DivineBovine

Anyone else getting excited for the Knicks first round pick in 2006? Can you say, "Isaiah, you're fired"? I know, its early. But the Knicks are a disaster.

Is it really fair to compare Podsednik's runs scored to others, when Podsednik only played in 129 games? Podsednik's runs scored would have been much higher if he played in more games. His runs scored would have been much higher if he had better production hitting behind him (after Konerko, there wasn't much else). That's what a .350+ OBP will get you. I don't like the caught stealings, which hurt the RBI chances behind him, but even with the caught stealing, he's far and away better than what the Cubs were throwing out there everyday. The White Sox had a much better all around offense in 2004, therefore didn't need a key top of the order hitter like they did this year. Without Podsednik, they probably lose the division to Cleveland. Here's why the 2004 offense was much better than the 2005 offense: 2005: guys with a better OBP than .335 (3) 2004: guys with a better OBP than .335 (7) 2005: guys with a better OBP than .350 (2) 2004: guys with a better OBP than .350 (6) If you'd like to see a direct correlation between the White Sox poor offense and the Cubs poor offense, look no further than the OBP of guys who played everyday: Pierzinski .308 Crede .303 Uribe .301 Everett .311 Patterson .254 Perez .298 Hollandsworth .301 Macias/Lawton/Burnitz/Blanco (combine these guys together for a below .300 OBP You can't have a good offense when 1/2 of your offense hits like this. At least the White Sox maximized their line up for best overall production. The Cubs second best OBP guy last year (Murton) was getting on base regularly in the 6 hole for who? The two and three guys who SHOULD be the worst hitters on the team. Worst place to put a guy with a good OBP. It's the same thing Dusty did with Bellhorn. One of the best OBP guys on the team, and instead of expecting them to get on base like they are good at, Dusty wants them to drive in runs. Podsednik's value would be about as wasted as it could get hitting in front of Pierzinski and Crede rather than Iguchi, Konerko and Dye. Of course, offense isn't what got the Sox to the playoffs in the first place. But, with the little offense they had, they scored the necessary runs to win more than they lost. Bottom line, make the best use of the players you have. Anything less will only hurt the teams chances. Dusty's thought process? Let's hide the worst hitter on the team right in front of the best hitter on the team. How anyone in their right mind would even remotely consider this as a viable option for run scoring efficiency is beyond me. How many times would Lee have driven in Murton if he was hitting at the top of the order? How many times did Murton get stranded on base hitting 6th? If you don't maximize your offense, you deserve the fate you receive. Like staying home come playoff time. Excellent post. I really don't like it when stats lie SLG%, or any number of others are constantly being applied to players like Pierre or Podsednik. The fact is, that the Cubs have tons of players who will not take a walk and have 3 pitch AB's. And regarding the Caught Stealing criticisms, I don't agree with the way they are applied. If a guy will attempt to steal 2B with 2 out to get in a position where he can score on a single in a tight game and a slap hitter at the plate, then go for it. So he gets thrown out. Risk worth reward. If a guy gets thrown out on a hit and run, fine. Risk worth reward. It's not like guys just steal without regard to the circumstances. It's not like guys are trying to steal 3B with 0 or 2 outs. So the CS stats are too harshly applied as criticisms of guys like Pierre. The stats just don't take into account circumstances. And if they do, I'd like to know how. In the leadoff spot, I care about OBP, OBP, OBP, then speed. Last is power. The Cubs have consistently crappy OBP for the past few years. They have consistently ranked high in power, reasonably high in average, and crappy in OBP. Given their SLG%, their Runs scored have been abysmal. Pierre is the best option that I've heard. Then fill out the other corner with a OPS guy.

Go Bulls! Hopefully, we see continued improvement this year and maybe see round 2 of the playoffs. Hopefully, they become contenders next year after Pax wisely spends the crapload of cash he will have available.

