Transmogrified Tiger

No. Is there an emoticon that properly expresses the fact that Hendry is giving me daily migraines? Dear Lord is there are reason what so ever to put a 33 year old journey man 3B on the 40 man roster? With all the potential Rule 5 roster moves this off season why add McClain when its gonna pose a problem in three months? Cause they'll just take him off of it. No big deal.

Cleveland

Dubois will be a career minor leaguer, nothing else. Normally when people make statements as fact, they try and back that up with some sort of rationale, logic, statistics, etc.

Murton's BABIP last year was 50 points lower. Fluke I say! Murton with a five vote lead over Nolasco. The electorate responds! "The strongest argument against Democracy is a 5 minute conversation with the average voter." We're waiting on the hispanic heavy precincts to show their support.

Because people dont want to admit what has become reality. Prior and Wood are not that good.....even when healthy. Last year Prior's problems were injuries (according to many). This year...injuries again. He's been healthy awhile .....and not all that good. Im not saying he's bad....but I dont think he's going to be a Clemens or a Maddux. The Cubs were banking on the rotation of Wood,Prior,Z,Maddux and whoever else to lead them to the promised land. THey firgured they could get by with mediocre offense. If the starters were great.....it might have worked. THe plan has failed. Better come up with a new idea. Banking on Wood and Prior is not going to work. Unless they admit that to themselves...we are in for a few more years of watching Wood get hurt and Prior not live up to his hype (and also probably get hurt). all i can say is, wow. Wow? Neither of them has proven to be CONSISTENTLY effective. Both are prone to control problems.....and they get hammered when it happens. Are they talented? Obviously. Prior is middle of the pack in just about everything this season.....and Wood is injured AGAIN. My point was only that to rely on these 2 guys to be supermen and take you to the series is not going to happen. "Not that good" was perhaps a bad choice of words. How about "consistently inconsistent." Prior is 18th in the NL in ERA, 11th in WHIP, in a virtual tie for the lead in K/9, 12th in K/BB, 6th in BAA, 7th in OBP against, and 14th in OPS against. If that's middle of the pack, then I'd like plenty of middle of the pack pitchers.

Murton's BABIP last year was 50 points lower. Fluke I say!

His OBP at all levels was over 400. He's proven he can sustain it at all levels. While he may have small sample sizes if you isolate any level, looking at them all shows a remarkably consistent picture. His AA numbers alone would put him in serious contention for this award, but when it is combined with the fact that he has maintained those numbers at each level, places him in a different level than any of the other candidates. Nolasco is a good second place...and if we had a separate award for minor league pitcher of the year, he'd likely get my vote. But as it stands, Murton should be the hands down winner of this award this year. Nolasco can win it next season when Murton is playing fulltime in the majors. Very lucky season at AA, with questionable power for a corner OF. I know you love you your cubbie rookie corner OF's Vance(:P), but where's the quote from the AA pitchers saying they hate facing Murton? Nolasco INSPIRES FEAR. You can't teach that. He's got the intangibles and the numbers, the complete package.

Darn you and your logic! :P I was going more on what my eyes were telling me while watching Corey in his return (although I could have sworn he had drawn more than two walks since coming back; yikes). No, I did not think that he had completely reversed himself, that'd be asking for a miracle. Instead, it seemed more to me that he was finally making progress, which was completely different from anything we had seen from him this season. However, it seems like any perceived progress I thought he was making has pretty much been flushed down the toilet. Can't wait for the same thing to happen to Felix Pie over the next few years. You're right in the sense that Corey did appear to have a different approach at the plate for a few games; taking more pitches, even if he didn't draw walks, showing better discipline, hitting down more on the ball.... but the results weren't there. He reverted back to old Corey before the results ever started to show up. I still don't know what to make of Pie. I realize he's not ready to come up and probably won't be next year either. But what worries me about him, more than anything I've read or seen about him, is an interview that Pat and Ron did with Von Joshua. Joshua couldn't contain himself with his glee and his praise of Felix..... and then he tells them that although Pie is hitting leadoff now, he's not a leadoff hitter. Where are we headed here ? Butbutbutbutbut, he's FAST!

Matt Murton's BABIP in AA: .376 Unsustainable. All other levels have small sample issues. Plus he's another player that's older than the truly deserving candidate. Viva Nolasco!

You see people! The opposition fears Carlos Enrique! He had a future the second he struck me out in a HS playoff game. I'll leave that alone. Be a homer and vote Ricky!

