Hendry NOT looking to rebuild Cubs

[Cubs Fan Dan]

Well looks like Fukudome is helping the Cubs unload him, although the Cubs can definitely win with Fuk in right. Anyone else thinking Quade believe Fuk is better than Piniella did?

 

Garza does not wow me, in the right deal I would be happy. I would also check into availability of Verlander, Greinke. As free agents I would look at Webb, Tim Hudson, and Cliff Lee.

 

I think with some hope of having a resurgent Zambrano, adding one of those guys to the mix would keep our rotation near one of the better ones.

 

1B target Gonzo first, backup plan: Dunn, Pena(1 yr deal).

[questionmarkgrace]

I don't see the Friars trading A-Gonz after this year. It just doesnt make sense they made a huge step forward this year, have great, cheap, young pitching and will probably go to the playoffs this year. Plus they have a new owner who doesn't have the money woes (iirc). To trade him now signals to their fan base that they don't care about winning.

 

Point two, other teams like the braves have a need at first base and much better prospects that us.

 

 

I still think Dunn is the most likely to be manning first base. Beyond that, unfortunately I don't see Hendry adding any more offensive players.

[XZero771679666304]

 

I still think Dunn is the most likely to be manning first base. Beyond that, unfortunately I don't see Hendry adding any more offensive players.

 

I don't think he'd need to add more. Sign Dunn and you could have an offense that looks like this:

 

C: Soto

1B: Dunn

2B: DeWitt

SS: Castro

3B: ARam

LF: Soriano

CF: Byrd/Colvin

RF: Kosuke/Colvin

 

Which I would line up like this:

 

1. Kosuke

2. Castro

3. Ramirez

4. Dunn

5. Byrd

6. Soto

7. Soriano

8. DeWitt

 

That's not bad at all, assuming ARam doesn't repeat the first half of this year.

[Dallas Green]

That would not be bad but, with Ricketts pushing youth, I dont see Colvin sitting on the bench. I also dont see how SD can move A Gon. I think a Greinke/Pena off season would be what I am wishing for, not likely but :beg:

[Dallas Green]

That would not be bad but, with Ricketts pushing youth, I dont see Colvin sitting on the bench. I also dont see how SD can move A Gon. I think a Greinke/Pena off season would be what I am wishing for, not likely but :beg:

[daske17]

That would not be bad but, with Ricketts pushing youth, I dont see Colvin sitting on the bench. I also dont see how SD can move A Gon. I think a Greinke/Pena off season would be what I am wishing for, not likely but :beg:

 

No to Greinke. As great a pitcher as he is, he would mentally implode with the pressure of playing on the Cubs. Garza or Hudson would be my picks for pitching.

[davell]

yeah i don't see how garza is a "big time SP"

 

Hence, the reason I put "potential" in front of that. But, I do think he's young enough to get better and leaving the AL East should help quite a bit as well.

[Sammys Boombox]

None of it is going to matter if the bullpen is terrible again.

[Sammy Sofa]

Uh, sure it will. The bullpen shouldn't have any priority over the starting rotation and the offense. Edited September 3, 2010 by Sammy Sofa

[davell]

I can't remember why we missed out on Matt Capps(I think it was the refusal to offer a 2nd year?) but I can't help but think if we HAD signed him, Andrew Cashner would be in a rotation somewhere right now, whether it would be Chicago or Iowa may be up for debate, but I think this is the ONE time I would have been happy with Hendry actually paying solid money for a bullpen arm, in retrospect.......

 

As it stands though, I'd have to figure Hendry goes out and sets the market again this offseason with a very early signing of some sort of right handed set up guy.Hopefully not though, because there actually seems to be a very solid amount of right handed relievers who are decent out there for once. If we HAVE to sign one, I'd like to see Hendry wait it out and get a guy who is basically running out of options at that point.

 

But, if we didn't sign a single guy for the pen, I'd be perfectly fine with it. We've got enough guys that have the ability to fill bullpen roles, that I'd take the odds of us finding 2-3 from our system anyway........

