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Morning Rant
I wasn't around much for yesterday's festivities, so let me get a few things off my chest. I realize the Cubs have won three straight and eight of their last ten and I should probably just shut-up, but this sh** is bugging me.
- The "hop" that Soriano does before he catches a flyball is kinda lame. Then of course, I have a hard time relating to anyone who could drive a car like this. Lame as it is, it didn't create his calf strain and I'm not just saying that because the Cubs are in full-press denial mode. You can just look at the highlights of it. Soriano didn't leap more than six inches off the ground and landed just fine; he didn't roll his ankle or overextend his knee or anything. Whatever the problem was, it was already there and if it didn't happen on that play, it certainly would have the next time he ran out a ground ball or slid into a bag.
But if makes him stop leaping like one of the seven lords, then by all means, it was the "hop" that caused it.
- Now that Soriano is on the disabled list, it sure seemed like bringing up Matt Murton was going to be the no-brainer move. But I did mention in the Parachat that night that it wouldn't surprise me if Eric Patterson got the call. Why? Lou and the Cubs picked Mike Fontenot over Murton in spring training, so it's no big suprise that if regular playing time for one or the other would surface, that Fontenot would get that shot first. Plus the Cubs are in love with speed and left-handed bats these days. So I'm not sure if I was the least shocked person in the Cubs universe when the announcement was made, but it certainly seemed plausible.
That being said, this decision is just as lame as Soriano's hop. Murton's 929 major league plate appearances and 820 OPS over that time tells me he's deserved the shot to fill-in just about every day that Soriano sits. As Thunder Matt's Saloon theorizes, Murton has certainly done something to anger the baseball gods. Somewhere I picture Murton sitting in dark room, just a lone light bulb dangling from the ceiling barely illuminating it. He reaches up to his wall to put a picture of Lou up...along with the thousand other pictures of Lou...all with their faces cutout.
- But what's really got me riled up is the bullshit that Lou and the Cubs are pulling with Felix Pie. The kid has some problems at the plate, no doubt. And I'm glad Lou is showing an active interest in working with him. But damn, he sits for almost a full week on the road trip and his first game back is against one of the better pitchers in the game, Aaron Harang. What you expect from him? Then Lou piles on a bit by leaving Pie out there in the seventh inning when Dusty brings in the lefty Jeremy Affeldt. Pie predictably strikes out again. Then after kicking Pie's dog and sleeping with his girlfriend, Lou keeps him out of the lineup when the pitching equivalent of a pinata is on the mound in Josh Fogg. Damn!
There's a scouting theory out there that players with "long swings" do better with more playing time. The more they sit, the tougher it is for them to get their timing down. Apparently a theory that Lou hasn't heard about.
Furthermore, what the f*** were the Cubs thinking this offseason if they weren't committed to Pie? I don't remember exactly how many center fielders were on the market, seemed like about 10 that they could have signed or haggled for in a trade. But the whole time we heard that they were committed to Pie and Sam Fuld battling it out, with the possibility of a right-handed hitting option to help out (Reed Johnson of course). Did Hendry forget to check with Lou if he was committed to that same course of action?
As I mentioned earlier, the Cubs are winning right now, so all seems good in ye ole' land of Cub. But it's not like our offense has been suffering and Pie is a heckuva lot better with the glove than Reed Johnson is out there. But if he's not going to play, send him down or trade him, but if he's up, let him start versus Josh Freaking Fogg at least.
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Comments
Re: Morning Rant
Rob, seems you are dead on about the Cubs being "in love with speed and left-handed bats these days."
"We've talked about being a little too right-handed," general manager Jim Hendry said, "Eric gives us some dimension from the left side. It gives us some speed and gives [manager Lou Piniella] a little more flexibility on double switches. He can play, literally, four positions, second and all three outfield positions."
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/bas...
Re: Morning Rant
Eric gives us some dimension from the left side
=======================
Daryle Ward gives us "dimension" from the left side (not so much from EPat)
Re: Morning Rant
Since when did "dimension" turn into striking out looking. I love the look on Korey face when he saw lil' bro' get "Pattersoned."
Rob, well put.
Re: Morning Rant
I love a good rant.
Re: Morning Rant
Excellent thoughts on Pie, its really frustrating to watch a promising young athlete rot on the bench. You're right, it makes it even more unbearable to watch when he doesn't get a shot off the lesser pitchers in baseball. WTF??
The recent handling of PIE has JBB JR. written all over it.
Re: Morning Rant
"...the lesser pitchers in baseball"
Hardly.
Dude pitched in the World Series and was remarkable in the last month of the season for the Rockies in 07.
I'm not saying he is Santana, but what you say is just not accurate.
Re: Morning Rant
4.98 career ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 5.91 career ERA in playoffs. Fogg Sucks.
