Trib says Walker "probably as good as gone"

[LoneStarCubFan]

Walker at 2.5M plus Cedeno at 350K is a very solid middle infield at a rock bottom price. There's no reason to gamble on Nomar.

 

If you don't spend the money on Furcal, what free agent do you spend it on? The Cubs have a ton of money to shell out this offseason. They can afford him and still pick up a pitcher or OF bat.

 

They can also trade for an OF or pitcher but probably not a shortstop.

[treebird]

Walker at 2.5M plus Cedeno at 350K is a very solid middle infield at a rock bottom price. There's no reason to gamble on Nomar.

 

If you don't spend the money on Furcal, what free agent do you spend it on? The Cubs have a ton of money to shell out this offseason. They can afford him and still pick up a pitcher or OF bat.

 

They can also trade for an OF or pitcher but probably not a shortstop.

 

play cedeno and walker, and then take that money and sign giles or whatever and then trade for two more outfielders too. im not particularly enamored with any outfielders on the roster/in the system.

 

if pie's on the team, i will cry.

[YearofDaCubs]

Walker at 2.5M plus Cedeno at 350K is a very solid middle infield at a rock bottom price. There's no reason to gamble on Nomar.

 

If you don't spend the money on Furcal, what free agent do you spend it on? The Cubs have a ton of money to shell out this offseason. They can afford him and still pick up a pitcher or OF bat.

 

They can also trade for an OF or pitcher but probably not a shortstop.

 

play cedeno and walker, and then take that money and sign giles or whatever and then trade for two more outfielders too. im not particularly enamored with any outfielders on the roster/in the system.

 

if pie's on the team, i will cry.

I would like to see Murton at one of the corners. We need to get rid of Corey, enough is enough. Sign Giles if possible which means we would need another CF. Do we have any other options aside from Damon?

[jtownie]

Walker at 2.5M plus Cedeno at 350K is a very solid middle infield at a rock bottom price. There's no reason to gamble on Nomar.

 

If you don't spend the money on Furcal, what free agent do you spend it on? The Cubs have a ton of money to shell out this offseason. They can afford him and still pick up a pitcher or OF bat.

 

They can also trade for an OF or pitcher but probably not a shortstop.

 

play cedeno and walker, and then take that money and sign giles or whatever and then trade for two more outfielders too. im not particularly enamored with any outfielders on the roster/in the system.

 

if pie's on the team, i will cry.

I would like to see Murton at one of the corners. We need to get rid of Corey, enough is enough. Sign Giles if possible which means we would need another CF. Do we have any other options aside from Damon?

 

Hasn't Murton been playing a little CF in AAA? Would this indicate that, if he plays well, the Cubs are thinking of having him play CF next year and moving Hairston to 2nd? Thus CPatt and Walker both not being on the team next year?

[YearofDaCubs]

Walker at 2.5M plus Cedeno at 350K is a very solid middle infield at a rock bottom price. There's no reason to gamble on Nomar.

 

If you don't spend the money on Furcal, what free agent do you spend it on? The Cubs have a ton of money to shell out this offseason. They can afford him and still pick up a pitcher or OF bat.

 

They can also trade for an OF or pitcher but probably not a shortstop.

 

play cedeno and walker, and then take that money and sign giles or whatever and then trade for two more outfielders too. im not particularly enamored with any outfielders on the roster/in the system.

 

if pie's on the team, i will cry.

I would like to see Murton at one of the corners. We need to get rid of Corey, enough is enough. Sign Giles if possible which means we would need another CF. Do we have any other options aside from Damon?

 

Hasn't Murton been playing a little CF in AAA? Would this indicate that, if he plays well, the Cubs are thinking of having him play CF next year and moving Hairston to 2nd? Thus CPatt and Walker both not being on the team next year?

Ideally we would want him to play CF. If he can play it effectively we would be good at CF because as far as I'm concerned Corey has no future here.

[erik316wttn]

And if Murton can play CF effectively, that'll put off all this "he doesn't have enough power to play LF" garbage.

[fromthestretch]

Also, the market must be pretty stupid to give Sori $7.5 mil and Walk $2.5 mil. Either that or Walker has the worse agent in baseball history.

 

We should probably get Preston Wilson and Chan Ho Park too.

 

Park used to be good, and Walker should have hired Wilson's agent.

 

 

Cubs: "Holy Crap, Park used to be good? Sign him up!"

 

Not sure what you mean here, but for clarification... Park was good when he signed his deal.

 

Not outside of Dodger Stadium he wasn't. I believe his career road ERA was over 4.80 at the time he signed with Texas. Quite a few people predicted he would have a tough time there.

[Exile on Waveland]

And if Murton can play CF effectively, that'll put off all this "he doesn't have enough power to play LF" garbage.

