David

I would be suprised if he ever makes it back to the big leagues. He's easily fooled by off-speed stuff. if he never makes it back, it's because major league gm's are stupid. minor league numbers matter, even if his first couple hundred major league at bats havent gone as well as one would hope. Bring up Bull Durham. :wink: Crash Davis? Or Nuke?

Heh.. Bud Dry... haven't heard that in years.. Did that go the same way of Crystal Pepsi, Coke II, and the Arch Deluxe?

It could also be that it was the league, or the pitchers, that took a while to expose it. Once they realized how far off the plate he was and that he could no longer hit the outside pitch, they started pitching him away, away, away, and away... (like they used to, back before he started hammering that pitch to RF in 98 or so)... Just a theory...

I still say that his the start of his decline stemmed from the Torres fastball to the head. Ever since then, his numbers have dropped. He moved off the plate and no longer could hit pitches on the outside corner. In April of 2003, Sammy posted a 1.019 OPS (granted, not a significant sample size)... thereafter, outside of a monster July, his numbers really declined. Still, he ended up with a .911 OPS that year, which would be great by anyone else's standards.

Not with the umps, at least.. :roll:

Probably his Pirates helmet and he wanted to keep it.. thus he had it re-painted... (Just a guess?) The C on the Cubs helmet isnt painted on, its actually applied on seperately. Yea, I'm pretty sure it's just a sticker... (or something like that) So he probably kept his Pirates helmet, had it painted blue/red, and hasnt gotten the sticker yet? I dunno. It seems unlikely to me that he'd go to all that trouble of painting it...especially with the two-tone paint job for the away helmet and all that. Of course, you never know with baseball players and their superstitions. My guess is that he just got a brand new helmet which may have been packaged with the sticker (or not) and he just forgot to put the sticker on...or didn't want to for some reason... or who knows... LOL

CSN had 0-1 when it was 1-1. Len hesitated a bit and started to say the wrong count, but he caught himself. I'm gonna check on the TiVo and see if I'm nuts.. but I could've sworn there were 3 balls in that.. and that the 2-2 count after which he fouled off a pitch should actually have been a 3-1 count.. I'll go see. Ah, I see. The 1-1 pitch was called a strike, but it was really a bad pitch. I must've just assumed it was a ball at the time. Low and off the plate. Oh, well.

CSN had 0-1 when it was 1-1. Len hesitated a bit and started to say the wrong count, but he caught himself. I'm gonna check on the TiVo and see if I'm nuts.. but I could've sworn there were 3 balls in that.. and that the 2-2 count after which he fouled off a pitch should actually have been a 3-1 count.. I'll go see.

Probably his Pirates helmet and he wanted to keep it.. thus he had it re-painted... (Just a guess?) The C on the Cubs helmet isnt painted on, its actually applied on seperately. Yea, I'm pretty sure it's just a sticker... (or something like that)

Is it just me or did a ball get erased from that AB?? He took 3 balls, but the count was all screwed up.. CSN was screwed up and so was Len. Either that, or I'm nuts. EDIT - that would be Lawton's AB...

Despite all my "bashing" of Corey, I'm pulling like Hell for the guy. I like him. I like what he brings to the table in CF and his speed on the basepaths. I just wish he'd change his plate approach, he thinks he is/should be a cleanup-type hitter - aka, a "power" guy. Don't get me wrong, he's got "pop in his bat", but he's no DLee, Ramirez, or Burnitz. I honestly believe that just because he plays CF, hits lefty, and has similar body-type/speed as Ken Griffey, Jr did early in his career, Corey thinks should be a HR hitter destined to hit 500+ like KG,Jr did/was. It just doesn't work that way. Griff, as a youngster and in his prime, was special. His swing was the prettiest/most effortless around during that time, and it still looks good. Don't try and be the next KG, Corey... just be Corey Patterson and play to your strengths. Corey is playing into his strengths....the problem is his strengths expose his weaknesses. He led the MWL in SLG in his 1st pro season. He was top 3 in the Southern League in HRs. He hit 24 HRs last year. He slugged .511 the year before. I believe that people think because he's small he has to be a slap hitter. That's not his strength, although it'd be nice if he had the ability to do it a little. Yup.. He's up there with anyone on the team in upper-body strength.

I agree with this.. but did I miss some kind of report where Dusty or anyone said that Nomar would be hitting 2nd? At this point it would make more sense to leave Walker at the 2-spot (although his numbers admittedly have been better in the 6th spot) than to stick Nomar in the 2-hole right away... Just wondering if you heard something or if you were just speculating...

