Sweet Uncle Lou’s Friday Roundup: The “Human Rain Delay” Edition
Seriously? Steve Trachsel? I don’t have a whole lot of time for the Roundup, what with me watching Marshall serve up a three-run dong to Hunter Pence, and watching us get fucking mystified by Wandy Fucking Rodriguez, so here’s your crap Roundup:
- Imagine, the Muskrat wrote this article before we got Trachsel. Wow.
- Earlier today, I couldn’t remember if I love when guys talk about the “look” of a team and the “chemistry” of a team, or if I hate it. Stark was nice enough to remind me that I hate it.
- Guillen is pissing and moaning that there’s a double standard between the way the media treats him and the way they treat me. Does he know his team is utter dogshit this year, and that mine is in first place? Remember in 2005, Ozzie, when you were a complete fuckstick, and no one said anything about it? Try winning, asshole.
- It’s been about a week, so it’s about time for another “What’s wrong with Carlos?” article.
- Sorry, TWO of those articles.
- Good to see that Alfonseca is still getting laid.
- When are these guys going to show up at Wrigley and tell Rothschild he looks like a fucking idiot in his pajamas?
- Maybe the fans shouldn’t have booed Uecker the other night, as he is firmly off the Cubs bandwagon.
- Not only did Hendry not trade Ohman, but now there’s talk of calling him up tomorrow. Like we need another guy competing with Hendry and Ward at the post-game buffet.
- It’s the dog days of summer, and I plan on riding all of my horses, including Aramis, until the bitter fucking end.
- A lot is required to become an MLB ump. The ability to polish your own shoes isn’t required, but it sure does come in handy a lot.
Shit, it’s still 4-0 Astros. This might be a long weekend.
-Sweet Uncle Lou
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Comments
Jack Per the Muskrat’s article, I hope Hill and Marshall are listening more to Lilly thatn to Marquis. They don’t need lessons on how to be effective every third start. Plus I hope Lilly is passing on some of his cage fighting skills. Never hurts to be prepared for the next poor sap who manages this clambake. I wouldn’t recommend they use any of those moves on the current skipper, though. Pinella might be 64, but I think he could take Hill AND Marshall in a 3 way fight to the death.
And going along with the Trachsel theme. what’s next? A little voodoo to bring back Rod Beck? (Rod Zombie, anyone?) Maybe we could claim Sosa’s sputtering ass off waivers and put his carcass in right field. Anyone else from 98 still around who can swing a bat or bounce one to home plate? I think Terry Muholland might still be pitching somewhere. Bring it on!
Vapor I thought acquiring Trax was a hell of a move. He’s been great in August and there had to be some teams that wanted him as badly or worse than we did. Hate to give up those prospects, but I give Hendry and staff a lot of credit for living up to their promise of doing “whatever it takes” to win this year. Of course, whether we do or not still remains to be seen.
Bad Kermit This is bullshit. Trachsel is taking Marshall’s spot in the rotation.
Marshall has been consistent pretty much all year, and now they’re thanking him by replacing him. Stupid trade by Hendry, and stupid move by Lou to put Trachsel into the rotation.
Weebs While I don’t believe Trachsel is the answer for that 5th spot, I’d still kind of have to agree that Marshall shouldn’t be in the rotation. He’s falling apart, like he did in the second half last year. Out of all 5 of the starters, he’s the biggest question mark. I’m not sure about anyone else, but I personally still don’t know what to expect from Marshall. With Z, Lilly, Hill and Marquis, you can tell pretty early what’s going to happen to them…Marshall just sometimes looks great, but other times looks horrible, and it won’t allow me to decide how good he’ll end up being.
ilrnr2910 Hey guys, random question. Will Trachsel be able to pitch in the post season? I’m just curious, because I know that if you’re not on the team by Sept 1, then you can’t be on the playoff roster. However, I’m not sure what counts as “on the team.” We traded for Trachsel on August 31, but he wasn’t on the roster then I don’t think, and he won’t be actually playing for the Cubs till Tuesday. So what’s the sitch?
ilrnr2910 And just so nobody says I’m a jinx, let me just say that I mean “WOULD Trachsel be able to pitch IF the Cubs make the playoffs?”
Bad Kermit Weebs, look at Marshall’s numbers. He’s given up more than 4 ER in a game only THREE times this year. That’s fewer than anyone else on the staff, though, granted, in 8-10 fewer starts. His K-BB ratio is better than Marquis’ AND Zambrano’s. His ERA is third-best on the staff.
The kid is pitching fine. For some reason, Lou has an insanely quick hook whenever Marshall is on the mound, but I’m under the impression that the quick hook is bullshit. Marshall hasn’t shat the bed half as badly as Marquis, Zambrano, and Hill have in big starts. Replacing Marshall with Trachsel is a HUGE step in the wrong direction.
Bad Kermit Also, Marshall had a bad first two starts in August, which skewed his stats. You know who had a far worse August, though? Zambrano. If anything, Marshall’s stats have shown an UPWARD trend after a bad start to the month. In August, his ER/start were (chronologically):
7
5
3
2
1
1
Again, I’m on record as saying that Trachsel replacing Marshall in the rotation is a HORRIBLE idea. Marshall gives you a better shot at a quality start, and he certainly gives you a FAR better shot at a dominating performance (which Trachsel is incapable of at this point in his career).
For everyone’s information, Trachsel has started FIVE games this year in which he hasn’t struck out a single batter. Marshall only has one such start, a five-inning affair. Again, I realize that Marshall has started fewer games than Trachsel, but it’s a difference of only 7 starts, meaning Marshall would need to whiff zero batters on more than half of his next 7 starts to catch Trachsel.
Trachsel is a terrible, terrible pitcher for whom even the Orioles had no use. He should have absolutely no place on a team that wants to be a playoff contender, and this was a boneheaded trade.
Playoff Roster Thingy As long as you are on the forty man roster you are eligible to be on the playoff roster.
I believe.
Weebs BK, I’m not saying Marshall has pitched terribly, I’m saying I still really don’t know what to think about him in terms of how good he can be. Every time I start to think he’s going to be one of the better lefties in the league, I just look at his stuff and think maybe he’ll be Mark Redman at best. He just doesn’t seem to have the stuff to be that great of a pitcher, but I dunno.
StPatrick The question isn’t whether he can be great someday, it’s whether he’s better than Trachsel today. Marshall = 1.34 WHIP, 0.63 K/9; Trachsel = 1.50 WHIP, 0.32 K/9. The WHIP numbers are pretty close…over 9 innings, Marshall is only going to save you 2-3 baserunners over Trachsel, but he is twice as likely to strike a hitter out. Since they both give up a lot of baserunners, this would tilt me in favor of Marshall, who has a better chance to pitch out of jams without having to rely on his (Cub) defense.
[...] has been mentioned twice today on the Interweb - doubling his 2007 total.Hire Jim Essian is stuck pondering Steve Trachsel from Friday, but it’s always fun to link over there.Ivy Chat isn’t buying it. Not one bit.Nutsack [...]
Bad Kermit That’s exactly it, St. Pat. Marshall is a better option, today, tomorrow, and in the future than Trachsel is.
Jack Where the hell is Kevin Tapani? Wasn’t he pitching for some independent league team at some point? But I also agree with Kermit. I’d rather take my chances with Sean Marshall then with Trax. If we need a sixth starter in some spots due to our heavy schedule, so be it, but I wouldn’t bump Marshall from the rotation.
Now if only Z would pull his head out of his ass . . . I love the guy and I’ve had his back for the past month, but this is getting ridiculous. He’s trying to do too much and Lou needs to sit his ass down and tell him he can’t get us to the playoffs by his damn self. Lou needs to tell him it doesn’t matter if he strikes out at the plate in every at bat until the end of the season, just so long as he’s striking out the opposing batters. I love his energy, but he needs to get control of it. The fans are with him, we’ve always been with him, and he needs to realize that.
CT
bocaj
StPatrick
TDubbs
BigFlax
Cubs got Scott Moore from Detroit for Kyle Farnsworth (#14 in B126). Cubs trade Scott Moore for Steve Trachsel (#23 on B126). So pretty much we just gained 9 points in B126 standings.