RotoAuthority - has the Cubs signing 6 of the Top 50 FA

[CubinNY]

I still don't understand....why the haste?

 

I'm going to call you Treebeard deux.

[CuseCubFan69]

I still don't understand....why the haste? Yeah, mistakes were made and the season was a failure but nothing can be done to add a player to your team until after the World Series is over so I agree with Hendry's patience in the matter.

 

Where does haste come into play? It's a simple decision. Macias is a worthless baseball player. His presence on the team hurts the teams chances to win. Get rid of him. Burnitz's option is ridiculously overpriced, there's no good reason to bring him back next year. Decline the option. Walker at $2.5m is extremely valuable, pick up the option. Nomar is a nice option if he's cheap in terms of a guarantee, let it be known that you'd be interested in having him back.

 

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.

 

Macias, Perez and Burnitz are all wasting extremely valuable 40 man roster space. Get rid of them now before you overlook them later and forget to protect someone of actual value.

 

Do you really think Hendry would overlook players on his roster? You guys must think he's an idiot.

[rawaction]

As far as I'm concerned, the Cubs need to prove that they understand what needs to be done to improve the team. I simply have no confidence that they've identified the problems facing the team, and so I think the Cubs will continue signing mediocrity.

 

I agree. But I'm going to wait and hope Hendry has a better off-season then the one he had last year. This season was perfectly predictable once ST was over and Dusty was talking about 400+ AB for Hollandsworth. It was perfectly predictable when Hendry had to over bid for Jeromy b/c he was the last body standing.

 

Now the Cubs are at another choice point. As others and myself have pointed out numerous times, it wasn't injury, bad luck, and chemistry that was the downfall of the Cubs. Let's see what Hendry does. If he is hot and heavy over Furcal, look out b/c Hendry just doesn't get it. If he goes after Wilson without also going after Giles, he doesn't get it. I hope Hoops grain of salt rumor is true. But given Hendry's track record I'm not so sure.

 

I'd say it was injury. The dropoff from Nomar to Neifi was huge. Wood and Prior were hurt. Injuries were clearly responsible for some of the Cubs troubles this year, but they were fully expected with the roster the Cubs put out there.....which was the problem in the first place.

[BigbadB]

I still don't understand....why the haste? Yeah, mistakes were made and the season was a failure but nothing can be done to add a player to your team until after the World Series is over so I agree with Hendry's patience in the matter.

 

Where does haste come into play? It's a simple decision. Macias is a worthless baseball player. His presence on the team hurts the teams chances to win. Get rid of him. Burnitz's option is ridiculously overpriced, there's no good reason to bring him back next year. Decline the option. Walker at $2.5m is extremely valuable, pick up the option. Nomar is a nice option if he's cheap in terms of a guarantee, let it be known that you'd be interested in having him back.

 

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.

 

Macias, Perez and Burnitz are all wasting extremely valuable 40 man roster space. Get rid of them now before you overlook them later and forget to protect someone of actual value.

 

Do you really think Hendry would overlook players on his roster? You guys must think he's an idiot.

 

Two words. Andy Sisco

 

Fact: Andy Sisco was not protected last year and Jose Macias was. I'm just sayin'.

[goonys evil twin]

But why hurry the moves? What is the gain of putting those guys on the 40 before the rule 5 draft? I understand that Perez, Macias and Burnitz should be gone but let me know why the Cubs should rush that? I think it's good business to wait until you can aquire players to make a move and not just make one. You're saying they are dead weight and I agree 100% that Macias is but Perez and Burnitz are not IMO..... if Baker could use them right.

 

My question is why do you think it's a hurry? Other teams decline options on guys they don't want to bring back, why wouldn't the Cubs? You don't need to wait until you can acquire a replacement before you decide to get rid of the incumbent.

[YearofDaCubs]

What kills me is as fans we see exactly what needs to be upgraded, who to give opportunities to, who to have lead off, who to sign or trade for. Ok, well is management that dumb they cannot see the blatantly obvious situation here? I thought these guys lived and breathed baseball and do it for a living? Well coulda fooled me. Typical Chicago organization. Make it or break it time as far as I'm concerned.

[YearofDaCubs]

I still don't understand....why the haste? Yeah, mistakes were made and the season was a failure but nothing can be done to add a player to your team until after the World Series is over so I agree with Hendry's patience in the matter.

 

Where does haste come into play? It's a simple decision. Macias is a worthless baseball player. His presence on the team hurts the teams chances to win. Get rid of him. Burnitz's option is ridiculously overpriced, there's no good reason to bring him back next year. Decline the option. Walker at $2.5m is extremely valuable, pick up the option. Nomar is a nice option if he's cheap in terms of a guarantee, let it be known that you'd be interested in having him back.

