Choi Vs. Lee

Now we are two months into the season, and it is time to check which team is getting the better end of this trade.

Batting Average

Choi - .254
Lee - .263

Dead heat. Lee is near his career average of .270 so dont expect much more. Choi is an unkown at this point, but could end the year in Lee's range of .270

Homeruns

Choi - 11
Lee - 6

Choi wins this category as he is showing the power than Lee was supposed to display. Choi has also done it in 134 AB's to Lee's 171.

RBI

Choi - 27
Lee - 27

Choi wins this category also because of the less AB's.

Runs

Choi - 26
Lee - 24

Again Choi, less AB's just as productive.

OPS

Choi - .937
Lee - .783

No contest, Big Choi dominating in that category.

Fielding

Choi - .994
Lee - .996

Range Factor

Choi - 9.47
Lee - 9.46

Choi was a great defensive 1b in the minors, and he is showing that he is equal to Derek Lee in the majors.

$6 million for Lee, $300k for Choi. Lee better have his usual hot 2nd half to get some respect back. Because right now Choi is still making this deal look like a laughing stock.

Its all about getting the most bang for your buck. We are not getting it from Lee. Again whenever you trade your cheap talented prospect for some high priced veteran and your prospect is out performing him, you got burned on the deal. No IF's, And's or But's about it.

No Wonder the Cubs Didnt Like Him

I found this amusing.

Updating a previous item, The San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser reports Boston Red Sox IF Mark Bellhorn burned his former team, the Oakland Athletics, with three hits, including a homer, five RBIs (matching his career high) and four runs (a career high) Tuesday, May 25. "When he came up here, he didn't get much of an opportunity, and at times, he took a lot of pitches,'' Athletics manager Ken Macha said. "It was a break for him to go somewhere else and he absolutely took advantage of it.

To be labeled as taking to many pitches? Ohhh the horror! The horror! He clearly didn't fit the mold of Cubs hitters whose philosophy is swing early and swing often. On average he see's about 4.23 pitches per plate appearance. Sosa and Derek Lee are the only other Cubs to come close with around 4.00 pitches per plate appearance. And to think people bitch about them striking out, yet give Alex Gonzalez a free pass.

Bellhorn's average still isnt up above .250, other than that he is having a great season. Currently he is batting .249, with 6 HR's, and 32 RBI. He has 41 walks which ranks him #5 in all of baseball. Ofcourse he also has 58 SO's. If he manages to get 500 AB's he will punch out about 163 times this season.

He isnt the perfect fit for 2nd base for any team. But if you have some real hitters in your lineup all you need is a guy who has the ability to get on base ahead you. And Mark Bellhorn is doing that for the Boston Redsox. The Redsox understand that, the Cubs? Well we like to insert the .300 OBP and below guys usually at the top of the order. Then the Cubs wonder why they cant score runs.

Positional wise Bellhorn ranks #2 in RBI only behind Jeff Kent, #2 in runs scored with 36, #4 in HR's, and #3 in OBP. Not bad for a guy labeled as being to patient at the plate, wait wasn't that the knock on Hee Seop Choi by the Cubs? He isnt around anymore either.

The Borowski Debate

Check out other sites for their take on the situation with Joe Borowski, some good, some bad. I will stick with Beltran ascending to the closers role and leaving Hawkins as setup with Farnsworth as far as possible away from key situations.


Northside Lounge - Hawkins for closer

Big Red C - Hawkins for closer, but wouldnt be pleased to play russian roulette with old Poopy Pants as the setup man. Looks at trade options as well.

Clark & Addison - Hawkins remaining setup man.

Rooftop Report - Just back off Borowski! Damn it! -kicks the dirt-

Tomorrow I might add some new Cubs blogs, in the meantime check out Old Style Cubs and his most recent post. I like his logo, and it reminds me of beer. Ahhhh the good old days!

Clueless Blog Writer

I will direct you to Reds Roundup. This individual spends more time spewing hatred of the Cubs than actual usefull knowledge about his own ball club.

I scrolled through his all-star picks and it is the who's who of pathetic, lousy players. I know its his picks and these people will never get to sniff an all-star game but it is funny they are all on his ballet. The hilarious ones are..

D. Jimenez SS NL - Currently batting a whopping .223. Even us Cubs fans wouldnt put down Alex Gonzalez's name when he was batting .220 for the All-star game.

Chris Stynes 3rd NL - Ahh yes currently batting .206 with a .248 OBP. Clearly a much better selection than Scott Rolen or the dreaded Aramis Ramirez!

Aaron Rowand OF AL - Yeah there is no one in the AL that can match the historic pace Rowand is setting. .259 BA, 4 HR, and 11 RBI. At that pace he will be leading the league with 18 HR's amd 53 RBI.

I dont know if he is being serious or not. I guess he decided to take over the Reds writing of this blog and turn into one big joke, instead of a serious discussion over his team. Maybe because the Reds are not his team.

One thing Aisle 528 misses in his account of this blogger is that he is probably more a Whitesox fan than a Reds fan. Too include Jimenez and not Barry Larkin shows he isnt a Reds fan. The fact that Jimenez was a Whitesox only re-inforces that point. That and the collection of other Whitesox players like Olivio, Thomas, and Valentine.

I guess the joke is on the MVN network who got snookered by a disgruntled Whitesox fan who thinks running and attacking 1st base coaches is a normal day at the park.

Goodluck with your blog Charles, your going to need alot more information than Cubs Suck to be taken seriously. Or wait, maybe thats his point all along, too look and act like an idiot.

Are the Reds for Real?

Yes and No. There are two things the Reds need in order to win. Number 1 is stay healthy on the hitting side. The last few years it was hard just to keep the OF healthy for an entire year. Number 2, get your pitching staff to pitch at league average. For the most part the Reds have accomplished these goals. Austin Kearns the only one being injured for an extended period of time. The Reds can provide just enough offense if their pitches just keep games close enough to win.

I thought the Reds pitching would be much worse. Paul Wilson is a surprise at 7-0 with a 3.34 ERA. If he maintains that ERA for the rest of the year he will win 20 games with this offense. If it goes to around 4.50 he will win 15 at best. Juan Acevedo is a good young power arm that has been forgotten about due to injuries in the past. Corey Lidle has shown he can pitch with an ERA below 4.00 in the past when he was with Oakland. So he isnt exactly a scrub. Aaron Harang is a young pitcher with a lively arm, and it looks like Todd Van Poppel has come full circle has he is back in as a starting pitcher and has performed well. 3.18 ERA in 4 starts this year. The Reds pitchers dont need to pitch like the Cubs in order to win.

If, and that is a big IF, the Reds maintain their current level of mediocre to average pitching they will be in the division title hunt for the rest of the year.

A few things to note on the hitting side. While Griffey may be hitting .247 he has driven in 39 RBI and hit 12 HR's. Mainly because he is deadly with RISP this year with a .366 BA.

Barry Larkin is silently putting up a decent season. .292 BA, 18 RBI.

And Sean Casey is doing his best Tony Gwynn impression with a .390 BA.

Forget About Getting Carlos Beltran

This will surely upset Ivy Chat who would love a Patterson/Beltran type deal like I would. But Hendry is nixing any idea that he would be trading Patterson.

"I have no intentions of trading him. None. He's going to be a very, very good player. I know that he's a very, very good guy. He has skill and a lot of character. We like to have guys with both, and he's one of them."
– GM Jim Hendry on trading CF Corey Patterson, in the May 28 Chicago Sun-Times

When the Cubs say they arent going to trade you to the media, they will not trade you. Much like how the Cubs discuss how they might pursue Rey Ordonez, or Jose Hernandez they usually get them.

I think in time Patterson can develop into a very good player. But hey its Carlos Beltran. I dont think Patterson can ever be as good as Beltran is right now.

Also Hendry isnt to concerned with our mounting injuries.

"I haven't had any serious discussions with anyone, despite what everybody has been speculating,'' Hendry told the newspaper. "My priority is getting our own guys back." Hendry plans to reassess the Cubs' trade needs in June and July, but he needs to know how banged-up the roster is at that time.

Ummmmm can someone tell him how banged up the Cubs are right now so he can get this team some real help besides Rey Ordonez?

Time of Death, Friday May 28th

That is the time of death of Joe Borowski when he gave up 4 hits and 5 runs in the 9th inning to blow a 5-4 lead today. One of those hits being a grand slam. While it may be his 1st blown save in 22 chances his overall pitching has been poor all season. His ERA stands at an ugly 8.20 for the season. In 18 IP he has given up 23 hits, walked 15 and struck out 16. That is 38 batters allowed to reach 1st base and beyond in 18 innings. Good closers will have half that amount.

I praised earlier in the year how Joe Borowski pitches with heart and his brain while Farnsworth needs a brain to pitch. I have also noted how Borowski has never been able to get his fastball above 88 MPH this season as compared to last year where he consistently hit 92 MPH. This is what scouts caught onto very early in spring training. I blew it off until now. It is time for a change.

I never said much about Ugueth Urbina, and I should of considering he has a 1.76 ERA in 15 innings with 6 saves for the Tigers. This from a guy no team wanted to sign and missed all of spring training holding out. I know its nice in hindsight to say we should of got him, but I never did fully trust our pen. I thought Remlinger and Mercker were on their last legs. Both are closer to 40 than 30. But hey if our pitchers went deep into games most of the time, all we really needed was Hawkins and Borowski. Now you can scratch off Borowski, and someone needs to step up into either the closers or setup man's role.

Personally I say the Cubs hand the closer job to Francisco Beltran and leave Hawkins in setup. Beltran has been groomed as a Cub closer for awhile. He brings a fresh face to the situation and leaves one of our better bullpen arms in the more flexible position of setup man. Which at this point i still value more over the closers role.

Beltran has shown good command and strikeout ability in his time with the Cubs this season. In 16 innings he has a 3.31 ERA, 9 BB, 21 SO's, and 11 hits given up. Basically in the same amount of work as Borowski he has allowed 20 baserunners to reach 1st base and beyond to Borowski's 38.

What decision will Dusty Baker probably make? Move Hawkins up to closer, and Farnsworth as his setup man. Mister poopey pants will now come into games in tight situations where Hawkins excelled at. Good luck riding that roller coaster. It will be a bumpy ride.

Lets not forget Beltran was used as a closer over some pretty good veteran pitchers in winter ball. He was rated one of the best players in the league. He looks ready to me to step in and give this team a boost. The only question is......will Dusty Baker go with the kid over the veteran?

Another Bloated Ego

Josh Beckett has completly lost his mind and made a fool of himself in the process. It seems he was a tad pissed off that when they intentionally walked Sean Casey to get Griffey, Griffey made him pay by launching a HR. But that wasnt what made Beckett so mad, it was the glare Ken Griffey gave to the Marlins dugout as he made his way to first base.

"Thats (expletive), thats what it is. I dont give a (expletive) if he is a Hall of Famer or not. I dont think I will forget it. I dont know what the hell he was staring at I dont know if he was questioning the intentional walk before that or what. You just have to make a note of that."

Well you better care if he is a Hall of Famer or not, you cant just slip a 90 mph fastball by Griffey and expect to come out of it without any damage. You only have 21 major league wins Beckett and you got owned by a future Hall of Famer because you made a poor selection of pitches. Griffey was probably miffed that the Marlins thought he was an easy out and did something about that.

Make your little notes Beckett. Make sure you note that a fastball to Griffey = bad. He still is a pretty damn good player.

Shrek 2

I dont normally praise a movie on this site, in fact this is the 1st time. But I have not had so much fun at the movies in years. Puss in Boots is a hilarious character who is worth the price of admission alone. That and his rendition with Eddy Murphy of "Livin La Vida Loca."

But probably my favorite scene is where Pinochio was doing a Mission Impossible spoof, then has to tell a lie to get his nose to grow so the ginger bread cookie can rescue our hero's by using it as a bridge. Needless to say, you find a dirty little secret out about the beloved Disney star that is pure classic!

Ex-Cub Updates

Hee Seop Choi - Currently hitting .238 with 10 HR's and 22 RBI.

From may 14th ESPN.com Article...."I couldn't have been any more wrong on that guy," says one NL executive. "His power is incredible. But I never thought he'd be this good a hitter. He covers the plate better than I thought he would. And he's not intimidated. I thought he'd give in to the better pitchers. He hasn't done that."

When Choi arrived in Florida, hitting coach Bill Robinson took a look at his crouch and told him: "Son, I can teach you how to hit, but I can't teach you how to be tall. If you're big, you want to stay tall." So they adjusted Choi's stance to make him more upright. The whole league is seeing the results.

On one hand, Choi has outhomered Lee, 9-4. And only Barry Bonds and Adam Dunn have better NL home run ratios than Choi's (one every 10.2 at-bats). On the other hand, he was also 4 for his last 32 through Thursday. And his nine-homer, zero-double ratio tells you he can succumb to uppercut fever at times.

But Marlins manager Jack McKeon keeps telling him, "Relax. It's your job." And why wouldn't it be? At this point, the only NL first baseman with more homers is Jim Thome.

Choi will get 100% of the starting duties at 1st base now as Wil Cordero has gone on the disable list. We should see that average start to climb, because I dont think Choi is the type of player that reacts well to platoons. He needs to play everyday and find his stroke.

Bobby Hill - I thought Hill was going to be regulated strictly to a bench role with Jose Castillo showing some power. But since his initial outburst he really hasnt done much. Hill has won back some starting gigs as he has performed extremly well in pinch hitting duties.

In 20 less AB's Hill has a better average, better OBP, 1 less HR and just as many RBI as Jose Castillo. If Castillo completly faulters Hill will get the majority of the playing time.

Currently Hill is batting .299 with a .365 OBP, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 8 runs scored.

Juan Cruz - He is still making this trade look like a complete disaster for the Cubs. The Atlanta Braves have a pitcher with a 3.50 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, and 15 SO's in 18 IP.

Meanwhile the search for the real Andy Pratt continues. In AAA Pratt is 0-4 with a 19.00 ERA, in 9 IP. In those 9 innings he has surrendered 14 hits, walked 15 and allowed 19 runners to score.

Sure would be nice to have Cruz instead of Pratt right now wouldn't it?

Brooks Kieschnick - I know he is a little on the old side, but he is a wonderful story.

He is still having a great year out of the pen with a 1.83 ERA in 19 IP. OppBa is .214.

On the batting side he is hitting .333 with 1 HR and 4 RBI in 21 AB's.

The Brewers have an Ace

I think Ben Sheets has finally come into his own as a pitcher. Today he fanned 18 Atlanta Braves. I was watching the game on TBS and he was simply spectacular. The only other game I have seen pitched that comes close to that is the one where Kerry Wood struck out 20 batters in his rookie season.

He is 4-2 with a 2.90 ERA and 66 SO's in 59 IP on the season. Naturally I am kicking myself for not picking him up on the waiver wire in some of my fantasy leagues. Damn it!

The Quest for Perfection

What helps make Carlson Beltran so good?

Carlos Beltran is expecting a big year and not just because it's a contract year.

That includes help with collecting $85,000 from teammates to pay for a weird-looking machine that spits out tennis balls at 140 MPH, designed to improve a batter's eye. The contraption is a cross between a blowtorch and chain saw. It has an orange canister, a vacuum-cleaner motor and a five-foot tube that rests on a tripod.

He usually starts slow hitting around .252 in the 1st month and he wants to avoid that.

Beltran stands in the batting net and takes 100 tennis balls a day from the machine he's helping to purchase. The training is for Beltran to focus his eye-sight on the balls and try to determine the number on the ball and whether or not it had a black or red dot on it.

Are you freaking kidding me? LoL. Hey but its working he is currently hitting .299 with 10 HR's, 28 RBI, 29 Runs, and 10 SB's.

Sounds like the Cubs desperatly need Beltran and his pitching machine to me.

Hmmmm maybe us fans need to strike a deal with the Cubs....they get Beltran and we get him his pitching machine. I will chip in some cash if it means landing Beltran. I know I am dreamin.

Let the Rumors Begin

Sticking with the Ivy Chat push for Carlos Beltran, it seems other teams are hot on the trail of Beltran also, with no whisper of the Cubs wanting him.

The big rumor is that Boston will swing a 3 way deal with Seattle and send Johnny Damon to the Mariners, Freddy Garcia to the Royals, and Beltran to the Sox.

Boston is capable of anything. They were willing to go after A-rod and I see no reason why they wont seriously try and aquire Beltran.

The Padres are the new team wanting Beltran and they can offer a very good package. They might have an inside track because they have talked to the Royals before about getting Beltran.

Other teams that have expressed interest are the Dodgers (Your kidding me they need offense?), Whitesox (Over my dead body, or over Ordonez's), and the Angels (They got Vlad, they dont need anymore offense, but they have an agressive owner).

Ofcourse the Yankees are out there lurking, and Ivy Chat has a post about the Yanks not having the prospects to deal for Beltran. While that may be true, the Yanks have a history of pushing up the price on deals to make it as uncomfortable as possible for teams to get the players they want.

Naturally the Cubs are silent in this situation expressing no interest. And when the Cubs express no interest through the media that means they have no intentions of pursing that player. The Cubs are more interested in finding a weak hitting SS to fill in for a weak hitting SS.

I think the Cubs can offer the best package followed by the Padres. But the Cubs need to get over themselves and be willing to trade any one of their highly touted arms from the minors. One thing the Cubs are stubborn as hell with is those pitching arms. It has been this teams greatest asset in rebuilding and has become our achilles heal in trade negotiations. If the Cubs are unwilling to part with any of their best minor league arms then Carlos Beltran will end up a San Diego Padre in my opinion.

If there is one situation where you can trade an unknown for a known, this is the time, this is the place. You dont get much more sure bets than Carlos Beltran. To pass up this chance would be a catastrophic error in judgement for Jim Hendry.

Who Thinks Up These Things?

Aren't polls supposed to let people vote on pressing issues? Or help clear up what the majority really think about something?

I know it is no big deal but Cubs.com has a poll on the site asking which injury hurts the most. The choices are Alex Gonzalez, Mark Grudz, Mark Prior and Mike Remlinger.

Shockingly, I mean without this poll I would of never guessed that Cubs fans would pick Mark Prior with 89% of the vote.

A more appropriate poll would be which SS would you rather have, Ramon Martinez, Alex Gonzalez, Damian Jackson, or Rey Ordonez. That is a poll that could end in a 4 way tie, lol.

It just gets Better and Better

In the Cubs never ending quest to assemble the most .240 hitting SS's in baseball they have signed Rey Ordonez to a minor league contract. Yep thats right you can pencil in Rey Ordonez's .248 career average with Alex Gonzalez's .243 career average, and Damian Jackson's .245.

What is next Jose Hernandez and his .252 career average? Ohh wait we did that last year.

Though on the flip side if i had a choice between any of them playing everyday it would be Rey Ordonez. He is the *cough* *cough* best hitter of the bunch and by far and away the best fielder. Plus i think he makes chump change compared to Alex Gonzalez. Like I have said before non-hitting short-stops that play pretty good defence are a dime a dozen. Their is no reason why Alex Gonzalez should get paid $6 million dollars a year to put up numbers a guy making $300k can easily match. If all you want out of SS is defence and no offense you can find that player in any system and on any waiver wire in baseball. The quest is to find the ones that can hit. And the way the Cubs are handling the situation they dont want to find a SS that can hit. Otherwise they would be looking to the minors.

But I do know who the Cubs have in mind to get next....Augie Ojeda. Now that would be typical Cubs! Bring Back Augie!!!!!

Dont Encourage Him

The Big Red C rants on the lineup that Baker has put out there today with Goodwin, Macias, Hollandsworth, Martinez, and Bako. And rightfully so.

I know the Cubs at last glance are up 6-0 with this horrible lineup but it only encourages Baker to play his crappy players more. Big Red brings up a point I also dont understand, in why the hell is Walker not in the lineup?

I have also noticed after reading his post that Dusty Baker is in a habit of putting out his worst hitting lineup especially for Carlos Zambrano. I remember last year he would always put Lenny Harris and Tom Goodwin in the lineup whenever Zambrano started. I just find this highly odd.

