Didn't Neifi do something similar last year. If I recall he was hitting over .300 until the middle part of the season when he became Neifi Perez again. I really don't mind the Walker/Neifi/Cedeno trifecta especially since each brings completely different things to the table. Hairston seems like the odd man out. Could we get anything for him? Somebody to replace Jacque Jones perhaps (despite his play in the field today).
Didn't Neifi do something similar last year. If I recall he was hitting over .300 until the middle part of the season when he became Neifi Perez again. I really don't mind the Walker/Neifi/Cedeno trifecta especially since each brings completely different things to the table. Hairston seems like the odd man out. Could we get anything for him? Somebody to replace Jacque Jones perhaps (despite his play in the field today).
Three games into the Jacque Jones era and we're already talking about dealing him!
I wouldn't mind it, Jones was a totally bone headed signing IMO. Below average hitting for a corner outfielder, not terribly good in the field, and on the decline to boot. All for 3 years at 5 million per. Give me Reggie Sanders any day.
Three games into the Jacque Jones era and we're already talking about dealing him!
I wouldn't mind it, Jones was a totally bone headed signing IMO. Below average hitting for a corner outfielder, not terribly good in the field, and on the decline to boot. All for 3 years at 5 million per. Give me Reggie Sanders any day.
He's 0-for-the season so far! That's a tough way to get started, especially when the consensus among fans seems to be that we're vastly overpaying an average player. He really needed to start off well to win over the fans.
He's 0-for-the season so far! That's a tough way to get started, especially when the consensus among fans seems to be that we're vastly overpaying an average player. He really needed to start off well to win over the fans.
In my mind he had those two good years in Minnesota alongside Hunter, etc. and has been on the decline ever since. Plus in the most American of sports how wise would it be to entrust an everyday spot to a guy named Jacque. Could he be involved in a French plot to destroy baseball?
I like everything about the Cubs right now except for the starting rotation. Maybe once Wood and Prior come back (IF they can stay healthy), we will see even bigger and better things to come.
I love the manufacturing of runs. One of my favorite parts of the young season was the 7-run inning without a home run in Cincy, and another was Murton taking a walk followed by a Cedeno triple to score him.
But no more Neifi please, Dusty, and definitely no more Neifi in the 2-hole, today notwithstanding.
I love the manufacturing of runs. One of my favorite parts of the young season was the 7-run inning without a home run in Cincy, and another was Murton taking a walk followed by a Cedeno triple to score him.
But no more Neifi please, Dusty, and definitely no more Neifi in the 2-hole, today notwithstanding.
Yeah they are pitching well, but thats no suprise when you get to the Maddux/Zambrano part of the rotation. They would have won this game last year as well, belting HRs into the wind and having our projected starters pitching well. The only thing different then last year is being able to have Williamson/Ohman/Howry/Dempster to shut it out when Z threw too many pitches. Last year, Remlinger would have came in to face Edmonds, and he would have went deep and the Cubs would lose. This year, Ohman got his out, Howry came in and shut them down and then the Cubs scored and won.
Interesting to see how young Sean Marshall does tomorrow. With Prior and Wood being likely back in May now, tomorrows start could set the tone for our season.
He's 0-for-the season so far! That's a tough way to get started, especially when the consensus among fans seems to be that we're vastly overpaying an average player. He really needed to start off well to win over the fans.
How about this start Cedeno has gotten off to? That's huge for him. It certainly seemed like he had a put lot of pressure on himself in the first place, but then Baker's comments going into the season added even more. I thought it might kill the kid, but the oppositie has happened and it's great to see.
Has this farm system finally produced a good position player?
A funny thing about this team. It is supposed to be younger and have more speed; the ability to manufacture runs instead of waiting on the 3-run homer to win games.
Yet...
7 of the 8 runs in last night's game scored on home runs.
Cubs scored all 3 runs on two homers the game before
People may be nervous about Jones, but he really is one of the top leadoff men in the game. Over the long haul (course of the season), he's going to contribute to a lot of wins for us.
A funny thing about this team. It is supposed to be younger and have more speed; the ability to manufacture runs instead of waiting on the 3-run homer to win games.
Yet...
7 of the 8 runs in last night's game scored on home runs.
Cubs scored all 3 runs on two homers the game before
Joe Morgan, is that you? 2 singles and 3 walks set up those home runs. Hard to complain about that.
People may be nervous about Jones, but he really is one of the top leadoff men in the game. Over the long haul (course of the season), he's going to contribute to a lot of wins for us.
Jury is still out on Pierre and Jones. Jones broke out of that slump yesterday with the 3 run bomb. PIerre has been playing like himself and stretching opposing defenses. Hopefully this will translate into hits and OBP. Felix Pie is tearing it up right now so would be a nice fill in, incase either of the two falters badly.
How about this start Cedeno has gotten off to? That's huge for him. It certainly seemed like he had a put lot of pressure on himself in the first place, but then Baker's comments going into the season added even more. I thought it might kill the kid, but the oppositie has happened and it's great to see.
Has this farm system finally produced a good position player?
