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The reason why I like speed in the 7 slot, better chance of XBHs and the steals. Getting the runner over to 2B with the #8 hitter, sets up a couple of scenarios as far as whether to pitch to him or BB him. 1. Runner on 2B, no outs, #8 hitter up. Say they BB him. Runner on 2nd and 1B, no outs.. Pitcher bunts him over, runners on 2B and 3B, 1 outs, ideal situation to drive in runners. 2. Runner on 2B, 1 out. BB him, then the pitcher bunts him over with two outs, runners on 2B and 3B, with the leadoff hitter up with two outs, still a good chance to drive in two runners. 3. Runner on 2B, 2 outs. BB the #8 hitter, to get to the pitcher up and he gets retired stranding the runners. You'll still start the next inning with the leadoff hitter up, instead of the pitcher. If they decide to pitch to the #8, they'll still run into the chance of having the #8 hitter drive him in.

Close my friend... I like speed in the 7th spot.... Hairston Walker Lee Ramirez Burnitz Barrett Patterson Cedeno/Perez The reason why I want Walker hitting 2nd is simple baseball logic that Baker fails to place any importance on... With a higher OBP guy leading off and assume he gets on.... 1. The 1B will be holding the runner on 1B 2. The 2B will likely be in DP depth. 3. The hole will be huge on the right side of the IF between 1B and 2B 4. Walker has above avg. bat control and more than anyone on the team has the ability to shoot the ball thru that gap. 5. Walker has one of the higher OBPs.

Agreed Raw. Right now, Hairston deserves to be the starting LF'er, he can avg. defensively as a corner OF'er, I think extended periods in CF will expose his lack of experience, but he is more than adequate defensively as a corner OF'er having above avg. range and probably an avg. arm. The lack of OBP at the top, makes Hairston a priority in the lineup with Walker and his LH bat with above avg. bat control, ideal for hitting 2nd.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article_perspectives.jsp?ymd=20050620&content_id=1097262&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp Larry Dierker talks about control with a pitcher and how golf can help a starting pitcher. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bb/3235816 Larry Dierker on keeping the 5 man rotation. This is an area I disagree with Dierker, moving up a starter and skipping the #5. I've always been under the belief of utilizing the day off for the starters not just the position players, if you have the luxury like the Cubs will have as far as more starters than spots in the rotation, I've been an advocate of skipping a start for each starter that has been worked. Maddux is a diff. story as he's the best in the game of monitoring his own body, but right now, I think Zambrano and especially Rusch are going to show effects of fatigue and a skipped start (10 days rest) could do wonders before the stretch run. Since Dusty loves 12 relievers, I don't see it becoming difficult to manuever. Ideally, I'd skip two starts per year for a pitcher and keep the 5 man rotation throughout.

Right.... Kotsay has an OBP of .355 for 2002-05 (playing for the Marlins, Padres and now A's). Yes, the Cubs couldn't use that at the top of the order at all. On top of that he plays defence to die for. There isn't a CF I'd rather watch play defence that Kotsay. He glides around making everything look ridiculously easy. He's the most underrated CF in the game by a mile. He only 29. He earns $5.5m this year and $5.5m next year (player option). Salaries would increase to $6.5m each year if he were traded. If you gave me $6.5m a year and I could sign any CF in the game with that money, off the top of my head I can't think of a better choice than Kotsay. That said, I'm still opposed to trading for him, because he'd be expensive in terms of prospects, as raw says. And I'm a Corey apologist. Let's see, what has his EqA been over the last 3 years, about .275? 2000: .268 2001: .288 2002: .289 2003: .266 2004: .287 2005: .265 You've got two figures that keep recurring there. About .266 and about .288. Strange. .288 is very strong. .266 isn't, it's merely okay. I believe Kotsay at .266 is a .288 player disappointing though, as opposed to Kotsay at .288 being a .266 player playing over his head. There's a difference. I wouldnt' say he's off to a poor start. Merely an okay one. I can't dispute either of your other two points. But if you read what I've said more closely, I'm not particularly in favor of acquiring Kotsay, despite being a big fan of his. But also because any player capable of repeatedly putting up .288 EqAs while playing excellent defence at a very important defensive position is worth having. That defence being a pretty enormous difference. Hairston also has significantly less power. There's simply not a comparison between the two as all-round players, regardless of the fact their OBPs are likely to be similar. Also, more of Kotsay's OBP is driven by hits as opposed to hit by pitches, which makes a difference with runners on, for what that's worth. Yes, but he's not a corner OF, which solves that "problem". If a team acquires Kotsay and puts him in one of the corners, they're certifiably crazy. But, the Of defense isn't a problem at this point it isn't a strength either. The problem is getting runners on base in front of Lee and Ramirez, which has to do with Dusty not putting Walker at the top of the lineup enough or getting another positional player with a higher OBP. It isn't worth it, when you have a potential higher OBP sitting on the bench. Personally, I'd stick with Corey in CF'er and cont. to ride it out.

