ToupeeOnFire

Is this the first time Rothschild has ever pulled a pitcher?

I don't like this.

Dial it up: 4-6-3 DP! And Cedeno didn't double clutch!

It looked like a pretty good bunt on the infield grass, but it rolled foul. (Hence Ron's, "Aw right!! Aw no!! Geez!").

If only it could have stayed fair. BTW, I have pimples bigger than Juan Pierre.

I loved the Encarnicion pick-up for the Cards. Nice job Maddux.

Awesome Matt Murt~! For a second there I thought that ball was going to end up on Banks Boulevard (cue Joe Morgan :wink:).

Of course he's easy to run against. It's Hrabosky, what do you expect?

Double clutch Cedeno throws the ball away. He's lucky that wasn't ruled an error.

Ron Santo has officially declared this AB a potential turning point of the game.

Ha ha, walking Jock Strap.

If Ronny and Murton continue to produce effectively over the next month, I can't see how Dusty will keep them at the bottom of the order. Cedeno needs to work on his double clutching. Ronny can double clutch with the best of em. Nice inning for Maddux.

Wow, there is a small lake in right field.

Scwheet! :D

Man did that ball leave the park in a hurry!

This game was lost when Williams came in and imploded. I would rather have Williams in the rotation than in the bullpen.

That was badly played all around. Cedeno had plenty of time to look him back to make sure he stayed, Barrett should have done a better job of blocking the plate, and, frankly, that throw from Lee could have been better.

Barrett. @#$@#$!#$% :x :x :x

DLee...nice. Of course now it just means they will steal with Freel.

Dunn has got to be the most uncoordinated position player in all of baseball.

Williamson looked filthy right there.

I worry about a wild pitch.

This is brutal. Pettitte's line: 4 2/3 IP, 13 H, 10 R, 7 ER, 1 BB. 3 SO, 3 HR

Meat Tray is cruisin'. He's set down 7 in a row and has struck out 4 in 4 innings of work. 5-0 Marlins.

