Cubs Prepare Us For a Month of Macias at Third
"Aramis Ramirez is hurt, and the only way he can heal his sore right leg is to take extended time off," reports MLB.com. "Ramirez hurt his quad running to first base in the Cubs' July 27 game against San Francisco." He isn't coming out of the lineup anytime soon, but when the Cubs realize the season is gone and they shut down Kerry Wood, will they also rest Ramirez?
And then what? A month of Jose Macias at third base? Looking at the 40-man roster, the only other legitimate option is Mike Fontenot. Fontenot has hit .281/.389/.436 for triple-A Iowa this year. His 14% walk rate is particularly impressive and un-Cub-like. It would be worth getting him some regular playing time in September to see if he can compete for the second base job next year, or for the Macias role.
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Apparently Ramirez is OK ...
He's in the lineup today.
Apparently, though, Dusty didn't have the heart to break this to Macias, because Macias is in right today. And leading off! I guess Dusty's fears of playing people out of position have subsided.
At least Murton is playing, too.
Macias and Perez at the top
Macias and Neifi Perez are now 4-for-6 in today's game. I think that means the Cubs have to win.
Yes
Nothing like playing the Cardinals to cure what ails you, I guess.
As a side note, Michael Barrett is 1-1 with two walks. I wrote a while back noting his fine play. While the rest of the Cubs have collectively stopped hitting the past couple weeks, Barrett has continued said fine play, hitting .301/.416/.493 for July and .286/.400/.524 so far for August, not counting today. He's gone from being slightly above average to being one of the best offensive catchers in baseball this year.
Noted for the record. I'm not always as positive as I could be.
Barrett
Yes, Barrett has been really solid at the plate over the last several weeks. My theory: He reads CubsNet.com, read this post, and realized that his walk rate wasn't where it should be. He promptly became more patient, leading not only to a higher walk rate, but his swinging at better pitches to hit.
Barrett's walk rate has gone from .045 to .086 in just 5 weeks.
Let's face it, we're going to
Let's face it, we're going to see Jose Macias as a starter SOMEWHERE for most of September. When the Cubs start the fire sale, he'll end up at almost every position. It's only a matter of weeks until we start hearing faint praise of his middle relief pitching prowess.
Macias
It's only a matter of weeks until we start hearing faint praise of his middle relief pitching prowess.
Fine by me. At least that way he's unlikely to get any at bats.
RE: Macias
But he's hitting .291! I mean, that's better than Baker's lifetime .278. (I don't know what you mean by "walks" and "home runs." I'll take a groundball between first and second 29.1% of the time any day of the week.)
Come on, be fair
Macias does have 7 doubles, so at least some of those grounders had to go between first base and the foul line. Credit where it is due ....