Could Hendry Just Turn His Back To Free Agency?

[HoopsCubs]

In reading his quotes over the past 2 weeks, one gets the sense that the man really loves to deal, and not really negotiate. And I think this year, especially, he is leery of the free agent market. We all know it and see it: poor class in general, very few impact players, teams will overspend for mediocrity. I haven't seen any quotes from Hendry since Kinzer put out his $50M price tag for Furcal, but I could see Hendry throwing out a "good talking to you and good luck" comment.

 

So, I pose this question to all of you. Is it possible, that we could see every major hole on the Cubs filled via trade? I think we all agree that there are 5 major holes Hendry is looking to fill: CF, RF, SS, a starter, and a setup-man. I know some of you don't think starter is high on the priority list, but I'll take Hendry's word that he wants one. We'll assume either the CF or SS is the lead-off guy.

 

As one poster said earlier in the week, while Hendry will probably not shop any major big league talent (Lee, Ramirez, Barrett, Prior, Zambrano), Hendry does have a lot of medium to good talent to shop:

 

Todd Walker

Corey Patterson

Jerry Hairston

Matt Murton

Ronny Cedeno

Rich Hill

Sergio Mitre

Todd Wellemeyer

Felix Pie

Angel Guzman

Ricky Nolasco

Brandon Sing

Renyel Pinto

 

Is it possible we could see 10 (making a number up) of these 13 guys dealt for some of the likes of

 

CF: Pierre, Wilkerson, Bradley, Michaels

LF/RF: Mench, Jenkins, Floyd, Abreu, Sheffield, Dunn, Soriano

SS: Lugo, Jack Wilson

SP: Zito, Wells, Garland, Marquis, Lowe

RP: Mota, Batista, Riske, Romero, Baez?

 

What if this free agency thing is just a ruse for Hendry? Just throwing some stuff out.

 

Hoops

[Sabermetrician]

Why give up prospects when there are fine players avaliable in free agency that won't cost you any players?

 

I think we all agree that there are 5 major holes Hendry is looking to fill: CF, RF, SS, a starter, and a setup-man.

 

I think out of all these positions, CF is the only one that doesn't have any players the Cubs would be interested in in free agency. Giles and Furcal should be top starters, there are a handful of innings eaters avaliable and the market is always rich in relievers.

 

The only position I'd be weary of adding in free agency is RP, because they're so inconsistant. For example, two years ago Howry was signed as a minor league free agent, now he's looking for a 3-year deal.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Hoops,

 

I think it can be done if Hendry takes on some of what others don't want. Getting Lowe and Bradley from the Dodgers shouldn't be too difficult. If that happens, he'll have filled two of the spots.

 

Getting a shortstop will be the toughest to do without going the FA route. I think a RF could be had though.

[TXCubsFan]

Hoops,

 

I think it can be done if Hendry takes on some of what others don't want. Getting Lowe and Bradley from the Dodgers shouldn't be too difficult. If that happens, he'll have filled two of the spots.

 

Getting a shortstop will be the toughest to do without going the FA route. I think a RF could be had though.

 

A SS might not be had, but you could slide Cedeno in the SS position and trade for a number of 2Bs.

[JeffH]

Via free agency, I expect that Hendry will obtain Furcal, one middle reliever, and 1-2 bench guys.

 

Via the trade route, I expect that Hendry will obtain our new CF, our new RF, one middle reliever, and 1-2 bench guys.

 

The starting pitcher is a tougher call.

[Proven Veteran]

Hoops,

 

I think it can be done if Hendry takes on some of what others don't want. Getting Lowe and Bradley from the Dodgers shouldn't be too difficult. If that happens, he'll have filled two of the spots.

 

Getting a shortstop will be the toughest to do without going the FA route. I think a RF could be had though.

 

A SS might not be had, but you could slide Cedeno in the SS position and trade for a number of 2Bs.

 

I would just keep Walker then.

[rawaction]

I've been thinking this for a while. There could be a lot of big time players getting traded this offseason. We've already have Vasquez and Manny demanding trades. We've heard an-All Star team of names that are rumored to be available: Estrada, Delgado, Thome, M Giles, Sheffield, Abreu, Burrell, Dunn, Glaus, Zito, Mench, Pierre, Floyd, Soriano, etc.

 

So, the players are out there to be had. And as usual, no 2 teams matchup well enough (or are willing to give up the players) to get the full value out of any of these guys. Jim Hendry could come out of the winter meetings with a very good team by just sticking his nose in trades. A 3rd team will be needed for a lot of these guys, and the Cubs do have all those tradeable commodities you mentioned.

[Backtobanks]

Why give up prospects when there are fine players avaliable in free agency that won't cost you any players?

I think we all agree that there are 5 major holes Hendry is looking to fill: CF, RF, SS, a starter, and a setup-man.

 

I think out of all these positions, CF is the only one that doesn't have any players the Cubs would be interested in in free agency. Giles and Furcal should be top starters, there are a handful of innings eaters avaliable and the market is always rich in relievers.

 

The only position I'd be weary of adding in free agency is RP, because they're so inconsistant. For example, two years ago Howry was signed as a minor league free agent, now he's looking for a 3-year deal.

 

The reason might be that we have players that are out of options, rule 5 players that we might lose anyway, and extra players clogging the roster (Patterson, Walker, etc.) if certain players are acquired.

[E.J.]

Really the only player I see Hendry signing this offseason is Furcal. I see the rest of the holes being filled by trades. And if Furcal is serious about thinking he's worth 5 years and $50 million, then I can definitely see Hendry turning his back on all FA. I think he's already turned his back on Giles.

[Buford T Justice]

Listening to the show on XM yesterday they were talking about Coco Crisp. I'm wondering if he is a target of Hendry for the outfield?

[mg420]

Listening to the show on XM yesterday they were talking about Coco Crisp. I'm wondering if he is a target of Hendry for the outfield?

 

either pierre or crisp would be great for cf imo. hopefully hendry will be able to snag 1 of the 2. with all the focus on ss & cf, there hasnt been much news on rf other than mench (who would be a significant downgrade imo).

[MeatampPotatoesMan]

i don't think Hendry is willing to deplete (to a certain extent) the farm system by totally turning away from free agency.

 

we'll get 1 or 2 bad contracts from free agency, don't you worry. :)

[USSoccer]

I just don't see us having the prospect ammo to fill our needs via trades. I can see one big trade, and maybe 1 or 2 minor ones, but I think we make one big FA signing.

[Jazz]

Very interesting assessment, since you are very well correct, Hendry loves to sign Role Players (whether they be productive or not), and trade for impact ones. I think Hendry cannot get away with not signing a starting SS though, as we would never see the end to the Neifi Perez Show.

 

With trades, i think that we could se a number of things unfold.

 

Cubs get: Lowe, Bradley, Castillo,

Dodgers get: Lowell, and Patterson

Marlins get: Nolasco, Walker, Sing, and Hairston

 

Marlins makeout way ahead monetarily, giving them reason enough to trade Castillo as they get a not that significant dropoff in Walker. They also get 2 good prospects in Sing, and Nolasco, as well as a bench staple in Hairston.

 

Dodgers lose Bradley (who they have been quoted as being tradeable for nothing), and get 2 players who can start at 3B, and CF. They also lose Lowe's contract which make things easier to take on Lowell's contract this year.

 

then

 

Cubs get: Dunn, Griffey Jr. and Freel

Reds get: Lowe, Murton, Hill, and Mitre

 

The reds shed Griffey's contract, as well as get a decent haul for trading Dunn. 3 MLB ready starters, and an MLB ready LF.

