Murton Goes To Japan

Today the Rockies sold former Cub Matt Murton to a Japanese club. Murton came to the Cubs in the Nomar Garciaparra trade. He made his debut with the Cubs in 2005 and was always a good contanct hitter, especially against left handed hitting. I thought Murton proved he is a valuable bat off the bench or starting vs. left handed hitting, but he always had trouble staying on the 25 man roster. He was with the Rockies last season, but only saw action in 29 games and had 52 at-bats in the Majors. He did hit .324 at Triple-A Colorado Springs and set a Colorado Springs record with a 29-game hitting streak. The Rockies have their 3 outfield spots set, and Ryan Spilborghs looks to be the 4th outfield now that Murton is out of the mix. Good luck to Murton in Japan! He may just stick out a bit with that red hair!

Cubs emergency catcher for 2009

Every team has an emergency catcher in case something happens to the other two. There can be many scenarios on why a team may have to use an emergency catcher. If one catcher starts and the second one comes into the game to pinch hit or on a double switch and something happens to them like an injury, then a team may have to use an emergency catcher. Rarely does a team actually have to use an emergency catcher. Most teams may not make it clear who the emergency catcher is and will deal with the issue if it does happen. For some reason the Cubs have a history of making it clear who that is. In the past the Cubs emergency catchers were Matt Murton, Ramon Martinez, Jose Macias, and I am probably forgetting a few. This year it is obvious that Jake Fox is the Cubs emergency catcher. The Cubs drafted him as a catcher and he played that position in the Cubs organization until three years ago when Lou came to the Cubs and saw him play in spring training. He was very impressed by Fox’s bat, but not is defense so he moved him. The Cubs starting catcher Geovany Soto is injured and day to day. The backup Hill is not that good offensively so the Cubs may start Fox at Catcher to get his bat in the lineup. If Fox is not terrible behind the plate I say they should play him more at catcher until Soto is healthy and then have him play there occasionally to give Soto a break.

Who is the White Sox emergency Catcher?