it shows what the Cub organization REALLY thinks of Mr. Murton!

I like the guy as a player, but he is a square peg trying to fit into a round hole in Chicago.

It’s just that simple.

I wouldnt bet against Murton coming up.

He signed with the stipulation that he would play RF. Why mess up a good thing?

and I’m sure no correlation, and I may be wrong, but I think that was the only game this year he didn’t get on base at least once. I’m sure that he would play there and not make a peep about it, but why do that to one of our top players? Leave him where he is comfortable, we have Johnson who can play center.

but Hendry had the final say as to who got called up.

Once Piniella decided that Fontenot was going to play second and DeRosa left, the decision became clear that Patterson was the one to call up. You don’t want to call up Murton to have him sit on the bench.

Personally, I would have called up Murton AND Patterson and sent Fontenot down to Iowa. DeRosa would stay at second, Murton would play left and Patterson would back them both up. Fontenot is really useless as a backup as he only plays one position. (He’s lucky the guy he backs up plays five.) And the difference in hitting ability between Fontenot and Patterson doesn’t justify keeping the one who only plays one position.

On another site someone claimed to have inside info Pinella has a superstition about redheads or doesn’t like them.

Wel then Ryan Dempster better watch out!

It’s a left-handed bat and more defensive flexibility that is needed.

Back in 2005 when Murton arrived he had the promise of a .320 hitter with a 20+HR….at least .950 OPS young player, ‘06 he showed he was an above average MLB hitter in a power position roughly .290 12-15-HR and .850 OPS…in ‘07 that would be alright if Soriano who is a .950+ OPS hitter could play CF and therefore trading positions…that didn’t work out where Soriano was moved to LF making Murton a RF platoon player in another power position.

As a bench player he is more marginal; his defense is at best average (being kind), his baserunning speed is at best average, he is right-handed and he can only play 2 corner OF positions. He has work to do to make himself a viable & valuable MLB player, (unfair to those who like him from a distance, possibly because of his red top hair), but the marketplace also has validated this consideration. Where are the suiters?

Patterson on the other hand has value especially for bench, he has speed (real baserunning/stealing speed), he bats from the left side and he can play (marginally) more than one position on the diamond, 2B and OF.

Originally I thought the Cubs might go in this direction when Soriano went down because of DeRosa, even if DeRosa might butcher the position for a few games since Piniella can use the time to get DeRosa acquainted with the OF again. It also allows Piniella to play Fontenot more who has earned playing time and get another LH bat in the lineup regularly.

I feel the lineup should stay as is. They are playing good ball right now and there is no reason to mess with it. They need to just make sure to win every series for the rest of the month(there isn’t many good teams until the Brewers).

They need to get Sori back and hopefully get a little bit more of a spark in May and then win, what is looking like, a tough series with the Cards. Don’t fix it if it aint broke, and it is hard to say a team is doing something wrong when they have won 8 out of 10.

Patterson was called up so he could share the field with his brother? Maybe the Cubs will call up Murton now…

over Patterson. Take a look at Patterson’s BB/K ration this season in Minor Leagues. That’s all we need is another free swinging rookie who won’t be able to hit major league pitching.

Is it too late to trade for Roberts?