Bleed Cubbie Blue

first fail

LT - August 5, 2009 via mobile reply

I was talking about the Cubs in First

first fail FAIL

5.0 IP with 6 BB

I thought we had to wait for a chance to play against Kevin Hart!

Yeah, I'll be honest.

I’ve never freakin’ heard of this Lehr guy.

daver - August 5, 2009 reply

Me neither

Me neither

but I do like the look of that 2.00 WHIP

didn't he write this:

Along Sheffield you’ll find me lopin’
Where the hip bars are wide open,
In the land of the old E.78. (Go Cubs!)
Where the fan cam’s attractive,
And the radio is active,
Oh, Wrigley Field is where I wanna be.

Mid the vendors and vine cactus,
I’ll watch the batting practice
Droppin’ bombs through the clean Waveland breeze.
I’ll have on my shirt Soriano,
And of course I’ll wear a pair o’
Cub shorts over my knees.

Ah will leave the red-line rush,
Leave the fancy and the plush,
For the peanuts and daquire slush
And the crowds.
Ah will seek the infield’s hush,
Where the scenery is lush,
How I long to see the crush
of the crowds.

‘Mid the beer guys and the whistles
I’ll watch the guided missiles,
While the old bleacher security watches me. (Go Cubs!)
Yes, I’ll soon make my appearance
(Soon as I can get my clearance),
’Cause Wrigley Field is where I wanna be.

Cute.

But I’m partial to the original.

Still…any day you get a Tom Lehrer reference is a good day.

Cool Hand - August 5, 2009 reply

finally

someone got it. :D

Where's Wrigley? How do I get to my seat?

Well, we’d have taken 2 out of 3 before the series, but now that the Cubs have those 2, a win tonight would make up for Sunday, kind of. 4-2 with 4 to play.

WIll be interesting to see how much time Hill gets behind the dish after tonight.

Shanghai Badger - August 5, 2009 reply

I think Lou had already said,

“a couple times a week.” for Hill. But that really doesn’t mean much.

Fishbone2 - August 5, 2009 reply

Good question

Do you ease Geo back into catching everyday? Or are you going to need to give him 3 days off a week for a while?

Dude, where's my seat?

Actually, Rolen is in the lineup tonight:

8/5 #Reds lineup v. #Cubs: Taveras 8 Gonzalez 6 Votto 3 Phillips 4 Rolen 5 Balentien 9 Nix 7 Hanigan 2 Lehr 1 (via @m_sheldon)

daver - August 5, 2009 reply

Up and in!!!!

tommy veryzer - August 5, 2009 reply

TWSS

"the minor league adventures of Geovany Soto and BJ Ryan"

That sounds like an essay I had to write in elementary school.

Ryan seems like a partier.

I bet he bellys up to the High Life Lounge after every game.

cubswynn - August 5, 2009 reply

as long

as he is sure to get the velvet elvis!

hansman1982 - August 5, 2009 reply

Sweep, Sweep, Sweep, Sweep, Sweep, Sixth...

eths - August 5, 2009 reply

i hope dome takes two strikes to lead off the game

however many pitches that takes.

Per Gordo (haven't seen it elsewhere)

Stevens sent down today to make room for Miles.

I don’t know about you guys, but I would have much rather that it were Jeff sent down.

yep, poor roster decisions continue

not a real surprise at this point that if presented by the right decision and the wrong decision, Jim and Lou will take the wrong one every time

lord knows

that if the decisions were different, we might be in first place!

Wait…

or even better, farther ahead

Hence the difference between

glass half full and glass half empty.

And yet, the Cubs are in 1st place.

in spite of management

not because of

Amazing what $140 million can cover up

also amazing that there are two users on here with "cows" in their name

off topic, but still

We tend to post about the same things too

I mean . . . moo.

We cows think alike,

it’s the herd mentality, you know!

One day two fans were chatting over the fence between their two sections.

The first fan said, “I’m telling you, this mad fan disease is getting pretty scary! I’ve heard it’s spreading so fast that it’s already on the bleachers just behind Fuku!”

The second fan replied, “So what? It doesn’t affect us chickens!”

eths - August 5, 2009 reply

If only Donnie Veal was pitching tonight

Personally,

I like the chocolate cows commercial…

I’ve always wanted one of those.

TWHS

um, Stevens' first name is Jeff...

but I know what you mean, and agree

Brian17 - August 5, 2009 reply

Haha

Good call there. That’s what I get for trying to avoid spelling Samardzija.

That is why you just type Shark

Keeps people like me who can’t spell anyway from looking too stupid.

Sweep!

