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Casey McGehee benched for Milwaukee

inari

By inari,
in General Baseball Talk

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toonsterwu ACL Cubs

toonsterwu

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

I have nothing against McGehee. It was always the Cubs fans that went on and about him that annoyed me. I wish him success, but the Cubs decision not to keep him on the 40 that year was justified.

 

Furcal brings up another sour note in recent Cubs history for me. I still wonder what would've happened if we had landed Furcal and not gone after Pierre. Could've really changed the dynamic, but that's a big game of what if that isn't worth going down. That said, the one thing that likely wouldn't have happened was that disastrous Juan Pierre deal.

Sammy Sofa GOAT

Sammy Sofa

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
I have nothing against McGehee. It was always the Cubs fans that went on and about him that annoyed me. I wish him success, but the Cubs decision not to keep him on the 40 that year was justified.

 

Furcal brings up another sour note in recent Cubs history for me. I still wonder what would've happened if we had landed Furcal and not gone after Pierre. Could've really changed the dynamic, but that's a big game of what if that isn't worth going down. That said, the one thing that likely wouldn't have happened was that disastrous Juan Pierre deal.

 

Actually, Hendry's big plan for the 2006 season was supposedly to snag both Pierre and Furcal. The biggest change with all of that would have been, obviously, that he wouldn't have broken Lee's wrist. It was only 58 PA, but Lee was already off to a monster start in 2006, seemingly following up his awesome 2005. Furcal ended up having one of his most productive years offensively that season, too. I'd like to think things would have played out differently if Furcal had been signed, but man, that 2006 team REALLY sucked. I don't think having him and Super D-Lee would have even gotten them to .500.

Little Slide Rooter MVP

Little Slide Rooter

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
I have nothing against McGehee. It was always the Cubs fans that went on and about him that annoyed me. I wish him success, but the Cubs decision not to keep him on the 40 that year was justified.

 

Furcal brings up another sour note in recent Cubs history for me. I still wonder what would've happened if we had landed Furcal and not gone after Pierre. Could've really changed the dynamic, but that's a big game of what if that isn't worth going down. That said, the one thing that likely wouldn't have happened was that disastrous Juan Pierre deal.

 

Actually, Hendry's big plan for the 2006 season was supposedly to snag both Pierre and Furcal. The biggest change with all of that would have been, obviously, that he wouldn't have broken Lee's wrist. It was only 58 PA, but Lee was already off to a monster start in 2006, seemingly following up his awesome 2005. Furcal ended up having one of his most productive years offensively that season, too. I'd like to think things would have played out differently if Furcal had been signed, but man, that 2006 team REALLY sucked. I don't think having him and Super D-Lee would have even gotten them to .500.

 

I don't know, that is an interesting theory. Do we still have Jacque Jones, who had a pretty good year? say the lineup was

 

Pierre CF

Furcal SS

Lee 1B

Aramis(who also had a great year) 3B

Jones RF

some combination of Walker, Murton, and Barrett, all 3 of whom had solid years rounding it out.

 

Granted, the pitching was pretty rough, but while we're playing what if, say Mark Prior was able to return at full strength? Maybe Woody? The team could have contended enough so to make a midseason trade to fill any holes. In this world, Soriano may never have been signed the following winter. I like this world.

Sammy Sofa GOAT

Sammy Sofa

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
The 2006 Cubs nearly lost 100 games. Like I said, I don't even think that the addition of Super Lee and Furcal could have saved them. I mean, it would be pretty optimistic to think they'd win, what, 10 more games? A dozen? They'd still have been under .500.
Little Slide Rooter MVP

Little Slide Rooter

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
The 2006 Cubs nearly lost 100 games. Like I said, I don't even think that the addition of Super Lee and Furcal could have saved them. I mean, it would be pretty optimistic to think they'd win, what, 10 more games? A dozen? They'd still have been under .500.

 

It strikes me like this years team, if they'd just had that 1 big bat in the lineup, things could have been quite different. Lee would have been that big bat, and Furcal would have added a great #2 hitter. Imagine if Lee had done anything close to what he did the previous year and added it to Ramirez .290/.912 season, plus Furcals numbers. Murton and Barrett both had OPS in the .800s. With this and decent pitching, it could have been a whole different story.

Sammy Sofa GOAT

Sammy Sofa

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
But you keep tossing in "decent pitching" like that really has a place in this hypothetical. As far as we know they went into the season with the pitchers they wanted to go with. If you want to play the "what if" game in regards to pitching health, fine, but that's a different type of hypothetical of what I'm presenting with the idea that they signed Furcal. Signing Furcal wouldn't have made a difference with how the pitching played out. And yes, I agree that having another big bat would have made a difference, but again, let's be realistic; that 2006 team ended up being even worse than this year's team. Even having Lee resembling his 2005 form and Furcal performing as he did with the Dodgers they'd have to have made up a LOT of ground. Even with the division as bad as it was you're talking about having to have won 18 more games to take the division. That was a bad, bad team.
Little Slide Rooter MVP

Little Slide Rooter

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Remember, The Cards took the division with 83 wins. If this team could have hung in there thought the summer, even with the pitching they had, Jim Hendry has always been a wiz at those mid season trades to fill any holes, so he may very well have been able to land a starting pitcher and maybe a reliever or 2.
SouthSideRyan MVP

SouthSideRyan

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the Cubs were over .500 when Lee got hurt.

 

9-5, but it was 14 games. Not really anything to read into.

 

ETA: Lee OPS around 1060, and 5 steals(??) at that point.

otis89 Knoxville Smokies

otis89

Verified Member
Posted
Posted
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the Cubs were over .500 when Lee got hurt.

 

9-5, but it was 14 games. Not really anything to read into.

 

ETA: Lee OPS around 1060, and 5 steals(??) at that point.

 

He used to have above average speed. He stole 21 bases in 2003.

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