Warren Brusstar

Who is this person?? The only person who ever seems to fit people's definition under this is Ivan Rodriguez. Pudge is only much of a hitter against lefties now. Against righties he's a 7 or 8 hitter. About the only relatively available catcher I can think of who's above average with both the glove and the bat is Greg Zaun in Toronto... and he's only above average with the glove by a slim margin. Mauer and McCann both fit the billing too, but they're gonna be in their respective organizations for a long time. LET US TRADE FOR SALTALAMACCHIA! If it means your obsession with Matt Murton will be mitigated even partially, I'm all for it.

Plus Murton is, by far, the most valuable trade chip of the three because of his age so he could be used to bring somebody in who will actually see the field regularly. Relief pitching, plz Trading Matt Murton for relief pitching would be downright stupid. Not if it's for Papelbon. But generally, yes, I agree.

Over the course of an entire season, batting Soriano 1st instead of 5th (where you presumably want to bat him) results in an extra 80 plate appearances. I'm fine with that.

4.12 SUSPENDED GAMES. (a) A game shall become a suspended game that must be completed at a future date if the game is terminated for any of the following reasons: (5) Weather, if a regulation game is called while an inning is in progress and before the inning is completed, and the visiting team has scored one or more runs to take the lead, and the home team has not retaken the lead; or

I'm guessing the reason now is that Pie is up for his defensive prowess in CF, so that only leaves 1 spot for JJ, Floyd, and Murton (in that order, I think). But I'd like to know why Murton is 3rd in the pecking order there. I don't think he's 3rd in the pecking order. My guess is that while this situation continues that Murton will get the 2nd most starts there. If he's not 3rd in the pecking order then why is he getting significantly less starts than the other two? A conundrum. He's not third in the pecking order now. Jones is the primary RF. Murton will get the starts against LH's. Floyd will have quite a bit of trouble getting many starts at all until Jones is traded. Floyd has started 50% of the games since Soriano has been back. Murton has started 0%. Its only 2 games, but I don't understand where your argument is coming from. Lou announced yesterday that in most games for a while, he has come to a set lineup. It includes Jones but not Floyd. Considering that Murton will still start against LH, that makes the only chance for a Floyd start something like possibly today when Soriano is likely sitting. Lou has said a lot of things that he hasn't stuck to. He politician'ed us over the offseason. I think that's where most of my disenchantedness comes from. You know as well as I do that it doesn't matter one whit what he says. Unless Murton plays everyday, there will be 50 posts a day here opining about about what an egregious injustice is being done.

I think you're over-estimating Murton's trade value. There simply aren't all that many teams that can afford his lack of power at a corner OF spot, and especially if he is going to play LF. I'm not sure of too many teams who would give up a decent return for him at all. Now, the sad thing is that Murton definitely does have quite a bit of value to a team, and the way the Cubs are constructed with power at scarce spots they don't really need a huge power bat in LF. So Murton with his high OBP would have quite a bit of value to a team like the Cubs (and any team built like them) but apparently not right now with this team. Cosign. Corner outfielders that post .800 OPSes aren't exactly in short supply. If you believe he reached his ceiling in his first full year. I think he'll be much closer to 875 in the coming years. PECOTA disagrees.

I think you're over-estimating Murton's trade value. There simply aren't all that many teams that can afford his lack of power at a corner OF spot, and especially if he is going to play LF. I'm not sure of too many teams who would give up a decent return for him at all. Now, the sad thing is that Murton definitely does have quite a bit of value to a team, and the way the Cubs are constructed with power at scarce spots they don't really need a huge power bat in LF. So Murton with his high OBP would have quite a bit of value to a team like the Cubs (and any team built like them) but apparently not right now with this team. Cosign. Corner outfielders that post .800 OPSes aren't exactly in short supply.

The amount of bandwidth expended here pertaining to the plight of Matt Murton is significantly disproportionate to any supposed negative effect its having on their performance.

Mmmmmmmm. Pie.

Neifi career: .268/.298/.376 Cesar career: .258/.294/.335 Don't insult Neifi like that. Well, Neifi played for years at Coor's Field, while Cesar played at Dodger Stadium. I hate to defend Cesar, but that's apples to oranges.

He sucks at Neifi-like levels.

I think there's a reasonable chance that they'll DL Miller with an injured [iNSERT RANDOM BODY PART HERE], in which case they should do it today.

I think you are right. Murton needs at bats to get his swing back. He just doesn't look the same this year. In the games Murton has started, he has a line of .357/.400/.393. PH is not his thing, but he's tearing it up when he gets playing time. His struggles are very greatly exaggerated. I'm not sure I would call a .793 OPS from a corner outfielder "tearing it up."

So would I. I'm not sure teams are lining up to acquire Wade Miller and Jacque Jones though.

My prediction: Cherry up, Murton down

More than anything else, that's an indictment of the Cubs' farm system.

Except Des Moines on Monday.

Excellent point. And for that very reason, this isn't something to get overly worked up about. When Murton was sitting last year while Pagan and Bynum were playing, I screamed just loudly as Regulus and other Murton-lovers. There isn't any reason to be screaming as loudly now.

In response to no particular post - but rather this thread generally: There is a fundamental distinction between Murton losing playing time to Cliff Floyd or Jacque Jones than Murton losing time to Angel Pagan and Freddie Bynum. Now, even if we assume that Murton is the better player (and I'm not willing to conclude that), the difference between Murton and Floyd or Jones isn't very much. That is all.

Hopefully it won't be with the bases empty. Hopefully it will be. In the top of the 8th. I meant in this inning. Next inning would be okay. I know.

Hopefully it won't be with the bases empty. Hopefully it will be. In the top of the 8th.

Freaking Theriot

Iowa is calling Matt. Do people realize that Matt is hitting nearly .300 right now? He's above league average. LOL. A .500ish OPS is above league average? IT'S 25 ABS!!! Of course it is. It's stupid to judge him based on 25 AB. But I'm not the one that started throwing out his numbers ten games into the season. Then again, I'm also not the one that continually obsesses about Murton not playing against RHP in favor of a far more accomplished player.

Iowa is calling Matt. Do people realize that Matt is hitting nearly .300 right now? He's above league average. LOL. A .500ish OPS is above league average?

Matt Murton is a big reason why.