My neighbor is a reds fan. After the Saturday win last weekend in Chicago I put a make-shift “W” flag on his truck. I’d love to put a broom out there this time. Although cometo think of it two brooms are more appropriate.
And let me also note the amazing joy I get by hearing him call Dusty Baker an idiot.

cubbiefanTN - August 5, 2009 via mobile reply

Per Gordo

it appears that BJ Ryan asked for and was granted his release today. Oh well.

Felt his velocity and sharpness wouldn't "get there"

says Gordo

Cubs thought that or Ryan did.

Guessing Ryan.

Ryan

thats why he asked for his release.

at least

we’re not the bad guys now

With 2 lefties in the pen

And a potential 3rd in Gorzelanny, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Cubs told him they didn’t have room right now.

After all, we can’t possibly demote our Notre Dame grad or stud Aaron Heilman.

wha??

Devin B - August 5, 2009 reply

probably wasn't a place for him

Now that we have Grabow.

elgato - August 5, 2009 reply

WTF?

Per Gordo (again)

Lineup: fuky, miles, lee, rami, milt, sori, font, hill, harden

Aaron Miles at SS. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

glad this games on CSN

and I won’t even be tempted to watch that then. LOL

+1

OMG.

What on earth is Lou thinking?!

The only worse option than Ryan Theriot....and Lou finds it.

Theriot isn't hurt, right?

Presumably just taking a rest

So he waits until the best defensive SS on the team is "hurt"

Then Lou gives Theriot a day off. Perfect.

I'm gonna have to put my analyst on hazardous duty pay

I'm gonna bet

that Blanco was put on the DL to make room for Miles without sending him back down.

Blanco...

Is out of options so the DL was the only choice.

CubsBullsBears - August 5, 2009 via mobile reply

ah-hah

well, that explains it.

actually, not bringing Miles back and keeping Blanco

was a choice as well, Jim just didn’t make that one

you can't keep

a major league player in AAA indefinitely.

you can kick him to the curb

simply saying that it wasn’t the ONLY choice.

Also, there’s an argument to be made that Miles is not a major league player

any such argument

is invalid. He’s got a contract. He’s played in the major leagues for years.

Wha GM is going to DFA someone with more then 12 months left on the contract? Has it EVER happened?

How about if I say "Miles isn't a ML QUALITY player anymore"

But, is he any worse than before he went on the DL or on his

rehab stint?

it's not up

to us.

thanks Sherlock, everyone here was operating under the assumption it was

the way some people talk about it

including yourself, I’m not so sure you’re not.

So we should all just agree with every move the Cubs make?

even when its so obviously wrong?

no, but

let’s recognize the facts first, ok?

Miles has a MLB contract. You can’t just leave him to rot in AAA. the only way we’ll be able to trade him is by playing him and hoping he’s improved. If you DL him, you’re still losing a roster spot. And no GM is going to DFA a guy with 12+ months left on his contract. I’m not sure the Players Association would even let that happen.

It is possible to simply outright release a player

and eat the contract. That is what should have happened here a long time ago.

IMO this is an example of Jim Hendry giving his guy one last chance despite not being very good so far. Its cute to do it with Chad Fox in April and May every year, but it isn’t so fun in the heat of a playoff race.

BJ Ryan's contract with Toronto

was through 2010. They released him w/ 15 mil due next year.

carmen_fanzone - August 5, 2009 reply

Some people think we should

I on the other hand….

calll to order Aaron’s suck fan club.

here

Word up

both of them?

yep

we say NO to Aaron’s on the Cubs.

Hank Aaron would be a better player for the Cubs right now.

What about Aaron Burr?

Maybe we should give him a shot…

rim shot...

I think someone beat you to it.

here

Let it be shown for the record

That I give Nij credit for naming the club

was it really me that came up with it?

cool.

unless you got the sig line from someone else

I borrowed it from that

No that was all me

I'm here.

then put him back on the DL and let him file a grievance

trade him for a bucket of balls.

Bringing him back was NOT the only option

pete's sake.

if he sucks as much as everyone says he does, no one’s going to trade for him. In fact, you HAVE to play him to try and show that maybe he’s ok after all, and could be traded!!!!

Put him on the DL, and he’s still taking up space on the roster.

It has happened a lot

Some teams have had to eat YEARS of a bad contract but I don’t agree that Miles should be
released. He has been perfectly steady till this year and I think he deserves some more playing time
before you consider dumping him.

The Aaron Heilman approach.

a multi-year contract player

being DFA’d with more then 12 months left? I’d like some examples.

there is a first time for everything.

Or one could look back a month ago....

Toronto—> BJ Ryan, contract thru 2010

carmen_fanzone - August 5, 2009 reply

Wasn't Neagle released with more than a year left?

