MVN - Most Valuable Network

Cubs Promote Murton, Demote Patterson

Cubs.com reports that the Cubs have demoted Eric Patterson to AAA Iowa and called up outfielder Matt Murton. One of these players has to be up because of Alfonso Soriano’s calf strain.

In AAA so far this season, Murton has hit .317. He’s a pretty good contact hitter and can obviously hit for a high average. The problem with him is that he has very little power, which the Cub’s like to have in a starter.

This is most likely the main reason why the Cubs don’t like him very much. They clearly don’t see him as anything more than a back-up, and don’t seem to want him in the big leagues.

And yet, in trade talks with other teams, they’re saying that Murton is indeed an everyday player, and are asking for a high pitching prospect. This move could be one to further convince teams that he is, as it’s pretty hard to do that when he’s in the minors with the left fielder on the DL.

Patterson is also starting to lose the Cub’s confidence. He’s not very mature, and undisciplined at the plate. Chicago may have liked him for his versatility, with the ability to play him at second base in addition to the outfield.

Now, though, Murton will get some starts in left when Mark DeRosa gets an off-day or goes back to second, and also pinch-hit some.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 19th, 2008 at 2:04 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.