June 2009 Archives

For those of you folks that read the ARAM rehab post, followed my request to look at this post, I thank you, because I have taken a lot of time to research this, and finally found someone else doing the same research, Bill James.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe_posnanski/06/29/james.33/index.html?eref=si_mlb

To summarize the article, Bill James lists a mix of 33 players (obviously, because his article was about the decline of age 33, so it wasn't a coincidence). Names such as Mickey Mantle, Cepeda, McCovey, Brett, Murray, Kaline, Hack Wilson, Duke Snider, Jason Giambi, Ivan Rodriguez, and Albert Belle adorn the list. He shows all of their stats at age 32 compared to age 33, and you notice a significant drop-off.

I've been saying on here for quite sometime now that the prime years of a hitter are about age 26 to 32 years old, and after that, it drops off considerably. Bat speed decreases, injuries mount up, speed on the basepaths diminishes ...

Here are some notes from the Cubs organization today:
- Alfonso Soriano is 4th in All Star Voting for OF, 168,00 votes behind Carlos Beltran who is 3rd.
- Josh Vitters is moving up to Class A Daytona, Andrew Cashner is moving up to AA Tennessee, Nate Sampson also headed for AA, Chris Carpenter also moving up to Daytona.
- Milton Bradley could be on the bench for the next 2 days to fix his swing. Expect Fuld in CF and Kosuke in RF tonight.
- The Cubs lead the league in quality starts with 46.
- Jeff Samardzija has been called up to the Cubs, Jose Ascaino sent to AAA.
- Angel Guzman could come off the DL next Tuesday if all goes well in his rehab starts this week. He will pitch for Peoria Thursday.

I'll keep you posted!

According to Rick Dempsey of MASN, says the Baltimore Orioles should dump high priced older players such as Brian Roberts. Brian Roberts just signed a 4 year extension worth 40 million in February of 09.

Rick Dempsey had to say this:
"He is a quality position player who could draw a lot of attention from a contender and be worth a few good young prospects. Now the only reason I suggest B-Rob is because he has probably missed his window of opportunity to win with the O's and now that the nucleus is becoming much younger, having to wait two more years to contend may take Brian out of his prime and out of his value. I would hate to see him go, but it might be the best overall for the Orioles for the future".

Cubs/Orioles trade proposal:
Cubs get Brian Roberts and Danys Baez
Orioles get Mike Fontenot, Jeff Stevens, Mitch Atkins and Jake Fox. I think Fox is the deal breaker.

Roberts will then play second and Baez will be setup man with Guzman for ...

The Cubs are looking at the trade market but are unsure of needs as of right now. Jim Hendry is working the trade market harder than ever but does not know what there needs will be in July. Hendry wants to see what production he can get from Aramis Ramirez when he returns to action. Until then he wants his hitters that he has now to start producing and winning games. Hendry also mentions that he in unsure of who he will add come July. All this is according to Gordon Wittnymer of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Hendry had to say this: "For me to say either way in the middle of June makes no sense," he said. "We could be in the market for a player we never even dreamed of a month from now, You just kind of stay on top of it every day and react to what you may need."

Players I will love the Cubs too go after and could help in the long run and right now:

Dan Uggla: He can play 4-5 days a week with Fontenot going back to the utility roll which I think he is better at. Uggl ...

I'll spare you all the long read, and just summarize what I posted in the Talkin' Live today in Game 1 against the White Sox.

Basically, what I said in my long post there, was that this team is FILLED with inconsistent performers. I backed up everything with stats of players that I thought were consistent throughout their careers like Dunn, Teixeria, Abreu, Ibanez, Ray Durham, and Kenny Lofton, and how Lee, Soriano, and Bradley miss completely on the key statistics which measure consistency: avg, OBP, hr, RBI. If you're making consistent contact with the baseball, and your stats aren't a by-product of dumb luck (as seems to be the case with Lee, Soriano, and Bradley in their career years before they signed contracts with us), then it'll show particularly in your avg and OBP, where hr and RBI are essentially a by-product of that.

But since Hendry already blew it with Miles and Bradley, we have no choice but to look internally for different options, especially conside ...