Neagle also had some off the field issues

Neagle last played in majors for Rockies 2003

7 games (35.1 IP) in 2003 but received full salary in 2004 ($9M).

Not sure if they had DFA back in the day, but Wayne Garland comes to mind

The Indians were paying him long after he actually played for them.

was he traded?

or simply fired?

According to Baseball-Reference.com, he was released by Indians in 1982

and didn’t play for anyone else after that. Salary info is incomplete but does have listed that he received $200,000 from Indians in 1985 and $215,000 in 1986.

So he was getting paid 4 years after he was released.

who cares about examples

They would eating w/ 4 million max between the two years?

How would that amount be different if it was one year. Hell they’ve eaten more than that

Really?

You need some examples? Off the top of my head, this year we’ve already seen Sheffield and BJ Ryan released by their teams with at least one full season left (and a ton more money) on their contracts. A few years ago the Dbacks ate almost 3 years worth of Russ Ortiz’s Old Country Buffet contract. Philly cut loose Geoff Jenkins before the season started this year, San Fran did the same with Dave Roberts.

It’s not unprecedented by far, and Miles contract is so small, it doesn’t even compare to those flops.

aphoward - August 5, 2009 reply

Russ Ortiz is the one that comes to mind first

Cost the D’Backs 22 million he had left. There were many others. I am blanking out but
there was some formerly star player let go by I think Seattle at the start of the season with
at least two years left.

Richie Sexson

That who I could not think of. Released aug 08 with a year plus left on his crazy contract.

Julio Lugo was DFA'd this year

Before he was traded to the Cardinals. He is signed through 2010, with a vesting option in 2011.

Sobenergy - August 5, 2009 reply

steady yes

but that steady has been bad.

BJ Ryan?

does that argument even have to be made?

He couldn’t hit AAA pitching

+1

His WARP for the year is -0.7 (yes, it’s negative).

But Blanco's hurt!

Don’cha know?

Well that move makes tons of sense

because Miles is so valuable.

He tried to give him a day off in Florida

and then Z and Rami got hurt in that game.

and then forgot to give him a rest for the next three days?

Calling SWL

please refrain from reading the above post

nevermind

I misread the above post, I thought he was calling Theriot our best defensive shortstop.

I hope no one else thought I think Theriot is our best defensive SS

You would most likely have to retire your current user name in shame.

or we could just mock him endlessly

that would be fun

I could change my sig

“Theriot our best defensive shortstop.” -Jody Jody Davis, 8/5/2009

Although as of today, he is our best defensive SS

And that’s just sad.

You're not helping your cause

“[Theriot] is our best defensive SS.” -Jody Jody Davis, 8/5/2009

As long as you include the date, I'm correct

Lack of context is everything.

Precisely

I have never written for a tabloid, but man, I coulda…

At the moment

he might be right… if the choice at SS is Miles or Theriot.

Well, personally I’ll just choose not to watch. But Lou doesn’t really have that option.

If you like UZR/150

This year Miles at SS is -17.4
Theriot is 3.5

Jody Jody Have ever played ball?

Maybe you could rate higher than -17.4

The file cabinet in my office could rate higher than -17.4

What is average?

all these stas confuse me

From Fangraphs

UZR/150 (ultimate zone rate per 150 games): The number of runs above or below average a fielder is, per 150 defensive games.

so is zero

average?

Yup

so -17.4 would be really bad?! lol

like only a player like aaron miles could do

Does a -17.4 mean the scorer chalks up the loss when

that player is entered in the lineup?

but a least

his OPS is impressive

On a scale where zero is average, it would be

at least his OPS is positive!

well

i figured that out!

i was just trying to figure out how awful

You almost have to try

To give the opposition an extra 1.1 runs every 10 games.

so many numbers in baseball!

lol

Well, if you can still use yours after all this time, he's

probably okay.

What is it exactly....

that I’ve been dead wrong about so far (that I haven’t admitted to)

Who says you have to be wrong to have shamed yourself?

needs a

rest.

Hill has played how many games in a row again?

While Fox has rode the bench?

I know.

the problem is, you're trying to find logic in a decision made by Lou

there is no logic behind it. He’s simply incompetent

Crazy like a Lou...

I'd take Theriot with a sling on his arm over Miles

He did get HBP yesterday

but he’s due for a day off anyway.

Yep... Someone commented earlier about how they thought Lou would give Miles the start.

Lame.

Fishbone2 - August 5, 2009 reply

At least Harden is a strike-out pitcher and doesn't need his defense as much.

Don't say things like that!

Thats when Harden gets it into his head to try to induce groundballs or something.

