Anyone resigned to us landing Furcal??

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

If my numbers are correct, the Cubs have 10 players (Barrett, Blanco, Dempster, Lee, Prior, Ramirez, Wood, Walker,Williamson, Rusch and Maddux) for 63 million dollars. Add Zambrano for 5.5 million and that puts 11 players for 66.5 million dollars. If Rusch is in the pen and not the rotation, then we still need to add a fifth starter, a shortstop, three outfielders, 4-5 bullpen arms and 4-5 bench spots.

 

Filling some of those with Murton (300 K), Cedeno (300 K), Ohman (400 K), Wuertz (400 K), Hill (300 K), and Novoa (400 K) I'm at 68.6 million and still need a SP,CF, RF, SS and three bench positions. If I keep Hairston for the bench and possible CF at 2.5 million, I end up at 71.1 million. Put aside 2.9 million to finish out the bench, and that puts the payroll at 74 million. If we have a 105 million payroll, I have 31 million to find my SS, RF, CF and SP. If I use Jerome Williams for the fifth starter or put him in the pen and shuttle Rusch to the fifth starter, then we'll have about 30 million to fill those three spots. We could conceivably throw 10 million each at SS, RF, and CF.

 

We have the money to sign both Furcal, Giles, and make a deal for a high paid CF. If we throw money at Burnett, we could still get one of Furcal and Giles and possibly both if we shuffle money in the right spaces.

 

If we keep Patterson around at roughly three million, we'll have a little less.

 

I type all this t

To say that I don't think I'll be upset if we sign Furcal. We have the money to give him 10 million and still go after Giles or a premier RF via trade.

 

all that sounds nice, but id rather not go with the pen you listed and try to squeeze money out of some of the positions youve listed. A little more organized view of what your saying

 

C: Michael Barrett - 3 Mil

1B: Derrek Lee - 8.7 Mil

2B: Todd Walker - 2.5 Mil

SS:

3B: Aramis Ramirez - 10.5 Mil

LF: Matt Murton - 300k

CF:

RF:

 

 

SP: Mark Prior - 3 Mil

SP: Kerry Wood - 11 Mil

SP: Greg Maddux - 9 Mil

SP: Carlos Zambrano - 5.5 Mil

SP:

 

Pen

RP: Glendon Rusch - 3 Mil

RP: Scott Williamson - 500k

RP: Michael Wuertz - 400k

RP: Robert Novoa - 400k

RP: Will Ohman - 400k

RP: Rich Hill - 300k

RP: Ryan Dempster - 5 Mil

 

 

Bench

C: Henry Blanco - 1.5 Mil

IF: Ronny Cedeno - 300k

IF: - 1.5 Mil

OF: - 1.5 Mil

OF: Hairston - 2.5 Mil

 

Total (23 Players) : 70.1 Mil

Total Left to Spend: 30-35 Mil

 

So yes, we could field a lineup with 30 mil spread out to those 3 positions, but id rather spend a few more mil on the bullpen by signing a howry type player. Then trade some of our young arms, and trading chips (walker, cedeno, murton, etc..) for a starting pitcher/CF, sign Giles (for w/e it takes), sign furcal, and maybe ice the cake by trading for luis castillo? :) sound good to me.

 

I wasn't necessarily advocating spending 30 million on those three, I was just demonstrating the possibility in doing so. If we could sign Furcal and Giles, I'd love to bring Patterson back to platoon with Hairston in CF and then use some of the cash to make a stronger bench and sign Dotel.

 

I was primarily showing that the Cubs have the money to compete on about any FA they may have interest in acquiring.

[cubs121]

as a cubs fan you cant be happier to have the cubs get, furcal, giles, lofton, and burnet!!!!!! but....... (again its the cubs)

why not also try Wagner....

GO CUBS!!!!

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

as a cubs fan you cant be happier to have the cubs get, furcal, giles, lofton, and burnet!!!!!! but....... (again its the cubs)

why not also try Wagner....

GO CUBS!!!!

 

There's no way we end up with Furcal, Burnett, and Giles. Hopefully we can get two of the three. With Dempster on board, Wagner is superfluous. We have other needs without throwing 10 million a year at Wagner.

[CubsWin]

as a cubs fan you cant be happier to have the cubs get, furcal, giles, lofton, and burnet!!!!!! but....... (again its the cubs)

why not also try Wagner....

GO CUBS!!!!

