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He looks like Michele Wie. :-k I heard he pitches a lot like Chan Ho Park and has a batting stance similar to Ichiro. Which Chan Ho Park? Good version or really really really bad version? Well, actually, upon further review - neither. He is actually more like random asian A. Would it make you happier if he was compared in looks to Brittany Spears?

Three hands, eh? Awesome, is that kind of like Alfonseca's two extra fingers and toes? :D

umm Iron Man ... Crap, completely forgot about that one because it's already passed and I haven't seen it yet. But, yes, that just makes the month that much better.

The big problem with Lou is that he's had 2 really big, really stupid mistakes that he's been repeating for weeks. It's like a B student in math class who can't multiply by 2 and 5. Which mistakes are you referring to specifically? So many people have varying opinions on what he's doing wrong, so I'm honestly not sure which ones you're referring to. Really, though, on general philosophy, I'd probably give Lou a B+ to A-. Thus, the C range is taking into account mistakes he's made. Marmol usage and Pie benchiness That's what I'm saying. I don't think he's overusing Marmol too much (yet), but I don't like when he's using him. I also don't think he's committing unspeakable crimes against Pie (though signing Edmonds is pretty close), but I think he should get more at-bats. So yes, both of those mistakes factor into me lowering his overall grade. If you take out the stupid uses of Marmol. he's down to something like a 90 inning pace. High, but not absurd. With Pie, it's pure stupidity through and through. Johnson isn't just not hitting righties now, he's not hitting anything at all. There's no way Pie would be worse than Johnson has been in the last month I don't mind going extremely slowly with Pie (though again, signing Edmonds is a truly terrible idea), but I agree he should be getting more playing time than he is now. Johnson simply isn't an everyday player and it's showing.

I voted Get Smart, though next month is down overall in movie quality. Get Smart looks good - I like Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway is extremely good looking - and the Hulk may be interesting, but I'm not crazy about the rest. This month is much better with Speed Racer (it was actually decent, in a weird way), Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Indiana Jones 4 (yes, I'm looking forward to it).

The big problem with Lou is that he's had 2 really big, really stupid mistakes that he's been repeating for weeks. It's like a B student in math class who can't multiply by 2 and 5. Which mistakes are you referring to specifically? So many people have varying opinions on what he's doing wrong, so I'm honestly not sure which ones you're referring to. Really, though, on general philosophy, I'd probably give Lou a B+ to A-. Thus, the C range is taking into account mistakes he's made. Marmol usage and Pie benchiness That's what I'm saying. I don't think he's overusing Marmol too much (yet), but I don't like when he's using him. I also don't think he's committing unspeakable crimes against Pie (though signing Edmonds is pretty close), but I think he should get more at-bats. So yes, both of those mistakes factor into me lowering his overall grade.

The big problem with Lou is that he's had 2 really big, really stupid mistakes that he's been repeating for weeks. It's like a B student in math class who can't multiply by 2 and 5. Which mistakes are you referring to specifically? So many people have varying opinions on what he's doing wrong, so I'm honestly not sure which ones you're referring to. Really, though, on general philosophy, I'd probably give Lou a B+ to A-. Thus, the C range is taking into account mistakes he's made.

Fair enough. But is Fontenot really that much better a option? I'm stunned by those projections. Probably not, which means I don't have a strong feeling on which should be used. Both will likely put up worse numbers the more chances they get, so it doesn't matter that much which one is used.

Agreed completely. It's quite cool to see the workings of a parent with a son breaking into the big leagues.

Um, context? Sean hasn't started a game in like 2 weeks. He was money through 4, that's all you should really expect in that situation. A 22 year old making a last minute start as his first major league start against the #2 run scoring team in the league, that hasn't started in a couple weeks should do better than that. Sure, his last 2 earned runs were walked in by Chad Fox, but still. There's absolutely no excuse for him not to get a complete game shut out. Personally, I blame Lou. Not sure why, but I might as well.

This is a good point. No sense in wasting a bench player when you have a good pinch runner in Marquis (and should he get hurt, it's no great loss). plus there is the outside chance that marquis will hurt himself. all in all, a lot of positives here. :lol: I'd actually rather him not get hurt...there's still the chance we can deal him at the deadline if he's healthy and hasn't hit one of his horrible months yet. Too late. He was pretty average last month and has had one start this month. He's nowhere near the bad Jason Marquis yet. I'd probably give Lou a C to C+ at this point. Marmol's odd usage is my biggest fault to him. I'm of the mind that the more at-bats Cedeno gets, the worse his numbers will be, so I don't have a terrible problem with this. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I'm not real comfortable in Ronny yet.

Yep, it's a decent use of the resources he has. It makes me wonder, aside from Marquis and Z, what pitchers do we have with decent speed? Starters? Maybe Gallagher. The rest are either old (Lieber, Lilly) or don't appear to be fast (Hill).

and isn't killing our pitchers, I think that's TBD (Marmol). Nothing close to what Dusty likely aided with on Wood and Prior. I'm not all that concerned with Marmol's usage yet, we'll see how the rest of the season goes.

This is a good point. No sense in wasting a bench player when you have a good pinch runner in Marquis (and should he get hurt, it's no great loss). plus there is the outside chance that marquis will hurt himself. all in all, a lot of positives here. :lol: I'd actually rather him not get hurt...there's still the chance we can deal him at the deadline if he's healthy and hasn't hit one of his horrible months yet.