Batting second?!

I think Lou needs some psychiatric assistance. At least put Milt second, slide everyone behind Milt up one a put Miles after Harden (Harden does out OPS+ Miles by three and all).

he doesn't want

to screw with the existing lineup, so he just plugs the sub in where the removed player bats.

and thus screwing with the existing lineup

I really hope you aren’t actually defending that logic

I don't find it that egregious

Everyone else stays in their spot and situation…

You’re acting like Miles is batting cleanup.

no, I'm acting like Miles is batting 2nd, when he should be at the bottom

though, Miles has actually batted cleanup this season

just in case there was any doubt just how dumb Lou can get with his lineups

I look at this line up......

and am really grateful it’s against the Reds. Now if in the next week against Rox/Phillies Lou tries this……..

He will incur my wrath

Here's how I look at it:

It took the Cubs MONTHS to find a line-up that works. I can live with putting Miles into Theriot’s spot for one night as long as the line-up continues to produce runs regularly.

no

it’s NOT screwing with the existing lineup. It’s keeping everyone in their place except the replaced player.

I don’t think that it’s necessarily a good idea, but it’s not necessarily a terrible one, either.

I see the merit to it.

Today’s results might be a little worse for having Miles bat second, but the consistency it provides could end up being worth more over the long haul.

Not sure if that’s true, but at least he’s trying something.

what the *^&$%# is Lou thinking batting Miles second?

Jesus Christ the man is incompetent

(yes I’m aware that statement can apply both to player and Manager)

so can this one....

F&(**(&^(&(&(&)((_)(_(^%%$##

desmoCubbie - August 5, 2009 reply

So, we bat him SECOND, then?

I’d rather have Bradley there. Or Fontenot. Or Hill.

Or Harden.

Worf - August 5, 2009 reply

Harden

is a mean bunter with a ton of speed

But... but...

he’s a pitcher! He’s not supposed to do anything else, ever!

sure

have him bunt for a hit to get miles out of the way

Harden has a higher OPS than Miles

I could maybe have a higher OPS

Im even left handed.

I knew it dammit. Lou

just can’t help himself. BARF!!!

Jake Fox comes up and they can't find a place to put him in the lineup

But he puts Miles at SS right off the DL?

at the same time, probably making a comment about how he's "got"

to find a way to get Fox in the lineup.

I wish he would

just stop saying that. If he meant it he would do something about it.

While I agree lets hang on and wait and see what happens in the next two weeks....

I say that only because Soto will be back and Fox will not be the back up catcher. Lou gambles a lot, and I believe if we had other managers in the same situation as Fox as are only back up catcher that we would have seen less of Fox than even what Lou did. A lot of managers do not take big gambles with back up catcher. So lets see how much he gets used and how many starts he gets once Soto is back. He should at least get 3-4 starts a week IMHO if he continues to hit like this once Soto is back. And man I cannot wait till Soto gets back for a variety of reasons. I know people were saying how bad he has been, but he started to come out of it before the injury especially home run wise. Hit a couple big ones, one against White Sox. Also Soto went deep yesterday in Tennessee in his Second Rehab Game.

I'm looking forward

to Geo coming back too. He was starting to hit again when he got hurt. I hope he’s in better shape when he comes back.

I hope fox does get more playing time when Geo comes back.

You know things are bad when Sue actually says that

“shudders”

Or perhaps things are going "just right".

F this

I was going to simply ignore Miles existance on the team, but that will be hard to do considering he’s in the lineup. Stupid Lou

I can't believe this lineup

Ugh.

lol what kind of lineup is that?

a Lou Pineilla lineup

a

“god the reds must really be awful” lineup

too true

anyone when they saw that line up....

make an audible noise that was less than positive

Canadian Cubs Fan - August 5, 2009 reply

Stevens sent down?

Should have been Shark, so he could stretch out to starting again. Plus, he’s been pretty bad. I like Stevens, at least with the small sample size (TWSS!)

Miles is a joke, and Lou starting him and hitting him 2nd is a bigger joke.

Go Cubs! Score early and often!

How many more starters do we need?

Hopefully none.

But with guys like Harden and Zambrano on our team, you never know.

Also, remember that Gorzelanny has only one start so far. Way too early to anoint him to a spot in the rotation.

Besides, Jeff’s value to us is highest as a starter down the line . . . would be nice if we could not have to pay FA-level prices for another starter, woudln’t it?

ugh Miles is a turd.

DFA him already.

Only in MLB can a 4.50 ERA be considered "quality"

Bob Gibson must be laughing his ass off… except I’m not sure the man ever smiles.