A Look Around The Division

First lets check in with the Brewers. I like their scrappy lineup and called Lyle Overbay the wildcard in that lineup in my prediction post in early April. So far he has been much more than that as he is batting .351 with 5 HR's and 31 RBI. Add in Junior Spiveys .293, 3 HR's, 17 RBI, and it looks like Milwaukee is getting enough offensive production from the Sexson trade at a far less amount of money.

Currently they are holding steady at around .500. Ben Sheets looks like he is coming into his own. Currently he is 3-2 with a 3.43 ERA and 44 SO's in 42 innings pitched. Former Cub minor league outfield prospect now turned pitcher, Brooks Kieschnick, is having a fine year out of the bullpen with a 1.26 ERA, and 11 SO's in 14 innings pitched.

Overall Milwaukee is doing about what i suspected. A few good pitchers scattered amongst some pretty horrible ones. The lineup is the one carrying them and will continue to do that for the rest of the year. Keep an eye on Bill Hall to supplant Craig Counsell at SS as the season progresses. Him and Scott Podesdnick could form an extremly fast 1-2 punch at the top of the order.

Next is Houston. Is Roger Clemens still a non-factor? Righttttt just checkin. I also said never ever bet against Roger Clemens. 6-1, 2.11 ERA, 44 SO's in 38 IP. Not bad for a guy a lot of Cub fans said couldnt pitch in Houstons offensive park. In fact he loves pitching in Houston with a 1.39 ERA at home and a 3.65 ERA on the road.

Roy Oswalt is 2-1 with a 2.90 ERA, Andy Pettitte is 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA and the one pitcher everyone completly forgets in Houstons rotation, Wade Miller, is 4-2 with a 2.75 ERA. The one blemish is Tim Redding and his 8.00 ERA starting. Just like the Cubs the Astro's have 4 very good starters and one lousy one. Unlike the Cubs, Houston isnt expecting to get back their best pitch off the DL in the near future. That could be the difference as the season goes on.

Another area where I heard most Cubs fans bag on Houston was their bullpen. The common reasoning was, "Well they lost Billy Wagner, that bullpen is nothing without him and Octavio Dotel has never closed." Yeah, i never believed that for a second because I noticed they were stocked with alot of good young arms in that pen and could easily lose Billy Wagner without skipping a beat. Dotel has performed fine in the closers role with a 2.40 ERA, 5 saves, and 19 SO's in 15 IP. The other notables are the veteran Dan Miceli and his 1.96 ERA in 18 IP, Brad Lidge's 2.60 ERA with 28 SO's in 17 IP, and Brandon Backe with a 3.60 ERA in 15 IP. The dissappointment so far into this season out of the pen is Ricky Stone currently sporting a 11.00 ERA. He should settled down and get back to his 3.87 career ERA.

If you dont know about Houstons vaunted offense you haven't been on planet earth lately. Craig Biggio must of found the Holy Grail because he is having a comeback year with a .347 BA, 6 HR, and 21 RBI from the leadoff spot. From the leadoff spot? Holy cow.

Berkman, Bagwell, and Kent are all around .300 with 5-6 HR's and 20-25 RBI each. As for Hidalgo it's always been a question of which Richard Hidalgo will show up this season? So far it has been the good one. .327 BA, 4 HR, and 25 RBI. But is that worth the $12.5 million Hidalgo is getting paid this year?

Overall Houston is just chugging along. They are getting very good pitching and bullpen work to go along with a potent offense. If Father Time needs a team to strike down as the season goes on it should find Houston as a lightning rod. But as with Clemens I am not betting against Houston to suddenly crumble and fall apart.

Typical Cubs

Instead of giving someone from the minors a shot they purchase the contract of Alex Gonzalez's clone, Damian Jackson.

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said they considered calling up minor league infielders Brendan Harris and Richard Lewis, but Harris missed time this spring following arthroscopic knee surgery. Lewis is playing well at Double-A West Tenn.

Ok I can see Harris just coming off injury but why not Richard Lewis atleast over Damian Jackson?

Apparently with A-gonz we need to replace crap with crap. You just cant have a major league roster without a guy that hits .240 and strikes out a 120 times a year. That is atleast the best we have ever seen from Jackson.

