DivineBovine

so what about a guy with no k's, no walks, and few hits? is he not as bad a problem? No, then you have a guy like Neifi, who also happens to be a big problem. But with CPatt, K's are a part of his problem. I get it. It's about OBP, Slugging, etc. But CPatt with his ridiculous K/BB ratio just shows me he has poor hand-eye coordination.

No, K's alone don't make you a bad player. But combine that with no walks, few hits, and then you have a problem.

Statistically he should, but I think the Cubs sucky performance will do him in. I think Pujols gets it in the end.

McGwire was never busted with anything. Palmeiro was caught red handed with a steroid, not just a "banned substance." He's screwed. The circumstantial evidence was strong to begin with, with his Canseco connection. but he actually got busted. He went from being a pretty sure HOF'er to a doubtful one.

It is so over now. And its not even the ground they have to make up. They are simply playing like crap. They have shown this year that they are nothing more than a .500 team. Just play the rookies now, shut down some injured, and prepare for next year.

I'd like to see what he does next year. This year is ridiculous, but its also ridiculously above his career numbers. I love Lee, but I don't like the idea of basing a long term deal on one aberrant year.

First pitch swinging wasn't a problem the first time - Corey got his pitch and hit it hard at someone. It was a problem the second time. Barrett has seen 2 pitches this game and is 2 for 2. Taking the first pitch everytime is not a good thing. You wait for your pitch. It really wasn't hit that hard.

.297/.366/.505 in 91 ABs. Exactly! Corey couldn't even hit in AAA. I'm not interested in Schmidt until he learns how to get more people out with his low-90s fastball. Oh, my bad. He must've had a good game or two before he got called up? It doesn't matter. He really really has no trade value. How about hitting in the bigs then?

What?? There is absolutely no way that you could get anything resembling Jason Schmidt for CPatt. He has zero trade value. He couldn't even hit in AAA.

I know nobody here cares too much about K's, but for a pitcher, that's an amazing K rate.

Even as a CPatt skeptic, it looked to me as if he changed his approach at the plate in the few games I've had a chance to watch recently. But the stats look the same.

I think it'll happen. Dempster has been good, but Wood has proven that he would be Gagne-esque as a closer as far as I'm concerned. And if I may say so, I never doubted it anyways. His stuff is so ridiculously nasty. One hit, 12 K's in 7 ip. Nice. That said, if anyone would leave him out of the closer spot even if Dempster starts blowing saves, it's Dusty.

Here's my issue with that. A hitter's mentality has gone from "try to get a hit/get on base", to "hit it to this side of the field/hit it with this elevation, so if I make an out something good will happen". The hitter is no longer focused on success, he's trying to make sure his failure isn't as bad. Does that make sense? This is the best post here. And yes, it makes sense. I don't want players changing their approaches at the plate just because a runner is on 2nd with none out. Everyone used to bag on Sammy for striking out and not cutting down his swing to go to the right side on these situations. But to me, that's much more of a waste than a strikeout. If you try to hit the ball to the right side, that's exactly what you are gonna do. Best case scenario, runner moves up 1 base....1 more out is on the board. If the hitter keeps his same approach, best case scenario is a HR. Worst case scenario is a strikeout or doubleplay. In it's simplest form, more good can come out of a normal approach than a limiting approach. More bad can come also. But the difference between having a run or 2 on the board already (after runner on 2B, with none out) and having a runner at 3B with 1 out, is MUCH GREATER than the difference of having that runner on 3B with 1 out and having him at 2nd with 1 out. Oh, I agree with CPatterson completely. I'm not saying a player should go up there with the "well, I should hit it to the left/right side" mentality, they should just go up there and forget about trying to pull it or whatever. They should look for a pitch they can make good, solid contact on and go for that. But, if they do make an out, a productive one is better than nothing. Other than a sac bunt, you shouldn't be aiming to make an out. Simply try to take a pitch to drive somewhere. I just don't get CPatt's argument at all. Is a batter actually trying to make an out? Who says that? He's just NOT striking out while he does it. He's putting the ball in play, making the defense work, and trying to get hits. A K accomplishes nothing. A contact hitter isn't necessariy trying to hit a sac fly, but he's a hell of a lot more likely to hit one if he puts it in play rather than K's. He's still trying to get a hit when he hits it. And I don't think it's rare that the situation comes up where a ball in play is much better than a K. I can't believe that people actually think the number is negligible.

If Grissom produces even semi-decent results it is a metaphysical certainty that Baker will lobby to keep him for 2006. Baker said he actually asked Hendry to keep Simon and Karros for 2004, and of course we know he wanted Neifi, Holla, and Macias back for 2005. Yep. Giving Dusty Grissom is like giving a drug addict some heroin. If we get him, let's make sure either him, Dusty or both are long gone this offseason.

My educated guess would be that you don't have any "local interests" so you are given "the best game" between 2 first place teams. That's correct. Someone decided that Fox should have the exculsive baseball game on Saturday, so they broadcast the game they feel will be most popular in that region. Since there aren't so many local fans in PA of the Cubs or Mets, they broadcast the "better game"- Atl and St Louis. The whole idea that exclusives are so important is just dumb, imo. In NYC, I used to get the Giants and the Jets every Sunday. Never mind that there is a superbowl rematch on the other channel- I get infomercials instead. Rather than watch a game that I have no interest in, I just don't watch. Just like in baseball. I have no desire to watch the Yanks play a regular season game. But someone who thinks of these policies just decided that we'll all watch a game we have no interest in, just because its the only game on. Dumb.

