Levine: Eyre done deal. 3 years $11 million

[TrueBlueCubFan]

The thing I dont understand about this signing is what does it do to Ohman and Rusch? Does this mean Rusch is definatly starting? Does it mean Ohman is trade bait? There is no way in hell we go in(or should) to next season with 3 lefties in the bullpen. To me Ohman is pretty much the exact same thing as Eyre but hes cheaper and younger, so whats the point?

 

Maybe Ohman is now expendable/trade bait?

[Keener98]

Anybody have Eyre's stats vs. the big lefties in the division?Edmonds, Dunn, Griffey, Overbay, etc...?

[YearofDaCubs]

The thing I dont understand about this signing is what does it do to Ohman and Rusch? Does this mean Rusch is definatly starting? Does it mean Ohman is trade bait? There is no way in hell we go in(or should) to next season with 3 lefties in the bullpen. To me Ohman is pretty much the exact same thing as Eyre but hes cheaper and younger, so whats the point?

 

Maybe Ohman is now expendable/trade bait?

If that's the case I hate the signing even more. Sign a 4mil loogy to replace your cheap but decent lefty in the pen.

[J.R.]

I don't speak for him, but I'm kind of upset at the tone some people have been taking here. Without criticism this place would be boring and pointless, but I think things have really gotten a lot nastier here over the last few months.

 

Rotten season

 

followed by

 

Rotten offseason

 

followed by

 

Rotten season

 

followed by

 

Rotten postseason

 

followed by

 

Rotten offseason

 

What do you expect?

[JeffH]

From Rotoworld:

 

Scott Eyre - R - Giants

 

The Cubs and Scott Eyre have reportedly agreed to terms on a two-year deal with a player option for a third year.

 

FOXSports.com is calling it a three-year, $11 million deal. It's probably a better signing than the Neifi Perez and Glendon Rusch deals, but the Cubs are spending a lot of money on players who don't qualify as difference makers. Eyre is unlikely to ever again be as effective as he was last season. Nov. 17 - 8:41 pm et Source: MLB.com

 

Man, did they nail that or what?

[Clogged Basepaths]

BBB, Hammond was a perfect example. How much cash did the yankees toss at him?

 

I hate to bring this into the discussion, but does anybody think Hendry might be caving on the length of deals a lot this winter? Something about finishing below the Brewers might make him feel he has to win next year, even if it means giving one to many years just to get guys in the fold.

[YearofDaCubs]

BBB, Hammond was a perfect example. How much cash did the yankees toss at him?

 

I hate to bring this into the discussion, but does anybody think Hendry might be caving on the length of deals a lot this winter? Something about finishing below the Brewers might make him feel he has to win next year, even if it means giving one to many years just to get guys in the fold.

If that's the case then why sign mid-level talent instead of the top talent?

[Clogged Basepaths]

Yes, the good parts of this signing:

 

No prospects lost (even though we need to clear some now)

Ohman needs a friend in the pen.

 

It will be nice when Rusch is shuffled (back?) into the 'pen, he's not called upon to be a LOOGY - which he cleary is not good at/comfortable with.

Makes you wonder what in the heck is Rusch and his 3mil going to do now that Eyre has been signed...

 

Well, Hendry seems to love having that "swing" guy. Unless that means he really don't want to rely on Wood staying healthy to have 5 good starters. (not calling Rusch a good starter).

[YearofDaCubs]

Yes, the good parts of this signing:

 

No prospects lost (even though we need to clear some now)

Ohman needs a friend in the pen.

 

It will be nice when Rusch is shuffled (back?) into the 'pen, he's not called upon to be a LOOGY - which he cleary is not good at/comfortable with.

Makes you wonder what in the heck is Rusch and his 3mil going to do now that Eyre has been signed...

 

Well, Hendry seems to love having that "swing" guy. Unless that means he really don't want to rely on Wood staying healthy to have 5 good starters. (not calling Rusch a good starter).

If we truly cant rely on Wood which we probably cannot Rusch isn't exactly my top option to take over for Wood.

[Omar]

Anybody have Eyre's stats vs. the big lefties in the division?Edmonds, Dunn, Griffey, Overbay, etc...?

 

Noteworthy Match-ups (NL Central Big Lefties) Vs. Scott Eyre (LHP)

Edmonds: 0 for 1

Adam Dunn: 0 for 4

Ken Griffey: 1 for 3

Lyle Overbay: 0 for 1

 

Any other lefties you want me to look up?

