Dusty Proofing the 2006 Cubs

[USSoccer]

How do you do it? Can it be done?

 

If you go on the assumption that Baker will indeed be back in 2006, barring some sort of monumental meltdown or epiphany by Hendry, Baker will be here. Given that we've now all seen firsthand over the past 3 seasons the reasons Giants fans loved it when he left, how could we go about constructing a team that Baker couldn't possibly jack up, while keeping the budget within the $85-100m payoll range that is likely in 2006?

 

I'll take the first stab at it. First, the bullpen:

 

Brownlie

Bartosh

Ohman

Wuertz

Novoa

Dempster

Williamson (CL)

 

Brownlie gets to be the long man, and saves us money. Williamson, if healthy would be an excellent closer candidate. Novoa and Dempster would be used in a setup role. Ohman isa good enough LOOGY, Bartosh is the second lefty and Wuertz is middle relief. That bullpen is cheap, has no glaring holes in it, and is beter than throwing money at Brendan Donnelly and BJ Ryan in the offseason. Remember, bullpen guys don't always stay consistently good. See Hawkins, LaTroy.

 

Next, the bench:

 

Blanco

Hairston

Sweeney

Greenberg (5th OF)

Grieve

 

Grieve is the backup corner OF, Greenberg the backup CF and speen guy off the bench. Sweeney is the power threat, Hairston takes Macias' role as the 25th man and supersub, and Blanco is the backup catcher.

 

Rotation:

 

Prior

Z

Wood

Hill or Williams

Maddux.

 

Provided Maddux does not retire (unlikely), he should be the 5th starter and skipped as often as necessary in the early part of the season, because he does not have very much left in the tank at all. Wood, assuming he gets his shoulder scoped and cleaned out this winter, would be a 3rd starter, and if he's not ready to start at the outset, you could use Wellemeyer or someone from the minors to spot start for him. One of Hill or Williams will be traded in my alternate universe, so whichever is left could be the 4th starter, sicne both are young (Williams younger than Hill, IIRC), both are inexpensive and both have the potential to be solid. In Z and Prior you have a formidable 1-2 punch.

 

Lineup:

 

RF-Lawton

LF-Murton

1B-Lee

3B-Ramirez

CF-Griffey Jr. (for Williams/Hill, young P, and 40% of his salary)

2B-Walker

C-Barrett

SS-Cedeno

 

That lineup is relatively balanced, young with one exception, and should have consistent OBP.

[Fro]

So, I'm guessing we're just going to not spend all the money we're paying Sosa, Burnitz, Remlinger, Borowski, Nomar, next year?

[E.J.]

So, I'm guessing we're just going to not spend all the money we're paying Sosa, Burnitz, Remlinger, Borowski, Nomar, next year?

 

Unfortunately there isn't going to be much talent to spend that money on this offseason. The free agent pool is pretty pathetic going into this offseason. I could see Hendry pulling off a big trade though for a Dunn, Kearns type player.

 

Of course I'm also hoping that Hendry and Dusty come to an agreement that this team is better off with Dusty somewhere else.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I'm not for Dusty-proofing anything. I think it's a bad premise. If your manager is that bad at misusing the players on the team, let the manager go and assemble the best 25 man roster that you can.

[Sabermetrician]

So, I'm guessing we're just going to not spend all the money we're paying Sosa, Burnitz, Remlinger, Borowski, Nomar, next year?

 

Unfortunately there isn't going to be much talent to spend that money on this offseason. The free agent pool is pretty pathetic going into this offseason. I could see Hendry pulling off a big trade though for a Dunn, Kearns type player.

 

Of course I'm also hoping that Hendry and Dusty come to an agreement that this team is better off with Dusty somewhere else.

 

If anything, then, overpay some guys for the bullpen for one year rather than giving them their market value for a multiyear deal. Three of those 7 in the bullpen from the original post are horrible (Novoa, Wuertz, Bartosh), and one I've never seen pitch (Brownlie).

 

So with the free agents being as bad as they are, just sign some proven guys to pitch out of the pen for one year, and still have the same amount of money for the next offseason. Worst case scenario, someone we sign that we expect to do good, doesn't, yet there's hardly any risk to it as it's only for one season and he'll be off the books following the season anyway.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

So, I'm guessing we're just going to not spend all the money we're paying Sosa, Burnitz, Remlinger, Borowski, Nomar, next year?

 

Unfortunately there isn't going to be much talent to spend that money on this offseason. The free agent pool is pretty pathetic going into this offseason. I could see Hendry pulling off a big trade though for a Dunn, Kearns type player.

 

Of course I'm also hoping that Hendry and Dusty come to an agreement that this team is better off with Dusty somewhere else.

 

If anything, then, overpay some guys for the bullpen for one year rather than giving them their market value for a multiyear deal. Three of those 7 in the bullpen from the original post are horrible (Novoa, Wuertz, Bartosh), and one I've never seen pitch (Brownlie).

 

So with the free agents being as bad as they are, just sign some proven guys to pitch out of the pen for one year, and still have the same amount of money for the next offseason. Worst case scenario, someone we sign that we expect to do good, doesn't, yet there's hardly any risk to it as it's only for one season and he'll be off the books following the season anyway.

 

That's easier said than done. Aside from the big money closers, there are pretty few occurrences of proven pen guys on the FA market. That's why building a bullpen is so tough, because their performances can be unpredictable.

[USSoccer]

So, I'm guessing we're just going to not spend all the money we're paying Sosa, Burnitz, Remlinger, Borowski, Nomar, next year?

 

Unfortunately there isn't going to be much talent to spend that money on this offseason. The free agent pool is pretty pathetic going into this offseason. I could see Hendry pulling off a big trade though for a Dunn, Kearns type player.

 

Of course I'm also hoping that Hendry and Dusty come to an agreement that this team is better off with Dusty somewhere else.

 

If anything, then, overpay some guys for the bullpen for one year rather than giving them their market value for a multiyear deal. Three of those 7 in the bullpen from the original post are horrible (Novoa, Wuertz, Bartosh), and one I've never seen pitch (Brownlie).

 

So with the free agents being as bad as they are, just sign some proven guys to pitch out of the pen for one year, and still have the same amount of money for the next offseason. Worst case scenario, someone we sign that we expect to do good, doesn't, yet there's hardly any risk to it as it's only for one season and he'll be off the books following the season anyway.

 

I don't think Wuertz and Novoa are horrible. Novoa has been decent, and Wuertz gets overused like Farnsworth did.

 

I agree with Vance that the easiest, most logical and best option would be to fire the fool we have managing the team, but I just don't see it happening, unless we really, really tank over the next 50 games.

[Exile on Waveland]

I've got an idea how to Dusty-proof the team:

 

Get a new manager.

 

 

 

But, going on your assumption, you have to do two things:

 

1. Shore up the bullpen. This way Dusty can't overuse one or two guys, but will instead use them all. Oh, no backwards splits ala Remlinger.

 

2. Fix the bench. No total scrubs, and no still-developing young players. If you decide to start a young player, make sure no viable candidate is there to replace him at the first sign of trouble. Grieve is a good back-up option for Murton here, as he's not a "Dusty" type player.

 

I agree with Vance -- a late congrats on the interview thing, from someone you hardly know incorporeally, much less corporeally -- that manager-proofing a team is a bad premise. But, it's something that probably needs to be done, as Hendry doesn't appear ready to fire Baker.

[erik316wttn]

The three things that need to be done first, before anything, are to get rid of Hollandsworth, Macias, and Perez. If you don't fire Dusty, then you gotta get rid of Dusty's boys.

[erik316wttn]

So, I'm guessing we're just going to not spend all the money we're paying Sosa, Burnitz, Remlinger, Borowski, Nomar, next year?

 

And that's another thing. All that money (with a discount for Nomar, hopefully ) will be off the books next year. If we buy out the final $4 million of Dusty's contract, that will go on NEXT year's books and won't hurt that badly. Nobody seems to realize this.

 

The Sammy money is THIS year. The Dusty money would be NEXT year.

[NorthsideAvenger]

I'm not for Dusty-proofing anything. I think it's a bad premise. If your manager is that bad at misusing the players on the team, let the manager go and assemble the best 25 man roster that you can.

 

Agreed.

 

Don't "Dusty-proof" a team, just get rid of him all-together. Seeing as next yr, Baker would be a lame duck manager, I doubt he will be back in 06.

