playoff roster.... thoughts?

but he sure was fun to watch run the bases yesterday

…no chance a carrer minor league first baseman makes the playoff roster.

Pie brings the intangibles, great D, can play all three OF postions if need be and would be a great pinch runner which will happen in low scoring post season games in which your desperate for that one run.

is going to evaluate Pie, Dome and Hoffpauir when the next three games feature LH starters for the opponent. They all stepped up yesterday, but none are in the lineup tonight because of their handedness…

Most of those decisions are made on the whole barring an unfortunate injury.

On the margins where often a player rises unexpectedly and becomes dominant in a series or instrumental.

The only margins in the position players are CF, RF and 2B. Depending Fukudome’s play the next 4-5 games will determine much of that where actually the cubs are stronger with Fukudome playing and Fontenot coming off the bench. This is both defensively and if Fukudome is hitting like April and May….no contest——REMEMBER PITCHING & DEFENSE wins championships—-offense fills up blogs and boards space.

Now CF is where one of the players can offensively be an impact in the series. Edmonds is a wild card….Johnson is energy and playing the game right.

Now I disagree with Hoffpauir over Ward—-it is sentimental but Ward is experienced and will have 2 or 3 AB’s this series and he will work a count and make a pass at a ball in his zone. The marginal 25 th player is Pie, he has speed for a late inning pinch runner without burning a Cedeno or Fontenot or Johnson and he can double switch for a pitcher and improve the defense for a few late innings. Those are the best chance on the field.

Pitching——I think he goes Dempster game 1 and Harden goes game 2(they ares lined up right now for a perfect rotation) Zambrano game 3. Harden is perfect in a 5th game role. Dempster could come back with 3 days (he was a reliever ) while Harden would be on a 4-game rest. Zambrano is hurt and shaky.

Now if the Cubs go with 3 starters than Lilly and Marquis would be used in the relief role, Marquis probably the long man in case of a early game blow out, Lilly in a left handed relief role. This means do the Cubs carry Marshall instead of a position player. I can see Marshall for the next series but Piniella will have a fast hook with 8 relievers.

Then there would be no room for DeRo… :-(

C – soto Blanco
1B – dlee pie
2B – fontenot
SS – theriot cedeno
3B – ramirez
LF – soriano
CF – edmonds johnson
RF – derosa fukudome

SP1 – zambrano
SP2 – harden
SP3 – dempster
SP4 – lilly

LM – marquis
RP – marshall
RP – gaudin
RP – cotts
RP – guzman (i love the power arms in the playoffs)
SU – samardija
SU – marmol
CL – wood

and then pitch out of the bullpen in game 3/4.

I’ll try to state this as simply as possible:

1. Each team is allowed 25 players for each post-season series and teams can adjust their rosters between series.

2. Players are eligible for the playoff rosters if they’re (1) on the active roster as of September 1st, (2) on the disabled list as of September 1st, or (3) on the 40-man roster on September 1st and are subsequently named to replace a player that was on the disabled list as of September 1st.

The Cubs had four players on the DL on 9/1 (Lieber, Guzman, Gaudin, and Rich Hill) so all those guys are eligible without any strings attached. If those players are still “unable to perform”, they have the option of adding anybody on their 40-man roster, as of 9/1, to replace those four, even if it’s at the expense of somebody that was healthy and active on the same date. For example, Howry was active on 9/1 but Pie can be named as a replacement for Rich Hill, thus bumping Howry off the playoff roster.

Additionally, the roster can be adjusted between post-season series, so they can essentially create three different 25-man rosters for each series provided that the players fall into the above categories.

Finally, if injuries occur during the post-season that cannot be covered positionally by a player from the 9/1 version of the 40-man roster, a team can add an otherwise ineligible player provided that (1) the player was in the organization before 9/1, (2) plays the same position as the injured player, and (3) the roster change is approved by the commissioner. That’s super-complicated-sounding but it basically means that if Soto or Blanco gets hurt, they can replace him with Koyie Hill even though Hill won’t otherwise be eligible. The only instance where I can recall this happening was in 2006, when the A’s added a guy named Mark Kiger to their roster, giving him his debut during the LCS.