 

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.

 

Macias, Perez and Burnitz are all wasting extremely valuable 40 man roster space. Get rid of them now before you overlook them later and forget to protect someone of actual value.

 

Do you really think Hendry would overlook players on his roster? You guys must think he's an idiot.

 

Two words. Andy Sisco

 

Fact: Andy Sisco was not protected last year and Jose Macias was. I'm just sayin'.

Are there people on this forum that still have confidence in Hendry? I sure don't.

[CubinNY]

What kills me is as fans we see exactly what needs to be upgraded, who to give opportunities to, who to have lead off, who to sign or trade for. Ok, well is management that dumb they cannot see the blatantly obvious situation here? I thought these guys lived and breathed baseball and do it for a living? Well coulda fooled me. Typical Chicago organization. Make it or break it time as far as I'm concerned.

 

Hendry, Huges, etc., have a different conditioning history as it releates to baseball then we do. They also operate in a completely different environment. Needless to say they see things differently. To understand Dusty you have to understand the organizations he played for. Rule 5 was practically invented b/c the Dodgers would stockpile young talent in the minors. In Dusty's playing days people didn't talk aobut OBP or SLG. They didn't talk about WHIP or k:BB. It is like a different language to them.

 

However, I don't think I could do Hendry's job and I certianly know I couldn't manage a professional baseball team.

[goonys evil twin]

Do you really think Hendry would overlook players on his roster? You guys must think he's an idiot.

 

I think Hendry would overlook the faults of those players, and the needs of the team. I don't think he'd accidentally keep Macias on the team, I think he'd do it on purpose. I don't know which is worse, but I do know the solution to both, cut him today.

 

I think Hendy can allow himself to be convinced by the Hughes of the world that Walker isn't going to cut it at 2nd, and that Neifi will be fine at short, and that Cedeno/Neifi up the middle will be adequate. I think he can be convinced that Burnitz at $7m isn't all that expensive when you "already know what you are going to get" and don't know how expensive the talented Preston Wilson is going to be.

 

The answer to all these problems is make the decision today. Cut the dead weight now. Decline options on the expensive hacks, pickup the options on the affordable producers.

 

At the very least, why keep Walker wondering? This organization supposedly puts so much thought into how other veterans feel about the moves they make, why keep a productive veteran wondering whether his option will be picked up? If you decline that option, you're just dumb, and hurting the team. If you wait to the last second to pick it up, you're screwing with a good player, unnecessarily. If you pick it up now, and decide to trade later, you might be insulting the player, but at least you're doing what's best for the team. Waiting on on that decision does no good for anybody involved.

[BigbadB]

Let me rephrase my previous post. Jose F. Macias was protected on the 40 man roster last year and Andy Sisco was not. Jose Macias, he of the career .298 OBP. He, who can play several positions, but none well. He, who can do nothing better than Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot, Richard Lewis or some other 300K future bench guy.

 

What is it about Jose Macias that garners such appreciation from Dusty and Hendry? His speed? Hasn't stolen more than 5 bases in a season since 2001. He's caught nearly as often as he is successful. Is it his power? In 2 seasons as a Cub, he has 4 homers. Is it his defense? Not exactly stellar career numbers at any position he's played. His average is horrible. Nothing is good about this guy. A guy like that should be bench fodder for the Washington Nationals, not the Cubs. Oh, we traded with the Nationals to get him? Oyyyyy.

 

The Cubs have the money to spend on a decent bench player. In fact, they did spend decent money on a bench player last year. Macias. Unfortunately, they spent it on a BAD bench player, not a good bench player.

[CuseCubFan69]

I still don't understand....why the haste? Yeah, mistakes were made and the season was a failure but nothing can be done to add a player to your team until after the World Series is over so I agree with Hendry's patience in the matter.

 

Where does haste come into play? It's a simple decision. Macias is a worthless baseball player. His presence on the team hurts the teams chances to win. Get rid of him. Burnitz's option is ridiculously overpriced, there's no good reason to bring him back next year. Decline the option. Walker at $2.5m is extremely valuable, pick up the option. Nomar is a nice option if he's cheap in terms of a guarantee, let it be known that you'd be interested in having him back.

 

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.

 

Macias, Perez and Burnitz are all wasting extremely valuable 40 man roster space. Get rid of them now before you overlook them later and forget to protect someone of actual value.

 

Do you really think Hendry would overlook players on his roster? You guys must think he's an idiot.

