Comments on: Cubs Bench finalised, not good.

By: Thrillho

Thrillho — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:55:41 +0000

I love Gareth’s description of the TA from that link:

“A lot of people think that those in the Territorial Army are not real soldiers. We are. We are well trained, highly disciplined fighting machines ready for war. We’re just not available during the week.”

By: Tonker

Tonker — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:39:53 +0000

Despite my moaning, I was thinking on the way home from work this evening how nice it is that we can afford to spend time worrying about whether Murton or Cedeno makes the bench. You don’t have to go too far back to find a year where we had far, far, far more pressing problems to worry about. Admittedly, the 2008 rotation could either be fine, or fucking terrible, but all in all I’m all right with the Cubs’ roster this year. That, I don’t mind telling you, is a refreshing change.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:56:37 +0000

If he’s shooting anyone up the face, I hope he’s using a gun. Otherwise such filth should really be confined to the Shoutbox.

By: Tonker

Tonker — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:41:15 +0000

Ha! No, although he did start out in the Terrys. He’s been a professional soldier for eight years now, though, and would shoot you up the face with a gun for suggesting that.

By: BigFlax

BigFlax — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:59:23 +0000

For the record, as much as I like Murton, his OPS+ in his only full season was just 104. That’s above average but considering that Soriano put up a 123 last year it’s obvious that Murton was not the long term left fielder for this team, and he doesn’t seem to hit as well off the bench as he does when playing every day.

By: BigFlax

BigFlax — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:56:53 +0000

Yeah, I like Murton, but it’s clear that Lou preferred carrying extra infielders (lack of confidence in Theriot as the starter? But then why hit him leadoff?) to extra outfielders, since we’re down to four (although DeRosa and Ward can both be stuck in right in a pinch). The bench was based more on defensive positions than hitting, it seems. I think we’re going to see Murton on another team come season’s end.

By: In a nutsack

In a nutsack — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:25:07 +0000

Lou’s pretty good at making adjustments. Murton will be up soon enough. Lou’ll soon find out that having 35 2B on the bench instead of 36 would be advantageous for winning games.

By: CactusMcHarris

CactusMcHarris — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:12:21 +0000

If Murton’s as professional at bat as you say he is, isn’t there some sort of improvement program he can undergo while riding the bench that would improve his defense?

Surely there’s someone in the Cubs organization that can teach this young man how to patrol the outfield. After all, he could become the second ‘Death to Flying Things’. For some reason, I seem to remember the first one played in the MidWest, back in the early years of the 20th centur, but my geography has never been very good.

By: bocaj

bocaj — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:11:18 +0000

I don’t get the putting in Murton over Fontenot… I mean, I understand Ward. He’s a above-average hitter and good at pinch-hitting (it seems). I understand Blanco: okay stick, okay defense, no one else, and, er, a veteran. I guess you need a back-up for your worst player/position, so there’s Cedeno. Then, Johnson, I’m okay with. He’s the back-up center-fielder they were after, I guess. Ideally, I’d prefer putting, against left-handers, Fukudome at CF and have Murton play RF, but that probably won’t happen. So, Johnson will be the de facto alternate CF option. But I still don’t get Fontenot. Can’t Cedeno, Theriot and DeRosa all play an “acceptable” SS and 2B? Why the need to add Fontenot to the shit-party? Besides, Ward and Blanco can play 1st. I assume the concern is that on off-days for Ramirez you would have essentially no back-ups for 2B, SS and 3B. But who are the back-ups in the outfield if, say, Soriano has a day off? Ward (maybe DeRosa, but then the previous problem arises again)? Seriously? Maybe the Fontenot move just seems to add more positional depth, but, honestly, Fontenot will only be played at 2B, anyways (Lou didn’t like him at SS last year). So, it seems more just that Fontenot got in over Murton more for just the player that he backs up then the versatility he has himself–DeRosa can play more positions then Fukudome, so freeing him up every once in a while lends more freedom. That seems like a pretty insignificant difference, especially so when it may be the cause for having a lot weaker bat join the bench instead of a legit bat. Of course, these reasonings are all hypothetical. Anyway, I sure hope Lou makes some changes, like he, so refreshingly, is pretty good at…

By: al

al — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:01:26 +0000

Nice instructions on how to get Ward out of the way