This is something that was in an article about players for the fantasy leagues:

 

Corey Patterson, OF, BAL 2006
Stats: .295 BA, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 14 R, 7 SB, 10:2 K:BB
Stat Rat Rank (H2H): 132
Market Value: Moderate Sell
Lowdown: It was only a matter of time before Patterson realized that being an ex-Cub means it's time to fulfill expectations. Following in the footsteps of the Cubs pantheon of topflight talent giveaways -- I am still bitter about Lou Brock -- Patterson has abandoned his free-swinging mentality over the last seven days. With a bewildering 13 hits in his last 29 at-bats, not to mention three steals and an equally amazing two walks, he has soared his way into the leadoff position for a desperate O's lineup in search of offensive consistency in the outfield -- and an adequate fill-in for the injured Brian Roberts. Is Patterson the pyrite of fantasy baseball? You bet. Sure, his six multi-hit performances since April 19 are tasty, but -- in a microcosm of his entire disappointing career -- Patterson has a gaudy 10:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio. A return to the 24-homer, 32-stolen base loftiness of 2004 is not implausible, but erratic phases should be anticipated. If you are sound in steals, see if this Oriole has wings in the trading market in your league.

Here's your Corey update from the last 10 games:

37 at bats
6 runs
13 hits
2 home runs
7 RBI's
6 strikeouts
3 stolen bases
.351 batting average

Season: .277 BA, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 7 SB

 

Looks like he's starting to do better!

---

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Here's your Corey update from the last 10 games:

18 at bats
6 runs
4 hits
1 home run
3 RBI's
2 strikeouts
3 stolen bases
.222 batting average

Season: .179 BA, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 4 SB

So sad that Corey isn't in Chicago anymore, but here is how he is
doing in his first week in Baltimore:

10 at bats
2 runs
1 hit
1 RBI
3 strikeouts
1 stolen base

.100 batting average

Darnit. I thought it would happen, but i'm still upset. Hopefully
Corey will hit his stride in Baltimore. I will still keep up with
his career. Hopefully he'll end up being a great player and the
Cubs will have to regret their decision.

Good luck to him.

-Nez

Corey had one walk and one hit last night. The hit was
a solid one and with Corey's speed was easily a triple.
The ball was thrown away as Corey got to third and he
was able to score. Unfortunately Cubs pitching sucked
bigtime last night and they lost 12-4.

N.

In the August 11 game Corey came alive with 3 hits, 1 RBI,
2 runs scored, 1 walk and NO STRIKE OUTS in four chances
at the plate. He also made one heckuva play in centerfield.

Hopefully this gets him back on the right track.

-Nez

Corey started once again for the Chicago Cubs today,
batting in the seventh spot. He had one hit, and he
scored a run today.

Here's what Yahoo Sports said regarding this...

"He reached on a bunt single in his first at-bat, scored
on Matt Lawton's two-run double, and was cheered by the
crowd. ``The fans, the ones that have been with me through
my tough times, I really appreciate that,'' he said."

I'm glad he's back and hope he can get settled in and
do well like we all know he's capable of.

-Nez

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"I know I could have been playing a lot better than I was," Patterson said Tuesday. "The Cubs did what they had to do.

"I could not keep going at the pace I was," he said. "I wasn't getting the results."

Last Thursday, the Cubs decided to send Patterson and another outfielder, Jason Dubois, to their Triple-A Iowa team, and called up Matt Murton and Adam Greenberg from Double-A West Tenn. Dubois is a rookie and was batting .239 in 52 games, while this was Patterson's fourth consecutive season on the big-league Opening Day roster.

Patterson, 25, was batting .232 in 83 games with 11 homers, 24 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. He has the look and the tools of a leadoff batter, but struggled in the top spot in the order, hitting .218 with a .268 on-base percentage.

The Cubs made the roster move after Thursday's day-night doubleheader in Atlanta, and Patterson went home for a few days before reporting to the team's facility in Mesa, Ariz. He will join the Iowa Cubs on Thursday in Des Moines. Will he lead off? He didn't know.

"I wasn't OK with it," Patterson said in a conference call with Cubs beat writers about the move. "I don't think anyone is OK with being sent down to the Minors."

There is no timeframe as to how long Patterson will stay with the Minor League team. This will be the first time he'll play in the Minors since 2001. The center fielder rocketed to the big leagues. He batted .320 at Class A Lansing in 1999 and in 2000, hit .261 at Double-A West Tenn before being called up in September. He split 2001 between Iowa and the Major Leagues.

Patterson doesn't expect this stint to be an extended stay.

"It won't take me long," he said. "I'll know when I'm ready."

He's been able to narrow down what he needs to do to simplify his approach. No. 1 is to shorten his swing.

"I think if I do that, it'll help other things as well," he said.

Like cut down on the strikeouts. Patterson has fanned 83 times, tied for fourth-highest in the National League with St. Louis' Jim Edmonds and Washington's Junior Spivey. Cincinnati's Adam Dunn leads the league with 94 Ks.

Cubs manager Dusty Baker has talked about how Patterson isn't centering the ball, and being a few inches off has hurt him.

"It's a hard game," Patterson said, "but it's really simple."

His teammates' advice after he got the news? That you have to "know yourself," Patterson said.

"You have to find what works for you," he said.

He came up through the Cubs system batting third in the Minors, and not leading off, and it's been an adjustment. He shined in the No. 1 spot in August 2004, batting .336. He's looked at video, and has decided to move on, get a fresh start. And he's not blaming anyone for his struggles.

"It's not anyone's fault," Patterson said. "It's not [hitting coach Gene Clines'] fault."

Most important, he hasn't lost confidence.

"If I wasn't confident, I wouldn't be playing," he said. "I didn't lose confidence. It was frustration more than anything. It's like, man, you're not getting enough out of your abilities."

The Cubs hope he can get back on track, beginning Thursday with the Iowa Cubs.

Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

I read a transcript from Steve Stone's radio show and
he said that he thinks the Cubs are getting ready to
trade Corey.
I really, really hope it's not true :-(

--- nezee74 <nezee74@...> wrote:

> Bless his heart. Hopefully this will be the spark he
>
> needs, though i'm sure he's pretty devastated about
> it at the moment. :(
>
>
> ---  "cantadolce80" <cantadolce80@y...> wrote:
> > I will try my best to keep you up to date on how
> Corey is doing in
> > Iowa. I have bookmarked his stats page already.
>
>
>
>


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Bless his heart. Hopefully this will be the spark he
needs, though i'm sure he's pretty devastated about
it at the moment. :(


---  "cantadolce80" <cantadolce80@y...> wrote:
> I will try my best to keep you up to date on how Corey is doing in
> Iowa. I have bookmarked his stats page already.

I will try my best to keep you up to date on how Corey is doing in
Iowa. I have bookmarked his stats page already.


MIAMI -- Chicago Cubs hitting coach Gene Clines said the team hasn't
lost confidence in Corey Patterson, who was demoted to the Minor
Leagues on Thursday. But it's up to the young center fielder to
regroup.
The move, which will be Patterson's first trip to the Minors since
2001, was prompted by the center fielder's struggles at the plate.
He was hitting .232 overall.

"He really hasn't had any adversity in baseball," Clines said Friday
of Patterson, who was the Cubs' No. 1 draft pick in
1998. "Everything's always come easy for him. Sometimes, you have to
hit rock bottom before you can take a step back to realize a lot of
things said to you in the past were to try to help you.

"He knew it. He knew he could go in the cage and do it, he could do
it in [batting practice], but when it came to game time, it wasn't
there. I can't figure it out. All I can do is show you videos and
tell you this is what you need to do. I don't know what else to do."

Patterson had regressed this season, not progressed. He batted .284
in April, but was hitting .158 (19-for-120) in his last 33 games. He
surprised the Cubs on June 22 when he volunteered to bat leadoff.

"To me, one of the disappointing things was that after he talked to
[Cubs manager Dusty Baker] and said he wanted to move back up to the
leadoff spot, he knew what he had to do," Clines said. "He had to
bunt, take more pitches, get in the count, be creative. And he
didn't do it.

"It was a constant reminder, 'Get into the count,' 'Run more,'"
Clines said. "These are things we've been saying for three years. I
felt so good when he said he was ready to move back into the leadoff
spot. Maybe he's turned the page and was ready to do the little
things, but he hit rock bottom."

