Transmogrified Tiger

Barrett is so worthless defensively.

It's the Starting Pitcher/Current pitcher's number.

I only took a couple years of spanish, but I'm pretty sure that said "Welcome to (the) Soriano of Wrigley"

Hester singing the stretch? That has the potential for some great hilarity.

While I can't be sure, my guess is that it'd be much more common in pitchers than hitters. The reason for reverse splits mostly comes down to repertoire, and that stays constant for the pitcher no matter what hitter he's facing. The opposite isn't true for hitters, so it's more difficult for a hitter to have a consistent reverse split considering the variation in stuff/pitches among different RH or LHP.

I don't know where you're getting that impression. The people calling for Miller to be removed want Guzman in his stead, not Prior.

Put these tags around it. url-of-your-picture Quote this post and just copy paste from below if you like. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/CapnWalrus/Dugout/SaboGoggles.png

He is. I don't understand why some people are so up in arms over this situation. It's hardly a straight platoon. Murton has gotten four of the six starts so far in left field, and the Cubs have only faced a lefty in one of those games. This wasn't the point I was making. I'm talking more theoretically and comparing Murton and Floyd on a more macro level. Hence this... "Now, this isn't necessarily a criticism of what's happened to this point, because it has only been SIX GAMES" Floyd has had injury troubles in the past and is getting older, you can't assume those things are behind him. As for the rest of it, I really don't know what else to say except to repeat myself. Sample size does matter. Drawing conclusions of these sorts after 6 games is laughably terrible. Playing the hot hand is NOT predictive, and therefore not likely to get any better production than a structured distribution of playing time. It's short sighted and ineffective. This is the point. The starters should play most every day. A manager can use the info available to him to make smart decisions on when to sprinkle in the bench players, but the starter plays the vast majority of the time and doesn't have his playing time jeopardized by a couple 0 for 4's.

Is there a problem with playing the hot hand? Yes, yes there is. So when Murton was slumping horribly last season you'd still play him? This isn't the prospect development league. It's MLB. Wins and losses matter. Murton isn't some wildcard unknown, he put up an 800+ OPS last year in pretty much a full season. Floyd needs to be pretty much at his best to be worthy of more than just giving him a day off. "Playing the hot hand" is way too arbitrary and puts too much pressure on either player to produce or get benched. Either platoon them, or let one get the lions share of the starts. Considering there's probably not going to be a significant difference between Floyd and Murton v. RHP(at least one large enough to justify stunting further development of Murton, the difference between them defensively, etc.), then Murton should be starting the majority of the time. So far it looks like Lou has done the right thing production-wise. To say otherwise is 20-20 hindsight. Floyd has been great. Murton has been lackluster and impatient at the plate. His infield dribblers remind me of the first half of 2006. Infield hits galore. It wasn't until the second half that he started putting it in the air and driving it. I'm sure Murton will get his playing time through merit. He's a good player (not great). Floyd is outproducing him at 80% health right now. Over the long hall Murton will take ABs away from Floyd, but he'll have to earn it. He's not such a great prospect that a team will throw away productivity temporarily to develop him. That's the nature of the game. I don't know if you've been watching the games or following via gameday/radio, but Floyd is making very solid contact. Loud outs. Booming XBH. Murton is lost. You don't have to follow splits to get the most productivity out of a platoon. Part of it's it who's hot now. If you want to play some guy b/c of last year's stats, that's not going to work. Is Soriano raking right now? Izturis? DeRosa? Play the hot hand. It has been SIX GAMES. SIX. 6! Do you not understand how utterly insignificant a sample that is? This is the problem with playing the hot hand. Players look good and bad sometimes, and it varies sometimes at bat to at bat, game to game, series to series. To "play the hot hand" is just playing roulette with the lineup, short hot streaks are so far from being predictive it's ridiculous. At the same time, you want to reward good performance, but there needs to be a structure in place for that. Murton was better at everything last year. He's younger, healthier, a better defender, and is probably better at cards. He should be getting the majority of the starts. Now, this isn't necessarily a criticism of what's happened to this point, because it has only been SIX GAMES, but over the haul Murton needs to be getting the lion's share of the playing time unless something goes very wrong for him and very right for Floyd, for an extended period of time.

