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Oh, and not only did it hit him in the hand, but this magic baseball then ricocheted and hit him in the back of the head just under his helmet, which was knocked off. I think it got more helmet than head though.
If they had enough roster spots for it, a Hoffpauir-Murton platoon in left to go with the Edmonds-Johnson platoon in center might not be terrible.
ENOUGH ALREADY!
Or just a case of being within proximity of the Braves.
No offense, but shove it. Lou's not that stupid. On the days DeRosa plays left, they'll have either Cedeno or Fontenot at 2b. Not ideal, but not terrible. The Pujols injury is much worse, no matter what the Cards fans where saying in that thread.
If they had enough roster spots for it, a Hoffpauir-Murton platoon in left to go with the Edmonds-Johnson platoon in center might not be terrible.
They do, and they still might. The Hoff was coming up this weekend anyway to DH, so they had planned on sending a pitcher down. They probably still will. I think this is the ideal situation, and I do expect to see it at some point. Lou can't play Johnson everyday, and I do think he realizes that.
Here's my optimistic take on the situation: In the grand scheme of things, Soriano is not irreplaceable. He's one of the few true power threats in the lineup and that loss will hurt. That power, however, often comes in the form of solo homers. He pumped up that RBI total during his red-hot streak a few weeks back. I like to think that his absence really just takes away the threat of lot of things, not necessarily a lot of end results. He has power, but hits solo homers. He drives in runs, but not generally with runners in scoring position. He has speed, but rarely steals.
I won't act like this isn't a loss for the team. But I still think it's not the magnitude of losing Aramis or Derrek. So long as Lee and Geo start to get going again (and the last few days have suggested that's happening sooner than later) and Soriano's replacement isn't a black hole out there, the Cubs should be fine. Let's not forget the Cardinals have lost their best starter and best position player to indefinite amounts of time.
No, but they won't do it. Even Murton-Hoffpauir is probably not happening.
I actually made fun of the team with Pujols, who is in the lead, to another team. I'm in 2nd, by the way, and have Sori. The guy I was talking to? In 3rd.
Baseball Gods enacting revenge. Cubs fans, please don't come kill me.
That's my take too. I don't want to minimize it, because Soriano's really good, but I'd say that he's definitely less of a blow than the loss of Lee, Ramirez, Soto, Zambrano, and arguably Dempster, Marmol, Fukudome, and DeRosa, although I'm probably going too far on those last four. With the Cubs' patience this year, working deep into counts throughout the lineup, Soriano sometimes feels like he doesn't really fit in anyway. The Cubs are definitely better with Soriano than without him, but I'm not sure that this really is going alter the balance of power in the NL Central all that much, certainly nothing like what Pujols' injury is likely to do to the Cardinals.
Hoffpauir's OK, given the options, though I don't see why they can't jettison Hart and bring both Murton and Micah up. I don't really like either of those guys as regulars, but they'd probably be perfectly acceptable as a platoon, at least for the few weeks they'll need them. And, then, there's DeRosa, with Cedeno or Fontenot to fill in for him at second, as Moses said.
This isn't a good thing for the Cubs, obviously, but it needn't be a disaster, either. The Cubs already had a stretch without Soriano this year, during which time they played very, very well. They have as many backup options as we could realistically hope for.
And, yeah, I don't think this is nearly as bad for the Cubs as the Pujols injury is for the Cards (but do we know how long Albert's supposed to be out?). cardsfanboy's addled.
???
Lee? Ramirez? Soto?
OK, I guess that makes him "one of the few (4)," but how many teams have more than that?
That's the best option, in my view. It would also make for some fun roster management in close games; lots of more or less interchangeable parts to go along with the core of Soto/Kosuke/Lee/Ramirez/Theriot/DeRosa.