He got to pitch off a higher mound...

and pitchers didn’t get ejected for protecting the inside part of the plate.

exactly

he wouldn’t have been the same pitcher in todays game.

on the other hand, Aaron Miles would have been a bad baseball player in any era

funny how bad is always bad

no matter what era

Now, now...

remember – you’re not supposed to post anything here that you wouldn’t say to that person face-to-face… ;-)

Good point

I would never say that to Gibson’s face

And the strike zone was actually

Letters to knees instead of belt to knees.

Worf - August 5, 2009 reply

And didn't have to face DHs

Worf - August 5, 2009 reply

neither do a majority of NL pitchers in this day and age

I recommend reading Bruce's article, it's quite interesting.

I did. Doesn't change the fact that the bar set for a quality start is anything but.

Changing the name to “Acceptable Start” would be more accurate.

I agree 100%

7Ip 2ER that is a QUALITY start

I would change the definition to be any start 6 innings or longer with an ERA of 4 or under

That would allow 6IP/2ER and 7IP/3ER go work. 9IP/4ER seems pretty quality too, although I suppose the definition could be changed to allow only UNDER 4.

go work = to work

+1 the quality start stat is a joke...should be 6 innings with 2 ER or 7 IP with 3 ER

3 runs in 6 innings should

Be documented somehow

new stat—-chance

the starter gave his team a “chance” lol

bilbosbuttons - August 5, 2009 via mobile reply

Please

so overblown. More than 6 IP with less than 3 ER is quality.

Even at the bare minimum, you should be able to win with a 4.50 ERA.

well your not going to win too many, only 7 teams have ERAs above 4.50

In an individual game

its not that awful.

Win this game

tonight in spite of Aaron Miles. Please Rich bring your “A” game.

It is an away game

at night, so the odds are in our favor

Perfect for the vampire.

except that the away game is in a VERY hitter friendly park

and Harden has given up the long ball.

Hopefully whatever he’s figured out over his last couple of starts is permanent, or close to it

Quick stupid question...

Now that the trade deadline is over, I know trades can still happen. But what is the difference to pre and post trade deadline trades? Thanks in advance

bilbosbuttons - August 5, 2009 via mobile reply

waivers

be firm my friend....it's OK if your not sure.

nice.

I didn’t even know i was making a pun.

TWSS

in order to trade any player, they must clear waivers

if a team claims the player, the team offering the player can either trade that player to the team claiming him, or pull him back

Availability for post season play

BleedsbluinMI - August 5, 2009 reply

the player must clear waivers first

bizofbaseball(dot)com is a great source for topics such as that.

Players have to clear waivers,

meaning teams can put a certain number of players on waivers each day.

The players can be claimed by any team starting with the team with the worst record in your league and then the worst record in the other league.

If a player is claimed, a team has something like 48 hours to work out a trade or they can tell the team they can take the player and the claiming team has to take the player. Or the team can pull the player back off waivers and the player cannot be sent through waivers for another 30 days.

If a player clears waivers, he can be traded to any team, just like before the non-waiver deadline.

To be eligible for postseason rosters, a player must be in an organization by August 31st.

Miles in the 2 spot

where is that Nunez guy when you need him.

or guillermo mota

Caption

The BCBer’s don’t like it when I hop, but see what happens when I don’t?!

BigJohnAZ - August 5, 2009 reply

Lou is on PTI for 5 good minutes getting interviewed by Tony and Wilbon if anyone is by TV

someone get them to ask him why the crap Miles is still on the roster

Wilbon just brought up the Marlins marketting thing with the goat.

Lou said the marlins owner did not like the stung. huh.

Because he's getting paid too much to DFA?

Another brilliant Hendry move

ya and that is not Lou's fault. Same with Blanco going on Dl.

I knew faking an injury would come to hurt us. If we would have waited a day or two. Miles would still be in Iowa where he belong and Blanco would be at short for today.

Unless you believe the conventional wisdom that Jim and Lou work very closely

together on roster decisions.

In the off season Lou is in Florida. Yes they work cloesly together obviously.

But ultimately it comes down to Jim. And for instance it was documented by both ESPN and one of the Chicago papers forget which one, that Lou lobbied Jim Hendry Hard for Raul Ibanez. Lou and Ibanez have good relationship from Seattle. Well Lou lobbied hard and we know how that ended up and who won that battle. To be fair Lou I guess was not against the milton bradley so much but apparently said he did not know that much about him, but that he did really really love Ibanez and that was definitely who Lou wanted. Could you imagine where we would have been if Lou would have won that battle. I doubt in the winter Hendry puts more stock in Lou’s assement of potential free agents opposed to his stock. Lou’s evaluating talent comes with more weight when talking about current cubs he sees everyday and in spring training. I think that is reasonable to believe bv the fact that Lou wanted Ibanez, lou focuses on his team more than free agents. Yah he talks with him and Hendry takes that into account but on free agent and trades Hendry uses his scouts and assistants.

