I find it a little odd that Lou is talking about resting Jones right after Murton gets demoted. Part of that was because Murton needed more playing time, which now seems available at the big league level. I guess it means more playing time for Floyd. And to be fair, Floyd has been the best of the bunch offensively so far. But Floyd also needs regular rest, IMO, to stay healthy.

I think it's hard to say how this is going to fall out. Right now it looks like Soriano in LF, Pie in CF, and Jones and Floyd taking turns in RF. I think we're going to see more and more of Floyd, until he predictably gets hurt or slumps, at which time we'll see more Jones. I also don't see the Cubs being particularly patient with Pie, so Jones has a possible way back in via CF too. Pagan is getting more playing time, which is consistent with this "hot hand" approach.

Considering the options available, I don't have a big problem with any of this, with one exception. I still cannot figure out why Soriano is not in RF, with the other guys in LF.

Considering the options available, I don't have a big problem with any of this, with one exception. I still cannot figure out why Soriano is not in RF, with the other guys in LF.

Conventional wisdom is that the combination of wind, sun, deepness of the right field corner, and the way its configured make Wrigley Field one of the hardest places to play right field. The same conventional wisdom also says that once Soriano becomes more comfortable in the outfield he could indeed move to right.

Also, after the stillborn attempt to play him in centerfield, no one wanted him to have to try and learn yet another position right away ...

Please note: I'm not endorsing any particular reason, just summarizing what I've heard.

Michael Barrett 2006: .307/.368/.517
Michael Barrett 2007: .253/.301/.415

Jacque Jones 2006: .285/.334/.499
Jacque Jones 2007: .234/.295/.328

Matt Murton 2006: .297/.365/.444
Matt Murton 2007: .252/.331/.336

What do these players have in common?

Let me throw out another name:

Juan Pierre 2006: .292/.330/.388
Juan Pierre 2007: .274/.305/.325

(distorted by Dodger Stadium, still, neutralized his OPS has fallen from .685 to .622)

I think what we're seeing is the fading of the Dusty Effect. There's plenty of evidence Dusty, whatever his faults, is able to coax better offensive performance out of his players than other managers. (FWIW, Todd Walker, Neifi Perez, Ryan Theriot, and Henry Blanco have all performed worse than last year, albeit in small sample sizes). So far, only Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez seem to have avoided any drop-off. Something to think about.