Think Patterson will keep it up?

[mcliffy2]

He's been a godsend off the waiver wire for me...think he can keep this up? He was a 20-30 guy 2 years ago...but can he be a 20-50 guy?

[Fritzenhammer]

I'd have to say yes. Lately he's been doing it against good pitching as well - that HR off Willis was pretty impressive.

That said, he still is a free swinger who strikes out too much, so expect some bad streaks. At this point, I see no reason why he can't go 20 - 50, I just hope he manages to keep his batting average respectable.

FH

[The Loveable Losers]

As a Cubs fan I was very frustrated with Patterson. He has the physical tools to go 20/50. Whether the baseball talent catches up to that remains to be seen. The rational part of me thinks it's possible...though 20/35 or 20/40 is more likely if he doesn't fix the poor contact rate. The Cubs fan part of me just feels too burnt to accept it as for real.

[mcliffy2]

Hes already at 29 steals so barring injury the 40 steals is probably very realistic...I guess I'll just hold him...he's having another good week, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 SB so far.

[alwaysnextyear]

I believe he'll keep it up. He'll get 50 sb's easily (barring injury). the 20 homerun part, I don't really care about as a Corey fan, but I do like his average right around .300. He's a STEAL on the FA market if he's still available.

[freakshow]

Patterson's strikeout rate is down this year. I usually figure less than 5 ab/k is bad, higher than 8 ab/k is pretty good. Vlad is around 8 ab/k for his career, Dunn is around 3 ab/k. Patterson the last 5 yrs:

'02: 4.17
'03: 4.27
'04: 3.76
'05: 3.82
'06: 5.78

Not so bad this year. I don't know why, he's still got a huge swing and I'm always amazed he hits anything. Maybe Crowley had him shorten his swing a little or something. Did he always bunt so much? It's tougher to strike out when you're trying to bunt and he gets a decent amount of hits from bunting.

Anyway, I'd guess that he'll end up with around .285/75/17/65/45. He's still pretty worthless against lefties, but he's not going to steal as much against lefties anyway.

[jonesbros]

Maybe the change of manager/venue has helped Patterson, or maybe he's starting to come of age where everything is working for him all at once. Clearly, as a base-stealer, he and Roberts (who I'm also happy to own) have the green light and seldom get caught.

Many of the guys who don't like Patterson are bitter Cubs fans and who can blame them? If I had a guy who played for my team who suddenly went nuts on another team, I'd feel that way, too.

As far as CPat, I think he could go 20-50 no problem. He's already better than halfway there on the SB with less than half the season under his belt. My projection for him: .275, 19 HR, 78 RBI, 58 SB. I think most people would take that from an undrafted FA.

[alwaysnextyear]

Many of the guys who don't like Patterson are bitter Cubs fans and who can blame them? If I had a guy who played for my team who suddenly went nuts on another team, I'd feel that way, too.

.

I am a die hard Cubs fan. When Patterson was there, I loved him. I don't think that he and Dusty got along very well and I just don't think he was happy in Chicago. He didn't have a job in Baltimore when he got there, with all their outfielders, but he earned an everyday job. I think that he's happier there and will continue to produce.