[CubfaninCA]

A $500 million budget?

[nilodnayr]

Brendan Donnelly.

 

Hes not a FA, nor will he be a FA until after the 2007 season. In fact hes some one I'd love to pick up for this team. Rusch does us no good and if we really plan on giving Pie a shot next year, then Patterson cannot hit enough to be a corner outfielder and we need to get rid of him. These coincidentally are two big needs of the Angels with Escobar going down and Finley and Davannon sucking big time. With K-Rod and Shields, Donnelly is their 7th inning man. Ive said it before, but itd be nice to pick up Donnelly for our bullpen as a back up plan incase Dempster decides to leave. And maybe pick up one of their less heralded prospects like Nick Gourneault.

[badgercub]

I don't like the idea of Hairston being the back up at SS. If Cedeno would go down for a week to ten days I think it would be brutal having Hairston out there. Second of all that Bullpen would be worse than what is being run out there now. I think those spots will be determined next spring, I would leave Dempster in the closer role with Williamson as the set up guy, and I really think Wellemeyer will be in the mix next year along with a few other youngsters not on your list (Guzman, Piggy, maybe Valdez). I also like the idea of packaging some of the youngsters together in a trade, although I think Griffey would be a huge mistake. Hendry has gone down that road of gambling on oft injured players, and with the exception of Dempster and maybe Williamson, it hasn't worked out well at all. I do not know who Hendry should target, but I think Griffey would end up being a worse sign than Nomar has been.

[CuseCubFan69]

I don't like the idea of Hairston being the back up at SS. If Cedeno would go down for a week to ten days I think it would be brutal having Hairston out there. Second of all that Bullpen would be worse than what is being run out there now. I think those spots will be determined next spring, I would leave Dempster in the closer role with Williamson as the set up guy, and I really think Wellemeyer will be in the mix next year along with a few other youngsters not on your list (Guzman, Piggy, maybe Valdez)

 

What list is that...the DL? :D

 

Is Williamson signed for next year?

[badgercub]

I don't like the idea of Hairston being the back up at SS. If Cedeno would go down for a week to ten days I think it would be brutal having Hairston out there. Second of all that Bullpen would be worse than what is being run out there now. I think those spots will be determined next spring, I would leave Dempster in the closer role with Williamson as the set up guy, and I really think Wellemeyer will be in the mix next year along with a few other youngsters not on your list (Guzman, Piggy, maybe Valdez)

 

What list is that...the DL? :D

 

Is Williamson signed for next year?

 

Yes, he got the same deal as Dempster did and the Cubs hold an option on him for next year, I can't remember the amount but I think it was $500,000. this year with a option for 2 million next year? or maybe 1 million, not sure.

[CuseCubFan69]

I don't like the idea of Hairston being the back up at SS. If Cedeno would go down for a week to ten days I think it would be brutal having Hairston out there. Second of all that Bullpen would be worse than what is being run out there now. I think those spots will be determined next spring, I would leave Dempster in the closer role with Williamson as the set up guy, and I really think Wellemeyer will be in the mix next year along with a few other youngsters not on your list (Guzman, Piggy, maybe Valdez)

 

What list is that...the DL? :D

 

Is Williamson signed for next year?

 

Yes, he got the same deal as Dempster did and the Cubs hold an option on him for next year, I can't remember the amount but I think it was $500,000. this year with a option for 2 million next year? or maybe 1 million, not sure.

 

The rehab guys are working out pretty well. Let's hope Baker doesn't decide to pitch Willy everyday like he did Fox.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I don't like the idea of Hairston being the back up at SS. If Cedeno would go down for a week to ten days I think it would be brutal having Hairston out there. Second of all that Bullpen would be worse than what is being run out there now. I think those spots will be determined next spring, I would leave Dempster in the closer role with Williamson as the set up guy, and I really think Wellemeyer will be in the mix next year along with a few other youngsters not on your list (Guzman, Piggy, maybe Valdez)

 

What list is that...the DL? :D

 

Is Williamson signed for next year?

 

Yes, he got the same deal as Dempster did and the Cubs hold an option on him for next year, I can't remember the amount but I think it was $500,000. this year with a option for 2 million next year? or maybe 1 million, not sure.

 

2 million is correct, same as Dempster.