This Is Why The Cubs Will Not Be Good...

Good stuff MSGT1, you had some good level-headed posts in this thread. The Cubs aren't going to make any major changes right now...Lou is shaking up the line-up against lefties and Lilly will be back in the rotation this wkend. Let's hope for a 2-2 split at NYM, that would be fine by me.
 
again im not saying they SHOULD do all these things just seeing what everyone thinks...no way would z move to being a closer and woods is a stretched just trying to stir up discussion about cubs because we can't talk about winning
 
Now, despite what I put in the post above, Vitters is not tearing it up in Daytona. In fact, he hasn't torn up much of anything. He's been pretty good in each 2nd half season he's played at each level, but not great. He needs to learn much better patience. If his eye doesn't get better, he'll never make it to the big Cubs.

I'm much more excited about 8-10 other position players they have in the minors, starting with Castro and Lee. I can't wait to see those two in the middle infield, Castro at 2B and Lee at SS, in about 2 more years. Brett Jackson and Kyler Burke are two more I can't wait to see in Chicago.

I believe that the plan is for Castro to head up SS next year for the Cubs. Possibly moving Theriot to 2nd. Castro was said to have done well in the spring and if Theriot was out for significant amount of time Castro would take his place.
 
I believe that the plan is for Castro to head up SS next year for the Cubs. Possibly moving Theriot to 2nd. Castro was said to have done well in the spring and if Theriot was out for significant amount of time Castro would take his place.

I said before the season started that a possible move would be to put Theriot back at 2nd and leave Blanco at short. Blanco has/had the better glove and range, and moving Theriot would solve the offensive issues at 2nd, while at the same time returning him to his natural position.

But then Blanco got traded, and the Cubs have two middle infielders who aren't tall enough to ride space mountain and can't get to anything not hit right at them.
 
I said before the season started that a possible move would be to put Theriot back at 2nd and leave Blanco at short. Blanco has/had the better glove and range, and moving Theriot would solve the offensive issues at 2nd, while at the same time returning him to his natural position.

But then Blanco got traded, and the Cubs have two middle infielders who aren't tall enough to ride space mountain and can't get to anything not hit right at them.

Theriot while a nice player, isn't the answer at 2nd. His offense would be even more underwhelming as a 2nd baseman. The Baker/Fontenot platoon is actually working well right now. The Cubs made a mistake assuming Theriot could lead off, which he can't on a regular basis.

Let's see what happens when Lilly comes back. Gorz will probably shift to the pen which will hopefully be the end of Samardzija in the bigs for a while. Perhaps a call up of Cashner in a few weeks would help as well.
 
I believe that the plan is for Castro to head up SS next year for the Cubs. Possibly moving Theriot to 2nd. Castro was said to have done well in the spring and if Theriot was out for significant amount of time Castro would take his place.

Yep, and I agree. But if/when Lee gets it, offensively, he'll bump Castro to 2nd. I've read scouting reports that put Hak-Ju Lee top 5 in baseball defensively, right now. Considering he's in Low A, full season ball, that's saying something. Castro has him by a mile offensively, but he would get moved, you leave the better defensive player at the position he's most comfortable... unless you are the Yankees and have Derek Jeter at SS. Then you move the better player to 3B.
 
I would just like to see some more of the young guys get an opportunity. When Colvin plays more consistently he'll be a good one. The problem is we have a lot, I mean way too many, high priced "old" guys that while they were good just aren't cutting it. I'm talking about Soriano and Fukudome. I can't believe we have 4 years of Soriano left. Hendry really tied the Cub's hands with some of his moves. We got rid of Bradley which had to be done (but he shouldn't have been signed to begin with) and now we have a $12 millon a year pitcher. We had enough starting pitching before that. Lee is good, but getting old. Ramirez is always injured. Fukudome only played 90 games in Japan (due to injury) the year before he came to the Cubs. Byrd is a good centerfielder, but instead of making a trade and coming up with a CF that could lead off (Granderson) we get another free swinger to put in the middle of the lineup. The reason the cubs don't score is because we have a lot of power that strikes out a lot (SORIANO). Everytime he comes up I'm just betting on a K. If we had more of a balanced lineup that hit for average more consistently then we wouldn't score 10 one game and have 3 hit shutout against us the next.
 