 

And, more than likely, simply turn it into "he doesn't have enough speed to play CF" garbage.

[erik316wttn]

And if Murton can play CF effectively, that'll put off all this "he doesn't have enough power to play LF" garbage.

 

And, more than likely, simply turn it into "he doesn't have enough speed to play CF" garbage.

 

It wouldn't shock me.

[Tim]

And if Murton can play CF effectively, that'll put off all this "he doesn't have enough power to play LF" garbage.

 

And, more than likely, simply turn it into "he doesn't have enough speed to play CF" garbage.

He doesn't have enough speed or superb enough OF instincts to make up the difference.

 

He's played like two innings of CF that I know of and I believe that was because the CF left the game and someone had to play there.

[RynoRules]

And if Murton can play CF effectively, that'll put off all this "he doesn't have enough power to play LF" garbage.

 

And, more than likely, simply turn it into "he doesn't have enough speed to play CF" garbage.

He doesn't have enough speed or superb enough OF instincts to make up the difference.

 

He's played like two innings of CF that I know of and I believe that was because the CF left the game and someone had to play there.

 

What Tim said.

 

Needing good up the middle D is an old baseball adage that, unlike needimg "five tools", is dead-on, IMHO. Murton doesn't have that kind of range, nor the arm, near as I can tell. If he at least had one of those...

[YearofDaCubs]

What Stone just suggested on the Score. If indeed Walker is traded sign Furcal to play SS and move Cedeno to 2B. He mentioned that they moved him from 2B to SS in the fall league.

[Tim]

What Stone just suggested on the Score. If indeed Walker is traded sign Furcal to play SS and move Cedeno to 2B. He mentioned that they moved him from 2B to SS in the fall league.

Do you mean from SS to 2B? Because he's always been a SS in the minors.

[erik316wttn]

So then what do we do with Murton? He can hit at this level (at least lefites). I haven't seen much of him on TV so I can't really comment on his defense. But would it really be worth it to bench is (so far) quite good bat just because of this percieved lack of power?

 

And going back to Stone's comment.... I would not mind Furcal here (maybe a pipe dream of Furcal and Nomar up the middle for the best INF in all of baseball next year). However, if we trade Walker, it is not a given that we sign Furcal. And if we don't, then we're SOL with yet another hole to fill. And if we DO get him, management will overpay because Furcal's agent will know we're desperate.

[goonys evil twin]

But would it really be worth it to bench is (so far) quite good bat just because of this percieved lack of power?

 

I am not concerned with the lack of power. I'd just like to see some decent production. If he's a .285/.375/.450 hitter, he would be a great value. He doesn't need to knock 40 HR to help the team. Yeah, certainly you'd prefer bigger numbers out of your corner OF. But there's no such thing as an ideal lineup. You have to mix and match. Assuming you can get some production out of the other 2 OF spots, you could easily live with less power in LF (if he's getting on base).

[YearofDaCubs]

What Stone just suggested on the Score. If indeed Walker is traded sign Furcal to play SS and move Cedeno to 2B. He mentioned that they moved him from 2B to SS in the fall league.

Do you mean from SS to 2B? Because he's always been a SS in the minors.

I dont know why he said that but thats what he said. It made no sense to me either.

[biittner77]

Can Murton be worse than Hairston in CF? He's not as fast as Hairston but he should have better instincts.

 

Keeping in mind that Pie is the CF of the future, perhaps as early as mid season 2006, if Murton could play a passsable CF until Pie was ready that could be a way to allow Murton to prove his worth while playing a position that normally doesn't produce a lot of power. It also fits in with Baker's archaic baseball thinking. If Murton is playing CF he should bat toward the top of the order because that's what CFs do.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

But would it really be worth it to bench is (so far) quite good bat just because of this percieved lack of power?

 

I am not concerned with the lack of power. I'd just like to see some decent production. If he's a .285/.375/.450 hitter, he would be a great value. He doesn't need to knock 40 HR to help the team. Yeah, certainly you'd prefer bigger numbers out of your corner OF. But there's no such thing as an ideal lineup. You have to mix and match. Assuming you can get some production out of the other 2 OF spots, you could easily live with less power in LF (if he's getting on base).

 

A .165 IsoP would be quite a jump considering that he hasn't topped .157 at any minor league level. He'll need to hit .300+ and walk more than he has this year to put up a .800+ OPS.

[goonys evil twin]

But would it really be worth it to bench is (so far) quite good bat just because of this percieved lack of power?

 

I am not concerned with the lack of power. I'd just like to see some decent production. If he's a .285/.375/.450 hitter, he would be a great value. He doesn't need to knock 40 HR to help the team. Yeah, certainly you'd prefer bigger numbers out of your corner OF. But there's no such thing as an ideal lineup. You have to mix and match. Assuming you can get some production out of the other 2 OF spots, you could easily live with less power in LF (if he's getting on base).

