Luke Scott

[davell]

He seems like an ideal player for us to pursue this offseason, if you ask me. The Orioles are pretty deep in the OF and look like they're going to pursue a FA 1B, so Scott appears to be the odd man out. Don't get me wrong, they'd play him at DH, but I would think that with their youth movement, he'd be expendable.

 

He's got 2 years of player control and he could play 1B for us this season and move to the OF if we find a way to trade for A-Gon during the season or sign him or someone else after the season is over. He's extremely solid (career .878 OPS against righties) and solid enough (career .788 OPS against lefties) to where he's not a liability to play him everyday.

 

I could even see a scenario where the O's value Darwin Barney as a potential stopgap starter for a couple of seasons until Machado is ready, making us a very solid trade partner with them. Maybe Barney, along with a Brandon Guyer type, could get it done? Scott will be making somewhere around 6-6.5 mill in 2011, making him a solid value to us, especially with his ability to be our stopgap at 1B and eventually moving on to the OF, where he's still a solid value in 2012 for us.

[Clem Fandango]

I like Scott, and while he's extremely streaky, he hits like an MVP when he's on his game. He'd probably be cheap enough because of his age and subpar defense, so he'd be a nice stopgap if we chose to get a 1B at the trade deadline or make a splash on the FA market next season.

 

I'd prefer a little more consistency in a new 1B, but Scott wouldn't be a bad person to have

[Rob]

Good luck getting the O's front office to agree to a reasonable package.

[biittner77]

Is MacPhail still in charge? He seems to have a good working relationship with Hendry. They might like a package of 2-3 of the Cubs surplus reliever types.

 

Would you give them Colvin for Scott? I know Hendry wouldn't unless he got something else thrown in.

[Backtobanks]

Is MacPhail still in charge? He seems to have a good working relationship with Hendry. They might like a package of 2-3 of the Cubs surplus reliever types.

 

Would you give them Colvin for Scott? I know Hendry wouldn't unless he got something else thrown in.

 

That sounds like way too much for Luke Scott. I would think 1 of our middle relief pitchers should do it, but if they insist we can throw in a mid/low prospect.

[inari]

Is MacPhail still in charge? He seems to have a good working relationship with Hendry. They might like a package of 2-3 of the Cubs surplus reliever types.

 

Would you give them Colvin for Scott? I know Hendry wouldn't unless he got something else thrown in.

 

That sounds like way too much for Luke Scott. I would think 1 of our middle relief pitchers should do it, but if they insist we can throw in a mid/low prospect.

 

Well that's not gonna get it done.

[davell]

I'm hoping they like Barney as an everyday player until they have Machado ready, but I'd expect them to want Guyer or someone else who's a 6-10 talent in our system to go with Barney. Maybe Jay Jackson or Carpenter, to go along with Barney? Their future rotation is fairly well set up, but they could use either of Jackson or Carpenter as a setup guy/potential closer. I like those 2 guys alot personally, so I'm not sure I'd give one of them up for Scott, but I'd consider it......

 

That said, Rob is probably correct, the O's would probably want Hak Ju Lee and Vitters for him........ :lol:

[treebird]

Good luck getting the O's front office to agree to a reasonable package.

 

jim hendry has two kids, sounds to me like he has experience getting people to accept unreasonable packages

 

this should be no problem at all

[jersey cubs fan]

Luke Scott is an ideal target for this offseason?

[davell]

Luke Scott is an ideal target for this offseason?

 

Given what our limitations appear to be(no money for Dunn, Pads very unlikely to trade a hurt A-Gon), you disagree? He's not going to be THAT expensive in trade most likely, is a very solid hitter and can move to the OF for the following year, IF we acquire a bigname 1B at that point.

 

Since we need a 1B obviously and I don't see Pena, Overbay, Huff, or Laroche as anything special, I do think of Scott as an ideal answer for US. It sucks we don't have the money to get a true impact type of guy right now, but I think Scott would be our best case scenario out of what's truly available and what we can afford.

[jersey cubs fan]

Luke Scott is an ideal target for this offseason?

 

Given what our limitations appear to be(no money for Dunn, Pads very unlikely to trade a hurt A-Gon), you disagree?

 

Yes. They have plenty of money for Dunn, he's 32, barely a positive WAR player as an OF, let alone 1B. At best he's an acceptable fallback option if they don't have to give up anything of value in a trade. But he is in no way shape or form an ideal target.

[davell]

Luke Scott is an ideal target for this offseason?

 

Given what our limitations appear to be(no money for Dunn, Pads very unlikely to trade a hurt A-Gon), you disagree?

 

Yes. They have plenty of money for Dunn, he's 32, barely a positive WAR player as an OF, let alone 1B. At best he's an acceptable fallback option if they don't have to give up anything of value in a trade. But he is in no way shape or form an ideal target.

 

 

I guess we aren't going to agree about Dunn. While yes, we SHOULD have enough money for him, we're going to waste it on an average starting pitcher instead. Which for me, takes him off of the "available to us" list. It sucks, but if he's not even being mentioned by our beat writers as an option, then he's probably isn't. Plus, I haven't read a single article that's come out since our org meetings that mentioned him as a possibility either. They all say he's out of our budget. My guess is that until someone got into Jimbo's head, he was going to be our primary option this offseason, but when an average starting pitcher became a "necessary get" for us :lol: Dunn became an afterthought.

 

If our frontoffice wasn't ran by buffoons, Adam Dunn would be an option for us this offseason, but since we are run by buffoons, I exclude Dunn from a realistic standpoint.

 

Maybe the word "ideal" isn't what I should have used, but I think Scott is the best option we have that's realistic(unless maybe Pena signs a 1 year deal). My reasons are as follows:1) He's relatively cheap 2) we'll have him under control the following offseason as well 3) he's able to play OF also and 4) he's as good of a hitter, if not better than, any of our other realistic options.

 

By no means am I saying Scott is a groundbreaking move for the Cubs. But, if he COULD be had(and that's not even a sure thing) I am saying he's a better choice than anyone else I see as a legitimate option for us.