Rich Hill started, and put up the following line:
4 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 6 SO, 6 BB, 1 HR
101 pitches (53 strikes, 48 balls)
Technically you can put any player anywhere you want on the field, so long as you have one guy pitching, one guy catching, and seven other guys on the field of play. But he's primarily played first base in his five seasons in the minors prior to now, and he was a first baseman at college. That tells me that for the better part of seven or eight years, Hoffpauir wasn't considered to have the tools/skills to be an outfielder.
At 27, in his seventh pro season, is not the moment I would chose to reevaluate that decision. What particularly worries me is that the organization's scouting assesment of Hoffpauir's defense seems largely driven by how well he hit in spring training. That doesn't even predict offense well.
I seem to recall Dewan's plus/minus system rating Murton as an excellent left fielder, for whatever that's worth. His RZR numbers also look quite good, from glancing at his THT page.
I agree that this is the best plan. Man, it's really too bad that Pie has gone 1 for his last 16 after some signs that he was turning the corner.
The good side of this is that the Cubs were already looking for an OF. Hopefully Edmonds' glimmer of non-suckitude hasn't squelched that too much, but I think this just amplifies the situation. The Murton/Hoffpauir idea is fine for now, and it's a reasonable possibility that it could actually work out well, but I think the Cubs would be right not to consider it a season-long solution. They say Soriano will be out six weeks, but lingering effects could make him a non-factor well into August. It would be good to see a solution from outside the organization that would keep them covered for the rest of the year. I think getting someone who can play CF is too tall an order, but at this point maybe they can find a corner OF who fits the lefty/power hitting mold.
I was at that game! The most incredible part is that it happened after a 3 hour rain delay. The second most incredible part is that Smoltz was pitching. The third most incredible part is that it was at RFK and nobody but nobody hit homeruns there.
*cough* Barry Bonds *cough*
*cough* Barry Bonds *cough*
Of course, but file under "ain't gonna happen," so there's no use in discussing it.
Left field is one of the spots where you hide a guy that can hit. That's why Soriano was out there to begin with. That's where the Brewers put Ryan Braun. Hoffpauir not a future superstar, but if he can give the Cubs a month and a half of solid production, and play the field no worse than Chris Duncan, then the Cubs will be fine. Based on what he's done in Spring Training, his brief time in the Bigs this year, and in his last three years in the minors, I see no reason why he can't do that.
This is exactly what I was thinking, but I expected Retro to post it first.
From the little we saw during spring training and his time in the majors at the beginning of the year, he did in fact lose the ability to throw the curve for a strike.
They want a middle-of-the-line-up, veteran slugger. The only one that it would make sense for us to trade right now is Soriano. It's not a good match. If we trade for an outfielder, it would be with a team that is looking for prospects.
CONCUR. And I think this is what is the most likely option.
I'm still not quite used to the Cubs being a well-enough run team that the best option is also "the most likely option" in a situation like this (and I do agree with both of those sentiments).
For as much as we dislike Hendry, he has done a pretty good job of not screwing the Cubs long term. None of his long term deals have been atrocious (except maybe the Soriano deal, and that can be justified if you believe the team should be in Win Now mode), and he was able to acquire solid pieces to form the foundation of the current team (Lee and Ramirez, mainly). He has filled out the rest of the roster from the minors or free agents that have generally worked out well. Of the current free agents signed to multiple years, only Eyre and Marquis have sucked. Howry has done very well, Fukudome has done pretty well (though he has slumped of late), DeRosa has been a much better signing than we ever imagined, Soriano has hit pretty well and been good in the field when healthy, Lilly has been good, Dempster was okay in relief and has been excellent as a starter again, and Blanco is an overpaid backup. We've managed to fill the rest of the team with trades, development, and players off the scrap heap.
I don't think Hendry is a good GM, but he's smart enough to get rid of his mistakes so he can try again, and avoids huge mistakes that cost the team for years.
He has been listed as an OF on the 40 man roster since the season began.
Well he's had it in for Murton ever since he kinda ran over his dog... Well, replace the word "dog" with "son," and the word "kinda" with "repeatedly."
Last year Patterson played 83 games at 2B and 40 in OF.
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/P/eric-patterson.shtml
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