Soul

I agree. I have never been impressed by him, and I would swap him out for Aardsma in half a heartbeat. It may just be my perception, but Wuertz seems to either dominate or flat out stink, especially when he pitches in a couple games in a row. When Wuertz gets even a little tired, it's BP. I agree that it makes me nervous that he's not doing well, but I have been impressed with him in the past. He can be pretty sick when he's not misused, so it mostly just makes me sad that he's getting roughed up so badly. I agree with MPrior. Wuertz has a nasty slider when its on. For some reason, its just not on right now. Maybe he's tipping his pitches and the scouts caught on late last season or while looking at tape over the winter. Maybe its something else entirely. As I watched him today, I was reminded of Borowski's collapse a while back. He didn't have the same life on his fastball, and it was downplayed as normal spring training stuff and no big deal. But then later we learned that he was injured. Wuertz's velocity on his fastball was easily 91-93 and the slider was 84-86 all season last year, but he didn't come close to that today. I'm wondering if there isn't something structurally wrong with Wuertz's arm? I wouldn't be surprised if he comes up injured in the coming weeks. Maybe. Lots of guys have a good pitch though. That doesn't mean they should be on a big league roster. Wuertz is getting batted around like a rag doll. That should have earned him a trip to the minors, IMO. Hopefully I'm off-base.

That's like saying a thief must be credited for all those times he decided not to steal. A manager at the major league level is expected to make good moves---even the *right* move, if you will---all the time. We can credit Dusty for his good moves if we want, but the bottom line is, he isn't making enough of them. Not for this level of baseball. This thread started out as a comparison between Dusty and Tony, so I will fall back once again on that comparison. Tony makes a higher percentage of good moves than Dusty does.

I'll second that. Maddux and his sustainable 220 IP+ per season vs Pedro's minor injury-plagued seasons though is a different debate. However, you KNOW Maddux never juiced up. There's just no way. Pedro? Eh? Ya never know. 8) Rocket is probably the best, most long-lasting, pitcher of our generation. Questions remain about the juice. Therefore, Maddux is the best pitcher of our generation who absolutely, positively, no way no how, nada-----did not juice. :D

I know. Let's give up a whole bunch of points in the last 23 seconds of the half. What a wonderful idea! :evil:

I agree. I have never been impressed by him, and I would swap him out for Aardsma in half a heartbeat. It may just be my perception, but Wuertz seems to either dominate or flat out stink, especially when he pitches in a couple games in a row. When Wuertz gets even a little tired, it's BP. I agree that it makes me nervous that he's not doing well, but I have been impressed with him in the past. He can be pretty sick when he's not misused, so it mostly just makes me sad that he's getting roughed up so badly. It seems as though Wuertz was very good for awhile when he first joined the major league club. And since it has been more or less a slow burn downwards. Now he's just getting slaughtered. I think he needs time away to regroup. Is he out of options or something? Because I can see teams really beating the snot out of him this year.

Without Prior and Wood all year though? I could definitely see ranking us #22 in that case. Not sure we would lose 100 games, but we would definitely have a very shaky season barring some kind of miracle. We need those two, and it doesn't shock me in the least to see dire predictions in the wake of both being on the DL.

That's what I was trying to say. I shouldn't have called Dusty himself stupid, just the decisions he makes. I was...........stupid to frame it that way :oops:

Alright, then I back off calling him outrightly stupid, as a person. It's just that as a manager, in the heat of a ballgame, he makes a lot of decisions that make very little sense, and he makes them LOTS more than a manager like Tony LaRussa.

No, they're not. Not even close. We didn't have Wood and Prior for most of last year, and we didn't lose 90, and we're better this year. I agree. And the Cards are better than the Cubs IMO, but a #5 compared to #22 better? No freaking way. And the Tigers above the Indians? The Pirates at #29, under the Marlins and Rockies? What is this guy smoking? In his predictions article, he says "the Cardinals don figure to be challenged this year." Wha? Not only will they be challenged, but by multiple teams, in all probability. Dayn Perry = On crack I understand all that. But Prior pitched 166 innings last year, Woody 66. What if Prior only managed 70 and Wood 100 (for the sake of argument)? We also got decent performance from Williams---what if that doesn't hold? We now are depending on Cedeno and Murton, two unproven guys as starters. What if they both turn out to be too young to handle their roles? Realistically, I'm looking at this team to finish around .500 considering the injuries to Wood & Prior. If they were to both miss nearly the entire season and our young guys don't come through, I could see upping that to 90 losses. I agree, I don't see the Cards automatically as a #5 and I might put us a bit higher, but I can't say the guy is definitely on crack. Our season is looking very shaky right now---I can understand the skepticism. So you think putting Detroit ahead of Cleveland is reasonable, or ahead of 13 of the NL teams? I was only talking about his assessment of our division. I don't think I would put Detroit ahead of Cleveland.

