hawkeyecub

Incredible laziness by Miggy.

Anyone with any knowledge of Sopcast, please check out the Social forum.

Anyone with any knowledge of Sopcast, please check out the Social forum.

Jacque didn't disappear from the lineup in the first half. He had about a 8 game streak where he sat. I find it interesting that you refer to his 800 OPS in the second half and then say nobody could contribute that this year in CF. Jacque's line is .274/.328/.385 for the season, that's the line that matters. Plus, his post ASB OPS is below 800 now. He started 6 games out of 25 heading into the All-Star Break. Two of those 6 starts were in an AL park where we had Floyd as the DH. He became the 4th OF at best and "disappeared" was hyperbole. As far as his production, I'm not trying to pump him up. My point was clear. He was benched in favor of Pagan and Pie for about a month. When they didn't produce very well, he was given another chance after the All-Star break and started semi-regularly for the rest of July. He was adequte compared to the alternatives and then had a .900 OPS in August so he stayed in there. As far as the last line, yeah it's below .800 now. It's .795, which clearly changes everything. Thank God we got that straightened out. Regardless my point was that his second half production (when he became a full-time starter again) is probably the best we could have gotten from our options this year.

I think he's done a lot better lately, but gave a lot of vets a lot of playing time when they were playing really bad, and let the young guys rot on the bench. Murton, Pie, and Soto didn't get any significant playing time until just recently, and Pie still hasn't. Jacque, Floyd, Izturis, Koyie, Trachsel, Miller, and Monroe have all gotten far too much PT. Lou has corrected many of his mistakes though...that's where he beats out someone like Dusty, who just rides his mistakes into the ground. I know that some of that has to do with Hendry handing him these players, and that he's had to make do. I recognize that, and I do give Lou credit for what he's done with this team. But he's had his fair share of mistakes this year. Waiting till now to unleash Soto is one of them. I don't care what other managers would do. They'd be wrong too. Well the last sentence just means that you choose to look at it with no perspective at all. Some of your playing time gripes are just ridiculous. Monroe has gotten 46 plate appearances in the 30 games since being acquired. Murton didn't get any significant time until recently? Really? Jacque disappeared in the first half when he stunk. Lou went back to him after Felix struggled in June and Jacque got hot. He cooled down but he still has an .800 OPS in the second half and no one else could contribute that this year in CF. Wade Miller had a total of 3 starts. Izturis only got 50 PA's in the 24 April games. In May his production wasn't much off of what Theriot has done (.350 OBP). Following that in his last 44 games on the roster he got 69 AB's. On the contrary Pie got 44 PA's in his first 12 games here. He had 100 PA's in June. That's not significant playing time? That's much more than the guys who you claim got too much time and it was 4th most on the team in June. You're always going to have non-productive players getting time, especially when your roster consists of what we had at C, SS and the outfield. Guys have to fail before they get their time taken away. Then in most cases, when someone produced he kept them in the lineup.

Hmm...I don't know how much credit should go to Lou here. I'm sure he has a lot of input on which minor leaguers to bring up, and the Cubs didn't want anything to do with Soto most of the year, instead preferring to trade for Kendall and give Koyie Hill far too much PT. Soto got called up because he was the league MVP, and he's playing everyday because even Lou can't sit a guy that's hitting near .500 and hitting just about everything that's thrown his way. I'll give Lou credit for a lot of things, but I think Soto forced this with his performance. I think any manager could justify using Kendall over Soto without taking a lot of heat for it. He wouldn't be right, but he wouldn't take much heat. It'd be the old, "Well the kid is hot, but you have to go with the seasoned vet in a pennant race." Especially at a position like catcher, where people seem more inclined to over-value defense (not that I don't think Soto is better than Kendall at that, anyway) and "veteran savvy and leadership." Hell, Plesac was on the radio the other day saying that if it were up to him, he'd rather have Kendall starting than Soto. Just because there are people that are stupid doesn't mean that Lou should get a bunch of attaboy's for not being stupid. Lou has done some nice things for this club. But it took far too long for Soto to be installed as starting catcher. It should at least be recognized and pointed out. If it were any other position I would agree. But managers are often picky about catchers and when they have a "veteran, winning type player" who reportedly works very well with the pitchers and was producing pretty well offensively for a month. I would bet that the majority of major league managers wouldn't have given Soto this much time. Yes he's forced the issue with his production and it's not like it's a calculated, brilliant decision by Lou. But it should be noted that he's done the right thing more often than not this year.

