Magnetic Curses

What killed the offense was a lack of OBP almost everywhere, which was due to a lack of walks. It was not solely because of the 1 and 2 spots, no matter what Hendry tries to sell you this offseason. They sucked in the 4 or 5 spot (whichever one Burnitz was hitting from), and were an awful bottom of the order team as well. And they had absolutely no bench. They were a team full of 6 and 7 hitters. which is why we shouldn't get bogged down in this "filling important holes in the lineup" rhetoric. there are no holes in the lineup, we'll be batting 8 position players ahead of 1 pitcher come april. the problem is with overall organizational hitting philosophy. hendry's too busy hoping we'll all be dazzled by a big name like pierre and the proverbial hole he fills at leadoff to worry about hitting philosophy. this lineup needs a healthy dose of OBP, not at a single position, but at all positions. Starting line up as of now with OBP from last year Pierre 326 Walker 355 Lee 418 Ramirez 358 Barrett 345 Murton 386 Cedeno 350 Patterson 254 Assuming Pierre bounces back to the 340-360 range we only ahve one weak spot in our order right now and that is RF. I would have to say our lineup is improved over last year. I don't know how anyone can deny that. The simple fact that we don't have Nefi and Corey or Hairston batting one two improves the lineup. we can't assume that 1. pierre will bounce back. his OBP is irrevocably tied to his BA, which is in turn irrevocably tied to hitting soft liners over the heads of the infield. not a lock by any standard. 2. murton and cedeno post similar OBP's. while murton and cedeno are more than acceptable at their positions granted that hendry acquires a huge bat in right. but the gamble is stupid if he just signs jacque jones. giles was available, he ignored him.

As good as the Cardinals nucleus has been I'd think you'd be surprised what their numbers would have been with this manager on last year's team. The Cards had better overall team speed while we had none. The Cards have LaRussa who is 3 times the manager Baker ever though of being. The Cards had a roster full of guys who could sacrifice, hit and run, and get on base. We had none. Again those three players are great players but some of what they are has been made by what's been around them. In contrast the Cubs have put forth the worst set of complimentary players in all of baseball. Lee, ARam, and Barret consistently produce, 1 guy is maybe average while the rest are so below average they bring evryone else down. How many of these guys have the Cardinals had? Point is some of their guys aren't great, but they don't bring the team down either. And I think their big dogs benefit (they also contribut to it to) from that. the cards success had nothing to do with sacrificing or hitting and running. they simply have 3 perrenial silver sluggers who take walks and hit the crap out of the ball.

What killed the offense was a lack of OBP almost everywhere, which was due to a lack of walks. It was not solely because of the 1 and 2 spots, no matter what Hendry tries to sell you this offseason. They sucked in the 4 or 5 spot (whichever one Burnitz was hitting from), and were an awful bottom of the order team as well. And they had absolutely no bench. They were a team full of 6 and 7 hitters. which is why we shouldn't get bogged down in this "filling important holes in the lineup" rhetoric. there are no holes in the lineup, we'll be batting 8 position players ahead of 1 pitcher come april. the problem is with overall organizational hitting philosophy. hendry's too busy hoping we'll all be dazzled by a big name like pierre and the proverbial hole he fills at leadoff to worry about hitting philosophy. this lineup needs a healthy dose of OBP, not at a single position, but at all positions.

hendry doesn't look at OBP, he considers it a byproduct of good hitting. so he automatically assumes that a hitter who hits .275 with 25 home runs and drives in 80 or more will have a good OBP and SLG. it's like he's never even considered those stats before. he's too busy looking for idiotic stats to support his idotic signings. like remote, irrelevant burnitz numbers from 2004.

the cards still have the nucleus of edmonds, pujols, and rolen. while we have aram and lee, it's not quite the same. the card lineup scores runs in it's sleep because their 3 main guys hit and get on base.

i'm convinced that hendry never had a plan. it sucks when you watch a team struggle with a problem most of the year, but feel confident that the problem will be remedied in the offseason with a ton of cash coming off the books and a great left-handed hitting right field OBP-machine hitting the market, and then nothing happens. i mean, literally nothing. nearly no news at all all offseason except for a slappy CFer, two overpaid relievers and a 4th OF when we only have like 2.

why did vick throw the ball at urlacher after the play in which urlacher wiped him out? it was a good, clean, safe hit.

if jones can combine his IsoD from last year with his BA from 2003, he'd be a very nice surprise, and a great FA pickup. his OBP would be around .375, which would be great, but i'm not holding my breath.