Right.... Kotsay has an OBP of .355 for 2002-05 (playing for the Marlins, Padres and now A's). Yes, the Cubs couldn't use that at the top of the order at all. On top of that he plays defence to die for. There isn't a CF I'd rather watch play defence that Kotsay. He glides around making everything look ridiculously easy. He's the most underrated CF in the game by a mile. He only 29. He earns $5.5m this year and $5.5m next year (player option). Salaries would increase to $6.5m each year if he were traded. If you gave me $6.5m a year and I could sign any CF in the game with that money, off the top of my head I can't think of a better choice than Kotsay. That said, I'm still opposed to trading for him, because he'd be expensive in terms of prospects, as raw says. And I'm a Corey apologist. Let's see, what has his EqA been over the last 3 years, about .275? He's off to a poor start this year, had a career of nagging injuries and will require a couple of top prospects to obtain. Would he help the team? Sure, b/c of the lack of talent in the OF moreso than Kotsay's talents. I think Hairston would have a similar OBP at the top, without the salary, prospects given up, and without the defense. So, since he's isn't solid enough offensively for a corner OF'er as neither is Hairston, Hollandsworth, Dubois, or Burnitz at this stage. I see a miminal upgrade offensively, especially since probably won't cut it as a corner OF'er.

I'd pass, set your sights higher, Kotsay does nothing to address the team's lack of ability of getting runners on base.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bb/3226093 Larry Dierker cont. his campaign of utilizing youth to help jump start a ball club, references Balt. and Toronto of recent examples and apllies it long-term to the Astros.

Haha... actually his prediction has been pretty good to this point; Carpenter has pitched very well for most of the year... 9-4 with a 3.17 ERA. We'll see if he can keep it going at the end of this season, because he kind of crapped out toward the end of last year. He's on pace to throw 240 innings this year, which are a whole lot for a guy with a history of arm trouble. Question. If a pitcher (say Maddux) pitches 250 innings, but never goes over 100 pitches in a start, is that still overworking a pitcher? I know that innings and pitchcounts have become an important way of charting a pitchers use. Which is more important? Short-term answer, pitch counts. Best answer, incomplete. Depends more on mechanics & pitches while fatigued than pitch counts or IP.

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article_perspectives.jsp?ymd=20050613&content_id=1087993&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp Larry Dierker on his managerial style as well as his opinion on LaRussa and his recent book. Macromanager>micromanager.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article_perspectives.jsp?ymd=20050606&content_id=1077958&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp Dierker on umps on Questec.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bb/3216008 Dierker on micromanaging... =D>

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3206181 Dierker is running out of topics down in Houston, so he commented on "Baseball as America", which is a great tour to see.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bb/3197134 Dierker mentions how the '05 'Stros mimic the '00 Astros that he managed. He also writes about 2 key aspects that I appear to harp on and that is... The youth can provide a spark when a team is struggling, Dubois has done that as has the pen for the Cubs. Prospects are the key to maintaining long-term success.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/baseball/11691106.htm Dierker isn't likely interested in the KC job, he enjoys his work as writer and a broadcaster. Can't blame KC for expressing interest.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bb/3187011 The spending of ownership.

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article_perspectives.jsp?ymd=20050516&content_id=1051688&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp Larry Dierker writes on the supposed changes of the strike zone and what could still be done to improve it.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article_perspectives.jsp?ymd=20050509&content_id=1043717&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp Need to boost the morale of a team, buy some tropical shirts, etc.

I hope Leicester does well, it'll increase the odds of going with a 5 man rotation despite the days off. They have to take advantage of the days off for Z and Prior.

Larry Dierker mentions the importance of the scouting dept. and development of players within the system (hint:Dubois). He goes onto to mention how the higher spending teams in FA also spend more on scouting and player development. http://houston.astros.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article_perspectives.jsp?ymd=20050502&content_id=1035748&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp

For those wondering about any bad blood between Santo and Dierker after Dierker broke Santo's wrist...

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bb/3155664 Dierker talks about how to handle a rain delay and the decision of sending your starting pitcher back out there.

Desensitized?

As a professional big league relief pitcher, if you can't throw three straight days without risking serious arm injury, there's something very wrong. If this is the case with Fox, the Cubs should never have signed him. Or any other team for that matter. If Baker is incorrect enough to use 7 relievers, he should be able to allocate time, to where he doesn't have to use a reliever coming of the second of 3 three serious arm injuries on back to nights for the 2nd time in a week. He is coming off an arm injury, ease him back into the process, he is still getting his arm back into shape. 7 relievers in a 4 run lead and you have to throw a reliever coming back from an arm injury on back to back cold days is either careless for the pitchers, inability to manage a bullpen, or both. I'm going with both.

I have no problem with a manager working his starters hard, if the situation merits it. But, if the Cubs are up 8-2 and Z has 115 pitches thru 6 and laboring, he should have been pulled. Looking for proof? Zambrano in 2004' April 15-117 pitches in a 10-5 win (9-1 when he left the game) April 20-111 pitches in a 9-1 win May 13-114 pitches in a 7-3 win (6-1 when he was pulled) May 30-110 pitches in a 12-1 win June 5th-113 pitches in a 6-1 win June 10th-121 pitches (12-3 win) June 26th-128 pitches thru 6 in a 6-3 loss July 2nd-124 pitches thru 6.1 (6-2 win) July 29th-120 pitches in a 4-0 win Aug. 11th-124 pitches in a 5-1 win Aug. 23rd-115 pitches thru 6.2 in a 8-3 win Sept. 6th-119 pitches in a 9-1 win Sept. 17th-112 pitches in a 12-4 win Sept. 27th-124 pitches thru 6.1IP in a 12-5 win 14 out of 31 starts the Cubs could have been more cautious w/Zambrano. Carlos wasn't injured, yet extremely stupid and careless to work him like that in situations when he should have been pulled.