CuseCubFan69

You should only steal 3rd if you're very sure you can make it-stealing 3rd is all about getting to score on an out, not a better chance of scoring on a hit. I t shouldn't be a routine thing, but if a good basestealer gets a good jump, it can be valuable as long as their success rate stealing 3rd is very high. Use Lou's quote for instance. He's talking about Soriano stealing third. He's the best basestealer on the team, but 99.99% of the time, I dont want him even thinking about stealing third with Lee, Ramirez and Jones coming up behind him. Sure, a guy on third will score on a passed ball/wild pitch, whereas a guy on second won't, but how many times in a season does that happen to a team? Five? Ten? How many times will it happen when Soriano has stolen third? At best one or two? It's not worth it. There will be times when you need to play for the one run, and then i would be ok with it, and that is the 0.01% of the time. I'm not advocating he do this all the time but there is a time and a place for everything and stealing third can make a difference in scoring or not scoring. How can it possibly be .01 percent of the time in playing for 1 run? Are you really saying that the game will be tied or being down by one run going into the ninth that few times? Let's say the score is 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th and Soriano is on 2nd and there is 1 out. First of all the threat of him taking off helps the batter. Second, Murton is up and hits a lot of groundballs. Soriano takes off and steals third. Murton grounds out to 2nd and he scores. Lee flys out to end the inning. The game is now tied instead of over. I think being predictable and going basically station to station is not the way to win a seemidly unwinnable game. Sometimes you have to do something out of ordinary to make something positive happen.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6485778 So I guess Rivera wasn't that essential to the Bears success.. Have the Chargers hired anyone for defense yet? If not maybe Rivera is going there to help Turner. Rivera's run a standard 4-3 defense throughout his coaching career. I'm not sure how big of a shift going to a 3-4 is for a defensive coordinator, or if Turner will keep a 3-4, but it may require a change in thinking on Turner's part. But wasn't that Lovie's defense? If Rivera wasn't a cover 2 fan maybe he wasn't really sold on a 4 man front either?

Heck I thought the Cubs reaquired Juan Cruz! I wonder how he lost all that weight. John Kruk, Dan Marino, and Don Shula Is that what he used? It helps being able to afford that food.

It seems that Hendry has a good relationship with a lot of players and I think it's because he treats them like humans and not numbers or assets.

I suppose he'd be a decent bench option but the team is pretty much set... The Cubs are the only place where Finley could even potentially start-he is just trying to gamble that somehow the Cubs don't have anybody play center. He's just desperate-I don't think that it would be likely at all that 1)Soriano can't play center, 2) Jones can't play center, and 3)Pie isn't ready, which would all have to happen before Finley would be signed. Bill Murry can't play center....

Heck I thought the Cubs reaquired Juan Cruz! I wonder how he lost all that weight.

Maybe Z can be the next Yogi.

How about a sac fly, wild pitch, passed ball or a ground ball? A guy at second can't score on those while a guy at third does.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6485778 So I guess Rivera wasn't that essential to the Bears success.. Have the Chargers hired anyone for defense yet? If not maybe Rivera is going there to help Turner.

I think it depends on the situation and the pitcher and/or catcher. If you have a pitcher that just is not paying attention and you get a jump it's a great move and it gets you 90 feet closer to home. Getting thrown out at third hurts.

Marty Shottenheimer -> Norv Turner is a downgrade. He (SD GM Smith?) just wants a yes man. One of ESPN.com's "burning questions" this week was "Are the Chargers in danger of alienating Ladanian Tomlinson?" The ESPN talking heads all said yes... So that means they aren't? :D

Marty Shottenheimer -> Norv Turner is a downgrade. He (SD GM Smith?) just wants a yes man.

I wonder if the fickle crossover fans will come back to the Cubs if they are the ones winning? God I hope not. It's hard enough to get Cubs tickets as it is. I don't want the bandwagoners showing up to games and asking stupid questions like "Who is that number 34?", or "Why isn't Sosa starting in right field?" Yep...Good times. Number 34 is Tiger Woods.

I wonder if the fickle crossover fans will come back to the Cubs if they are the ones winning?

Marquis might be an interesting challenge for Lou and if he does struggle I'm hoping Lou does the right thing and not who's getting paid what thing. IMO the Cubs are going to wait and see if Guzman can stay healthy until whatever time they think will be the right time and then make a decision if Guzman is pitching the way we all think he can.....and if Marquis is pitching the way we think he can.

Even if Jones sits 80% of the time against left-handers (which I fully support and hopefully it's even more than that) he likely will still have the most-at bats because he has an advantage on the other two outfielders with starting against right-handers (Murton because he is right-handed, and Floyd because Floyd would be terrible defensively in RF). Even with Jones getting the most at-bats though, if they are sitting him against left-handers the Cubs outfield will be incredibly productive. Jones has proved throughout his career he stinks against leftys and even though I think it's a nice thing for Lou to say he'll give him a shot I have to say Jones has already had his shot and I want the best team out there. I hope Lou is just trying to make Jones feel at ease and if Jones has a problem with it he has to swallow his pride and not be so delusional.

I have to admit that Lou has a better cast of players to pick from than Dusty did the last 2 years. That being said I think Lou will use his assets a heck of a lot better than Baker ever would and that's a big reason why I'm optimistic. I just hope that Theriot continues to progress and do what he did late last season.

That seems about right to me. Murton should get every at-bat against left-handed starters. That should be somewhere around 200 PA right there. If he gets even 1/3 of the starts aginst right-handed starters, then that would put him at 350, and pinch-hitting and double switches could probably push him up to 400. Jones ends up getting the most at-bats because he is the only one reliable enough to play RF right now (I hope that Murton gets out there and gets acclimated quickly to RF so Murton and Floyd can play against some lefties, I don't want to see Floyd in RF at all), and Floyd takes the rest of the right handed at-bats from Murton and a few of the left-handed bats from Jones. I know many of you hate this practice, but history against certain pitchers might dictate some of the matchups. I don't mind it in a situation like this when the players are likely to be similarly productive anyway (although in different ways)-it's bad when you start Blanco over Barrett because of it, but I think it can be helpful in deciding between similar players for that day. I can also see Lou changing his lineup based on which way the wind is blowing at Wrigley. I agree. I think Lou is intellegent enough to be able to adapt and put the best team out there for success.

If Baker was the manager and Floyd was healthy those numbers would never happen.

I agree. I want Murton to drive a first pitch fastball once in awhile while I'd like to see Soriano be able to work a count in his favor. But, in the over all picture to get the pitchers to throw more pitches in the game.

There is so much money out there to be made that IMO a lot of young players don't want to risk an injury...especially a long term one...and throw that future money away. Sometimes it's a hard thing to do...telling the differnce between soreness and injury and with all the new technology out there you'd think it would be easier. I don't know if an MRI can see an injury that is just a nudge away from happening but you'd think with all the money the Cubs and all MLB teams have on these guys they would have something set up to check them BEFORE anything happens. I am a big believer in being proactive injury wise instead of being reactive.

not really relevant to this conversation, but I do imagine Cubs hitters walking a LOT more this year with the new hitting coach and with Dusty being gone. I think just getting the opposing pitchers to throw more pitches is the key and walks are just a byproduct of that. I'd put it the opposite. Well, not exactly. IMO, walks and getting the pitchers to throw more pitches are a byproduct of waiting for a pitch you can hit hard somewhere. Making contact with anything in the strike zone just for the sake of making contact (outside of some situations, obviously, like a close two strike pitch) is the one thing they need to stay totally away from. If they go up there with the approach that before 2 strikes, they're only going to swing if they get a pitch to hit, I think the rest will come. I just hope to see a lot less swinging early in the count this year. We've been letting the opposing pitcher off the hook way too easily, especially since 2003. What's to stop a pitcher from getting strike 1 and 2 then if you have the proverbial bat on the shoulder? I think each batter has to have a plan when they go up there and sometimes circumstances dictate what they have to do. Knowing your zones and your pitches you can drive help immensely and obviously getting into a hitters count increases that and I agree that it would make the hitters more successful if they can do that. I like Murtons approach to hitting but it doesn't work for everybody and I don't think it could work for Soriano or Jones because of the habits they already have which are very hard to break. Being selective/aggresive is a very hard thing to to learn. I agree with you, especially on Jones. He is a hitter that is best when agressive on the first couple pitches. When he is struggling, he tends to be more patient, which leads to more walks for him but his hitting is down. He is better when he is hitting before it gets to 2 strikes-even when he is 3-2, Jacque struggles a bit more than a normal hitter does. I would of course love to see him lay off the obvious non-strikes much more, but he needs to be able to attack balls around the strike zone early in the count-that is where he has proven that he can be effective and can drive pitches in a few different locations. For some of the other hitters, especially those without the power capabilities, I definitely agree that they need to be more selective in which pitch they want to hit though. I think this is why Theriot had a nice little tour with the Cubs last season. If this kid is swinging away at the first 1 or 2 pitches all the time he really adds little value to the team.

