Beer Kaese

The fish rots from the head ;) Trading for Lawton was a mistake. The correct action was to fire Dusty because he refused to use available options. All I can conclude is A) Hendry wants to be fired or B) The Tribune wants to see empty seats.

We should know if Murton or Cedeno can play at the major league level. I love Perez as a utility infielder. I love Hollandsworth off the bench, backing my corner outfielders. It was Dusty Baker that stayed with bench guys who were as productive as Corey was when he got sent down. (Neifi .220/.248/.312 in June and .233/.245/.330 in July and Todd .197/.260/.348 in July) My vote would be "mismanaged by a moron".

I wouldn't be :shock:

So, did Ryno talk about Raffy or Sosa in his speech? As for the Hall, Raffy's near toast while Sammy still has a shot.

Since Lawton = no Murton, we are dead in the water. Fire Dusty yesterday!!!

The later the trade deadline is the more it favors big market teams. I like the way it is. Small market teams benefit when marque players do not change hands.

We might catch Houston with a different manager. I know, broken record, Dustgag needs to go. Dusty has treatened to keep Perez in the lineup in front of Nomar. I didn't say that. The pissant running the team did.

Back to the original. Do we need a leftfielder? Because of our Manager we can't answer that question. We can spend money and block kids but we can't answer the question. What was your point? Holy cow. My point was that you said no deal would help, and that's insane. There's always a deal that can help any team, regardless of who they already have. The right deal isn't always available, but there's always spots on your team that you can upgrade. You're saying a deal won't help us and that's plain wrong. You're saying Manny Ramirez wouldn't help? You'd rather have Murton in LF everyday, than Manny? I see, you're saying we can trade Murton for Ramirez and that would help. My point is Dusty isn't working out. When we get injuries he plays part-time vets and doesn't look at help from kids (ala Braves, Cards or any other team with a Manager with a brain) but, point taken. Trade Murton, Gerut and Macias for Manny Ramirez. Piece of cake! You really seem to have fallen into the one-dimensional thinker that many blame Baker of having. Do you really see no need whatsoever to improve the bullpen? If the score is left at 1-0 yesterday, maybe, just maybe we can get one or two runs. Once it got to 3-0 or 6-0, the game was over. Please, stop thinking it was just the kids in Atlanta that got them in first place. One, the Nationals are having a monumental collapse, and two the Braves pitching is not nearly as bad as the Cubs. If playing the kids is the answer to everything, why is Colorado so bad? Dusty Baker is so bad that I can't even see the bullpen. Hendry gave him the arms the same way he gave him the bats. So, he doesn't use the bats.

Back to the original. Do we need a leftfielder? Because of our Manager we can't answer that question. We can spend money and block kids but we can't answer the question. What was your point? Holy cow. My point was that you said no deal would help, and that's insane. There's always a deal that can help any team, regardless of who they already have. The right deal isn't always available, but there's always spots on your team that you can upgrade. You're saying a deal won't help us and that's plain wrong. You're saying Manny Ramirez wouldn't help? You'd rather have Murton in LF everyday, than Manny? I see, you're saying we can trade Murton for Ramirez and that would help. My point is Dusty isn't working out. When we get injuries he plays part-time vets and doesn't look at help from kids (ala Braves, Cards or any other team with a Manager with a brain) but, point taken. Trade Murton, Gerut and Macias for Manny Ramirez. Piece of cake!

Back to the original. Do we need a leftfielder? Because of our Manager we can't answer that question. We can spend money and block kids but we can't answer the question. What was your point?

Yes wow. The Braves gained ground with kids like Murton while Dusty stuck with guys like Hollandsworth. Surely your not going to suggest the Cubs had injuries and the Braves didn't. The Cards are getting rocked by injuries and they seem to be ok with a weak farm system. What's wrong with us?

Really? Yes really. Hollandsworth for July: .206 .271 .365 .637 I don't remember, was Patterson that bad? The first move, fire Dusty. What? Isn't Hollandsworth's poor line the reason for making a deal in the first place? So adding Soriano (or any upgrade) to LF doesn't help? Can Murton play LF? He's been here for three weeks, Hollandsworth is a part-time player in a slump and our Manager can't tell me if Murton is able to play LF. Fired!