 

A .165 IsoP would be quite a jump considering that he hasn't topped .157 at any minor league level. He'll need to hit .300+ and walk more than he has this year to put up a .800+ OPS.

 

Yeah, I knew I was pushing it by putting up those random stats. I can't find his 2005 numbers since BA inexplicably removes a guy completely after a call-up.

 

Regardless, you don't necessarily need a 800+ OPS, depending on what you get from others spots. Hendry's biggest failure this year was not "settling" on Dubois/Hollandsworth in LF, it was settling on those guys in LF when all he had in RF was Burnitz. I would be fine with Murton putting up .285/.365/.430 in LF if most of the rest of the lineup was solid. That's the point in going with some of these young guys, so you can afford to go big elsewhere. There's no point in paying a veteran millions to put up mediocre numbers.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

But would it really be worth it to bench is (so far) quite good bat just because of this percieved lack of power?

 

I am not concerned with the lack of power. I'd just like to see some decent production. If he's a .285/.375/.450 hitter, he would be a great value. He doesn't need to knock 40 HR to help the team. Yeah, certainly you'd prefer bigger numbers out of your corner OF. But there's no such thing as an ideal lineup. You have to mix and match. Assuming you can get some production out of the other 2 OF spots, you could easily live with less power in LF (if he's getting on base).

 

A .165 IsoP would be quite a jump considering that he hasn't topped .157 at any minor league level. He'll need to hit .300+ and walk more than he has this year to put up a .800+ OPS.

 

Yeah, I knew I was pushing it by putting up those random stats. I can't find his 2005 numbers since BA inexplicably removes a guy completely after a call-up.

 

Regardless, you don't necessarily need a 800+ OPS, depending on what you get from others spots. Hendry's biggest failure this year was not "settling" on Dubois/Hollandsworth in LF, it was settling on those guys in LF when all he had in RF was Burnitz. I would be fine with Murton putting up .285/.365/.430 in LF if most of the rest of the lineup was solid. That's the point in going with some of these young guys, so you can afford to go big elsewhere. There's no point in paying a veteran millions to put up mediocre numbers.

 

I agree with what you're saying, but with the team as it's currently constructed, it's going to be very difficult to come up with a lineup that is as solid as you and I would like it to be for Murton to be able to play LF.

[goonys evil twin]

I agree with what you're saying, but with the team as it's currently constructed, it's going to be very difficult to come up with a lineup that is as solid as you and I would like it to be for Murton to be able to play LF.

 

True, but I'm not sure we can realistically talk about putting together a lineup as solid as I would want it to be.

[AAApittsburgh]

What Stone just suggested on the Score. If indeed Walker is traded sign Furcal to play SS and move Cedeno to 2B. He mentioned that they moved him from 2B to SS in the fall league.

And this is why Stone will never be a major league GM. As was mentioned, Cedeno is a SS, and his value is as a SS. That means you would be giving Furcal shortstop-type money to play 2B. There's really no point in overpaying for less production.

[TheDude]

I don't mind trading Walker away. His low dollar value and [edit] excellent [/edit] production should bring a very solid prospect.

 

Cedeno moving to 2B is not a bad idea at all. The young kid seems scrappy and looks good in the field.

Edited August 29, 2005 by TheDude

[TheDude]

What Stone just suggested on the Score. If indeed Walker is traded sign Furcal to play SS and move Cedeno to 2B. He mentioned that they moved him from 2B to SS in the fall league.

And this is why Stone will never be a major league GM. As was mentioned, Cedeno is a SS, and his value is as a SS. That means you would be giving Furcal shortstop-type money to play 2B. There's really no point in overpaying for less production.

I don't believe Stone suggested moving Furcal to 2B.

 

It seems like something was lost in the translation. The idea is Furcal at SS and Cedeno at 2B.

[don_kessinger_was_good]

What Stone just suggested on the Score. If indeed Walker is traded sign Furcal to play SS and move Cedeno to 2B. He mentioned that they moved him from 2B to SS in the fall league.

And this is why Stone will never be a major league GM. As was mentioned, Cedeno is a SS, and his value is as a SS. That means you would be giving Furcal shortstop-type money to play 2B. There's really no point in overpaying for less production.

I don't believe Stone suggested moving Furcal to 2B.

 

It seems like something was lost in the translation. The idea is Furcal at SS and Cedeno at 2B.

 

I could very happily live with that outcome, especially if the Cubs keep Hairston in reserve for the bench. Walker's money reduces Furcal's price tag by $2.75MM net (since Cedeno is league minimum), allowing even more money for addressing all three outfield positions, a starting pitcher, and two relievers.