Still loaded with Rush, Chalmers, and Collins. No doubt, but Wright is easily the most frightening matchup.

The biggest obstacle to this is where does the team play in the interim? Do they force the schedulers to get super creative and play 162 games at the Cell for the duration(which would be at least one season, probably more)? I'd say the same obstacle exists if Wrigley is going to be rehabbed in any meaningful sense. I, unlike some others in this discussion, don't really see playing at Comiskular that big of an obstacle for the schedulers. They seem capable enough for the most part. If there are any serious issues, the Cubs could split time between Miller and Cell-out. Some may argue that the team won't be able to establish a home field advantage if they are bouncing between two ballparks, but to me, home field advantage has a lot to do with the fans, and I certainly don't see the Cubs being at a disadvantage in this area. My only concern would be knowledge of the quirks of each stadium, how balls roll in the infield, how they bounce off certain facets of the outfield wall, etc. I agree, the only thing I'd add is that I'd distinguish between remodeling and rebuilding. While I can't be sure, my guess is that they'd be able to do necessary work in the offseason that would allow the field to be playable during the season(even if there was a lower capacity) if they weren't going to start over.

Is there a problem with playing the hot hand? Yes, yes there is. So when Murton was slumping horribly last season you'd still play him? This isn't the prospect development league. It's MLB. Wins and losses matter. Murton isn't some wildcard unknown, he put up an 800+ OPS last year in pretty much a full season. Floyd needs to be pretty much at his best to be worthy of more than just giving him a day off. "Playing the hot hand" is way too arbitrary and puts too much pressure on either player to produce or get benched. Either platoon them, or let one get the lions share of the starts. Considering there's probably not going to be a significant difference between Floyd and Murton v. RHP(at least one large enough to justify stunting further development of Murton, the difference between them defensively, etc.), then Murton should be starting the majority of the time.

The biggest obstacle to this is where does the team play in the interim? Do they force the schedulers to get super creative and play 162 games at the Cell for the duration(which would be at least one season, probably more)?

Is there a problem with playing the hot hand? Yes, yes there is.

Yes, go away Julian Wright. GO AWAY

Sosa has a better OPS+ than Banks, both in career and in terms of peak years.

I'm sure he'd make a very good starter. But he could potentially become one of the best closers in HISTORY. I don't see him having the same ceiling as a starter. Quick, which is Pap's career major league numbers and which is his career minor league numbers? 6.42 H/9, 0.62 HR/9, 2.64 BB/9, 9.59 K/9, 1.01 WHIP 7.15 H/9, 0.62 HR/9, 2.53 BB/9, 9.71 K/9, 1.08 WHIP

This is an important distinction. Terrible doesn't exactly mean x runs allowed or y hits allowed, it's more of what his stuff is like and what type of contact he's generating.

Giambi was safe, I'll never be convinced otherwise.

Consider it done.

With a whopping 1 he's off to a hot start. Grady Sizemore is also going to more than double the single season HR record. "Completely false." I believe he has two. Beat ya. That puts him on pace for around 42 or so, I bet that'll shatter the record unless we replace him with a pitchback.

With a whopping 1 he's off to a hot start. Grady Sizemore is also going to more than double the single season HR record. EDIT: 2. Gameday was wrong about today's apparently.

I would pick Cedeno. He should have been charged with that error too. No way are you going to turn a DP in that situation. Get atleast that out at 2b. Cedeno is proving that he is not a clutch player. I don't think he was trying to turn a DP, I think he was trying to not get his leg broken.

Bring back Walrond.