Patterson was optioned to Triple-A Iowa on Thursday along with
outfielder Jason Dubois. Patterson did clear waivers, and was not
claimed by any team. From May 1-July 31, teams will often place
players on waivers primarily to be able to option them. Another team
could claim a player, but the host team -- in this instance, the
Cubs -- has the right to pull the player back off the waiver wire.

After July 31, teams tend to claim players placed on waivers to
block potential deals.

Patterson was expected in Mesa, Ariz., to work with Minor League
hitting coordinator Dave Keller next week, and then report to Triple-
A Iowa on Thursday. The Iowa Cubs' games this weekend in New Orleans
were postponed because of Hurricane Dennis, and then they have time
off for the All-Star break.

"He needed a break," Clines said of Patterson, who also had slipped
defensively. "If he's doing one or the other, playing good defense
and not hitting as well but making progress, you could live with
that. But both started to go bad."

Baker said it's too early to give up on Patterson as a leadoff
hitter. The talent is there.

"He's going down because it appeared that once the league learned
how to pitch him as a whole, he's not in control of most at-bats and
not in control of the situation," Baker said. "It appears he was a
little bit overmatched. He's going to go down to hopefully play
against guys his age or a little younger, tear it up, star, and come
back with a lot of confidence."

Clines isn't going to abandon Patterson, but planned to call at
least every other day. He already had talked to Iowa hitting coach
Pat Listach.

"I feel very positive about him," Clines said. "This is a learning
experience for him. It's something he's never gone through. How do
you handle adversity, especially at this level? On the big league
level, everything you do is scrutinized, magnified. Everybody sees
it. It's no fun when every time you go to the plate, you strike out
and you're booed."

Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee talked to Patterson before the team
left Atlanta on Thursday night for Miami.

"I told him to make it a positive, and that it happens to all of
us," Lee said. "Most people at some point get sent down. You have to
make it a positive rather than get down on yourself. Make it work
good for him. Hopefully he can find his swing and come back and help
us out."

The Cubs are looking forward to Patterson's return this season.

"We decided the time to do it would be now," Baker said. "It's
frustrating for him. You think we're frustrated and the fans are
frustrated, how do you think he feels? He knows he has the skills,
he knows he has the talent. When you're used to starring all your
life and you quit starring, that's a very humbling and devastating
thing for people."

I will gladly take all the blame...I have not been reporting on
Corey's stats for the past 2 months, and I only blame myself for
what has happened with him. Sure, I could give you excuses (end of
the school year, rehearsing for a musical, being out of the country
for 5 days, and most importantly, buying a condo), and I have simply
run out of time. I am so sorry that I have been neglecting Corey.

I was at the last home game the Cubs won last Wed., and I proudly
wore my Corey shirt. The man behind me was complaining about him,
then tapped my shoulder, and said, "Sorry." I understood though. I
knew he wasn't playing well.

Anyway, Corey has been sent down to AAA IowaP:( :( :( :(
Below is the article explanation.



ATLANTA -- The Chicago Cubs decided Corey Patterson needed a change.
The Cubs optioned Patterson and outfielder Jason Dubois to Triple-A
Iowa after Thursday's game, and purchased the contracts of
outfielders Adam Greenberg and Matt Murton from Double-A West Tenn.

"Obviously, we're not going well and we're not here to point fingers
at these guys, especially Corey, that it's their fault," Cubs
general manager Jim Hendry said after the team lost its eighth
straight game. "Corey's been in a funk and we're not helping him by
having him try to get out of it under these conditions.

"I think it's better that he can clear his head and spend a lot of
time working on the stuff he and [hitting coach Gene Clines] have
been trying over the last four days, and hopefully it'll click,"
Hendry said. "For his own good, and our good long-term, it seems
like the right thing to do."

Patterson declined to talk to reporters after Thursday's game. The
25-year-old center fielder was batting .232 with 11 home runs and 24
RBIs. He started the season well, hitting .284 in April, and
followed that with a .273 average in May.

But Patterson scuffled in June, hitting .157 with one homer and five
RBIs, and was 3-for-18 this month in six games. He reached on a bunt
single with one out in the fifth Thursday, which is something the
Cubs have wanted him to do more, but struck out to end the second
game of the doubleheader against Atlanta.

"He knows we still think the Corey we know we're going to get is in
there," Hendry said. "He's probably internalizing a lot of it and
trying too hard to make things happen, and when you do that in this
game, unfortunately, sometimes it goes the other way on you. That's
what he's going through now."

