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| Sports ExtraTuesday, June 24, 2008 6:55 PM CDT |
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Patterson gives Cubs bargaining possibility
CHICAGO -- So even Eric Patterson has a little pop? The 25-year-old Cubs newcomer who delivered three hits Saturday drove an 0-1 pitch from Javier Vazquez into the basket in right-center field Sunday night at Wrigley Field. | MLB page The two-run homer gave Ryan Dempster a 4-0 lead and Jim Hendry another reason to smile. Trading season is only about a month away, and suddenly Alfonso Soriano’s broken hand is looking as much like a timely opportunity to showcase potential bargaining chips as a cause for concern. Matt Murton and Patterson platooned in left during the first weekend of the City Series, combining to go 7-for-11 with two walks in the three games. Micah Hoffpauir, another potential part of the left-field mix, sat on the bench with his .400 average through 18 big-league games. They had combined to hit .310 for Triple-A Iowa. None of these three will figure when Soriano returns at the All-Star break, if not earlier. But the better they do while they’re out there, the easier it will be for Hendry, the Cubs’ general manager, to use them in midseason trades to fill needs. Carlos Zambrano’s injury and the recent hitting of Jim Edmonds makes it more likely that Hendry will pursue pitching—C.C. Sabathia and Rich Harden top the list—than another left-handed bat. ESPN’s Buster Olney recently ranked the Cubs second to Milwaukee in the Sabathia derby. If the resurgent Brewers, who are 18-7 since May 26, do make a run for Cleveland’s ace, it could spark a bidding war between them and the Cubs. Other things that became clear over the weekend: w Carlos Marmol could be a bigger concern than Zambrano. The Cubs expect their ace to be fine after resting his shoulder for 15 days. But the sudden loss of command by Marmol raises questions about his future effectiveness. He’s been an animal out of the bullpen, but young relievers can lose it as quickly as they find it. w Edmonds is sticking around for the long haul. His two homers in the nine-run fourth inning Saturday showed just how fortunate the Cubs are that he fell out of favor so quickly in San Diego. He’s on the down side of his career, yes, but Ozzie Guillen went back to the future by intentionally walking him Sunday. He’s a serious upgrade over Felix Pie as a platoon center fielder. A.J. Pierzynski should be lecturing at the University of Chicago. His reading of Jason Marquis’ oh-so-slight move toward second base Saturday, combined with the chutzpah that allowed him to run 75 feet to tag Marquis, sprang from the same well of baseball genius/mischievousness as his split-second decision to dash to first when the Angels’ Josh Paul rolled the ball to the pitcher’s mound after strike three in the 2005 AL Championship Series. He might be the least replaceable player on either side of town. Seriously. The Cubs are deeper than the Sox. Guillen made only one switch in his lineup, starting Brian Anderson in center against Ted Lilly and Dewayne Wise against right-handers Marquis and Dempster. Piniella, meanwhile, got 11 of his 14 regulars into the lineup, starting four left-handed hitters against Jose Contreras and three against Vazquez. He used different second basemen in every game, starting Ronny Cedeno on Friday, Mike Fontenot on Saturday and Mark DeRosa on Sunday. “We play around with our lineup a little bit,” Piniella said. “We have some good flexibility.” Cubs fans have long memories. Of course they boo Pierzynski. It’s only been two years since he brawled with Michael Barrett. But about an hour before Sunday night’s game, a fan in the upper deck was heckling ESPN’s Joe Morgan and waving a sign that read, “Ryno was better than you, Joe.” E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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illini fan 5 wrote on Jun 24, 2008 12:32 PM:
buzz64 wrote on Jun 24, 2008 7:35 AM:
The PEanut Gallery wrote on Jun 24, 2008 1:34 AM:
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