 

There's no way we end up with Furcal, Burnett, and Giles. Hopefully we can get two of the three. With Dempster on board, Wagner is superfluous. We have other needs without throwing 10 million a year at Wagner.

I agree the chances are slim simply because of the other teams that are competing to sign the same players, but I don't think its completely out of the realm of possibility. In fact, from what I've been reading and hearing, signing those three players is exactly Hendry's plan. No one will be able to blame him if he fails to execute it, but, like you said, even if he gets two out of three, this off season will have been a success, especially if one of those guys is Giles.

[WrigleyinEngland]

With the amount of cash we have i think we have to look at teams who have to shed payroll ie arbitration players such as castillo or teams who are starved of pitching ie Texas or the reds. If I had the choice of the 2 i would choose Giles and Burnett as they fill our biggest needs apart from Leadoff. You can then look at either signing Kenny Loft or throwing some of the excess pitching at florida to Land Castillo or Pierre.

[MeatampPotatoesMan]

If my numbers are correct, the Cubs have 10 players (Barrett, Blanco, Dempster, Lee, Prior, Ramirez, Wood, Walker,Williamson, Rusch and Maddux) for 63 million dollars. Add Zambrano for 5.5 million and that puts 11 players for 66.5 million dollars. If Rusch is in the pen and not the rotation, then we still need to add a fifth starter, a shortstop, three outfielders, 4-5 bullpen arms and 4-5 bench spots.

 

Filling some of those with Murton (300 K), Cedeno (300 K), Ohman (400 K), Wuertz (400 K), Hill (300 K), and Novoa (400 K) I'm at 68.6 million and still need a SP,CF, RF, SS and three bench positions. If I keep Hairston for the bench and possible CF at 2.5 million, I end up at 71.1 million. Put aside 2.9 million to finish out the bench, and that puts the payroll at 74 million. If we have a 105 million payroll, I have 31 million to find my SS, RF, CF and SP. If I use Jerome Williams for the fifth starter or put him in the pen and shuttle Rusch to the fifth starter, then we'll have about 30 million to fill those three spots. We could conceivably throw 10 million each at SS, RF, and CF.

 

We have the money to sign both Furcal, Giles, and make a deal for a high paid CF. If we throw money at Burnett, we could still get one of Furcal and Giles and possibly both if we shuffle money in the right spaces.

 

If we keep Patterson around at roughly three million, we'll have a little less.

 

I type all this t

To say that I don't think I'll be upset if we sign Furcal. We have the money to give him 10 million and still go after Giles or a premier RF via trade.

 

all that sounds nice, but id rather not go with the pen you listed and try to squeeze money out of some of the positions youve listed. A little more organized view of what your saying

 

C: Michael Barrett - 3 Mil

1B: Derrek Lee - 8.7 Mil

2B: Todd Walker - 2.5 Mil

SS:

3B: Aramis Ramirez - 10.5 Mil

LF: Matt Murton - 300k

CF:

RF:

 

 

SP: Mark Prior - 3 Mil

SP: Kerry Wood - 11 Mil

SP: Greg Maddux - 9 Mil

SP: Carlos Zambrano - 5.5 Mil

SP:

 

Pen

RP: Glendon Rusch - 3 Mil

RP: Scott Williamson - 500k

RP: Michael Wuertz - 400k

RP: Robert Novoa - 400k

RP: Will Ohman - 400k

RP: Rich Hill - 300k

RP: Ryan Dempster - 5 Mil

 

 

Bench

C: Henry Blanco - 1.5 Mil

IF: Ronny Cedeno - 300k

IF: - 1.5 Mil

OF: - 1.5 Mil

OF: Hairston - 2.5 Mil

 

Total (23 Players) : 70.1 Mil

Total Left to Spend: 30-35 Mil

 

So yes, we could field a lineup with 30 mil spread out to those 3 positions, but id rather spend a few more mil on the bullpen by signing a howry type player. Then trade some of our young arms, and trading chips (walker, cedeno, murton, etc..) for a starting pitcher/CF, sign Giles (for w/e it takes), sign furcal, and maybe ice the cake by trading for luis castillo? :) sound good to me.

 

A lot of those numbers don't look right. Williamson's is definitely $2M, not 500k. Prior's and Barrett's don't look right either. more like $3.6M+ and $4.5M respectively.

[JeffH]

Currently with signed contracts for the 2006 season:

 

• Aramis Ramirez - $10,500,000
  Derrek Lee - $8,666,667
  Michael Barrett - $4,000,000 (estimated; year-by-year breakdown of multi-year contract never reported)
  Henry Blanco - $1,500,000
  Kerry Wood - $12,000,000
  Greg Maddux - $9,000,000
  Mark Prior - $2,750,000 (assumes signing bonus was paid upfront and is not counted against 2006 cash flow)
  Ryan Dempster - $5,000,000
  Todd Walker - $2,500,000
  Scott Williamson - $2,000,000
  Glendon Rusch - $2,750,000

 

Certain or almost certain to be on the ballclub:

 

• Carlos Zambrano - $6,000,000 (estimated; eligible for arbitration)
  Matt Murton - $350,000 (this is the standard rate I use for 0-3 year, "auto renewal" players)
  Ronny Cedeno - $350,000
  Will Ohman - $350,000
  Michael Wuertz - $350,000

 

Subtotal (for 16 players) - $68,066,667

 

Assuming a payroll of $100,000,000, this leaves around $32,000,000 for 9 players:

 

• Starting CF
  Starting RF
  Starting SS
  3 reserves (likely 2 OF and 1 IF)
  Starting P
  2 Relief P

[MeatampPotatoesMan]

I have no problem with the Cubs signing Furcal. I just hope that isn't the only improvement we make. As I've said in another thread, the Cubs have more than enough money to sign two of the biggest free agents out there. I hope that we either sign Giles or make a trade for a legitimate rightfielder. Furcal does improve this team. He just doesn't improve it enough if we end up with Juan Encarnacion in right.

 

Free Agency means getting stuck with bad contracts. 5 years for Burnett? 4/40 for Furcal? 4 years for Giles? Those aren't attractive options.

 

I'd imagine Hendry is more likely to trade to fill the hole in RF and overpay for Furcal than to burden us with crappy contracts (2 players via FA) for 20% of the payroll for the next 4+ years. That just isn't good business.

[RockTheIvy]

I have no problem with the Cubs signing Furcal. I just hope that isn't the only improvement we make. As I've said in another thread, the Cubs have more than enough money to sign two of the biggest free agents out there. I hope that we either sign Giles or make a trade for a legitimate rightfielder. Furcal does improve this team. He just doesn't improve it enough if we end up with Juan Encarnacion in right.

 

Free Agency means getting stuck with bad contracts. 5 years for Burnett? 4/40 for Furcal? 4 years for Giles? Those aren't attractive options.

 

I'd imagine Hendry is more likely to trade to fill the hole in RF and overpay for Furcal than to burden us with crappy contracts (2 players via FA) for 20% of the payroll for the next 4+ years. That just isn't good business.

 

Aaaaaaadamn Dunn or Bobby Abreu. Woot!

[AcesHigh]

I have no problem with the Cubs signing Furcal. I just hope that isn't the only improvement we make. As I've said in another thread, the Cubs have more than enough money to sign two of the biggest free agents out there. I hope that we either sign Giles or make a trade for a legitimate rightfielder. Furcal does improve this team. He just doesn't improve it enough if we end up with Juan Encarnacion in right.

Totally agreed. This team gains minimally if we just sign Furcal no one else significant. We need a serious revamping of the outfield.

 

As for Cedeno, I think it is a gamble offensively to put him at 2B instead of Walker. Walker is a good fit in the 2 hole, and I don't think we need to mess with that. I'd rather see Walker there, but if dumping his salary makes it possible to get a big bat in the OF, then do it.

[LuckyPup]

I have begun to think Furcal will be a cub-We have the money-position- and spot in the order he thrives in available- We do have over 30M to spend as well as contracts we can move such as Corey and Walker etc-thats over 5M right there- Replace Walker with Cedeno an dyou have themoney to sign a Howry without affecting the money available- Personlly if we sign Furcal I would rather hang onto Walker just because he is so solid at the plate. The only way I trade him is for Castillo or maybe Soriano....maybe. I for one believe that both Furcal and Giles are attainable with trades to fill out CF and the Bullpen/bench-Here's what I would like to see happen-

Sign Furcal-

Sign Giles-

Sign Burnett-

Trade Novoa+Mitre for Mota

Sign Howry

Trade Cpatt+J Williams+Rusch+2 rule 5 arms for Vernon Wells-

Use Cedeno, Hairston, Greenburg, Blanco, FA OF with pop.

