Author Topic: Cubs in '11  (Read 57288 times)

Cactus

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #45 on: February 23, 2011, 07:53:51 am »
Fred Mitchell:
 
Sights seen: Cubs catcher Geovany Soto, who looks muscled up and in great shape, dining at Benihana and at Sapporo in Scottsdale. …

JR

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #46 on: February 24, 2011, 11:32:20 am »
Just wondering, why are there createaforum search links for Cubs, Geovany Soto, and Benihana in Cactus's post?

Cactus

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #47 on: February 24, 2011, 12:02:07 pm »
Just wondering, why are there createaforum search links for Cubs, Geovany Soto, and Benihana in Cactus's post?

They were in the Tribune column I copied that from.  Strange.

StrikeZone

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #48 on: February 25, 2011, 01:09:37 pm »
Second-year shortstop Starlin Castro will bat second and third baseman Aramis Ramirez will hit in the cleanup spot. But (Mike) Quade was even hesitant on naming Castro in the second spot.   "He hasn't earned the right to think he is going to hit anywhere," Quade said. "He did hit .300 in the 2-hole. I'm smart enough to think I'll take .300 in the two-hole."

http://tinyurl.com/4gojtcs

Hitting Ramirez cleanup is a mistake, in my opinion, because he's the only hitter on the roster that can actually qualify as a Major League three-hole hitter (when healthy).

Who does Quade think is going to hit third, Marlon Byrd?  Carlos Pena?

Yuck!

JR

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #49 on: February 25, 2011, 02:21:58 pm »
I was about to say I don't remember Ramirez being a very good hitter in the 3-hole at all the handful of times we've tried him there.  Particularly, I remember him hitting badly in 2006 in the 3-hole after Derrek Lee got hurt.  Still, his OPS hitting third that year overall as 1.066, so my memory there is kind of scewed on how bad of a start he had to that season.

I think it's a comfort factor more than anything else, though.  Ramirez has about 7 times as many at bats hitting cleanup as he does hitting third.  He's only had 27 AB the past three years in the 3 hole.  He's used to hitting cleanup, so there's not much sense moving him around unnecessarily when there are other quality options for the 3 hole available.

Marlon Byrd will probably be the 3 hole hitter to start the year, and while he won't be spectacular, he should be adequate there.  Really lineup order doesn't matter much anyway, so whether they decide to hit Ramirez 3rd or 4th, it's not really going to matter a whole lot.

StrikeZone

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #50 on: February 25, 2011, 06:03:58 pm »
Byrd's OPS last year hitting third was under .600, so hitting him there again is pretty stupid.  He ended up getting over 200 ABs there and was inadequate.

Comfortable or not, Ramirez is the team's best hitter and he should hit in the three-hole.

Cactus

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #51 on: March 28, 2011, 08:59:47 am »
Cubs players cars being sent from Mesa to Chicago
 
  arrow Rotate photo    plus View full size  Cubs players' cars being sent to Chicago for Opening Day.

Cactus

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #52 on: March 28, 2011, 09:45:13 am »
The Cubs are switching back to Vienna Beef hot dogs at Wrigley for 2011.  But they don't say what the price will be.

 

FITS

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #53 on: March 30, 2011, 09:12:20 am »
Good move.  I want one NOW!  :)

brjones

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #54 on: March 30, 2011, 01:48:13 pm »
Since Worldsucking seems to be circling the drain and could go away at any time, I'll repost this here...Rotoworld says Max Ramirez has passed through waivers and will be going to Iowa.

Jes Beard

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #55 on: March 30, 2011, 04:38:13 pm »

By the way, isn't the Byrd/Conte relationship old news?

It was JR.

What did you expect?

Jes Beard

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #56 on: March 30, 2011, 06:29:58 pm »
Byrd's OPS last year hitting third was under .600, so hitting him there again is pretty stupid.  He ended up getting over 200 ABs there and was inadequate.

What reason is there to believe that is the result of anything other than coincidence and small sample size?

Seriously, what reason is there to believe that there is something in particularly about the role of standing in the batter's box and hitting in the 3rd spot in the lineup as opposed to the 5th spot in the lineup to rationally explain that kind of a performance difference from his performance overall?

Unless someone can come up with one, I would assume none exists.

brjones

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #57 on: March 31, 2011, 08:35:43 am »
Yeah, I'm not a big believer in position-in-the-lineup splits.  It's almost always a small sample size that you're making a judgment on...I mean, when a rookie comes up, it takes a full year or two to make any kind of conclusion on him.  Why should a 200 AB sample be meaningful from one position in the lineup?  This is something that has bothered me this offseason when people have pointed out Fukudome's weaker performance in the leadoff spot last year.  They point out his .611 OPS in the leadoff spot last year in 215 PA...but conveniently ignore his .827 OPS in 162 PA in 2009 and .804 OPS in 67 PA in 2008.

That said, I agree that Byrd in the third spot is a bad idea, mainly because he's just not that good of a hitter.  But I think Quade is pretty smart, and I think the 3-4-5 spots will be filled by Soto-Ramirez-Pena (not necessarily in that order) by the beginning of May.

Jes Beard

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #58 on: March 31, 2011, 01:09:38 pm »
That said, I agree that Byrd in the third spot is a bad idea, mainly because he's just not that good of a hitter. 

That is a perfectly reasonable argument, but I am not sure that the Cub roster lends itself to filling the 3rd spot in the batting order, unless you use ARam there, and then have no good option for the cleanup slot.

Cactus

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Re: Cubs in '11
« Reply #59 on: March 31, 2011, 01:16:18 pm »
 arrow Rotate photo    plus View full size  More ads on brick walls at Wrigley.