Les Grobstein

[Backtobanks]

Les Grobstein was on CLTV round table last night and started the usual whining about the Cubs. His comments included the Cubs still have 4 holes to fill (LF, RF, SP, and 2B). I don't know how a sports reporter can say the Cubs have a hole in LF. Right now the Cubs have a hole in one position (RF). They would like to strengthen or add depth to SP and 2B/SS, but those aren't holes. Also, he added that the Brewers are a better team than the Cubs right now.

[fromthestretch]

Les Grobstein was on CLTV round table last night and started the usual whining about the Cubs. His comments included the Cubs still have 4 holes to fill (LF, RF, SP, and 2B). I don't know how a sports reporter can say the Cubs have a hole in LF. Right now the Cubs have a hole in one position (RF). They would like to strengthen or add depth to SP and 2B/SS, but those aren't holes. Also, he added that the Brewers are a better team than the Cubs right now.

 

While I agree that LF shouldn't be viewed as a hole, it's more of a hole than 2B is right now. 2B only becomes a hole if Walker is dealt.

[sweetpeteman]

Well, obviously we should have Abreau in left, Giles in Right, Burnett and Furcal signed, and Tejada traded for by now... (Furcal plays 2nd)

 

 

By the way, bolding half the text kind of defeats the point of bolding.

[mg420]

rf is the oly real hole. barring a trade, the potential starters are prior, z, wood (if he's ready), maddux, rusch, williams & hill. even if wood is hurt & williams gets dealt for a rf, there are still 5 starters.

[Backtobanks]

Well, obviously we should have Abreau in left, Giles in Right, Burnett and Furcal signed, and Tejada traded for by now... (Furcal plays 2nd)

 

 

By the way, bolding half the text kind of defeats the point of bolding.

 

I didn't realize I was in bold.

[Banedon]

By the way, bolding half the text kind of defeats the point of bolding.

 

He forgot the / in the end bold code...I fixed it.

[BigbadB]

rf is the oly real hole. barring a trade, the potential starters are prior, z, wood (if he's ready), maddux, rusch, williams & hill. even if wood is hurt & williams gets dealt for a rf, there are still 5 starters.

 

I disagree. If they fill RF with Juan Encarnacion, then I would say this team still has several holes to fill. There is no way this team could go into 2006 under the impression they could win anything with Murton, Encarnacion, Cedeno and Perez/Walker hitting at the bottom of the order.

[TrueBlueCubFan]

rf is the oly real hole. barring a trade, the potential starters are prior, z, wood (if he's ready), maddux, rusch, williams & hill. even if wood is hurt & williams gets dealt for a rf, there are still 5 starters.

 

I disagree. If they fill RF with Juan Encarnacion, then I would say this team still has several holes to fill. There is no way this team could go into 2006 under the impression they could win anything with Murton, Encarnacion, Cedeno and Perez/Walker hitting at the bottom of the order.

 

Sure they can, if the Cubs get 60+ starts from Wood & Prior they are a contending team.

[goonys evil twin]

rf is the oly real hole. barring a trade, the potential starters are prior, z, wood (if he's ready), maddux, rusch, williams & hill. even if wood is hurt & williams gets dealt for a rf, there are still 5 starters.

 

Having Rusch in the rotation is not good, that's a hole. RF is the one empty position, but depending on how it is filled, it might not be the only hole on the team. A mediocre RF, and no significant upgrade elsewhere, would leave this team still very much lacking on offense, and a rotation with Rusch, Maddux and Williams likely all getting starts in April is not good enough to mask the failings of that lineup.

[MeatampPotatoesMan]

If Wood and Prior are not healthy for most of the season, then yes, the brewers are better than us.

 

Murton is a bit of an unknown, but I think he'll do just fine. Cedeno is another matter. He tears up AAA and VWL with little plate discipline, which is kind of troubling, but I'd rather see him develop in Chicago than watch another year of Neifi.

[mg420]

rf is the oly real hole. barring a trade, the potential starters are prior, z, wood (if he's ready), maddux, rusch, williams & hill. even if wood is hurt & williams gets dealt for a rf, there are still 5 starters.

 

Having Rusch in the rotation is not good, that's a hole. RF is the one empty position, but depending on how it is filled, it might not be the only hole on the team. A mediocre RF, and no significant upgrade elsewhere, would leave this team still very much lacking on offense, and a rotation with Rusch, Maddux and Williams likely all getting starts in April is not good enough to mask the failings of that lineup.

 

i disagree. rusch will be an above average #5 imo. as far as the upgrades on offense, pierre in cf, a full season of murton, cedeno & walker are all upgrades from last year.

[goonys evil twin]

rf is the oly real hole. barring a trade, the potential starters are prior, z, wood (if he's ready), maddux, rusch, williams & hill. even if wood is hurt & williams gets dealt for a rf, there are still 5 starters.

 

Having Rusch in the rotation is not good, that's a hole. RF is the one empty position, but depending on how it is filled, it might not be the only hole on the team. A mediocre RF, and no significant upgrade elsewhere, would leave this team still very much lacking on offense, and a rotation with Rusch, Maddux and Williams likely all getting starts in April is not good enough to mask the failings of that lineup.

 

i disagree. rusch will be an above average #5 imo. as far as the upgrades on offense, pierre in cf, a full season of murton, cedeno & walker are all upgrades from last year.

 

The Cubs don't just need to improve upon last year's team. They need to drastically improve on last year's team. They didn't finish just out of the race, they were destroyed in the race.

 

I don't know how people define average #5 starter, but Rusch would probably be the #4, technically, at least to start the season. And I'm talking about trying to make the Cubs great, not average or above average. Their lineup right now is bad. Add a mediocre RF and it's no better than average, and probably worse. The only way you can win with that kind of production is great pitching, and no team with Rusch starting 33 times could be considered to have great pitching. He's a terrible option for full time starter. He's okay as a swing man, but if he goes out there everyday he's very likely to give you another season of terrible results.

 

Murton, given 700 PA, probably outperforms the LF class of 2005 (.265 .319 .418), but Dusty will find a way to let some crappy veteran get too much time out there, and Murton might have a bit of a sophomore slump. I wouldn't consider LF to be a guaranteed significant upgrade. Cedeno might be able to outproduce the SS class of 2005 (.274 .307 .369), but again, he could struggle a little in his first action, and Neifi will get lots of time there regardless, so the overall SS production is probably not going to be much better than last years. In CF, the Cubs were 16th in the NL in OPS last season, the Marlins were 15th. They aren't getting a huge lift with Juan coming here. He should be better than last year's CF group, and he could be better than he was last year. But he's not extremely productive. Take LF, CF and SS, and you'll be lucky to get 150 total OPS points of improvements, combined. You'll probably get more like 100.

 

Hendry is apparantly trying to trade Walker so he can get a better glove there, sacrificing what little offensive help ARam and Lee have. Then you could easily lose some from OPS, 2B was at .291 .346 .442 last year (interestingly, better than LF, CF, RF). And you are going to lose some OPS from Lee. The question is how much. Take off 100 points and he's still 120 points above his career norm. Be nice and only take away 50, and he's still MVP caliber. Take those away from the other improvements (if they even end up being improvements) and you get marginal improvement over the 2005 team. If you fail to get a substantial improvement in RF, you run the risk of being as bad or worse than the 2005 offense. And the pitching staff is still a big question. I wouldn't want to make it worse by trying to depend on the unreliable Glendon Rusch to hold down a spot, and offset the still lagging offense, all season.

[YearofDaCubs]

If Wood is not ready and going by recent history suggests he will not be, our pitching will take a hit without him. Maddux is getting older. You don't know what you are getting in Rusch. A new capable starting pitcher would have been nice but I probably don't see that happening. At the same time how good our offense will be will depend on how good of a player we put out in RF. Encarnacion, Jacque Jones and others in that category won't be good enough in my eyes. Let's face it. Our starting pitching won't be as strong as it was in the past and we realistically have to depend on our offense more this year.

[Andy]

The Cubs have a hole in right obviously, but I feel comfortable with Murton in left and Cedeno at short hitting 6th and 8th respectively. Assuming of course that Hendry straight-up tells Johnnie B. to play them unless they go 0-for-a month or go Albert Belle on a teammate or fan.

 

I would like another starting pitcher, especially with Wood's issues, I don't think we can afford a Prior/Zambrano/Maddux/Williams/Rusch rotation for an entire season.

 

At present, though, Hendry should focus on RF's, then look into strengthening the other positions if he can.

[UMFan83]

Les Grobstein was on CLTV round table last night and started the usual whining about the Cubs. His comments included the Cubs still have 4 holes to fill (LF, RF, SP, and 2B). I don't know how a sports reporter can say the Cubs have a hole in LF. Right now the Cubs have a hole in one position (RF). They would like to strengthen or add depth to SP and 2B/SS, but those aren't holes. Also, he added that the Brewers are a better team than the Cubs right now.

 

I agree, but they need another starter

[mul21]

rf is the oly real hole. barring a trade, the potential starters are prior, z, wood (if he's ready), maddux, rusch, williams & hill. even if wood is hurt & williams gets dealt for a rf, there are still 5 starters.

 

Having Rusch in the rotation is not good, that's a hole. RF is the one empty position, but depending on how it is filled, it might not be the only hole on the team. A mediocre RF, and no significant upgrade elsewhere, would leave this team still very much lacking on offense, and a rotation with Rusch, Maddux and Williams likely all getting starts in April is not good enough to mask the failings of that lineup.

 

i disagree. rusch will be an above average #5 imo. as far as the upgrades on offense, pierre in cf, a full season of murton, cedeno & walker are all upgrades from last year.

 

The Cubs don't just need to improve upon last year's team. They need to drastically improve on last year's team. They didn't finish just out of the race, they were destroyed in the race.

