I like prospects, and I have made a fuss on this blog about Guyer and Chirinos in particular. Chirinos got my attention in ’09 when he hit two grand slams in a game in late May, and then kept hitting. Disappointed when the Cubs failed to protect Chirinos from the Rule 5 draft in ’09, [...]
Lou Piniella says his pitching coach won’t let him keep fewer than twelve pitchers on the 25-man active roster. That leaves thirteen position players, of whom ten, I would say, have already made the team. The ten includes two catchers (Soto, Hill), four infielders (Lee, Fontenot, Theriot, Ramirez) and four outfielders (Soriano, Byrd, Fukudome, Nady). [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Here is an impressive list: prospects that the Cubs have received in trades over the last several years, as an aging Cub team turned over and as various players fell out of favor with the Cubs’ demanding (some would say impatient) manager. The list is impressive because while prospects come and go, nearly all of [...]
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Posted 02 May 2009
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Hendry § prospect
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Also tagged: brian schlitter, chris archer, chris robinson, doug deeds, greg reinhard, henry williamson, jeff stevens, john gaub, jose ascanio, justin sellers, kevin hart, kyler burke, marcos mateo, nate spears, richie robnett, ryan buchter
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 [...]
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’ve written everything that I think needs to be said about Larry Rothschild and the Wuertz-ification of the Cubs’ staff, except to offer some historical perspective: when Rothschild coached the Marlin staff in ’97 and they won the Series, Cleveland scored 44 runs in 7 games, or 6.3 per game. I’d rather turn my attention [...]
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Posted 05 October 2008
† Phil
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coaching § Hendry § pie § trade
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Also tagged: derrek lee, felix pie, gerald perry, jim edmonds, kosuke fukudome, larry rothschild, mark derosa, micah hoffpauir, michael wuertz, reed johnson, von joshua
I thought Lou was not classy in the postgame on TBS. He blamed the players, and talked about twelve runs scored in six postseason games on his watch. He said you can’t win with this many runs unless your pitchers throw shutouts. I don’t think he should have been praising his hitters but in the [...]
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 [...]