2007...

[C.C.]

I just don't see how a couple of Mid-tier FAs is going to bring us back into the playoffs unless the Cubs strike gold like they did in 1998, 2001 and 2003 to a lesser extent.

 

This team is a mess. It'll take more then one offseason to fix it.

[uppercase_D]

I think the team could realistically be transformed into a contender through trades/ free agency if only the amount of money was available.

 

Free agent signings: Soriano, Zito, Lofton, Loretta.

Trade Murton and Cedeno for a #3 starter

let Blanco walk and replace with rookie

Bynum, Pagan, Nevin, Rusch need to go

Kerry Wood walks.

 

Lineup for 2007

CF- Lofton

2b- Loretta

1b- Lee

LF- Soriano

3B- Ramirez

RF- Jones

C- Barrett

SS- Izturis

 

Starting Rotation

Zambrano

Zito

pitcher in above trade

4 and 5 from our rookies and maybe Prior

 

I believe the bullpens problems have been due to mismanagement, so i'll leave that be.

 

While I think that the above starting lineup would most definitely contend, I am a realist and know that there is no way that we would ever end up signing two big names and two type B guys.

[snoodmonger]

Just building this team through FA and the minors probably won't net a WS team (although a few of the lineups shown could be competitive in the NL). What people aren't factoring in are trades. We could (theoretically) add a nice piece or two through trades in addition to FA/minors. That's probably the only way we could really turn this around.

 

What impact player can be had for the middling prospects in our system?

 

You could get something with the pitching we have. I would think a package of Hill, Pawelek, Veal could net you a pretty good player.

[RichHillIsABeast]

Just building this team through FA and the minors probably won't net a WS team (although a few of the lineups shown could be competitive in the NL). What people aren't factoring in are trades. We could (theoretically) add a nice piece or two through trades in addition to FA/minors. That's probably the only way we could really turn this around.

 

What impact player can be had for the middling prospects in our system?

 

You could get something with the pitching we have. I would think a package of Hill, Pawelek, Veal could net you a pretty good player.

 

I don't think those guys (forgive me Rich!) are loved by other organizations as much as us. We've always been under the impression that our prospects are better than they are. Veal is going to get rocked if he keeps walking people. Pawelek is pretty solid. Hill is just getting his value out of the toilet.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Just building this team through FA and the minors probably won't net a WS team (although a few of the lineups shown could be competitive in the NL). What people aren't factoring in are trades. We could (theoretically) add a nice piece or two through trades in addition to FA/minors. That's probably the only way we could really turn this around.

 

What impact player can be had for the middling prospects in our system?

 

You could get something with the pitching we have. I would think a package of Hill, Pawelek, Veal could net you a pretty good player.

 

I don't think those guys (forgive me Rich!) are loved by other organizations as much as us. We've always been under the impression that our prospects are better than they are. Veal is going to get rocked if he keeps walking people. Pawelek is pretty solid. Hill is just getting his value out of the toilet.

 

Veal is. He should be an MLB-wide top-50 prospect.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

People do make spelling mistakes. I should of looked over it before I posted it.

 

Yes. Yes, you should have.

 

Let not point out people's spelling mistakes. It's so juvenile. Stick with talking baseball...

 

I didn't.

[Guest]

People do make spelling mistakes. I should of looked over it before I posted it.

 

Yes. Yes, you should have.

 

Let not point out people's spelling mistakes. It's so juvenile. Stick with talking baseball...

 

I didn't.

Please stop using sentence fragments. :D

[Soul]

I'm frightened at all the holes we need to fill.

 

Some people I think we should bring back just because you can't do the whole team at once. I don't like that feeling -- player's you know could be improved on but there's just no way.

 

For me it's really Lee, ARam, & Z to keep. After that, chaos.

 

Not saying we can't win. Just saying the task, as seen from today's point of view, looks very daunting to me.

[Soriano12]

Lets blow this thing up.

 

My 2007 lineup

 

2B Eric Patterson

LF Matt Murton

1B Derrek Lee

3B Aramis Ramirez

CF Felix Pie

C Michael Barret

RF Angel Pagan

SS Izturis

 

 

Zambrano

veteran FA pitcher so not all our young arms fall apart

Rich HIll

Sean Marshall

Mateo/Marmol/Gallager/Veal

 

Bullpen

Eyre

Howry

whoever doesn't suck

 

 

And they will be managed by staff SGT. Girardi

 

http://www.sportsnet.ca/images/mlb/fla/girardi_vert.jpg

 

TEN HUT...I WANT YOU..TO BE A CHICAGO CUB.