I don't know about "thinning the farm system." A few years ago, everybody, including Baseball America was gaga over a system that included Patterson, Choi, Kelton, Goldbach, Christensen, Hill, Hinske, Cruz, Zambrano and others. Hendry used that system to trade some of these "prospects" for players such as Lee and Ramirez. Not to mention Jerome Williams and Aardsma, who threw the heck out of the ball in spring training. My guess is that the current system will provide more serviceable players, not necessarily stars, than the system everybody raved about a few years ago. Guys like Dopirak, Sing, Fox, Reyes, Ryu, Theriot, Guzman, Pie, Coats, Marshall, McGehee are likely to make more of an impact than the aforementioned players. And Pie is a possible star. And don't be surprised if Hendry uses some of these players and guys like Rich Hill, in future trades. And mediocre talent abounds in the major leagues these days. I don't know, Bruce. In 2002, the Cubs had the #1 rated farm system and the top 6 looked like this: Prior, Cruz, Choi, Kelton, Hill, Zambrano. That's two bona fide stars, two fringe-regular players for a couple years, one backup and one bust. And I'd love to see what Choi and Hill would have been able to do if their development hadn't been stalled with the hand/wrist and back/leg injuries, respectively (at least, I think that's what happened to Hill, iirc). Go a little deeper on that list and it included guys like Guzman, Ryu, Cedeno, Beltran, Welly, Willis, Sisco, Theriot & Wuertz. All of these guys have seen the majors except the first two, who will see it at some point soon. Willis adds another star to the list of players in the system in 2002. Cedeno, Wuertz & Sisco add three more solid regulars. Guzman and Ryu make up part of the current core of players. The system that Hendry built as farm director and took over as GM in 2002 was almost ridiculously deep. If the Cubs get nearly that much service out of the current group of players I'll be really surprised. The overall quality of the system is part of what helped raise the reputation of guys like Hill and Choi to the point where they had enough value to get ARam and Lee. I don't see players in the system currently who have enough value to land marquee guys like that except for Pie and, maybe, a couple of the pitchers. And Pie is not really any more highly regarded now than Choi was back at that time. Another point is that we were able to trade some of these guys without feeling it too badly because there were so many good prospects. If we traded away Pie right now, who would be left on the position side with star potential unless Dopirak or Harvey can turn things around in a hurry? And while we have some good pitchers in the system right now, they certainly don't compare to the Prior/Cruz/Z troika. There are certainly still players there who are going to provide value to the team. But I don't think there's any question that the system is shallower than when Hendry moved up to GM and has a lot less star potential. Good points all, Tim. There were a lot of red flags among baseball people about Hill and Choi before any injuries came along. Scott Boras did a good job of ballyhooing Hill. Once he got into pro ball, a lot of flaws in his game were exposed. Scouts saw a lot of flaws in Choi's game even before 2003, with one telling us he'd be in the minor leagues that season _ and this was in March of 2003. The Cubs have gotten pretty good feelers already on guys like Eric Patterson, Marshall, Gallagher and Hill. The jury is still out on guys like Harvey, Dopirak, Grant Johnson, Veal and Pawelek. The Cubs development staff did a pretty good job in turning Wuertz's career around. (He's another good guy, and I hope his bad spring was just a fluke.) It's just so hard to tell. That's why I don't get too caught up in saying how great or lousy things look at the moment. regarding Choi & Hill - I'm talking about the injuries they had while in AAA before ever really hitting the majors. Looking back at Choi, in particular, before he hurt his hand in his first pass at AAA in 2001 gives me a moment of wonder of what might have been. He essentially missed a year of development with that injury and the Cubs had to go get McGriff to end the season. Choi spent the next year recovering his stroke at Iowa while Crime Dog patrolled Wrigley. No hand injury and I think HSC's major league career could have looked much different. Maybe, but I think the scouts have been proven correct with Choi, i.e., his big looping swing has proven to be problematic in the majors. Not that he still can't still turn out to be worthwhile, he obviously has the pop in his bat and good patience, but his lack of contact kills him. Nick Johnson was a similar prospect coming up at the very same time who suffered similar setbacks to Choi, but he is clearly the better hitter at this point in their respective careers. I'm particularly frustrated with the Cubs lack of presence in the far east. In their few forays under Leon Lee, they managed to snag Choi and Jae Kuk Ryu, but since then, they've all but abadoned it. I don't know why an organization does not exhaust all possibilities when it comes to uncovering talent. Even if it does come down to an increase in the scouting budget, I'd much rather transfer an additional $5-10 million into scouting and development than spend it on roster slop like Neifi and Mabry. As far as Hendry is concerned, my opinion of him has soured a bit. The farm system has taken a bit of a tumble in recent years (at least as seen by outsiders like BA) which, while perhaps understandable given trades, promotions and the peculiarities of the plexiglass principle, isn't helped when he's wasting draft picks by signing less than stellar free agents. He's gun shy when it comes to the big-ticket free agents, but spends lavishly on players who are potentially replaceable by lower cost options. There are things I like about Hendry. He's been particularly good when it comes to trades. The acquisitions of Aramis and Derrek Lee have been swindles. He has been agressive in making big deals in the midst of a pennant race (the Cubs don't win the division in 2003 without Lofton and getting Nomar was absolutely the right move at the time - oh yeah, that Murton kid seems like he can play some, too). He seems to have an eye for spotting talented enigmas and making them work (Michael Barrett, Matt Clement, Ryan Dempster) and the young players he has given up in trades (with one notable exception) have yet to come back to haunt him. Unlike some previous Cub GMs, I never get the sense that he is sitting on his laurels. He seems like a hard working, go-getter type of general manager. But the fact remains, the Cubs dissapointed at both the major and minor league level last year. While the big club limped to a 79-83 record, the minor leagues saw plenty of pitching injuries and highly touted prospects like Ryan Harvey and Brian Dopirak regress. So while I'm still open to the idea of giving Hendry an extension, I'd much rather wait and see how the season develops. Is it a potential distraction? Perhaps, but until somebody gives me any evidence that such things affect play on the field one way or the other, who cares? If anything, that type of thing serves as a rallying point for the players on the field. On the other hand, if the Cubs were to dump Hendry, the alternative could be (and probably would be) worse. So I guess we should all be happy.