I talked to the Syracuse Chiefs trainer and he said that a lot of the players don't work hard or see the value of keeping in shape until they get hurt. They have this "I'm indestructible" feeling and just think they are every going to need to do the things they need to do to stay healthy and prolong their careers and for many it's too late when they finally realize this. So you are saying there is wisdom in old age?? Well experience anyways in a lot of cases. The saying "if I knew then what I know now" really applies to this big time.

I hope you were kidding with that first sentence! I think things have a way of working out for the better player to play, especially now that Baker is gone. If Floyd is hitting 320/410 and Jones is doing really well also while Murton is struggling I have no problem with it. I think it benefits the team best if Lou can find a way to use the OF's efficiently and to try to give AB's to the top 4 guys as much as he can. I'm sure Soriano is in there pretty much every game so I'd like Murton in there against all leftys and to get some AB's against rightys too depending on the matchups. I was only moderately joking... sometimes "fans" of certain teams develop man-crushes on certain players and deem them as "untouchable" when in reality, they aren't as good as they may think. For example, outside of Cubs fans, not many people know who Michael Wuertz is, but apparently, he's one of the greatest relief pitchers to have ever played the game (exaggerated, I know, just trying to drive the point home). Also, I think Jones batting 2nd would be a great idea. Its very Tony Larussa-ish (which has been said already, but I live right outside St. Louis, so I get to hear about what kind of genius LaRussa is on a daily basis). The cubs have said to heck with small ball, so you have to change your mindset in terms of the batting order. Although, LaRussa and the cardinals don't have anything to show for their "stupid" moves of putting Duncan or Encarnocion(sp?) in the 2 spot... aside from that world series title. From what I've seen of Murton he has shown progression and that's why I'm optimistic about him. I also think the manlove he recieves is because Baker never played him enough, especially since the Cubs stunk last year, and he showed a lot of promise. If he got that flat out you're playing chance last year like he should have we would have known more. The Wuetz thing as far as I see it is once again the Dusty thing. He uses him way too much and then not at all. I do think he is an effective reliever but not the end all and I doubt anyone really thinks that and I do understand that you were just trying to prove a point. Personally, I think you use your players to the best of their ability and put them is the best postions to succeed for the team weather it's a bunt or whatever. I think throwing out options make you predictable and when certain circumstances arise I'd like to see the Cubs to be able to succeed.

not really relevant to this conversation, but I do imagine Cubs hitters walking a LOT more this year with the new hitting coach and with Dusty being gone. I think just getting the opposing pitchers to throw more pitches is the key and walks are just a byproduct of that. I'd put it the opposite. Well, not exactly. IMO, walks and getting the pitchers to throw more pitches are a byproduct of waiting for a pitch you can hit hard somewhere. Making contact with anything in the strike zone just for the sake of making contact (outside of some situations, obviously, like a close two strike pitch) is the one thing they need to stay totally away from. If they go up there with the approach that before 2 strikes, they're only going to swing if they get a pitch to hit, I think the rest will come. I just hope to see a lot less swinging early in the count this year. We've been letting the opposing pitcher off the hook way too easily, especially since 2003. What's to stop a pitcher from getting strike 1 and 2 then if you have the proverbial bat on the shoulder? I think each batter has to have a plan when they go up there and sometimes circumstances dictate what they have to do. Knowing your zones and your pitches you can drive help immensely and obviously getting into a hitters count increases that and I agree that it would make the hitters more successful if they can do that. I like Murtons approach to hitting but it doesn't work for everybody and I don't think it could work for Soriano or Jones because of the habits they already have which are very hard to break. Being selective/aggresive is a very hard thing to to learn.