so did i, except i jumped up. i can only imagine how many bears fans did likewise. oh man, and that first completion was golden. i wasn't at the game but i wouldn't have been surprised if the spaceship inside soldier field suddenly took off and flew back to wherever it came from at that point. I ran and hugged my girlfriend. She had no idea why. Then when I told her, she still didn't care. my wife, who used to know nothing about football, or care very much about it, came home from work last night and said: "did you see rex? he was awesome!" we talked about how excited we were for 15 minutes. maybe your girlfriend just needs a little more time.... She's a Steelers fan. So, she didn't care. ew.

so did i, except i jumped up. i can only imagine how many bears fans did likewise. oh man, and that first completion was golden. i wasn't at the game but i wouldn't have been surprised if the spaceship inside soldier field suddenly took off and flew back to wherever it came from at that point. I ran and hugged my girlfriend. She had no idea why. Then when I told her, she still didn't care. my wife, who used to know nothing about football, or care very much about it, came home from work last night and said: "did you see rex? he was awesome!" we talked about how excited we were for 15 minutes. maybe your girlfriend just needs a little more time....

so did i, except i jumped up. i can only imagine how many bears fans did likewise. oh man, and that first completion was golden. i wasn't at the game but i wouldn't have been surprised if the spaceship inside soldier field suddenly took off and flew back to wherever it came from at that point.

guess who's going to game next week. 50 yard line baby!

does this open the door for a drew trade?

he has to play to make the money, doesn't he?

.267/.350/.382/.732 yeah, you're right, we can't use a utility man who knows how to get on base. a call to macias is in order, huh? All II'm saying is this guy has had issues everywhere he's played. By your rationale, every GM in baseball was stupid for not picking him up last summer when he went on waivers. Nobody wanted him. The Reds sent him to AA after he cleared. I don't want a player who quits on his team, which is exactly what Jimenez did to the Reds last year. And where did I say I wanted Macias? if he's willing to play, he's willing to play. and i think he's willing to play. Whatever you say. Do you have inside information? :roll: he signed a minor league deal, i don't have to have inside info. I know he signed a minor league deal, its his only option. Why would anyone offer him a major league deal? did the discussion shift all of a sudden? i thought we were talking about his willingness to play.

.267/.350/.382/.732 yeah, you're right, we can't use a utility man who knows how to get on base. a call to macias is in order, huh? All II'm saying is this guy has had issues everywhere he's played. By your rationale, every GM in baseball was stupid for not picking him up last summer when he went on waivers. Nobody wanted him. The Reds sent him to AA after he cleared. I don't want a player who quits on his team, which is exactly what Jimenez did to the Reds last year. And where did I say I wanted Macias? if he's willing to play, he's willing to play. and i think he's willing to play. Whatever you say. Do you have inside information? :roll: he signed a minor league deal, i don't have to have inside info.

i'd give him the minimum and put him on the 40-man. if he doesn't want to play then you don't have to pay him, correct?

signing giles would be admitting that there's something to the statistic of on-base percentage. hendry will never do that, he hates OBP, and will go out of his way to avoid players who have it. Who wouldn't want Giles? But I think its unfair to criticize Hendry for not signing Giles. Giles had no intentions of leaving the West Coast. He turned down bigger money elsewhere to stay in SD. according to who? Ummm..maybe Giles? Giles signed for 3/30 to stay in SD. Didn't Toronto offer him some big money? I know LA was in on him, but they are also a West Coast team. Giles has made no secret over the years as to his preference for playing on the West Coast. This isn't news. ummmm......are you in contact with him? because there was nothing out of the giles camp to indicate that any team had offered him more than 10 mil per. so unless you had some inside info, you couldn't know.

.267/.350/.382/.732 yeah, you're right, we can't use a utility man who knows how to get on base. a call to macias is in order, huh? All II'm saying is this guy has had issues everywhere he's played. By your rationale, every GM in baseball was stupid for not picking him up last summer when he went on waivers. Nobody wanted him. The Reds sent him to AA after he cleared. I don't want a player who quits on his team, which is exactly what Jimenez did to the Reds last year. And where did I say I wanted Macias? if he's willing to play, he's willing to play. and i think he's willing to play.

jenkins is a very good option. but would they trade within the division?

signing giles would be admitting that there's something to the statistic of on-base percentage. hendry will never do that, he hates OBP, and will go out of his way to avoid players who have it. Who wouldn't want Giles? But I think its unfair to criticize Hendry for not signing Giles. Giles had no intentions of leaving the West Coast. He turned down bigger money elsewhere to stay in SD. according to who?

.267/.350/.382/.732 yeah, you're right, we can't use a utility man who knows how to get on base. a call to macias is in order, huh?

hahahaha! He is also brutally honest and a marxist. Two traits that make for a high level of volatility. i'm a powder-keg, man.

nope, he couldn't have been useful on the bench :roll: why he doesn't have a ML contract, i have no idea.

prior is injury prone because he can't get out of the way.