Braves expected to increase their offer to Furcal per FOX

[CubfaninCA]

I'm sure Atlanta is just trying to drive up his price. But, if we end up with neither Nomar or Furcal, I am not going to be very happy with Cubs management. And I'll be even angrier that Neifi Perez is on the team.

 

If the Cubs don't get Furcal, there's still backup plans left. It appears that Castillo, Kent and Soriano will all be on the market. They can just go w/ Cedeno/Neifi @ SS. Of course, Sori and Kent aren't leadoff men tho. Going to need to get someone from CF in that case.

 

You may have missed it somewhere, but I'm not willing to hand Cedeno an everyday job, either. Unless of course we have ++ offensive production from CF, RF and 2b. And I don't see that happening. Of course, with Hendry's philosophies of wanting to improve defense, I think it will be especially hard to find ++ offensive production AND good defense from all 3 of those spots.

 

With just 80 major league at bats, we don't know whether Cedeno is a better or worse hitter than Neifi. Fact!

 

I sit and think about all the different scenarios that have played out. I still think the best option would have been to invest their attention on resigning Nomar, getting Giles, keeping Walker and signing Lofton while spending any remaining cash on the pitching staff.

 

Option #2 would have been to get Furcal instead of Nomar, sign Giles and Lofton and retain Walker, with the rest being spent on pitching.

 

In these scenarios, Cedeno is the back up.

 

Ah not willing to fully endorse Cedeno yet. Can respect that. These youngsters should earn their spots and not have it handed to them. I'm confident they'll get the bats this offseason, as they have more financial freedom, w/ Sosa gone.

 

My template for success is signing Giles and getting Abreu. :)

[BigbadB]

I'm not behind the scenes, so I really don't know how everything goes down. But, if I'm Nomar, I see the writing on the wall. The Cubs have been courting Furcal since the offseason began. It's Furcal this and Furcal that. The only blurb I've seen about Nomar is that Nomar would love to come back to Chicago and would even be willing to switch positions.

 

Actually Gammons said quite the opposite. According to him, the Cubs asked Nomar if he'd consider coming back to play LF, and Nomar said no. His willingness to shift positions is contained to 3B.

 

What respect does Gammons deserve on this site? None!

 

The quotes came from Nomar. Believe them or not. It was listed on Rumor Central on ESPN Insider for quite some time. They are no longer there now since there are a lot more fresh rumors than that one.

[Soul]

I'm sure Atlanta is just trying to drive up his price. But, if we end up with neither Nomar or Furcal, I am not going to be very happy with Cubs management. And I'll be even angrier that Neifi Perez is on the team.

 

If the Cubs don't get Furcal, there's still backup plans left. It appears that Castillo, Kent and Soriano will all be on the market. They can just go w/ Cedeno/Neifi @ SS. Of course, Sori and Kent aren't leadoff men tho. Going to need to get someone from CF in that case.

 

You may have missed it somewhere, but I'm not willing to hand Cedeno an everyday job, either. Unless of course we have ++ offensive production from CF, RF and 2b. And I don't see that happening. Of course, with Hendry's philosophies of wanting to improve defense, I think it will be especially hard to find ++ offensive production AND good defense from all 3 of those spots.

 

With just 80 major league at bats, we don't know whether Cedeno is a better or worse hitter than Neifi. Fact!

 

I sit and think about all the different scenarios that have played out. I still think the best option would have been to invest their attention on resigning Nomar, getting Giles, keeping Walker and signing Lofton while spending any remaining cash on the pitching staff.

 

Option #2 would have been to get Furcal instead of Nomar, sign Giles and Lofton and retain Walker, with the rest being spent on pitching.

 

In these scenarios, Cedeno is the back up.

 

Ah not willing to fully endorse Cedeno yet. Can respect that. These youngsters should earn their spots and not have it handed to them. I'm confident they'll get the bats this offseason, as they have more financial freedom, w/ Sosa gone.

 

My template for success is signing Giles and getting Abreu. :)

 

That would be great, except this is the Cubs. I would be shocked if they went out and put forth the effort to win a couple big boppers like that.

[CubfaninCA]

Of the 3 names listed (Castillo, Kent and Soriano), only Castillo would make sense. Kent and Soriano are worse with a glove than Walker.

 

Kent will be LA's 1b this year. Book it.

 

Going by Hendry's philosophy, Kent & Sori make more sense than Walker.

 

Kent's played for Baker. He's a better hitter and can hit in the middle of the order (which they really need too) or bat 2nd.

 

Sori's younger than Walker. Has more power and is a solid 5 or 6 hitter. Also, he has a lot more speed.

 

Hendry may see their gloves as a wash.

