Roberts still at top of wishlist/ Expected to try for CC

[Mephistopheles]

The Cubs will look a lot like the team that just finished this season.

 

and that's exactly the way it should.

[Schwarber Fan]

If it's true that they still want Roberts, they'll get him, but it wouldn't made any sense. DeRosa is just as good and Fontenot deserves a shot to shine.

[JeffH]

The Cubs will look a lot like the team that just finished this season.

 

Horrible?

[Andy]

The Cubs will look a lot like the team that just finished this season.

 

Horrible?

97-67.

[javy knows my name]

The Cubs will look a lot like the team that just finished this season.

 

Horrible?

I don't think you are a real person

[JeffH]

I thought that we were talking about the team that just finished the season.

[Andy]

I thought that we were talking about the team that just finished the season.

We are. 97-67.

[mdwilla]

Bruce Miles wrote:

The Cubs will look a lot like the team that just finished this season.

 

 

and that's exactly the way it should.

 

I can only pray it doesn't. A lot these are players are streches to repeat there years, Zambrano and Harden are huge health risks. A team with this high of a payroll and we get two no shows in the playoffs two years in a row, Heads should be rolling.

[Bruce Miles]

Bruce Miles wrote:

The Cubs will look a lot like the team that just finished this season.

 

 

and that's exactly the way it should.

 

I can only pray it doesn't. A lot these are players are streches to repeat there years, Zambrano and Harden are huge health risks. A team with this high of a payroll and we get two no shows in the playoffs two years in a row, Heads should be rolling.

 

I suggest you take a look at Joe Sheehan's article at Baseball Prospectus. The respected Sheehan says the Cubs and their fans should not lose sight of the fact that they had the best team in the NL and that nothing needs to be torn down. Joe further states that the Cubs became a victim of matchups in the NLDS. That happens in baseball. Heads should be rolling? Whose? You have a large number of players with long-term contracts and several of those with no-trade clauses. Zambrano may indeed be a health risk but he signed a multiyear contract extension for $91.5 million. This team needs some fixing. It doesn't need an overhaul.

[C.C.]

Bruce Miles wrote:

The Cubs will look a lot like the team that just finished this season.

 

 

and that's exactly the way it should.

 

I can only pray it doesn't. A lot these are players are streches to repeat there years, Zambrano and Harden are huge health risks. A team with this high of a payroll and we get two no shows in the playoffs two years in a row, Heads should be rolling.

 

I suggest you take a look at Joe Sheehan's article at Baseball Prospectus. The respected Sheehan says the Cubs and their fans should not lose sight of the fact that they had the best team in the NL and that nothing needs to be torn down. Joe further states that the Cubs became a victim of matchups in the NLDS. That happens in baseball. Heads should be rolling? Whose? You have a large number of players with long-term contracts and several of those with no-trade clauses. Zambrano may indeed be a health risk but he signed a multiyear contract extension for $91.5 million. This team needs some fixing. It doesn't need an overhaul.

 

Agreed. I do want a lefty power stick.

[Bruce Miles]

Bruce Miles wrote:

The Cubs will look a lot like the team that just finished this season.

 

 

and that's exactly the way it should.

 

I can only pray it doesn't. A lot these are players are streches to repeat there years, Zambrano and Harden are huge health risks. A team with this high of a payroll and we get two no shows in the playoffs two years in a row, Heads should be rolling.

 

I suggest you take a look at Joe Sheehan's article at Baseball Prospectus. The respected Sheehan says the Cubs and their fans should not lose sight of the fact that they had the best team in the NL and that nothing needs to be torn down. Joe further states that the Cubs became a victim of matchups in the NLDS. That happens in baseball. Heads should be rolling? Whose? You have a large number of players with long-term contracts and several of those with no-trade clauses. Zambrano may indeed be a health risk but he signed a multiyear contract extension for $91.5 million. This team needs some fixing. It doesn't need an overhaul.

 

Agreed. I do want a lefty power stick.

 

And they'll look for one. Fukudome's slide really threw a wrench into things. No one saw that coming after the first two months of the season. I suspect Fontenot will see more playing time next year. I also will be very surprised if Soriano is the leadoff hitter in 2009.

[SouthSideRyan]

King Kaufman at salon.com had a similar article as well.

 

I was hoping you'd join in on the calming down of the masses Bruce.

[Guest]

Bruce Miles wrote:

The Cubs will look a lot like the team that just finished this season.