Pierre struggled to outproduce Patterson in his(their) good seasons. His inability to hit for extra bases hurts him, his mediocre to poor stolen base percentage drags down his OBP's effectiveness, and he's a poor defender. If we're going to gamble on a CF returning to form after a crappy 2005, why not do it with the younger and better defender who doesn't cost you any players? I cannot believe that Patterson vs. Pierre is even coming up. Patterson cannot compare to Hairston Jr., much less Pierre, 1) "In their good seasons"- well CPatt has had one. And Pierre has had many. In their bad season, Pierre still managed to hit .276 and steal 57 bases. Pattterson managed to be arguably the worst offensive player in all of baseball. 2) You are rigging the stats by taking into account slugging pct. The Cubs need a leadoff man. I don't care how many home runs Pierre hits. We all know he's going to have a crappy SLG%. I care that he gets on base. Patterson will NEVER touch Pierre in OBP. Just because CPatt can hit a bunch of solo shots late in meaningless games really does nothing for me. For me, there is no comparison. 3) The highest OBP CPatt has even put up is .329. That's it. Even in the minors he couldn't do much better. Pierre has been above it, usually WELL above that in 5 of the last 6 years. If CPatt is anywhere near CF this year, I'll be upset. I'm fine with Walker as a leadoff guy, we don't need to overpay for a subpar player because he's a "leadoff hitter". WARP2 Patterson: 2.9 in 2003(projects to 6.0 with the amount of PA's Pierre had), 4.8 in 2004 Pierre: 4.2 in '03, 4.9 in '04 The Runs Created numbers support this as well, but I don't have the time at the moment to get them, I'll edit later. I really don't know what WARP2 means, so I can't really comment much on that. But if you're saying that we shouldn't overpay for Pierre, that's fine. We shouldn't overpay for anyone. But no matter what WARP2 means, I can't possibly see how any comparision between Patterson and Pierre is even close. Pierre only beat CPatt 4.9 to 4.8 this year? Can you honestly say that Pierre's .276 Average only beat Patterson's .250 OBP by that much? Well whatever those numbers mean, I just don't buy them. Maybe you can explain. The Cubs were near the bottom again in OBP, and near the top in slugging and home runs. I don't see how it makes sense giving Patterson another shot. He put up a .254 OBP this year. Ouch.

Pierre struggled to outproduce Patterson in his(their) good seasons. His inability to hit for extra bases hurts him, his mediocre to poor stolen base percentage drags down his OBP's effectiveness, and he's a poor defender. If we're going to gamble on a CF returning to form after a crappy 2005, why not do it with the younger and better defender who doesn't cost you any players? I cannot believe that Patterson vs. Pierre is even coming up. Patterson cannot compare to Hairston Jr., much less Pierre, 1) "In their good seasons"- well CPatt has had one. And Pierre has had many. In their bad season, Pierre still managed to hit .276 and steal 57 bases. Pattterson managed to be arguably the worst offensive player in all of baseball. 2) You are rigging the stats by taking into account slugging pct. The Cubs need a leadoff man. I don't care how many home runs Pierre hits. We all know he's going to have a crappy SLG%. I care that he gets on base. Patterson will NEVER touch Pierre in OBP. Just because CPatt can hit a bunch of solo shots late in meaningless games really does nothing for me. For me, there is no comparison. 3) The highest OBP CPatt has even put up is .329. That's it. Even in the minors he couldn't do much better. Pierre has been above it, usually WELL above that in 5 of the last 6 years. If CPatt is anywhere near CF this year, I'll be upset.

I don't understand why people are so down on Pierre. Because he had ONE year in the last 3 years where he batted less than .300? Furcal might be a better offensive player (and its NOT a landslide)- after all, he did slug a whopping 12 homers this year and bat a whopping .012 points higher. But Pierre is a FAR FAR better fit for this team. We have 2 other possibilities at SS in Nomar and Cedeno. Walker is the 2B. I just think that spending that much money on a marginal improvement in the IF with 2 black holes in the OF is absurd. And Pierre is good. I'd jump all over Pierre, and its not even close IMO. And if not Pierre, I'd like to know who should play CF? Damon? CPatt? Pie? Pierre is by far the best option for this team right now if he can be had for a reasonable deal, which seems to be the case. And I'm really not so keen on throwing Pie out there. Really.