Also I bet lou knows about the salaries of the bigger contract players and I doubt knows as much as Hendry does about each and every players option status. For instance Blanco and how he cannot be sent down directly, he has the option to be free agent or other teams can claim blanco. I also doubt Lou knows or cares that Miles is signed for 2 years at the money he is making. I am sure the fake injury thing was Hendrys idea. I bet Lou wanted Blanco over Miles. Also with theriot being hurt we really do not have any other option at short right now but miles. And no one hates miles more than me but we do not know the full extent of his injury. Maybe it is very significant because he has never been this bad in his career. He hit over .300 last year and has had a respectable career. But putting Miles on the roster is a money move and hence I believe that Hendry has more pull on moves like that since he has final say on roster moves and he knows all the financial ramifications from ownership and he knows how much money he is paying for everyone. Hendry has hamstrung lou with Miles, now more than ever since he had Blanco fake an injury and theriot is hurt. Makes me sick but Miles and Bradley is on Jim not Lou.

Did you listen to Lou's pre-game interview with DB-1 (Judd)?

He said “moves that Jim made” twice.

No I didn't as listening to Judd hurts my ears

I’ve reached the point w/ him that I use game day for the 5th inning and turn him off.

exactly my point, did you read what I said?

Also if it was up to Lou Soto would be here today too. He lost that one to Jim too. Jim is the one is in charge of who is and is not on the roster or when and if he goes on the roster or leaves.

I was giving you credence to your statement, dear Internet friend

oh okay thanks. Ya Lou is not perfect but I think he gets too much flaak for Miles and Bradley especially.

Those are Jim’s moves. Even more so when Lou wanted to Ibanez over Milton. Lou used to be a GM and Hendry should listen to him more. There is a reason that once Lou retires from managing he has a front office position guaranteed in the Yankees organization to help evaluate talent and help GM.

No I didn't read your novel

TLDR?

But Miles agent PROMISED Jim that Aaron would be productive!

Milton made the same promise

our Jim, always the trusting soul

Milton IS actually providing something to this team...OBP.

Miles isn’t.

Miles has a very important role on the 2009 Chicago Cubs

Scapegoat

in the last 28 days"

BA/OBP/SLG/OPS
.291/.459/.418/.878

is this an alert for the sample size police or the Milton haters?

can’t people just lay-off? He’s not Billy Williams and has been a good offensive player lately.

Thanks for pointing this out Drew.

it's a valid split

he’s been playing a lot better. The power isn’t there, but he’s doing better.

I'd take that line the rest of the year and be happy.

heck yeah.

even in front of Soriano.

me three

if he can OPS .878 the rest of the way, we’ll all be happy

Whut? who stole SWL's account?

Dude...I've said all along that I WANT Milton to succeed.

He actually been OK lately.

kidding dude...

You’ve just been the biggest antagonist against Bradley that I can think of, but I’m sure you’ll be glad if he does well.

Dan's been way worse

Hell Al's been way worse...

But he can ban us for antagonizing him. :)

If antagonist = unhappy with sucking

then yeah…that’s me.

Actually,

I’ve seen other subjects come up and you tend to segue the conversation to Bradley’s woes. But since you want him to succeed, then that makes all the difference.

definitely has been doing better

still sucks in most Fantasy formats – note to ESPN: add OBP as category – but in real life, he’s much closer now to what we hoping to see out of him. A few more key hits here and there and total redemption just might be in sight.

FYI - for the season

Bradley: .771 OPS, 100 OPS+
St. DeRosa: .786 OPS, 103 OPS+

St. DeRosa, hehe

And the wind whispers

“DeRo.”

Can we pray using "DeRosa-ry" beads?

I hear

those are illegal in five states.

phrased differently

nobody on the board came up with an ‘ideal’ fill in option at short. it is unfortunate hendry didn’t trust the blanco/scales option. fortunately, that is a mistake we will not likely have to make in the future with options in the minors soon-to-be-ready.

On quality starts and pitching into the seventh ...

in the radio pregame yesterday, as Ron was interviewing “the fine manager of the Chicago Cubs”, Lou complained … (I’m using quotes, but this is from memory) “we don’t have the starters like Holliday or Lee who will give you an occasional complete game, so that puts in even greater stress on the bullpen even we have a quality start”

Almost seemed like a shot at Hendry.