This is a good point. No sense in wasting a bench player when you have a good pinch runner in Marquis (and should he get hurt, it's no great loss).

Honestly, I think Lou is likely more concerned with Pie's mentality than with how he'll fit in the lineup. If he goes out there and struggles badly - even if it doesn't have a huge impact on the offense - it'll hurt his confidence. Lou is likely trying to protect that. i understand the argument, but i think the confidence thing is overrated. mike schmidt didn't hit much his first year, and he turned out fine. dustin pedroia was awful for his first month with the red sox. i think that a lack of consistent playing time against major league pitching will be more harmful to his development then any loss in "confidence." I think it depends largely on the player. Pie, much like CPatt, is very underdeveloped and lacks good plate discipline. I have little doubt he'll eventually hit (he has at every other level) but working him in slowly may be the better course of action in this particular case. The comparisons to Schmidt and Pedroia, for example, are flawed in that they were both patient, disciplined hitters through the minors. Though they struggled, both still had decent to good OBPs early on...Pie is not very disciplined at the plate.

According to cubs.com, it is in fact true. I'd prefer Marquis to be out as I think Lieber would be better in the rotation, but good to see Gallagher getting another chance.

That's what confuses me more about Lou than anything else right now. Why in the world he's using Marmol in insignificant spots is utterly confusing.

Honestly, I think Lou is likely more concerned with Pie's mentality than with how he'll fit in the lineup. If he goes out there and struggles badly - even if it doesn't have a huge impact on the offense - it'll hurt his confidence. Lou is likely trying to protect that. Again, though, I agree he should definitely be getting more at bats.

that is an amazingly bad way to come to the right conclusion That's not the only reasoning, but it's easier than finding a crap ton of numbers that also say Soriano is better than Zito. Soriano is a much less terrible value than Zito is considering money, position and production. I also think, between the two, Soriano will be the easier to move later on. He's very good right now and should stay that way for another year or two. Zito, on the other hand, is bad right now and likely will only get worse. I could see a Ned Colletti/Wayne Krivsky-type manager biting on Soriano in a couple years hoping he still has something left (assuming he stays healthy). Zito will likely go the way of Denny Neagle and his monster contract, though.

Bad result? Yes. But there was some hope to be gleamed from it considering it was his first ML start and he pitched decently. Given he's 22, I'm ok with the start. By the way, from a few of your posts in the game thread, I suspect you agree with the last part. I thought I'd say it anyway, though.

You have to figure that at least some of the wildness and the mounting problems in the fifth came from his youth. He's 22 and has barely ever started in the majors (is this his first?), you have to know the adrenaline is pumping and that accounts for at least some of the struggles. Not excusing the final numbers, but if this is as bad as he'll get, I'm excited for the future. Yes, this was his first big league start. Thanks Raisin. I was thinking it was, but wasn't sure at all.

No, the thinking is that he'll likely struggle this season and Lou wants him to take it one step at a time to keep his confidence up. Get used to the majors this season and then hopefully be ready to take over full time later this year or (more likely) next. And, if this is Lou's strategy, do you really think he hasn't talked to Pie about it at all? It was quite clear early on that his patience was almost non-existent and maybe Lou wants to make sure it's improved before handing the job over to him. I've said before, I'd like to see Pie play more against righties, but I can see the merit in this strategy. If nothing else, it should help him avoid the boos of riled up Cub fans that CPatt endured (and ultimately succumbed to). It's the most logical conclusion I can draw from Lou's comments, him working personally with Pie and his bringing in help to work with Felix.

Exactly the reason it's silly to compare Dusty to Lou. Lou has a good overall philosophy (likes OBP for instance) and isn't killing our pitchers, but makes bad in-game decisions sometimes. Dusty, on the other hand, has all of Lou's bad attributes, plus doesn't have the good redeeming qualities of Lou. Lou's better and it's really not even the least bit close.

Bringing in Fox today wasn't exactly a good move, but his only other realistic option was Wuertz and he isn't much better for that situation (Marmol would have been ideal, but about the only manager out there who actually might have made that move is Bobby Cox, I'm not sure any others are currently employed who will go that far away from conventionality). The main thing I disliked was IBBing Chris Young - a young, impatient hitter who struggles with breaking balls - to get to a much more patient Connor Jackson. Young likely swings at some of those breaking pitches Fox was tossing out of the zone. In Lou's defense on walking Young, though, it set up the double play. Lou played with fire and got singed. Luckily, the team made up for it. As for Pie/Johnson, I agree Pie should be starting against more righties. I think Lou is likely babying Pie to an extreme, which can be good, but I'd like to see Felix out there at least a little more. Babying? Without the rain today Felix was going to sit 3 straight games, 2 of which were against rightys, I call that screwing, not babying. Babying - going to an extreme to make sure he doesn't get his confidence hurt by struggles at the age of 23. He's been working with him on the side and is putting him in for some defensive replacements and pinch running situations. Thus, he's getting some playing time and getting used to being in the majors for a season without the pressure (either internally or externally) to produce. He's likely taking the failure of a player like Corey Patterson as a reason to be extremely careful with Pie's development. I'm not arguing it's the best way, but I think that's what he's doing. It's the only thing that would explain all the time he's put into working with Felix on the side.