David

Overreact much? AFAIK, they haven't even played a Cactus League game yet.

I just hope his fastball is back in the mid-90's. That would be a great sign.

Is it really "stupid" when Floyd is two years removed from a near MVP-like season? Well, I guess they could still trot out Soriano, Murton, and Floyd until Floyd breaks a fingernail. "near MVP-like?" Even that is a bit of a stretch. He hit .273/.358/.505 Pretty solid, not bad at all, but nowhere near MVP like. In fact, if that's anywhere near MVP-like, then Jacque Jones' 2006 wasn't too far off either. And yes, it's dumb, because Murton is young and has a lot of potential as a hitter and has already realized a good enough deal of it for us to be able to believe he is the real thing. He's patient (exactly what this team needs), and has shown signs of developing power. Floyd was brought here to be the 4th OF, if he's anything more than that at Murton's expense, it would be a mistake.

Yes, you are EDIT - IIRC, it's Scott Moore.

Yeah, Izturis hasn't showed up yet. He's probably got achey bones like I do. . We can only hope.

I tend to think that a lot of writers are just lazy, don't really follow the game as closely as they should, and just assume that the "young" guy who pitched in AAA last year will have to compete for a rotation spot. I'm pretty confident that Hill's role on this team is more or less secure. I don't care what a couple of morons writing for the local papers/Cubs website imagine to be the case. And if they have something concrete, they should say so.

If he plays gold glove caliber defense and hits about .280+ in the 8 hole, I think his health is definitely important. If Cesar Izturis hits over .280 I'll buy everyone here a Coke. Because the odds are signifigantly stacked against him. As was noted, his career OBP is .295. He's only OBP's over .300 twice, and one of those was a hearty .302. He's terrible, and he'd help the team more on the DL than he would in the batting order. I'll buy everyone a Pepsi if he does, too.

If he plays gold glove caliber defense and hits about .280+ in the 8 hole, I think his health is definitely important. His defense could be the best ever, and it wouldn't matter. He's that bad with the bat. I would've ripped all my hair out if I were a Mets fan in the mid to late 90's.

Had you taken the time to read MY posts, you would see that I never said that. I've only said that I am not going to get all worried about the possibility forwarded by some uninformed writer that Hill won't be in the rotation until some quote or action by the Cubs organization itself leads me to believe that will be the case. Unfounded? I've read nothing that says that Hill will be in the rotation for the Chicago Cubs. All I've read is that he will be competing for a job. It speaks volumes about Jim Hendry and the Cubs. Volumes. Hill has been the best pitching propspect in the Cubs organization for going on three years now. Instead he's been brought up, used sparingly, demoted to the bullpen, sent down, brought up, used sparingly, sent down, brought up, in trouble with Dusty and Larry, sent down, and brought up again. In my opinion Marquis is supposed to be an insurance policy on Prior. Instad it seems as if he has an inside track in the rotation. Z Lilly Marquis Prior That leaves Miller, Guzman, and Hill fighting it out for the last spot, when perhaps all three of them will be better than Marquis. And yet, you've yet to read any quotes from anyone associated with the Chicago Cubs (AFAIK) to suggest such a thing. You only get conjecture from several beat writers whom we have had no problem deeming clueless several times in the past.

I'm not so sure of that. Didn't Grudz get a vote or two for the NL MVP that year? If he did, the voter was on drugs.

I have to disagree. Prior healthy and pitching well (by his stardards) is the best starter on this team. I think he meant Hill was the third best starter on the team in that case. Yea, I was trying to make the point that Hill's one of our top 3 in any event. Sorry. My bad. Too much arguing in this thread. :) I agree that Prior, Z, and Hill would make up the top 3.

I'm not so sure of that.

well, then i don't think we have anything else to discuss. you're right, he'll never amount to anything. oh wait, he was one of the best pitchers in baseball post-ASB in '06. guess judging a guy based on a few scattered innings may not be the best way to go. The king of hyperbole speaks again. so you weren't just judging hill on a few scattered innings? No. I'm saying that you can't say that he should have been up more than he was when he put up a 9.31 ERA in four starts in May. Something had to change, so he went down and worked on some things that helped him out. He is quoted as saying such. I know you are a big fan of his. So am I. But, I don't see the reason for all of this clamoring that he has been so mistreated by this organization. He still had to demonstrate that he could perform at the major league level. He didn't do that in May. Exactly. Like it or not, the Cubs were trying to salvage the season which was pretty much lost without DLee at that point. They were calling people up and sending them down left and right, IIRC. It's hard to use the Major Leagues to develop players and let them work out the kinks as early as May, on a team with a $90+ million payroll playing in a major market. In hindsight, it definitely would've made more sense to let Hill work out the kinks with the big club, but the Cubs were trying desperately to salvage the season, or at least tread water until Lee (and Wood and Prior) came back. Hill was struggling badly and he got sent back down.

I have to disagree. Prior healthy and pitching well (by his stardards) is the best starter on this team.

QFT

This is insanity, guys. Stop flipping out over the speculation of a few local sportswriters who have earned zero credibility over the years. Hill will be in the rotation, barring injury or a flat out terrible spring, for the Chicago Cubs this season. I don't doubt it for one second. I'll go even further. There is no way that Wade Miller is going to go out and impress everyone into giving him a rotation spot. He's done. He hasn't even been a very good pitcher in what, 5 years? At best, he'll have a solid spring and take a long relief spot. This is my opinion. Obviously, you don't have to take it as fact. But it's worth just as much as the opinions of these hack writers.

10 pitches? Well...It's a start. Old news...check this thread, around 2 PM yesterday. Damn you, noob!

If this happens, I will be a bit upset. Intentionally excluding arguably the best bullpen arm we've got (Wuertz) is just stupid. I think this isn't all that arguable now that Wood is in the bullpen. ;) But I agree about Wuertz. Just being a smart ass.

Looks like it's the new Sun-Times beat writer for the Cubs, Gordon Wittenmyer.

It's conjecture. We need to know better than to take as facts things from these writers that aren't in quotes (or at least backed by a quote).

Why do you not have a post count? :shock: Weird

This guy is a prime candidate for a ban.

Huh?

If Prior doesn't throw a single pitch, we have an excellent shot at the division. I'd say we have an okay shot at the division if Prior doesn't throw a single pitch. Definitely not excellent, by any means. If Prior pitches like 2003 or even 2004-5, we're probably a lock to win it.

1 - I think they were mostly kidding around about that...although I wouldn't be too surprised to see him cut it anyway after hearing his own comments. 2 - I'm pretty sure that was from the first day of workouts. ;)