was a walkoff in the 9th. Yeowza!) C J. Muyco 1/4, 3 K SP C. Perez 6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4/2 K/BB, 7-7 GO-FO Peoria won 4-3 Box Score CF D. Gregg 2/4, R, K, SB (23), Assist (Home) 3B R. Malone 0/2, 2 BB DH J. Valdez 1/3, BB, R, RBI, K 1B R. Norwood 1/4, R, 2 RBI, HR (13) 2B R. Chirinos 1/4, R, 2B (26), K SS K. Reynolds 1/3, BB, K, CS (5) RF Y. Carter 0/3, RBI, K LF A. Garcia 0/3, 2 K C M. Reed 0/3, 2 K SP J. Samardzija 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3/3 K/BB, HR, 12-2 GO-FO, E (1, throw) RP M. Avery 1 hitless/scoreless, 2/1 K/BB, 1-0 GO-FO Boise lost 5-3 Box Score RF M. Camp 1/2, BB, R, SB (8), HBP CF T. Colvin 3/4, R 3B J. Lansford 1/4, R, RBI 1B R. Canzler 2/4, RBI, K LF DJ Lewis 0/4, RBI, K 2B S. Clevenger 1/4 DH E. Puello 0/4 C M. Mercedes 0/3, K, Pickoff Throw (3B) SP F. Jimenez Angulo 5.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 5/3 K/BB, WP, 2 Balks, HBP, 8-2 GO-FO RP A. Maestri 3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 4/1 K/BB, HR, HBP, 4-0 GO-FO Mesa won 4-3 Box Score 2B L. Rosario 0/4, 2 K CF D. Rundle 0/4, BB, 2 K, CS (3) LF C. Andersen 0/4, 4 K SS M. Gonzalez 2/4, R, 2 RBI, 2B (4) DH C. Gilbert 1/4, K 1B L. Murphy 4/4, R, RBI, 2B (3) SP J. Renshaw 4 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 5/1 K/BB, 1-2 GO-FO -Wondering where all the other outs went? CS: Benitez (3, 2nd base by Renshaw/Vanderhook), Posluszny (2, 2nd base by Renshaw/Vanderhook), Vogel (2, 3rd base by Renshaw/Vanderhook), Jacobo (1, home by Renshaw/Vanderhook). RP R. Dolis 3 scoreless, 1 H, 4/1 K/BB, 4-1 GO-FO RP J. Castillo 2 scoreless, 2 H, 1/1 K/BB, 3-1 GO-FO OVERALL: 3-3

He's a 21 year old holding his own at AAA. The age appropriate level for some one like Pie is in the Florida State League, where I believe the average age is ~21.5 years old. Plus, he's still performing relatively well at AAA (.272/.330/.411) despite his recent slump, where his average plummeted. In May, he went .230/.304/.372, in June he went .222/.287/.343. Considering he lost half a season last year due to that bone bruise along with the unexpected bump up to AAA, I'm willing to give him plenty of slack. Anybody who ever said this guy projected to be a prototypical leadoff hitter didn't know what he was talking about; he's a five tool outfielder who projects to hit for pretty good power (20-30 HRs) as he continues to fill out his frame. The guy is a middle of the lineup hitter, plain and simple. His IsoD (.058) could stand to improve, but it's right in line with his career numbers. Plus, on the Cubs, that number would put him ahead of Pagan, Neifi, Cedeno, Pierre, Jones, Bynum, and Blanco. Whether or not that's a good thing or a sad thing is your call. He probably won't be ready until Mid-2007 at the earliest (imo), but more time in AAA should help him significantly. He still has to work on his base stealing and also could use some more coaching to help get his patience up a tick to around major league average (which I want to say is about .065). It's hard to radically change a guy's walk profile, but it is possible to make minor improvements upon it. Dusty vehemently denied it. Whether or not it was real or an act is anyone's guess.

How about addition by subtraction via cutting Rusch and Neifi?

Motorboating can make a man exhausted.

of course, whether that happens or not remains to be seen. I'm pretty much at the point where I hope none of the promising young players are called up to this team. I'd rather not see what Clines, Sarge, and Baker can do to Eric Patterson and Felix Pie.

I'm going to keep ragging on him to improve that IsoD just because I can. :P Still, considering how badly he started out the year, he's been playing balls to the wall since then.

3/3 with a walk so far today. :D

Because this team is horrible and has no shot at the playoffs, much less a .500 record whatsoever? Because Neifi is nothing more than an overrated piece of trash who doesn't deserve anything resembling the contract Hendry foolishly threw at him? Let Cedeno work through his struggles. If he still is playing horrible at the end of the year, boohoo, play some one with even a vague future in his place like Ryan Theriot instead. Neifi Perez is terrible. He's one of the worst players in the history of the game for crying out loud! I don't care how hot he is or if looking upon his visage cures all known diseases; the man shouldn't be starting over anyone with even a mediocre ceiling.