Transmogrified Tiger

Miller's career stats Guess which year is by far the worst of his career?

Not too many guys shred AAA to a 1.000 OPS at age 22, especially guys with Pie's physical tools.

During that series there was a blurb in the Trib about how Harris had a money dispute when he signed with the Cubs. Apparently Hendry promised him 900k and when he signed Jim said there was only 600k for him. Lenny said he would've stayed home and taken the Marlins offer for 600k had he known that. The whole Lenny Harris nightmare could've been avoided with some tightwad honesty.

wtg Church, kmon kub killer kearns

Nady's got 2 more years of arbitration, isn't making a ton now(2.15 mil), isn't blocking anyone, isn't playing below expectations, and AFAIK hasn't punched a teammate. Hard to see much reason for the Pirates to trade him unless we were to overwhelm them.

Theriot proves better than Izturis at not trucking into Ramirez.

Lilly timing his biannual hit very nicely.

In the last week, I'm pretty sure about 120% of Koyie Hill's at bats have come with multiple people on base. And I'm pretty sure he hasn't driven in any of them. That garbage strike 1 call isn't helping.

That's what you get for sliding when you didn't need to, Wilson.

Lilly's facial expression doesn't even change when he does a fist pump.

Other than the better version of Bo Hart at 2B, a productive second baseman playing the role of a right fielder, a utility guy playing the role of a starting shortstop and a black hole behind the plate, I completely agree. Oh yeah -- and the career minor leaguer masquerading as someone valuable enough to take away time in CF from the legit prospect. Cmon now..Bo Hart? Their ML #s arent even close. Sure you can say hes better but thats a low hurdle for him to compare to. Bo Hart had a 916 OPS over his first 116 PAs. Their numbers are actually strikingly similar Dig deeper. Im talking ML. MLB yes. they're still similar. Fontenot's age 26 season in the minors (the same year hart was called up) was slightly better than Hart's, but not by much at all. I don't see it. Hart Age Level ~PA's AVG OBP SLG OPS 22 A- 190 .184 .281 .294 .575 23 A+ 315 .256 .342 .377 .719 24 A+ 315 .305 .375 .462 .837 25 AA 460 .249 .338 .351 .689 26 AAA 285 .297 .331 .444 .775 Fontenot Age Level ~PA's AVG OBP SLG OPS 22 A+ 545 .264 .333 .364 .697 23 AA 520 .325 .399 .481 .880 24 AAA 595 .279 .346 .420 .766 25 AAA 435 .272 .377 .430 .807 26 AAA 420 .296 .375 .450 .825 With the exception of the Age 24 year(where Fontenot was 2 levels higher), Fontenot is always significantly better, with differences of 118, 124, and 161 OPS points all at higher levels. He's always been a much better hitter than Hart.

Just to nitpick, but thats .100 points of SLG better then Murton. I'd say thats way better. Not in the limited number of ABs. That is the problem with cherry picking small data sets. It's probably the difference of a double or two. .100 points of slugging over 100 at bats is 10 extra bases, so more like 5 doubles, or 3 doubles and a HR, or however you want to visualize it. Which isn't much at all Actually it's quite a bit for a month's worth of at bats.

Just to nitpick, but thats .100 points of SLG better then Murton. I'd say thats way better. Not in the limited number of ABs. That is the problem with cherry picking small data sets. It's probably the difference of a double or two. .100 points of slugging over 100 at bats is 10 extra bases, so more like 5 doubles, or 3 doubles and a HR, or however you want to visualize it.

Between Dempster, Howry, Marmol, Wuertz, Petrick, and maybe Wood/Guzman/Mateo, the Cubs have plenty of right handed options coming out of the pen. They don't need to acquire another bullpen arm, and they don't really need to go to 12 pitchers if they could get over their own paranoia.

Well, again, they're the 26th-best defensive team in MLB. Not making errors doesn't necessarily mean good defense. Good defensive teams usually are winning teams. The Cubs of last year were a (glaring) exception. Where are you getting this from? http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/sortable/index.php?cid=204024 I am a little less inclined to look at those type of statistics when it comes to defensive ability. I think defense, moreso than hitting or pitching, can be judged better with your eyes. For instance, I don't think I would consider this Cubs team to have a great defense, but according to those numbers they are ranked 3rd. Individually, yes, but team defense is different than the sum of the individual parts. While defensive efficiency isn't perfect(the Cubs can likely attribute that rating to their K happy pitching staff), it provides a fairly accurate picture of how well the entirety of the defense has been for a particular team.

Well, again, they're the 26th-best defensive team in MLB. Not making errors doesn't necessarily mean good defense. Good defensive teams usually are winning teams. The Cubs of last year were a (glaring) exception. Where are you getting this from? http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/sortable/index.php?cid=204024

Kroger is also looking pretty good too. Not really: .237/.308/.475/.782 He was in the low 600s as recently as a couple days ago though, he's 6 for his last 19 with 3 HR.

