Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez Signs with the Phillies

[Sammy Sofa]

Yeah, I'm not really understanding the argument against him...the Cubs are better off because they've gotten similar or even better production at times from someone like Soriano or Schierholtz or DeJesus this season? How is that a good thing? I'd rather have a younger guy with real potential around for at least 4 years than older guys signed for a year or two who are either going to be gone or were simply brought in to platoon/be traded.

[imb]

I dont think Cespedes bat is as bad as it's been this year. What worries me about him is health. He's been dinged up a lot.

[Guest]

It's not an argument against getting Cespedes, I've said how many times in this thread he's a good player and worth the money he got. What I'm saying is that the hand-wringing over him is getting insane because the opportunity lost is not super significant. Replace Cespedes with Willingham(both were FA that offseason) and every reason to sign him aside from age is exactly the same, if not more slanted in Willingham's favor.

 

More simply put, if we're going to pine after Cespedes this much, we might as well put together a Missed Connections forum where we can agonize over(and over and over) every other Free Agent the Cubs didn't get that would be a marginal improvement over the production they ended up getting. That seems like a particularly tedious exercise to me, but what's good for Cespedes is good for the gander.

[Tracer Bullet]

The missed connections idea is like a bat signal for tree to get his mspaint going

[apete6]

The amount of rope that Theo/Jed/Ricketts are getting and the number of people who are comfortable sucking and continually wasting seasons is amazing.

 

Cespedes will turn "30" right after the last season of his contract in 2015. The Cubs should at least be competitive in 2015. I am extremely comfortable saying Cespedes will have better WAR than any of the Cubs current or future OF in 2014 and 2015.

 

It's OK to say that Theo/Jed/Ricketts missed/were cheap on this one transaction. This isn't passing on a 35 year old OF who would have contributed significantly in 2012 and 2013, years where every sane Cubs fan has conceded that they would suck.

 

To already be conceding 2014 AND 2015 as years where the Cubs are going to be terrible is, quite frankly, one of the problems with the fanbase. Cespedes will be an excellent player those years and could have helped the Cubs win. It's OK to admit that.

[Guest]

Cespedes will be an excellent player those years and could have helped the Cubs win. It's OK to admit that.

Who has denied that?

[apete6]

Cespedes will be an excellent player those years and could have helped the Cubs win. It's OK to admit that.

Who has denied that?

 

Everyone who was saying that the current OF are better and that OF like him are on the FA market every year.

[Guest]

Cespedes will be an excellent player those years and could have helped the Cubs win. It's OK to admit that.

Who has denied that?

 

Everyone who was saying that the current OF are better and that OF like him are on the FA market every year.

Saying that there are OF who have produced similar numbers to Cespedes on the Cubs doesn't contradict saying that he'd help the team win in 2014 & 15. Same thing with saying there are similar OF available in FA each year.

[Warpticon]

Cespedes will be an excellent player those years and could have helped the Cubs win. It's OK to admit that.

Who has denied that?

 

Everyone who was saying that the current OF are better and that OF like him are on the FA market every year.

 

Or, you could read the actual words that are on your screen.

[Tracer Bullet]

What does "30" mean?

[apete6]

What does "30" mean?

 

Giving some leeway with his age for possible falsification of documents. Probably is true, but you never know when you're dealing with someone from Cuba due to the difficulty he had getting out of there and probable non-cooperation from government when trying to validate his age.

[Clem Fandango]

Here's another one...

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9486828/misael-siverio-cuban-pitcher-tells-newspaper-defecting

 

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Cuban pitcher Misael Siverio told a Spanish-language newspaper he has defected to the United States and is going to try to make it to the major leagues.

 

Siverio was part of the Cuban national team that traveled to Iowa for an exhibition game against a collegiate all-star team from the U.S. But he apparently left the delegation at some point after it arrived in Des Moines on Tuesday afternoon.

 

"Leaving behind your country is not easy, but this was a decision that I gave a lot of thought," Siverio told El Nuevo Herald in Miami. "Of course, my dream is to play in the majors, and from now on I will start taking the first steps to make it happen."

[Guest]

Here's another one...

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9486828/misael-siverio-cuban-pitcher-tells-newspaper-defecting

 

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Cuban pitcher Misael Siverio told a Spanish-language newspaper he has defected to the United States and is going to try to make it to the major leagues.

 

Siverio was part of the Cuban national team that traveled to Iowa for an exhibition game against a collegiate all-star team from the U.S. But he apparently left the delegation at some point after it arrived in Des Moines on Tuesday afternoon.