[CubColtPacer]

I can't remember why we missed out on Matt Capps(I think it was the refusal to offer a 2nd year?) but I can't help but think if we HAD signed him, Andrew Cashner would be in a rotation somewhere right now, whether it would be Chicago or Iowa may be up for debate, but I think this is the ONE time I would have been happy with Hendry actually paying solid money for a bullpen arm, in retrospect.......

 

Capps chose the Nationals because they were offering the closer job and the Cubs couldn't offer that.

[Fred Hornkohl]

I can't remember why we missed out on Matt Capps(I think it was the refusal to offer a 2nd year?) but I can't help but think if we HAD signed him, Andrew Cashner would be in a rotation somewhere right now, whether it would be Chicago or Iowa may be up for debate, but I think this is the ONE time I would have been happy with Hendry actually paying solid money for a bullpen arm, in retrospect.......

 

Capps chose the Nationals because they were offering the closer job and the Cubs couldn't wouldn't offer that.

[SouthSideRyan]

I can't remember why we missed out on Matt Capps(I think it was the refusal to offer a 2nd year?) but I can't help but think if we HAD signed him, Andrew Cashner would be in a rotation somewhere right now, whether it would be Chicago or Iowa may be up for debate, but I think this is the ONE time I would have been happy with Hendry actually paying solid money for a bullpen arm, in retrospect.......

 

 

We shouldn't have to sign bullpen guys to save the organization from ruining their own pitching prospects

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

I like Dewitt. I think he'll be a good player for us.

 

I'm not sure what I want to do with the offseason.

[Old Style]

I'm not sure what I want to do with the offseason.

Get less crappy?

[Jazz]

I'm not sure what I want to do with the offseason.

Get less crappy?

 

I think if you go out and get a Dunn or someone better to man 1st base, and a solid arm or two, and some bench help than I don't think you really need to go out and "rebuild". With guys like Zambrano, Aramis, and Fukudome proving that they aren't completely worthless if they just play even close to their career norms the cubs have a chance to be decent next year. The thing I'm most concerned about is the rotation. Do you go out and get a top of the line starter or just maybe an innings eater and hope Z and Demp can be a good enough 1/2 for us?

[davell]

I'm not sure what I want to do with the offseason.

Get less crappy?

 

I think if you go out and get a Dunn or someone better to man 1st base, and a solid arm or two, and some bench help than I don't think you really need to go out and "rebuild". With guys like Zambrano, Aramis, and Fukudome proving that they aren't completely worthless if they just play even close to their career norms the cubs have a chance to be decent next year. The thing I'm most concerned about is the rotation. Do you go out and get a top of the line starter or just maybe an innings eater and hope Z and Demp can be a good enough 1/2 for us?

 

 

In my opinion, we DEFINITELY need a front of the rotation type starter. Dempster is not a one, under any circumstance and neither is Z. Over the course of a full season, I can see them as a 2 and a 3, but that's about it. We can't count on Silva having the same season he had this year and I'm not sold on Gorz or Wells personally, although I may be in the minority on that one.

[hardcorecubfan]

I'm not sure what I want to do with the offseason.

Get less crappy?

 

 

Relative to what?? I mean other than crap

[TruffleShuffle]

if they want to contend next year - which may or may not be possible - they have to improve the bullpen. no team will ever win anything with a bullpen as atrocious as this year's squad.

[Outshined_One]

if they want to contend next year - which may or may not be possible - they have to improve the bullpen. no team will ever win anything with a bullpen as atrocious as this year's squad.

 

I agree the bullpen needs to be improved...but how?

 

Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol are the only two pitches in the pen who've been good over the course of the season. Andrew Cashner has struggled in the pen, but the potential for him to be a top-level relief pitcher is still out there. Granted, he might be better off at a SP, but he's still an option for improving the bullpen.

