Chicago Cubs piece of crap list

[clarnzz]

As of 6/6/04

Corey Patterson - Defense has been rock solid, but I swear this guy K's at least three times every game.
.251 AVG, .313 OBP, .718 OPS

Derek Lee - See Corey Patterson
..255 AVG, .336 OBP, .757 OPS

Alex Gonzalez - See Patterson and Lee, add 4-6 weeks of injury(not that it matters) and a tough time keeping his batting average over .240.
.244 AVG, .261 OBP, .672 OPS

Tom Goodwin - Pinch runner with groin problems. (completely useless)
.214 AVG, .227 OBP, .513 OPS, 1 SB

Ramon Martinez - At least he can play three positions.
.234 AVG, .295 OBP, .583 OPS

Joe Borowski - How this guy keeps getting the ball in the ninth is beyond me.
2-4, 9 SV, 8.02 ERA

Sergio Mitre - Enjoy your career in AAA.
2-4, 6.51 ERA

Andy Pratt - Key accquisition in the Juan Cruz trade
0-1, 21.60 ERA, 7 BB and 4 ER in 1.2 IP (MLB)
0-4, 17.00 ERA, 15 BB and 17 ER in 9 IP (AAA)

[Hank Greenberg]

Originally posted by clarnzz

.244 AVG, .261 OBP, .672 OPS

Tom Goodwin - Pinch runner with groin problems. (completely useless)
.214 AVG, .227 OBP, .513 OPS, 1 SB

You have never played baseball have you? Tom Goodwin may be the teams MVP, his veteran presence and clutch running ability make his presence essential if the Cubs want to win. He is the reason they got the NLCS last year, not Prior-Wood or Sammy. Too say he's completely useless is laughable and makes it obvious you dont know what real baeball is about.

[koohead]

I'll definitely agree with you on the Borowski comment...he's horrible. His latest melt-down on Friday has to be the final straw. I don't see how Dusty can still hand him the ball with the game on the line...he's only proven 1 thing this year...that last year was a fluke. Give the ball to Hawkins in the 9th.

[BigBambino]

I think Derek Lee will pick up his play and really heat up and help out the team. Hes always been a good player.

[clarnzz]

Originally posted by BigBambino
I think Derek Lee will pick up his play and really heat up and help out the team. Hes always been a good player.

I'm really hoping he picks it up and gets himself off the piece of crap list, but will likely be on it until he's been more productive than Choi.

I also didn't realize Alex Gonzalez was making 5.5 million dollars this season to be a complete piece of crap. Thank god his contract expires after this year.

[clarnzz]

Piece of crap update:

Joe Borowski placed on the disabled list with a bruised ego.

Corey Patterson 0-4, 1K
Game highlight: Failing on 2 sac bunt attempts and then flying out to center field, runner advances from second to third.

[kingcharlesxii]

I'm not at all surprised about Andy Pratt. His control problems worried me when he was a Braves prospect.

BTW: Juan Cruz has a 3.42 ERA so far this year.

[Skipaway]

Corey Patterson - 0.48mil

Derek Lee - 6.17mil

Alex Gonzalez - 5.50mil

Tom Goodwin - 0.65mil

Ramon Martinez - 0.90mil

Joe Borowski - 2.00mil

Sergio Mitre - 0.31mil

Andy Pratt - 0.30mil

[clarnzz]

Not sure if I was at a game if I would boo him or not, but watching him is very frustrating!


Only idiots boo Corey Patterson

BY MIKE NADEL
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

CHICAGO - Booing is stupid.

If you are a fan, it is your right. You pay big money for tickets, so you pretty much can do anything that isn't illegal or immoral. Athletic events are marketed as if they are mini-wars, and you are supposed to voice your hatred of The Enemy by booing.

But booing a player on the home team for not getting a hit - the exact hellfire Cubbieland is raining down upon Corey Patterson - is idiotic.

Counterproductive, too.

If a batter is failing in the clutch, he needs to relax at the plate. Getting booed by the very people who are supposed to be supporting him does not help a batter relax.

"You hear it, but you can't let it affect you," said Patterson, who heard it from the crowd four times Wednesday as he went hitless in the Cubs' 5-1 loss to Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros. "I'm here to play and have fun and help my teammates. If (fans) want to boo, that's fine."

No, it isn't.

Cubbie fans should be embarrassed by their recent attitude toward Patterson. He was treated so rudely Tuesday, when he struck out twice with the bases loaded, that one would have thought he had done something truly heinous.

You know, like cut off the fans' cellphone service.

"He's a little lost right now," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said of his young center fielder. "It doesn't help when people are on his butt and booing and stuff. You don't need to be kicked when you're down. Everybody needs some love and support, especially when they're down, especially at home."

And the Cubs claim to have "the best fans in the world"?

Not if the tens of thousands who regularly go to Wrigley Field are accurate representatives of the species.

Sure, they're passionate, but are they supportive? Are they part of the solution or part of the problem?

You know who deserves to get booed? A guy who doesn't run out grounders. A guy who doesn't try to improve. A guy who lets his body go to pot. A guy who treats fans with disdain or the game with disrespect. A guy who refuses to learn how to field his position. A guy who shows up late. A guy who is a jerk in the clubhouse. A guy who cheats. A guy who doesn't give a damn.

Patterson fits none of those descriptions.

He is a nice kid. He never dogs it. He is in great shape, able to play a Gold Glove caliber center field even though he is sandwiched between Moises Alou and Sammy Sosa. He is respectful toward fans, teammates and opponents. He is always on time. He wants to help the Cubs win.

This is the guy "the best fans in the world" are booing?

Baker understands the mob mentality often exhibited by fans - including his 5-year-old son, Darren.

"My wife took him to a Giants game and she said he started booing with the rest of them," Dusty said. "I'm going to keep telling him" not to boo.

Good idea. Because booing home-team players who are trying hard is moronic.

I know this is asking a lot of fans, but they should think before they boo.

Corey Patterson is 24. He has tremendous raw ability, which he displayed in 2003 when he carried the team before suffering a season-ending knee injury in July. Why attack - and, perhaps, wound the psyche of - a polite, hard-working, talented, young man who is expected to be a franchise cornerstone for the next decade?

It's not as if Patterson is the only struggling Cubbie, either. The injuries to important players and the poor play of some healthy players finally is catching up with the Cubs, who are 2-7 since May 25 and have fallen 4 1/2 games out of the National League Central lead.

And it's not as if Patterson was the only batter who couldn't handle Clemens, the 41-year-old wonder who allowed only five hits in seven innings to run his record to 8-0.

What next for "the best fans in the world"?

Will they boo Messiah Mark Prior if he gets shelled Friday in his 2004 debut?

The Cubs seem so fragile right now that they could collapse if Prior fails to live up to the tremendous - and tremendously unfair - burden being heaped upon him. If they do collapse, thereby crushing Cubbieland's World Series dream, will they be booed until the season comes to a merciful end Oct. 3?

For now, at least, most fans at Wrigley seem content to boo Patterson, who insists he can take the heat: "It will make me a better player down the road, maybe make me mentally tougher."

How about that? He's too damned classy even to lash out at his tormentors.

"Best fans in the world"? Frankly, Corey Patterson is too good for them.

[CubsSox]

Originally posted by Hank Greenberg
You have never played baseball have you? Tom Goodwin may be the teams MVP, his veteran presence and clutch running ability make his presence essential if the Cubs want to win. He is the reason they got the NLCS last year, not Prior-Wood or Sammy. Too say he's completely useless is laughable and makes it obvious you dont know what real baeball is about.

What? You must be joking. A "veteran presence" while important at times wasn't the sole reason the Cubs made it to the NLCS last season. I think Prior's 11-1 record after he came back from injury, the trade for Lofton, Simon, Ramirez, Wood leading the league in K's and holding hitters to a .220 average, and Sosa getting his usual power numbers were more of a part that. So yeah, I seriously hope you are joking because I'm sure if Tom Goodwin was released today that would have a very minimal effect in the future outcome of the season.

As for the other, Derrek Lee is a slow starter like Tejada. Hopefully he will pick it up. But I think Jim Hendry went about the wrong way to improve the team over the offseason. I think instead of looking to upgrade 1B, he should've looked to upgrade the SS position. After his injury against the Yankees, Choi was never given much of a chance to regain his job as Karros started killing left handed pitching. Mix that in with Baker's notorious attitude against young players and it can be said he never got a chance to fully prove himself after injury.

Not to mention the Cubs' lineup could also use another left handed bat in their greatly right handed lineup. I think the Cubs should've tried to make a run at Orlando Caberra in Montreal. He's a former gold glover and has shown signs of offensive exellence. I know he is struggling this year, but a change of scenario could change things around for some players (ex: Aramis Ramirez, Juan Uribe).

Also while I still believe the Lee trade could end up being real good for the Cubs (even though they are on the losing end right now) I never liked the Juan Cruz trade. Cruz was never given a fair chance ever as a Cub. In Don Baylor's last year he started the season 0-8, but his ERA was still a respectable around 3.50-3.60. Don Baylor removed him from the rotation citing "mental reasons". This is a reason an idiot like Don Baylor should never have a major league job. Of course if you have a ERA under 4 and you are 0-8 it is a product of bad run support and bad luck more than the pitchers fault. Judging a pitcher by win loss record really frustrates me because I think it is such an idiotic way to go about things. In Clemens last year in Boston he was 10-13 3.63 ERA. That's when he was considered "washed up". People with higher ERAs have had 20 game win seasons basically due to better run support and luck. Cruz was doing a solid job in the rotation and I'm sure he was smart enough to just realize he was getting bad breaks until Baylor yanked him for really no reason at all.

