It Moved

                      IP   H   R  ER  BB   K   ERA

R.Dempster           3.0   2   0   0   0   5   0.00 

Look for this guy up in Chicago by July 1.

13.3%

That's the probability of the Cubs getting shut out each time they take the field. That's, in case you don't already know this, not a championship calibur stat. This page, once again, calls for an upgrade to the top of the order. And that call is for Carlos Beltran.

I don't wanna hear about any prospects being given up for anything pitching-wise, other than a high-end closer. Pitching is not this team's problem.

Side note to Dusty: Batting Corey 2nd, 7th, 8th, 3rd and 2nd over the last two weeks is not how to straighten this kid out. A trip to Iowa, perhaps, is the way.

History Repeating Itself

My afternoon drive team of Roe and Garry seems to be spliting up for good. Roe will accept WLS' new cotnract offer while Garry will turn it down. This is depressing. But it gets worse. Bob Feder is reporting that a possible replacement is Dan Bernstein.

That's just an awful paring were it to pan out.

What made Roe and Garry so good was the extremely high intelligence of Roe and the sharp wit of Garry. Roe also has the ability to be smart with his caller, yet not condescending. Garry moved the show along, managing callers and keeping the timing smooth. He'd also add a bit of nasty humor along the way.

Bernstein, whom I generally like, adds none of that. He is almost always condescending to his callers. He's not a smooth manager of the show. He's very smart, sometimes funny. In other words, he's Roe but with a prickish side. That's good for a sports show when you get Bob from Northlake saying, "The Bulls should trade the #3 pick for Tracy McGrady." That's bad when Suzy from Morton Grove calls in to say, "Fantasia should not be the American Idol."

Don't do this, WLS. You'll kill Roe and the whole show.

I Am Third

If Korey bats third ever again, I'll publish the Dead Cubbies sketch. Batting this guy third is like playing Granville Waiters in the first quarter -- It's waiving a white flag.

A Different Look

Some of my fellow Cubs' bloggers started posting on which five females are on the "Go Ahead And Schtup Them With No Retribution From The Spouse" list. I'll go with a slightly different take since I really have no list (since this will never happen, why limit yourself to just five?). Here's five ladies that, in their prime, I would have dropped everything to play footsie with.

Teri Hatcher

Sure, she's famous because their real and their spectacular. Good enough for me.

Barbara Bach

Ringo's pushin cushion may have aged a bit. And I'm not sure how she looks today. Hell. She could be 300 pounds. But when she was the Spy that Humped Roger Moore, she was tasty in that red halter-top X thing. And that works for me.

Nikki Cox

She has no talent, no career, and no one will probably ever see her again. Doesn't that make it more, not less likely she'll show up at my house?

Famke Janssen

Trek girl. Bond girl. X Girl.
My kinda girl.

Kari Wuhrer

Kind of in the same mode as Nikki Cox, but their filled with saline. Maybe I'll be the third person in the world to rent "Poison" and she'll come to Chicago to thank me for the $0.02 royalty check she'll get.

And to spin it a little differently, another five that, no matter how tasty the dish, they turned me off so violently that they could show up on my doorstep naked, drunk, holding a full bottle of Glenfiddich 1937, and a CD of Bolero and I would have thrown up at the mere thought of getting sweaty with them.

Rebecca Romijn (nee Romijn-Stamos)

She can't act, owes her career to he willing to be naked as Mystique and going on Howard Stern. She's annoying as hell to listen to. Why is this woman popular other than her bod? There's plenty of better bods.

Britney Spears

Andy Warhol once said everyone gets 15 minutes. She's had 4 years and a few hundred million. Time to go.

Catherine Zeta-Jones

So she parlayed a WonderBra and marriage to an admitted sex addict into an Oscar in a movie in which she bobbed her hair so people would think it was really her dancing. Well, so much for taste.

Jennifer Love-Hewitt

What you get when you combine D-Cups, anorexia, and an inability to emote beyond a smile.

Shannon Elizabeth

Wouldn't do a nude scene in American Pie 2 because she was afraid of getting typecast. What she didn't realize was that Naked Nadia was the only reason anyone remembered who she was. That's the definition of typecast.