You are so in love with stats it's unbelievable. The situations have great "predictive value" as to how Barrett's going to react in a game situation. All bases loaded situations are not the same. In the examples set forth, Barrett never got a hit when his team was behind. His hits came when the team was well ahead. If you are satisfied with a guy with good looking stats who maintains those stats without really impacting the team in a positive way when they need him the most, so be it. Your stats will give you great solace during playoff time, because this group ain't making it any time soon with their bases-loadeditis. I wonder how all those great players and teams survived in the years before OPS and pitch counts became an end all and be all. You have to have a feel for the game and numbers on a page, while not without use, can't tell you much about intangibles which often make a team a winner. Break them up however you want, people on base, how many outs, what the score is, it doesn't matter. There's no correlation from year to year how players perform situationally. But you could continue to say that it's not something that's measurable so your perceptions could still be justified.

You are ugly!

And I reiterate, Yadier Molina is hitting cleanup today, and Marquis is pitching. This makes Molina the 9th best hitter in the lineup.

Lord only knows..... 06/03 - 08/26 AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS Patterson 162 15 27 4 3 2 43 9 10 50 0.167 0.215 0.265 0.481 What's he hitting since his recall Fred? Patterson AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS 08/09 - 08/26 51 7 10 1 1 1 16 4 3 12 0.196 0.241 0.314 0.554 Thanks.

It's to the point that I could care less if Walker goes as well. SHip him off for a prospect and play Hairston next year. Why? We'd just be getting worse for the sake of change.

Lord only knows..... 06/03 - 08/26 AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS Patterson 162 15 27 4 3 2 43 9 10 50 0.167 0.215 0.265 0.481 What's he hitting since his recall Fred?

I agree the season is done, but what's a more prudent move: rewarding a career minor leaguer who has no future with your big league organization or letting a player who may have a future with the team get a longer look at major league pitching? I think the answer is obvious which is why I can't fathom this move. I like McClain. He seems to be a hard working, nice guy. But, Fontenot is a player who likely has a greater future with the organization and these could be valuable at bats for him. To put that in perspective, Fontenot is going to be up in 5 days, so it's not THAT much of a deal. Neither Fontenot or McClain would have/will get much time in those 5 days.

Take Gomes instead.

McCarver on Pujols: "He has the ability to take a pitch off the plate inside and hit it well AND keep it fair. Most players hit it well but pull it foul." One pitch later, Pujols crushes an inside pitch off the plate foul down the left field line. And Yadier Molina is hitting CLEANUP today.

Dick Stockton working with McCarver today, this could lead to more hilarity than the typical Buck/McCarver broadcast.

This just proves what an excellent job the Cubs have done in bringing prospects to the major leagues. What it proves is that the KC Royals have such a screwed up organization that they would destroy the chances of a talent like Sisco of developing into a #1 or #2 starter. I still don't understand why at midseason they didn't make a deal with the Cubs, trading a middle reliever for the rights to Sisco. KC then could have sent him down and developed him as a starter for the future. Sisco didn't pitch above A ball as a starter, and this year hiding at the back of the bullpen will cripple his development. I'm betting Hendry got caught flatfooted because he didn't think a team would be so stupid to pull a stunt like this. And Sisco is going to be stuck on a pathetic KC team for years to come, and as a reliever at that! In a year or two I'll bet Sisco is going to envy Rich Hill. I understand what you're saying and agree with it, but Sisco's still only 22, 3 years younger than your example of Hill.

There you go. Man you're quick, CPATT! Hobbes is swift, he's the brains around here. Looks to me like he spends all of his free time dancing. That's what he wants you to think.

I agree with you. I'm just sick of watching Walker takling the baseball @ 2nd. Not to single him out, but Aram,Barrett & Nomar are also avg. to below avg defenders. Hitting is very important to create runs. However, a good defense behind a decent pitching staff is also very important & is a major ingredient in winning championships. Ex. Marlins of 03'. There was not a better defensive IF in MLB. The key here is finding the complete ball player. I just feel, Todd Walker is not it. And you may be right. However, there aren't really any "complete" 2B men out there to be had right now, and Walker is the best option we have. If they do happen to find a "complete" 2B in the offseason, fine, trade Walker. However, they'd be stupid to do anything without an adequate backup. Orlando Hudson is a more complete player than is T. Walker. O. Hudson would be a great fit for the Cubs. Hudson is pretty subpar at the plate. It's one thing to argue that his combination of hitting and defense is better than Walker's, but he's not a more "complete" second baseman. His strength is just in another aspect of the game.

No, not until after 2008.

That would be an excellent move, Walker is a defensive liability & the Cubs do have Hairston & Neifi who can play 2nd along with rosters expanding on Sept. 1st. But do his "defensive struggles" outweigh what he brings to the plate? IMO, giving a number from 1-10, with 1 being the worst player in baseball defensively, 10 being the best, and 5 being average, Walker is no worse than a 4. Agreed. Walker will never win a gold glove, but he's not a "defensive liability" that it's worth sacrificing his bat.