DISCLAIMER - I'm not normally big on all the batting order talk.. but someone with as horrible patience as Corey in the 8th spot could really spell disaster. They'll try to pitch around him to get to the pitcher, and could likely end up getting the K (or him making an out on a bad pitch), leading to us leading off the next inning with the pitcher. I'd rather have a patient guy in the 8th spot. In that situation, it's more likely we'll get the lineup turned around, at least. Well then, just switch Corey and Barrett around then. Until his bat comes around, no matter where he's at, Corey's not gonna be much help offensively... unless the rare times he reaches base, he can steal a base or two or use his speed to create runs. Agreed... that's why I like him in the 7-hole... :wink:

DISCLAIMER - I'm not normally big on all the batting order talk.. but someone with as horrible patience as Corey in the 8th spot could really spell disaster. They'll try to pitch around him to get to the pitcher, and could likely end up getting the K (or him making an out on a bad pitch), leading to us leading off the next inning with the pitcher. I'd rather have a patient guy in the 8th spot. In that situation, it's more likely we'll get the lineup turned around, at least.

Well, assuming he isn't a 100% complete wreck, I'd rather have CPatt in CF than Hairston if Lawton is going to be manning LF. The beauty is we don't have to force Corey into a role in which he doesn't belong (top of the order)... Plus, not that it's a huge deal, but Corey is a far better CF than Hairston. I could live with Corey in the 7th spot or so... Lawton, Walker, Lee, Ramirez, Burnitz, Nomar, Patterson, Barrett (or something similar) isn't too bad... It's not as nice as some of the Manny and Dunn fantasy lineups.. but oh, well. I guess we think alike. :D I didn't even read your post before making mine. You know what they say about great minds...

Here's an interesting question... Is Hairston more devoid of SLG than you would reasonably expect Corey to be of OBP... or is it vice-versa? I think we all know that Corey when he's on is significantly better than Hairston when he's on. The question is whether Corey, at his worst (within reason, I suppose), is much, if at all, worse in overall production than Hairston just being Hairston... I know that Corey would be much more likely to make up the OBP difference (just by hitting) than Hairston would be of making up the SLG difference...but the way CPatt has gone this year, that point is pretty much moot anyway.

Well, assuming he isn't a 100% complete wreck, I'd rather have CPatt in CF than Hairston if Lawton is going to be manning LF. The beauty is we don't have to force Corey into a role in which he doesn't belong (top of the order)... Plus, not that it's a huge deal, but Corey is a far better CF than Hairston. I could live with Corey in the 7th spot or so... Lawton, Walker, Lee, Ramirez, Burnitz, Nomar, Patterson, Barrett (or something similar) isn't too bad... It's not as nice as some of the Manny and Dunn fantasy lineups.. but oh, well. But if you give me a good hitter with average defense and an average hitter with good defense, I'll take the good hitter 9 times out of 10. So would I. But with Hairston we're not talking about a good hitter (at least not lately) or an average fielder (OK, maybe I'll concede average)... Unless you're considering an OF of Murton, Burnitz, and Lawton...

IIRC, Corey started out doing pretty well... around .280-.300... His numbers dropping over the past couple weeks coincided with an upper-respiratory infection (fancy medical term for cold/flu) and the last few games he's been doing better. I could be wrong, though. Either way, it definitely WOULD be nice to have a center-fielder on the roster...

Strikeouts are overrated for hitters. For pitchers they say a lot more. How so? What's the difference? You're going to say if a hitter strikes out with 2 out and no one on it doesn't matter. In that case...who cares if a pitcher strikes out a guy with 2 out and no one on or if that guy hits a flyball to left for the third out? Depending on the situation, sometimes I'd rather take the flyball if it means less pitches. IMHO, strikeouts can be used in conjunction with walks and/or innings pitched, and various other statistics to tell a lot about a pitchers stuff and control. With regard to hitters, they can be a lot more misleading. I'm just basing this on general observation...nothing concrete. You don't have to agree with me. :wink:

Well, assuming he isn't a 100% complete wreck, I'd rather have CPatt in CF than Hairston if Lawton is going to be manning LF. The beauty is we don't have to force Corey into a role in which he doesn't belong (top of the order)... Plus, not that it's a huge deal, but Corey is a far better CF than Hairston. I could live with Corey in the 7th spot or so... Lawton, Walker, Lee, Ramirez, Burnitz, Nomar, Patterson, Barrett (or something similar) isn't too bad... It's not as nice as some of the Manny and Dunn fantasy lineups.. but oh, well.

Strikeouts are overrated for hitters. For pitchers they say a lot more.

Haha, so you've determined Murton isn't good and is a one-tool player after 32 major league at bats? Is it the .469 BA, .526 OBP or .594 SLG you don't like about him? :lol: I'm still trying to figure out which one the "one tool" is... :-k

PLS PLS PLS PLS DUNN

Still, could be more than an hour till we find out about any moves... We'll soon find out.. I love it, though! :) :)

There's that "great" Neifi defense.. :pukel: