Walker is struggling since the return of Grudz.

Since going 4-for-6 against St. Louis on June 23 in Busch Stadium, Todd Walker has made only six starts in 17 games at second base, hitting .174 over that span.

Manager Dusty Baker said Walker has been working out at third and first base, but he has been unable to give him any regular playing time.

"We've got plans for 'Walk,'" Baker said without elaboration.

When Grudz was scheduled to come back from his injury I posted that if you want to hurt the team you play Grudz over Walker.

So how has the team performed since June 23rd and the return of Mark Grudz? In that span we have gone 7-9 and played our worst baseball of the year. June 23 also happened to be that horrific 9-10 loss to the Cardinals. You can make a case that the loss to the Cardinals has demoralized the team or the loss of Am-Ram has hurt the offense to explain the current Cubs slump.

But since the offense suddenly went kaput I will focus on the Grudz, Walker situation. Since Grudz's return he has been batting .232 with a .303 OBP. That's compared to Walker who was batting .283, and had a .367 OBP at the top of the order. It really puts a kink in your offense when one of your best OBP guys suddenly gets replaced by a mediocre player. Howl and scream all you want on that one, but Grudz has been a mediocre player his entire career.

Baker says he has plans for Walker, those plans should include permanently handing him the 2nd base job.

Chalk it up to increased playing time to Rey Rey and Macias for our current slump as well. In the end Grudz isn't getting the job done. People were cruel and mean saying to Choi after his injury that he just doesn't have it, we CAN'T be experimenting with a 1B prospect in the middle of a pennant race!! He has sucked since his injury!! But I hear barely a whimper that Grudz should be benched. Why is that? Choi only got 67 AB's after his injury, Grudz has gotten 55. That was enough for most people to label Choi a failure and now it is enough to label Grudz a failure.

Play Todd Walker if you want to win the 2nd half. Nuff said.