I am relieved Lou came to his senses on Piggy. I understand the Murton move, due to his limitations, however, I wish he had picked up more versatility in his game as he has molded into an effective hitter. In any case, I have a strong feeling that an injury will occur to a starting OF. I REALLY hope we still have Murt when this time comes.

No surprises here. The only thing for Lou to do now is settle on an everyday line up.

Apparently, Lou's "LHP" lineup has Dome 2, Reed leadoff, and Sori in the 5-hole. The RHP, he's going w/Theriot in the leadoff, Dome 5, and everyone else (Pie, etc.) in their ST roles. In this case Soriano bats #2. Unfortunately, the $136MM-man, will not steal 40 bases again.

Damn, I was really rooting for Hoff"power" to be worked into the 25 man roster. Disappointing to say the least.

I "cringe" everytime Marquis takes the mound. Would rather have Lieber and trade Marquis packaged with Cedeno, Marshall and Murton to the Padres for Young!! Not feel'n Pie as a longterm answer in CF.

I have only seen two ST games and from my brief observation "Theriot the Terrible" looked lost. Same for Fontenot.

Let's see how "The BIG Z!" looks and most importantly acts, tomorrow. Would be great to get a strong Opening Day statement to the Brew Crew.

Woody looked great and I can see him reacing the 50 saves mark!!

GO CUBBIES!!

I don't think the Cubs really gave Murton a chance to keep the everyday outfield position. These are his stats for his first full year

G AB R H D T HR RBI W K SB
2006 CHC 144 455 70 135 22 3 13 62 45 62 5
CS BA OBP SLG OPS
2 .297 .365 .444 .809

Those aren't bad as a rookie for crying out loud. What happened the next year, the Cubs sign Soriano and Murton is platooning. Last year he only had 235 AB's what are you suppose to do with those limited at bats. Murton hit 13 doubles 8 hrs and 22 RBI's batting .281. What do the Cubs do in the next offseason they go get F-Dome which means Murton doesn't have a place to play again. Why aren't the Cubs giving him a chance? I mean they only gave him a full year and in that first year he was good. I hope the Cubs do trade him because he deserves better than what he is getting. Murton plays hard and will be a very good player but unfortunelty it won't be with the Cubs. I hate how organizations do this, you don't put up A-Rod type numbers in your first year so you give up on people, except if your name is Felix Pie or Corey Patterson. I don't understand.

I really wish Cubs fans would not be SOOO sentimental. This is the highest level of professional baseball people. When my friends and I are reminiscing years from now about old Cubs players and someone brings up Murton's name you know what I will think about...? ground-out choppers to the shortstop. Yes, he will probably hustle to first but he is a FILLER... not a difference maker.

I don't think the poster "Shawn" understands that while yes, Murton has become a solid hitter, his skill set is a limited one. He is below average defensively, AND he truly is best suited as a Left Fielder. Unfortunately, for Matt, we have a player who is a superstar at this position (yes, Soriano IS a superstar) who is signed for 8 years @ $136MM. It is not that Murton "was not given a chance." In fact he WAS given a chance early last year and dropped balls, struck out, and ran the bases poorly. You may recall he was sent to the minors for a couple months due to this? Indeed Lou, instead of inserting Murton into the lineup more regularly, had to be forced into putting in an old Cliff Floyd, Daryl Ward, Jacque Jones, and even DeRosa b/c he wasn't cutting it. Since that time he has turned things around at the plate, but as I stated (and scouts have well-noted) his skills in the field are limited. He is a terrific insurance policy for the Cubs now. Period.

Zonk: I couldn't have said it better. All Murton is good for is a weak bouncer up the middle, which he will soon negate by running the bases poorly or playing terrible defense. If he were faster, or stronger, he would be helpful, but he is simply: "blah." He just doesnt have enough all around tools to be on a good team. If her were faster, he could lead off, if he had power, he could bat 4 or 5, if he were good at defense, he could be on the bench as a late innings replacement, be he is neither those, all he does is hit singles...not enough!

just to change the topic a little.....I don't know if anyone caught 60 Minutes tonight, but they interviewed Bill James.

That's exactly what I've been saying all along, which is probably one of the biggest reasons we've been losing for the last century. As I see it, only ARAM and Lee are virtual locks for .350 OBP and above. DeRosa is close, but more likely to finish in the .330-.340 range, Fukodome would be a lock for me, but he's new to American baseball, so who knows. As for Soto, Pie, Theriot, and Soriano will most assuredly finish .330 and below for OBP. I was very unimpressed with Soto this spring, Pie has been an enigma as we all know, Theriot is NOT an everyday player, and Soriano will never be above a .350 OBP hitter, and that is unfortunate, because we are stuck with yet another aging, physically deteriorating player with an albatross contract.
As was stated in the interview, there is a direct correlation between the success of the Red Sox and Athletics, which have both utilized James' recommendations and research. While the A's had regular season success, they were unable to sustain that in the playoffs, mostly due to budgetary issues, and not being able to retain core players that had those attributes, whereas the Red Sox were able to do so. OBP and slugging % were main considerations for James, while WHIP and BB/K ratios were considered for pitchers. Therefore, these teams were pursuing free agents and drafting players that met that criteria.

Please don't think I am trying to be negative...it's just something I've noticed, and I'm sure many of you out there have to....Plain and simple, we pursue the WRONG players both in the draft and FA. Burnitz, Jones, Mabry, Lenny Harris, Soriano, Marquis, Dempster, Remlinger, Guthrie, Neifi, and you could even throw in Lilly.