[BigbadB]

BBB, Hammond was a perfect example. How much cash did the yankees toss at him?

 

I hate to bring this into the discussion, but does anybody think Hendry might be caving on the length of deals a lot this winter? Something about finishing below the Brewers might make him feel he has to win next year, even if it means giving one to many years just to get guys in the fold.

 

Hammond got 2/4.6m after a 0.95 ERA in Atlanta, from George Steinbrenner.

 

Enough said.

[nolanwood]

"The 33-year-old left-hander had received a two-year offer with a club option to stay with San Francisco, but was hoping for a three-year deal and wanted to play closer to his family in Florida.

 

His agent, Tommy Tanzer, said before the signing that Eyre wanted to stay in the National League, though he also had serious interest from the Los Angeles Angels, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox.

 

Eyre played briefly for Cubs manager Dusty Baker in 2002, and is close with Chicago bench coach Dick Pole.

 

Eyre made a career-high 86 appearances for the Giants in 2005, going 2-2 with a 2.63 ERA in 68 1-3 innings. He struck out 65 batters and walked 26. Several of his Giants teammates -- Noah Lowry, Jack Taschner and Brad Hennessey -- called trying to persuade him to stay.

 

Eyre had been happy in the Bay Area since the Giants claimed him off waivers from Toronto in August 2002. He pitched during the team's World Series run that year under Baker."

[AlwaysaCub]

Anybody have Eyre's stats vs. the big lefties in the division?Edmonds, Dunn, Griffey, Overbay, etc...?

 

Noteworthy Match-ups (NL Central Big Lefties) Vs. Scott Eyre (LHP)

Edmonds: 0 for 1

Adam Dunn: 0 for 4

Ken Griffey: 1 for 3

Lyle Overbay: 0 for 1

 

Any other lefties you want me to look up?

 

How has Lance Jerkman fared as a righty?

[frostwyrm]

Yes, the good parts of this signing:

 

No prospects lost (even though we need to clear some now)

Ohman needs a friend in the pen.

 

It will be nice when Rusch is shuffled (back?) into the 'pen, he's not called upon to be a LOOGY - which he cleary is not good at/comfortable with.

Makes you wonder what in the heck is Rusch and his 3mil going to do now that Eyre has been signed...

 

Rusch was brought back to be a starter, and Eyre's signing only makes me more sure of that.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

The funny part about all of this is that I legitimately agree with almost everything that has been said.

 

This signing is too long, and for too much money. Not necessarily because of Eyre, but because of the nature of all relievers (outside of the upper echelon ones, I wonder what those are like?).

 

Sarcastic pointed out this point beautifully. First time I saw it mentioned.

 

Also, like it has been pointed out, the offseason barely started.

 

There's a lot of work still to be done to bury Neifi on the bench.

 

But even if we bury Neif on the bench, which I do hope happens, we're overpaying him for that priviledge. I think that's what is most upsetting. Had we not given Rusch 3.5 million and Neifi 2.5 million, I would probably not even raise an eye brow about this signing. But when we've signed two roster fillers and a loogy for the price we could possibly land Giles for it's frustrating...especially when Hendry doesn't seem willing to go three years to Giles when he went three years to a reliver who is more likely to be a bust than Giles.

[USSoccer]

3 years, $11 million dollars for Scott Eyre??

 

So we've officially wasted almost $9m and have not improved the team one bit. I don't buy that Eyre is that much better than what we have.

 

Hendry is really showing his colors this offseason so far. He really, really needs to turn this around in a hurry.

[Clogged Basepaths]

BBB, Hammond was a perfect example. How much cash did the yankees toss at him?

 

I hate to bring this into the discussion, but does anybody think Hendry might be caving on the length of deals a lot this winter? Something about finishing below the Brewers might make him feel he has to win next year, even if it means giving one to many years just to get guys in the fold.

 

Hammond got 2/4.6m after a 0.95 ERA in Atlanta, from George Steinbrenner.

 

Enough said.

 

But also, don't you consider Eyre to have way more success than Hammond had when he got that deal? That deal was also a few years ago, inflation is no fun either.

[Omar]

Anybody have Eyre's stats vs. the big lefties in the division?Edmonds, Dunn, Griffey, Overbay, etc...?