Really? Yes really. Hollandsworth for July: .206 .271 .365 .637 I don't remember, was Patterson that bad? The first move, fire Dusty.

Have to be a buyer. We're 3 behind Houston and we play them 10 more times. You have to at least address OPS in LF and/or bullpen help - if not for 2005, then for 2006. Got to buy regardless if Nomar and Williamson are back or not. What part of Murton's .483 .543 .552 1.095 doesn't warrant a start against a righthanded pitcher? Do we need a leftfielder Hoops? I know it's hard to believe, but the Cubs were shut out even with Cedeno and Murton in the lineup. It has been apparent when our 2-5 hitters don't get on base and drive in runs, we get shut down. Our bullpen has been the biggest reason why we're consistently inconsistent. Which is why: 1) A deal doesn't help. 2a) We need a good look at young (cheap) players. 2b) We fire Dusty so we can look at young (cheap) players. Until we have some clue as to the value (as seen at the major league level) of kids like Murton and Cedeno, as well as Gerut, we have no idea what we have, let alone what we need. In the situation we are in, Dusty have a negative value. He costs us because he kills the kids.

Have to be a buyer. We're 3 behind Houston and we play them 10 more times. You have to at least address OPS in LF and/or bullpen help - if not for 2005, then for 2006. Got to buy regardless if Nomar and Williamson are back or not. What part of Murton's .483 .543 .552 1.095 doesn't warrant a start against a righthanded pitcher? Do we need a leftfielder Hoops?

We lack too much to pin our hopes on a deal. There has been enough time to determine if Murton could play left and fill that void but Dusty didn't give him a shot so Jim really doesn't know if he needs a leftfielder or a new manager. Prior and Zambrano can get in a groove and carry a rotation. Maddux and Williams can eat innings and keep us in ball games. Wood or no Wood, we still have enough starting pitching to stay in the race. Garciaparra and Williamson are around the corner and may address two needs. Offense at shortstop. Relief pitching. If I'm Hendry I'm shopping Rusch and Hollandsworth. A contender could do worse than adding a nice back of the rotation guy who can be sent to the pen in the postseason and a solid PH/DH corner OFer who can play 1B and is a skilled part-time player. Trade Patterson? I'd get someone else's Corey in return. Move a volume of midlevel prospects (40 man/rule 5 trade) for a top level prospect of two? Find me a dumb GM. Injuries hurt but they are part of the game. Hendry had Cedeno, Dusty never gave him a shot. Hendry had Murton, Dusty never gave him a shot. Remind me again about the Braves .. they gained ground without Chipper and pitching, ok .. and they played inexperience kids, ok .. and they got healthy, ok .. caught and passed the Nationals and are on their way to another Eastern Crown .. and we have Dusty .. To me, the biggest deadline deal Hendry can make doesn't need a partner. I can't see us making a big deal. I think we need to get a good look at Murton and, to a lesser extent because he isn't 100%, Gerut. Cedeno should get more time at short and be Garciaparra's shortstop partner while he gets up to speed. I have nothing against Hollandsworth or Perez. I like them as ball players and think they are good to have on a quality team. I just don't like how they are used by the current manager.

Great post !!!!! =D> I think this is the type of thing that Dusty got fired for in Frisco. He handled Dubois poorly, butchered Cedeno and is in the process of killing Murton. He needs to be fired. As bad as Dusty using Remlinger as a loogy is, it doesn't compare to being Dusty.

Dusty Baker is to intelligent thought as Rabbits are to Chastity.

