F

One more opportunity to tease Matt Murton.

I wonder if this is the beginning of Alfonso going the Moises Alou route. Meaning he can always swing the bat, just can't stay on the field consistently. You see the body type similarities and you have to wonder.

I only caught half the conversation but was Brenly seriously talking about the possibility of them calling up a utility player instead of Murton. I can't ####### wait til Andres Blanco gets called up to replace Soriano. Failing that, Murton will get called up and they'll start Fontenot at 2B and DeRosa in LF. Ya know anything that'll piss me off a lot.

I only caught half the conversation but was Brenly seriously talking about the possibility of them calling up a utility player instead of Murton. I can't ####### wait til Andres Blanco gets called up to replace Soriano. Failing that, Murton will get called up and they'll start Fontenot at 2B and DeRosa in LF. Ya know anything that'll piss me off a lot.

Murton's fate is sealed: he has no future in this organization. My only hope is that if he is called up he'll hit enough that he can bring something decent in a trade.

Griffey, flyball, injury. How any people would immediately assume griffey injured himself?

Who besides me can picture this lineup for the next few days:

Theriot
Fontenot
Lee
Ramirez
Fukudome
Johnson
DeRosa
Soto
Pitcher

I'm scared at the amount of gritty hustle that we're looking at here in the future.

it wasn’t immediately clear if that’s how he was injured.

Yes, it was immediately clear, and yes, that's how he was injured. Dumbass. They've said strained right calf, so who knows how long that will be.

Failing that, Murton will get called up and they'll start Fontenot at 2B and DeRosa in LF. Ya know anything that'll piss me off a lot.

Look, I like Murton, too. But we Cubs fans sure overrate him. De Rosa in LF and Fontenot isn't really that terrible. I'd prefer Murton, but I won't ##### unnecessarily over something that probably won't really matter in the big scheme of things. No, it won't be Blanco. I could see them calling up Patterson again, or maybe Fuld. But for the love of Christ, can we stop pre-overreacting? Do you not trust Lou here? I sure do, and just cause Dusty's back in town stop assuming the decisions will be made by him.

If they call up Fuld, they might as well do that for Pie and send him down. I'm happy just leaving Pie in there for his outstanding defense and whatever he gives you at the 8 spot. But the Wrigley fans just won't accept that I can't help but wonder how that's affecting Felix.

Do you not trust Lou here? I sure do, and just cause Dusty's back in town stop assuming the decisions will be made by him.

After he benched Pie for a week for having the audacity to not hit 400 through his first 4 games? After he sent Rich Hill to the pen for having one bad start? After he wouldn't stop playing Ryan Theriot 3 months after his last good performance last year? Lou's just a Dusty Baker that knows how to handle a bullpen and isn't a tactical boob.

De Rosa in LF and Fontenot isn't really that terrible.

It's not precisely great, either. Of course, there's also a chance we get the Adventures Of Daryle Ward instead.

Yes, it was immediately clear, and yes, that's how he was injured. Dumbass.

My reaction exactly. On a normal flyball, he can get away with the hop--this one, however, was hit high in the air on a very windy night, which meant that for Soriano to make the play, he needed to slightly change direction between the hop and his landing after the catch (in other words, he couldn't just hop straight up and down like he usually does). I'm certain that's how he hurt himself.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a team lead off a game with a pinch hitter.

It's not precisely great, either.

No, but "bench players as regulars" options seldom are.

just cause Dusty's back in town stop assuming the decisions will be made by him.

I'd pay money to see the response here were Lenny Harris to get the start tomorrow.

What's Lenny up to these days, anyway?

No, but "bench players as regulars" options seldom are.

Right. But given the bench, there's actually several different options here:

* DeRosa in left, Fontenot at second, whoever in center.
* Ward in left, DeRosa at second, whoever in center.
* Johnson in left, DeRosa at second, Pie in center.

I'm pretty sure that #3 is the best option.

After he benched Pie for a week for having the audacity to not hit 400 through his first 4 games? After he sent Rich Hill to the pen for having one bad start? After he wouldn't stop playing Ryan Theriot 3 months after his last good performance last year? Lou's just a Dusty Baker that knows how to handle a bullpen and isn't a tactical boob.

