But come up with a suggestion. Who should be sent down instead?

Hey lets give props to Sammy Sosa Jr (Soriano), last night he fell behind 0-2 AGAIN, and actually walked!!!! Congrats!

I have flashbacks to Dusty’s love affair with Neifi Perez and life is WAY too short for that.

I wish I could understand what Lou’s seeing in this guy that basically no one else is.
Also, I know it’s pretty hard to do with Ramirez out but DeRosa needs a day off. Badly.

has a really strong arm, why not slot him at third base for a few games while ARam is recovering. I really agree though, our best defensive alignment would include putting Cedeno at short and either Dero or Theriot at second.

Fontenot should be sent down instead of Pie.

were flat out horrible last night. i understand a mistake every now and then but for christ’s sake they have got to be held accountable. HP ump was calling strikes literaly 8-9 inches off the plate.

im confused, I thought for sure after that catch it might have built a little confidence for Pie….earning him some time.

neeeds to start and play

Al, Im glad to hear you say what you had to say about Fontenot. We love this team, but it needs to be said that you have to perform at a certain level, and Fontenot did do some boneheaded things last night.

About Felix… reading the article more closely, it sounds like Gordon Wittenmyer is just speculating it could be Felix to go down. It seems more likely to be Fontenot now.

A 13th pitcher likely would mean a demotion for struggling center fielder Felix Pie to continue work on mechanics changes Piniella and the staff are trying to make with him.

I gave him a B. Good motivator; ho-hum strategist. The reasons keep coming up.

However, on his defense, Lou’s saying he needs 2 lefties in the pen. At least there is a method behind the madness.

..but one thing that really got me was how bad Cordero looked and that the Cubs didnt capitalize even after the Fonty gaffe.

You could tell he didnt have his best stuff, was struggling with command etc. That was there for the taking at the end. The Reds are a mess, need to take the next two with the DBacks coming in this weekend.

Fontenot for yesterday’s error seems hasty. He had 4 rbi two days ago, and was on base 3 more times the next day, so why wouldn’t Lou keep running him out there. His hustle mistake in the 9th, was just that; a hustling mistake. DeRosa’s error was just as costly, while his average has dropped to below .260. Why not play both Mike and Ronny for a day if ARam is still hurt. DeRo is pulling everything, and not producing w/ runners in scoring position. Likewise, DLee has also left too many runners on base for the Cubs to win close games. They are in a bad stretch; hopefully Z can outpitch Harang today, and the worm will turn.

On a sidenote, I listened to the game last night on XM. M. Brenneman and J. Brantley continually questioned Dusty’s handling of the roster, specifically C. Patterson, and the use of the pitching staff. If Baker had problems w/ S. Stone, he really must be souring of the Cinncinatti media. I haven’t ever heard a broadcast team be so critical of their own, during a broadcast.

has given him a week’s worth of playing time.

I still don’t understand why Lou isn’t playing Cedeno. It seems that Ronny has played well enough to be in the lineup. I could see in prior years when he played great in ST and then stunk at the plate or on the bases, but this year he seems a lot better all around. I would think that if he has finally turned the corner, you play him to keep him sharp and confident. It’s almost as if Lou is ignoring him.

I also think sending Pie down is a bad move as well. Most of the team is sucking right now, might as well play hime every day and let him get going at the plate. If Lou has been working with him and it seems like he is coming around, you have to let him play. Why work hard with the kid just to send him down where he tears it up? He needs experience at THIS level, not in AAA.

DeRosa needs a day off, it looks like.

But I would also demote Pie. He needs to play everyday to work on his hitting mechanics.

Then I think, given his potential to greatly improve, we’ve got to keep running Pie out there. Johnson will continue to provide a solid right handed replacement—though his batting likely will suffer from increased time on the pine pony.

Let the Pie experiment continue!

(Longtime reader, first time poster—Go Cubs!!!)

He certainly made some bonehead plays but there is a bigger problem. Soriano.

The team has played like crap since it was announced he was coming off the DL. He disrupts the chemistry of the team with his refusal to bat anywhere but leadoff. It is disheartening to see him come to the plate in key situations and know he’s going blow it.

I’m sure I’m in the minority in my viewpoint but something needs to be done about this guy.

I couldn’t agree with you more. I’m still trying to figure out what Lou is doing with Pie…and Fontenot is just a bench player. Why in the hell is he starting? Because of the homerun Saturday? Come on Lou…start Cedeno.

I agree that either Gallagher or Marshall needs to be sent down so we have a starter in waiting (along with Hill). I’d like to see us keep Marshall up in case Eyre isn’t really 100 percent yet and runs into trouble.

P.S. I’m not saying Pie is great, but I think he has more talent than Johnson and is starting to show signs of being better.

Lou’s mismanaging his roster, showing bias against the more talented players in favor of His Boys. He’s asking for the offense to be fixed instead of the defense. He’s allowed his obsession with his determined need of another LH bat to addle his managing mind. Lou’s Lost LH bat is his White Whale. Jim Hendry has to take control of the situation and get Lou right again. Jim has to send a message to Lou.

That message isn’t sent if Fontenot is sent down. The message is sent when Ryan Theriot is sent down.

Now, Theriot doesn’t deserve it. He’s been hitting well. But Cedeno needs to be put at SS and Jim shouldn’t give Lou his Riot back until this roster is put back into order. The roster is in order when Cedeno is at SS and Pie is playing against all RHP, not just the ones who have the better stuff and are more likely to strike you out.

At some level you have got to like and root for Mike Fontenot. But it has never been any secret that he is a bad defensive second baseman. When you put bad defense in the middle infield then invariably it’s going to come back and bite you. The other day Fontenot couldn’t turn the double play, but in that instance it didn’t cost the Cubs. There have been a number of other examples of Fontenot’s less than stellar defensive play.

Fontenot is a lot like Matt Murton. No versatility and defensive ability whatsoever. It’s tough to carry guys like that on a 25 man roster that includes 12 pitchers.

Frankly, I don’t understand why Lou Piniella isnt’ playing Ronny Cedeno some at 2nd base. On those days when Mark DeRosa is needed to play elsewhere or gets a day off. Cedeno would surely be huge upgrade defensively over Mike Fontenot.

Didn’t find any mention of Cubs brass frustrated with Lou’s handling of young players, but I found links to:

Olney writing in 2007 that the players were fed up (referencing the team meeting early last year)

Olney writing in 2006 that the Cubs were going to go hard after A-Rod.

What that tells me is, anything he did write, I’ll take with a huge grain of salt.

Like I said last week there are visible signs the organization is giving up on Felix Pie. If you want to lay that all at Lou Piniella’s doorstep, then fine. It’s patently incorrect to do so, but that is the reactionary nature of some fans.

I’m not going to be seduced into getting excited about Pie via performance in an at bat or a game or a couple games. It is ridiculous that every time this guy gets a hit, the masses of BCB scream “see I told ya !!!!!” Peel back the onion skin folks.

aside of a great defensive play here and there, he has shown very little signs that he can be an everyday player. Plus the way Soriano goes back on fly balls, i am not sure of how much he communicates out there in the outfield. Another thing, if we are going to blame fonty for last night why not have a posting basically saying the soriano has cost us more games this year than anyone, maybe we should start a hero of the week and a goat of the week, part of getting the big bucks is also being called out when you play like a tee baller

is to make sure that he talks to the other fielders to let them know where there are in relationship to the wall, it appears that soriano has no clue how far he is to the wall where the ball is going. If you are on the side of someone you can see it clearly how far back someone has to go. Its a basic drill that they should be doing in spring training but i cant say for sure that pie or johnson are talking to him but it doesnot look like it

I’m a HUGE Sweet Lou fan. Best manager the Cubs have had since I began passionately following this team in 1977. That being said, he is having a REAL BAD two weeks. I am bitterly disappointed by his continuing handling of the Alfonso Soriano situation. I also for the life me don’t understand why Kosuke isn’t hitting at the top of the order. Playing Mike Fontenot all the time is also a head scratcher.

Soriano getting horrible jumps on balls has nothing to do with communication. Plus, most of the time the CF isn’t in the picture so I’m not sure how you’re positive they aren’t talking to him.

Al, I was just on the homepage of BCB… and I can’t find the Cubs record and/or expandable standings on the page. It used to be about half way down on the right sidebar.

Any thoughts?

Caller just said that the Reds broadcasters (Welsh/Brennaman) all but indicted Soto last night for being Roided up due to the large disparity of his AAA #’s compared to his big league stats. Can anyone confirm these statements? If I’m not mistaken wasn’t Soto groomed as more of an offensive catcher while in the minors? And didn’t he win the batting league title before coming up?

during college our center fielder was an all american and he talked constantly while he was backing up plays. Our left and right fielders knew exactly how far they were from the wall and if a guy was tagging up or not, thats part of being the outfield captin. Now in the pros most of these thing they know everything, but the good ones talk to the other because they are suppose to be watch the ball not the ground or the runners.

It not different than a catcher telling a pitcher where to throw the ball on a bunt.

I am not saying the our center fielders are not talking to him, but someone needs to get in his face and tell him to pull his head out and start playing

Fonty may have been safe, and he probably shouldn’t have gone in the first place. However, The grass around the batter box in Cincy is really thick. That ball had some speed on it when it squirted out on Bako, once it hit the grass that ball absolutely died which is the only reason Bako got to that ball quick enough to make a play on it. Had that grass been a bit shorter or thinner Fonty is safe.

I’m just fascinated by how the grounds can effect the outcome of a game

It was mentioned above but it was nice to see Soriano come back from an 0-2 count for a walk, I almost started to hyperventilate when I saw that mini miracle.

The errors/mental errors that happened last night is pretty typical when a team is on a skid, they’ll turn it around and starting with Z tonight would be nice. Let’s get back to winning series.

Side note, thank the Lord that Marquis is being skipped this start, I would not want to start that series against the D-Backs with him. Hopefully Jim is shopping him!

I received my Cubs Tickets yesterday! YEAH. The dilemma however is that due to the wonders of modern inventions someone else’s ticket envelope got stuck to mine. So I now have there tickets as well as mine. YES I am going to make sure they get them. Question is should I call them—the phone number is on the tix confirmation or should I put it back to ticketmaster. I think I should just call and send it to them but my significant other thinks I should go through ticketmaster. Would you appreciate a call from the guy who accidentally got your tix?

ticket master will make a huge deal of it as I’m sure they have certain procedures, probably causing more problems and delaying the rightful owner from possessing his tickets.

Plus the owner will appreciate it and realize there are good people out there.

Heres the thing. First off I trust Lou. But second we don’t have that many good bats after our starting lineup other than ward anyway, at least not in my opinion. I do agree that having 13 pitchers is fairly obscene but I dunno. we will see what happens.

I’m plagiarizing someone else’s use of the word “poison.” But man is that most apt description. Like I said before, he is classic “second division” star who thrives in an environment where there is little expectation for winning and he can go out and hack his way to glorious personal statistics. Put him on a good team and all his warts and shortcomings become deeply exposed. Soriano is a very selfish ballplayer. A ballplayer incapable of playing team-based baseball.

And now the poison is starting to affect our manager, Lou Piniella.

Wait a minute man. I see what your sayin. he has been a dissapointment for us to an extent. However, I think he just needs some time without injury to get his swing back. I mean he is going to score us runs. I just don’t think you will see him play anywhere else but the cubs so we need to stick with him. He is an amazing talent in baseball and I would hate to see him go to that “second devision” team and put up those great numbers. This season is still very young and I think he is going to get hot and sooner then later. Like I said in the subject line, Lets hope that your wrong for your sake and mine. GO CUBS.

I think poison is too strong a word. Soriano has never been a guy who’s willing to adapt or change his approach. He does play hard, however, and he makes up for that lack of refinement with some big time skills. I just wonder: When a guy signs an eight-year, $136 deal doing things one way, what incentive does he have to change after age 30?
I get the impression that Los Piniella is being very careful in dealing with Soriano’s psyche and ego. If you heard Lou on the ESPN broadcast, he talked about how Alfonso is most comfortable batting leadoff. Soriano has stunk so far, but we’re going to need him over the long haul. Unless he becomes a total lost cause, Piniella is going to keep running him out there and hope he snaps out of this funk in the leadoff spot.