 

I don't know how people define average #5 starter, but Rusch would probably be the #4, technically, at least to start the season. And I'm talking about trying to make the Cubs great, not average or above average. Their lineup right now is bad. Add a mediocre RF and it's no better than average, and probably worse. The only way you can win with that kind of production is great pitching, and no team with Rusch starting 33 times could be considered to have great pitching. He's a terrible option for full time starter. He's okay as a swing man, but if he goes out there everyday he's very likely to give you another season of terrible results.

 

Murton, given 700 PA, probably outperforms the LF class of 2005 (.265 .319 .418), but Dusty will find a way to let some crappy veteran get too much time out there, and Murton might have a bit of a sophomore slump. I wouldn't consider LF to be a guaranteed significant upgrade. Cedeno might be able to outproduce the SS class of 2005 (.274 .307 .369), but again, he could struggle a little in his first action, and Neifi will get lots of time there regardless, so the overall SS production is probably not going to be much better than last years. In CF, the Cubs were 16th in the NL in OPS last season, the Marlins were 15th. They aren't getting a huge lift with Juan coming here. He should be better than last year's CF group, and he could be better than he was last year. But he's not extremely productive. Take LF, CF and SS, and you'll be lucky to get 150 total OPS points of improvements, combined. You'll probably get more like 100.

 

Hendry is apparantly trying to trade Walker so he can get a better glove there, sacrificing what little offensive help ARam and Lee have. Then you could easily lose some from OPS, 2B was at .291 .346 .442 last year (interestingly, better than LF, CF, RF). And you are going to lose some OPS from Lee. The question is how much. Take off 100 points and he's still 120 points above his career norm. Be nice and only take away 50, and he's still MVP caliber. Take those away from the other improvements (if they even end up being improvements) and you get marginal improvement over the 2005 team. If you fail to get a substantial improvement in RF, you run the risk of being as bad or worse than the 2005 offense. And the pitching staff is still a big question. I wouldn't want to make it worse by trying to depend on the unreliable Glendon Rusch to hold down a spot, and offset the still lagging offense, all season.

 

The problem with this line of thinking is that while the sum total OPS might not be a lot better, there shouldn't be those gaping black holes the lineup had last year. There will be more guys with higher avg. OPS and probably not the astronomically high outliers like there were last year. If you have better balance thoughout the lineup and not just one or two horses in the middle that have all the burden on them and can be pitched around, you'll likely have better production. That being said, I agree that a solid bat still needs to be found for RF and they should keep Walker if at all possible. As many people on this board have said, why create one hole to fill another, it just doesn't make any sense.

[Backtobanks]

The Cubs have a hole in right obviously, but I feel comfortable with Murton in left and Cedeno at short hitting 6th and 8th respectively. Assuming of course that Hendry straight-up tells Johnnie B. to play them unless they go 0-for-a month or go Albert Belle on a teammate or fan.

 

I would like another starting pitcher, especially with Wood's issues, I don't think we can afford a Prior/Zambrano/Maddux/Williams/Rusch rotation for an entire season.

 

At present, though, Hendry should focus on RF's, then look into strengthening the other positions if he can.

 

I agree completely. Let's get a decent RF and then look into strengthening the other positions. As for the rotation, if we can stay competitive until Wood returns, that would be like getting a front line pitcher for nothing. I think Murton & Cedeno will not only be fine, I think we have 2 future stars on this team, but only if Dusty has the patience to stay with them. Adding Floyd (my 1st choice) or Huff/Wilkerson and keeping Walker would be a solid lineup. Getting Floyd, Huff, or Wilkerson leaves plenty of money for JH to use at the trade deadline to strengthen the team. Anybody who thinks that Pierre and Walker at the top of the lineup with Lee, Floyd (Huff/Wilkerson), and Ramirez in the middle and Barrett, Murton, and Cedeno following can't compete in the NL Central is mistaken. Of course, the one wild card is injuries, but that's true for any team. Assuming Wood can return in May and JH can "tinker" with the roster, I'm confident that we can compete.

[goonys evil twin]

The problem with this line of thinking is that while the sum total OPS might not be a lot better, there shouldn't be those gaping black holes the lineup had last year. There will be more guys with higher avg. OPS and probably not the astronomically high outliers like there were last year. If you have better balance thoughout the lineup and not just one or two horses in the middle that have all the burden on them and can be pitched around, you'll likely have better production. That being said, I agree that a solid bat still needs to be found for RF and they should keep Walker if at all possible. As many people on this board have said, why create one hole to fill another, it just doesn't make any sense.

 

I think the pitching around theory is a myth. Lee had nobody behind him much of the year (Burnitz hit 4) and his numbers didn't suffer. Plus, when Neifi is starting you have your black hole, and if either Cedeno or Murton struggled in their first full years (very much a possibility) that could be another black hole. If RF is as bad as it was last year, that is a black hole.