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As you know by now, from time to time I'll make a prediction or say that a certain player should be sent back to the minors....Sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong. It seems that when I'm right I hear everyone say, "Oh, Cobra knows what he's talking about." or "Cobra is The Man!" or "Oh Cobra, you are hot!" (actually, only Bruce Paine says that). Yet, when I am wrong I rarely hear anything....why is that? (rhetorical question)
On June 22nd I wrote a post about how the Cubs needed to send Ryan Theriot out of town. Whether that was back to Iowa or to another team, I didn't care. I felt that he wasn't producing anymore and the time of him being useful had expired. I thought it was time for the Cubs to give Ronny Cedeno a chance, or trade for a new shortstop. I will supply you with a quote:
.......Third, although he tries hard....Theriot is not a Major League caliber shortstop. I'm sorry, he's just not. He doesn't get to balls others would and sometimes he struggles on making the turn on a double play. These are all things that the Cubs knew as he came up through the minor leagues; that's why Ronny Cedeno was rated higher than Theriot annually. Fourth, I'm tired of seeing him ground into force outs/double plays to end innings with runners in scoring position, he's hitting .213 with a runner on 3rd and less than two outs. He's ruining momentum the Cubs build up during the innings. Fifth, if you really thought Theriot was going to be the Cubs starting shortstop all season long.....you may need professional help.
In the 28 games since I wrote that post Theriot has been hitting .343 (34/99) with 24 runs scored, six stolen bases and a walk to strikeout ratio that would make Albert Pujols proud (13 bb's/6 k's). He's raised his average from .251 to .282 in that time span and his on base percentage has gone from a mediocre .313 all the way to .349. On top of all that....if that wasn't enough to show you I was wrong......Theriot has only made one error while playing shortstop during that time, and only two for the entire season.
So...Mr. Theriot, I'm sorry. I was wrong. It's finally becoming evident to me that you will be the shortstop for the Chicago Cubs the rest of this season and that you are the player we need hitting in second spot in the batting order. While you don't make acrobatic plays like Ozzie Smith, you have become a very reliable defender. I was wrong, and the way you have been playing has been oh so right.
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I thought The Riot was a funny ass name, one of the best in baseball. Then I saw Rocky Cherry pitching yesterday.
Let the jokes begin - virgin on horseback? Or first time in Denver?
nerd alert: this kid is saving my bacon. Chase Utley was my starting 2B on my championship-contending fantasy baseball team, and when he broke his hand, I put Theriot in his spot. He's holding the line, even if he's not as good as Utley.
It's hard to find Utley-like production at this point in the season. Theriot producing better than Iguchi though
he's played well lately and hopefully it continues. He makes all the plays he gets to in the field. I'm not buying him as the shortstop for the very long future.
According to Sutcliffe who I believe may have been openly cheering for the cubs last night, the Cubs were 9-15 (now 16) in games where left handers started. Murton looked so overpowered against Hamels I stopped praying to Baby Jesus to stop the trade for Payton.
Murton looked like he had 'Corey Patterson Disease'. That is the disease where the player is so scared of screwing up because of the manager that he freezes up and fails anyways.
no kidding. He needs some xanax or a trip to Baltimore to cure what's ailing him.
Well, Cobra I agreed with you about Theriot needing to go. So, I was wrong too. But now that you've apologized, you have most likely jinxed his output for the rest of the season.
If he starts slumping now (right after the deadline), I'm going to be really pissed.