Play the Kids?
Just when the Cubs seemed to have committed to playing Matt Murton on a more-or-less daily basis (which is commendable, by the way), we have this nugget of wisdom from Dusty:
"Everybody says, 'Play the kids, play the kids.' But I've got seven games against Houston," Baker said. "Against Houston, I've got to play my best team. We could have a direct impact on who goes. There's always something to play for."
Huh?
Even for Dustyspeak, this is truly inscrutable. The Cubs have put themselves in the interesting position of being out of the race in mid-September, yet not really having too many "kids" on the roster to play. Murton may be a rookie, but he's earned his playing time the old-fashioned way, even if it took an injury to Jerry Hairston to make it happen, by hitting .340/.405/.573 to date.
The only other guy who can be reasonably called a "kid" is Geovany Soto, and I haven't heard anyone clamoring for him to play. Yes, Ryan Theriot is a rookie, but at 26 and with a middling minor league record, he's not a prospect or a kid. Ditto John Koronka. I might like to see Rich Hill and Jermaine Van Buren get a bit more garbage time work, but on a team where even Scott Williamson goes a week between appearances, it's nothing to get worked up over.
So, I guess the bottom line is that, for once, Dusty seems to be managing the roster he's been given at something approaching acceptable efficiency. It's not like the Cubs called up a bunch of prospects and have them sitting around; they mostly called up roster filler and role players. I know I've accused Dusty of treating younger players as if they're not there, but now, curiously, they pretty much aren't.
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It will be interesting to see
It will be interesting to see what the Chicago papers do with putting Baker's quote into context. It's hard to understand what he's talking about. As you note, the only "kid" worth playing regularly is Murton. Is Baker really suggesting that putting Murton on the field might mean he isn't putting his best team on the field? Murton is, after all, hitting better than any other outfielder on the team, and it's not really close at this point.
Baker
I think this is just a case of Baker doing the opposite of what he says. As you've noted repeatedly, he's said throughout the season that the kids are going to play. But they didn't. Now, he says they aren't, when in fact Murton, the only relevant kid, is playing fairly regularly.
From that aspect, it's a perfectly consistent thing for Baker to say.
Dusty on Murton
Here's today's Dusty quote:
Hope so.