The fact is Dustbag ties the hands of his GM and makes roster construction more expensive. Murton should be getting more playing time then he is. The result? Hendry has no idea if he actually needs a leftfielder. Matt Murton is an absolutely insane 10 for 15 with 4 walks and only 2 K's in the 8th spot in the lineup. (1 for 7 batting 5th, 1 for 4 pinch hitting) Freaking Holly has a sub .300 OBP and a sub .700 OPS for July. Everyday, everywhere you read and hear the Cubs need a leftfielder. Do we? There is no answer to that question because Dustbag is sticking with a sub .300 OBP guy while a guy with the potential of a plus .350 OBP rots on the bench. Dustbag needs to be fired now. We have Williamson and Garciaparra on the cusp of helping this team. Neither one of those guys does anything about leftfield. They should make us better but they don't answer one of our biggest questions. Do we need a leftfielder? My problem with Dustbag is simple and it ties into how I would build my team. Set aside pitching and just look at the position players/hitters for a second. You need one guy at each position. Simple enough. We have (now and next year) Lee, Ram and Barrett at the core. Blanco is signed so we have catcher covered and I think we're ok. With a right handed core I think we need some lefty. Walker and Burnitz are both solid, reasonably priced starter quality players so I'd bring one back without thinking too much about it. If forced to choose, I'd take Walker. We have plenty of options for a lefty in the outfield (Gerut, Patterson) so I'd place the premium on Walker. I like Perez a ton as a utility infielder. Quality defense with a decent utility infielder bat. So .... I have 3B Ram, 2B Walker, 1B Lee, C Barrett, Bench Blanco and Perez. Not a bad start, I think most would agree. Now I start to have problems. The problems are directly tied to the complete incompetence of my Dustbag. Can Ronny Cedeno play shortstop at the major league level? The injury to Garciaparra and the tanking of Perez' bat should have opened up the opportunity to maybe answer that question. At this point I have no other choice but to consider bringing back Garciaparra with a incentive heavy deal. I'd do something like 6 million guaranteed with 2 million for 400 plate appearances, and an additional million for 500, 600 and 700 appearances. Not knocking Nomar but that's a ton of money to spend for a shortstop when we might have a sufficent guy near the minimum that would allow us to spend in the outfield. Stupid Dustbag. So now I have Nomar, another right handed hitter, and a need for a RBI lefty. Enter Burnitz. I believe we have an option and I'm going to bring him back. This gives me a 2-6 order of Walker, Lee, Ramirez, Burnitz and Nomar. On paper that's pretty tuff but it's also expensive and, with Barrett in the mix, it means I need to get a 1 or 2 hitter that plays left or center. You might ask, what about moving Walker to 1 and letting Murton hit 2? We could have Patterson hit 7 and Barrett 8. Wouldn't that work? Stupid Dustbag!!! We'll never know .... (WOW!)

Already known. Posted about a week ago this was the best course of action.

I'm not about to rip Patterson (see sig). He was leading off at the end of last year and told to think about leading off this year. ?? Our #2 hitter goes down so Patterson is moved to #2. Our #3 hitter goes down so Patterson is moved to #3. ?? I'd fire Dustbag for jerking the kid around. I'm not going to say he was great leading off early but why did he move back when Walker was hurt? Dustbag gave Holly more time to blow chunks in left before Dubois ever got a chance.! We have no chance unless Dustbag is fired!

I've got to go with the assumption that he's going to miss time and be placed on the DL. If this does turn out to be the case I take some radical steps. I move Rusch to the rotation and leave him there for the remainder of the regular season. I bring up JVB for the pen so I can see how he does against ML hitters while Williamson is rehabbing. This action will give me an indication of where my pen situation is. I like Dempster. I could live with Ohman and Wuertz. (If you'd perfer Hill to JVB, I'm fine with that.) This gives a chance to see what I have to work with and what I (might) need to add. If Wood is going to miss a month (or more), he's not coming back to my rotation -- unless I'm out of the race. With soft tossers like Maddux and Rusch in the rotation, I can spot Kerry and inning or two in relief of these guys effectively. No pitch count issues. Available to start if necessary. Pretty radical but if I stay in the race for a month or more without him, I'm not messing with my rotation.

ding ding ding ding ding we have a winner

Get ahead early in the count, don't fall behind. I haven't seem him pitch but I'd imagine it's like shooting free throws. You want a smooth easy motion and you want to repeat it exactly, everytime. Hard to do but possible. Focus and concentration.

in b4 the lock