Hendry described Jackson as a quality defensive player at shortstop and second.

"His hitting has been inconsistent so that's why he's bounced between being an every day guy at times in his career or an extra guy," Hendry said. "It gives us what we need the most. Ramon isn't used to playing seven days a week."

Hmmm that makes sense in bizarro world. It gives us what we need most? Huh? We need a .240 hitter why? Just because he played at one time in his career everyday and blew chunks we need him?

Ernie Banks once played everyday, why dont we stick him at SS. It makes as much sense as what Hendry just said.

A-gonz-O-Meter Contest Suspended

Because my most hated Cub is now on the injured list for the next 6 weeks+. This is where teams like the D-backs, Marlins and Angels insert unkown prospect and see what happens. Ofcourse this where the Cubs insert crusty veteran and shake the bottle in the hopes of getting some more lightning in the bottle, which never lasts.

The A-gonz lovers will naturally say well who from the minors? No one is exactly rated high. Your really friggin clueless arent you Mike?

You never know who is gonna do what in the majors if they never get a chance. Some players just plod along in the minors and when they get a shot they burst onto the scene and never look back. Some highly touted prospects tear up the minors but once they get to the majors they are overwhelmed and get eaten alive, never to be heard from again.

I suggest giving someone a 6 week tryout at SS from our minors. What is it going to hurt? If he fails you end up with nothing, thats the same place you will end up in if you insert a crusty veteran who finds the magic for half a season and A-gonz returns. Your back at square one anyways. BUT.....if that nobody prospect turns out to be something, you might have just found a diamond in the rough, which makes your ball club better.

The D-backs dont have a highly touted farm system but yet they have managed to find Junior Spivey, Alex Cintron, Matt Kata, Chad Tracy, Robby Hammock, Brandon Webb, and Jose Valverde, in just the last couple of years. People get injured and the D-backs look to the farm instead of to their bench.

Ramon Martinez, Jose Macias, and Mark Grudz are not long term answers for SS. Its not like Nomar Garciaparra got injured on our squad and we just need to hold down the position till he gets back. Its Alex FREAKIN Gonzalez and his .243 career batting average. We need to find a long term replacement. And if we are not going to quickly plug the hole through trade the best place to look is our minor league system. Not our bench.

Poopy Pants

Glad to know Kyle Farnsworth is living up to his track record of every even numbered years his ERA is off the charts.

0-2 in the Cardinals series with 3 walks in todays game to let the Cardinals win. Look for the thousandth time.....Never ever put Kyle Farnsworth in meaningful games with the game on the line. He craps his pants and suddenly forgets how to pitch.

The only time you ever pitch Kyle Farnsworth is when your team is up by 2-3 runs or down by 3+ runs. That way he doesn't go out there thinking, "If I screw up, I lose the game." Always leave your self an opening so you can get him out of a game before he does end up losing it.

Throwing 100 MPH doesn't mean you should be a closer. You need a brain to go with that arm. And Kyle Farnsworth has proven over and over he doesn't have control over his emotions to ever be a closer.

Joe Borowski has a brain, and he uses it while barely being able to get above 88 MPH. Give me a Joe Borowski any day of the week over a Farnsworth. Throwing 100 MPH doesnt mean jack if you cant get the job done.

Leave Farnsworth in middle relief where he doesn't have to experience pressure situations and he will be fine.

The A-Gonz-O-Meter Contest

Now that A-gonz's best hitting month is behind us its time to guess what he will bat for the month of May.

3 year average for May - .210

I think I am going to go with .199.

What do you think?

Trade Clement Now?

After his horrendous spring training the consensus was that we should of traded him for something of value. Northside Lounge puts it perfectly.

Remember, most of us saw this guy as a fifth starter coming into this year. Right now, his ERA is under 2 and he is the stopper.

If you read scouting reports before the season and during you generally get that Clement probably has the best stuff on the staff. Better than Wood, and better than Prior. The main problem, much like with Wood, has been consistency. If Wood and Clement were able to put together long streaks of dominating starts they would be ranked above Mark Prior.

We needed someone to step it up big time with Prior out and Matt Clement has answered that call.