Jacque Jones posted an .886 OPS v. RHP in 2006 and has a career .825 OPS v. RHP. That's a considerable asset if it's coming from your centerfielder. Indeed, only 3 qualifying MLB center-fielders have an OPS over .886 (Pence, Hunter, and Granderson) and only four more are between .825 and .886 (Rowand, Ichiro, Sizemore, and Suzuki). Twenty MLB center-fielders are below .825, including Beltran, Lofton, Mathews, Jr., Hall, Dejesus, Vernon Wells, Cameron, Church, Winn, Crisp, Andruw Jones, Chris Young, and Damon. Jones obviously has had a terrible year to date. And he's not a reasonable option in a corner spot. But to describe Jones as "abysmal" when he's being contemplated as this team's CF is simply wrong. Obviously, he should never ever start against LHP, but he's more than a credible option in CF against RHP. Jones is just broken at the plate right now. It's not as if he only had a .750 OPS against RHP in the first half, and is a good bet to turn it around. He's got a .635 OPS in nearly 200 PA's against them this year, and they're going in the wrong direction(OPS v. RHP by month: .662 in 79 April PA's, .630 in 65 May PA's, and .523 in 50 June PA's). Add in the fact that Pie is pretty capable against RHP too(.723 OPS despite his struggles, plus the minor league success previously posted) and a significantly better defender and baserunner, and it makes it an easier decision. What it boils down to is why gamble on Jones turning it around when you can make a similar(better?) gamble with Pie and enjoy the other benefits that choosing him provides(defense/baserunning, grooming future performance, having Soriano's buddy to thumb wrestle with, etc.)? Don't get me wrong - my preference is that they play Pie for those very reasons. I just think it's ridiculous to suggest that Jones is an abysmal option against RHP. (Also, all of BP's metrics rate Jones as an above average CF both this year and in his career) Also, I don't think it's a tremendous risk to assume that Jones will be significantly better against RHP in the second half. His extensive career track record likely ensures it. You're free to believe his 200 plate appearance sample is his new performance standard; I prefer to believe his 4000 career plate appearances are more telling. I'm not implying that Jones is going to hit .600 against RHP for the rest of his life, but when you're forecasting a half season, there's a lot more variability. With that in mind you have to weigh that Jones has been awful at the plate all year, and has degenerated performance wise. To reiterate, the question is not whether Jones will improve, it's comparing that probable improvement v. Pie and his likely improvement(although this year Pie's got a near 100 point head start in OPS) and whether it's worth stunting Pie's development further plus the other miscellany(Jones would likely be a capable defender in CF, but Pie's going to save you runs in comparison).

Any news on Thomas?

Jacque Jones posted an .886 OPS v. RHP in 2006 and has a career .825 OPS v. RHP. That's a considerable asset if it's coming from your centerfielder. Indeed, only 3 qualifying MLB center-fielders have an OPS over .886 (Pence, Hunter, and Granderson) and only four more are between .825 and .886 (Rowand, Ichiro, Sizemore, and Suzuki). Twenty MLB center-fielders are below .825, including Beltran, Lofton, Mathews, Jr., Hall, Dejesus, Vernon Wells, Cameron, Church, Winn, Crisp, Andruw Jones, Chris Young, and Damon. Jones obviously has had a terrible year to date. And he's not a reasonable option in a corner spot. But to describe Jones as "abysmal" when he's being contemplated as this team's CF is simply wrong. Obviously, he should never ever start against LHP, but he's more than a credible option in CF against RHP. Jones is just broken at the plate right now. It's not as if he only had a .750 OPS against RHP in the first half, and is a good bet to turn it around. He's got a .635 OPS in nearly 200 PA's against them this year, and they're going in the wrong direction(OPS v. RHP by month: .662 in 79 April PA's, .630 in 65 May PA's, and .523 in 50 June PA's). Add in the fact that Pie is pretty capable against RHP too(.723 OPS despite his struggles, plus the minor league success previously posted) and a significantly better defender and baserunner, and it makes it an easier decision. What it boils down to is why gamble on Jones turning it around when you can make a similar(better?) gamble with Pie and enjoy the other benefits that choosing him provides(defense/baserunning, grooming future performance, having Soriano's buddy to thumb wrestle with, etc.)?

If Pie is not going to get a shot now, when we have players who can't hit or defend CF like Pagan and Jones as the only alternatives, when is he going to get a chance? If you want to platoon him with Pagan for a while to hedge your bets and stay in contention, that's okay. But playing Pagan or the abysmal Jones in CF against RHP is inexcusable when Pie is in the system, never mind already on the 25 man roster. You can't always have your cake and eat it too. Sometimes(most times) players struggle for a while breaking into the big leagues. Considering Pie's potential, current production(defense included), and (lack of) alternatives to him playing CF, he needs to be playing.

My goodness, Cedeno is making a mockery of AAA. Send Izturis to Baltimore and get him up here already.

Pagan looks really great for getting picked off now.

I thought that they ruled that Logan did offer on that bunt attempt?

Because? He's better at baseball.