Patterson was the starter when Dusty came in. Murton is not. Murton hasn't "earned Dusty's trust," either. He would have kept starting Hollandsworth against righties. if he wasn't traded away. Yes, but Murton performed against righties. Dusty's history is that the youngsters never get a chance. They play a game or two, and get benched. Murton was playing every day at the end of the year, and he was performing. The Cubs have really no other options there, and no starter. They have no CF right now and no RFer. And look what Dusty has said about him in the media. I see no way that Dusty does not play Murton full time in LF. Is he going to play Pie? Probably not. But Murton? Yes. Not even Dusty would do something so dumb as to play a guy like Hairston, Patterson or Hollandsworth over Murton at this point.

Even Dusty will start Murton, no problems. Yes, he has a bad track record with youngsters, but he'll play Murton. Remember, he gave CPatt a zillion ABs even as a youngster. Murton has proved he deserves a shot, and I think Dusty realizes it. Once even a youngster earns Dusty's trust, he'll play. The problem is that not many seem to get the chance. Murton has, IMO.

Kudos to Barrett and DLee. The problem with the offense is not lack of good hitters, its the constant presence of some sucky ones. Let's upgrade the OF, increase the walks, and hope for a healthy SS not named Neifi.

Texas is interested in CPatt, so names like Soriano, Young, Teixera and Blalock come up? Pipe dream. The only way CPatt gets any of those guys is if guys like Zambrano or Prior are thrown in. CPatt has almost no trade value now. I'd trade him, but let's be realistic here. He's no more than a throw in if the trade is to net any player of substance.

They already have home field advantage. They're playing the game in Texas, sleeping in their own beds, in front of their own fans. Not to mention the kooky dimensions of the park. The roof stuff I just view as whining. That's my personal opinion.

I'm so sick of the whining about the roof. How about playing some ball??!! I'm a Cub fan, obviously, and pretty indifferent about the series. But this is a joke. The Stros make it seem like its unfair that the roof is open. Come on. Gimme a break. The point of a retractable roof is to deal with weather. NOT to give the home team an additional advantage. It's pretty damn clear that the reason the Stros want it closed so badly is to give them an additional advantage. Just play ball. And Buck and McCarver should keep their mouths shut. Why is it that they feel so strongly about it?

Since I've been out of Chicago for over a decade, I have little exposure to annoying Sox fans. I'll root for the Sox. It's about time the city has a WS champion again, and maybe it'll light a fire under the Cubs to go and do the same.

I'm a native Chicagoan displaced to NY for the past 12 years, and I have to say, the Pizza is one of the things I miss most about Chicago. The sports teams and the pizza. I could really do without the chi-town weather, but the pizza- it's making me hungry just thinking about it. But all I have is the NY style reheated cardboard pizza. I could totally understand taking the pizza on the plane, having it Fed-ex'ed, etc. You just can't get Chicago pizza anywhere else in the country. Chicagoans are lucky. And I'm not talking about the deep dish- I can get that at Uno's. It's the thin crust that that's cut into squares with the cheese browned on the top. Giordano's is good stuff, but the pizza is similar at a lot of places. . I can't believe the Little Caesar's and Domino's comparisons.

No, no, yes. I believe it's happened a few times over the years, but I'll be damned if I can cite chapter and verse for you. I've always thought about it, but I never had the chance to do it. I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to do it either. You're trained to swing at pitches in the stike zone it would be too difficult to swing at a ball that far off the plate. The play I've always wondered about is a check swing, 3rd strike, wild pitch. The ump gets the opinion of the first base ump, who signals that the hitter went around. Upon this, the hitter starts to run, and beats the throw by the catcher to first. Anyone know if that's ever happened? Oh, so you're saying that Patterson might be able to pull it off?? :lol: Sorry, couldn't resist. I can really buy that. I would imagine it might be difficult to pull off if you're zoned in on the strike zone. The White Sox could've pulled this play off a bunch of times against Santana in the early innings today. I wonder if the batter would get thrown at the next time. I personally think it would be a smart play, and I don't see why the pitcher should get upset. After all, isn't the pitcher trying to get the batter to chase a ball out of the zone with 2 strikes?