Have you been watching Felix's at bats? Did you see both of Rich Hill's starts? They both look absolutely terrible right now. I think he's handling both of them just fine. Hill isn't in the pen, BTW. He's starting Friday. Something's wrong with him, and it started in ST and I think they're trying to fix it (picking his starts to go against easier lineups is smart, and if nothing else, might help him mentally). Pie, once again, looks lost at the plate. He benched him against a bunch of lefties (and some righties, but his hand was sore after a HBP), but said he's back in the lineup this week. Theriot is definitely a blind spot, but he's not a complete zero either. Yes, he's miscast hitting 1st or 2nd, but big picture it's not that bad. We're just over 2 weeks in, nothing's set in stone. Calm the hell down, we're off to a decent start and it took until the end of May last year for the team to round into form. Focus on the positives-for instance, looks like Lee is going to have a great year.

So if he can handle a bullpen and isn't a tactical boob, how exactly is he Dusty Baker?

Theriot is definitely a blind spot, but he's not a complete zero either.

Who, then, is a complete zero?

So if he can handle a bullpen and isn't a tactical boob, how exactly is he Dusty Baker?

Love affairs with veterans. As short a leash as possible on people who aren't his favorites. No concept of sample size, and little of meaningful statistics at all.

Neifi! is a complete zero, for instance. Theriot plays defense and he does get on base a little.

Reed Johnson is pretty rough with the bat, so my preference is for Murton in left, Pie in center, maybe cycling Johnson in when they play on the road in a big outfield to take advantage of his defense. Johnson in left/Pie in center is sort of reasonable, but count my $10 in with the "Fontenot at second/DeRosa in left/Johnson in center tomorrow" crowd.

Martin Gramatica is smiling, wherever he is.

Just this morning, I traded him straight-up for Jake Peavy. I'm feeling very very good about this.

I think that was Bill.

I can't ####### wait til Andres Blanco gets called up to replace Soriano. Failing that, Murton will get called up and they'll start Fontenot at 2B and DeRosa in LF. Ya know anything that'll piss me off a lot.

Look ... we all love Matt Murton as if he was our brother, but c'mon. It's not like the Cubs hate the guy, it's not like they sit around at night figuring out new, creative ways to screw him over. They just don't think he's a particularly good player. They might be wrong in that (I think they undervalue him) but of course he isn't really any better than average at best. His defense is not good and his hitting doesn't overcome that to an extent to make him a good corner OF. You could do worse for a starting LF (but not much!) and you'd have a hard time doing better for a 4th OF/RH bench bat, so he should be in the majors somewhere and I share the frustration we feel for the guy. But he never was gonna be a savior and he never will be. Wish for him to have Craig Monroe's career ... then it's time to move on emotionally.

I'll add a couple things:

1) assuming DeRosa's defense in LF is better than Murton's (I'm not sure that's true), DeRosa/Fontenot will make plenty of sense against certain pitchers or when one of our groundballers is on the mound. Hmmm ... is Fontenot's defense at 2B better than DeRosa's? Damn having so many mediocre, interchangeable bits around makes decision-making more challenging, not less.

2) given the way Pie has started, I think I'm actually glad the Cubs kept Johnson over Murton although I disagreed with it at the time.

Lou's just a Dusty Baker that knows how to handle a bullpen and isn't a tactical boob.

Now I think that's unfair to Lou but still that's the kind of manager that has a much better chance of leading a talented team to a championship than Baker did ... and Baker came pretty darn close with us and SF.

...Baker came pretty darn close with us and SF.

Baker had the best starting staff in modern Cubs history with us, and had Barry Bonds in SF. Lou has nothing resembling either here in '08.

I like Mike Fontenot, but he's no replacement for Soriano. Neither is Murton, for that matter, but he's closer.

As long as Kerry Wood taped shoulder holds up, everything will be fine.

I wonder if this is the beginning of Alfonso going the Moises Alou route. Meaning he can always swing the bat, just can't stay on the field consistently. You see the body type similarities and you have to wonder.

Moises Alou suffered his first serious injury even before his rookie season (he missed the entire 1991 season). Then he destroyed his ankle in late 1993, banged up his shoulder in 1995 (missed the last month and a half), then the treadmill accident that cost him another full season, and it hasn't stopped since, although the injuries have become less spectacular with the passing of time. Soriano is late to the game if he wants to catch up to such an acknowledged master of the dl.

"What's Lenny up to these days, anyway?"

The same thing as always - sitting patiently on the bench.

Love affairs with veterans. As short a leash as possible on people who aren't his favorites. No concept of sample size, and little of meaningful statistics at all.

I disagree completely with all of this. Yes, he has his favorites (what manager doesn't?) and Theriot is one of them. Unfortunately, Cedeno hasn't done anything to change Lou's mind about that. Have you already forgotten about last season? How many young guys did Lou work in throughout the year? He took advantage of a bunch of guys' hots streaks (for instance, Fontenot) and really mixed and matched the order well. We all wanted the Cubs to try Soto a lot earlier last season, but he didn't just stick with Barrett. They cycled through a bunch of guys. Once Soto came up and showed he could hit, he pretty much took over the PT. What other veterans has he shown a love affair with? And please show me how he has no concept of sample size and little of meaningful stats.

Do you honestly think he's benching Pie because he's only hitting .150? While that's partially true, he's doing it because of his approach at the plate and *why* he's hitting .150. Look up any quote Lou's given about Pie since the season started. Have you been hearing Len and Bob talk about what they're trying to get Pie do at the plate? They constantly bring up how much they're working with him on going with the pitches and to stop trying to pull every single pitch. Pie hasn't done that yet-except for the game winning hit in Pitt. His swing is long and he's barely making contact. Soto was hitting the ball really hard the first week, but right at guys. Did Lou give up on him cause of a low average? He's watching the games, and I'm seeing the same #### as him.

I don't know how to categorize Marquis, but considering Lou had no plans on starting him in the postseason I'm not too afraid of Lou sticking with him too long this year. That was a huge mistake by Hendry, and I have no idea if Lou can completely bury him or not.

Sounds like Soriano is headed to the DL. Trib thinks Murton is coming up. Murton is off to a slow start in AAA, .294 with 0 XBH and 8 BBs in 42PA.

For the record, Andres Blanco is hitting .231/.286/.231. I highly doubt he was ever an option. Who was it that had the great spring that Lou liked-was it Micah Hoffneur (or however you spell it)? Where's he?

As long as Kerry Wood taped shoulder holds up, everything will be fine.

Well, he's not the picture of health that Eric Gagne is, but we'll hope for the best.

Troll.

Who was it that had the great spring that Lou liked-was it Micah Hoffneur (or however you spell it)? Where's he?

Hoffpauir? He's on the DL, not sure what his problem is.

As for Pie, I tend to think it's a bad idea to hit him 8th as long as Theriot's in the lineup, but he was actually getting hittable pitches last night (as in, fastballs between 89 and 91 in the zone), and he was simply behind on them. Not sure what the deal was, but an overly long swing seems like as good an explanation as any.

The same thing as always - sitting patiently on the bench.

Yeah, but whose? The Joliet Jackhammers'?

Well, he's not the picture of health that Eric Gagne is, but we'll hope for the best.

Speaking of that slob, the HP umpire has come out twice this season to tell him to tuck in his shirt. Once against the Cubs and once last weekend.

As for Pie, it never seems like he as a plan when he goes up to the plate. When he makes contact its as though he's as surprised as the rest of us.

Neifi! is a complete zero, for instance. Theriot plays defense and he does get on base a little.

This makes it sound as if Neifi! didn't play defense, when several metrics had him as among the best defensive SS in the NL while he was with the Cubs.

Of course, add his offense and it's still zero, but still, give the man his due.

Speaking of that slob, the HP umpire has come out twice this season to tell him to tuck in his shirt. Once against the Cubs and once last weekend.

Well, when you spend 2 seasons sitting around in your pajamas, you can be forgiven for finding the habit hard to break even when you get back to work.

As for Pie, it never seems like he as a plan when he goes up to the plate. When he makes contact its as though he's as surprised as the rest of us.

He plan is simply: swing hard. That worries me, because that's what we used to say about Corey. We joked (but it could have been true) that it looked like he decided whether or not to swing before the pitch was thrown and he always followed through with that plan no matter where the pitch ended up.

Well, when you spend 2 seasons sitting around in your pajamas, you can be forgiven for finding the habit hard to break even when you get back to work.

That's funny because it is true. When I worked from home I didn't get out of my pajama's until Genna's openned.

You don't wear your pajamas at Genna's? Here, I was under the impression you slept there. ;-)

There are certainly times I probably should have instead of wandering home.

He plan is simply: swing hard. That worries me, because that's what we used to say about Corey. We joked (but it could have been true) that it looked like he decided whether or not to swing before the pitch was thrown and he always followed through with that plan no matter where the pitch ended up.

I agree with this completely. Soriano was the mirror image of Pie at the plate so far as well.

"AP: [Alfonso] Soriano leaves with injured calf in first inning [updated]"

Recycling a joke from Old Primer, it's nice to see Soriano displaying his love for animals like that.

"Yeah, but whose? The Joliet Jackhammers'?"

Washington's. He's the hitting coach for the Nats.

Eric Patterson called up, Murton tied to a railroad spike.

It makes sense, Soriano was the emergency 5th string 2B. We needed to fill that void most of all.