The Cubs projected Patterson as a leadoff hitter this year to take
advantage of his speed and base-stealing ability, but he struggled
there and batted .218 in the No. 1 spot. Cubs manager Dusty Baker
has inserted him everywhere in the lineup except fourth and fifth,
and never seemed to find the right fit.

"He knows he's better than he's playing," Baker said
Thursday. "Hopefully, he can go find himself and find his stroke and
find his game, and dominate the way he's capable of dominating."

Clines predicted a solid season for Patterson this spring, but
lately the center fielder has looked lost. The problem is simply
lack of contact. Patterson was fouling pitches off that he used to
drive, and wasn't centering the ball. He has struck out 82 times and
had an overall on-base percentage of .270. He had Sunday and Monday
off to regroup, but the Cubs decided he needed more time.

Last season, Patterson hit .266, including .336 in August, when he
was first inserted into the leadoff spot.

Patterson predicted his return would be a "gradual process." He
remembers August 2004, too.

"I did it once," he said on Wednesday. "I know I can do it again.
I've played well. I can do it again."

The Iowa Cubs' weekend games in New Orleans have been postponed
because of the weather, and the team will then have the All-Star
break off before resuming play July 14 against Omaha. Patterson and
Dubois, who was hitting .239, will take a few days off and then go
to the Cubs facility in Mesa, Ariz., to work with Minor League
hitting instructor Dave Keller before joining the Iowa team.

    Corey Patterson  /   CF
   Born: 08/13/79
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 180 lbs
Bats: L / Throws: R

More info:
Player page
Stats | Splits
Gallery
Team Site | Shop


"There's a fine line when you have Corey's talent. You want him to
be able to find it," Hendry said. "When it goes through a period
like here, you can see in his face he's trying too hard. It's hard
to fix it in the middle of the game.

"I think it'll be good for him," Hendry said. "There's been a lot of
outstanding players in the past who have gone down and gotten ironed
out and been good the rest of their career, and hopefully it'll
happen to him."

Dubois, 26, was on the Opening Day roster for the first time in his
career, and hit .346 in 12 games in April. But he batted .227 in 17
games in June, and was 2-for-12 as a pinch-hitter.

"I've got to go down there and work and try to get back here as fast
as I can," Dubois said. "It's not a bad thing -- it may be a good
thing. I haven't been playing as good as I want to. I'll get some
[at-bats], and hopefully get back."

His playing time was reduced when Todd Hollandsworth found his
stroke.

"It's real tough to get timing when you haven't seen a pitch in
eight, nine days, and you get that one opportunity to do the best
you can," Dubois said. "Sometimes you screw yourself in the ground
because you try too hard. You try to make everything happen on every
swing you take. That's what's been happening. I've been going
downhill. I think this will help it out."

Greenberg, 24, was batting .278 at West Tenn with four homers, seven
triples, nine doubles and 28 RBIs. He has played 63 games in right
field, 10 in center and one in left.

Murton, 23, was hitting .342 with eight homers, 17 doubles and 46
RBIs at West Tenn. He was acquired from the Boston Red Sox in the
Nomar Garciaparra deal last July.

Will the Cubs play the new kids?

"We're in a situation where, hopefully, they'll give us a spark,"
Hendry said. "They certainly earned it."

The Cubs would've considered calling up outfielder Felix Pie, but he
has a bone bruise on his right ankle and will be sidelined at least
one more week, possibly more.

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--- In coreypatterson@yahoogroups.com, "frat" <yarabc@a...> wrote:
>
> I was at today's game -- wore my Patterson home jersey -- was bummmed
> that he did not start.  It was great to see the outfield go wild when
> he took centerfield late in the game.  Their were even a group of
> people in right center that had shirts that spelled out PATTERSON.
>
> I am glad the fans are coming around to him now.

haha...i was at that game too! yea to bad he didn't play the entire
game...not only is he having a great April...he is also nice to look
at! Although a few friends and I saw him leave the park with a
girl....now that is even more of a bummer!!! haha j/k

I was at today's game -- wore my Patterson home jersey -- was bummmed
that he did not start.  It was great to see the outfield go wild when
he took centerfield late in the game.  Their were even a group of
people in right center that had shirts that spelled out PATTERSON.

I am glad the fans are coming around to him now.

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