The "Looking Forward to 2006" Thread

[back2backjax]

OK, so the 2005 offseason hasn't been especially terrific, but it's not like all NL teams have made significant moves. only the dodgers, mets and blue jays have gone crazy with FAs. let's face it, the 2005 FA crop was weak. so i have no problem with the fact that we chose not to trade the farm for one or two people. shoring up the bullpen was priority #1 and finding a leadoff man was priority #2. hendry accomplished both. sure it would have been nice to get tejada or abreu or giles, but hell, it's not like any GM in baseball can get every player they want. only coach K can do that.

 

so to the point of my thread: i like the 2006 cubs lineup. there are some "ifs", but who among us expected the white sox to be so dominant last season? indulge me for a moment...

 

jones should give us about what burnitz gave us in RF last season and pierre and murton should easily outdo what we got from CF and LF in 2005. cedeno is really the only unknown in the IF, but he should hit .260-.275 which is about where neifi was last year. walker should be at or near .300 as usual and lee and ramirez should give us a typical .290/30-35/100-110 season.

 

if the starters stay healthy (i.e. no line drives off anyone's arm) and howry and eyre perform as expected, we'll win 10 more games than last year. but if things really come together and we get some clutch hitting or a better than expected season from murton, cedeno or jones, then we could win 90-95 games. the astros havent done anything (yet) to improve their team and the cardinals have made minor moves. i can definitely see this team competing for the wild card, that is if dusty's team will finally show the ability to play solid D and play sound baseball. that's the biggest IF of all.

 

so before everyone throws this team under the bus, let's give the guys hendry's assembled the chance to show what they can do.

[UK1679666180]

I hope they do well, I hope the rotation can stay healthy, Ramirez cont's to progress, Barrett and Lee cont. to produce.

 

I'll give them a chance despite my concerns, I'm optimistic it'll be an interesting year.

[back2backjax]

I hope they do well, I hope the rotation can stay healthy, Ramirez cont's to progress, Barrett and Lee cont. to produce.

 

I'll give them a chance despite my concerns, I'm optimistic it'll be an interesting year.

 

it's nice to hear one somewhat optimistic voice. seems like most people won't be content until the lineup looks like the team the dominican republic will field for the world baseball classic.

[Southpaw191679666239]

so before everyone throws this team under the bus, let's give the guys hendry's assembled the chance to show what they can do.

 

I'd rather throw them under the bus.

[back2backjax]

I'd rather throw them under the bus.

 

huge shock.

[UK1679666180]

it's nice to hear one somewhat optimistic voice. seems like most people won't be content until the lineup looks like the team the dominican republic will field for the world baseball classic.

 

You can be both, the line-up isn't ideal (I'm not content with it), but they certainly have a chance to score more runs than last year.

[Southpaw191679666239]

I'd rather throw them under the bus.

 

huge shock.

 

In general, or from me in particular?

[SteveSarley]

This is not the team that will take the field on opening day 2006.

1 - I firmly believe that Patterson is gone. How can everybody blame the coaching for his lack of plate discipline? If you tell a batter not to swing at high pitches when he is walking to the on-deck circle and he still whiffs at a chest high fastball, is that the batting coach's fault? Patterson has been figured out by the league and he doesn't seem to want to adjust.

2 - Jerry Hairston will be gone. Have you heard them mention his name as being in the picture in any capacity next year. The organization didn't like his missing signs, mediocre fielding and horrendous baserunning.

3 - Todd Walker will be gone. Say what you like, his poor range, the inability to turn the double play and the fact that it takes three base hits to score him from first, all seal his fate. When I read that some people think he is as good as Soriano, I couldn't believe it.

I believe that Hendry took the option of a right fielder that cost him nothing but cash as the best way out because he needs the prospects to bolster the middle infield. A double play combination of Tejada and Vidro, anyone?

[treebird]

1 - I firmly believe that Patterson is gone. How can everybody blame the coaching for his lack of plate discipline? If you tell a batter not to swing at high pitches when he is walking to the on-deck circle and he still whiffs at a chest high fastball, is that the batting coach's fault? Patterson has been figured out by the league and he doesn't seem to want to adjust.

 

i like to think that the coaches could actually do something beyond just saying "hey don't swing at bad pitches."

[J.R.]

We will not prosper so long as there is a Neifi on this team.

