C. Lee leaves Katz; hires Boras (New report debunks this)

[MustangMike]

I greatly prefer Soriano over Lee.

 

Out of LF and 2B, I'm looking to have one position filled with a hitter who can get on base at a good clip and the other filled with someone who can hit for good power. Since we already have Murton at LF (who can get on base), if we put Soriano at 2B that solves both needs. If we jettison Murton for Lee, then we still need to add a 2B who can get on base.

 

Soriano batting 5th behind Lee and Ramirez would be very sweet. Barrett 6th behind him, Pierre and Murton at the top of the order, Izturis 8th and I guess Jones 7th, that isn't that bad a lineup.

 

I agree on getting soriano, however doesn't his production fall off if he doesn't lead off? If he leads off, does Pierre hit 8th?

[goonys evil twin]

I often wonder how much, if any, "you scratch my back/I'll scratch your back" may be going in on baseball behind the scenes.

 

Take the Greg Maddux trade for example. Scott Boras, who was involved in the last minute deal that sent Maddux to LA, supposedly has an excellent rapport with Hendry. When I heard about that deal on the 31st, the first thing that I thought of was that the deal was done as a favor to Maddux, and now Boras will steer one of his clients to the Cubs in the offseason.

 

Wasn't it Scott Boras, who desperately got his client Jeff Weaver out of Detroit at a trading deadline, only to surprisingly push Pudge Rodriguez to sign with the Tigers an offseason later?

 

I also seem to remember a trading deadline that Boras pushed Steve Phillips to take on Kenny Rogers, and then followed it up by having one of his other clients sign with the Mets the following offseason.

 

Anyway, just some thinking out loud on my part to see if a Barry Zito or a Carlos Lee is magically going to appear in Cubbie Blue this offseason due to Hendry taking care of Maddux.

 

Hoops

 

I can't imagine Boras scratching anybody's back unless he's using the other hand to pick up a check. He's not going to stear anybody toward the Cubs as a favor to Hendry. In all the years that we've heard about the good relationship Hendry and Boras have, Jim hasn't once signed an impact Boras client.

[nilodnayr]

Ohh how the feeling on Sori has changed. Just a year ago he was public enemy number one here. I'm weary of investing a ton of money and years into a guy who put up neifi-esque numbers on the road as recently as last year and the year before.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Ohh how the feeling on Sori has changed. Just a year ago he was public enemy number one here. I'm weary of investing a ton of money and years into a guy who put up neifi-esque numbers on the road as recently as last year and the year before.

 

Join.

[Drew Doughty]

Ohh how the feeling on Sori has changed. Just a year ago he was public enemy number one here. I'm weary of investing a ton of money and years into a guy who put up neifi-esque numbers on the road as recently as last year and the year before.

 

Join.

 

I'm weary of him too, but I'd still rather have Soriano than Lee.

[NorthsideAvenger]

Ohh how the feeling on Sori has changed. Just a year ago he was public enemy number one here. I'm weary of investing a ton of money and years into a guy who put up neifi-esque numbers on the road as recently as last year and the year before.

 

Join.

 

I'm weary of him too, but I'd still rather have Soriano than Lee.

 

What about Vernon Wells? Vernon has made no secret that he is planning to leave Toronto after the 2007 season. I mean over the career, Soriano has posted a .280/.320/.500 season for his career, whereas Wells has posted .285/.330/..481. And Wells is regarded as one of the better defensive CFers in the game, whereas scouts/GMs acknowledge the fact that Soriano can play the position, just not as weel considering his athlethicism.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Ohh how the feeling on Sori has changed. Just a year ago he was public enemy number one here. I'm weary of investing a ton of money and years into a guy who put up neifi-esque numbers on the road as recently as last year and the year before.

 

Join.

 

I'm weary of him too, but I'd still rather have Soriano than Lee.

 

What about Vernon Wells? Vernon has made no secret that he is planning to leave Toronto after the 2007 season. I mean over the career, Soriano has posted a .280/.320/.500 season for his career, whereas Wells has posted .285/.330/..481. And Wells is regarded as one of the better defensive CFers in the game, whereas scouts/GMs acknowledge the fact that Soriano can play the position, just not as weel considering his athlethicism.

 

Wells isn't that great in CF. He's a bit above average, but nothing special. Overall he's a good player, but acquiring him now means you're paying (players and dollars) for his obscene year that he's not likely to repeat (consistently at least). Not a very good allocation of resources IMO, especially considering Pie.

[goonys evil twin]

Wells isn't that great in CF. He's a bit above average, but nothing special. Overall he's a good player, but acquiring him now means you're paying (players and dollars) for his obscene year that he's not likely to repeat (consistently at least). Not a very good allocation of resources IMO, especially considering Pie.

 

The obscene year not likely to repeat theory is the same with Soriano, no?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Wells isn't that great in CF. He's a bit above average, but nothing special. Overall he's a good player, but acquiring him now means you're paying (players and dollars) for his obscene year that he's not likely to repeat (consistently at least). Not a very good allocation of resources IMO, especially considering Pie.

 

The obscene year not likely to repeat theory is the same with Soriano, no?

 

Yep, although at least in that case you don't have to pay in players to get him.

[jtownie]

Wells isn't that great in CF. He's a bit above average, but nothing special. Overall he's a good player, but acquiring him now means you're paying (players and dollars) for his obscene year that he's not likely to repeat (consistently at least). Not a very good allocation of resources IMO, especially considering Pie.

 

The obscene year not likely to repeat theory is the same with Soriano, no?

 

Yep, although at least in that case you don't have to pay in players to get him.

 

Although it's unlikely Wells would repeat his year it would be more likely he does than soriano due to age. Wells is what 26?

[NCCubFan]

Report debunked.

[goonys evil twin]

debunk is a great word

[David]

debunk is a great word

 

If you can debunk something, can you bunk something? What about rebunk?

[UBlink]

debunk is a great word

 

If you can debunk something, can you bunk something? What about rebunk?

 

Unbunk or, my favorite, cobunk. :D

[Magnetic Curses]

i don't understand why we'd want to overpay for carlos lee or vernon wells when jim edmonds will be availabel, probably, and he'll be much cheaper and more productive over the next 2 seasons, i'll wager.

[RynoRules]

i don't understand why we'd want to overpay for carlos lee or vernon wells when jim edmonds will be availabel, probably, and he'll be much cheaper and more productive over the next 2 seasons, i'll wager.

 

I'm not betting on him being more productive (especially in the power dept.) due to his age an dinjuries, but relative to the salary he will command, I agree he could be a better choice.

[Mizzou]

i don't understand why we'd want to overpay for carlos lee or vernon wells when jim edmonds will be availabel, probably, and he'll be much cheaper and more productive over the next 2 seasons, i'll wager.

Cheaper maybe, but more productive? Based on what?

[Magnetic Curses]

i don't understand why we'd want to overpay for carlos lee or vernon wells when jim edmonds will be availabel, probably, and he'll be much cheaper and more productive over the next 2 seasons, i'll wager.

Cheaper maybe, but more productive? Based on what?

 

considering that neither have been in the same ballpark with edmonds as far as production over the course of their entire careers(except for this year, and the fact that edmonds probably has at least a couple more years left at the +.850 OPS level--even forgetting that wells has been very incosnistent thus far as well.

 

he might not be significantly more productive, but i'll say that he'll be marginally more productive.

[Banedon]

i don't understand why we'd want to overpay for carlos lee or vernon wells when jim edmonds will be availabel, probably, and he'll be much cheaper and more productive over the next 2 seasons, i'll wager.

Cheaper maybe, but more productive? Based on what?

 

considering that neither have been in the same ballpark with edmonds as far as production over the course of their entire careers(except for this year, and the fact that edmonds probably has at least a couple more years left at the +.850 OPS level--even forgetting that wells has been very incosnistent thus far as well.

 

he might not be significantly more productive, but i'll say that he'll be marginally more productive.