Down on the Farm

Two players of note to note. In Daytona, the Cubs' Angel pitched his third game of the season. And he looked to be on:

                    IP   H   R  ER  BB   K   ERA

Guzman (W,1-0)     5.0   2   0   0   0   4   5.06

Meanwhile, up in Jaxxon, Tennessee, Larry David's good friend, and 2005 replacement for Gruz and Walker had this game:

PLAYER             AB  R  H BI   AVG

R.Lewis 2B          5  1  3  2  .307 - Triple, Stolen Base

Looking good. Now, all we need to hear is a final report on which month Wood will return. And if it won't be until 2005, does that mean he won't vest in his option for 2007?

Almost Over for Korey?

Several articles today on the Cubs search for help in center. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a blurb in its notebook column today:

NO ICHIRO: There was speculation in this morning's Chicago Sun-Times that the Cubs were looking for center fielders.

Carlos Beltran of the Royals was mentioned prominently, as was Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki. Ichiro was a center fielder during his days in Japan.

The Cubs have scouts all over the place looking for center field help.

"They can scout Ichiro all they want," one Mariners source said, "but that's not going to happen."

The Suntimes piece by Chris DeLuca is really just a "Korey is not the answer" piece. What's interesting is that the article states that Korey was notified that he was going to be an All-Star last year, but his name was pulled because he tore up his knee. That's the first I've ever heard of that.

E-Bear Lock Down

Crains Chicago Business has a report that the are going to use new electronic lockdown Technology to protect sensitive data

By training camp this summer, the Bears’ coaches and back-office staff, about 125 people in all, will use small, key-sized devices and individual pin numbers to plug into any of the football team’s electronic devices.

The team is the first in the NFL to use a combination of passwords and hardware to secure its digital systems. The team’s playbooks, for example, are now contained on personal computers, while all of its practice and game footage is converted to digital images easily viewable on computer screens.

No word if this means David Terrell will be cut for lack of ability to remember the route to his password.

Ellipses

A little about a lot...

...Good 'Ole KW cut short a workout earlier today and will have a bone scan tomorrow to see if there is any further damage. Lotsa generic quotes from Hendry. "We're not anticipating..." Here's the key lines. Wood was sore after 8 pitches and Wood was not available for comments today. He's not coming back anytime soon.

...but his replacement might be ready in a few minutes. A few more tune-ups in the minors and another spot in the rotation could be filled for years. Here's the line from his last start:

                      IP   H   R  ER  BB   K   ERA

B.Brownlie (W,5-3)   7.0   3   1   1   1   1   2.82

What? You thing I was talking about Prior?

...by taking two of three from the Cardinals, while woefully undermaned, the Cubs might just have buried them. That is, if the Cubs can ever get healthy.

...Korey batting 5th? That's a new one. And he got a bunt down. Wow.

...with Houston getting swept while being fully staffed, the Cubs can go a long way to burying them with a two game sweep on the road trip. With Zamboni and Maddux, it's within the realm of possibility. Then again, so is snow in Chicago in May.

...another option for the Cubs for leadoff might be Tampa's Carl Crawford. The cost would be tremendous. He's not arbitration eligible for another year. That price would be Patterson and BOTH Brownlie and Guzman. I'd still rather have Beltran. He's not a leadoff hitter, this team's most glaring weakness, but he takes over for Alou next year. And the next 9 after that.

25 17 91 94

Prior certainly seems to be on track for a return on June 4th. He pitched 3 scoreless, hitless innings in Lansing tonight. 25 strikes and 17 balls were recorded as he walked one and struck out five.

Velocity? The scouts who regularly work games at Oldsmobile Park said Prior's fastball ranged from 91 to 94 mph. That's where he normally pitches.

T-minus 2 weeks.

Couch Potato

Nice work in the Suntimes today by Greg Couch. He manages to finally realize on May 20th what Ivy Chat said back on April 8th.

Ok, ok. The column does break some new ground. Couch adds that Patterson will get benched if he doesn't improve. I don't see that happening, ever. Benching, that is. Hendry will trade Patterson before he gets benched. As trade bait, Patterson has value. On the bench, Patterson is as valuable as Domingo Ramos. And his trade value is about the same.

Place Your Bets

The latest battle between Mayor-for-Life Daley and Governor-son-in-law-of-a-goofy-alderman Blago (who really thinks that if he can last 4 years without signing a tax increase he can win the White House) is over casinos in Chicago. Daley wants a mega-casino downtown owned by the city. Blago doesn't want casinos in Chicago. Illinois has enough gambling. Blago said a casino in Chicago would turn the Land of Lincoln into the Land of Wayne Newton. Now there's a soundbite to play well in New Hampshire.