[rawaction]

I believe that Hendry took the option of a right fielder that cost him nothing but cash as the best way out because he needs the prospects to bolster the middle infield. A double play combination of Tejada and Vidro, anyone?

 

With all due respect, what makes you believe this? What makes you believe that Hendry is that creative? This is the same guy who let all the OF options go by last year because he hadn't traded Sosa. This is the same guy that was so hellbent on Furcal that when he lost out on his speedy leadoff hitter, he passed up the more productive Bradley and Wilkerson and had to have Pierre. There's no evidence to support that Hendry ever makes a deal to set up another deal.

[USSoccer]

As an aside, I think people overreact and criticise because they care, not because they don't. I disagree with just about every single personnel decision Hendry has made this winter in some way, but I'm still going to root for the team like the die hard I am. I hope we're all wrong about these moves in the end.

 

I think that if everything breaks our way, we can win 87-90 games. But absolutely everything has to go right. Murton and Cedeno have to be the pros we all think they are. Jones has to not completely suck. Pierre has to rebound to career norms, at least. Lee can't regress all the way back to 2003-4 numbers. Aramis has to buy into the conditioning and not miss signifigant time. Baker has to not completely torpedo the team in close games. Perez has to be a backup.

 

And above all, Wood, Prior and Zambrano all have to make more than 25 starts apiece.

 

That's a lot of things that have to break your way. Remember, we may have only been a couple under .500 last season, but we were what, nearly 20 games worse than St Louis? They aren't going to completely come back to the pack. Milwaukee is going to be good. Houston will give us trouble so long as there's a chance Clemens, Pettite and Oswalt are in that rotation May 1st. Cincinatti and Pittsburgh don't figure to be good, but we can't suck against them like we did against the Reds last year.

 

IMO, too much is left to chance, and I see us at about 84 wins as currently constructed. Which is awful for a $100m team. It's been managed into mediocrity on and off the field.

 

But we'll see.

[SteveSarley]

Treebeard posted: "i like to think that the coaches could actually do something beyond just saying "hey don't swing at bad pitches."

 

And what might that be?

How does a coach stop a player from swinging at pitches over his chest? How does a hitting coach stop a player from swinging at the first pitch every time up?

There is a major difference between helping a batter re-gain his lost timing or correcting a hitch in a swing than there is in getting a pig-headed, uncoachable kid to stop swinging at pitches out of the strike zone.

[rawaction]

As an aside, I think people overreact and criticise because they care, not because they don't. I disagree with just about every single personnel decision Hendry has made this winter in some way, but I'm still going to root for the team like the die hard I am. I hope we're all wrong about these moves in the end.

 

I agree with everything you said, except that line. Whether the Cubs pull a White Sox and win 100 games and take the World Series, it still doesn't make us wrong about the moves being bad. It makes the Cubs lucky.

 

*note, I'm not saying in anyway that the Sox moves were bad or they were lucky.

[SteveSarley]

rawaction posted: With all due respect, what makes you believe this? What makes you believe that Hendry is that creative? This is the same guy who let all the OF options go by last year because he hadn't traded Sosa. This is the same guy that was so hellbent on Furcal that when he lost out on his speedy leadoff hitter, he passed up the more productive Bradley and Wilkerson and had to have Pierre. There's no evidence to support that Hendry ever makes a deal to set up another deal.

 

Pierre is a better table-setter and lead-off hitter than Wilkerson or Bradley. He will make our offense go.

I like Wilkerson and would have liked to have seen him in right field, next to Pierre.

What has Bradley ever done? Oh yes, he has untapped potential that is ready to blossom as long as he doesn't have a mental eruption that gets him banned from the game first.

Neither Wilkerson or Bradley is a lead-off hitter.

Maybe Hendry hasn't been creative in the past but he's made some pretty damned good deals. I think a new middle infield is coming our way.

[CheeseHead Cubs Fan]

As an aside, I think people overreact and criticise because they care, not because they don't. I disagree with just about every single personnel decision Hendry has made this winter in some way, but I'm still going to root for the team like the die hard I am. I hope we're all wrong about these moves in the end.

 

I think that if everything breaks our way, we can win 87-90 games. But absolutely everything has to go right. Murton and Cedeno have to be the pros we all think they are. Jones has to not completely suck. Pierre has to rebound to career norms, at least. Lee can't regress all the way back to 2003-4 numbers. Aramis has to buy into the conditioning and not miss signifigant time. Baker has to not completely torpedo the team in close games. Perez has to be a backup.