 

Cubs would Sign: Rafael Furcal, Bob Howry, and Mark Sweeney

 

SS Furcal (10M)

2B Castillo (5M)

1B Lee (8.7M)

LF Dunn (7M)

3B Ramirez (10.5M)

CF Griffey Jr. (12M)

RF Bradley (3M)

C Barrett (3M)

 

SP1. Prior (4M)

SP2. Zambrano (5M)

SP3. Wood (11M)

SP4. Maddux (9M)

SP5. Williams (400k)

 

RP Rusch (3M)

RP Williams (400k)

RP Wuertz (400k)

RP Novoa (300k)

RP Ohman (300k)

RP Howry (3M)

RP Dempster (5M)

 

Reserves

C Blanco (1.2M)

IF Perez (2.5M)

IF Theriot (300k)

OF Sweeney (1M)

OF Freel (500k)

 

-----------------------

105Mil

 

The only thing that would be bad about this team would be the amount of long term contracts on it/would be coming

 

Furcal (until 08/09)

Lee (could be resigned until 2010, 2011)

Dunn (could be resigned until 2009-2011)

Ramirez (until 09')

Griffey Jr. (until 08')

Dempster (until 08')

 

This could heavily conflict with keeping the Zambrano/Prior tandem around longterm. However, if the tribune keeps increasing payroll (which it should as this team should have no problem winning games), then we could see a much bigger payroll by the time zambrano and prior need to be resigned. Maybe 20-30% bigger.

 

Edit: Im not very sure about arb estimates, corrections would be appreciated

Edited November 12, 2005 by Jazz

[BigbadB]

How does Dunn only make 5m in 2006? That's what he made last year.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I just don't see us having the prospect ammo to fill our needs via trades. I can see one big trade, and maybe 1 or 2 minor ones, but I think we make one big FA signing.

 

We may not have the prospects to pull off a number of trade, but we have available cash. We can help pay on contracts no one wants to facilitate trades.

[USSoccer]

I just don't see us having the prospect ammo to fill our needs via trades. I can see one big trade, and maybe 1 or 2 minor ones, but I think we make one big FA signing.

 

We may not have the prospects to pull off a number of trade, but we have available cash. We can help pay on contracts no one wants to facilitate trades.

 

Are you thinking Thome?

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I just don't see us having the prospect ammo to fill our needs via trades. I can see one big trade, and maybe 1 or 2 minor ones, but I think we make one big FA signing.

 

We may not have the prospects to pull off a number of trade, but we have available cash. We can help pay on contracts no one wants to facilitate trades.

 

Are you thinking Thome?

 

Thome, Lowell, Delgado, Lowe, Milton.....any number of possibilities.

[frostwyrm]

I'm surprised there's not more talk about Sheffield. He is exactly what we need. I'd take him before Giles, even with his supposed personality issues.

[USSoccer]

I'm surprised there's not more talk about Sheffield. He is exactly what we need. I'd take him before Giles, even with his supposed personality issues.

 

We'd have to give him an extension just to shut him up.

[UK1679666180]

When you have a team with a large finanical backdrop and that same team isn't willing to commit the years most FAs are looking for, trades are often the best route to go w/out looking to change their ways.

 

I wish they'd be willing to roll the dice more as far as years (especially position players in their prime) and FAs, there's risk involved in everything w/MLB. Suck it up and see what happens.

[gflore34]

When you have a team with a large finanical backdrop and that same team isn't willing to commit the years most FAs are looking for, trades are often the best route to go w/out looking to change their ways.

 

I wish they'd be willing to roll the dice more as far as years (especially position players in their prime) and FAs, there's risk involved in everything w/MLB. Suck it up and see what happens.

 

Seconded, if Furcal seeks five years go for it because, regardless of Hendry' plan for Perez' role, if SS comes down to Cedeno and Perez. Baker will find a way to either outright start Perez or make him the de facto starter by playing him 5 of every 6 games. What is commentary on a Manager who, in order to not start one of the worst offensive players in baseball, must have his hands tied?