champaignchris
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Everything posted by champaignchris
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The problem was never dealing DeRosa, but rather replacing him with Miles. If it makes you feel any better, you could think of Miles as Ronnie Cedeno's replacement, with the Cubs not getting any replacement for DeRosa. Yeah, it doesn't make me feel any better either.
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Answering my own question... With all the contracts the Cubs have, I don't see this team being blown up. Ram, Bradley, Lee, and Soriano will all be back. Fox should easily get 250-300 ABs giving Ram, Soriano, and Lee days off and pinch hitting. Starting 2011, when some of those contracts are coming off the books, we should have a better idea if Fox is a full-time player.
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This makes no sense in terms of putting the guy out there that gives us the best chance to win. Is there any question which player is more talented? This makes no sense in terms of preparing for the future... Soto is 26, Hill is 30. Only two things would make this make some sort of sense... 1. Soto has some lingering injury issue and the Cubs want to give him more rest so that he's healthy going into next year. or 2. Soto has some sort of attitude issue and the Cubs are trying to send him a message to shape up or face the loss of playing time.
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Of RF with at least 300 plate appearances, Bradley is 14th out of 28 in VORP. Neither elite, nor horrible. Last year Fukudome was 27th of 30. Cubs RFs posted an aggregate .731 OPS last year, which was 14th of the 16 NL teams. Cubs RFs this year have posted a .792 OPS, good for 7th. OF CF with at least 300 plate appearances, Fukudome is 9th out of 27 in VORP. Top third in the majors. Last year, Johnson was 23rd of 30. If you look at CFs with at least 250 plate appearances in 2008, Edmunds was 15th of 35 and Johnson was 24th of 35. As an aggregate, Cubs CFs posted a .858 OPS last year, which was 2nd in the NL. This year, Cubs CFs have posted a .817, which is 5th of 16. Quite good both years. Acquiring Bradley and shifting Fukudome over to CF worked out this year. (Whether it will continue to work out over the course of Fuku's and MB's contracts, I will make no claim to.) Our production at RF has risen from pathetic to average. Our production at CF has remained solid. Those looking to blame Bradley for this year's problems are looking in the wrong place. The Cubs' horrible offense has a lot more to do with Soriano, Fontenot, and Soto all having awful years, and Aramis being hurt for a huge section of the season.
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Carol Slezak has the answer to the Cubs problems...
champaignchris replied to JonnyRed's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
If I were to have my baseball team emulate any current baseball organizations, it'd be the Red Sox and (ugh!) Cardinals. If I could double the payroll, I'd be all in favor of emulating the Yankees. -
How the Cubs will still win the NL Central (as of 8/25)
champaignchris replied to Schwarber Fan's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
I can't see us doing better than 27-13. Which would require the Cards to go 17-19. Despite our generally more favorable schedule the rest of the way, I just don't see it. Besides, Milwaukee will probably fight us tooth and nail in our series with them, and just lay down for the Cards when they play them. The wild card is even more improbable, because it'd require the Rockies, Giants, Braves, and Marlins to all tank. -
Turn of phrase. I didn't mean that it would be easy. I meant that it wouldn't be surprising. You've seen their upcoming schedule, right? There's no reason why they can't have a streak similar to the one from July 11 to Aug 4 when they went 17-6 against stiffer competition. Will they? Probably not. I mean, it's still the Cubs, right?
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They're starting a 23 game stretch where they play 22 games against teams with losing records, 17 of those games are at home. They could very easily pull off a 17-6 stretch. If the Cardinals cool down to a slightly less torrid 13-8 during the same period, the Cubs will pick up 3 games on them, and be only 5 games out for the last 3-game series against the Cards in St. Louis.
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Sure. Why not? He's a couple years younger than Fontenot and Hoff were last year, with a much better minor league track record. That said, you've got a point. Hoff, I think we can chalk up to sample size, and Soto to injury. Besides, while not all-star quality, Soto hasn't been that far off of adequate production from an average starting catcher. I'm still not sure what's happened to Fontenot, though... His OPS has dropped ~.230 against lefties. So it's not like we can chalk it all up to the fact that he's facing a lot more right handers as the regular starter.
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The ice cube that gets lodged in your trachea?
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I didn't suggest 3b, because I'm assuming at this point Vitters is projected to be the eventual replacement for Ram.
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Bradley's not a free agent until after 2011. You're right. Don't know how I fudged that up. But 2010 is Lee's walk year, right?
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He's obviously a major league hitter. The question is what position he plays and where he fits in to the Cubs. Lee and Bradley are both free agents after 2010. Shouldn't he gradually be phased into Right or 1B? I don't want to see the guy Murton'ed, especially since I think he's a much better hitter than Murton ever was or will be.
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This team has gone on some awful streaks all year... 2-7 from Apr 22 to Apr 30. Scored ten runs in the 7 losses, 21 runs in the 2 wins. 4-11 from May 17 to June 2. Only scored 47 runs. Only 10 runs scored in the first 7 games of this stretch. 1-5 from June 10 to June 17. 10 runs scored. 2-7 from June 21 to June 30. 27 runs scored. During all of June, the Cubs scored 89 runs in 25 game (15th of 16), posted a .233 BA (14th), .303 OBP (15th), .364 SLG (13th). During the same time, they had the top ERA in the NL, 3.18. 4-11 since getting shutout by Lehr in Cincy Aug 5th. Take away the 17 runs against Pittsburgh on Aug 14th, and the Cubs have only 44 runs in the 14 other games. Only 27 runs in the 11 losses.
