Jim's Rosetta Stone

The Cubs are back on the winning track after last night's 7-4 victory over Baltimore. Of course Jim Edmonds was at it again with another home run, giving him five this month and six as a Cub.

Edmond's line so far is .305/.622/.998 (AVG/SLG/OPS) in 28 games. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't think "Lassie" had it in him, but I just can't see him keeping this up. While his play has been a pleasant surprise. Well, pleasant isn't really the word I was looking for. Anyway, Jim's comments in the press need a little work.

Maybe Scott Templeton needed to cover the game for the Orioles, so Jim could have some better quotes. In today's Tribune, Jim said:

"Winning breeds success, or winning breeds all the good things," Edmonds said. "That's why you win, or winning brings that out in you."

Edmonds didn't have an interpreter, so whatever he was trying to say is open to interpretation.

See, even Paul Sullivan is calling him out. What does that mean? That's why you win? No, you win to get this stupid 100-year no championship thing over with.

Well, Jim is probably starting again with Reed Johnson on the DL, and Fukudome nursing a sore left calf, so we can only hope that the Cubs hot play continues and it doesn't come down to Jim.

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy

(AP)

Ok, it's hard to spin when a guys hits two homeruns in a inning, but we here at CJE are not deterred. Granted, Jim Edmonds hit two home runs yesterday and they were both in the same inning, but How many runs did he drive in? Survey says, "Two". That's right folks, Jim's getting pretty selfish and not driving in anybody else.

How about those other two AB's? Nothing to show for it. I know it looks like I am cherry picking, but I might be. Still it doesn't change the fact, his defense is suspect.

Lastly, what is up with that fan bowing down to Jim? Dude, you can't worship him. That's just wrong on so many levels.

The Cubs go for the sweep tonight and no doubt that Jim "Lassie" Edmonds will be in the lineup.

Two in a row, but........

The Cubs have lost two one-run games in a row. Granted, they are still 18 game over .500 and still lead by 3.5 games. But all of the sudden the Cubs are visiting the trainer a little too much.

Here is a list of players currently on the DL or could be heading there:

Daryle Ward - Bad Back - who knows when we get his bat back and we really need. (I.E. Micah Hoffpauir's rook AB the last two nights).

Alfonso Soriano - Broken Finger - Probably not coming back until late July.

Carlos Zambrano - Shoulder - Oh please, oh please be nothing. We can't afford to be without Z for a long period of time.

Reed Johnson - Bad Back - our second player to come up lame with his back, but this would mean even more time for Jim Edmonds....oh wait I left somebody off the list.

Jim Edmonds - Bad foot, swing, defense, morals - Jim really just has a bad "arch" on his foot. Come on, sounds a bit fishy to me. Just when Jim was showing signs of life, he comes down when the Cubs are actually counting on him. I hate say it, but "I TOLD YOU SO!" He does have all those other things, but I can only prove the foot, defense and swing things, but we here at the CJE have PI's out and about trying to gather information about his morals.

Well, if we can't Cut Jim Emonds, maybe we can just DL him.

New Elements

The Cubs are playing in Cooperstown today, even though they don't want to play according to many, many, many sources. As for us at the CJE, we are happy, because Jimmy probably won't play today, since his old bones need a day off. So, parents make sure your children are safe today.

As for us, we are adding a new element to the page that will keep us updated on Jim in small doses. Until tomorrow, Go Cubs!

Edmonds at it again

The staff here are CJE.com is preparing for the day when Jim Emonds' showboating comes back and hurt us. In a year where we are trying to win a championship there is no room for this tidbit of information from the Tribune:

Another head-scratching decision came when Hobbs credited Rod Barajas with a double on a ball Jim Edmonds used to catch with his eyes closed. Edmonds was showboating, trying to make a basket catch, and simply dropped it. Hobbs later changed the hit to an error.

The story is about Toronto's scorekeeper, who made some questionable calls, one of which almost took Jim off the hook. Folks, even though he is hitting, he will cost us a big game - count on it.

Even Neifi hit a big homer once...

Let's be clear: I was very happy to see that ball sneak into the basket. For that matter, I'll even admit to considering the possibility of a game-winning grand-slam while the Braves were changing pitchers. I called my co-author to discuss the possibility as I drove home from work. Fortunately, Lou had the good sense to send Reed in to win the game Homer Simpson style.

But let's not go crazy. Edmonds gets no credit for the sac fly. It was a better outcome than his usual strikeout or soft ground ball, but our friends at Fan Graphs say it did essentially nothing towards winning the game. (Because a decent player would have at least had the possibility of, you know, getting a hit or something.)

But still, he did hit that homer and we did win the game. Neifi Perez hit homers. Bill Bergen hit homers. And today, Jim Edmonds hit one. Good for him- let's see him do it again.

Soriano Out, Edmonds Stays

With Alfonso's injury and Lassie's two more RBI's it looks like Jim Edmonds will keep trotting out to CF for at least the next six weeks. It should be an interesting six weeks.

Goofus & Gallant

Goofus is an old, out of shape, showboating hack who couldn't play center field even when he was young and healthy, and plays center field like this.	Gallant catches baseballs.

Its Hard to Teach an Old Dog How to Play Defense

In all the excitement over Lassie's "hot" streak (he's up to #107 out of 117 outfielders w/ at least 100 PAs), let's not overlook his defensive contributions. Michael Lichtman does one of the better respected defensive metrics out there, and although he doesn't publish complete stats regularly, he did post some current numbers the other day.

Worst Centerfielders (runs lost per 150 games)

1. Jim Edmonds -38
2. Josh Hamilton -37
3. Vernon Wells -31
4. Mark Kotsay -24
5. Andruw Jones -20

In fact, he is the second worst defensive player in all of baseball, ahead of only Brad Hawpe. Yet again, you're doing a heckuva job Jimmy.

