That was an outlier, and to expect that kind of performance all the time is unrealistic. He’s on track this season to be right around his 162 game career numbers, and I agree with MPH73 that we should continue to see this for the foreseeable future. No need to panic.

You look at his career stats, he is pretty much where he should be. He had that huge 05 and we expect that year after year. He is 25 HRs, 90 RBI’s and .290. He should get close to that.
 Little to early talking about Vitters, lets at least see what he can do at AA.

I can’t find it anywhere on the internet…

What worries me most about Derrek is his increasing GB%. I’d think about resting Lee tomorrow and starting Daryle Ward at first, just to get him out of the August heat and let him rest up.

A popeye-esque assesment, but his 05 was certainly an anamoly, and even then his RBI numbers werent outstanding. Hes not Pujols for sure, but like it was said above if he hits around 300 with 20-30 hrs for the remainder of his contract, then great. His speed was once an asset that set him apart from other 1B, but thats all but gone. He’s still and all star caliber player and far from a worry. Though youre right, he has seemed a bit off this year interms of his approach.

But there are no immediate solutions that would be an upgrade, and its unlikely he’d be move given his deal.

As far as Vitters, well lets hope we have that problem someday and he can buck the trend of cubs positional prospects becoming true stars.

With 79 wins, the Cubs are 14 wins ahead of last year’s team.

Derrek Lee is hitting .290/.358 and other than Berkman or Pujols, I wouldnt rather have any other NL 1B…

Relax.

D. Lee is fine, with two men on, and the game on the line, who do you want up to bat?

Talking about beating a dead horse. Every week we have a “Is Derrek Lee washed up?” discussion around here, and it’s really getting old. Derrek Lee is fine, leave him alone. He’s the heart of this team and contributes so much more than his statistics show. He rescues cats from Chicago-area trees on off-days and works as a midwife during the winter, delivering babies free-of-charge to Chicagoland low-income single mothers. I think it’s ridiculous that you’ve written a fanpost here, complaining about Lee, when the club is 29 games over .500 and is the best team in the NL. Lamest… fanpost… ever.

/sarcasm

THat’s obvious. He had a career year in 2005 where he not only hit everything in sight, but drove it. Even inside pitches, which was his weakness up to that point.

 Then he shattered his wrist in LA and quite frankly, he hasn’t been the same player since. Not a bad player mind you, but not the same.

He is still a good player but, definitely a player on the decline.

will be a thing of the past when theriot,soriano,fukudome, and lee carry us through the playoffs and help us to win our 1st big one…………..

that was asked about Thome and, to a lesser extent, Konerko. There is no way of knowing when it’s truly over, especially for a player who was at one time very productive, then struggles for an extended period of time, especially when age is a factor.

Thome & Konerko seem to have rebounded and, while they’re not back at career-best numbers, they provide solid offensive production and, in PK’s case, decent-to-good defense.

In addition, players like Derrek (and Thome and Konerko) create a problem for the opposition, given their history of success at the plate – they can’t count on them not getting a clutch hit or taking a well-timed walk, so they still may feel that they have to pitch around or intentionally walk them – which, of course puts them on base, etc.

We all know that you have to hit your way out of a slump, and that’s what Derrek’s going to have to do. He may have to be moved within the lineup, but he’s gotta stay in the game (literally) and take his lumps.

It’s interesting how people reply with things like, “Why question things? The Cubs are 29 games over .500?” Some people are borderline indignant about it — and some others cross over that line.

So, that means everything is perfect and there’s no room to improve? Taking that to a ridiculous extreme, I suppose there’d be no value in trading Jason Marquis for Brandon Webb, because the Cubs are 29 games over .500. Take off the blue glasses and put down the kool-aid — a post like this is not anti-Cub. No where in the original do I read any personal attacks or comments like “sucks” or “DFA”. Those would be uncalled for and worth some of the responses.

Getting to the original question, I’m concerned that this may be the beginning of the end. Derrek frequently watches hittable pitches go by or questions strike calls. The comment about him no longer going to RF as often is spot on, he rolls over pitches it hitters’ counts and I’ve mentioned his alarming GB/FB ratio twice before.

Given his April, I have a tough time believing that the wrist injury is the root cause, but I don’t have a valid explanation. The point that this year is nowhere close to the Florida Lee is also true.

Piniella isn’t stupid and I’m sure he sees these things, but maybe, as someone suggested above, he feels it’s better to keep it status quo for now.

can’t be ignored. He’s a left handed hitting first baseman (a butcher in the outfield) who is obviously ready for the major leagues. I’d hate to see him traded and come back to haunt us. Some major decisions will have to be made in the off season and he’s one of them.