CuseCubFan69

I think he would be a decent 1st baseman. If something happened to Lee and the Cubs had a pretty good LF to replace Soriano, it might be the best move to make.

He always looks kind of grubby to me.

Just get Utley to play 2nd, problem solved! Second might be more physically demanding than LF though and if Sori can't handle LF, second could be worse.

If posting Joe is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Out of curiosity, what way is better defensively, Sori at 2B and DeRosa in LF or the way it is now? In that situation, I'd definitely say DeRosa at 2nd and Soriano in LF. But, when looking to improve the team this year and the future, it would be easier to add offense in LF than at second. Soriano was no great shakes at secondbase. But he could play the position. At second, we remove his fear of having to run into a wall and there's few plays at second where he would have to go into a full sprint which is something he's refusing to do in LF. For example, if we were looking to upgrade the team at the deadline. Adding a 2b, it's pretty much Brian Roberts. The other guys that would be there are no better than what we have. And next year's FA class, we could go after Orlando Hudson, but after him not much there. But, if Soriano were moved to second, there's a larger group of players who could come in and play LF. Adam Dunn might be available in trade and will be a FA at the end of the season. Pat Burrell will be a FA after this season. Raul Ibanez will be a FA or could be available in trade. Leftfield is a much easier spot to add a bat than second. So, while the current configuration is better than just swapping Soriano and DeRosa, if given the choice of DeRosa at 2b and Soriano in LF with Soriano at 2b and Adam Dunn in LF, I'll take option two. I wonder how Soriano would react to being replaced in a close game defensively? That would make a nice offense regarding the players you mentioned and I'd like some more swing and miss pitchers because of that D.

What kind of talent would you like to have? Run a 4.2 40, throw a baseball 98 MPH's, have a 48 vertical leap?

Out of curiosity, what way is better defensively, Sori at 2B and DeRosa in LF or the way it is now? DeRo at 2b. Soriano was absolutely embarrassing at 2nd base. I don't think I've ever seen a worse 2b in the last 20 years. He was a SS, was he really that bad there? I thought Washington moved him because they already had Vidro there but I do remember not being the best 2B in MLB.

He would have had a bad week then they would have sent him down to the minors and signed a 38 year old outfielder who just got cut by the worst offense in baseball to take his place. I think they would have been able to give him some stability and hopefully the correct mechanics to sustain a good career, much like they are trying to do with Pie. That's assuming Corey has the aptitude to develop pitch recognition and patience. I'm not saying the skill isn't teachable, but I think some have an ability to learn it and others do not. It's a skill, like hitting for power or bat control. It can be taught to some degree, but I think some players have an aptitude for it while others the improvement would be marginal. I'm not saying Corey couldn't have been fixed and not run into the ground like he was. I just don't know that he could have been either. I'm not sure either vance but I trust them a heck of a lot more than Dusty and company. It is a hard skill to get better at but if you're using the correct mechanics you can improve it move than ju8st doing the same thing you've always done. I agree, some guys are just going to swing at everything (Vlad) but he was good at it and well, Corey isn't close to that so he had to make some adjustments.

Out of curiosity, what way is better defensively, Sori at 2B and DeRosa in LF or the way it is now?

He would have had a bad week then they would have sent him down to the minors and signed a 38 year old outfielder who just got cut by the worst offense in baseball to take his place. I think they would have been able to give him some stability and hopefully the correct mechanics to sustain a good career, much like they are trying to do with Pie.

I think a lot of this would depend on how Wood would feel about it. He seems like a team guy to me but he may be mentally set on being the closer and this might be a tough move for Lou to switch him to another role.

I wonder how Lou/Perry would have handled Patterson? I wish they were around when he was just starting.

Wouldn't Marmol be OJT? No TJS.

What they told Pie to work on is correct and it's up to him to take it and run with it. If he continues to wallow in pity, then maybe MLB is too tough for him. I'm sure he'll bounce back once he gets comfortable with the new adjustments.