Bottom line is this. Chicago is losing business to Vegas and Orlando. Big business. Convention business. That means that McCormick Place gets used fewer days. Fewer hotel rooms are rented. Fewer meals are eaten in downtown restaurants. Fewer flights land at O'Hare. And the people who provide all those services have fewer jobs.

I dunno if the city of Chicago should *own* the casino, but if adding a casino keeps more business here, and even brings lost business back, do it.

Now.

The process is starting. The state Senate Executive Committee on Wednesday approved Daley's proposal for a land-based, city-owned casino. Blago threatens to veto it. If he vetoes it, Blago better have an idea on how to keep these jobs here or the only White House visits he'll make are on a tour.

Stonewalling

Is it just me, or is Steve Stone becoming more and more obvious that he doesn't think Kor-E8 is gonna make it as a major league hitter? Stone seems to be getting more and more succinct in his criticism of Patterson's approach to hitting and commenting on Patterson's mile high strike zone.

With Stone's open dismay, I'm starting to think that the rest of the world is catching up to the way this page has thought of Patterson since he was first seen as a late season call-up. And if that's true, the trading for Beltran, or any other center fielder, just became massively more difficult.

If everyone starts to think Korey sucks, no one will want him in a trade. And that means more than one top pitching prospect must be included in any trade.

And that means, "you don't get no Coke."

No word if McPhail's been losing at the track.

Hand Me the Kleenex

With Sosa, Prior, Grudz and Wood all out, the time has come for this team to make the Dallas Green type move. In 1984, Green made three franchise altering moves: He acquired Gary Matthews, Dennis Eckersley, and Rick Sutcliffe. And to do so he traded away a future Hall of Famer and bargain basement broadcaster in Joe Carter.

In today's environment, you don't even have to give up that much.

Rozner goes on today about Beltran and how the Sox have the better chance to get him. I don't see that for a minute do to the "same division" issue that Rozner glosses over. What he does see, correctly, is that the Sox GM isn't afraid to make a mistake. Hendry has not shown that he's willing to go "all in" and hope for a good "River" card.

With Sosa out, the offfense struggling, pitchers ailing, and Corey Patterson looking like he needs a stint at Iowa to regain any semblence of the strike zone and bunting technique, now is the time to make the deal.

Beltran will be moved in the next 6 weeks. It better not be to an NL team outside of Chicago or the Cubs will regret it.

The List Shortens

Bud Selig approved $1 million of each major league team's money to resign Jose Vidro to a $30 million contract. Ironically, given Selig's involved, that's the right move for this franchise. You can't entice a prospective buyer for the franchise by selling all its parts for scrap. Vidro goes off the wish list.

What that also means is that the trade for Betran becomes more likely and more imperative. Why? No reason to hold back money to sign Vidro. He's not coming here. And if you resign Walker/Grudz for 2005, that'll be on the cheap. That makes even more money available for a Beltran type signing.

I also had Imperialism in the Preakness

This page predicted a 2-4 road trip. 4-2? Picking up three games on first? The Astros lose 2 of 3 at home to the Mets? Without Wood for more than 3 innings? Without Prior, Sosa, Walker? Wins behind Mitre and Rusch? Perhaps the Kubs Karma has finally arrived. I'm a believer. At least for this week.

No Yankee Me Wankee

So the Bergen Record does an article that the Coven debated. Seems the Yanks hate Bernie Williams and Kenny Lofton. Who do they want? Carlos the Jackel. But the Yanks have almost no chance of getting him other than at the end of the year.

The Yankees have every reason to covet Beltran - who's younger, faster, and more talented than anyone else in their outfield - but for once, the Bombers have virtually no chance of making a turbo-trade. That's because they don't have nearly enough prospects to interest the Royals, compelling Cashman to more realistically consider possible deals to replace Jon Lieber and/or Jose Contreras. "Who wouldn't want Beltran?" was the rhetorical question one Yankees insider asked on Monday. "But we don't have much to give. If we have one bullet in the chamber, we'd go after pitching first."

Can anyone think of a team with a glut of major league calibur pitching prospects and a cheap, talented, yet under performing center fielder that KC might take in trade?

Anyone?

Bueller?

Enjoy your ride, and, OY! Go call your mother!

The New York post is reporting that some new MetroCard dispensing machines (it vends cards that let you ride the subway and/or buses) in Brooklyn are now using a new language. Yiddish.

No word if you can get both belly and Nova lox with your card.

More Minor Stuff

I subscribe to a daily e-mail from Baseball America. It gives me stat lines for players who had notable (good and bad) performances in the previous day's games. If you'd like to subscribe, click here. Here's a couple of lines from that e-mail:

TM  PLAYERS            AB  R  H BI   AVG

CHC J.Dubois 1B         4  1  2  0  .331 - 2B



TM  PITCHERS              IP   H   R  ER  BB   K   ERA

CHC B.Brownlie (W,4-2)   8.0   2   1   0   1   4   2.61 - 1.04 ERA in last 4 GS

CHC J.Connolly           6.0   5   1   1   2   8   1.98

About Last Night

How the hell does a team that expects to contend get shut out by Wilson F'n Soft Tosser Alvarez?

Expectations for the road trip are for 1-5. A 2-4 outcome would be excellent.

Halleluyah!

KOR-E8 IS BATTING 7th TONIGHT!!! Where's my nitro pill?

Now the problem is that a 1-2 of Jackson-Martinez makes you long for the days of DeJesus-Trillo.

Late Night Blogging

I figure with the Cubs playing late, I'll blog at the same time. This is, in many ways, my favorite time fo year. When I was a wee lad, I used to love falling asleep to Vince and the Good Kid when the Cubs were playing on the coast. It used to be two trips west, usually for 3 in LA, 3 in San Diego, and 3 in San Fran. A week and a half of late night baseball.

Today, I tend to stay up and watch the games. I guess it's part being old enough and part having a TV in my bedroom full time. I'll still do the radio thing tonight. I did last night after the game got outta hand.

I guess I also hate what expansion has done to the schedule. I think each team should play two series against every non-division opponent. And once before the break, once after. Ah well, back to childhood for the evening.

Wood Update

Wood will miss a turn in the rotation. It seems an MRI exam showed inflammation underneath the muscle and mild tendonitis in his elbow. That’s fine. The real problem is the offense. They can’t hit Weaver. They can’t hit Diagle. Who the hell are they gonna hit? Clemens?

Balsa Wood

Looks like KW is hurt. More as news breaks.

Trade Watch

WSCR picked up on the Ivy Chat drumbeat to get Carlos Beltran away from KC and over to Wrigley. KC is 12 games under .500 and 8 games out of both first place and a Wild Card. My rule of thumb is 10 games out and you're toast, regardless of how far into the season you are. KC should be there by, oh, Friday.

On the morning show, Murph and Fred speculated that a package of Patterson and Farnsworth would be enough to pry Carlos away.

I'd do that deal so fast it'd make Secretariat seem like a snail.

I also don't think that's a big enough deal for KC to flinch.

Farnsworth is 1 year away from free agency and already at a 7 figure salary. KC wants to build for the long haul and, while Patterson could do that, Farns doesn't. The Cubs would need to throw in a young starter. The obvious candidate is Jae-kuk Ryu. With the release of Ben Christensen, the Cubs have obviously made a move to not only rid themselves of a bad arm, but a bad media story as well. When Ryu killed an osprey last year with a baseball thrown at the bird's nest, Ryu was demoted. Ryu remains a bad media story, albeit a minor one.

Patterson and Ryu would give the Royals two players who would remain on their roster for at least 4 more years and the possibility of two future All-Stars.

Well, one, if you scout Patterson like I do.

If the Royals don't want Ryu, I'd be willing to part with one other top minor league starter other than Guzman or Sisco. I might even bite on Brownlie if the Royals were to pick up part of Beltran's contact for 2004 and he were to sign an extension at the time of the trade.

Beltran a Cub? That would lock the division in my book.

Cubbies 11

A word on yesterday's game. Great job by Dusty in that last inning. Now, I know he's gonna take some heat for two sac bunts. And most times, the heat would be justified. But if you think like me, and you think Patterson sucks (despite how the game ended), then what Dusty did was ensure the game could not end without a Cubs win or Sosa and Alou coming up again.

Let's say the Rocks don't walk Jackson intentionally (which should say boatloads of how the league looks at Patterson) and Jackson makes the last out in the 13th. That means Sosa and Alou are guaranteed to bat in the 14th. The way I see it, Dusty said that the gamble of Jackson/Patterson batting with two outs is worth it to get to Sosa and Alou.

I agree.

That said, this was sure a disappointing homestand. They shoulda knocked off one or two more wins, especially against sub-.500 opponents. If this team needs to be 12 over .500 by the break, then these are the games where you make headway. Over the last 13 games, the Cubs are actually 1 under. The next 6 games are brutal: Good opponents in parks where you don't hit a lot of home runs. Not a good combo for this lineup.

I expect a 2-4 trip. 3-3 would be very nice, and 4-2 would be outstanding. On the plus, with the off day today, Mitre only pitches once on the trip. And with 4 off days between now and the end of May, now would be a good time to go to 11 pitchers and add an extra bat to the bench. The Cubs can go with normal rest for the big 4 through the end of the month and only need a 5th starter twice.

And Prior should be back the following week.

Minor Stats

One of the guys on the eskimo.com Cubs' listserve posts stats of the Cubs minor leaguers. The players are ranked by a statistical analysis of their performance, age and level at which they play. Here's the latest batch:

Pitchers

       NAME                  RAT stdv+1 AGE  LV  IP   H  BB  SO   ERA

    1 Marshall, Sean          B   2.43  21   A-  39  27   4  42  1.36

    2 Nolasco, Ricky          B-  2.24  21   AA  24  19  11  24  2.25

    3 Marmol, Carlos          B-  2.05  21   A-  32  19   7  32  2.23

    4 Hill, Richard           C+  1.96  24   A+  25  13  13  34  0.70

    5 Bay, Bear               C+  1.95  20   A-  28  25   5  24  1.61

    6 SISCO, ANDY             C+  1.94  21   A+  33  27  12  33  4.32

    7 Vasquez, Carlos         C+  1.88  21   A+  31  22  10  23  2.32

    8 Pinto, Renyel           C+  1.70  21   AA  22  20  12  26  5.16

    9 Koronka, John           C+  1.69  23  AAA  28  24  15  27  2.89

   10 Connolly, Jon           C   1.62  20   A+  27  29   5  16  3.00

   11 Leicester, Jon          C   1.43  25  AAA  31  28  22  32  3.73

   12 Petrick, Billy          C   1.37  20   A-  28  21  11  21  2.89

   13 BROWNLIE, BOBBY         C-  1.13  23   AA  27  28   7  24  3.62

   14 Blasko, Chadd           C-  1.06  23   AA  25  27   9  24  4.32



Position players

       NAME        POS       RAT stdv+1 AGE  LV  AB    BA   SB    OBP    SA

    1 Lewis, Richard, 2B      B   2.47  23   AA  83  0.349   2  0.413  0.627

    2 Dopirak, Brian, 1B      B-  2.30  20   A- 105  0.276   3  0.339  0.571

    3 McGehee, Casey, 3B      B-  2.04  21   A+ 105  0.305   0  0.360  0.429

    4 Collins, Kevin, OF      B-  2.00  23   A-  78  0.321   0  0.398  0.667

    5 PIE, FELIX, OF          C+  1.96  19   A+  89  0.270   3  0.316  0.348

    6 Sing, Brandon, 1B       C+  1.85  23   A+  92  0.283   0  0.400  0.587

    7 Soto, Geovany, C        C+  1.83  21   AA  65  0.262   0  0.314  0.385

    8 Cedeno, Ronny, SS       C+  1.74  21   AA  72  0.236   0  0.295  0.333

    9 Chirinos, Robinson, 2B  C   1.54  19   A-  97  0.216   3  0.269  0.454

   10 Greenberg, Adam, OF     C-  1.33  23   A+  93  0.290   4  0.377  0.473

   11 Hoffpauir, Micah, 1B    C-  1.20  24   AA  77  0.273   1  0.333  0.558

   12 Dubois, Jason, OF       C-  1.18  25  AAA  93  0.280   0  0.343  0.624

   13 Weston, Aron, OF        C-  1.11  23   AA  81  0.309   1  0.333  0.420

   14 Kelton, Dave, OF        C-  1.08  24  AAA  96  0.271   2  0.333  0.490

   15 Johnson, J.J., OF       C-  1.06  22   A+  85  0.282   2  0.351  0.388

Adjust that OBP

Korey is getting worse. Getting picked off with a man on second!?!?!? As far as I'm concerned, when you get picked off, or even caught stealing, your OBP should reflect that. As in, revised down.

God, I hate this guy.

Gonz for a Month

It's time to get Orlando over here. I see that Alex has seconded what I suggested last month. This team has an over abundance of pitching prospects. Any buyer of the Expos would want good, cheap pitchers to build around. A trade of one of the young studs for Cabrerra would resolve two issues. First, you land a long term solution at shortstop as Cabrerra is free agent after this year (the only way you make this deal is if you get Cabrerra to sign an extension). Second, he hits second. Kor E8 (nice job nearly killing Sosa last night -- next time, do what little leaguers do and yell, "I GOT IT!") would move down to 8th.

Let's see if Hendry has cohones. Make the move.

Simple Math

Casey Daigle against the Cubs:

 IP    H   R  ER  HR   BB  SO

12.3   7   3   3   0    5   6

Casey Daigle against the rest of the league:

 IP    H   R  ER  HR   BB  SO

13.0  20  16  16   6    7   6

Todd Walker in games Cubs win:

AB   R   H  2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  SO   AVG    OBP    SLG   OPS

47  14  19   4   0   3   11  11   6  0.404  0.517  0.681 1.198

Todd Walker in games Cubs lose:

AB   R   H  2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  SO   AV G   OBP    SLG   OPS

29   3   5   3   0   0   2    4   1  0.173  0.273  0.276 0.549

It's that simple.

Cha-Ching!

That's the sound of team cash registers after closing a deal to put ads for Spider-Man 2 on the tops of bases. The ads will appear the weekend of June 11th during interleague play.

I say, "More power to the owners." Every other sport uses almost all available space for advertising. Hell, NASCAR wouldn't exist without it. The NFL prominently features the Nike swoosh just below every player's chin strap.

What I object to is the payout. Each home team is getting $50,000 for the ads, save two. The Yanks and BoSox each get over $100,000. Now why aren't these funds paid to each team equally? How much is having a base with an ad on it worth in Fenway if Shaun Green of the Dodgers (that weekend's opponent) isn't there to step on it?

MLB doesn't need a salary cap. What they need is a genuine revenue sharing plan. If I'm KC, I tell Steinbrenner to fork over 40% of his gate and local media money next time I come to town or I'll forfeit the games. Let's see what YES pays Steinbrenner for a blank screen. Let's see how many hotdogs are sold those three nights.

Kor E8

Can you play a more brutal center than Kor E8 did last night? He is not the short term solution in the two hole and not the long term solution in center. I'm starting to want Beltran more than I want Vidro.

'Cause 3 Outta 7 Ain't Bad

Tomorrow will be a non-writing day due to new job training (I've been doing this type of work for 15 years -- what are they teaching me?). I'll get my licks in tonight. It's not a surprise they won today. Just look at slot #1 in the order. When Walker hits, the Cubs tend to do well. 1-13 in games one, two and three. Big hits today. And a split in St. Louis is a decent result, although not satisfying. We all know that the Cubs should have swept and basically burried the Cards for the season, 7 back in the loss column on May 3. Instead, only 3.

As this is being typed, Houston is losing by 2 to the Reds at home. To knock 7 road games off the schedule, at two tough sites, and come home still tied for first?

In short, I'm buying.

Pickup in Aisle 12...

One of the nice things about having two young boys is that you can't be locked to the couch on a sunny Sunday afternoon. As such, watching 3 hours of 1 run baseball was not in my agenda. But...

Upon reaching Costco, my eyes were drawn towards the row of 20 TVs. The screens ranged from 19 inches all the way up to 55 inch plasmas. And on each one of them? Kyle Farnsworth and his attempts to throw horsehide anywhere but over the plate.

It's time to give up on Farnsworth. He is Nuke LaLoosh without Crash Davis to get his head straight and without Annie to explain the chakra connections between his testicles and his eyelids. He's got a lightning bolt of an arm. But like lightning, he can't aim it. Were he a free agent signed this offseason instead of a home grown prospect, he'd be Mel Rojas. Like Kerry Wood, he gets some Teflon from the fans because he was home grown. It's time to see him for what he really is. Bad.

With the fall off of Todd Walker, the offense has tanked. 12 runs in 6 games. This team needs a leadoff hitter and needs it badly. That is still Hendry's #1 need. Farnsworth has gotta be worth something.