You cannot make a square peg fit into a round hole...
No manager can help Jacque Jones get a new arm...that throw tonight was another in a long line of jokes...he simply has no clue where the ball is going to go when he throws it...
I am sure Piniella had all of his pitchers work on sac bunts in AZ...so Rich Hill could not execute it in the bottom of the 5th and bunted into a 1-6-3 double play...then of course Soriano was up next and smoked that double off the CF wall...would have made it 2-1...
Clutch hitting? Situational hitting? For the Cubs...:missingte
Last year Dusty Baker had guys like Glendon Rusch, Jerome Williams and Sean Marshall in his rotation. John Mabry, Angel Pagan, Jerry Hairston Jr. etc...
He was 12-8 at this point with less...
Not saying Lou is a bad manager...but the GM spent 300 mill to improve this club...and they are 7-13. They cannot play fundamental baseball, and w/RISP...they are the biggest joke in MLB right now.
Just my 2 cents.
What the Cubs lack is balance. They have a lot of talent but no true # 1 and # 2 hitters. A leadoff man is essential to winning. If Lou Pineilla has a brain he will put out this lineup for a week and if he doesn't go at least 4-2, he should just resign...
1) Theriot - 2B
2) Barrett - C
3) Lee - 1B
4) Soriano - CF
5) Ramirez - 3B
6) Derosa - SS
7) Jones - RF
8) Murton - LF
9) Pitcher - P
I'm not too sure how well Derosa can play SS but who cares? It's not like he'll standout because the rest of the field is secured by gold glovers. This team has no arm behind the plate, a horrible unbalanced OF, a dominantly right-handed lineup, and a lot of other problems.
And their bench? A joke!
Henry Blanco should be in single A.
Ronny Cedeno has shown he can hit once in a while, but not enough. He can stick around as he's usually a reliable fielder and solid base runner (except when he's overrunning 2nd).
Cliff Floyd = Daryle Ward except Ward can also play 1st. They both SUCK.
Felix Pie, needs more at-bats but from what we've seen, the kid can't hit. He makes one solid throw from MID-centerfield to throw a runner our (dumb baserunning mistake by the Padres) and Cub fans are busting nuts over this kid's potential. He has shown nothing else other than he's a solid fielder. I'd rather give up a run because of bad fielding rather than not score 2 runs because this good fielder strikes out with the bases loaded and 2 outs.
And oh yeh, that bullpen is WEAK!!!
The Cubs may have spent $5 trillion dollars this past offseason, but they spent too much to get barely anything. Jason Marquis will flame out soon. Ted Lilly is a # 3 at best. Soriano... he's the goods but they overpaid. They bought the guy at his peak, always a bad move. Good GMs sign guys that are about to flourish (i.e. Kenny Williams bringing in Jermaine Dye in 2005, he precedes to win the World Series MVP that season and finish in the top 5 for league MVP in 2006). Bad GMs overpay for players who have peaked and have nowhere to go but down.
If I was the Cubs GM, they right now would have Miguel Tejada at SS and Erik Bedard in the rotation rather than Mark Prior in AAA and Felix Pie. The O's wanted that trade to go down.
If I was the Cubs GM, they right now would have Jeff Suppan at $11 mill per instead of Jason Marquis at $7 mill per.
If I was the Cubs GM, they would be winning. Why? Because just with those two moves you have the following rotation; Zambrano, Bedard, Suppan, Hill, and Angel Guzman (who is a much better option than Prior, Wade Miller, or Kerry Wood). And you can have the following lineup...
Theriot, Soriano, Lee, Tejeda, Ramirez, Barrett, ?, ?, Pitcher. Sick.
But I'm not the Cubs GM nor do I care to be as I'm a huge Sox fan and love seeing them falling apart so early (as usual). But they do need to get Jim Hendry out ASAP.
1) Theriot - 2B
2) Barrett - C
3) Lee - 1B
4) Soriano - CF
5) Ramirez - 3B
6) Derosa - SS
7) Jones - RF
8) Murton - LF
9) Pitcher - P
I'm not too sure how well Derosa can play SS but who cares? It's not like he'll standout because the rest of the field is secured by gold glovers. This team has no arm behind the plate, a horrible unbalanced OF, a dominantly right-handed lineup, and a lot of other problems.
And their bench? A joke!
Henry Blanco should be in single A.
Ronny Cedeno has shown he can hit once in a while, but not enough. He can stick around as he's usually a reliable fielder and solid base runner (except when he's overrunning 2nd).
Cliff Floyd = Daryle Ward except Ward can also play 1st. They both SUCK.
Felix Pie, needs more at-bats but from what we've seen, the kid can't hit. He makes one solid throw from MID-centerfield to throw a runner our (dumb baserunning mistake by the Padres) and Cub fans are busting nuts over this kid's potential. He has shown nothing else other than he's a solid fielder. I'd rather give up a run because of bad fielding rather than not score 2 runs because this good fielder strikes out with the bases loaded and 2 outs.
And oh yeh, that bullpen is WEAK!!!
The Cubs may have spent $5 trillion dollars this past offseason, but they spent too much to get barely anything. Jason Marquis will flame out soon. Ted Lilly is a # 3 at best. Soriano... he's the goods but they overpaid. They bought the guy at his peak, always a bad move. Good GMs sign guys that are about to flourish (i.e. Kenny Williams bringing in Jermaine Dye in 2005, he precedes to win the World Series MVP that season and finish in the top 5 for league MVP in 2006). Bad GMs overpay for players who have peaked and have nowhere to go but down.
If I was the Cubs GM, they right now would have Miguel Tejada at SS and Erik Bedard in the rotation rather than Mark Prior in AAA and Felix Pie. The O's wanted that trade to go down.
If I was the Cubs GM, they right now would have Jeff Suppan at $11 mill per instead of Jason Marquis at $7 mill per.
If I was the Cubs GM, they would be winning. Why? Because just with those two moves you have the following rotation; Zambrano, Bedard, Suppan, Hill, and Angel Guzman (who is a much better option than Prior, Wade Miller, or Kerry Wood). And you can have the following lineup...
Theriot, Soriano, Lee, Tejeda, Ramirez, Barrett, ?, ?, Pitcher. Sick.
But I'm not the Cubs GM nor do I care to be as I'm a huge Sox fan and love seeing them falling apart so early (as usual). But they do need to get Jim Hendry out ASAP.
Watching the Cubs try to bat against SF's Lincecum based on this game you would call them "awful" as the announcers are more interested in talking about the greatest living player rather than talking about the game.
BTW, Jacque Jones (of the Cubs) is not being mentioned as the greatest living player.
BTW, Jacque Jones (of the Cubs) is not being mentioned as the greatest living player.
Im a little confused right now. Im not at all a baseball expert but arent the cubs the hottest team in mlb? Why does it seem that everyone is talking as if they were the TB devil rays. And as far as #1 hitter goes, isnt soriano one of the best. I remember i think it was the nats series he hit a lead off homer in the 1st inning 3 straight games. I mean he can swing and run with the best of them. Just last year he was had a 40/40 season. So whats wrong with him being a #1 hitter. Can take it out the park and when he gets on base hes great at stealing.