 

Furcall-SS(8)

Walker-2B(2.5)

Lee-1B(8.5)

Giles-RF(9.5)

Ramirez-3B(10.5)

Wells-CF(3.5)

Barrett-C(4)

Murton-LF(3k)

46.7M total

Prior(3)-Z(5.5)-Maddux(9)-Wood(12)-Burnett(9)=38.5M

Dempster(5)-Mota(3.3)-Williamson(2)-Howry(2.75)-Wuertz(350k)-Ohman(350k)-13.75M

 

Bench=6M

Total payroll of 105M-I'll take it

[CubinNY]

Trade Cpatt+J Williams+Rusch+2 rule 5 arms for Vernon Wells-

 

The Cubs cannot trade Rusch w/o his permission until June and why in the wide, wide world of sports would Toronto take the Cubs trash for Vernon Wells?

[Neuby]

Trade Cpatt+J Williams+Rusch+2 rule 5 arms for Vernon Wells-

 

The Cubs cannot trade Rusch w/o his permission until June and why in the wide, wide world of sports would Toronto take the Cubs trash for Vernon Wells?

 

I think the Cubs can trade Rusch whenever they want since he never went to free agency although I agree that Jays would never do that trade.

[CuseCubFan69]

I think the Jays might be interested in moving Wells because of his future cost. I'm not sure what it would cost the Cubs but I woud like the Cubs to make sure they have a player that can handle the leadoff spot first.

 

My team that I would be OK with:

 

Furcal SS

Walker 2B

Abreu RF

Lee 1B

ARam 3B

Wells CF

Murton LF

Barrett C

 

By trading Williams+more pitching to the Jays the Jays stay out of the Burnett sweepstakes and the Cubs sign Burnett. The Cubs pay all of the Abreu and Wells contracts thus having to send less players. The players moved for Abreu are: Williams, Hill, Welly, Mitre, Kornco (sp), another top pitching prospect, CPatt and Hairston.

[David]

I think the Jays might be interested in moving Wells because of his future cost. I'm not sure what it would cost the Cubs but I woud like the Cubs to make sure they have a player that can handle the leadoff spot first.

 

My team that I would be OK with:

 

Furcal SS

Walker 2B

Abreu RF

Lee 1B

ARam 3B

Wells CF

Murton LF

Barrett C

 

By trading Williams+more pitching to the Jays the Jays stay out of the Burnett sweepstakes and the Cubs sign Burnett. The Cubs pay all of the Abreu and Wells contracts thus having to send less players. The players moved for Abreu are: Williams, Hill, Welly, Mitre, Kornco (sp), another top pitching prospect, CPatt and Hairston.

 

I like a lot of it.. Except Wells. I don't think there's any reason to take on his contract when you're just getting pre-2005 CPatt...

[XZero771679666304]

I have no problem with the Cubs signing Furcal. I just hope that isn't the only improvement we make. As I've said in another thread, the Cubs have more than enough money to sign two of the biggest free agents out there. I hope that we either sign Giles or make a trade for a legitimate rightfielder. Furcal does improve this team. He just doesn't improve it enough if we end up with Juan Encarnacion in right.

Totally agreed. This team gains minimally if we just sign Furcal no one else significant. We need a serious revamping of the outfield.

 

As for Cedeno, I think it is a gamble offensively to put him at 2B instead of Walker. Walker is a good fit in the 2 hole, and I don't think we need to mess with that. I'd rather see Walker there, but if dumping his salary makes it possible to get a big bat in the OF, then do it.

 

Trading Walker wouldn't be for salary relief, it would likely be in trade for an outfielder. Walker is a huge value at his salary.

 

My impression of the situation is that Hendry will wait until Furcal is signed before trading Walker. If Furcal isn't signed (a longshot, IMO), Hendry will keep Walker and put Cedeno at SS, and look to CF for a leadoff man.

 

But I would be shocked if Furcal isn't a Cub in 2006.

[Balsa]

Ken Rosenthal from FOXSports. com says

 

The Braves are expected to increase their offer to free-agent shortstop Rafael Furcal from three years to four and perhaps add a fifth year as a club option. If the Braves sign Furcal, trading second baseman Marcus Giles, a free agent after the 2007 season, could be a possibility. If Furcal departs, the team could pursue a stopgap at short or go with rookie Tony Pena Jr. while upgrading the offense and bullpen. Pena is ready defensively.

 

@#$@!!!!!

 

C'mon Furcal, come to Chicago. We'll treat you better than those nasty Braves.