 

Noteworthy Match-ups (NL Central Big Lefties) Vs. Scott Eyre (LHP)

Edmonds: 0 for 1

Adam Dunn: 0 for 4

Ken Griffey: 1 for 3

Lyle Overbay: 0 for 1

 

Any other lefties you want me to look up?

 

How has Lance Jerkman fared as a righty?

 

Lance Berkman: 1 for 2 with that hit a double (RBI) and a strikeout.

[CUBZ99]

I wasn't mocking anyone, I was replying with a differing view from the pervasive sense of anger/doom enveloping this thread.

 

Not once did I call out a single person/plant/animal/post.

 

Try calling Hendry [expletive] and Neifi Dusty's boy toy and you will be applauded and welcomed with open arms.

 

You better watch it :shock: :lol:

[oldcubsfan]

It wasn't so much that I was upset about not liking the deal.

 

It's not enjoyable to read page after page of the same stuff, new ideas? New reasons it wasn't good?

 

Like I said previously, Sarcastic brought up a 'new' point about the unreliability of relievers - after 5 pages someone finally spoke up with this?

 

The fact that my sarcastic post yielding this many "shame on yous" from this community is baffling.

 

BAFFLE'D!!!

Don't be baffled, it happens to others that USED to post here regularly. The funny part is all the name calling and second guessing of Hendry, people still wonder why he won't post here or answer questions on the site. My question to you is, if you were Hendry, would you?

[rawaction]

My 2 cents.

 

Taken on its own, this deal isn't that bad. Hendry probably overpaid a little, but Eyre makes the bullpen better. But the big pictures shows that since the 2005 season ended, the Cubs have spent over $10M on the team's #7 starter, a backup middle infielder on a team with 3 other viable middle IF options, and a 3rd bullpen lefty. The even bigger picture shows that the Cubs still have below average production in RF, CF, and SS, with an unproven LF and less money to spend to upgrade these positions than they did a few weeks ago.

[BigbadB]

Yes, the good parts of this signing:

 

No prospects lost (even though we need to clear some now)

Ohman needs a friend in the pen.

 

It will be nice when Rusch is shuffled (back?) into the 'pen, he's not called upon to be a LOOGY - which he cleary is not good at/comfortable with.

Makes you wonder what in the heck is Rusch and his 3mil going to do now that Eyre has been signed...

 

Well, Hendry seems to love having that "swing" guy. Unless that means he really don't want to rely on Wood staying healthy to have 5 good starters. (not calling Rusch a good starter).

 

I'm not responding to you just to pick on you. You bring up things that kind of boil my blood a little bit.

 

Swing guy is another one that bugs me. When does the long man come into a game? When the starter gets hurt or if he's getting whacked around.

 

Since the starter isn't getting hurt early in games all that often, it's really when the starter is getting beaten up. In those games, aren't you pretty much toast anyway? Why pay a guy 3m+ to save the bullpen some innings? Take a guy like Mitre who makes league minimum and see if you can get any trade value out of him in a roll like that.

 

Rusch wasn't exactly effective as a swing guy either. He struggled when left in the rotation too long, and he didn't seem to grasp switching to pitching every other day too well, either.

[Sarcastic]

I don't speak for him, but I'm kind of upset at the tone some people have been taking here. Without criticism this place would be boring and pointless, but I think things have really gotten a lot nastier here over the last few months.

 

Rotten season

 

followed by

 

Rotten offseason

 

followed by

 

Rotten season

 

followed by

 

Rotten postseason

 

followed by

 

Rotten offseason

 

What do you expect?

 

I'd expect a lot of criticism, but I don't think that the Cubs playing badly is an excuse for acting like a jerk towards other people. (Not at anyone in particular.)

[oldcubsfan]

3 years, $11 million dollars for Scott Eyre??

 

So we've officially wasted almost $9m and have not improved the team one bit. I don't buy that Eyre is that much better than what we have.

 

Hendry is really showing his colors this offseason so far. He really, really needs to turn this around in a hurry.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

But what relievers did you want instead of Eyre?

I haven't seen a list.

 

And I do realize Wagner and BJ Ryan are out there - and as much as I'd like to believe we could get them for $3.5 a year, I don't think that's going to happen.

 

I'm not trying to take on anybody - I legitimately can't think of a better Left RP out there on the market that'd be better.

 

I've been of the persuasion that the bullpen should have been the final focus after lead-off, shortstop, and the gaping hole in rightfield.

 

We have a number of arms for the pen. But if I were going to gamble three years on a reliever, Dotel please.