 

I guess I am the only one that just wants to blow this thing up.

[Soul]

Other than 2B and CF, I don't think that's really blowing it up.

[Soriano12]

Other than 2B and CF, I don't think that's really blowing it up.

 

You forget RF :wink:

 

 

I'm gonna miss those crazy football spike throws

[Soul]

Other than 2B and CF, I don't think that's really blowing it up.

 

You forget RF :wink:

 

 

I'm gonna miss those crazy football spike throws

 

You mean you won't miss that sweet-swing? All those hours of watching himself in the mirror so as to better imitate Ken Griffey Jr? 8)

[Soriano12]

Other than 2B and CF, I don't think that's really blowing it up.

 

You forget RF :wink:

 

 

I'm gonna miss those crazy football spike throws

 

You mean you won't miss that sweet-swing? All those hours of watching himself in the mirror so as to better imitate Ken Griffey Jr? 8)

 

Maybe we can retain Gene Clines to pass that swing down to a youngster.

 

Son, come here, I wanna talk about your swing. Swing hard, really hard. Don't matter the pitch, just swing hard, shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land amoung the stars!

[EricG]

How about signing Catalanotto and Loretta and trying Jones or Pagan in CF? And then signing Schmidt.

 

Lineup:

Loretta (2B)

Catalanotto/Murton (LF)

Lee (1B)

Ramirez (3B)

Barrett ©

Jones/Platoon Partner (RF)

Pagan (CF)

Izturis (SS)

 

Rotation:

Z, Marshall, Schmidt, ???,???

 

Bullpen:

Dempster, Eyre, Howry, Guzman

 

Bench:

Utility IF: Theriot

Backup C: Soto

[stitchface]

I think disgruntled is on to something. You can't fix it in one year so don't try. the key is to actually have a plan for the future and stick to it. this is where things don't seem to go well with hendry. he seems to plan for one year and not consider the future. they aren't building an organization, they are just building a team. when that team isn't good enough, they try to rebuild that team. its just a waste of time.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

You can fix it in 1 year with a 95M payroll.

[stitchface]

You can fix it in 1 year with a 95M payroll.

 

I don't think so. not unless they find a way to dump a lot of bad contracts, sign all the top free agents, and go young everywhere else. do you see that happening? I think they can get back above .500 but they won't be any closer to winning the world series.

[abuck1220]

 

Have you ever watch a game of baseball? Counting on a Cf with No major league experience is crazy.

 

no kidding...just ask the white sox (anderson) and the tigers (granderson)...they've gone with inexperienced centerfielders, and have two of the worst records in baseball to show for it. i swear, some people just have never watched a game of baseball...

[sethuel1]

CF is the field general. Without a veteran CF presence, the rest of the outfield just collapses.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

You can fix it in 1 year with a 95M payroll.

 

I don't think so. not unless they find a way to dump a lot of bad contracts, sign all the top free agents, and go young everywhere else. do you see that happening? I think they can get back above .500 but they won't be any closer to winning the world series.

 

I don't have much confidence in Hendry to identify and plug the right holes, but it could be fixed in one offseason with a top 5-7 payroll.

[MPrior]

Some ideas:

 

If we go after one big-time free agent, I think it should be Soriano, and we should play him at 2B. I'm not crazy about him as a player, seeing as he can't take a walk to save his life, but he does have A LOT of power, especially for a second baseman. 2B also happens to be our biggest offensive hole. If that doesn't pan out, I think Loretta is a great option (and he's an NU grad, which automatically makes him awesome).

 

Keep Murton in LF. He's one of maybe four players on the whole team who have a decent OBP (Lee, Barrett, Aramis are the others), and his power looks like it might still develop. His numbers are lower than they should be because of one prolonged, awful slump, which also happened to coincide more or less exactly with a statement from Dusty that he was being "too patient" and that they were trying to "fix" that.

 

Jacque Jones should either be traded (maybe someone would give us a decent starter or something for a package including Jones) or, if we can sign or trade for a decent RF, moved to center, where he has more value. He should also be platooned, perhaps with Restovich.

 

Offer Pierre arbitration. He most likely won't accept, which means we'll receive compensation picks in the draft, and he won't block Pie, who might be ready early next year.

