2006 Cubs: Not Good Enough

[AllStarMe]

Though it's been mentioned the opportunity cost of getting Thome vs. ARam/Lofton, I don't think anyone's pointed out the other big trade before the 2003 season, that being Hundley to LAD for Karros/Grudz.

 

If we'd signed Thome, Choi would ride the bench in 03 and there would be no need to go get another 1B. So we'd likely have been stuck with Hundley or traded him for another salary dump (whose return would almost certainly have contributed less than did Karros and Grudz in 03).

[Rich2123]

Couple things to point out here.

1) Randall Simon did come through with some big hits down the stretch in 2003. He wasn't as good as Thome, but who knows how things would have shaken out with Thome at 1st. For about 6 weeks (Randall was acquired at the end of August, right?), I don't think there was too big of a difference in production. Yes, it was the Cubs getting "lightning in a bottle" from a mediocre (at best) player, but lack of production from 1B was not why they didn't win the 2003 WS. I was happy they didn't bring him back, but he had some huge hits for the Cubs.

2) We now have Derek Lee at 1B, and he would not be here if we had signed Thome. Compare their numbers from last year and tell me how much better off we'd be with Jim Thome.

Everyone's raving about what geniuses the Sox are for picking him up, but a rebound year from this guy is far from a sure thing.

Thank god the Cubs didn't sign him....