 

And above all, Wood, Prior and Zambrano all have to make more than 25 starts apiece.

 

That's a lot of things that have to break your way. Remember, we may have only been a couple under .500 last season, but we were what, nearly 20 games worse than St Louis? They aren't going to completely come back to the pack. Milwaukee is going to be good. Houston will give us trouble so long as there's a chance Clemens, Pettite and Oswalt are in that rotation May 1st. Cincinatti and Pittsburgh don't figure to be good, but we can't suck against them like we did against the Reds last year.

 

IMO, too much is left to chance, and I see us at about 84 wins as currently constructed. But we'll see.

 

While I agree with your post as a whole, and I also appreciate this thread as it has been extremely negative on this board for awhile now. (most given rightly so...) However, I don't agree that Milwaukee will be better, or even compete with the rest of the NL Central. No Overbay, an extemely young infield and no protection around CLee. Their starting pitching is good 1-3 but Sheets is coming off surgery, Miller and Mohler are sharing duties again and Geoff Jenkins is as streaky as Windex. Allot went right for The Crew last year and they finished at .500 much more will have to go right this year for the Brewers to truly cause noise.

 

I remain optimistic and long for Spring Training and the sounds of baseball at Wrigley again!

 

Go Cubs!

[USSoccer]

Treebeard posted: "i like to think that the coaches could actually do something beyond just saying "hey don't swing at bad pitches."

 

And what might that be?

How does a coach stop a player from swinging at pitches over his chest? How does a hitting coach stop a player from swinging at the first pitch every time up?

There is a major difference between helping a batter re-gain his lost timing or correcting a hitch in a swing than there is in getting a pig-headed, uncoachable kid to stop swinging at pitches out of the strike zone.

 

It's statements like that that make me shake my head. Where do you get the idea that he's a pig-headed, uncoachable kid? Has any single Cub coach come out and said that? Has it been uttered or leaked by anyone in the front office? Was it a rep of his in the minors?

 

Most importantly, has anyone ever said that Corey doesn't work hard?

 

A lack of results does not mean there is a lack of effort. A lot goes into being a succesful athelete at any level. I know that I was never the same soccer player after getting a couple concussions at the college level. My confidence was shot. That affected my entire game. Corey struggled, pressed, struggled some more, got booed mercilessly, got sent down, struggled, came back up, struggled, and got booed some more. Do you think that it was as simple as Corey just "wanting" to be good? Do you think he wants to be a .220 hitter? I don't.

 

Saying Corey is uncoachable and pig headed is a thing that's been regurgitated ad infinitum by sports talk radio until it's all of a sudden conventional wisdom. Just like his imaginary "it's just a game statement" (that tape from that very stations reporter refuted!).

 

Coaches can helt open or close your stance (see Derrek Lee). They can adjust your hands (see Sammy Sosa circa 1998). They can help train you to keep your head and your eyes focused straight ahead. No, they cannot get in his head and force him to lay off pitches, but they can certainly do more than just tell him to lay off pitches out of the zone.

Edited December 22, 2005 by USSoccer

[USSoccer]

As an aside, I think people overreact and criticise because they care, not because they don't. I disagree with just about every single personnel decision Hendry has made this winter in some way, but I'm still going to root for the team like the die hard I am. I hope we're all wrong about these moves in the end.

 

I agree with everything you said, except that line. Whether the Cubs pull a White Sox and win 100 games and take the World Series, it still doesn't make us wrong about the moves being bad. It makes the Cubs lucky.

 

*note, I'm not saying in anyway that the Sox moves were bad or they were lucky.

 

How about "I hope we're all wrong in what we think these moves will result in"? :D

[UK1679666180]

There is a major difference between helping a batter re-gain his lost timing or correcting a hitch in a swing than there is in getting a pig-headed, uncoachable kid to stop swinging at pitches out of the strike zone

 

Personally, I don't think Corey is even close to the 2nd part of that equation.

 

It's mental with Corey, but it's just not from being stubborn.

 

He's just too tight out there. He's worrying too much about not striking out. He also has flaws in his swing (too long and too much of an uppercut).

 

It's like a baserunner at 1B looking to steal, you step too far away from the base (say 15ft) and start worrying about getting picked off, you won't get a good jump.

[YearofDaCubs]

There is a major difference between helping a batter re-gain his lost timing or correcting a hitch in a swing than there is in getting a pig-headed, uncoachable kid to stop swinging at pitches out of the strike zone

 

Personally, I don't think Corey is even close to the 2nd part of that equation.