Re: Morning Rant
Well done, and with conviction.
On Murton, I guess my position is we have seen what he has to offer, and as you note, it is not so bad. But given this "opportunity," why not see if we can do better? Perhaps Murton deserves better -- your image of him in the room with one light bulb is stark and might seem an appropriate response from him under the circumstances -- but what's the downside to giving someone else a chance?
On Pie I could not be more with you. Maybe he doesn't have it. It pains me to say that, but maybe he doesn't have it. But for God's sake, give him a chance. Put him in, give him a couple months, and then take a look. It's 15 games in and they are already giving up on their "Pie is our man" plan? Silly. I live in New England and have to see and hear about the Red Sox all the time. Check out what happened with Dustin Pedroia last year. Now there is no guarantee that Pie is Dustin Pedroia, but last year was Pedroia's first in the bigs, and he was Rookie of the Year, batting .317 with a .380 OBP. On May 1st he was hitting .172.
Re: Morning Rant
We have already covered the Pedroia comparisons.
As both I and WISCGRAD pointed out, while Pedrioa's batting average struggled in April last year, he only had 6 strikeouts all month, and still had an OBP over .300 at the end of April. His OBP was 126 points higher than his ba. He was able to show something and be productive even when his batting average struggled.
Further... Pedroia's BABIP in April last year was a dismal .204, which was not going to stay that low.
As WISCGRAD asked:
Don't get me wrong. I want to see Pie get more of a chance, and I do not understand what the Cubs are doing with him.
But the Pedrioa comparison simply doesn't hold up.
Re: Morning Rant
Great point RI Mike. In fact, while we're at it, let's call up Bobby Scales to "give him a chance," sending down D. Lee to make room of course (we'll make the roster work). Next time we need a reliever, let's go with Peoria's Jordan Latham. After all, most of the AAA relievers already had a shot in the bigs.
This was a dumb move- A few weeks ago we were talking about how disappointing it was that Murton didn't make the 25-man out of camp. Now, when a perfect opportunity arises, he's passed up again. I'm beginning to believe the Cubs do hate this guy.
Re: Morning Rant
Good point. Pulling a hot D Lee out of the lineup to make room for Bobby Scales is a lot like calling up E-Pat to help fill in for a while for an injured Soriano.
Re: Morning Rant
PESKY REDHEAD WATCH: Last night Murton racked up his first two rbi's of the year, but all three of his hits were singles. He now has 13 hits, none for extra bases[Jake Fox also has 13 hits which have produced 15 runs]. As for Pie, well he's like the guy wandering around at a party that nobody seems to know...
The fact that his BA is equal to his SLG%
is the reason he is reading the Register this morning and not the Tribune.
Re: Morning Rant
Well, that depends on what you mean by "the Pedroia comparison." The point is, when he was hitting .172, notwithstanding the statistics that suggested he might improve, there was no guarantee that would happen, and a .172 average, even with an OBP at .300 would not have earned him another year if that was where he was at the end of the year.
The point I was trying to make is that with young players you need to give them time to see what they've got and that a bad start does not a bad year necessarily make. The Red Sox patience paid off and perhaps Cub patience would pay off. We can all agree on one thing. If they declare the Pie experiment over now, we will never know what he might have done in the bigs.
Re: Morning Rant
Couldn't agree more with your points. I can't understand the Pie situation other than that once Johnson was acquired, Lou clearly felt/feels more comfortable with him than with Pie. He might have been on board with giving him a shot before, and he might still be to some degree, but not now. Unfortunately now, with Soriano out, we'll probably need Johnson's bat to help out in the offense, not that Alf was contributing all that much.
Re: Morning Rant
Maybe Lou's reacting to the grotesque nature of Pie's ABs. He's downright Corey Pattersonesque in his ability to watch called strikes and swing at balls far out of the strike zone. Send him back to AAA, let him get his stroke back for a couple of weeks then bring him up and start him against every right hander for six weeks. If he can't hit then forget about him. The Cubs have a chance to go all the way this year. They're already giving away some offense at short and at second when Fontenot's playing. That's more than enough sub-par positions offense-wise.
From Rotoworld
"After saying Felix Pie would start all three games against the Reds, manager Lou Piniella had him out of the lineup on Wednesday."
Piniella was working with Pie prior to Wednesday's game and at one point became quite animated with his young center fielder. "We're working with him on shortening up his swing... And we're going to work with him for a few days until he feels nice and comfortable," Piniella said.
Also, Soriano is supposed to be fully recovered by the time he's eligible to return from the DL.
Re: From Rotoworld
Rotoworld also says that Soriano will be in a walking boot through this weekend and then begin rehabbing next week. Doc - is a boot normal for this type of injury? Also, is this timetable - 5-7 days of rest, 7-10 days of rehab, and then 100% - seem plausible to you?
