Jones Transaction Good or Bad?

[mhuber92211]

Simple question, Like it or not?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

No. The Cubs weren't going to find too many better options now, but 3 years is ludicrous.

[imb]

hell no, how could you?

 

if the option is jones at three years, or waiting and hoping something else comes along, you wait and hope something else comes along. I mean, Jesus, it's not like Jones is going to put us over the top this year, if nothing else, you go with Patterson or Pie for a month and try to trade for someone with an expiring contract.

 

If Jones had signed for one year, I would have been upset, but not really pissed at Hendry, considering there arent a lot of options, and it would only be a one year stop gap, but the fact that he hamstrung us with that contract for 3 years is unforgivable.

[vaball]

I vote yes, for obvious reasons.

[Schwarber Fan]

At least its not Corey.....???

[CuseCubFan69]

This won't be that bad if Baker can hit him against right handed pitching only but I doubt that will happen. Kid Dynomite will play almost every game in right much like Burnitz did.

[NCCubFan]

After my vote the talley at the time was 4 yes, 13 no. So at least four fans of other teams have voted. :D

[ConstableRabbit]

After my vote the talley at the time was 4 yes, 13 no. So at least four fans of other teams have voted. :D

 

Actually, one was Edward K., Indianapolis

[mhuber92211]

For the record I voted yes.

 

Also for the record, I am a Cubs Fan :D

[imb]

For the record I voted yes.

 

Also for the record, I am a Cubs Fan :D

 

Hahahahahaha, ok, go ahead and explain why you think it was a good signing. Go for it.

[mhuber92211]

For the record I voted yes.

 

Also for the record, I am a Cubs Fan :D

 

Hahahahahaha, ok, go ahead and explain why you think it was a good signing. Go for it.

 

There are some positives to the acquitison. One of them being that we can't say that Hendry hasn't done anything lately :P

 

Seriously though, while I admit some misgivings about Jones, I will refuse to give up on him before he even swings the bat for the 1st time in a Cub uniform. Like it or not, Jones is a Cub now and I will root for him to do well as i would for anyone who plays for the team.

 

Would I rather have had Huff, surely. However was Jones the worst option? Nope. I am happy that we have the hole filled and if Jones a platoon player with someone like Mench then I think that it is a very good transaction. Considering that Mench is a very real possibility I don't see that this is too far fetched. 5 mil a year is nothing. Next offseason if there was a FA OF that was better then Jones then I doubt the Cubs wouldn't be intereted to sign him. Besides at the salary he makes (minus the bonus) Jones is a VERY movable player midseason. If it doesn't work out, trade him and start over with a better FA class to choose from. But if Jones reverts back to his previous numbers then it would be an excellent signing.

 

What is Jones' Peacota projection?

[goonys evil twin]

I will refuse to give up on him before he even swings the bat for the 1st time in a Cub uniform.

 

Why not?

 

 

I've never swung the bat for the Cubs, I'd recommend giving up on me before I ever do. Darin Erstad has never swung a bat for the Cubs, I'd give up on him before he got the chance to. There has been plenty of recorded history on Jones. It would be irresponsible to ignore all that and think some such of magic dust would change things if he came to the Cubs. Jones sucks, and he's going to suck for the Cubs. But I'm sure some faction of the media will adopt him and we'll be forced to hear about what a great job he's doing and how he saved the team and how smart Jim Hendry was to get a player like him.

[mhuber92211]

I will refuse to give up on him before he even swings the bat for the 1st time in a Cub uniform.

 

Why not?

 

 

I've never swung the bat for the Cubs, I'd recommend giving up on me before I ever do. Darin Erstad has never swung a bat for the Cubs, I'd give up on him before he got the chance to. There has been plenty of recorded history on Jones. It would be irresponsible to ignore all that and think some such of magic dust would change things if he came to the Cubs. Jones sucks, and he's going to suck for the Cubs. But I'm sure some faction of the media will adopt him and we'll be forced to hear about what a great job he's doing and how he saved the team and how smart Jim Hendry was to get a player like him.

 

But the point that you missed is that you would be playing for the Cubs, therefore, by default, I would root for you to do well and not just say because your history sucks that you will suck for the Cubs too. I'm not one to ignore the history, but we all know history is subjective. Jones has talent and is a solid ballplayer. If you knew for sure that he would be in a strict platoon would there be any issues? Or is it how much he got or the number of years? A RF platoon that results in .280/.350/.400 is entirely possible and I would take that for a 7 million dollar salary (estimated cost of Mench and Jones).

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Being critical of a signing, or predicting poor performance does NOT mean you do not want the player to succeed.

[mhuber92211]

Being critical of a signing, or predicting poor performance does NOT mean you do not want the player to succeed.

 

Correct, however setting him up to fail is also conrtibuting to the player not suceeding. All i am saying to to give Jones a chance before condeming the transaction.

[SouthSideRyan]

Being critical of a signing, or predicting poor performance does NOT mean you do not want the player to succeed.

 

Correct, however setting him up to fail is also conrtibuting to the player not suceeding. All i am saying to to give Jones a chance before condeming the transaction.

 

Shouldn't past performance come into play at all? No matter what awful player Hendry signs we should wait to give him a chance before saying it was a dumb move? If Hendry goes out and locks up Doug Glanville to a 3 year deal for 12M, I don't have to wait to watch Doug draw 3 walks on the year to know it's an awful deal.

[BigbadB]

Being critical of a signing, or predicting poor performance does NOT mean you do not want the player to succeed.

 

This response is dead on. To be completely honest, Jacque Jones as a corner outfielder production wise is not that far off from Derrek Lee pre 2005 production wise at 1b.

 

Lee was lightning in a bottle. Can Hendry catch it twice? It's possible.

 

Could the Cubs improve defense so well that they could provide equal offense to 2005 and still win a World Series? It's possible.

 

If the Cubs can achieve an incredible win rate in 1 run games, anything is possible.

 

It's also possible to go to the horse track and bet on nothing but 50-1 odd horses all day and possibly win a fortune, but the odds are there for a reason.

 

More than anything, adding a guy like Jones to the line up doesn't completely kill the offense unless other moves parallel adding a guy like Jones. An example would be to play Neifi at SS or 2nd, bat Jones or Neifi 2nd in the order, etc....

 

I would answer yes to a poll that asks whether Jones was a better option than Juan Encarnacion or Preston Wilson. I cannot honestly answer yes to the question in this poll, however. If Tejada is playing SS and Walker is at 2nd and Prior and Zambrano are still in the rotation, I might consider changing my vote. The hard part in changing that vote would be the fact that Jones received 3 years, which was 2 years too long.