neely crenshaw

i think the stats certainly bare out that neifi to this point has been better than hairston. save for obp it's in neifi's favor or a wash. hairston is a better player but as of this point he has not out produced neifi. not that neifi has been good. like i said burnitz is a stretch but in the scheme of things burnitz is a 4-5 hitter with a little pop that has barely outproduced neifi. yes, he has 21 homers....neifi couldn't hit 21 homers in slowpitch softball. but for where he hit in the lineup the difference in rbi's is shockingly small especially for a guy who has played in almost every game!he has 23 more RIBS...it's tough to say but if neifi hit 4-5-6(scary) with his .279 avg he would be very close to 70 rbi, particularly if he started nearly every game(again scary)

What does that mean Neifi has outhit him most of the year? Burnitz has been better than Neifi all year. neifi has a better batting average than burnitz for most parts of the season and overall.

Actually, I don't think that's true. Neifi has 10 points of average and more homers and RBI than Hairston (in 150 or so more ABs). But for much of the year Neifi was asked to be a top of the order guy and he has a .300 OBP (compared to JHJr.'s .338). The 10 or so extra points in SLG are easily outweighed by Jerry's near 40 point advantage in OBP. And Neifi isn't comparable to Burny either. Again, a 10 point lead in AVG is easily outweighed by the 25 point advantage Burny enjoys in OBP. Add in the 70 or so points of SLG and the homers and RBI and Burny has been better. By no means have Burny or Hairston been "great" (or even good), but I don't think it's fair to say that Neifi has been better than either. Neifi is what he is - a solid utility player that would be a good backup infielder. The fact that Dusty has wildly misused him this year should not be held against him. But let's not let Pat & Ron's unfounded love for Neifi outweigh the facts. Neifi, over the whole season, has not been a good offensive player for the Cubs. the problem is for these cubs no one outside of lee and aram have been good. barrett has been for a catcher but that does not make him good overall!

What is neifis OBP compared to Hairston? How many ABs has Neifi had compared to Hairston. How many SBs? Runs? SOrry, I dont buy that Perez has been better. Even being a little better than Perez shouldn't be considered a compliment for anyone. The problem is Hairston, Perez and Macias are all too similar to be on the same team. not to mention in the same starting lineup!

luckily i have time to check stats!lol neifi 459 at bats hairston 318 50 runs neifi 42 from hairston .304 obp neifi .338 for hairston .397 slugging neifi .384 hairston 6 stolen bases for neifi 8 for hairston the only stat really in hairston favor is obp. which over the course of a season would translate to being on base about one more time every 2 weeks....

he can not be worse than remingler and he is much cheaper... i hope he's is able to stay attached...although that would make for interesting conversation.

amen!

a liitle fodder to keep our minds off dlee. neifi(our savior) .279 9hr 47 rbi hairston .267 4 hr 26 rbi burnitz .269 21hr 70 rbi(hitting 4-5-6) all year. sadly, neifi has been better than hairston and comparable to burnitz... it's really an indictment of hairston,burnitz,patterson,holla, lawton, gerut, nomar,dusty(for not playing cedeno,dubois,murton..etc) and hendry( for thinking this was a good lineup)

ok burnitz was a stretch but neifi has outhit him most of the year and burnitz is by no means good. hairston...i don't think so, he is a better player but not this season.

the more i watch our "regulars" play the more i realize how bad a team hendry gave us this year! this team really needs to be blown up and start over! leave me lee,walker,prior and zambrano and go forward....

the 2 sad things are that for neifi this is a stellar year and for this cubs team his year is also stellar. he has been the cubs 4th or 5th best offensive player for most this year. behind lee, aram, barrett and walker(when he was healthy) he has been betterthan burnitz except for burnitz' hot times....it is truly a sorry team that has perez as one of your best offensive players....he should be 25th(offensively) on any team he plays for!

since the game is sooo good i'll throw in a side note. on the wgn telecast they had f1 racer don weldon? on and all they could talk about is the popularity of nascar and how good they were doing. that's kind of like bringing on a cub and talking all about how well the sox or cardinals are doing....nice job len= good prep!