 

 

and that's exactly the way it should.

 

I can only pray it doesn't. A lot these are players are streches to repeat there years, Zambrano and Harden are huge health risks. A team with this high of a payroll and we get two no shows in the playoffs two years in a row, Heads should be rolling.

 

I suggest you take a look at Joe Sheehan's article at Baseball Prospectus. The respected Sheehan says the Cubs and their fans should not lose sight of the fact that they had the best team in the NL and that nothing needs to be torn down. Joe further states that the Cubs became a victim of matchups in the NLDS. That happens in baseball. Heads should be rolling? Whose? You have a large number of players with long-term contracts and several of those with no-trade clauses. Zambrano may indeed be a health risk but he signed a multiyear contract extension for $91.5 million. This team needs some fixing. It doesn't need an overhaul.

 

Glad to hear. That is indeed the right thing to do (of course the long term contracts force the team to stay the course).

[JeffH]

Joe further states that the Cubs became a victim of matchups in the NLDS.

 

Yeah, that's what happened.

 

Joe won't be respected for long if he keeps laying out nonsense like that.

[Bruce Miles]

King Kaufman at salon.com had a similar article as well.

 

I was hoping you'd join in on the calming down of the masses Bruce.

 

 

I understand why people react the way they do. It was a real shame the way the season ended. These playoffs, especially the best of five, are a real crap shoot. The Braves are considered the standard of excellence for what they did for a decade and a half, and they won one World Series. Of course, they got to a few, and Cubs fans would like at least that much of a taste. But this is a better team than the one that came close in 2003. You can take heart in that. But you'll never hear me say "be patient." Just know that your team should be in position to get there for the foreseeable future.

[Bruce Miles]

Here is what Joe wrote, in part. I'd post the link, but I don't know if you can get it if you're not a Premium member:

 

"Whatever frustration the Cubs, their management, or their fan base may feel at this moment, what they cannot and should not do is lose sight of the fact that the 2008 Cubs were a very good baseball team. There was no missing link, no fatal flaw, nothing in the construction that portended a short stay in the postseason. They caught a bad matchup and had a three-game losing streak at the wrong time, and the rules of the game don't allow for that. This was the Cubs' fifth three-game losing streak of the season; these things happen even to 94-win teams (actually 97, as we all know). That they lost three in row, to a quality team, is just baseball. That they did so from October 1 through October 4 unfortunately means that they don't get to play on October 5. None of that, however, makes the 2008 Cubs less than what they were: the best team in the NL for six months. It just means they won't win a championship."

 

Joe is pretty good, and he's no Pollyanna, especially where it concerns the Cubs. Last year, the Cubs simply didn't hit against Arizona. This year, their No. 1 starter issued 7 walks. Thay played bad defense in the second game. They couldn't hit a guy they couldn't hit at Dodger Stadium earlier this year. With Furcal back and Ramirez in the lineup, this was a far better Dodger team than what the Cubs saw in May and June.

[David]

Bruce, thanks for stopping by... a couple of questions if you'd be willing to oblige...

 

Have you heard anything with regard to the sale and when that might be resolved? Will there even be a chance of getting some tweaks done to this team or is this thing going to hold us hostage? I know it didn't last year, but they can only spend the future owner's money for so long...

 

Are there rumblings that a new owner might want to make a big splash and green-light a big acquisition, like, say, a CC Sabathia (as opposed to giving Ryan Dempster 12+M a year)?

[Bruce Miles]

Bruce, thanks for stopping by... a couple of questions if you'd be willing to oblige...

 

Have you heard anything with regard to the sale and when that might be resolved? Will there even be a chance of getting some tweaks done to this team or is this thing going to hold us hostage? I know it didn't last year, but they can only spend the future owner's money for so long...

 

Are there rumblings that a new owner might want to make a big splash and green-light a big acquisition, like, say, a CC Sabathia (as opposed to giving Ryan Dempster 12+M a year)?

 

If the current group wants to re-sign Dempster at the figure you mentioned, I would see no problem for Hendry in getting that done. We don't know who the group will be yet. I can see somewhat of a splash, but Sabathia, I don't know. And he may want to play on the West Coast. Still a lot to be determined on the ownership front.

[JeffH]

Just know that your team should be in position to get there for the foreseeable future.

 

Bruce, I hear this a lot.

 

This team has issues.