Cubs Held Hostage: Days 20-21

Go figure, Jim doesn't play on Saturday and the Cubs blow a big game. I'm sure it was Jim in the dugout with some mirror looking at himself, making sure he was ready to hit the town that night that somehow reflected in Aramis' eye.

I tell you people, Jim's vanity will also hurt us in the end, as well as his slow bad speed.

On Sunday, Jason Marquis turned in his best start of the year to help the Cubs finish 4-3 on the road trip. Nothing wrong with that. As for our man Jim, he went 0-for-2 with two BB's to see his average dip back to .209.

Day 22 will be a quiet one, since the Cubs are back in Chicago waiting for the Braves. Maybe Jim Hendry is looking for a possible replacement today and we can end this experiment.

Cubs Held Hostage: Day 19

Hello Cubs fans,

I hope not to scare you with this statement, but Jim Edmonds is about to reach his 20th day as a Cubs. That's pretty rough, but at least we keep getting photos like the one on top of this post.

Last night the Cubs were blanked 3-0, thanks in part to Jim playing out of position and getting beat by Jeff Kent. If Pie is playing, Felix snags it to keep it 0-0 and the Cubs win, but instead Jim looks like a fool and waves at a ball that is two-feet to his right.

At the plate, Jim was 1-for-3 with a K, but the hit came with two-outs and nobody on base. All-in-all the Cubs keep their 3.5 game lead, because St. Louis and Milwaukee lost yesterday. Good news, Jim is getting the day off in favor of Reed Johnson.

Cubs Held Hostage: Day 17-18

The Cubs finally lost on Wednesday, thanks in large part to Jim Edmonds of course.

On Wednesday, the only person older than Jim (Greg Maddux) made Edmonds look silly by going 0-for-3 to see his average drop back down to .203. People might say Jim made a great leaping catch to save a run in the 7th, but we at CJE are not fouled. Further examination shows that Edmonds was just hot-dogging it with a pointless leap.

Yesterday, the Cubs won 5-4. Mark DeRosa and Kosuke Fukudome both went yard, while Kerry Wood picked up another save. Jim had a box-score of 2-for-5 that saw his average creep up to .211. Closer look at the box score show that Jim left 3 runners on base and struck out once. He didn't score and made one diving catch that Felix Pie would've had with no problems. Still, we can't be too worried, because the Cubs have the best record in baseball.

More comments, analysis and cutting of Jim Edmonds later.

Why Are the Cubs Playing Well?

A few people might notice that when we the Cubs were first talking about Jim Edmonds the Cubs were 23-16. Not a bad record, but now that the Cubs are 38-21.

So, my question to you: Who do we give credit to for this recent success?

A. Jim Hendry - as much as I like Jim for the Aramis Ramirez theft from the Pittsburgh Pirates, there are times like signing Jason Marquis, not to mention Jim Emonds. We here a CJE (Cut Jim Edmonds) can't give credit Jim for all the success. A little yes, but lets move on.

B. Lou Pinella - Lou has been great for the Cubs. Take last night's verbal lashing of Marquis. Still, Lou has his faults. What faults might that be? Well, he keeps writing in Jim Edmonds in the lineup and we just can't give Lou our total support at this time.

C. Kosuke Fukudome - Now here is a player that we can get behind. The Cubs have become a new team with the man from Japan in right field. He is supporting a .843 OPS and a .408 OBP. While Fukudome has been a big part of the success, he isn't the main reason.

D. Jim Edmonds- come on did you really think he was the reason for our success.

E. Cut Jim Edmonds.com - Was there any doubt? The Cubs were 23-16 the day Loather and I took CJE.com live and to the fans. Since our first day, a day before JE actually took the field, the Cubs are 15-5 folks. They own the best record in baseball and have built a 3.5 game lead over the Cardinals.

Stay tuned for updates as the Loather and I will be watching the game tonight.

Cubs Held Hostage: Day 17

Even Jim Edmonds and felllow Cardinal Jason Marquis can't stop the Cubbie Train from derailing. The Cubs win their 9th straight after a 9-6 win over the Padres to improve to 38-21.

Jim didn't see the field, always a good thing, and Lou was quite upset with Marquis most the night. After Marquis tossed one past D. Lee, Lou said something like, "What the "Bleep" is he doing."

Later on in the game, Lou came out and gave Marquis a stern talking to after he walked another batter.

Ted Lilly and Greg Maddox match up tomorrow, which means Edmonds will be back in the lineup.

Go Cubs!

Cubs Held Hostage: Day 15-16

We here at Cut Jim Edmonds are not fooled about Jim's recent success at the plate. Two more days have passed, and the Cubs have won two more games for a season high 8-game winning streak.

On Sunday, Edmonds went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI in a 5-3 victory over the worst team in the National League. I didn't see the game, but Jim had a triple, but I'm sure it wasn't a true triple. I'm sure somebody misplayed a ball off the wall that would have been a single or double for Jim normally.

Yesterday, Jim found a way to leg out two more doubles. All of the sudden, Jim is hitting for a little power, but remember Petco has some crazy dimensions (Zambrano legged out a stand-up triple).

Overall, Jim has raised his smoking average to a smoking .208. I mean he is blowing away Mendoza at this point.

As a Cub, Edmonds is hitting .286 with an .876 OPS. He has 1 HR and 7 RBI in 12 games with the Cubs. So, he has probably bought himself over few weeks on the roster.

DON'T BE FOOLED. JIM IS GOING TO HURT US. TRUST ME!


Go Cubs!