Yeah and he's horrible in LF now. Considering how stiff and immobile he is now, plus the fact that he hasn't played 1st, he would be a disaster there also. Anything to back up that he's actually "horrible" out there? My eyes. He moves worse than Cliff Floyd. His range is awful. I guess I might be one of the few who would rather have Alfonso than Bonds. Offensively he is going to outproduce Soriano statistically. Very roughly project Bonds to get a 1.025 OPS and Soriano around an .900 OPS. Soriano is more likely to play 9 innings for 155 games. If Bonds stays healthy (which isn't a great bet) he probably maxes out at 490 plate appearances. If Soriano stays healthy he's going to get 700 PA's. Soriano gives you a ton more speed on the bases, much better defense and about equal power at this point in their careers. Obviously Bonds' OBP abilities are so ridiculous that they trump offensively. But overall considering how many fewer PA's he would get, the liabilities elsewhere and the greatly increased risk, I would take Alfonso. Even if he stays healthy and produces, you're going to have to replace him in a year or two and risk having no proven producers in your outfield.

Lee Wood Zambrano DeRosa Ramirez One thing about this team is that there aren't many players that are hard to root for, at least in my opinion. There's usually more guys who have annoying personalities/characteristics. It's harder to narrow this down to five than naming even three least favorite.

that's just ridiculous. Ike was looking for the ball the entire way with no hand play on his part whatsoever. look at the replay, and ask yourself this question..."why did he go for the ball with only one hand?" the answer of course is the other hand was full of jersey pulling Ike to the ground. Yeah I know that's why he only used one hand. I didn't deny that DJK was making contact. You're right, I just watched it again and I was wrong about him not looking for the ball. I still think there was contact each way though. Ikegwonu was leaning his body into him and his right hand was in there. DJK definitely pulled him down more than I thought live last night though. Could have been called but it was probably tough to see from the angle. You don't see much offensive PI called unless there's a two-handed pushoff. They did let them play all night though, only 8 total penalties. The only call against Iowa I had a gripe with was the pass interference on Dalton late but that was still a stupid play. any 'lean' Ike made was because he had perfect coverage and had just as much right to the ball as the receiver. I had some problems with the non-calls. all the blocks in the back as Iowa's QB ran for his life that were not called. the three flagrant facemasks by Iowa in the second half, and the only one called going for five yards (not that it mattered inside the ten, but it's a matter of principal)...while the blitzing WI DB got called for the exact same infraction. as for the Dalton penalty play, they never showed the replay well enough, but I think the Wisconsin receiver may have made a great grasstop catch on that ball. call me goofy, but grabbing a handful of jersey to twist a pass defender to the ground, regardless of a little hand play and bumping, should be called offensive pass interference. as for the two handed push off theory....any comments on that Truff? edit - I'm not really bitching at you. very sporting to concede your point like that. Yeah after seeing the replays today, it probably was offensive pass interference. The only thing on the Dalton play, he made contact with the underneath man, not the intended receiver. The guy he hit was about 5 yards short of the reciever who almost caught the ball. It looked to me like it was a little bit incidental and since it was uncatchable, I don't know about the pass interference. Although maybe it could have just been called illegal contact and it would have had the same result.

that's just ridiculous. Ike was looking for the ball the entire way with no hand play on his part whatsoever. look at the replay, and ask yourself this question..."why did he go for the ball with only one hand?" the answer of course is the other hand was full of jersey pulling Ike to the ground. Yeah I know that's why he only used one hand. I didn't deny that DJK was making contact. You're right, I just watched it again and I was wrong about him not looking for the ball. I still think there was contact each way though. Ikegwonu was leaning his body into him and his right hand was in there. DJK definitely pulled him down more than I thought live last night though. Could have been called but it was probably tough to see from the angle. You don't see much offensive PI called unless there's a two-handed pushoff. They did let them play all night though, only 8 total penalties. The only call against Iowa I had a gripe with was the pass interference on Dalton late but that was still a stupid play.