No, they're not. Not even close. We didn't have Wood and Prior for most of last year, and we didn't lose 90, and we're better this year. I agree. And the Cards are better than the Cubs IMO, but a #5 compared to #22 better? No freaking way. And the Tigers above the Indians? The Pirates at #29, under the Marlins and Rockies? What is this guy smoking? In his predictions article, he says "the Cardinals don figure to be challenged this year." Wha? Not only will they be challenged, but by multiple teams, in all probability. Dayn Perry = On crack I understand all that. But Prior pitched 166 innings last year, Woody 66. What if Prior only managed 70 and Wood 100 (for the sake of argument)? We also got decent performance from Williams---what if that doesn't hold? We now are depending on Cedeno and Murton, two unproven guys as starters. What if they both turn out to be too young to handle their roles? Realistically, I'm looking at this team to finish around .500 considering the injuries to Wood & Prior. If they were to both miss nearly the entire season and our young guys don't come through, I could see upping that to 90 losses. I agree, I don't see the Cards automatically as a #5 and I might put us a bit higher, but I can't say the guy is definitely on crack. Our season is looking very shaky right now---I can understand the skepticism.

Easily, if they are out for huge chunks of the season.

You may think I'm exaggerating for effect, but while watching the NLCS I actually wondered if Dusty was mildly [expletive]. I'm not joking. Me too. And by the way, I'm not trying to be a MLB manager. I'm sure Dusty's baseball knowledge blows me away any day. That's hardly the point, Jake. You're just offended because I called Dusty stupid. Compared to Tony LaRussa, he is IMO.

Wuertz really makes me nervous. I think it's a mistake to put him on the roster.

Are you saying Roger Clemens was on the juice?

Similarities in their philosophy aren't so important. What matters is Dusty is stupid, and Tony isn't.

Bobby Abreu Then what are we waiting for? Ask Hendry. The Phils reportedly offered Abreu for Prior this offseason. My thoughts exactly. DONE DEAL. What was the problem? The problem is maybe Hendry is reluctant to trade a 25 year old ace who is under team control for 3 more seasons, who is one of the most talented pitchers in baseball. I know we are all frustrated by his injuries, but a lot of them have really been unavoidable fluke injuries (hit by line drive, collission with Giles). I like Abreu as much as the next guy, but I'm not trading Prior for him. Abreu makes about 3 times what Prior does and is on the wrong side of 30. Plus he had a rather significan regression last season, especially in the 2nd half. I have faith that Prior will get healthy and stay healthy, and if he does he will compete for many Cy Youngs. Prior regressed last year. You can't just dismiss that because of a "freak" injury. Much as I like Mark and want to see him succeed as a Cub badly, if he doesn't start delivering on his promise we need to get something for him before he's worth nothing. Step 1 would be: making starts instead of trips to the DL.

COBS WIN! Get drunk everybody!

Brownlie!!

What?? They've still got Bellhorn in?!? Sure play your starters against our A guys to win a ST game! :evil:

Where is God with a well-placed lightning strike when you need Him?

GEH!

A very worrisome trait of the CUBS in recent years, no? It is but,let's keep in mind that most of the regulars are out of the game. True enough, but remember, we haven't had a hit since Murton lead off the 3rd with a double. I hope this Padres team is a favorite to return to the playoffs. They seem to be making us look bad heading into the season, despite our 1-run lead today.

The offense went to sleep. geh.

I'd go to Sacramento to play baseball for 1.4 million. Sadly, no one is offering to help me out :wink:

Uh, no that would be INTRAdivision trade. #-o