BatCubFan - August 5, 2009 reply

WTF is wrong with our "manager"

for god’s sake, every time he opens his mouth, I want him gone even more. We’ve had plenty of times when a starter could have gone nine, and Lou took him out.

Never mind he just basically threw his entire rotation under the bus.

You know how many Roy Halladays and Cliff Lees there are out there?

2. Poor Lou, he’s got to work with the cards that have been dealt to 28 of the 30 teams in the league.

You know how many Halladys and Lees were available via a trade before last friday?

Both of them.

No team was able to put together a package that could get Roy

And the Phils had to give up more talent in the upper level of their system than we have to work with.

If I was one of the (many) great starters for the Cubs this year, I would be pissed at a comment like that.

+1,000

Halladay wasn't available unless you wanted to mortgage your entire farm system

I'm just making the point...

that- yes there is only 2 of them, but they we’re available.

Some guy was even traded by the Padres

and he won't pitch for at least another month

Re; our manager-It still could be worse

We could have the guy on the other side of the field. I was reading the Reds game thread the other night and somebody pointed out a quote Dusty allegedly gave during an interview that compared batting orders to salads-“it doesn’t matter in what order you mix the the ingedients since the salad will taste the same regardless”.

God, I LOVE Dusty (as long as he’s managing the other team.

Yes, Lou is better than Dusty.......barely

but they really aren’t the only two options.

Point taken

I’m just trying to see the glass as half full

Matt & Carlos?

so many strong projections

I wonder what happens when they are proven wrong. This is what you do with a vet who comes back after a long stint on the DL, you play them and rest the guy who has been toiling. Miles might go 4-4 and then what?

Ivy Walls - August 5, 2009 reply

We're happy we got an outlier day from a bad player

That doesn’t mean that our chances of winning didn’t get lower as a result of him being in the lineup. It means we got lucky.

not get another hit for the next 6 games.

mostly because

he’ll be sitting, tho.

Al, quality starts,

just because the minimum thing doesn’t happen too often(6ip 3 er), doesn’t mean it is right to consider that a quality start. 6IP and 2ER or less would be a quality start.

So if you go 8 IP

but give up 3 ER, its not a quality start b/c of where you’ve moved the line?

This is why I advocate having the target be 6+ IP and <=4.00 ERA

I was just thinking the same thing...maybe lower threshhold 3.5 for me.

No it is still a quality start

If you went 9 innings but gave up 4 runs it would not be.

Yeah

I think I’d like that even less than the current way… and I’m not sold on the current one.

The ESPn simulator has us winnign this game 56% of the time

of course that has no Miles in the starting lineup. I bet he is worth a good 4 or 5 percentage points.

Man, with the comments in this thread,

you’d never know the Cubs are in 1st place!

There's an old documentary on the Cubs that contains the following quote;

An optimist looks at a glass and says it’s half full, a pessimist looks at the same glass and says it’s half empty, A Cub fan looks at the same glass and says “When’s it gonna spill?”

As for me, I’m content to live happily in the moment-We’re in first place regardless of what happens tonight, we’re playing competitive baseball (although I wouldn’t mind some less dramatic ninth innings) and maybe, just maybe, having to fight it out down to the wire with the Cardinals might turn out to be a good thing. If we can pull it out maybe we’ll enter the post season with some momentum that could pay off down the line.

that happens

all the freakin’ time. Last year, we’re winning over 90 games, and people were complaining.

maybe they still saw flaws that should have been corrected

witnessed by the sweep in the first round.

Naw! That’s unpossible!

lol...

yeah, that was it. If only you’d been around more then!

That would be me Drew

I and I stick by it

What is this first place thingy?

Is it a nice thingy?
Is it a good thingy?
A thingy I would hope for?
A thingy I would loose my mind over?
Or maybe an evil thingy?
A goaty thingy?
Bad thingy!
Go away!

The lack of oxygen up here at the top, causing anoxia of some severity, and you ask such a question?

Now where’s my broom, got some sweeping to do.

eths - August 5, 2009 reply

Good news:

Lilly threw a side today. Lou says he’s ahead of schedule. Per Gordo!

TRL is a gamer!

six man rotation time in september?

now that sounds like a good plan

Can't, Lou'd have to use the whole bullpen.

in september

we can call up the iowa-chicago shuttle service. all of them can get used

a side of what - beef? potato salad? cole slaw?

great

now, i’m hungry

Good news indeed

Btw...it's going to be a beautiful, hot weekend in Denver...

Time for us to hit some longballs!!!

bilbosbuttons - August 5, 2009 via mobile reply

Ya man

I met my GF at a Cubs game here at Coors. It’s kinda like our aniversary of sorts. I need a sweep at coors.