 

Sign Lofton, who can still be effective if he's not played every day. Since Pie will (hopefully) take up a lot of playing time in center next year, Lofton would be perfect.

 

Put Rich Hill in the rotation. He could be pretty darn good out there, and he has no value to us anywhere else. If he's not going to crack the rotation, trade him.

 

Marshall should also go in the rotation, I think. Guzman and Marmol belong back in the minors - Mateo probably does too, but I'd like to see him pitch some more.

 

If signing Soriano works out, then sign a lower-level starting pitcher, like Adam Eaton or Ted Lilly. If not, then go after Zito or Schmidt. I think Zito actually deserves a good look, because while he certainly is overrated (largely because of his 2002 Cy Young campaign), he's been consistently good his whole career, he eats up a lot of innings, and he's still relatively young, so he should be effective for several more years.

 

Try to trade Izturis. Since Hendry won't do this, I hope he does his best to trade Cedeno - maybe someone who can afford to have the hole in their lineup will take him on as a project.

 

In addition to trading Jones and Izturis/Cedeno, we should see if anyone will give us anything at all for Rusch or Bynum. If not, DFA them both. Also, see what the following could net:

 

Novoa

Pagan

One of Howry/Eyre

Dempster

One or two of our minor league pitchers.

 

Potential targets:

 

Vernon Wells (he doesn't plan to stay in Toronto, so he may be easier to get than you'd think)

Ryan Freel (just plain good)

A decent starting pitcher

Jason Michaels (decent platoon parter for Jones, potential CF leadoff candidate - having a bit of a down year, so might be cheap)

I'm sure there are many, many others.

 

I've got more to say, but this post is already way too long, so I'll stop there.

[waffle]

yeah, its funny, but I look at our starting 8 and figure we are unlikely to make alot of moves

 

Catcher - set

3b - hopefully still set

1b - set

SS - I think Izzy will be there next year

2B - Big question. That image in the rear view mirror is Ced regressing. Could be be an everyday 2b/ss? I think so, can we afford to wait?

LF - Let Murton Develop. He's at least average out there and is still young

CF - I'd be fine if Pierre came back. If he had more quality hitting around him consistently I think he would have a much better year

RF - Jones was a mistake to begin with. Yikes

 

Pitching, however, is a mess. Hopefully this year was an abberation, not something that you can plan for or respond to.

 

Z - Solid

Pick 2 of any 5 rooks

1 decent FA signing/1 fat old vet FA signing

I do like our depth in the Pen. I think we could go into the season with much of what we have now. Decide is Dempster is just running out of gas a bit or is not well suited for the role.

 

That really isn't alot of potential movement. I look at that team and I don't vomit, I see that it has potential.

 

I am one of those people who believes that coaching does matter. that a coach can set the tone for a whole season/for a whole team. Dusty's tone? Um, "gosh, weird stuff just keeps on hapnin, what you expect me to do?" In Other words, could we please have someone else at the helm of the SS Cubs?

[goonys evil twin]

That really isn't alot of potential movement. I look at that team and I don't vomit, I see that it has potential.

 

 

There's plenty of room for moves. A creative GM with an ounce of foresight would be able to make great strides this offseason. The current roster is completely unacceptable and only has potential for mediocrity. If your goal is to try and get back to .500, then maybe you can still relatively still. But that's a loser's goal and for this team to be a winner they need massive change.

[Soul]

You can fix it in 1 year with a 95M payroll.

 

I don't think so. not unless they find a way to dump a lot of bad contracts, sign all the top free agents, and go young everywhere else. do you see that happening? I think they can get back above .500 but they won't be any closer to winning the world series.

 

I don't have much confidence in Hendry to identify and plug the right holes, but it could be fixed in one offseason with a top 5-7 payroll.

 

We've had money for decades. Hasn't made a difference yet. Why would it start now?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

You can fix it in 1 year with a 95M payroll.

 

I don't think so. not unless they find a way to dump a lot of bad contracts, sign all the top free agents, and go young everywhere else. do you see that happening? I think they can get back above .500 but they won't be any closer to winning the world series.

 

I don't have much confidence in Hendry to identify and plug the right holes, but it could be fixed in one offseason with a top 5-7 payroll.

 

We've had money for decades. Hasn't made a difference yet. Why would it start now?

 

Don't confuse my post for thinking it will happen. I'm merely pointing out that with resources, it is possible.