 

"Leaving behind your country is not easy, but this was a decision that I gave a lot of thought," Siverio told El Nuevo Herald in Miami. "Of course, my dream is to play in the majors, and from now on I will start taking the first steps to make it happen."

 

I have no idea who this guy is, nor do I care to look, but I think a collective "who cares" response to this by MLB would be really, really funny.

[Ballgame64]

Here is an encouraging post from ABTY7 from PSD:

 

Cubs brass has incredibly strong bid in on Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez... Unlikely to be outbid- really just a matter of if he wants to be here...

 

http://forums.prosportsdaily.com/showthread.php?829356-2013-Free-Agent-and-Trade-Idea-Thread-5-0/page27

[Guest]

Here's another one...

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9486828/misael-siverio-cuban-pitcher-tells-newspaper-defecting

 

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Cuban pitcher Misael Siverio told a Spanish-language newspaper he has defected to the United States and is going to try to make it to the major leagues.

 

Siverio was part of the Cuban national team that traveled to Iowa for an exhibition game against a collegiate all-star team from the U.S. But he apparently left the delegation at some point after it arrived in Des Moines on Tuesday afternoon.

 

"Leaving behind your country is not easy, but this was a decision that I gave a lot of thought," Siverio told El Nuevo Herald in Miami. "Of course, my dream is to play in the majors, and from now on I will start taking the first steps to make it happen."

 

ah yes, yet another malcontent who has sought refuge sleeping with a big pile of money with many beautiful women as a professional athlete.

 

i point to my sig, yet again.

[Sammy Sofa]

Man, that's a long-ass revolution.

[Fro]

Here is an encouraging post from ABTY7 from PSD:

 

Cubs brass has incredibly strong bid in on Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez... Unlikely to be outbid- really just a matter of if he wants to be here...

 

http://forums.prosportsdaily.com/showthread.php?829356-2013-Free-Agent-and-Trade-Idea-Thread-5-0/page27

 

I'll be interested in seeing how much he actually signs for versus how much Garza makes in FA.

[dcvalpo]

Cespedes will be an excellent player those years and could have helped the Cubs win. It's OK to admit that.

Who has denied that?

 

I'll deny that.

[davell]

Here is an encouraging post from ABTY7 from PSD:

 

Cubs brass has incredibly strong bid in on Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez... Unlikely to be outbid- really just a matter of if he wants to be here...

 

http://forums.prosportsdaily.com/showthread.php?829356-2013-Free-Agent-and-Trade-Idea-Thread-5-0/page27

 

I'll be interested in seeing how much he actually signs for versus how much Garza makes in FA.

If our financial situation keeps us from upping payroll this offseason, Gonzalez appears to be in the 4 or 5 year, 10-12 mill per, range. Which would basically replace Garza's 10.5 mill salary slot. At 26, if he DOES have frontline capabilities, he's a must-get for us, in my mind.

[craig]

Here is an encouraging post from ABTY7 from PSD:

 

Cubs brass has incredibly strong bid in on Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez... Unlikely to be outbid- really just a matter of if he wants to be here...

 

http://forums.prosportsdaily.com/showthread.php?829356-2013-Free-Agent-and-Trade-Idea-Thread-5-0/page27

 

ABTY clarified this. "Incredibly" probably doesn't belong in there, it's misleading. By his account, the bids are in from a number of teams, and the Cubs was competitive enough to be the highest bid. Given the competition, having the highest bid definitely means it was strong.

 

But, by his account apparently a group of bids are all pretty close. So while the Cubs must be in the mix, they aren't sure to get him. So it doesn't sound like the Cubs bid is "incredibly strong" in that they are blowing the others away. Rather, sounds like it's strong and the highest, but may be close enough that Gonzalez might prefer a warm-weather city or a contending team or something like that. He's got to choose, it's not like with the Japanese where the highest bid wins.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

They've locked in their participation ribbon. Whether or not they get the player, or if he's good or not, is gravy.

[Guest]

They've locked in their participation ribbon. Whether or not they get the player, or if he's good or not, is gravy.

These comments would be funnier if they were getting less than 1 out of every 30 guys they went after.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

They've locked in their participation ribbon. Whether or not they get the player, or if he's good or not, is gravy.

These comments would be funnier if they were getting less than 1 out of every 30 guys they went after.

 

The dig isn't at them.

[Guest]

They've locked in their participation ribbon. Whether or not they get the player, or if he's good or not, is gravy.

These comments would be funnier if they were getting less than 1 out of every 30 guys they went after.

 

The dig isn't at them.

Then I think I need a translation.

[RammyFanny]

I guess i'll trust our (and everyone elses) scouts, but didn't we conclude that this guy put up worse numbers at 25-26 in the same league as Concepcion?