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My only complaint with Dale Baylor is the first negative you listed. Apart from that I can't really fault him for anything.
Mather hitting third was just pulling a guy that had been hot at the spot with the most productive hitter. I agree that Soriano ought to be moved up to the 3 spot right now with the way he is hitting, but I don't think it really matters right now who is hitting 3rd.
Tony Campana has really tailed off, as most of us expected with his ridiculous high BABIP. During the losing streak he was batting .182/.280/.182. He doesn't do the club any good unless he is getting on base, and that simply isn't cutting it. If you extend the numbers back to the high water mark for his average on May 7, he has been hitting .256/.304/.279 since that point.
When the entire bullpen sucks it is hard to find fault with the guy. You can argue that he stuck with certain guys too long, but when there isn't a guy to turn to it is hard to say that he was wrong. Carlos Marmol hanging onto the closer spot as long as he did probably had a little something to do with Theo and Jed wanting to create value to trade him.
Mather hitting third was just pulling a guy that had been hot at the spot with the most productive hitter. I agree that Soriano ought to be moved up to the 3 spot right now with the way he is hitting, but I don't think it really matters right now who is hitting 3rd.
Tony Campana has really tailed off, as most of us expected with his ridiculous high BABIP. During the losing streak he was batting .182/.280/.182. He doesn't do the club any good unless he is getting on base, and that simply isn't cutting it. If you extend the numbers back to the high water mark for his average on May 7, he has been hitting .256/.304/.279 since that point.
When the entire bullpen sucks it is hard to find fault with the guy. You can argue that he stuck with certain guys too long, but when there isn't a guy to turn to it is hard to say that he was wrong. Carlos Marmol hanging onto the closer spot as long as he did probably had a little something to do with Theo and Jed wanting to create value to trade him.
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Yeah, I know Campana has struggled but he still should get some starts. Mather hasn't done too muchand he' the Cubs 3 hitter. With he lineup they had today, I would have:
1) DeJesus
2) Castro
3) Soriano
4) LaHair
5) Mather
6) Stewart
7) Barney
8) Catcher
9) Pitcher
I have Stewart 6th and Mather 5th so it's not back-to-back lefties.
1) DeJesus
2) Castro
3) Soriano
4) LaHair
5) Mather
6) Stewart
7) Barney
8) Catcher
9) Pitcher
I have Stewart 6th and Mather 5th so it's not back-to-back lefties.
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Do you mean 1st and 2nd or just 2nd? They probably could be into one point, but they're 2 different statements.
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I wouldn't mind the Cubs rolling that lineup pretty regularly until callups and trades happen. If you wanted to pop Campana in the lineup I would probably do this:
1)DeJesus
2)Castro
3)LaHair
4)Soriano
5)Stewart
6)Barney
7)Catcher
8)Pitcher
9)Campana
Mather was hitting well in limited time. I don't think anyone really expected him to keep producing the way he had up to this point, but when you are in a tailspin like that you try anything to pull the team out of it. I don't think it was a terrible idea. If Mather is still batting third in a week and isn't producing than I would think it would be something to worry about (not about this team because it doesn't matter what the lineup is this season but about Sveum).
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My favorite teams
Sveum gets an A-, great manager
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I think we'll have a better gauge of how good of a manager Sveum is if he had actual MLB talent on this team. Right now his team sucks so bad that everything he does, even if fundamentally sound, would have the potential of making him look like an idiot :lol:
That said, there's no way he's hired if Theo and Jed didn't trust his judgment and ability to lead a squad, especially a team that's not meant to go anywhere this season.
That said, there's no way he's hired if Theo and Jed didn't trust his judgment and ability to lead a squad, especially a team that's not meant to go anywhere this season.
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To be honest I don't know what you are referring to with this post.
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You said the 1st negative one, but I think this post you replied to was meant for my 2nd negatives:
Make more sense now?
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It does make more sense now. I was saying though that I only have a problem with how frequently he gives up outs. Mather batting third is a temporary situation which while I agree is silly I don't think I will fault the guy too much for.
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The outs are probably a function of how bad this offense is so he's just trying to get more guys into scoring position, but for the most part I agree. I doubt he bunts as much if the lineup was stacked at the top with good hitters though.
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Funny how we have flip-flopped positions on this with me earlier in the year saying essentially the same thing. The bunting with Castro in front of LaHair was the worst example of this, and I agree that he probably will be less bunt happy with a potent lineup. Just it is making me nervous how frequently he is resorting to the straight sacrifice bunt.
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I think if he had more time he would've instructed the guys how to surprise bunt better. Surprise bunts are better than showing bunt right off, methinks.
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I agree that was always something that the Cardinals, especially their pitchers, seemed to do well.
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Ohh gotcha ... my bad!
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i love his aggressiveness, for one. he's a good, hard-nosed coach. look @ Soriano's defense after he came in... whether or not that has to do w/ McKay, obv. he preaches it.
guys, he's a first year manager.... cut him a lil. he'll learn. no need to overpraise or be too critical, it's a bad team w/ a new face that's rebuilding. in a couple years, we'll see how he really stacks up.
guys, he's a first year manager.... cut him a lil. he'll learn. no need to overpraise or be too critical, it's a bad team w/ a new face that's rebuilding. in a couple years, we'll see how he really stacks up.
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I honestly wish we would've never hired him, but it's not like the guy has anything to work with right now. It's not really fair to assess his ability with this kind of roster. I personally felt we had plenty of other good options out there to be our manager.
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Examples please?
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Examples of who I would've rather had us hire? Ryne Sandberg, Mike Maddux, Bobby Valentine, Jose Oquendo, Joey Cora or Terry Pendleton are all guys I'd much rather see on the bench. Like I said, with our roster, I understand it's hard to gauge a manager's true ability. I just feel like the fact that the Brewers weren't willing to extend Sveum's interim tag kind of scared me. Meh, again... it's just a matter of opinion. I think Sveum will ultimately be just fine when he gets a competent roster.
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Dale Sveum could use one of these:
