can you please give us the statistics that back up you statement. If you’re gonna make claims, you might as well provide the evidence.

A player isn’t a better hitter whether there are men on base or not. Sure Manny gets more RBIs and hits better-because he’s a better hitter. If you gave Murton 10,000 ABs w/ people on base and with out his stats would be nearly identical.

but I think his lack of production with runners on is simply a case of him trying to do too much, especially the last year or two with him being kind of on the bubble between making the Major Leagues and staying there. He was getting regular playing time at the big league level on a very bad team in 2006, but did pretty well, and it seems like the fact that he has regressed in his career has him in kind of a state of denial / panic mode.

I’ve always been a big Murton fan, and I think with regular playing time, he would be a quality, if not spectacular, everyday outfielder at the Major League level. But with Soriano, Fukudome, Pie, and Johnson on the team, he is never going to get regular playing time here. I hope, for his sake, that we do trade him because that would be the best thing for his career.

I was trying to say Manny hits better with men on than Murton because Manny is a better hitter, but Murton is still the same hitter with men on as without, so the stats will come to a mean eventually.

Managers, Scouts, coaches, etc. are human. and like all of us, we have preconceived notions (sometimes called prejudices) about who is or isn’t good, or who has ‘tools’ and who doesn’t. Corey Patterson, IMHO, is a poor hitter, yet he’s still got a starting job after proving this to be true over and over (Not to pile on but Dusty has him hitting lead-off for Cincy. sheesh! didn’t that experiment already fail?) Why? because he has ‘tools’. Murton, on the other hand, puts up beter offensive numbers in his sleep, but he has few ‘tools’. Corey is overrated and Murton is underrated by Baseball and Murton can’t do anything about his rep because he already hasshown the one talent he has, hitting. Corey won’t change his rep either. People wil always talk about what should have been. Failed promise, instead of “he was just not very good, athletic ability aside”. Neither is great, but if I need a 4th OF for my team in spring training and I have these two guys left to choose from. my vote goes to Murton every time.

One other note. I remember Lou from his playing days with the Yankees, and he was considered a real good hitter, yet Murton’s numbers are quite a bit better, although to this point, about 8 years less playing time. Perception is reality.

Again, I’m not saying Murton should start, or even be on the Cubs, just that there are other OF’ers in MLB that are worse and have jobs, and some of those are due to perception, some due to the intangibles that Al talks about, probably some others have jobs for no discernable reason.

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...could be as simple as Murton presses a little bit with men on base. I know there are exceptions, but I think you will generally find that most decent hitters have their highest batting average with men on base, especially in the circumstances where the hitter knows the pitcher needs to throw strikes (man on 1st and 2nd, bases loaded) and they take advantage of that.