maddux, glavine, and johnson are 100% 1st ballot no question. the other 3 probably get in a year or 2 later. though it's a crime if any of them (with the possible exception of schilling) don't make it right away. I don't see how Glavine ranks ahead of the others. He's not in Maddux's or the Unit's class. i agree. but 300 wins = first ballot in the minds of sportswriters. If that's the case, then sportswriters are very narrow-minded. Don't they realize that a pitcher's W/L record is mostly out of their control? Generally speaking it's going to even out over the course of a guy's career. I completely agree on not judging how good a player is over a single season by how many wins he got but if a player gets or approaches 300 wins, in this day and age, he's at least a good pitcher. You don't luck into getting 15-20 wins per year for 15+ years. One or two years, sure, but not for a career. Obviously there are better measures for evaluating how good a pitcher was but with 250-300 wins, I don't think you can just dismiss that like you can for a single season. What if he loses 290? It's just a pet peeve of mine that not only do people overemphasize W/L record, but they always refer to pitchers by how many wins they are capable of in a season, while ignoring the losses. A 15 game winner is a 15 game winner whether he went 15-16 or 15-6. A record of 16-14 is given more respect than somebody who only wins 11 but goes 11-3. It makes no sense. Look at Nolan Ryan, he's a pretty decent example of a pitcher who had nice numbers but not so nice on the win percentage thing.

Does this guy time it right or what when it comes to good young pitching? Dusty, you just keep on surfing dude.

Is he bringing his agent with him?

Shouldn't this thread be mixed in with "How would you do against a MLB pitcher"? I think you guys are seeing the actual results.

If you're playing blackjack and hit on an 18, and draw a 3 for 21, that doesn't make it a smart decision. It was an extremely poor decision that happened to work out splendidly despite your stupidity. Smart decisions sometimes turn out badly, and bad decisions sometimes turn out well. The Cubs taking, and keeping, Hamilton, would've been in the latter category. That's ridiculous. How would it have been a dumb decision for the Cubs to take Hamilton? Because they would have been playing 24-on-25 for as long as Hamilton was on the roster. Folks think Lou didn't give Pie a fair chance... just imagine the non-chance a guy with 50 ABs of .687 OPS in lo-A ball would've received. Look just see the situation for what it was -- the Cubs weren't built for rolling the dice on longshot reclamation projects in hopes of a longterm payoff, they were built to win right away. Wade Miller, Chad Fox..... Don't forget the duct tape.

I don't know if they'll get any new fans. They may rekindle the passions of some former fans. At least it's not some combination of small market/non-hockey market. But I'm sure they'd much prefer something like Chicago/NY or LA/MON. Detroit has been there quite a lot and was winning while the league was sinking. Crosby's star alone isn't going to carry the torch for the NHL. This isn't Gretzky in the early 80's. I doubt we're going to see a surge of non-Pittsburgh people suddenly being enamored with him, especially with that horrible facial hair. What if Crosby scores 8 goals in Game 1 and the Pens lose 9-8? Dude, they'd darnt darnt darnt darnt darnt darnt darnt jump on it jump on it jump on it!

Or you could look at it as the Cubs are huge idiots for not drafting a guy that was the consensus #1 pick a few years back and one of the top 15 HS hitting prospects in the history of the game. Taking a longshot flyer on a guy like Hamilton was completely incompatible with all of the other win-now moves the Cubs made last fall (hiring Piniella, signing Soriano Lilly DeRosa etc.). There was no way they could try and contend while committing a roster spot to a complete unknown. I don't understand why people can't get that and just move on. The Reds took the chance because they were in a position where they could afford to, and they hit the jackpot. Nice for them. A lot of fans still talk about Lou Brock and you honestly think this one will be let go if Hamilton has a really good career? I agree, the Reds out manuvered (sp) the Cubs but the better Hamilton and even the pitcher the Reds got for him, unfortunately, this may be talked about for many years.

Uh-oh...here come the Greene to the Cubs idears!

I don't see any group on this board that would have an "I told you so, jerkfaces" explosion of Sean had a bad game. I don't see how this thread would go bad if that happened Agreed. There isn't anyone here that wants to see him do poorly. No one may want to see him do poorly, but it sure seems like guys love to pull up a post from weeks, months, or years earlier to say "see I told you so." Sometimes people start entire threads for this purpose. Yeah, that's getting a little old. True. But it works both ways. The "Wood sucks" (or whatever it's called) thread is about 6 pages long b/c every time he gets a save, a bunch of people call out Bud House. Like we all didn't know it was an overreaction when it was first created. It reminds me of the Hogcard and Z thread back on cubs.com. He was a Card fan that posted/trolled there and said Z would never be any good and after each Z outing, it was brought back up. It's a little different when it's a Cub fan though and it doesn't really thrill me to see this Wood sucks thread brought up after each save.

So, how are you going to call it?

I don't see any group on this board that would have an "I told you so, jerkfaces" explosion of Sean had a bad game. I don't see how this thread would go bad if that happened Agreed. There isn't anyone here that wants to see him do poorly. No one may want to see him do poorly, but it sure seems like guys love to pull up a post from weeks, months, or years earlier to say "see I told you so." Sometimes people start entire threads for this purpose. Yeah, that's getting a little old.