brinoch

Right now? Several teams. He is Izterrible, but that's better than what San Francisco or Houston is playing, and might be valuable to Toronto, Baltimore, the White Sox, or Seattle. There's absolutely no way Izturis is better than Vizquel. They're both bad at hitting, but at least Vizquel is as good as advertised defensively. San Francisco is second to last in the MLB in scoring runs. They need every bit of help they can muster. It's also not inconceivable that Vizquel or Durham will go to a contender, and they'd need someone like Izturis to hold the spot until the end of the season.

Right now? Several teams. He is Izterrible, but that's better than what San Francisco or Houston is playing, and might be valuable to Toronto, Baltimore, the White Sox, or Seattle.

Or maybe we traded Jones/Izturis to Pittsburgh? I know you're kidding, but one player I could see Pittsburgh being interested in is Scott Moore.

I'm in. Still lots of time to join, folks. We need more players (victims).

I love the 'ole strike him out/throw him out DP. Which of course lets Cain off the hook and saves him pitches. Dumb.

i don't care about the white sox You don't live in Chicago. I'm more referring to the fact that the Brewers consider us their arch rivals, and most Cubs fans don't even refer to the Brewers as anything more then they do Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Houston It's easier for the Brewers to identify with the Cubs as their new arch-rival since they just switched from the American League to the National League in 1998. They have very little history of playing any of the teams in the NL at all, and the Cubs are their closest geographic opponent. Previously, the Brewers had real rivalries with the White Sox and Twins. The Cubs, on the other hand, have a long-standing rivalry with the Cards and Pirates from the NL East and had played the other teams in the new Central division from '94 to '97 without the Brewers. It's tough for a fan base to develop a new feeling of rivalry amid such long-standing enmity. For me, the switch to 3 divisions was tough because it was great to hate the Mets and Phillies. I loved the old East -- Cubs, Cards, Expos, Mets, Phillies, Pirates (and Marlins for one season). I grant that Cincy and Atlanta in the West made no sense.

I merged the two topics since there was some new information on Izturis in the provided link.

I truly hope so. It also might signal that Blanco is done for the year.

Wouldn't you rather have Soto playing everyday in the minors, in anticipation of fighting for the starter's spot next year? Folks always seem to hate having the younger kids on the roster sitting on the bench. Soto would get sparse PT behind Kendall. Not necessarily. Kendall should get plenty of regular days off -- more than Barrett did, because he's old for a catcher. Blanco is probably going to be back soon. In the mean time, we need to field the best team possible. In general, you are correct, you should let the kids play in AAA rather than rot on the bench, but Soto is a huge upgrade over Hill, and a further two weeks with reasonably regular playing time until Blanco comes back won't hurt Soto's development. I also think that Soto's probably learned all there is to learn in AAA since he's repeating the league.

I saw that this morning. I hope that's not the case. I tend to doubt that it's already occurred since you'd wait until Kendall had actually arrived at the ballpark. It wouldn't surprise me, in any event. Keeping Soto and DFAing Hill is the right move, and therefore the one that Hendry is unlikely to make.

Regardless of his rant about Piniella, Skip Bayless is an idiot.

Need to work on the offense. The pitching is fine.

Murton has his stroke back, it seems. He's now up to .309/.384/.545/.929 with 4 HR's, 12 2B's, and a 1:1 K:BB ratio (12 for each). It's been 110 AB's. He could help the ball club right now. I won't bother speaking of Cedeno, who is ready as well. You know, looking at all the home-grown talent making an impact with the parent club this season has made me happy.

I know, right? Ship them out to the A.L. West. Plus, it's not fair that we have to beat out a good team to win our division. Exactly. I mean, the nerve of other NL Central teams to try and be decent. Actually, looking at the general terribleness of the NL Central, the run differentials of AZ and ATL, and the strength of the NL West, I think there's a solid chance that the Cubs and Brewers both make the playoffs. It's probably going to be the Mets, and three of the Dodgers, Padres, Cubs and Brewers.

I want the Brewers to go back to the American League so I can start rooting for them again.

Yes.

Correction Kendall USED to be a sinlges hitter. These days hes an out maker. Now, I know his FB% has skyrocketed this year and is having an adverse impact on his BABIP, he still has an 18.7 LD% and only a 243 BABIP. Hes definitely hurting himself by hitting pop ups and not walking, but hes also getting unlucky. I don't think hes an upgrade, but hes not as bad as hes hitting now. :) Fair enough -- how about his ceiling today is as a singles hitter.

Yes. The right move is to DFA Hill. He has no future with the club in any event, and this is going to have to happen sooner or later. When Blanco comes back, provided he does come back, then you send Soto down to AAA. Even if you trade Jones or Izturis, one of the three catchers needs to go.

The purpose of any trade is to help your team, either by clearing space for a young player, reducing salary for the long-term, or by acquiring an upgrade at a position of need. You don't deal just to deal. Jim Hendry's responsibility is to improve the Cubs, and he can do it by getting rid of roster-fillers who are inept and sucktastic -- Bowen, Hill, Jones, Eyre and Izturis and promoting from within. Alternatively, you can trade for an upgrade. I don't think this deal particularly helps the Cubs. It might, but then again, it might not. Kendall does have a solid history with the bat. These days, though, he's more of a singles hitter with a decent eye. He has no power, and he's slow. It does clear out a roster-filler in Bowen (and might clear Hill's spot, as well), but blocks Soto, who would probably be a decent upgrade over Hill and Bowen. The Cubs' offensive black holes, as I've said for a while, are going to catch up to them. You can't carry a team for too long on the thin offense of the 2007 Cubs. An injury, or a slump, and this team is done. Frankly, I think Soto is probably capable of producing more offensively and defensively than Kendall -- an nice, cheap, in-house option. Likewise, Theriot seems to have improved, and Cedeno is ready, so I think SS has the potential to be covered. As well, unless A-Rod is magically available, there aren't any SS or C's of quality out there to be had. An OF with some pop, on the other hand, is a lot easier to find. Upgrading in RF or CF was the way to go, to my mind. Look, Kendall might help this team. But he's not enough of an upgrade to fill in the oh-so-obvious holes of this offense.

Are they wearing Prussian-style military helmets? It matters. http://www.flayderman.com/helmet.gif Yes. That's how much I don't want us to spend $24m on a terrible, terrible pitcher. For the sheer amusement of watching you get head-butted in the groin for a week straight by midgets wearing Prussian spike helmets, I am in favor of acquiring Contreras.

Are they wearing Prussian-style military helmets? It matters. http://www.flayderman.com/helmet.gif

Well stated. Like Eyre, Izturis and Jones. Right now in fact.

There has been talk of that happening, but Salty looked terrible at 1B against us. With enough time and practice, I bet both he and McCann could learn it. Frankly, I'd have both of them learn 1B. Two 1B/C's on the team offers a lot of flexibility.

I'm okay with Pie going back down. If he's not going to play everyday with the Cubs -- and that means Lou needs to be patient and allow him to play through slumps -- then he should be in AAA. There won't be 3 catchers with the team for very long. Koyie Hill will be sent back down, or Bowen will be packaged to another team along with Izturis or Jones. Of course, since that's the right thing to do, the Cubs will bench Soto for a week after he goes 0-4 on Saturday and send him back to AAA.

From Marquez? he doesn't do that sort of thing http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/i/020627/m_marquez_rafa_vt.jpg Cheap shot Rafa? Never.