If Matt Murton has somehow developed a better throwing technique, that gives us yet another weapon. Jim Hendry has been trying to trade him for almost a year:
Cubs call Murton back up, but only as trade bait?
He could be piece in potential trade talks
CUBS BITS BY PAUL SULLIVAN
June 18, 2008
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Cubs recalled Matt Murton from Triple-A Iowa on Tuesday and sent Eric Patterson back down, though they may just be showcasing Murton for a possible deal.
"We hated to send Patterson out, we really did," manager Lou Piniella said. "He's a good young man. We just needed a right-hand bat. We lost Soriano, and we brought up two left-handed bats (in Patterson and Micah Hoffpauir).We're happy to have Murton back. Let's hope he can come in here and swing the bat and help us."
Or perhaps help someone else, because Murton definitely is not in the Cubs' long-range plans.
General manager Jim Hendry sent special assistant Ken Kravec to scout Boston this week in Cincinnati and Philadelphia. The Cubs still are interested in Red Sox center fielder Coco Crisp,and now may be willing to include Rich Hill in a multiplayer package. Murton was acquired from Boston in the Nomar Garciaparra deal in '04.
After the Cubs demoted him May 1, Murton hit .298 at Iowa with one home run while playing exclusively in left field. He had played in 289 games with the Cubs from '05 to '07, so the demotion was difficult to digest.
"I'm not going to say it wasn't hard at times," Murton said. "But it went well, and I'm glad to be here and ready to get back to work."
Murton was immediately inserted into the lineup, but went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
Lou's back
Piniella's return to Tropicana Field created media gridlock in the Cubs' dugout before the game, a rare sight to be sure.
Most of the pregame news conference was devoted to Piniella's three years managing the Rays, who averaged 95 losses a year under Piniella's guidance.
But Piniella insisted he learned a lot from losing in Tampa Bay, including how to be "more patient." While some Cubs may wonder how impatient Piniella could have been before, he said he learned more "because you really put a lot more thought into it."
"But look, like I said when I was here, 'I didn't want to get too smart,' " he said with a laugh.
Is Piniella a better manager today because of what he learned while losing here?
"Well, like my wife always tells me … I ask her how many good managers there are in baseball," Piniella replied. "She always tells me, 'Probably one less than you think.' "
For your consideration
The Cubs have sent a DVD to the league office in New York of Ronny Cedeno's shot up the middle in Saturday's game in Toronto that originally was ruled a hit before being changed to an error after Reed Johnson's three-run homer. That made the runs unearned. They're hoping the league will overturn the scoring decision
Quote:
Originally Posted by nerrad  all i know is he threw 2 throws that i looked over at my step dad(who played in the minors and can pick out talent good) and he was like dam, boys got a gun |