 

Two words. Andy Sisco

 

Fact: Andy Sisco was not protected last year and Jose Macias was. I'm just sayin'.

 

Macias was on the 25 man roster and for some reason Hendry felt the way he did about Sisco. I am not defending that as the right move but I do see some logic in it.

[YearofDaCubs]

I personally think there is no logic in having Macias here in the first place.

[goonys evil twin]

However, I don't think I could do Hendry's job and I certianly know I couldn't manage a professional baseball team.

 

I couldn't do Hendry or Baker's job starting tomorrow. But give me 5 years working with a quality franchise and I think I could learn enough to be a competent GM (and a top 5 payroll wouldn't hurt). I'd never be able to manage, or coach for that matter (well, I could be a bench coach or bullpen coach, as long as I didn't have to teach anything).

 

Baseball is very difficult to play well, and nearly as difficult to teach well. But it's not hard at all to understand the game, and what is needed to win.

[CuseCubFan69]

But why hurry the moves? What is the gain of putting those guys on the 40 before the rule 5 draft? I understand that Perez, Macias and Burnitz should be gone but let me know why the Cubs should rush that? I think it's good business to wait until you can aquire players to make a move and not just make one. You're saying they are dead weight and I agree 100% that Macias is but Perez and Burnitz are not IMO..... if Baker could use them right.

 

My question is why do you think it's a hurry? Other teams decline options on guys they don't want to bring back, why wouldn't the Cubs? You don't need to wait until you can acquire a replacement before you decide to get rid of the incumbent.

 

Because there is no reason to make a move like that. I understand the fear by all of you that the multi talented one is coming back and I fear that too. But, I am hoping that Hendry has a reason for keeping all these players around and the dominos will fall as they should...I hope.

[goonys evil twin]

Macias was on the 25 man roster and for some reason Hendry felt the way he did about Sisco. I am not defending that as the right move but I do see some logic in it.

 

I'm sorry, but there is no logic in keeping Macias, and giving him a raise as well.

 

Sisco was a bad move. It was a calculated risk with some logic behind it, but when framed against the idea of keeping Macias, it was stupid.

[CubinNY]

But give me 5 years working with a quality franchise and I think I could learn enough to be a competent GM (and a top 5 payroll wouldn't hurt).

 

I'd probably perform more like George Costanza.

[goonys evil twin]

Because there is no reason to make a move like that.

 

Makes no sense to me.

[rawaction]

However, I don't think I could do Hendry's job and I certianly know I couldn't manage a professional baseball team.

 

I couldn't do Hendry or Baker's job starting tomorrow. But give me 5 years working with a quality franchise and I think I could learn enough to be a competent GM (and a top 5 payroll wouldn't hurt). I'd never be able to manage, or coach for that matter (well, I could be a bench coach or bullpen coach, as long as I didn't have to teach anything).

 

Baseball is very difficult to play well, and nearly as difficult to teach well. But it's not hard at all to understand the game, and what is needed to win.

 

therein lies the problem.

[BigbadB]

Macias was horrible in 2004 for the Cubs. There is nothing in his bio that would convince anyone he is anything more than what was provided in 2004. He does NOTHING well. Why spend 800K on a guy who does nothing well? If you are going to waste a spot on your 25 man roster, at least use a guy who has SOMETHING he does well. ANYTHING!

 

I'll bet I could go through just about every team in the majors this past year and find a bad bench player I would rather have than Macias. Why must we have the worst? .590 OPS last year. Fontenot had a better OPS than that, and he still hasn't recorded his first major league hit.

[CuseCubFan69]

Let me rephrase my previous post. Jose F. Macias was protected on the 40 man roster last year and Andy Sisco was not. Jose Macias, he of the career .298 OBP. He, who can play several positions, but none well. He, who can do nothing better than Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot, Richard Lewis or some other 300K future bench guy.

 

What is it about Jose Macias that garners such appreciation from Dusty and Hendry? His speed? Hasn't stolen more than 5 bases in a season since 2001. He's caught nearly as often as he is successful. Is it his power? In 2 seasons as a Cub, he has 4 homers. Is it his defense? Not exactly stellar career numbers at any position he's played. His average is horrible. Nothing is good about this guy. A guy like that should be bench fodder for the Washington Nationals, not the Cubs. Oh, we traded with the Nationals to get him? Oyyyyy.

 

The Cubs have the money to spend on a decent bench player. In fact, they did spend decent money on a bench player last year. Macias. Unfortunately, they spent it on a BAD bench player, not a good bench player.

 

Maybe another team has inquired about him...I don't know. I just think you all want these moves to be done to make all of you to feel better about the direction the Cubs are going more than why he hasn't made a roster move yet.

