For once, Mark DeRosa has a 175-pounder knocking at his door who he doesn’t want any part of. Ryan Theriot has picked up right where he left off at the end of last season, and is quietly putting up some outstanding spring numbers.
As of Tuesday, Theriot had a higher average (.383) than any starter other than Derrek Lee. He was slugging .583, better than Matt Murton, Alfonso Soriano, Jacque Jones, DeRosa, and (as if you didn’t know) Cesar Izturis.
He’s getting on base at a .431 clip, better than leadoff hitter Soriano (.318) and projected #2 hitter Murton (.360). He’s also leading the team in stolen bases (5) along with Angel Pagan. All this from the guy who was drafted in the third round of the 2001 draft, two rounds after the Cubs selected a career filled with crushing disappointments Mark Prior with the #2 overall pick.
So why wasn’t Theriot’s sustained excellence over 134 at-bats last year enough for Jim Hendry to realize he didn’t need to spend $13M over three years on DeRosa? 142 at-bats were apparently enough to condemn Jason Dubois to the fate of Hee Seop Choi, Bobby Hill, Corey Patterson, and so on. That and Dubois’ inability to pronounce a soft “bwah.”
Since he can play just about anywhere, Theriot figures to get over 400 at-bats as a super-sub, giving Hendry the chance to use the term “super-sub” without following it up with “with everything including extra cheese, double bacon, and mayo, a jumbo Coke, and…can you just drag the deep fryer over next to my table?”
It’s a shame, however, that neither DeRosa nor Theriot has proven that he can play shortstop adequately enough to get both of their bats in the lineup and to put Izturis on the bench, because seeing a young Cubs player come up and have immediate success at the Major League level happens about as often as a Dose these days.
- Lou Piniella sounds like he’s throwing Cubs tradition to the wind and actually coaching these young players. It seemed to pay off yesterday for Murton, who went 3-5 and for Cedeno, who hit a walkoff 3-run homer in the 10th inning to beat the Royals.
- Rich Hill channeled Ismael Valdez yesterday in both his performance and the number of blisters on his pitching hand. The good news is that Hill hasn’t walked a batter this spring while striking out 16, putting him at a tie with Wade Miller for #2 on the team in strikeouts behind only Carlos Zambrano. The bad news is that the rest of Hill’s numbers look pretty Marquis.
- Lou suggests that he’ll probably take
12 outfieldersan extra outfielder north rather than take 12 pitchers. That’s seemingly good news, as Lou threw out Les Walrond’s name when discussing the possibility of bringing a 12th pitcher. - Lou Piniella naps, trades, watches the news, and has been known to purposely get himself ejected from games. If that’s not enough to get you to read the article, it also reminisces about Seattle’s 2000 playoff depantsing of the White Sox. Remember Jim Parque?
- Prior pitches today, if you’re still interested in that sort of thing. The start will matter about as much as an August game in Wrigley, though, as Piniella has named Miller his fifth starter, ticketing Prior for either the DL or for Iowa to start the season.
Theriot was a shortstop in college, so I’d imagine he can probably still handle that spot.
CESAR! has a higher OBP this spring than Ryan Theriot and plays better defense at SS. He’s drawn more walks in fewer ABs and scored 1 less run. Why can’t we positive CESAR! at least a little bit?
I’m only ahead of Theriot by a James Bond, and I’m far worse than him at everything else you could possibly do with a bat in your hands.
Yeah, defense doesn’t mean anything.
Incidently, I am batting .333 for the spring in Baltimore’s camp, with a homer off that cat Dice-K (you may have read about him). Your boy F*ckin Freddie Bynum is down here with me and he’s hitting a robust .143, but you know, it really hasn’t started to get hot out yet. He was a better bench outfielder option though, I get it. I really do. Seriously. No wait, I don’t.
I’ll run somethin’ fierce on ya. Unless there’s a fly ball hit near me. Then I choose to jog.
What is this dose thing? I remember the good old days when it at least came out monthly…
Fixed.
Are you kidding? I could smoke that fool!
Reon Kadena? I fucked her. Oh!
Hickory dickory dock
This geisha was honoring my cock.
…and so on.
with more bugs stuck in his teeth than a windshield in mid-July.
What the Hell is Pinella doing? He should know that as soon as a Rookie or a young player starts to look better than the veterans he needs to sit his ass down until that kid loses his rythym.
And by the way Kermit – that napping stuff – that ain’t new to Cubs managers, dude
I took a daily three-hour nap for four years while I was with the Cubs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLQRv0RjBBM