It makes me a little nervous that so many of our runs have come on HRs so far, but wins are wins. And I really like Pierre and Walker at the top of the order, even though Pierre hasn't set the world on fire yet. He makes contact nearly every at-bat, and is fast enough that even routine grounders put pressure on the defense. Walker just rakes the ball to all fields. I think we'll see Pierre scoring on a lot of Lee/Ramirez drives as the season goes on.
After that great first game, Murton hasn't done anything (good fielding though). Dusty must be itching to put Mabry in there. :biggrin: (I actually really liked the Mabry pickup as long as he only plays everyday due to an injury...he's a solid PH and utility fielder). I'm still not a fan of Jones, but he had a big HR last night and hustled out an infield single too. Hopefully he'll provide something.
I was really hoping we'd find a way to pick up Soriano this offseason because we have so little power in our outfield. I like Todd Walker, but I don't know if we're going to be able to keep up this home run pace over the course of the season.
However, it is fun to be built for smallball. The last time we had a good leadoff man, it was Lofton, and we should have made the series. We seemed to score first in every playoff game that year.
Also we need to keep in mind that the first two series were played at the Great American Ballpark and Wrigley Field respectively... both havens for the long ball. If we're still playing for the HR in a close series @Petco Park, then I'd begin to worry.
I was really hoping we'd find a way to pick up Soriano this offseason because we have so little power in our outfield. I like Todd Walker, but I don't know if we're going to be able to keep up this home run pace over the course of the season.
However, it is fun to be built for smallball. The last time we had a good leadoff man, it was Lofton, and we should have made the series. We seemed to score first in every playoff game that year.
I think we should be thanking our lucky stars we didn't pick up Soriano in the off-season this year. He's one of the worst defensive second baseman in baseball and really doesn't hit any better than Walker. Their 2005 offensive splits:
Soriano: .268/.309/.512
Walker: .305/.355/.474
Additionally, Walker's a left handed bat, something the Cubs are typically short on. This year, outside of Walker, only Pierre and Jones bat left handed. Homers won't be a problem IMO - Lee and Ramirez will threaten 40, and Murton, Jones and Barrett should all approach 20. If we'd picked up Soriano all three of our position player additions would've had sub .330 OBP's last season, which is a scary thought...
I think we should be thanking our lucky stars we didn't pick up Soriano in the off-season this year. He's one of the worst defensive second baseman in baseball and really doesn't hit any better than Walker. Their 2005 offensive splits:
Soriano: .268/.309/.512
Walker: .305/.355/.474
Additionally, Walker's a left handed bat, something the Cubs are typically short on. This year, outside of Walker, only Pierre and Jones bat left handed. Homers won't be a problem IMO - Lee and Ramirez will threaten 40, and Murton, Jones and Barrett should all approach 20. If we'd picked up Soriano all three of our position player additions would've had sub .330 OBP's last season, which is a scary thought...
Agreed. Although Barrett has topped out at 16HRs the last couple years, I view him as a guy who has 20-25HR potential. If Dusty keeps him out of the 8 hole this season, he'll have more pitches to hit since Murton or Jones will be behind him instead of the pitcher.
We have enough HR power without Soriano. I would have been happy if we'd brought him in, but I actually like the balance the lineup has (or should have on paper) now.
It makes me a little nervous that so many of our runs have come on HRs so far, but wins are wins. And I really like Pierre and Walker at the top of the order, even though Pierre hasn't set the world on fire yet. He makes contact nearly every at-bat, and is fast enough that even routine grounders put pressure on the defense. Walker just rakes the ball to all fields. I think we'll see Pierre scoring on a lot of Lee/Ramirez drives as the season goes on.
After that great first game, Murton hasn't done anything (good fielding though). Dusty must be itching to put Mabry in there. :biggrin: (I actually really liked the Mabry pickup as long as he only plays everyday due to an injury...he's a solid PH and utility fielder). I'm still not a fan of Jones, but he had a big HR last night and hustled out an infield single too. Hopefully he'll provide something.
I wouldn't sweat the homers. Homers are great. You can't hit too many of them. With Lee and Ramirez in the middle of the order, we're going to score a fairly big percentage of our runs on homers, because those guys hit a lot of them. If we had guys like Sean Casey and Chad Tracy at first and third we'd score a lower percentage of our runs on homers but we'd also score fewer runs. What's going to be key is the performance of 1 and 2 hitters, last year they were awful. If Pierre gets on base at a .350 clip and either Walker or Cedeno consistently get on from the 2 hole, runs shouldn't be a problem.
I don't know why people are complaining about our runs coming off homers. This team is different from last year. Last year it was mostly solo shots, this time we are hitting clutch homers with men on base. This team is way different from last years team. We have a solid bullpen and solid bench. Mabry off the bench beats the **** out of Macias and Hollandsworth coming off the bench.
and how about the resigning of Derrek Lee today? Way to get it done.... now we just gotta resign Big Z and hope Aramis doesn't opt out of his contract.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Professional and College Basketball Forums
8M posts
37.4K members
Since 2002
A forum community dedicated to Competitive Basketball players and enthusiasts. Talk about everything from the NBA to college basketball to even everything but basketball. It's all here!