TheDude

I'm surprised you didn't mention the Angels. They've been awful in hitting (3.68 Runs per game in 19 games), and Garret Anderson particularly has been very bad. Collectively, the Angels LF has an OPS just over .600, and all their DH hitters combined have an OPS of .517 (led mainly by a flat-out dismal Shea Hillenbrand). Jacque Jones, even while struggling a bit compared to last year's numbers, dwarfs the production of half the Angels options at DH and plays a better LF than Anderson (these days).

That's not the case. I think teams have been offering fifty cents on the dollar, and Hendry wants more. I'm sure there have been offers on the table, just not favorable offers.

Absolutely. The bullpen needs to hold that lead, no question. But the offense also needs to score two runs in that 7th inning when you have runners on 2nd and 3rd with zero outs. Not scoring even one run in that situation is inexcusable.

Lee has hit a few long balls that the wind brought back in the last two weeks. Also, Lee and Mauer are the only players in baseball with .900+ OPS and no HRs. He is hitting. The HRs will come.

Of coarse it is, but still, 0-7 is very unusual even at this juncture.

The Cubs are 0-7 in games decided by 1 or 2 runs. It seems the Cubs are a few plays away from being .500 or better, and they're a better team than the 7-11 record indicates. So what exactly is going on with the team? Bad luck? Poor close game management? Lack of execution in key situations? Many people on the board do not believe in the concept of 'clutch' performing in baseball, so it purely a combination of bad luck and poor management in all 7 games?

Who gives a crap what side of the plate a guy hits? I don't care if the Cubs have all lefties or all righties as long as they hit. What side of the plate a guy swings from is right up there with one of the most silly ideas in baseball. Lou Piniella cares. He plays the lefty/righty odds straight by the book. I don't see why it's silly - better odds is better odds. I suppose you want Jacque Jones hitting against lefties?

Rothschild still has a lot of work to do. As I pointed out yesterday in a different thread, the Cubs pitchers as a staff still walk too many batters, and the starting staff has higher pitch counts than you'd expect through 5 innings. Big props to the lefties Lilly and Hill though. They've been awesome.

I always seem to have this issue with your replies. Not only have you repeatedly sniped one point out of several (trying to extrapolate that one point to the entire argument), but now you're attributing a position and opinion to me that I did not state, and can't even be reasonably inferred. Nowhere in my original post did I state 'the Cubs won't be good this year' or that they 'suck'. I don't believe either to be true. Please stop adding your opinion to my position and stop trying to snipe one point of out many and claim it to be the entire discussion. I'm talking about trends in pitching that result in the current record. I'm talking about how these trends reflect upon current management, despite a management change. I'm talking about walks, control, and command for the staff.

That was one of four points, yes. This is because I believe primarily the offensive numbers will align by the end of the year with predictability, because hitting for this many veterans is pretty flat overall. However, pitching isn't as flat. It'll be more difficult to predict Lilly, Marquis, and a revolving door 5th spot than a relatively stable daily lineup (when healthy).

How did you figure I ignored OBP? Simply because I'm talking pitching and not hitting?

I am a huge proponent of the idea that early season trends will not last in just about all areas of the game except pitching and walks. I'm not worried about the fact that the Cubs offense is middle-of-the-pack across the board right now. But the pitching issues that plagued the Cubs throughout the entiore Dusty era are still here: walks, command, and control (or nerve). Lou is talking the right game, but the pitchers aren't listening. The trends: -Excellent BAA, as per usual -Lots of Ks, as per usual -Lots of walks, as per usual -Inability to finish an inning Of the 56 Runs this team has allowed in 14 games, an insane 77% (43) of them have been given up within one split: 2 outs and the opponent's guys in scoring position. The pitchers on this staff need to bear down and finish innings. Enough of this 2-out collapse nonsense. Big Z has been the biggest problem so far, which is a bit sad. His 16 walks and 19 ER in 22 IP is inexcusable. As the undisputed ace of the staff, he needs to go out there and show everyone the real deal. Lilly and Hill have been excellent. Minimal walks and minimal runs. The rest of the staff needs to get on board. At this point, it's almost worth offering a fan generated bounty to the first Cubs pitcher that can get through a complete game in under a 100 pitches with no walks. Quadruple the bounty for Z, since the odds are near infinity to 1.

Izturis is the reason the Cubs lost the game last night. Sure the double-play saved runs, but it his was lazy fielding that allowed Diaz to be called safe in the critical inning that the Braves took back the lead. Had Izturis not taken his sweet time on that play, it would have been the third out, Cubs 6-5. The Braves scored 3 runs after Izturis blew the third out.

Are you referring to calls made by umpires? Yes. One of the issues Cubs pitchers have is keeping their cool. Numerous times this year, a Cubs pitcher has appeared to earn the 3rd out in an inning (whether by strike out or in the field), only to have the call go the other way. Then they implode and the other team gets numerous runs from an unfocused pitcher. These guys need to learn to focus on the situation as it is, and not how it "should be" had they gotten the call.

I pushed for this trade all offseason, before the Lilly and Marquis deals. I whole-heartedly support this idea. Lieber might occasionally get clobbered, but so will the current #5, and having a veteran guy on the team that doesn't walk batters would be nice.

Well, they have played 13 games so I'm not entirely sure... I think the offense will be fine and the "questionable" pitching has been solid, overall, thus far. To answer your question, I believe the Cubs longest winning streak last year was 4 games so it was at least 2 seasons ago... I keep hearing the Offense will be fine. It will come around. This is exactly what was said in 2004 and 2005. Are we sure that it will be any better than a middle of the league offense that it is now. The Cubs have scored more runs than given up. The lauded NL best Braves (10-4) have scored all of 4 runs more than the Cubs, and given up 2 more Runs. The Cubs are three questionable/bad calls away from being 8-6. This team is going to rebound.

What are you basing this on? You actually have a quote of Hendry claiming this?

Or that low Runs Allowed.

Well, if really enjoy on pace stats at this point in the season, A-Rod is on pace to hit 121 HR for an 81-81 Yankees, and Felix Hernandez is on pace for a 0.00 ERA and 297 Strikeouts for a 97-65 Mariners team.

Oh dear. I'm done paying attention to this for good now, or at least until the Thread Headline that reads, "Prior recalled from AAA".

I think that's a pretty extreme case of patience there. This season will probably be lost if that lasts into June. I can see waiting out April, but all of May as well? That's 1/3rd of the season right there, well over 200 PA and plenty of time to draw some conclusions. It's not extreme at all. You have to look no further than Ramirez last year, who didn't really start hitting until July. I'm pretty sure there's about a 0% chance Soriano is hitting .200 still in June, which is the only point that matters.

At this point in the season, it's not worth over-analyzing. All it takes is for Soriano to put up back-to-back games of 3-for-4 in the next two games, and he's suddenly a .300+ hitter with an OBP over .340. If I were playing armchair manager, I wouldn't consider any lineup shuffle with Soriano unless he's still hitting .200 with a .243 OBP in June. Murton will hit 2nd in the lineup. Maybe not everyday, but he'll be there.

The Astros aren't hitting either; they have all of 2 hits more than the Cubs in this series. The only difference is the Astros put some hits together in the same inning, and the Astros have a homerun hit by a guy who had already struck out in the inning.

Then I formally request that someone set an exact number of games that have to be played before such concerns can be voiced. That's not the point. There are already threads on this message board dedicated to this topic...it doesn't need infiltrate every single game discussion as well.

Can we please not turn another game thread into a -Lou hates Murton- game thread? It's game 8 of the season...way too early to set start daily complaining.