I don't think walks are the opposite of strikeouts like that. When one goes up, the other doesn't necessarily (or even usually) go down. In fact, the easiest way to cut down on strikeouts would be to cut down on walks as well by swinging early in the count and just trying to make contact. This would result in reduced production for most players though. Excellent assessment. It's possible to have excellent plate discipline and yet still strike out. Strike outs are no worse than any other out. I think much of Sosa's renaissance came from being able to hit the outside pitch the other way. As he changed his approach to hitting, pitchers were forced to come inside to him in order to try to get him out. When they missed inside and got too much of the plate, those are the pitches he'd destroy. True, walks and K's might not be total opposites, but they are related. You have high OBP high K guys like Dunn who are great players. There are also low K low BB guys like Aram who are great players. But the fact is high K low BB guys are rarely great players. In fact, I can't think of one. And I can't think of one who has changed. The change is the key. For instance, you can keep the bat on you should and increase the BB, but you'll also increase the K. The trick is increasing the BB and keeping the rest of you game. You can't do that easily. To do this, not only do you have to not swing at bad pitches, you have to keep swinging at good ones and making contact. How come nobody has given me an example besides Sosa?

Well, I'm rooting for CPatt. I hope he comes through. But let's see him play well over a full season. I'd still trade him without thinking about it.

Patterson walked 45 times last year. He's walking at a good clip in AAA this year. Before this offseason when they tried to change his swing, his walk rate had increased in every MLB season. I don't know how you can make the claim that he has no walk potential, or was not improving in that aspect of his game. He still has never walked more than 45 times. And I don't really care how many walks he seems to be putting up in AAA, because he's batting like .200. Anyone can decide not to swing as much and increase their walk total, the challenge is doing that without screwing up the other aspects of your game. That's what CPatt just plain lacks. "Talent". This is what I call talent, not speed or power. He is not talented in terms of the ability to make contact or in terms or reaction time. Adam Dunn and Bellhorn are 2 good examples of high K guys who get on base. But when has anyone with CPatt's discipline ever ever developed into a Dunn or even a Bellhorn? These guys were walking from the beginning. Why is it that everyone seems to assume it is easy to change those habits? Nobody has named one guy who has been able to do it except Sosa. And we all know that Sosa has a lot of special circumstances. CPatt will never ever have 60 home run power.

I'm sorry, but that's a pair of blatantly racist statements. Are the Giants' American hitters not brain-dead? Agreed.

One thing I have to add here. I'm not a hitting coach, just a baseball fan. But its so easy to take a guy with raw physical tools and say all he needs is some "plate discipline". How many guys in the history of baseball have come up K'in 150 times, walking 30 times, and have actually changed that? Not many, if any at all. If it were as easy as saying - I'll just swing at good pitches, then why haven't more guys done it? CPatt doesn't just flail at pitches 2 feet out of the zone, and go up there trying to hit a home run, he takes meatballs right down the middle. He swings at hanging meatballs and swings through them. If you have 150 K potential with no walk potential, you have something lacking in HAND-EYE coordination, in my humble opinion.

THat's right but he did well in spite of that fact. I'm not talking about the obscene power or walks. In his prime, sammy hit for average as well. Patterson with a line of .300/.350/.500, 30hrs, 100rbi would be alright with me. I'd take that too. But if strike zone judgement is the problem, then I don't see him ever developing it. And when has CPatt ever bat .300 in a full year? Single A? And the .350 OBP- wow, that would be something. I don't see it. Those numbers are is absolute upside, but more realistically: .270/.330/25/70 is what we can hope for, and he's got a long way to go. Not worth it, imo.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/4344/career Those are Sosa's career stats. Walk totals in 96/97: 34/45. OBP in 96/97: .323/.300 In 98, he hit 66 homers. His walk totals instantly went up. 98-02- 73/78/91/116/103 I looks to me that he developed the ability to walk because he was slamming a ton of homers. It's easy to lay off pitches when you know the pitcher is scared of you. CPatt scares nobody.

Sosa never developed strike zone judgement. And Patterson never will either. Sosa developed 60 home run power. He came up with 35 home run power, and maybe got a little pharmaceutical help. That's the only time he ever got some walks. CPatt doesn't have the physical talent Sosa did, and raw physical talent means less in baseball than any other team sport. How about the ability to hit the lousy ball? CPatt doesn't have it. I'd get rid of him like I'd get rid of Dusty. CPatt typifies so much of the offensice problems on this team. No discipline whatsoever.

What's up with the home plate ump? He's horrible.

The more of these rumors I hear, the more I'm thinking he's gone after this year. I remember Larry Brown was saying he wanted to stay in Detroit. Whatever. Bye bye Dusty. I have been a Dusty supporter in the past. But no more. I'm man enough to admit I was wrong. He's a motivator, yes, but someone has to take the blame for underachieving the last 2 year. I'm sick of his stubborness in personnel choices, and I'm sick of the undisciplined play that is killing this team. Injuries are no excuse.