 

It's mental with Corey, but it's just not from being stubborn.

 

He's just too tight out there. He's worrying too much about not striking out. He also has flaws in his swing (too long and too much of an uppercut).

 

It's like a baserunner at 1B looking to steal, you step too far away from the base (say 15ft) and start worrying about getting picked off, you won't get a good jump.

UK you just said it. I don't think Corey will be successful with the swing he has.

 

As far as getting a new IF. Keep dreaming and counting on Hendry to make the miracle moves we keep hearing about but never come to fruition. Steve, we should all hope Pierre's year last year was an anomaly or else your perfect leadoff hitter will put us in a tough spot.

[SteveSarley]

Steve, we should all hope Pierre's year last year was an anomaly or else your perfect leadoff hitter will put us in a tough spot.

 

Pierre's 2005 would still have gotten Lee another 25 RBI's for us last year.

Feel free to call me on it at the end of the season. Pierre will be a big plus

[professahesse]

OK, so the 2005 offseason hasn't been especially terrific, but it's not like all NL teams have made significant moves. only the dodgers, mets and blue jays have gone crazy with FAs. let's face it, the 2005 FA crop was weak. so i have no problem with the fact that we chose not to trade the farm for one or two people. shoring up the bullpen was priority #1 and finding a leadoff man was priority #2. hendry accomplished both. sure it would have been nice to get tejada or abreu or giles, but hell, it's not like any GM in baseball can get every player they want. only coach K can do that.

 

so to the point of my thread: i like the 2006 cubs lineup. there are some "ifs", but who among us expected the white sox to be so dominant last season? indulge me for a moment...

 

jones should give us about what burnitz gave us in RF last season and pierre and murton should easily outdo what we got from CF and LF in 2005. cedeno is really the only unknown in the IF, but he should hit .260-.275 which is about where neifi was last year. walker should be at or near .300 as usual and lee and ramirez should give us a typical .290/30-35/100-110 season.

 

if the starters stay healthy (i.e. no line drives off anyone's arm) and howry and eyre perform as expected, we'll win 10 more games than last year. but if things really come together and we get some clutch hitting or a better than expected season from murton, cedeno or jones, then we could win 90-95 games. the astros havent done anything (yet) to improve their team and the cardinals have made minor moves. i can definitely see this team competing for the wild card, that is if dusty's team will finally show the ability to play solid D and play sound baseball. that's the biggest IF of all.

 

so before everyone throws this team under the bus, let's give the guys hendry's assembled the chance to show what they can do.

 

Seems like a balanced and resonable approach. And yes, I think that there will be more moves before Opening Day, Patterson and Walker as most seem to think. Wouldn't mind seeing a platoon in Right.

[YearofDaCubs]

Steve, we should all hope Pierre's year last year was an anomaly or else your perfect leadoff hitter will put us in a tough spot.

 

Pierre's 2005 would still have gotten Lee another 25 RBI's for us last year.

Feel free to call me on it at the end of the season. Pierre will be a big plus

I dont doubt Pierre will be a plus but you scoff at the idea of how effective Wilkerson and Bradley could have been for us.

[SteveSarley]

He's just too tight out there. He's worrying too much about not striking out. He also has flaws in his swing (too long and too much of an uppercut).

 

Coaches can helt open or close your stance (see Derrek Lee). They can adjust your hands (see Sammy Sosa circa 1998). They can help train you to keep your head and your eyes focused straight ahead. No, they cannot get in his head and force him to lay off pitches, but they can certainly do more than just tell him to lay off pitches out of the zone.

 

So, what is a coach suppposed to do? Don't you think that they work with him? Don't you think that between Baker, Clines and Sarge that they have tried everything? He doesn't change his grip. He doesn't change his stance. He doesn't shorten his swing. AND - he still swings at pitches up at his eyes. It is not the fault of the coaches, I think this kid is uncoachable.

Oh yeah! Remember when he said in the minors last year that nobody ever talked to him before about shortening his swing? Do you actually believe that? Why can D. Lee, a successful hitter, alter his stance and improve himself at his age, while a kid like Corey keeps failing time after time with no change in his approach? Oh yes, it's the fault of the coaches!

[SteveSarley]

Error - see next post

Sorry!

Edited December 22, 2005 by SteveSarley