 

After those three, this team has a glut of young relief pitchers who haven't stepped forward this season. Out of Mitch Atkins, James Russell, Esmailin Caridad, Justin Berg, Casey Coleman, Thomas Diamond, Jeff Stevens, Marcos Mateo, Jeff Gray, Scott Maine, Brian Schlitter, and Jeff Samardzija, there has to be someone who doesn't suck. The Cubs are going to have to figure out what the hell they're going to do with these guys.

 

Making matters more complicated, if the Cubs decide to solve their bullpen woes through free agency, do we want them to overpay for someone like Rafael Soriano or Scott Downs? Or should they instead attempt to roll the dice with someone like Grant Balfour?

[Bote McBoteface]

We do have Angel Guzman coming back next year. We're one really good reliever away from a good bullpen if he comes back strong. We're gonna have to overpay in free agency for one, so we may as well make it Kerry Wood just for old time's sake. He'd probably accept 3.5/year for 2 years. Maybe a mutual/vesting option for a 3rd.

 

Marmol

Wood

Guzman

Marshall

Grabow

Shark

Diamond/Russell

 

 

Its expensive and it has a high risk of injury, but it isn't bad. Add a top starter to our rotation

 

Z

___

Demp

Cashner/Wells

Silva/FA

 

 

 

 

I have a Kerry Wood man crush. I don't care if signing him isn't in the clubs's best interest or if there are better options, I will still root for it with every fiber of my being. I also realize that I listed 12 pitcher slots, but I'm too lazy to fix it.

 

[TruffleShuffle]

After those three, this team has a glut of young relief pitchers who haven't stepped forward this season. Out of Mitch Atkins, James Russell, Esmailin Caridad, Justin Berg, Casey Coleman, Thomas Diamond, Jeff Stevens, Marcos Mateo, Jeff Gray, Scott Maine, Brian Schlitter, and Jeff Samardzija, there has to be someone who doesn't suck.

 

you left out a couple of the guys who i thought would be on this year's team - parker and gaub. plus there's david cales and maybe dolis if he moves to the pen and throws enough strikes. the problem with the list above is that most of those guys just don't have a big league arm, and the ones who do don't know where the ball is going when they throw it.

 

as for guzman, he had major shoulder surgery and i can't imagine him being available for the start of the season. relying on him for anything next year would be stupid.

[Backtobanks]

I know Grabow sucked this year, but it looks like he was injured most of the year. He's a decent reliever assuming he rebounds from this year.

[NCCubFan]

We do have Angel Guzman coming back next year.

I think that's far from a certainty given his injury history and the difficulties pitchers sometimes have with coming back from shoulder injuries (see: Prior, Mark). The Cubs must operate under the assumption that Guzman will not be back and let anything they get from him be a pleasant bonus.

[Outshined_One]

After those three, this team has a glut of young relief pitchers who haven't stepped forward this season. Out of Mitch Atkins, James Russell, Esmailin Caridad, Justin Berg, Casey Coleman, Thomas Diamond, Jeff Stevens, Marcos Mateo, Jeff Gray, Scott Maine, Brian Schlitter, and Jeff Samardzija, there has to be someone who doesn't suck.

 

you left out a couple of the guys who i thought would be on this year's team - parker and gaub. plus there's david cales and maybe dolis if he moves to the pen and throws enough strikes. the problem with the list above is that most of those guys just don't have a big league arm, and the ones who do don't know where the ball is going when they throw it.

 

In fairness, I listed everyone else who had logged time this season in the bullpen. There are a number of other options available in the minors, including Cales, Dolis, Gaub, Parker, Sommer, Shafer, Rusin, Jay Jackson, etc.

 

The problem is, none of those guys have proven themselves in the majors, while all of them have shown they can handle the minors. The only way the Cubs can see if those guys can succeed is by using them out of the bullpen in the majors. If the Cubs are rebuilding next year, they can stomach the hiccups and work with these guys through their growing pains. But, if Hendry's serious about not wanting to rebuild, the Cubs are screwed if they have to rely on a bunch of unproven guys out of the pen.

 

Getting Guzman back would be fantastic, but I'm not counting on it happening.