CUBZ99

Hill looks terrific. ](*,)

And the Murton excuses keep pooring in.

Hahahaha :lol: He is a professional athlete, if he can't handle the pressure he should work as a toll booth operator or something. Jeez, the excuses are already starting to roll before the game even starts. Would be nice to see him step up and force Lou to play him. Whether or not you want to admit it, expecting baseball players to produce IN THIS GAME RIGHT NOW TODAY or be labelled as not getting the job done is just asinine. That's how they've dealt with Murton this year. You simply can't hand a guy a game, or even 3-4 games, and say you better capitalize on your opportunity. Playing time should be doled out based on reasonable expectations of future performance, not how you did last week. Unfortunately, Baseball is a performance driven sport. There are hundreds of hungry players that want to steal your job at the first opportunity. I agree that you can't expect players to produce in the first 3-4 games, but Murton does not fall into the "only got 3-4 games to produce" category. I truly hope he comes out fighting for a spot tonight and catches fire. The Cubs could really use his second half numbers from last year with Soriano out.

Hahahaha :lol: He is a professional athlete, if he can't handle the pressure he should work as a toll booth operator or something. Jeez, the excuses are already starting to roll before the game even starts. Would be nice to see him step up and force Lou to play him. are Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez under the pressure of going 3 for 4 with no errors every game? No but lesser players are ..i.e. Jones, Izturis, Murton, Pie, Fotenot, Pagan. I agree with Lou's decision making, in one way. The Cubs are in the middle of a playoff race. Lou needs to put players on the field that are going to produce immediately. Some players excel in pressure situations and take advantage of a slight opportunity (Fontenot, Marmol, Theriot, Marshall) others this year have not (Cedeno, Murton, Cherry). They don't have 10 games to give Murton so he could possibly get his stroke back. Cubs need to win every game they can.

Hahahaha :lol: He is a professional athlete, if he can't handle the pressure he should work as a toll booth operator or something. Jeez, the excuses are already starting to roll before the game even starts. Would be nice to see him step up and force Lou to play him.

This isn't entirely true. Lou has given Cedeno a second chance and he's allowing Eyre and Jones the opportunity to play; one could argue that he was forced to do so by the contracts of the last two but that didn't stop him from burying JJ (and Cesar) for long stretches a few months ago. On the subject of Pie, this team can't afford to allow him to hit .200. There are 52 games left in this season and Lou isn't a AAA manager. Overall, Lou has done a fine job this season and while I like Murton, I'm not going to lobby for him over any other player. I don't care who plays just as long as they are productive. It's not like Murton was hitting the cover off the ball at any point this season for the Cubs (and his defense was a problem--and it had very little to do with playing RF for the first time because he failed to make routine plays on balls that should have been in the glove). Hell, we're talking about the same manager who thought Theriot wasn't a ML SS earlier in the year. Yet, he allowed Theriot to play enough to win the job fulltime. When? The only players under Lou who have been given 2nd chances are proven veterans like Jones and Eyre. Also, its not loke FLoyd is hitting the cover off the ball, or Pagan but yet we continue to see these guys in RF over a guy like Murton. Eyre has been buried in the bullpen and Jones was buried on the bench until Pie couldn't take the CF job.

If Lou didn't like Murton's defense, I'll be interested to see what he thinks of EPatt playing 2B. The times I've seen him in Iowa it was an adventure.

a) you're speculating on Soto's ability to hit major league pitching (see: Dubois, Pie, etc.) b) it's never going to happen anyways, so I guess we're screwed a) Yes I am. b) Didn't we know that coming in? It didnt' take long for the if _(minor leaguer)__ doesn't start our seasoned is doomed. People act like Soto is going to be a can't miss major league player. Its not like the guy has been hitting lights out in the minors (other than this year) or had any type of consistency (other than this year). Hitting in AAA does not = big league success. Just ask Cedeno, Trinidad Hubbard, Rosie Brown, etc.