Re: From Rotoworld
Yes. This is plausible/typical. The walking boot has a rounded sole but keeps the ankle from moving, so it takes some of the tension off the calf muscles but I'm sure they are having him do some stretches as soon as he can tolerate the soreness that comes with it. So movement isn't all that much of an issue. The period of rest is just to get the acute soreness to calm down.
Also he will probably not be 100% in 2 weeks (maybe 80%) but will be able to play. Sort of like last year with his hamstring injury. If they tell him not to run full out it might mean he hits lower in the order (which is not a bad thing imho).
Re: Morning Rant
It seems to me the Pie's problem is either:
1) His swing is fine and he is just in a slump, needs to find his timing, etc.
2) His swing is too long and he needs to change it.
I fall in second camp.
Re: Morning Rant
Will somebody tell this asshole that the Cubs are 9-5.
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/mariotti/899290,mar...
I can't stress enough how much I hate him.
Re: Morning Rant
Mariotti is a hack. Also notice that he insults pretty much EVERYONE in the article but Fukodome and Lee. I hope Zambrano reads the line about the white coats and goes all Barrett on Mariotti.
Re: Morning Rant
Believe me, I am not a Mariotti fan either, but he does raise some valid points. Soriano is a selfish player who had a good free agent year, but can never steal 40, let alone 25, bases in a year ever again. If Soriano cared about winning he wouldn't complain like a baby when Lou moved him to 5th in the lineup; all he cares about is himself. Baseball prospectus put it well when they wrote Soriano is a good player who sometimes gets mistaken for a great one.
Re: Morning Rant
Bringin up EPatt instead of Murton causes a situation that reminds me way too much of 2006 when DLee got injured and was essentially replaced in the lineup by Neifi Perez. Todd Walker moved from second to first, and Neifi took over full time at second. While on the surface you're just switching guys around who are already on your 25-man roster, the net result is replacing a huge slugger with a terrible hitter.
This year, a huge slugger (Soriano, though he hasn't been playing like it) went down with an injury and was essentially replaced in the lineup by Mike Fontenot. DeRosa moves to left and Fontenot plays 2B full time (or close to it).
It's like these managers can't look at more than one thing at a time. Sure, replacing Soriano with DeRosa is probably the best way to maximize production out of left field, but Lou apparently doesn't see how that affects the rest of his lineup (i.e. Fontenot playing full-time).
Re: Morning Rant
Doug, I'm not sure they view Murton as an upgrade over Fontenot.
So in their mind, replacing Soriano with Murton instead of replacing Soriano with Fontenot makes no difference.
Re: Morning Rant
LNL, I think you're probably right about how they view Murton. It just seems crazy though.
In 2006, Murton played in 144 games, had 455 ABs, and led the team in both BA and OBP. That was his first full year in the bigs, and he led the frickin team in two key statistics. (Barrett was slightly better but didn't qualify due to too few ABs). Ever since then, he's been dicked around by the organization and not given the proper chance to develop.
I know he'll never be a Gold Glove outfielder, and he's not the fastest guy on the field, but my god the kid can hit ML pitching. He'll get a chance somewhere else, and he'll probably become a pretty damn good ballplayer.
FREE MATT MURTON!
Re: Morning Rant
LNL, I think you're probably right about how they view Murton. It just seems crazy though.
I agree completely, and I'm not even a huge Murton fan. Pretty unbelievable decision to bring up E-Pat.
I think there is something underlying this move that hasn't been raised by Hendry, such as wanting to boost E-Pat's trade value. They've already floated Murton's name out there and realized he's not worth a whole hell of a lot. Maybe they are thinking that by bringing up E-Pat, they are boosting his value for a deadline deal.
And yes, I know I'm reaching for straws... it's just that nothing else makes sense.
Re: Morning Rant
Mariotti's always been the top Windsock in this town, so no reason not to keep on ignoring him and his eyeliner these days.
As for Pie, the disussion yesterday ran between the two extremes, either send him down/out immediately or keep playing him. I'm in the latter camp, they've got to find out what they really have in the kid and stop jerking him around.
Re: Morning Rant
Fontenot - Career 276/336/406 (742)
Murton - Career 296/365/455 (820)
Certainly a big difference. Of course DeRosa is a much better defensive left fielder than Murton, and Fontenot (at least recently) seems to hold his own at second.
All that said I would rather they had just brought up Murton.
Re: Morning Rant
DeRosa is a much better defensive left fielder than Murton? I don't know about that.
Murton's Experience in LF >>> DeRosa's Experience in LF
DeRosa's Athletic Ability > Murton's Athletic Ability
Given this highly scientific formula, I'd say at most it's a wash between the two in left.
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