The Cubs’ second biggest problem with Milton Bradley was his personality. Larger even than the chip on Bradley’s shoulder was his inability to fulfill the role of run producer, the proper role of a right fielder. Bradley ended the season (via suspension on September 20) with forty runs batted in and a slugging percentage below [...]
Koyie Hill, not that other fellow.
It was the first week in August when, with Geovany Soto returning from the DL, Jim Hendry said about Hill, “We seem to win a lot of ballgames when he catches.” Piniella promised that Hill would start a decent percentage of the remaining games. Hackles were raised in the [...]
Theriot, Fontenot and Miles are often described as scrappy. I think the word is overused and misused.
Scrappiness is an attribute possessed by some smallish players with limited skills; but being smallish and having limited skills does not make you scrappy.
A scrappy player is aggressive on the bases. He crowds the plate to maximize [...]
Most days, the Cubs 1-2-3 hitters are Soriano, Theriot and Fukudome. In June, these players are hitting a combined .200/.306/.333. They have five RBI among them in June. Fukudome has two doubles and no home runs in June, and has hit one home run since April. (This from a #3 hitter.) All three players had [...]
The Cubs have improved in some areas this winter but there are still three trouble spots.
First, they haven’t created an opportunity for Micah Hoffpauir. Hoffpauir was a lefthanded power bat that the Cubs should have gotten into the lineup, even at the expense of Derrek Lee. Fontenot is an additional lefty bat, sure, and so [...]
¶
Posted 26 January 2009
† Phil
§
Hendry § Lefty-righty § Piniella § prospect
‡
°
Tagged: carlos zambrano, derrek lee, jake peavy, joey gathright, kosuke fukudome, micah hoffpauir, mike fontenot, rich harden, ryan dempster, ted lilly, tyler colvin
The easiest way to understand why Joey Gathright is on the Cubs and why the Ryan Theriot of 2007 was still the shortstop at the beginning of ‘08–and to gain an insight into various other personnel issues that are mysteries to many fans–is to articulate the following as Lou Piniella’s first rule for getting oneself [...]
I am intrigued by the Cubs’ acquiring Joey Gathright, since they might have just answered the question of who replaces Soriano in the leadoff hole.
They signed Gathright for a mere 800K. The fact that Kansas City released him means little, except that he was not what KC felt they needed. Toronto released Reed Johnson [...]
Five weeks ago I wrote a post suggesting that Mike Fontenot might begin to squeeze Mark DeRosa at second base.
Fontenot’s numbers have improved since then, but DeRosa has responded in kind and will probably crack the fifteen home-run barrier for the first time in his career this season. DeRosa’s RBI and OBP numbers are high, [...]