That was extremely disapointing to me as well. I think that told me all I need to know about Lou's feelings on Murton at this point. It was essentially the perfect storm for Murton to play. LHP on the mound (no excuse that he can't his RHP); LF open (no excuse that he can't play RF). Still, Lou essentially chose Fontenot over Murton. Not a good omen. Especially coming off Fontenot's July. There's absolutely no excuse for Lou to use at this point. Anything short of playing Murton in LF when Soriano is out is the equivalent of saying "I think Murton sucks." There's really no other interpretation at this point. It's goofy that Murton wasn't traded before the deadline. He could have been a big part of a package deal to get some immediate help, but instead we keep him, and for what? Lou would rather see Mike Freakin Fontenot on the field. I said this a few weeks ago: the opportunity cost of not trading Murton far outweighs what he will contribute as a Cubs player. He shouldn't still be here. What is the problem with a guy that is hitting .308 with a .360OBP. Fontenot's numbers this year are better than Murton's in almost every aspect, including power. I'm all for getting Murton on the field, but Fontenot has contributed in a meaningful way this year, without using his lack of regular playing time as an excuse.

Face it guys, Kendall is one of those veteran guys that some people are never going to give a chance (i.e. Grudz, Karros, Jones, Marquis, Lilly, Howry, etc.) Kendall could raise his avg. to 330 with a .400 OBP for the rest of the year, and people would still long for Soto.

Wow, Kendall and Jacque are really starting to pick it up.

I think 99.9% of Cubs fans wish the same thing. IMHO a lot of Cubs fans have formed their opinion about Murton from just his few at bats earlier this year, since they stopped paying attention last year when he was doing so well. Its not like Floyd is doing terrible.

Unless I'm mistaken, Blanco has been out for 60 already and Guzman is right there too. I wouldn't be surprised to see either moved to the 60 day DL. If Gooz isn't there yet, Blanco will be moved, and Gooz when Blanco is ready to be activated. You're right, it's been 60 days for Blanco and a smidge less for Gooz. Is there any hope left for Guzman? The guy just cannot stay healthy for any significant period of time.

Shark having a good start so far 4 IP only 1 H 1K

What happened to Jones power this year? He went from 27 HR's last year to 2 so far????

And the ump calls the same pitch that was ball last batter a strike. :roll:

Where is he missing? That one looked like strike 3.

Looks like their won't be many called strikes tonight.

Sullivan is always dressed for 70's night. Wonder if Bruce wearing a fro?

I turned it off after Murph said Murton is just a AAA player and should be sent back down because he's 0-4 since being recalled. That, and he says Angel Pagan should be starting every game. Did I miss something? He was just ripping on Pagan and Murton because they were playing poor fundamental baseball. Said Pagan couldn't count the outs and Murton couldn't hit the cut off man. He's got a huge man-crush for Pagan. He talks about wanting Pagan to get more at-bats all the time and that he doesn't understand why Pagan doesn't start more often when facing a RH pitcher. I can't say I'm suprised, he is not the most brillant baseball mind on the radio.

I turned it off after Murph said Murton is just a AAA player and should be sent back down because he's 0-4 since being recalled. That, and he says Angel Pagan should be starting every game. Did I miss something? He was just ripping on Pagan and Murton because they were playing poor fundamental baseball. Said Pagan couldn't count the outs and Murton couldn't hit the cut off man.

How do you know he is going to waive his no trade clause?

I've been listening to the Score all morning and there has been nothing of the sort reported. In fact, all of their reports and talks go out of their way to say that Pie is not available and that if the Cubs make a trade it will be for a supporting player. I call BS.

So in other words, the Cubs would trade a player to get a below average veteran that would likely not outperform a young player the Cubs already have on the 40 man (i.e. Gallagher) ?

Stoney was on WSCR and predicted that the Cubs were close to signing Zambrano to a 4 yr. deal. :D Please be true.