Mitre just plain sucks, don't blame poor Ramon, I'm sure he knows he is nothing more than a backup utility infielder (and hes a decent one at that) but blame Dusty Baker for his love for this guy that causes him to overplay him (even with Gonzo healthly) and Cubs management for doing nothing to fix the horrible SS talent they've gathered up.

I think Patterson is an easy target because he said he would rather swing at a bad pitch than take a strike down the middle. The guy has always been thinking of himself as a power hitter, instead of a 1 or 2 guy. That's why the fans are pissed at him. Not to mention he had been hyped up as the next Chicago baseball star and hasn't come near his potential. I know it's not his fault, but he does deserve some of the blame. If Derrek Lee doesn't pick it up soon, I expect him to be in the Cub fans doghouse very quickly. Same goes for Gonzalez if he is even playing for the team in September (I hope not).

[AnotherAlias]

Originally posted by b-man
Baseball season's over....

Can't argue with that.

The bullpen is bull****.













1946 - John William Mauchly designed the first all-electronic computer for the U.S. Department of Army Ordnance to help compute ballistic firing tables. The revolutionary device, called the ENIAC, weighed thirty tons and consisted of thirty separate units that were cooled by a crude, forced-air system. The all "digital" computer operated on 19,000 vacuum tubes, 1,500 relays, and hundreds of thousands of resistors, capacitors, and inductors that consumed almost 200 kilowatts of electrical power.

The New York Yankees became the first Major League Baseball team to fly on a regular basis after leasing a United Airlines plane nicknamed the "Yankee Mainliner". Despite the convenience of a shortened travel schedule, four players, including Red Ruffing, still elected to take the train.

Boston Red Sox second baseman Johnny Pesky became the first American League player to single-handedly score six runs in a game during a 14-10 triumph over the Chicago White Sox on May 8th for their thirteenth straight victory. Boston extended its streak to fifteen games before losing to their rivals, the New York Yankees, on May 11th.

On May 20th, Chicago Cubs ace Claude Passeau made his first error since 1941 to end an all-time pitcher's fielding streak of two-hundred seventy-three consecutive errorless chances. Passeau was noted for playing with a special modified glove due to a deformed left hand that was disfigured by a childhood shooting accident.

The Chicago White Sox became the first Major League team to provide an official Media Guide for the baseball writers. The seventeen-page publication had been developed by Marsh Samuel and listed individual player and team information as well as limited statistical data. Bill Veeck was so impressed by the concept; he hired Samuel himself to develop a similar guide for the Cleveland Indians.

[clarnzz]

Wish I would of posted this sooner, Lee has been on an absolute tear ever since!

Patterson actually has drawn 2 walks today!!!

WOOOOOT!

[AnotherAlias]

Originally posted by clarnzz


Patterson actually has drawn 2 walks today!!!

WOOOOOT!

Do miracles never cease?

They tore them up today, baby!!!






After supporting the idea of a Jewish independent state, the United States officially recognized Israel, as it's own entity. President Truman made a formal announcement fourteen minutes after the state had been declared in Tel Aviv. Shortly after, the surrounding Arab States attacked Israel sparking off a religious and political conflict that has lasted to this day.

Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals put on a hitting clinic at Crosley Field during an April 30th outing against the Cincinnati Reds. "Stan The Man" totaled five hits in the first of four such performances during the season. Only Ty Cobb and Willie Keeler had accomplished the same feat while going 5+ at the plate on four separate occasions.

The New York Yankees retired Babe Ruth's No. 3 jersey on June 13th during a special pre-game ceremony that marked "The Bambino's" final appearance at Yankee Stadium, which was celebrating it's 25th anniversary. A perennial pinstripe legend, Ruth's astounding abilities at the plate and larger-than-life personality off the field had made him a tremendous drawing card throughout the league as well as the highest-paid player of his era.

On August 16th, baseball lost its greatest player after Babe Ruth succumbed to throat cancer at the age of fifty-three. Fittingly, his last public appearance had come three weeks earlier at the premier of a movie about his amazing life titled "The Babe Ruth Story". As an unprecedented tribute, his body lay in state at Yankee Stadium, also known as "The House That Ruth Built", and was viewed by more than 100,000 fans that lined up for miles just to pay their respects.

[SoxWin]

Originally posted by Skipaway
Corey Patterson - 0.48mil

Derek Lee - 6.17mil

Alex Gonzalez - 5.50mil

Tom Goodwin - 0.65mil

Ramon Martinez - 0.90mil

Joe Borowski - 2.00mil

Sergio Mitre - 0.31mil

Andy Pratt - 0.30mil

And salaries are relevant how?

[Skipaway]

dunno