Question- 0-2 count, and the pitcher throws a ball waaay out of the strike zone and its clearly not going to be caught. Why not just swing and run like hell to first base? Is it just too hard to execute in the heat of the moment? Is there a rule against it? Would it be considered poor sportsmanship?

If you don't sign Furcal and use Nomar/Walker in the middle infield spot, then you save $10 million. Lose Burnitz and his $7 million, and you have $17 million for a premium outfielder. This is exactly why I don't understand the Furcal talk. It doesn't make sense for the team, when the money is so much better spent in the OF. If not through FA, then through trade.

Regarding the offense, my wish list- 1) Forget Furcal 2) Keep Walker 3) Keep Nomar for SS. If you let him walk, then let Cedeno have the job and invest extra money in the OF. 4) THROW MONEY AT THE OF. I think we must keep TWalk. He's one of the best offensive 2B in the league, and he's cheap. I can't believe the lose TWalk talk. Any marginal improvement a Furcal has to offer is sooo much better spent in the OF. I only see one real outfielder on the team for next year, and his name is Murton. I'm happy to see Murton in the OF, but the rest of it is a disaster. OF is the place where you are supposed to have offense, and where offense can be had for the best value. If we continue to have CPatt/Hollandsworth-like production in the OF, we are screwed again.

There is no way Pujols doesn't win the MVP. We can massage the stats all we want or debate what "MVP" means, but the fact is that Pujols was pretty close to Lee. And given the teams respective performances, there is no way he doesn't win. If the Cubs pulled off a WC berth, then Lee wins. Even if they had a winning record, it might be closer. But I predict Pujols wins handily.

Don't K.

Ah, it's been a while since I've been to a game thread...but the Cubbies are making a 9th inning run and might really hurt the Stros!

I agree Dusty has handled Corey very poorly. How do you think Cox would have done it? He would've benched him a long time ago. That's what. For all the justified criticism that has been given to Dusty about not giving young players a chance, he made no such mistakes with CPatt. And I still don't see how Dusty has tried to change Corey- the Cubs are a free swinging team, and that's in large part due to Dusty. I've never seen a manager who defends the free swinging and slugging attitude like Dusty.

I have no stats to back it up, but it seems as if the Cubs suck when the wind blows in. I guess that's what happens when the offense is so reliant on home runs like it has been in the past couple seasons. That's when defense and the ability to move runners becomes more important, weaknesses of this team. I heard on a telecast not too long ago that the wind has blown in a lot this year, more than blowing out. I'd be interested to know what the Cubs record is with the wind blowing in vs out the last couple seasons. Does anyone know how to look that one up?

Give Murton the job! Go and get another good outfielder, but pencil Murton into the starting outfield. I'm generally not as high on prospects as some on this board happen to be, but Murton is the man. He's got to play, and I think even Dusty is realizing it now. Smart play coming from a young guy in the organization. Who would've think it? I love the fact that he walks almost as much as he K's. I know they don't play the same position, but I'd take Murton over Pie and Patterson combined right now.

Sammy is so washed up, he's the superstar of the team. But Nomar, no. He has yet to have had a bad year given a reasonable number of AB's. He puts up the numbers year after year. The problem, of course, are injuries. I still think he's worth taking a shot at. It's been his groin, his back, his wrist, etc., but at least he doesn't keep injuring the same body part over and over. With a little luck, he could conceivably stay healthy. If he somehow puts up a full year, he'll be one of the best offensive SS's in the majors.