 

Assuming that Edmonds will be healthy for an entire season, much less 2, is probably assuming an awful lot though.

[Magnetic Curses]

i don't understand why we'd want to overpay for carlos lee or vernon wells when jim edmonds will be availabel, probably, and he'll be much cheaper and more productive over the next 2 seasons, i'll wager.

Cheaper maybe, but more productive? Based on what?

 

considering that neither have been in the same ballpark with edmonds as far as production over the course of their entire careers(except for this year, and the fact that edmonds probably has at least a couple more years left at the +.850 OPS level--even forgetting that wells has been very incosnistent thus far as well.

 

he might not be significantly more productive, but i'll say that he'll be marginally more productive.

 

Assuming that Edmonds will be healthy for an entire season, much less 2, is probably assuming an awful lot though.

 

when's the last time that he played in less than 137 games?

[Mizzou]

i don't understand why we'd want to overpay for carlos lee or vernon wells when jim edmonds will be availabel, probably, and he'll be much cheaper and more productive over the next 2 seasons, i'll wager.

Cheaper maybe, but more productive? Based on what?

 

considering that neither have been in the same ballpark with edmonds as far as production over the course of their entire careers(except for this year, and the fact that edmonds probably has at least a couple more years left at the +.850 OPS level--even forgetting that wells has been very incosnistent thus far as well.

 

he might not be significantly more productive, but i'll say that he'll be marginally more productive.

 

Assuming that Edmonds will be healthy for an entire season, much less 2, is probably assuming an awful lot though.

That, and the fact that he's been on the decline for the past two years, makes me doubt that he'd be a better option than Lee or Wells.

[Mark_R]

when's the last time that he played in less than 137 games?

 

He'd need to play in 35 of the last 37 games in order to make this amount of games. Try again.

[HoopsCubs]

That, and the fact that he's been on the decline for the past two years, makes me doubt that he'd be a better option than Lee or Wells.

 

I still like the idea of trading for Miguel Tejada (keep Murton in LF, move Izturis to 2B) or Pat Burrell (platoon Murton with Jones). If Hendry were to take on most of the salary on either guy (3 years / $38M on Tejada not including signing bonus and 2/27 on Burrell), I can't imagine the Cubs would have to trade back any top tier prospects. As inflated as those salaries might be, they're still better than paying 5 years and $70M for Soriano or Carlos Lee. Of course, I don't know if either Tejada or Burrell will be on the trading block this Winter, but their names often pop up in trade discussions.

Hoops

[NorthsideAvenger]

Wells isn't that great in CF. He's a bit above average, but nothing special. Overall he's a good player, but acquiring him now means you're paying (players and dollars) for his obscene year that he's not likely to repeat (consistently at least). Not a very good allocation of resources IMO, especially considering Pie.

 

The obscene year not likely to repeat theory is the same with Soriano, no?

 

Yep, although at least in that case you don't have to pay in players to get him.

 

True, but if you go after Soriano, you have to give up prolly 2 draft picks, plus, IDK considering his agent, prolly have to give about $14-16 mill for five yrs. So, IMO, in the long run it is more expensive to go after Soriano then Wells, and their games isn't the far off.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Wells isn't that great in CF. He's a bit above average, but nothing special. Overall he's a good player, but acquiring him now means you're paying (players and dollars) for his obscene year that he's not likely to repeat (consistently at least). Not a very good allocation of resources IMO, especially considering Pie.

 

The obscene year not likely to repeat theory is the same with Soriano, no?

 

Yep, although at least in that case you don't have to pay in players to get him.

 

True, but if you go after Soriano, you have to give up prolly 2 draft picks, plus, IDK considering his agent, prolly have to give about $14-16 mill for five yrs. So, IMO, in the long run it is more expensive to go after Soriano then Wells, and their games isn't the far off.

 

I'm not quite sure how the draft pick compensation would work. Remember that we would only be giving up one pick, because the extra sandwich pick isn't ours to begin with. And this year our first rounder is protected, lowering the value of that tradeoff.