Winter Meetings Thread (Merged)

[soapy]

My preference (out of what seems to be available) is Church. Honestly, I'm starting to warm to the idea of adding Church, and still holding on to Jones. A four-man rotation of Jones, Murton, Church and Soriano sounds good to me (assuming Murton still gets a lot of PAs).

[Sammy Sofa]

I'm all about heading to Church.

[Guest]

Quick winter meeting note on CF for those that don't read the minor league forum...

 

We took Josh Hamilton in the rule 5 draft, which means that he'll have to be on the big league team in 2007 if we're going to keep him. Hopefully, Lou has provided some inside information here and Hamilton puts his personal problems behind him with a chance at a major league job.

[goonys evil twin]

Quick winter meeting note on CF for those that don't read the minor league forum...

 

We took Josh Hamilton in the rule 5 draft, which means that he'll have to be on the big league team in 2007 if we're going to keep him. Hopefully, Lou has provided some inside information here and Hamilton puts his personal problems behind him with a chance at a major league job.

 

And he was reportedly shipped to Cincy already, no news on whether they'll convert him to reliever.

[Guest]

Just saw that. Damn.

[JWCUB]

Are the Winter Meetings over? I thought it was a week long.

[goonys evil twin]

Are the Winter Meetings over? I thought it was a week long.

 

I read they wrap up today.

[Post Count Padder]

Are the Winter Meetings over? I thought it was a week long.

They end today.

[C.C.]

It ends today...

[Soul]

We come out of it:

 

Zambrano

Hill

Lilly

Guzman/Marshall

Prior/Miller

 

essentially....with the possibility of switching guys around according to what they show in ST.

 

I think we either need more offensive pop (not Ward), or need to make another pitching deal. Who knows if Prior and/or Miller will even pitch successfully in '07? Nobody knows.

[WrigleyinEngland]

So where do we go from here?? I am really concearned about CF and SP. Is the plan to start Pie next year? you can't have him and Izturis in the same team. Anyone else get the feeling it's Floyd,Marquis hope for lofton and then call it an off season??? If we don't add a quality starter we are going to have to go with the hope and pray situation which has dogged Hendrys tenure as gm. I also fear that we'll let Jaque Jones go for nothing ie some idiot like Rodrigo Lopez when his contract and numbers make him attractive for a number of teams (including us as a CF)

 

So as people have said before me the winter meetings are over and there is as many questions as before, we really need to get the SP situation sorted and not get ripped in a Jaque Jones trade.

[Soul]

Honestly I'm shocked we got this far.

 

But all said, I think we're still somewhere around a .500 ballclub. There would have to be an additional starter and a real LH bat to be competitive.

 

Barring miracles, of course. Which seem to come our way once every decade.

[goonys evil twin]

Honestly I'm shocked we got this far.

 

But all said, I think we're still somewhere around a .500 ballclub. There would have to be an additional starter and a real LH bat to be competitive.

 

Barring miracles, of course. Which seem to come our way once every decade.

 

How far did we get? We replaced last year's $9m pitcher, Maddux, with a $10m Lilly, and added a utility player who takes on part of the Walker/Perez money, and Soriano. They've added Soriano. It's really not very far.

[WrigleyinEngland]

I think we're getting to the point of realisation that we had so many holes this weak FA class was nowhere near adequate to fill them all. To get over the top we are going to need Murton,Hill,Wood,Prior, and one of Guzman,Marshall, Marmol to step up and realise their potential or in the case of wood and Prior stay healthy. Way to many if,buts and maybes for me.........

[don_kessinger_was_good]

Is Mark Mulder seriously hurt? Why aren't we showing some interest in him, he seems eminently gettable and when he's on, he's a much better pitcher than Suppan or Batista.

 

Count me in as eager to make a trade for Tim Hudson or Brad Penny, too, we need to get a quality guy on the cheap, coming off a bad year for once, instead of a marginal guy coming off a rare great year.

 

The Royals did us a VERY big favor in taking Meche away, IMO.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Is Mark Mulder seriously hurt?

 

Yes.

[XZero771679666304]

Is Mark Mulder seriously hurt? Why aren't we showing some interest in him, he seems eminently gettable and when he's on, he's a much better pitcher than Suppan or Batista.

 

Count me in as eager to make a trade for Tim Hudson or Brad Penny, too, we need to get a quality guy on the cheap, coming off a bad year for once, instead of a marginal guy coming off a rare great year.

 

The Royals did us a VERY big favor in taking Meche away, IMO.

 

I don't think Mulder will be able to pitch more than half of 2007 at best, based on things I have read.

[cbbryan]

Honestly I'm shocked we got this far.

 

But all said, I think we're still somewhere around a .500 ballclub. There would have to be an additional starter and a real LH bat to be competitive.

 

Barring miracles, of course. Which seem to come our way once every decade.

 

Really? I think the Cubs still need another pitcher, but I think the '06 was much better then a 66 win team.

 

I'm not overly thrilled with DeRosa, or Lilly. I think they are both wild cards, but I don't know that I believe that the Cubs aren't a .500 team at this very point. I think they probably a 85-90 win team in the NL Central. I may be wrong, but just my opinion.

[Soul]

Honestly I'm shocked we got this far.

 

But all said, I think we're still somewhere around a .500 ballclub. There would have to be an additional starter and a real LH bat to be competitive.

 

Barring miracles, of course. Which seem to come our way once every decade.

 

How far did we get? We replaced last year's $9m pitcher, Maddux, with a $10m Lilly, and added a utility player who takes on part of the Walker/Perez money, and Soriano. They've added Soriano. It's really not very far.

 

I'm harkening back to the end of the season----I didn't think anyone would possibly want to come here, much less Soriano. So I view that as a positive. DeRosa is an upgrade over Neifi IMO. Positive (though not super-positive, still sort-of positive).

 

Then Lilly, who I view as better than Guz/Marshall/Mateo/Marmol, if not the #2 starter that we actually needed. I think that's positive, though again not incredible.

 

And I didn't think we would sign Piniella either. While I don't think Lou is the best or anything, I was thinking Hendry might just promote one of our minor-league managers or do something silly like that. I didn't think he would go out and get the most well-known manager.

 

I think we've come a pretty far. Not far enough, certainly.

[don_kessinger_was_good]

Honestly I'm shocked we got this far.

 

But all said, I think we're still somewhere around a .500 ballclub. There would have to be an additional starter and a real LH bat to be competitive.

 

Barring miracles, of course. Which seem to come our way once every decade.

 

How far did we get? We replaced last year's $9m pitcher, Maddux, with a $10m Lilly, and added a utility player who takes on part of the Walker/Perez money, and Soriano. They've added Soriano. It's really not very far.

 

Agreed it's not far, but there are a couple of other things that will help (overall, I think as-constructed this is a .500 team right now, no better):

 

1. No Dusty Baker.

2. Healthy Derrek Lee for 150+ games

3. Izturis sucks, but he's better than Cedeno

4. No Neifi freaking Perez, John Mabry, Freddie Bynum or other assorted stiffs.

5. Lilly > 2006 Greg Maddux

6. Additional year of experience and maturity for Marshall, Guzman and friends.

 

Cubs need a bonafide #2 starter (Hudson or Penny are all I see out there) and a bat improvement in the OF or SS, then they could have a legitimate shot at a 85+ win season and a postseason chance.

[XZero771679666304]

Is Mark Mulder seriously hurt?

 

Yes.

 

I remember arguing with Cards fans just after the Mulder trade as to whether Beane not only got the best of the deal, but unloaded damaged goods on Jocketty. Looks like yes on both counts.

[Soul]

Honestly I'm shocked we got this far.

 

But all said, I think we're still somewhere around a .500 ballclub. There would have to be an additional starter and a real LH bat to be competitive.

 

Barring miracles, of course. Which seem to come our way once every decade.

 

Really? I think the Cubs still need another pitcher, but I think the '06 was much better then a 66 win team.

 

I'm not overly thrilled with DeRosa, or Lilly. I think they are both wild cards, but I don't know that I believe that the Cubs aren't a .500 team at this very point. I think they probably a 85-90 win team in the NL Central. I may be wrong, but just my opinion.

 

I try not to look at it that way, because we actually did finish with 66 wins. Yeah there were injuries that held us back, but nothing is out there saying significant injuries won't happen again.

[C.C.]

Honestly I'm shocked we got this far.

 

But all said, I think we're still somewhere around a .500 ballclub. There would have to be an additional starter and a real LH bat to be competitive.

 

Barring miracles, of course. Which seem to come our way once every decade.

 

How far did we get? We replaced last year's $9m pitcher, Maddux, with a $10m Lilly, and added a utility player who takes on part of the Walker/Perez money, and Soriano. They've added Soriano. It's really not very far.

 

Agreed it's not far, but there are a couple of other things that will help (overall, I think as-constructed this is a .500 team right now, no better):

 

1. No Dusty Baker.

2. Healthy Derrek Lee for 150+ games

3. Izturis sucks, but he's better than Cedeno

4. No Neifi freaking Perez, John Mabry, Freddie Bynum or other assorted stiffs.

5. Lilly > 2006 Greg Maddux

6. Additional year of experience and maturity for Marshall, Guzman and friends.

 

Cubs need a bonafide #2 starter (Hudson or Penny are all I see out there) and a bat improvement in the OF or SS, then they could have a legitimate shot at a 85+ win season and a postseason chance.

 

That seems about right. With a healthy Dlee and by some miracle Prior comes back then we are right there in the thick of things.

[WrigleyinEngland]

'Then Lilly, who I view as better than Guz/Marshall/Mateo/Marmol'

 

I agree at this point Lilly is better than those listed but in terms of stuff and ceilings Guzman and Marmol may have the chance to make Ted look like a little league pitcher.

[goonys evil twin]

From DJ Gallo on ESPN Page 2:

 

12:12 p.m.

Well, it's the final day of the winter meetings and I have yet to break a single story that has been correct. So I'm going to report that the Orioles are about to do something extremely stupid and the Cubs are set to grossly overpay someone. I don't think I can go wrong with that.