 

An unsettled CF situation. No viable major league RF. A below average offensive first baseman. 40% of its starting rotation medically questionable. An extremely shallow bullpen.

 

That's not even addressing the square-peg-in-a-round-hole left fielder or the barely adequate shortstop.

[David]

Bruce, thanks for stopping by... a couple of questions if you'd be willing to oblige...

 

Have you heard anything with regard to the sale and when that might be resolved? Will there even be a chance of getting some tweaks done to this team or is this thing going to hold us hostage? I know it didn't last year, but they can only spend the future owner's money for so long...

 

Are there rumblings that a new owner might want to make a big splash and green-light a big acquisition, like, say, a CC Sabathia (as opposed to giving Ryan Dempster 12+M a year)?

 

If the current group wants to re-sign Dempster at the figure you mentioned, I would see no problem for Hendry in getting that done. We don't know who the group will be yet. I can see somewhat of a splash, but Sabathia, I don't know. And he may want to play on the West Coast. Still a lot to be determined on the ownership front.

 

Thanks for the response. In terms of the CC/Dempster thing, I was just thinking that CC at $~20M seems like a better option than Dempster in the $12-14M range given their ages and the fact that you don't really know what you're getting from Dempster (not to mention the fact that CC is just a much better pitcher without even taking those things into account). To me, giving him a fairly big, long term deal is a major risk. Then again, there are probably questions with CC after the way he was used up this year, so who knows?

Edited October 7, 2008 by David

[Bruce Miles]

Just know that your team should be in position to get there for the foreseeable future.

 

Bruce, I hear this a lot.

 

This team has issues.

 

An unsettled CF situation. No viable major league RF. A below average offensive first baseman. 40% of its starting rotation medically questionable. An extremely shallow bullpen.

 

That's not even addressing the square-peg-in-a-round-hole left fielder or the barely adequate shortstop.

 

Those issues were there for most of the year, and the Cubs still won 97 games. Felix Pie was the opening-day center fielder (much to the delight of a lot of people). Theriot was coming off a .326 OBP season. They didn't get Roberts. They gave their starting catching job to a rookie. No way would Ryan Dempster have a good year as a starting pitcher. Kerry Wood, 34 saves? No way.

 

What the Cubs did is what all teams that are in contention do. They adjusted: Edmonds, Johnson, Harden, Gaudin, Samardzija. They'll adjust this winter, and they'll adjust into 2009. Go around both leagues. Every team has multiple issues. Relative to the NL Central, the Cubs are in pretty good shape. There is an entire off-season for Hendry to build on the success of a 97-win regular season and see what can be done to get the team over the hump.

[Little Slide Rooter]

The Cubs will look a lot like the team that just finished this season.

 

and that's exactly the way it should.

 

I would be very happy with this, as long as there was say 1 substantial addition. We need either a star bat that we can count on for the number 3 spot, or else a mindless power bat for the 4 spot and move Ramirez to the 3. I dont think Lee is washed up, but he should be a 5 or 6 hitter, as he always should have been. he had that insane 2005, but other than that, what we got from him this year is more of what he has been throughout his career.

[rawaction]

I'm torn. On one hand, this was the best team in the majors from Game 1 of the season to Game 153, when they clinched. You don't change that. For every thought that Derosa, Theriot, and Edmonds will decline, is a thought that Soriano, Ramirez, Fukudome and Soto could still improve on their 2008 seasons.

 

On the other hand, the Cubs have 2 straight division championships, and 2 straight times they've been playing golf within a week of the Pirates. They won 97 games, and that wasn't enough. There's not really much more the Cubs can do in the regular season. And if they do less in the regular season, they have the 3rd best team in the NL in their division along with 2 other teams not that far behind in the event of a slip-up.

 

Whatever the Cubs do, they have to do it wholeheartedly. I think they went all out this year. Tapping into Japan for Fukudome. Going after Harden. What's next? Is there another big bat out there that can help them while allowing them to keep their core in tact? Is there another top arm that will stabilize the rotation and prepare them for a short series? Will it even matter?

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Sign Adam Dunn for RF. Slide Kosuke to CF. Re-sign Dempster and Wood. Trade Marquis if you can. Call it an offseason.

[ELCABALLO45]

Sign Adam Dunn for RF. Slide Kosuke to CF. Re-sign Dempster and Wood. Trade Marquis if you can. Call it an offseason.

 

Dunn would scare me. However,

 

Soriano-Fukudome-Dunn outfield? Is it worth the risk?