I love being right. Oh and LOL at Wisconsin struggling to beat Iowa at home. Iowa played a good game defensively. Offensively, both teams struggled, and Iowa's TD was given to them as it was obviously offensive pass interference. Overall, pretty good matchup. Really? From my equally biased perspective, I thought they were pushing each other the entire way. Both guys had their hands on each other while the ball was in the air and neither gained an advantage. You're never going to get that called on the offense when the CB doesn't turn his head to make a play on the ball. I thought it was a no call. That's a loss I can live with. Defense was great. That 3rd down pass interference penalty on Dalton late in the 3rd/early in the 4th was huge. Offense was awful in the first half and our first quarter injuries (starting TE, #1 WR, starting RG) didn't help. Wisconsin was blitzing a ton and our o-line couldn't handle it. They completely shut down our run game and we did a good job on theirs until the 4th. Wisky had to have blown a coverage on that last play. If Cheney doesn't stumble I think he catches that ball in stride for a TD. I can't believe those safeties let him run by them. This is a loss they can build on or they can go the other way. It reminds me a lot of 2004 when we got killed at ASU, then went and played Michigan to the wire in Ann Arbor but lost and then ran the table. I don't think we can do that this year, but I think they could get to 9 wins if they use this the right way and the o-line develops.

Wow Geo was pulling a plow.

Nyjer Morgan is drunk.

Yeah and he's horrible in LF now. Considering how stiff and immobile he is now, plus the fact that he hasn't played 1st, he would be a disaster there also.

Name dropping time, an acquaintance of mine is pitching for the Richmond Braves on ESPN2 right now.

wow I admit, I over reacted. You think so, huh?

wow

Dang, you don't see that much from Kendall.

Good article. Overall I think Lou has done a really good job and I like him a lot more than I thought I would when he was being rumored 12 months ago. While I don't think there is any manager who will play young guys over vets enough to appease all fans, he's been very fair. He's not a total saber guy, but he uses information more than I thought he would and more than any Cubs manager in quite a while. Outside of a couple instances he does a good job of not playing too much small ball and some of his philosophies are a welcome change. I also like to hear that he really delegates to the coaching staff. Dusty had a bunch of cronies who would repeat what he felt and overpowered Rothschild. Depending on how the next 2 years go, I wonder about Trammel as a potential replacement.

I posted this in the Soto thread in baseball discussions, but since you mentioned it here... It almost sounds like Hendry didn't know Soto existed until after the Kendall trade. Considering that he had called up Geo before that trade, I'm sure he did. I'm guessing by "a few months ago" Hendry meant "before the season".

Does it matter? Theriot can't play SS. Nope, you're right it doesn't matter at all. Not a bit. Theriot isn't great defensively and his range isn't great. But Tejada is barely an adequate defensive shortstop now and doesn't project to get better over the next two years. It may not be significant enough to ignore the offensive upgrade, but to pretend it doesn't matter is just stupid. And if he can't play SS and has to be moved to 2B, we end up with Theriot/Cedeno at short again and have Tejada take DeRosa's spot where there wouldn't be as much of an upgrade. Tejada's OPS is 16 points higher than DeRo's this year and he would make $10M more.

He, "on purpose", grounded out, bringing our run expectancy from 1.17 down to .98, and you want to reward him for ten years for doing that sort of thing on a regular basis? Sorry man, but that's just ridiculous. He didn't ground out on purpose. He did hit the ball to the right side of the field on purpose. Best case it gets through for a hit, worst case it's an out that moves the man to 3rd with 1 out with Lee at the plate. Theriot is extremely easy to like, but I agree with the consensus in the thread. If we can upgrade in the outfield, he's a good guy to have around hitting 8th while he's not making much money. If we have the opportunity to upgrade at SS, he shouldn't block us.

He hit the ball hard

I've got a feeling Craig is going to hit a ball hard here.

Time for Murton