For the BCB lonely guys here,

what techniques do you use (or did you use) to pick up hot looking, slight inexbriated girls at a ballgame?

JFCubFan - August 5, 2009 reply

Wanna pet my cub?

Hilarious.

Read a book man!

It was Sunday,

The Cubs were in the process of losing 2 out of three. I was drowning my sorrows in a bunch of overpriced coors light.

She and her friends were hanging out on the concourse and I just struck up a convo with her. Thought she was cute and asked for her number.

Called her the next day, she thought I might have been a stalker but agreed to meet me for drinks. The rest as they say, is history.

BTW

we were both more than a little inebriated.

Is there another way?

I’m pretty sure that is the proper way to make such things happen. No?

PacificCub - August 5, 2009 reply

think about it this way

if miles plays better, IT’S HAPPENING!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

no...if miles plays better...

then he’s just merely terrible.

but it's still "IT'S HAPPENINGI!?!??!?!?!?!?!"

And if Miles is an epic failure

Lou can use this performance as a reason to release him.

What would you characterize his performance so far this year as?

Quasi-epic failure, maybe

BJ Ryan released

from twittermeyer via MLBtraderumors

Josh Timmers - August 5, 2009 reply

yep

he asked for his release b/c he felt his velocity/sharpness wouldn’t “get there”.

too bad

maybe he can take the season off, work hard this winter and make a comeback. Non-roster invitee in 2010? I’d kick the tires on him.

Not a big surprise

It would’ve been nice if it had worked out-no harm in trying

Wasn't BJ Ryan DFA'd by the BlueJays?

With more than one year and money left on his contract? I think that is one example just this year. And he was owed a lot more money than what Miles is owed next year.

chipwood23 - August 5, 2009 reply

this is too funny

Blanco to DL: Andres Blanco went on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a strained left calf.

“These things happen,” Blanco said. “It’s just a little sore.”

link

well thats good

Miles gets 14 days to show if he can manage to not suck and then Blanco can come back. And hopefully Miles gets to ride into the sunshine on his DFA train.

yabbut

it’s 14 days of frustration for us.

When the starting pitcher “out-OPS” you, it’s time to retire. And a pitcher who spent his entire career in the AL at that!

I didn't say they'd be a great 2 weeks

but we can survive Miles… just pray his pink slip is 2 weeks away!

let me pull out the Rosary now

and a pitcher whose

chief offensive weapon is to bunt for a hit.

translation

“Lou and Jim said if I pretend hurt for 3 weeks I get a job again next season”

+1

You left out the rest of the quote

“It is just a little sore. I should have seen Hendry coming down the stairs but he tripped and fell on me before I had time to
react”

Donuts everywhere

and cops around the world cried.

OT: Eli Manning signed 6 yr, $97M contract extension with Giants. Now highest paid player in NFL.

Guess-throwing hack… ;-)

wow even higher than peyton .... weird

Sibling rivalry ?

The Manning Bros ( and parents) ESPN “tour” commercial is one of my all time favorites of the ESPN spots.

Mine too

hysterical with the “dad glare” over the shoulder as they walk.

To think if Tyree doesn't stick that ball on his helmet

Manning is probably looking at 30% of that money

Hey, Justin Lehr!

Why the long face?

I'm stoked for this game thread.

We are gonna rip the Reds a new one tonight.

dtpollitt - August 5, 2009 reply

Yeah

Miles at SS is fierce.

Adjectives that I hate

+oo

yeah

i don’t really like it either… but i couldn’t think of anything else that might “rip the Reds a new one”

For Memphis Viewers, Game on SportSouth

The game will be carried on Comcast in Memphis on Sportsouth (digital channel 52 or basic cable channel 60). You’ll have to listen to the Reds announcers.

memphiscub - August 5, 2009 reply

Lou will stay away from Heilman tonight

Thusly earning a honorary membership in the Aaron Heilman Sucks Fanclub—if at least for one night.

Imagine the game threads if both played at same time

I'll bet you a Mr. Beef next time you're in Chicago

that we’ll be treated to that scenario during the weekend. If we don’t, send a few Sprecher root beers from your town.

The Internet would turn into a giant mushroom cloud

This is OT

but I have DISH Network and i have been having trouble getting the HD version of CSN to come in. I get the “Attention: Error” Message. Any help would be appreciated!!

cubswgnrocks - August 5, 2009 reply

Even CSN knows what to do when Miles is in the lineup.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/12015040

Good read about Cubs front office official

Slamdog - August 5, 2009 reply

All I see is a story about (shudder) the yanks and bosox

New thread, y'all!

JUMP!