I caught MacPhail on the radio and it sounded like, besides looking for a little more depth in the bench and AAA (the always entertaining fifth outfielder questions and the passionate "11 pitchers and 14 batters or 12 pitchers and 13 batters" arguement.)
That was one of the reasons I liked having a guy like Woody Williams on the Padres. When it wasn't his turn out there to pitch, he was available as a pinch hitter or pinch runner.
Man, If I was a left handed pitcher, I would be working on BP every day trying to get that kind of a gig. There will be a spot for a utility pitcher like that on so many different teams...
Well I don't go nuts for assigning positions based on batting attributes.
And I don't know what second basemen you think are hitting 40 home runs, since no one did this year (okay, Boone had 37, I'll stop nitpicking). Other than Boone, no one over 30.
In the end, I guess we just have differing opinions on Mark Grace. You want him to be Jason Giambi, and I think he's fine being Bill Buckner.
Where on the EZBoard did this thread exist? If only i'd known there were other Cub fans here (besides the obvious - RIP DDTDigest), I'd have thrown my two cents worth in.
Look out now, we've signed Chris Stines.
Or is that Razor Shines?
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Overheard during Opening Day, 1983 (My first visit to Wrigley, the game was rained out).
Q: How do you think the Cubs will do this year?
A: Well, if Mel Hall has a bad year, they'll probably finish 5th. BUT, if he has a good year...
Up here in New England, we get all the Red Sox games. Stynes is a pretty good hitter, but a pretty weak defender. In 460 major league games, he has played 2 at shortstop. He is never going to be confused with a shortstop. He is a 2B/3B. You're stuck with Augie, methinks.
He's Rolie Polie Olie - and in his world of curves and curls, he's the swellest kid around.
Having been a Cub fan all of my 36 years, I have to say I like what the Cubs are doing, for once! It seems they have a good veteran lineup that wil allow them to break in 1-2 of their top prospects each year. This year it will be Patterson and maybe Bobby Hill later in the season. Late this year or next, Mark Prior and Ben Christensen, the year after that Luiz Montanez (SS, and the reason we only need Gonzalez 3 years or so) and David Kelton (maybe, he is marginal).
As far as the Mark Grace debate, I think he was a great player for what he was, a high average clutch hitter and gold glove fielder. He also seems to be a great guy to have in the clubhouse (I live in Phoenix now and he certainly helped the chemistry of the Diamondbacks). If you expect your first basemen to hit a lot of homers, you probably didn't like him, but his OPS were always in the high .800 in his peak years, and we had Sandberg as the power hitter at second, so they basically switched roles.
Since when can Chris Stynes play shortstop? Whatever, I don't care. I don't assume he'd be any worse at that than he is at playing second or third base.
Hey, did you know that when he was coming up with the Reds, Stynes compared himself to Ty Cobb in terms of batting skill? Ahahaha. No.
In honor of Opening Day, and with apologies to the owner of this material, I present the following:
Since the Chicago Cubs last laid claim to a World Series championship…
1. Radio was invented (Cub fans got to hear their team lose).
2.