CUBZ99

Well he didn't say that the Cubs were working on resigning Macias or Perez, so that may be a good sign. BTW with all of the young pitchers coming up soon for the Cubs and talk that they will probably go after another starter, why would they spend money on Rusch? He had one good year for them and even then, he is nothing more than a #5/spot starter.

Am I the only one that thought Baker had finally made a transition to accepting Murton as an everyday player (albeit too late and due to injury)? I really don't see Baker having a problem playing him full time in LF next year. With Baker so far, we know that he makes the rookie substantially outperform any veteran in order to get any playing time. Murton may be the first rookie, under Baker, that has met that challenge. Be interested to see what Bruce's insights are on Baker/Murton and whether Baker was impressed or better yet thinks that Murton is worthy of an everyday spot next year.

September play from young guys can be overblown. What if Murton hits .210 with a .285 OBP in spring? I don't expect that to happen but there is a possibility, although slight, just as none of us expected the poor season from Patterson. I still would be fine if Murton is the 4th outfielder next year because that would mean (or at least I hope) we have some high OPS in the corner outfield positions. When Hendry brings up our farm system products, I hope he hasn't forgotten that Murton isn't a Cub farm product. You can tell from his plate discipline. I'll be glad when we can produce position players from our farm like we have in our pitching like Zambrano, Wood, Ohman and Wuertz. I don't know about that statement. Cedeno and Theriot both showed plate discipline in their short stints and both are products of the Cubs system. I'm not saying the system is overflooding with them, but the farm is starting to produce more than previously.

Baseball has never used defensive stats to determine Gold Glove. They rely more on offensive production, which makes little to no sense. I think your overstating that a bit. They do consider offensive production but if you look at Matheny and Ausmus at C or Lee (pre-this year) your theory doesn't hold water. How does one explain Rafael Palmeiro. Palmeiro played 28 games at 1b the year he won a GG. 28 games isn't even 1/5 of a season. It's the equivilent of 1 month of play out of the whole baseball year. Offensive production should have zero impact on a defensive award. Period. Did Palmerio hit 40 hrs in 28 games? How did his offense that year figure into the award? Surely some 1B had to have better offensive numbers that year.

Baseball has never used defensive stats to determine Gold Glove. They rely more on offensive production, which makes little to no sense. I think your overstating that a bit. They do consider offensive production but if you look at Matheny and Ausmus at C or Lee (pre-this year) your theory doesn't hold water.

Patterson at age 20 for AA West Tenn played in 118 games and logged 444 AB's. He had 116 hits, 45 BB, and 115 K's for a 261/334/491 line. Pie at age 20, also of AA West Tenn played in 59 games and logged 240 AB. He had 73 hits, 16 BB, and 53 K's for a 304/352/554 line. It's a little better than Patterson's overall line, but shows less patience at the plate. Also, his K rate is nearly identical to Corey's K-rate at the same age. I'm not saying Pie couldn't perform adequately at the major league level, but he is a rare talent that should be allowed to develop fully. With his current plate discipline, my guess is that Pie would strike out as much as we've seen Patterson and put up a line of 250/310/430 right now. While that may not be horrible, I'm sure there are a number of stop gap players that could do better and allow Pie to work on his plate discipline so that when he arrives in Chicago he'll put up a line closer to his minor league numbers than to Patterson's major league numbers. Thanks :D You make some good points. Pie's work ethic and attitude may allow him to make a jump to the majors and he would be able to make the proper adjustments needed. Considering that the Cubs are going to wait and see how he does in Winter Ball and in Spring Training, IMO there is nothing wrong with giving Pie an opportunity to earn the job. If he excels in Spring Training and gets off to a good start next year, I would much rather see him in the lineup getting experience than a sub par stopgap. Given Dusty and Hendry's views toward playing young players it is more likely that Pie starts the season in AAA.

Exactly how foolish would it be? The guy has excelled at every level he has played at and his teams are consistently winners. I would much rather the Cubs consider bringing up Pie than getting another stop gap like Burnitz or Hollandsworth, or worse yet letting Patterson come back. His plate discipline in AA is worse than Patterson's was in AA. Please explain with numbers :D I was looking up Pie's stat line this year and it pretty impressive .349 OBP, .554 Slg, .304 Avg and he only struck out at a rate of around 1 time every five ABs. His Steal ratio looks really bad, but there is nothing in those numbers that says he cannot be successful in the future. BTW I think it is unfair to compare everyone to Corey Patterson, Patterson's problems appear to be mostly mental. From everything I've read about Pie they have two entirely different outlooks on the game. Pattersons IsoD in AA was .073. Pie: .045 If it wasn't for his high BA, his OBP would be pretty low. The numbers are decent, but I don't see anything there that screams major league ready. He needs a season in AAA. Is there a website to look at previous minor league season stats? I would be interested to see what Patterson's stats were, beside IsoD.

Exactly how foolish would it be? The guy has excelled at every level he has played at and his teams are consistently winners. I would much rather the Cubs consider bringing up Pie than getting another stop gap like Burnitz or Hollandsworth, or worse yet letting Patterson come back. His plate discipline in AA is worse than Patterson's was in AA. Please explain with numbers :D I was looking up Pie's stat line this year and it pretty impressive .349 OBP, .554 Slg, .304 Avg and he only struck out at a rate of around 1 time every five ABs. His Steal ratio looks really bad, but there is nothing in those numbers that says he cannot be successful in the future. BTW I think it is unfair to compare everyone to Corey Patterson, Patterson's problems appear to be mostly mental. From everything I've read about Pie they have two entirely different outlooks on the game.

Sounds like Steve Trachsel but worse :o

Exactly how foolish would it be? The guy has excelled at every level he has played at and his teams are consistently winners. I would much rather the Cubs consider bringing up Pie than getting another stop gap like Burnitz or Hollandsworth, or worse yet letting Patterson come back.

With Murton already playing everyday and Cedeno shelfed for the rest of the season, there is really no point in playing the rookies. I don't have a problem with him trying to win. BTW which rookies do you think deserve playing time? or will contribute next year? I can only think of JVB, Hill, and Mitre, but i'm sure I am missing some.

Wow. This suprises me. I would rather hace Hendry then either of these 2. DePo has run the Dodgers into the ground and although their minor leagues have been upgraded, I am unsure of how much credit goes to DePo for that since he has only been around for 2 drafts. DePo's trades have been highly questionable, and his FA acquistions have been overpaid and questionable. JP has been unspectacular yet solid. He did give Koskie a longer term deal then I would have wanted if I were a Toronto fan considering he already had options there. I am firmly on the Hendry bandwgn. He has made smart baseball moves, most of his trades have worked out and he has given the modern Cub fans more to hope and believe about both in the Majors and the minors in a long time. To me the biggest glaring issue with his reign is the Sisco loss. If all we are questioning is the loss of a middle reliever then I think he has done well in his years, especially considering some of the controversial moves he has had to make (Sosa). How so?? Is it his fault nearly the entire team's been hurt?? He signed two guys who would look really good in Cubbie Blue (Kent and Drew). He made a good trade to get Penny, and he didn't overpay Beltre and let Finley walk. Yes it is. When you sign guys like Drew who are always hurt and expect them to be a big part of your team, it should be no suprise when they get hurt.

I think the Cubs have made it clear that they will upgrade defense at 2b/SS. Nomar in LF would be an instant upgrade over any in house option. With the way Nomar has been hitting I would love to see him in the lineup for a whole season.

Why would you want to trade an underpaid 1b who has triple crown and gold glove potential? Lee is one of the few players on the whole team that actually has played consistently well. I can understand why you would want to upgrade at other positions, but unless you are getting Pujols from the Cards is seems ill advised to get rid of him.

:lol: :lol: So true. ](*,)

Wow, Great to see you on the website. Just want to say, you are the first Cub's TV announcer in years that makes me want to actually listen to the games on TV instead of the radio. It is refreshing to listen to an announcer who is comfortable with being himself and actually knows something about the game. :D

Hendry has already as much said that Neifi will be back next year to back up in the infield.

West Tenn still has playoffs to deal with, so we won't see any call-ups from them for a while more. We've already seen Cedeno, Murton and Van Buren up before September 1st. The only other guys who are on the 40-man roster in Iowa are Fontenot and Leicester. Ice had a real tough year, even if hes called up, he probably wouldnt get any time. Although I dont see how it could hurt. Id like to see Fontenot as our 25th guy next year, but Id rather see Nomar and Cedeno than him, plus I dont think we really need to see him hit in sept to decide if hell be a 25th man. But again, i dont see the harm in it. Fontenot needs to learn to play well enough in AAA before they should even think about bringing him up.

Dusty Baker and the DJaxx manager are swapping places for the rest of the year? You'll have to wait to find out! In my best Dumb and Dumber impersonation --- "So your saying there's a chance?" :D

Dusty Baker and the DJaxx manager are swapping places for the rest of the year?

What is Baker doing? Is he to the point he wants to get fired? Is he trying to get fired by Hendry?

Why? He hasn't. He hasn't been as bad as some feared, but he's been awful. His presence in the lineup significantly hurt the team's chances. He's not a 2 hitter, he's not an 8 hitter, he's a defensive replacement with no offensive value. As for putting the ball in play, I'd love to have seen 17 more strikeouts instead of his 17 GIDP. Your going to argue that his GIDP make him an awful player? ](*,) The problem with your argument is that you have nothing to back it up. Obviously Neifi is not the greatest hitter in the world but to say that he's not an 8 hitter and "significatnly hurt the team's chances is a little extreme. Neifi didn't control where he hit in the batting order and if you actually look at his offensive numbers he is not nearly as bad as you make him out to be. Ranked against NL SS he is 4th in BA and 6th in OPS. He is hardly killing the Cubs chances, unless in your opinion that almost every SS in the NL is "hurting their teams chances." and while neifi is not an All Star SS he has made more than his fair share of good/great defensive plays. (disclaimer -- Baker should still see what Cedeno can do :wink: )

I guess that's why we have numbers to measure them then. Walker's been slightly below average at 2B this year, a 97 rate(100 is average). That is the problem with relying only on statistics. He is clearly not even an average defensive 2b and thats too bad, because he can hit. Hopefully if he is not traded, we can end this whole discussion. it would be nice to see him back with the Cubs next year.

I've never really complained about his defense, it really hasn't been that bad. His Rate for the year is like 97. Might as well get something for him while they can. Cubs definitely have to upgrade on defense next year.

It's to the point that I could care less if Walker goes as well. SHip him off for a prospect and play Hairston next year. If we swap Walker's production for Hairston, we will take a step down in secondbase production for 2006. I'm pretty sure that Hairston isn't in the Cubs plans for next year either.