 

I think Macias is a waste of roster space...that I will not deny. Let's wait and see if Hendry does too and the difference is you guys want it done yesterday and I just want it done before the rule 5 draft.

[UBlink]

Which is better - mangement clearly indicates an intention to take advantage of the free agent market to fill specific needs, even identifies those needs as increased OBP, etc., and 4 months from now nothing material has changed, other than we're given explanations (excuses) that the market is overpaying, etc;

 

or, management indicates nothing about their goals or strategies, and 4 months from now we find ourselves with Giles, Walker, Furcal on the roster (and no Macias, Perez or Burnitz).

 

The first scenario would perhaps induce a short term sigh of relief on this board, but I think most of us would prefer the results of scenario 2 in the long run.

 

So the question for me is, would a clear indication of the goals and strategies for this off-season expressed today help, hinder, or have no impact on the likelihood of ending up where we want to be in the spring? I can see some arguments for both directions, but honestly I don't think failure to keep the faithful supporters informed will have any difference one way or the other. I don't think publicly announcing a strategy for the off-season will increase the probability that the strategy will be successful. If they did announce their goals, I probably wouldn't believe them. Even if they signalled to us by non-tendering Perez, Macias and Burnitz, that really doesn't prove anything because replacements for those spares can be picked up as easily as they were let go.

 

Last year we learned the results of sharing our strategy with the world when we basically had to give Sosa away. For all those who thought that Sammy was the devil incarnate, wouldn't it have been better for management to act as if he was the Second Coming and sing his praises up until the trade was announced?

 

I understand the frustration, but since I'm not going to get encouraged until I see concrete results, I frankly don't care what they say, or indicate, or nod, nod, wink, wink until then.

[CubfaninCA]

The Cubs started the season w/ Patterson, Walker and Nomar @ the top of the order. Not bad at all. Things fell apart pretty quickly w/ Walker and Nomar getting hurt and Patterson really struggling. Then Hendry tried to fix things w/ the trade for Lawton, which some prefer to absolutely ignore. Unfortunately, Lawton choked big time.

 

Nothing went right this year. Yet ironically some want to bring back Nomar & Walker and count on those two again. Those two's lack of durability and the subpar pitching were the big problems. It sounds like Hendry's on the right path by going after Furcal and another starter. Matt Clement was nothing special, but his loss really hurt this year. Yes the Maddux signing was not great, but who would have replaced him @ a cheaper cost?? Wellemeyer? Mitre? Rich Hill? Angel Guzman? Guess they could have never signed Maddux and brought back Clement, but there's not much of a gain there.

[CuseCubFan69]

Because there is no reason to make a move like that.

 

Makes no sense to me.

 

Move like that now is what I meant.

[goonys evil twin]

The Cubs started the season w/ Patterson, Walker and Nomar @ the top of the order. Not bad at all.

 

Thinking Patterson was a good option at the top was one of the dumbest things this organization did last year.

[BigbadB]

The Cubs started the season w/ Patterson, Walker and Nomar @ the top of the order. Not bad at all. Things fell apart pretty quickly w/ Walker and Nomar getting hurt and Patterson really struggling. Then Hendry tried to fix things w/ the trade for Lawton, which some prefer to absolutely ignore. Unfortunately, Lawton choked big time.

 

Nothing went right this year. Yet ironically some want to bring back Nomar & Walker and count on those two again. Those two's lack of durability and the subpar pitching were the big problems. It sounds like Hendry's on the right path by going after Furcal and another starter. Matt Clement was nothing special, but his loss really hurt this year. Yes the Maddux signing was not great, but who would have replaced him @ a cheaper cost?? Wellemeyer? Mitre? Rich Hill? Angel Guzman? Guess they could have never signed Maddux and brought back Clement, but there's not much of a gain there.

 

Lawton bombed, but as bad as he bombed as the Cubs lead off hitter, he wasn't any worse than Patterson, Perez and Macias. Between the 4, they had OBP's of .263, .263, .269 and .270. Lawton had the .269. This horrible combination accounted for 354 at bats in the lead off spot. The only thing that salvaged what might have been the all time worst OBP from a lead off spot from any team in the history of baseball was Jerry Hairston Jr.

 

The Cubs waited too long to try and do something about the glaring hole at the top of the line up. What's worse is they had in house candidates that either sat on the bench or played at the bottom. I applauded the effort to fix the problem in going after Lawton, but they were basically already done by that point anyway. When Lawton didn't work out, they could have kept searching (Murton, Murton, Murton), but went back to has beens and never was's in Perez and Macias.