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Lous a freaking idiot Part 2 2009 season
champaignchris replied to Keener98's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
Yeah. I'm not too sure about pulling Gorzo at that point. But, I'm not going to argue about it too much. However, if that's where you think you can do some damage, you've got to come with something better than Miles. Fox, Fuld and Soto were all available. Hell, pinch hit Z before Miles... there's at very least a chance he'll knock it out if he gets a hold of one. Rich freakin' Harden has a better OPS and would have at least been fast enough to make the play at first a little interesting. -
If Tom Gorzelanny wants to continue to do a Tom Glavine impersonation, I'm perfectly fine with that.
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Astros release Ortiz
champaignchris replied to apete6's topic in MLB Draft, International Signings, Amateur Baseball
If they knew they were going to release him, they should have just left him in there to give the bullpen a rest. Can you imagine the box score? CG, 21 ER, 273 pitches... -
Putting the likelihood of Wells also contracting Rick Ankiel disease aside... Hill 2006: 26 years old, 99.1 IP, 4.17 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 90 K, 39 BB Hill 2007: 27 years old, 195 IP, 3.92 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 183 K, 63 BB Wells 2009: 26 years old, 95 IP, 2.84 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 60 K, 21 BB At the same point in their careers, Hill never pitched as well for as extended a period of time. Are you kidding me? O.K. In which 15 start stretch did Hill post a 2.84 ERA? I suppose if you sandwich his last 6 or 7 starts in '06 with his first 5 or 6 starts in '07, ignore the playoff start and the six months in between, you could argue Hill outperformed Wells over a similar number of starts. Um, which playoff start? The Cubs didn't even sniff the playoffs in 2006, and 2007 isn't in the time frame you're talking about.How embarrassing. I'm glad I'm not the guy that said that. Oh wait.... :oops:
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Putting the likelihood of Wells also contracting Rick Ankiel disease aside... Hill 2006: 26 years old, 99.1 IP, 4.17 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 90 K, 39 BB Hill 2007: 27 years old, 195 IP, 3.92 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 183 K, 63 BB Wells 2009: 26 years old, 95 IP, 2.84 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 60 K, 21 BB At the same point in their careers, Hill never pitched as well for as extended a period of time. Are you kidding me? O.K. In which 15 start stretch did Hill post a 2.84 ERA? I suppose if you sandwich his last 6 or 7 starts in '06 with his first 5 or 6 starts in '07, ignore the playoff start and the six months in between, you could argue Hill outperformed Wells over a similar number of starts.
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Putting the likelihood of Wells also contracting Rick Ankiel disease aside... Hill 2006: 26 years old, 99.1 IP, 4.17 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 90 K, 39 BB Hill 2007: 27 years old, 195 IP, 3.92 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 183 K, 63 BB Wells 2009: 26 years old, 95 IP, 2.84 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 60 K, 21 BB At the same point in their careers, Hill never pitched as well for as extended a period of time.
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Even next yr, Wells will still be at best a 4th starter (behind Z/Lilly and Dempster) so unless you get a good offer for Wells in the offseason, I keep Wells cause he would be a very solud #4. Yep, with the guys we have under contract, we'd be relying on Wells to be no more than a #4 starter.
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The Indians were a team expected to contend each of these last two years, and failed miserably. So, I understand the desire to blow things up. I just don't see how trading away a top-line pitcher, signed at an under-market salary, which goes through next season, really helps things. Unless the Indians are conceding next year as a re-building season, that is. In which case, If I were an Indians fan, I wouldn't be too happy about this, regardless of the quality of the prospects.
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My vote is for Pablo Sandoval... OPS .933 - top among qualified 3Bs, 15 HR, 58 RBI, only 22 years old, about $400,000 salary, and no one seems to be talking about him.
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Where oh where has 2008 Mike Fontenot gone?
champaignchris replied to moorecg's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
I think you can write off his performance against lefties last year as an aberration due to small sample size (.333 BA in 21 AB) The mystery is what's happened to him against right handers... 2009 229 AB .231/.311/.384 2008 222 AB .302/.393/.518 2007 182 AB .297/.358/.423 He's fallen off a cliff. A leftie with a .695 OPS against right handers is beyond useless. -
I think I want Rose in. I think the ban extending to the Hall of Fame is a bit silly. Especially since there's really no evidence that Rose's betting had any effect on games. (Unlike Joe Jackson, who may have thrown a World Series.) I still wouldn't want him to have anything to do with a team. I wouldn't even want him as a minor league hitting coach. But I also really sympathize with MojoPin's view. If Rose gets in for committing baseball's "original sin," I don't know how you could possibly justify keeping a guy like McGuire (and Clemons, Sosa, etc., basically any of the known users from prior to the new rule going into effect) out when you could make a straight faced argument that he never actually broke any baseball rules. I wonder if this might be a message to the baseball writers. If Selig reinstates Rose and the veterans (after basically not voting anyone in for a decade) then vote him in, doesn't that tell the writers how they need to be treating McGuire, Bonds, etc.? Also, when will Selig investigate overturning Santo's lifetime Hall of Fame ban? I think it's about time he got a reprieve, too.