Peoriaman

i don't care how many games they lost last year, and i refuse to use that as a measuring stick. that sounds like something jim hendry would do. being happy with an improvement from one of most pathetic cub seasons ever isn't enough for me...and 85 wins for a team with a $100 mil payroll is not good. I would expect nothing less from you.

you will not be swayed on this, so we will agree to disagree. Lou is one of the best managers in recent baseball history, so I will side with his judgment.

You can't predict baseball. Who would have thought the hapless Cards would drill MILW last night?

His career does mean something, as well as how he has played since he got here. I can live with either, but it isn't as cut and dried as many think. Personally, I would always go with experience, esp at catcher, if it is close.

absolutely. People forget a couple of things: 1} It is a long season with ups and downs. 162 games. We just came off a good homestand, you can't play great all the time 2} We had the worst record in the NL last year. We lost 96 games. Expectations around here are absolutely insane. I am thrilled to be up 2 games and to have the chance to compete for a World Series. I can't believe the mood swings here during a 162 game season. Maybe too many women here. :)

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. Hahaha...so after all this credit was given to Lou, now we go back to Kendall. That IS how players earn a spot---by their performance. ^^scratches head^^ Like Kendall has? absolutely, he has had a fine career and has played very well since he came over to the Cubs.

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. Hahaha...so after all this credit was given to Lou, now we go back to Kendall. That IS how players earn a spot---by their performance. ^^scratches head^^

congrats to a fine baseball man.

agree on DeRosa. His defense has surprised me--he has been very, very solid.

I agree that fans/media tend to take a guy who has outperformed and call him the MVP. That is foolish. I do think Theriot has been more valuable than his stats.

That takes courage, not PED's. Just ask Barrett :jocolor: No kidding

I read new sod...

THAT showed me a lot.

You clearly are accusing him of lots of things, none of which with any sort of proof besides the braindead ramblings of Stone. Nope. Some of you guys need to chill.

Listening to Stoney on the Score this morning, he seemed to be implying the same thing, saying he'd like to be on the same workout regimen Soto was on in the offseason. It's hard not to raise your eyebrows a bit when a player equals his career totals in homeruns in one year Is there a minor league expert out there that may know if Soto changed his stroke this year, ala Sandberg, or if his power surge is attributed to weight loss, etc. I love Soto and his current production, but it is difficult not to be skeptical on the means he might have pursued in order to do so. He lost 30 lbs and became more pull concious after years of trying to just go the other way. At age 24, and being a catcher, it's not surprising that his offense caught up. Given how stringment minor league drug testing is (the Cubs' Scott Taylor was caught for recreation drug usage recently), I think there's a better chance he'd have been caught for PEDs if he was on them in the minors than in the majors. definitely.

No argument on this statement. Kendall should be sent packing this offseason. Soto is likely to provide significantly more offense, definitely superior defense, all for a fraction of the price. I agree, while also giving Kendall his due. He has done a helluva job for us.

A week off is just the medicine!

as is Pujols, I believe. And nobody in MLB believes Pujols is the age he proclaims. Riii-iight, the same Albert Pujols who was born in the Dominican Republic. Who later moved to Kansas City in 1996, graduated from a high school there, enrolled in a community college to play baseball, and became a US citizen in 2007? Got news for you, Albert is the age he says he is. Because today, after 9/11, you can't become a US citizen without real, verified documentation. He might be, anything is possible.

All this said, I am glad Soto is our catcher and think he should be the #1 guy until he proves he isn't capable.

Really? Or is it just that every player who hits for some power is subjected to a media-stoked steroid/HGH flagellation session? I'm going with the latter. I will agree with that too. Players have nobody to blame but themselves.