[CubfaninCA]

I'm sure Atlanta is just trying to drive up his price. But, if we end up with neither Nomar or Furcal, I am not going to be very happy with Cubs management. And I'll be even angrier that Neifi Perez is on the team.

 

If the Cubs don't get Furcal, there's still backup plans left. It appears that Castillo, Kent and Soriano will all be on the market. They can just go w/ Cedeno/Neifi @ SS. Of course, Sori and Kent aren't leadoff men tho. Going to need to get someone from CF in that case.

 

You may have missed it somewhere, but I'm not willing to hand Cedeno an everyday job, either. Unless of course we have ++ offensive production from CF, RF and 2b. And I don't see that happening. Of course, with Hendry's philosophies of wanting to improve defense, I think it will be especially hard to find ++ offensive production AND good defense from all 3 of those spots.

 

With just 80 major league at bats, we don't know whether Cedeno is a better or worse hitter than Neifi. Fact!

 

I sit and think about all the different scenarios that have played out. I still think the best option would have been to invest their attention on resigning Nomar, getting Giles, keeping Walker and signing Lofton while spending any remaining cash on the pitching staff.

 

Option #2 would have been to get Furcal instead of Nomar, sign Giles and Lofton and retain Walker, with the rest being spent on pitching.

 

In these scenarios, Cedeno is the back up.

 

Ah not willing to fully endorse Cedeno yet. Can respect that. These youngsters should earn their spots and not have it handed to them. I'm confident they'll get the bats this offseason, as they have more financial freedom, w/ Sosa gone.

 

My template for success is signing Giles and getting Abreu. :)

 

That would be great, except this is the Cubs. I would be shocked if they went out and put forth the effort to win a couple big boppers like that.

 

Well, they have the money for Giles and enough talent (Hill, Williams, Walker, Murton, Pie & Patterson) to be able to work some sort of deal that gets them Abreu. Of course, there's zero chance of this happening, as this is the Cubs.

[Backtobanks]

I'm not behind the scenes, so I really don't know how everything goes down. But, if I'm Nomar, I see the writing on the wall. The Cubs have been courting Furcal since the offseason began. It's Furcal this and Furcal that. The only blurb I've seen about Nomar is that Nomar would love to come back to Chicago and would even be willing to switch positions.

 

But, in that same blurb, it said that it is assumed that the Cubs don't appear to be interested in bringing Nomar back. This makes it an easy decision for Nomar. See what he can get on the open market. Since LA seems like the hot destination, I wouldn't be surprised.

 

With or without Nomar, I already have LA penciled in to win the Western Division in 2006. With him, it should be even easier.

 

Meanwhile, with Ronnie Cedeno at 2nd and Neifi Perez at SS, the Cubs fall into 5th place after losing their 7th game in a row with a 2-1 score. Great defense and excellent pitching, but Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez are the only offense on the team.

 

That combo won't happen unless there are injuries involved. If Furcal isn't signed, there will be a trade for a SS or 2B. Players such as Lugo, M. Giles, Castillo, Soriano, etc. are available.

[CubinNY]

Nic23,

 

Of qualified SS he is not in the 10 ten in F%, yet he is #1 in RF (range factor) and 6th in zone rating.

 

Over rated.

[wade]

I'm not behind the scenes, so I really don't know how everything goes down. But, if I'm Nomar, I see the writing on the wall. The Cubs have been courting Furcal since the offseason began. It's Furcal this and Furcal that. The only blurb I've seen about Nomar is that Nomar would love to come back to Chicago and would even be willing to switch positions.

 

Actually Gammons said quite the opposite. According to him, the Cubs asked Nomar if he'd consider coming back to play LF, and Nomar said no. His willingness to shift positions is contained to 3B.

 

What respect does Gammons deserve on this site? None!

 

The quotes came from Nomar. Believe them or not. It was listed on Rumor Central on ESPN Insider for quite some time. They are no longer there now since there are a lot more fresh rumors than that one.

 

I think BBB is right. I specifically remember Gammons on Mike and Mike in the morning about 2 weeks ago predicting Nomar at LF for the Cubs in 2006.

 

He (Gammons) may be guessing something different now, but I've heard him at least once since then and he sort of sighs and takes a stab at Nomar's destination. One thing Gammons is consistent on Nomar is that he thinks the former Red Sox player will hit the heck out of the ball next year. Could very well be homerism, but still, he's consistent with that belief.

[BigbadB]

I'm a subscriber to ESPN Insider. Insider is where Rumor Central is housed. Rumor Central gets its "rumors" from quotes by major league ballplayers, teams and agents.

 

I know I'm right. It was there for several weeks after the season ended. It's just buried now with all the latest rumors.

 

The article I'm referring to said Nomar wanted to come back and that he would be willing to a position change to do so.

 

An official with the Cubs was quoted as saying that it was very unlikely that the Cubs would bring Nomar back.