I would just like to see some more of the young guys get an opportunity. When Colvin plays more consistently he'll be a good one. The problem is we have a lot, I mean way too many, high priced "old" guys that while they were good just aren't cutting it. I'm talking about Soriano and Fukudome. I can't believe we have 4 years of Soriano left. Hendry really tied the Cub's hands with some of his moves. We got rid of Bradley which had to be done (but he shouldn't have been signed to begin with) and now we have a $12 millon a year pitcher. We had enough starting pitching before that. Lee is good, but getting old. Ramirez is always injured. Fukudome only played 90 games in Japan (due to injury) the year before he came to the Cubs. Byrd is a good centerfielder, but instead of making a trade and coming up with a CF that could lead off (Granderson) we get another free swinger to put in the middle of the lineup. The reason the cubs don't score is because we have a lot of power that strikes out a lot (SORIANO). Everytime he comes up I'm just betting on a K. If we had more of a balanced lineup that hit for average more consistently then we wouldn't score 10 one game and have 3 hit shutout against us the next.


The reason the Cubs don't score enough is because they don't get on base enough. Currently the only team that get on base less is Houston. Strikeouts have nothing to do with it, well not any more than the groundouts or flyouts. The teams that have struck out more than the Cubs have all scored way more runs than the Cubs, mainly because they have all gotten on base a lot more.
 
I would just like to see some more of the young guys get an opportunity. When Colvin plays more consistently he'll be a good one. The problem is we have a lot, I mean way too many, high priced "old" guys that while they were good just aren't cutting it. I'm talking about Soriano and Fukudome. I can't believe we have 4 years of Soriano left. Hendry really tied the Cub's hands with some of his moves. We got rid of Bradley which had to be done (but he shouldn't have been signed to begin with) and now we have a $12 millon a year pitcher. We had enough starting pitching before that. Lee is good, but getting old. Ramirez is always injured. Fukudome only played 90 games in Japan (due to injury) the year before he came to the Cubs. Byrd is a good centerfielder, but instead of making a trade and coming up with a CF that could lead off (Granderson) we get another free swinger to put in the middle of the lineup. The reason the cubs don't score is because we have a lot of power that strikes out a lot (SORIANO). Everytime he comes up I'm just betting on a K. If we had more of a balanced lineup that hit for average more consistently then we wouldn't score 10 one game and have 3 hit shutout against us the next.
While I agree that the Cubs need a leadoff hitter, Granderson is not a leadoff hitter. He had 30 HRs and 141 Ks with an .OBP of .327 last year. Byrd had 20 HRs with 98 Ks with an .OBP of .329, so Granderson is the more free swinger. Neither is a leadoff hitter that gets on base a lot. Fukudome had on .OBP of .375 last year while only hitting .259, but at least he will take a BB. Maybe Colvin if he played full time (his OBP in the minors was not great) could do it, but you never know. He did skip AAA.

Totally agree on Soriano (expect him to K most ABs). I just don't know how the Cubs get rid of him to another team in a trade. He needs to be in the AL so he can DH full time.

I also agree on the young guys getting opportunities. It just seems like there is enough hope each year (as Shada mentioned) that the hopes are up even a little. Plus, Lou probably does not want to go through another youth movement like TB (ironic, isn't it?).
 
While I agree that the Cubs need a leadoff hitter, Granderson is not a leadoff hitter. He had 30 HRs and 141 Ks with an .OBP of .327 last year. Byrd had 20 HRs with 98 Ks with an .OBP of .329, so Granderson is the more free swinger. Neither is a leadoff hitter that gets on base a lot. Fukudome had on .OBP of .375 last year while only hitting .259, but at least he will take a BB. Maybe Colvin if he played full time (his OBP in the minors was not great) could do it, but you never know. He did skip AAA.

Totally agree on Soriano (expect him to K most ABs). I just don't know how the Cubs get rid of him to another team in a trade. He needs to be in the AL so he can DH full time.

I also agree on the young guys getting opportunities. It just seems like there is enough hope each year (as Shada mentioned) that the hopes are up even a little. Plus, Lou probably does not want to go through another youth movement like TB (ironic, isn't it?).

While I think he'll be a serviceable player, Colvin would be horrible leading off. He took 105 BB in 1800 minor league plate appearances. That's horrible. He's the definition of a free swinger. He makes decent contact, but won't hardly take a pitch.
 
While I think he'll be a serviceable player, Colvin would be horrible leading off. He took 105 BB in 1800 minor league plate appearances. That's horrible. He's the definition of a free swinger. He makes decent contact, but won't hardly take a pitch.
Yes, that's why I mentioned his OBP in the minors was not good. Sometimes you can convince a 23 year old to change his game for the good of the team. It doesn't work with the vets who have played a lot in the MLB.

He does have 3 BBs this year in 21 plate apprearances. :) The Cubs do not have a lot of alternatives.
 

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