eyre & howry

[mg420]

perhaps it might be wise to trade both of these guys in order to fill some holes. the bullpen should be a strength going into 2007 and both these guys were way overworked in 2006 imo and are injuries waiting to happen. maybe the dodgers would take ohman & eyre for drew and i wonder if the red sox would take howry for kottaras (seeing as how papelbon wants to start next year)? they have rapada, piggy, pavlik & campusano from the left side and atlee, holdzkom and cherry (if he's healthy) from the right side to go along with wuertz, aardsma & hopefully wood. i also think that marmol should be switched to closing at iowa instead of starting.

[Garwilly]

How do we have a strong bullpen after trading away Eyre, Howry and Ohamn?

[baseball7897]

Just wow. If you're trading Howry, Eyre, and Ohman your bullpen wont be a strength. You would be turning that bullpen into a weakness.

[USSoccer]

I wouldn't mind trading Eyre or Howry. I think one of them is expendable.

 

Keep in mind bullpens are very unpredicatble quantities. Year to year the performances tend to be unstable.

[goonys evil twin]

The Cubs would be foolish to not explore trading a bullpen arm or two.

[baseball7897]

The Cubs would be foolish to not explore trading a bullpen arm or two.

 

I wouldn't mind the Cubs exploring trades for their bullpen arms. If it means improving their team, then I am all for that.

[rocket]

Just wow. If you're trading Howry, Eyre, and Ohman your bullpen wont be a strength. You would be turning that bullpen into a weakness.

 

Our bullpen wasn't a strength last year either. It was very mediocre.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Eyre could fetch a pretty penny and could be replaced by Rapada, imo.

[KaiserCesar]

Just wow. If you're trading Howry, Eyre, and Ohman your bullpen wont be a strength. You would be turning that bullpen into a weakness.

 

Our bullpen wasn't a strength last year either. It was very mediocre.

 

If anyone with stats can prove my next statements wrong then so do it, but there were a lot of young starters who would only go 4-5-6 max innings (and then maddux) so you'd get into the "long relief" group of Novoa and friends quite often. I think if the starting rotation is built correctly, the numbers will put the bullpen in good light.

[goonys evil twin]

Just wow. If you're trading Howry, Eyre, and Ohman your bullpen wont be a strength. You would be turning that bullpen into a weakness.

 

Our bullpen wasn't a strength last year either. It was very mediocre.

 

If anyone with stats can prove my next statements wrong then so do it, but there were a lot of young starters who would only go 4-5-6 max innings (and then maddux) so you'd get into the "long relief" group of Novoa and friends quite often. I think if the starting rotation is built correctly, the numbers will put the bullpen in good light.

 

But that just reinforces the point that starting pitchers are more important than relievers. A strong bullpen is not going to win you many games. You need a strong team. It's great if you can afford to add arms to the bullpen, but bullpen arms are not stable, and strong bullpens often come out of nowhere to become strong.

[KaiserCesar]

Just wow. If you're trading Howry, Eyre, and Ohman your bullpen wont be a strength. You would be turning that bullpen into a weakness.

 

Our bullpen wasn't a strength last year either. It was very mediocre.

 

If anyone with stats can prove my next statements wrong then so do it, but there were a lot of young starters who would only go 4-5-6 max innings (and then maddux) so you'd get into the "long relief" group of Novoa and friends quite often. I think if the starting rotation is built correctly, the numbers will put the bullpen in good light.

 

But that just reinforces the point that starting pitchers are more important than relievers. A strong bullpen is not going to win you many games. You need a strong team. It's great if you can afford to add arms to the bullpen, but bullpen arms are not stable, and strong bullpens often come out of nowhere to become strong.

 

So trading the bullpen to improve the rest of the team could be a good idea if improvement in other places is less replacable, no?

[Mizzou]

I don't see any reason to actively shop Howry. I'm all for trading Eyre though.

[USSoccer]

I don't see any reason to actively shop Howry. I'm all for trading Eyre though.

 

If you're talking ARod with the Yankees, and you're selling Prior, Eyre and Moore, and they say they'll do it for Howry instead of Eyre, you'd walk?

[ChiCubsFan]

I don't see any reason to actively shop Howry. I'm all for trading Eyre though.

 

If you're talking ARod with the Yankees, and you're selling Prior, Eyre and Moore, and they say they'll do it for Howry instead of Eyre, you'd walk?

 

I shouldn't speak for him, but he never said that. He said he wouldnt actively shop Howry.

[KaiserCesar]

I don't see any reason to actively shop Howry. I'm all for trading Eyre though.

 

If you're talking ARod with the Yankees, and you're selling Prior, Eyre and Moore, and they say they'll do it for Howry instead of Eyre, you'd walk?

 

That's not really shopping if they ask for Howry, he didn't say untradable.

[Mizzou]

I don't see any reason to actively shop Howry. I'm all for trading Eyre though.

 

If you're talking ARod with the Yankees, and you're selling Prior, Eyre and Moore, and they say they'll do it for Howry instead of Eyre, you'd walk?

No, I'd make that deal in a heartbeat. I said I wouldn't actively shop Howry. If teams come calling and offer a good deal, then of course I'd take it.

[goonys evil twin]

I don't see any reason to actively shop Howry. I'm all for trading Eyre though.

 

If you're talking ARod with the Yankees, and you're selling Prior, Eyre and Moore, and they say they'll do it for Howry instead of Eyre, you'd walk?

No, I'd make that deal in a heartbeat. I said I wouldn't actively shop Howry. If teams come calling and offer a good deal, then of course I'd take it.

 

I guess it depends on your definition of shop. I wouldn't let it know to every team that Howry is available.

 

But I wouldn't hesitate to include him in the initial offer for a great player, if I feel that's what it would take for the other team to know I'm serious. It's similar to the Murton situation. If the only way Florida will talk about Cabrera is to include Murton in an offer, I'm including him, because Cabrera is so much better.

[Mizzou]

By actively shop him, I meant try and trade him. Sorry, I thought that was pretty clear.

[goonys evil twin]

By actively shop him, I meant try and trade him. Sorry, I thought that was pretty clear.

 

I assumed that's what you meant. And I agree there's no reason to do that. But I'm just saying, I wouldn't hesitate to include him in the right deal, as opposed to only giving him up out of desperation.

[Handlebar McSkullet]

Just wow. If you're trading Howry, Eyre, and Ohman your bullpen wont be a strength. You would be turning that bullpen into a weakness.

 

Our bullpen wasn't a strength last year either. It was very mediocre.

 

How are you measuring mediocrity? Its clear that the cubs have a strong bullpen then most teams in the NL if not MLB. Watching the game last night, I thought I would rather have wuertz than grilli. You take out Dempster's terrible season, then this is a very deep bullpen.

[Neuby]

right now the only strength the Cubs having head to this offseason is there bullpen and you guys want to weaken it? If are rotation was worth anything last year the bullpen would have been a lot better.

 

Eyre

Howry

Dempster

Wood

Ohman

Wuertz

 

looks pretty filthy to me. Sure its an exspensive pen but with a payroll of 115 million and so many other weakness I'd rather stand pat in the bullpen unless you can something useful for Dempster and not just another bad contract.

[TruffleShuffle]

right now the only strength the Cubs having head to this offseason is there bullpen and you guys want to weaken it? If are rotation was worth anything last year the bullpen would have been a lot better.

 

Eyre

Howry

Dempster

Wood

Ohman

Wuertz

 

looks pretty filthy to me. Sure its an exspensive pen but with a payroll of 115 million and so many other weakness I'd rather stand pat in the bullpen unless you can something useful for Dempster and not just another bad contract.

 

I don't k now that it's filthy, but it's pretty solid. The Cubs were 12th in MLB in bullpen ERA, and if you take out some of the dregs of that bullpen like Rusch & Williamson, I'm sure they rate a little higher. Wood would probably be better than Novoa. Having Novoa and Aardsma and insurance to those guys would give you two pretty decent backups as well. If (when) the Cubs lose next year, I don't think the pen will be the culprit.

[mg420]

right now the only strength the Cubs having head to this offseason is there bullpen and you guys want to weaken it? If are rotation was worth anything last year the bullpen would have been a lot better.

 

Eyre

Howry

Dempster

Wood

Ohman

Wuertz

 

looks pretty filthy to me. Sure its an exspensive pen but with a payroll of 115 million and so many other weakness I'd rather stand pat in the bullpen unless you can something useful for Dempster and not just another bad contract.

 

the cubs dont have much value anywhere else on the major leauge level other than the bullpen. i wonder how healthy the 1st two are going to be next year looking at how overworked they were in 2006. the cubs just need guys like aardsma & rapada to step up if they do trade eyre & howry.

[Brian]

I'm just hoping Lou doesn't fall in love with Novoa like Dusty did. I still can't understand that one.

[goonys evil twin]

right now the only strength the Cubs having head to this offseason is there bullpen and you guys want to weaken it?

 

If it means adding strength to the far more important rotation and lineup, hell yeah.