yes can i please hear from the posters that were arguing that rusch should be starting instead of hill because he was pitching better....i believe this will put him over a 10.00 era for his last 6 appearances. obviously it's harder to tell if veterens aren't ready for the majors

why is it that when the wind is blowing in and we can't even get a ball to the track, someone from the opposition drills a bomb way out? that was an excellent pitch by rusch...it's a shame we are wasting this great start against the '27 yankees

why are we not starting anyone else? i mean we are not going to go the 30-0 or the 28-2 it will take for us to win the wildcard, so why is rusch starting? even if he threw a shutout it would be the wrong choice. why not wellmeyer, or wuertz...or anyone still down? it's time to see if anyone is ready or close to ready. williams and rusch should not start again this season!

glendon is back at it again....thank god we are taking a good look at him no matter how poorly he throws, maybe we will find out something on him. what a great lineup today...clearly having a couple young guys playing yesterday, bringing some much needed energy(not too mention some defense& team ball). i guess we don't want the fans to have toomuch to look forward to.

i really think it should come down to lee and jones. pujols has great stats and will get a look but if you are looking for the mvp. where would the cubs and braves be without lee/jones. the cards have had some injuries but even with those, pujols has had more help than either of lee/jones. it probably goes to jones since they are playoff bound but lee could steal it if he wins or is close to the triple crown

players are a huge problem, however the genral manager that brought us an outfield of holla,hairston and nurnitz should seriously pay the price. how can you expect a guy who thought that was enough to win a pennent to know how to fix it?

the main problem i see is that in this lean year the few valuable free agents may have a higher than normal price tag. zito might be areach simply because the other side has to trade him. burnett might be a better possibilty(not a better pitcher or fit) i might stick with dempster as a less expensive option and look for more starting pitching knowing that wood could be back in the bullpen if he falters again. i would really try to get someone interested in wood. if i could get a rookie ball prospect and not pay anything i would jump. then try to sign burnett. 12 mil hung up in a huge ? is probably the make or break point of next season. i do not see the cubs spending enough money to cover that potential hole.

but what reason could anyone have playing a lineup at this point of the season that featured, nomar at 3rd,neifi at ss, walker at 3rd, hairston in center,holla in left and burnitz in right? first, i know corey has been bad but dusty throws him out there everyday no matter who is pitching. he faces all the tough lefties and then he sits vs a so-so righty!? huh? if we are going to be horrid and play brutal defense why not be brutal with some young guys?

of course hendry has had some good moves. they can't all be bad. lee was a good pick up but no one could have forseen him being a triple crown threat. many are saying trade him now or do not resign him until he proves this is what he will do....not a ringing endorsement for his superstar status. definitely an upgrade but do not give hendry credit for trading choi for the 2nd coming of al pujols. aram was a huge gamble that worked. he was an underachieving,pouting, overpaid player in pittsburgh that came back for us. it could have stayed status quo just as easily. here is where i will always blame hendry. after 2003 we were a player or two away from being the dominate team in the nl, if not mlb. we needed a closer, we needed bullpen help, we needed a leadoff man and an upgrade at short. yes, it would have cost the team some bucks but it could have been done. one year of spending 120 mil and we would have been the red sox. think of all the closers and shortstops that have changed teams in the last 2 years.... i think it was said best last week, there is a difference between trying to win and being committed to winning. i think it is pretty clear were hendry lies. after 2003 we had one of the best all round lineups in the league now we have arguably the 2nd worst(maybe 3rd) colorado and LA. you can not blame that all on the manager. the team hendry has given us is absolutely horrible.

that means we must get a big time outfielder...we can not have a line up with cedeno,murton,hairston,cpatt and walker to go with lee and aram. and burnitz is definitely not any better. the sad part is we probably have a better chance of seeing neifi-cedeno over walker-cedeno.

that is my point exactly...i fear we will lose prior and z no matter what the cubs offer because they will want to go to an organization where they can win. just like maddux did with atlanta. the cubs offered more money but atlanta ofrered a chance to win it all.

very constructive...

ok so the point was just because this current situation is better than most of the garbage we have been through does not mean it is good. and we should not be satisfied because the new divisions and wild card allowed us to be in the race longer....