Wasn't Cabrera a young (for MiLB) teenager for most of those AB's, though? It's a little more understandable there. Not that I have any doubts about Soto, I'm just saying. Yes, Cabrera was a young teenager for most of those at bats. And going back to my original comment, players develop at different stages. Soto just got it going later. No disrespect intended, but you have no more idea if this is true than I do if the juice is true. In modern day baseball, when a guy's numbers change as dramatically as this, esp at his age, it brings suspicion. Especially at his age? This whole conversation is a brutal oversimplification. Soto isn't 31, he's 24. Players at his age in the minors make adjustments in their swings to add power, they add muscle (see the comment about him getting into shape this offseason), or they finally start facing age appropriate competition and take off. All of these are possible if not probable factors in Soto's case. He was always young for his league, and showed the discipline throughout his minor league career to be a discriminating enough hitter. Add in the fact that catchers are often have a later offensive development due to the physical demands of fielding their position, and there's plenty of reason to think Soto is legit. Jumping straight to "Soto hit a bunch of HR that he never hit before, he could be on steroids" is simply a lazy intellectual response. It is a natural response in today's game. I hope he is 24. :) I don't think it's a natural response in today's game. To be frank, it's a ridiculous jump to a conclusion unsupported by any facts, whereas an analysis of minor league improvement trends would demonstrate that this isn't a unique or even an extraordinary circumstance. He's an American citizen -- born in Puerto Rico. as is Pujols, I believe. And nobody in MLB believes Pujols is the age he proclaims. Hey, no reason to get uptight. Stone mentioned it and anytime a guy suddenly develops great power, suspicions are bound to come up. I am not accusing Soto of anything, this is just a natural reaction to the rampant use of steroids/HGH in the game.

well, it is a natural response with millions of fans and apparently, Steve Stone.

Wasn't Cabrera a young (for MiLB) teenager for most of those AB's, though? It's a little more understandable there. Not that I have any doubts about Soto, I'm just saying. Yes, Cabrera was a young teenager for most of those at bats. And going back to my original comment, players develop at different stages. Soto just got it going later. No disrespect intended, but you have no more idea if this is true than I do if the juice is true. In modern day baseball, when a guy's numbers change as dramatically as this, esp at his age, it brings suspicion. Especially at his age? This whole conversation is a brutal oversimplification. Soto isn't 31, he's 24. Players at his age in the minors make adjustments in their swings to add power, they add muscle (see the comment about him getting into shape this offseason), or they finally start facing age appropriate competition and take off. All of these are possible if not probable factors in Soto's case. He was always young for his league, and showed the discipline throughout his minor league career to be a discriminating enough hitter. Add in the fact that catchers are often have a later offensive development due to the physical demands of fielding their position, and there's plenty of reason to think Soto is legit. Jumping straight to "Soto hit a bunch of HR that he never hit before, he could be on steroids" is simply a lazy intellectual response. It is a natural response in today's game. I hope he is 24. :)

Wasn't Cabrera a young (for MiLB) teenager for most of those AB's, though? It's a little more understandable there. Not that I have any doubts about Soto, I'm just saying. Yes, Cabrera was a young teenager for most of those at bats. And going back to my original comment, players develop at different stages. Soto just got it going later. No disrespect intended, but you have no more idea if this is true than I do if the juice is true. In modern day baseball, when a guy's numbers change as dramatically as this, esp at his age, it brings suspicion. Whoa now, Soto's 24 years old. A lot of players show significant power development at this age. Additionally, one factor that you haven't taken into account is the nature of the PCL this year. It was very clearly a huge hitter's league. Stone didn't take it into account. Me, I have no idea. :)

I'm hitting what you are pitching BBB but Cabrera also came upt to the bigs when he was 20. I don't like this automatic assumption that every players who had a good/great year is no the juice. Unfortunately, that is part of the deal today. If Soto was a Cardinal, we would be buying into it. That is a completely moronic statement. Completely and utterly stupid. No it isn't part of the deal today and no we wouldn't. No one said anything about Ankeil until it was reported in the media. And the morons who bought into the story neglected to realize he received the PED in 2003 not 2007. With all due respect, if Soto was a Cardinal and Stone said that, many here would be more likely to run with it. As fro Ankiel, his case is so weird that steroids were the last thing on people's minds.