Pinella move Soriano down in the lineup, he is an embarrassment to the club. A lead off man is supposed to get on base and start a rally for the middle of the order. As of today Soriano is batting .226 with a OBP of .290 (really embarrassing). Soriano is batting first because he is more comfortable and wants to try to break the home run record (most home runs leading off the game) by Devery Henderson.

In the last month Alfonso Soriano got 19 hits with 3 home runs and struck out 33 times in 118 at-bats counting this game against the White Sox. Also Soriano is not stealing bases like he did because of his knee, another reason he should not be the Cubs lead off man. That is not good numbers for a guy starting the ball game.

Pinella if you want to win games, put Soriano on the DL until he is 90-100% healthy or move him down in the order. Who is the manager you or Soriano, your the one that makes the moves and that one has to be done.

Lineup with Soriano do ...

According to David Kaplan of CSN, the Cubs are still pursuing Mark Derosa. Craig Kenney said on the radio yesterday we can take on the contract of Mark Derosa without getting permission from Sam Zell. Derosa is making 5.5 million this year.

Hendry was on Monsters in the Mourning yesterday and hinted that they are going after Derosa again and he also mentioned that we would love to have Derosa back.

A source mentioned that the Indians want more in return than the Cubs gave up in the off season when the Cubs traded him. The Indians want a major league ready pitcher and the Cubs only have one in Jeff Samardzija. Samardzija has a no trade cause and said when he came to baseball he wants to be on the Chicago Cubs his whole career.

Other teams that might pursue him besides Cubs, Mets, Cardinals and Giants.

According to Jon Heyman of SI, the Colorado Rockies closer Huston Street has been heavily scouted by major league teams, he did not mention any teams. < ...

With a stretch of 23 games in a row for the Chicago Cubs this may be the telling of how this team may end up. Now at .500 in their season much is up in the air regarding the chemistry of this team and whether or not those paid high salaries can swing the bats with more consistency. We know with the old hitting coach out and Joshua in this may have an impact in a positive way rite out the gate. The Cubs have the starting pitching leading the Majors with this rotation. Question is can this team now get on a role with hitting that little white ball.

With interleague play going on and the Sox coming into Wrigley, this may be fun for many fans but i assure you the ball players are clued in on just executing and playing well resulting in WINS. For the cubs it happens to be the White sox where now they have to get there acts together. One would hope this club will begin to hit and do it in fashion here in this cross town series.

For the Cubs to win this series they must hi ...

Ryan Freel will play 3B and bat first for Triple A Iowa. If everything goes as plan Freel could come back within a week. When Freel does return, Andres Blanco would be sent down (my opinion).

First at-bat: Ryan Freel grounds out to the third baseman on a 2-2 count.

Second at-bat: Ryan Freel flys out to the right fielder on a 2-1 count.

Third at-bat: Ryan Freel singles on a line drive to left field on the first pitch.

Ryan Freel was taken out in the 8th inning for 3B Luis Rivas. All in all this was a typical for Ryan Freel and I don't see him on the team much longer if he does not contribute. If the Cubs release, they will only have to pay 800,000 of his contract.

Other Notes from that game:
Jake Fox sat out.
Bobby Scales played first base.
Jeff Samardzija pitched 6 innings and gave up 4 earned runs.

http://muskat.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/06/perry_out_joshua_in_as_hitting.html

The Cubs fired hitting coach Gerald Perry on Sunday and will promote Triple-A Iowa hitting coach Von Joshua to take over the job. Joshua will join the Cubs Monday, and be in uniform for Tuesday's Interleague game between the Cubs and White Sox.

The Cubs were ranked 13th in the National League in hitting with a .246 average, well below last year's numbers. They led the NL in runs in 2008, but are 14th this season.

"Obviously, we've been struggling for a long time," Hendry said. "I'm not one to dump all the blame on coaches. I've never made a coaching change to my knowledge in the middle of the year. I think sometimes you need a different voice.

"Von has had a lot of success with our guys on the way up," he said. "We have really, really struggled offensively for reasons way beyond Aramis [Ramirez] being gone for awhile. Every day, we have five guys in the lineup who have play ...