I think as Cubs fans, we've been so brainwashed by the marketing genius of McDonough that we're SOOOOOOOO focused on the big things W-L record for pitchers and possibly ERA, and hitters, primarily home runs....actually, that's about the only thing they have promoted. From Dawson, to George Bell, to Sammy Sosa to Burnitz, to Soriano. Here are there career avg OBP's in order: .323, .316, .344 (Sosa-mostly inflated by the 'roids if you look at his stats from prior years and after testing began), .345, and finally .327

Look, we all love home runs, but if you want to win it all, you have to have guys that can get on base with consistency. Guys like Pujols, Manny, Big Papi, David Wright, AROD, Jeter, and many other power hitters on winning teams all have OBP's in the .380 range and higher. That's not just a coincidence in my humble opinion.

Look, I loved the Soriano signing, because he was the cream of the crop that winter, but he's really not the answer.....even though he almost single handedly pushed us into the playoffs last year in September.......Anyway, needless to say, I think in order to win it all, management needs to change their philosophy from top to bottom. I think probably the easiest thing to do is draft the right guys. I mean, you look at younger guys in the league like Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, David Wright, and Hanley Ramirez----all guys with those afforementioned traits, and you see that all of them, except for Ramirez have been/will be locked up for a long time, so they have no choice.....so, again, why are we getting rid of one of our own young guys (Murton) who will probably be in the range of a difference-maker with 20+ home runs, 80+ RBI, and .380+ OBP...and you hang onto guys like Cedeno and Theriot who make you think of Neifi and Izzy with their paltry OBP skills.

anyway, sorry it was so long....I guess I can't wait for tomorrow...hopefully it's a good day for all of us.

Austin, "If her were faster, he could lead off, if he had power, he could bat 4 or 5, if he were good at defense, he could be on the bench as a late innings replacement, be he is neither those, all he does is hit singles...not enough!" LOL!

Well, to be fair to Matt, he has increased his OBP, and can take walks too. I have been at a couple games last year where he hit a couple HR's. IMO, I think at this point now, he can give a team more than singles up the middle. You're talking Theriot, there. But, suffice it to say, Matt is basically a very good insurance policy until he is traded.

Re the Bill James piece on 80 Minutes - all I can say is, - sigh -

It took many years of clogging the bases for Jim Hendry to really take OBP and OPS+ as serious and meaningful statistics. Considering the Cubs play in the same city as the University of Chicago, and Northwestern, why is it that management could not have EVER tried to enlist the help of "numbers jockeys" to map probability studies?!

....also, in keeping with the OBP thing, I'd love to see the Cubs go after Brent Lillibridge of the Braves, whom they got from the Pirates for LaRoche, and he is blocked by Escobar for the foreseeable future. He has produced a very high OBP in the minors, hitting .400 several times along the way, and would be worth a shot. Several scouts predict he'll hit .280+ and hit 20+ home runs. I would think a package of Marshall and Murton might get it done....or perhaps even less than that.

Austin, "If her were faster, he could lead off, if he had power, he could bat 4 or 5, if he were good at defense, he could be on the bench as a late innings replacement, be he is neither those, all he does is hit singles...not enough!" LOL!

Well, to be fair to Matt, he has increased his OBP, and can take walks too. I have been at a couple games last year where he hit a couple HR's. IMO, I think at this point now, he can give a team more than singles up the middle. You're talking Theriot, there. But, suffice it to say, Matt is basically a very good insurance policy until he is traded.

Re the Bill James piece on 80 Minutes - all I can say is, - sigh -

It took many years of clogging the bases for Jim Hendry to really take OBP and OPS+ as serious and meaningful statistics. Considering the Cubs play in the same city as the University of Chicago, and Northwestern, why is it that management could not have EVER tried to enlist the help of "numbers jockeys" to map probability studies?!

Very sorry for the multiple posts! The server and interface is very, very sluggish.

Aaron; obviously Cubs management has selected poorly in the past, hope we get lucky this year. And no doubt Bill James has had and still has some great stuff to share and important knowledge. But since Money ball became famous, Bill James and OBP became the answer to baseball which has great level of accuracy but I believe there is a lot more to it that cannot be qualified or quantified …Things like hustle, chemistry, belief, team, clutch, range, hunger, to mention a few. The last year Colorado Rockies come to mind. I believe that one thing is that Theo Epstein has his two rings in 4 years now and another is that Billy Beane has the absolute answer to anything or Bill James for that matter …both are a whole different story.

Meaning that there is a lot of more to it than OBP...especially Money...that buys talent instantly and allows you to get, keep and attract the right parts. Granted, you have to know what to do with the money. A good example would be the Arizona Diamond Backs last year. IMO they were solely fueled by gut, pitching and defense because not only their OBP sucked but also their runs scored and offense.

We have an overall better team this year. Talk about adding OBP…they got Fukudome. Our worse defensive position last year was Catcher and now we have Soto and Blanco healthy…so that figures to be an upgrade. Our rotation is basically the same but our bullpen is far more impressive than last year with Lieber ready to bump Marquis as soon as he falters. Soriano is an awful #2 guy but figures to produce a lot more runs in any spot other than lead-off. [I would bat him 5th] Our Bench is short. Why is CPR/Hoffpower not there beats me. Scott Eyre should be DFAd before he comes back and drops Piggy. Yet. we have enough to win the division and we kept all our parts to get one more important part before the playoffs. A Star Starting Pitcher.

I am ridiculously PUMPED! How about we kick them Brewers butt to start the year off?