Transmogrified Tiger

It couldn't hurt halplm. Dusty consistently impairs the team. He should be fired.

Well, that would put them at 8 straight losses, which would only help the cause for firing Dusty. You could make a case that their past 2 wins were not very legitimate too. If the Cubs dont come back from 1 down in the ninth vs. Arizona, and Ryan Dempster doesnt snap out of it against Philly, the Cubs have lost 10 in a row In that case then I call several of the losses not legitimate because something could have gone right.

Sorry, but I can't overlook this. Hollandsworth is NOT a good defender. He is below average defensively. The "good defender" excuse was made up by Dusty to justify him giving so much PT to Hollandsworth. BP says 3 runs below average, or a 95 rate. Just about the same as Dubois.

Nitpick: Am I the only one that was taught that the first pitch is a great pitch to look for with the bases loaded? Most pitchers are trying to get ahead because they have no place to put the guy, so you're likely to get a fastball to hit. Of course, taking the first pitch isn't a bad thing at all. Carry on.

What's the point of putting the record in there? I don't think any of us here are near as good as most professional baseball players. That doesn't mean we're not allowed to evaluate them. Truffle's right, most of those guys had very little success before coming to the Cardinals, and now ALL of them are having career years.

Carpenter signed an extension through 2007 with an option for 2008. As someone else said, Mulder has a team option for 2006. :x I hate the Cards. Bet they got Carpenter cheap. Of course, if he came to Chicago he'd get hurt right away. 5 mil next year, 7 mil in '07, and I don't know how much the option is for. If any Cards fans have any info on that I'd appreciate it greatly.

Patterson's hitting over .270 at Iowa with a pretty good walk rate.

I cannot believe how much love Hendry gets as if he's done no wrong. He was 0-4 in the offseason when everyone said we needed a LF, closer, leadoff man and OBP guys. He's 0-5 if you include the need to improve the middle relief. I guess people still are revering him for the Ramirez trade while ignoring re-signing Macias (at his salary), Hollandsworth and signing of Burnitz. They both should go or they both should stay. But I'm sure the tune will slowly change once Maddux's reaches his innings. And I used to be a big Baker/Hendry fan. Criticism of Hendry and criticism of Baker are somewhat different animals. As I've said before, a manager can put the team in the best position to win, or he can hurt the team. However, a general manager can go both ways, he can improve the team(which Hendry has) or he can impair the team(which Hendry has). For me, it comes down to who the replacement would be. Can we do better than Baker? I'm fairly certain of it. Almost any replacement would be an improvement to some degree IMO. I don't think the same is true for Hendry. I think it's quite likely that we get someone who is worse at making deals than Hendry, and possibly someone who has an even worse organizational philosophy than Hendry. Basically, I'm scared to death that Gary Hughes is next in line as GM. That would really really set us back as an organization.

Eckstein since ASB: .228/.287/.413/.700 Eckstein career: .277/.348/.356/.704

Matt Morris had the procedure done I believe. Wade Miller as well if memory serves.

no, it's not completely unrelated, b/c this is one of those whiny "Cardinals scrubs always come through" posts. David Eckstein is having a horrible second half. No one in this thread is saying he should "stop playing so well" because he's not playing well at all. No, he's whining b/c we won a game on a late-inning grand slam by our light-hitting shortstop, which seems like an unlikely way to win. Like I said, can't complain about that when Neifi won a game for you a while back the same way. His second half to this point is in line with his career numbers.

I both agree, and disagree. Murton should be playing every day now that Hairston went down. Perez is a utility guy, and a very capable defencive player. I like having him on the team for that reason. He should not be playing every day, nor should he be batting 1st, or 2nd. He should be 7th or 8th, when he plays, which should be sparingly (e.g. to give a regular some rest). JMHO Even with Perez's defense, his awful, awful offense makes him a detriment to the team. Straight forward, he's not good enough to be on the team, whether as an everyday player, utility guy, or waterboy.

I blame Baker and Hendry for this not the players. Macias and Perez were never that good and for them to be put in this situation proves that Baker has no clue and if they (Baker, Macias,Perez) remain Hendry should leave the GM post as well. I'd keep Perez as an extra Inf but no way ever should he get the PT he has been getting. I'd just release Macias unless the Cubs get enough talent so he wouldn't play more than once every 2 weeks. But that's the point, the Cubs have enough talent so he doesn't have to play (Murton). Perez was brought here with the intention of being the extra infielder and has played because of Nomar's injury and Baker's reluctance to play Cedeno. Murton is the 3rd best OF on the team right now. And Perez should never have been signed in any capacity.

The Cubs would be undefeated if Lou was their manager. Tampa Bay is equivalent to a minor league team. Don't tell that to Lou. He has a veteran obsession that equals Dusty's.

Staggering ignorance.

Carpenter signed an extension through 2007 with an option for 2008. As someone else said, Mulder has a team option for 2006.

What happened to "he can't do any more damage to it"? He shouldn't be in the pen at all if this is the case. It's not worth jeopardizing the long term investment just to get some relief innings that may or may not be good out of him.

What do McLaren and Mills do now?

Fred, Williamson had a K during his inning.

Friggin' Macias and his .296 average are killing this team! Why is he even on the roster? Nevermind that he has been nothing short of atrocious in CF, and has cost us runs. But he has a .296 AVG! I hate Macias, too, but you're going way overboard. There's a reason why he's our third string CF. That's like getting mad at a 3rd string QB having a bad game. I'd compare it more to getting mad at the 3rd String QB while the 2nd string sits on the bench.

I for one don't care about a player young or old trying to move a runner from second to third. I'd rather they worry about getting on base than the type of out they make.

To be fair, he had a high BABIP at West Tenn and has been legging out tons of IF hits there too. didn't most people agree that he was irrationally lucky there as well? i suppose it's possible that a guy with moderately above average speed has learned the secret of the crap single, but id be pretty surprised. If its all luck why can't Corey do it with superior speed? Uh, because it's luck.

Seinfeld is on...

We need them for the stretch dude, there's nothing to be worried about. I think Dusty has a future as one of these new bleeding heart educators who care more about not hurting a kid's feelings than preparing them for the world. I can see it now. "Son, you'll learn best by watching these graduate students do the first-grade math for you."

How did Beltran score on that play? Was he running?