Levine: Eyre done deal. 3 years $11 million

[Andy]

Where does this leave Ohman, who did a commendable job last year? Do we need 2 LOOGY's? Or is Eyre Dempster's setup guy? I don't get it.

 

Maybe Ohman is now possible trade bait.

 

Also, I'm not going to judge this signing until I see how Eyre does in a Cubs uniform. I guess all the "Mr. know it Alls" here know what the market is regarding LOOGY's as FA's. NOT!!!!

 

Give it a chance all you pessimists & overreacter's!

Maybe the optmists should give it a rest. Almost 4 mil for a loogy. Yeah!

 

Just because he is left handed doesn't mean he has to be only a LOOGY.

 

Christ, look at his BAA against righties. Very solid.

If Dusty has his way, His Eyreness will never, ever, ever pitch against a right-handed batter. EVER.

[Andy]

And let me reiterate. If this were the first signing of the offseason, I would likely roll my eyes at it, but I wouldn't be terribly upset. My reaction to it would be similar to how I reacted to the Rusch signing. Combined with Rusch and Perez, this is a bad signing.

 

Let me share a simple analogy. Blowing an extra thirty bucks on something I don't need at the mall is likely not going to put my family in a bind. If I do it every day it starts to add up. Doing it once, no big deal. Doing it for two weeks, then I start to look around at a bunch of crap that could have really equaled a nice purchase. Neifi, Rusch, and Eyre are the pile of crap that could have been Giles or Furcal.

 

Let's put it this way...assume all those guys were under contract. We're about to make a trade. On one side, Neifi, Rusch and Eyre. On the other side, Furcal or Giles. Which side would you choose?

 

Now if Hendry has a blank checkbook and still can pay the money for Giles and Furcal....great. But with a 105 payroll, the prospects of that happening are looking pretty slim.

 

Moves like this make me wonder if Hendry really understands how flawed this team is.

Hendry has no damn clue. I'm starting to question if he has the vision to put a contending team together in 2006.

Starting to???

[Deeg]

Where does this leave Ohman, who did a commendable job last year? Do we need 2 LOOGY's? Or is Eyre Dempster's setup guy? I don't get it.

 

Maybe Ohman is now possible trade bait.

 

Also, I'm not going to judge this signing until I see how Eyre does in a Cubs uniform. I guess all the "Mr. know it Alls" here know what the market is regarding LOOGY's as FA's. NOT!!!!

 

Give it a chance all you pessimists & overreacter's!

Maybe the optmists should give it a rest. Almost 4 mil for a loogy. Yeah!

 

Just because he is left handed doesn't mean he has to be only a LOOGY.

 

Christ, look at his BAA against righties. Very solid.

 

Hi, I'm Dusty Baker - I don't think we've met?

[Guest]

I've said this before, but I'll say it again: Eyre has a career Fielding-Independent ERA of nearly 5.00. (4.94 for those of you who are sticklers for decimal points.) For a little perspective, Glendon Rusches career FIERA is a comparitvely scant 4.21. To be fair, though, Eyre has been a much more effective pitcher since turning 30, posting FIERAs of 3.79, 4.25, 4.85, and 3.01 over the past four years. Still, is it a wise decision to commit $11 million to a player who's unlikely to provide any more value than a 4.00 ERA for 60-70 innings? Particularly when you have an in-house option (Ohman) that could fill the same role just as competently for a fraction of the cost? I don't think so.

 

You make a very good point. But I already pointed out that I don't feel we can actually 'count' on Ohman to even be healthy, let alone good this year.

He 'could' fill the role is the sticking point. He's been so banged up over his career that I almost can't believe he's back on the big league club. As we've seen recently, it's not 'easy' to acquire a quality left reliever through a trade during the season. What would we do if Ohman exploded in April? If Ohman fills the role, that's even better, as we'd have 2 lefties capable of being good out of the bullpen. I, for one, do not want to see Rusch and his giant WHIP out there in any inning, let alone the last couple.

While concerns over Ohman's health/performance are certainly valid, I still don't think they justify giving a eight figures to a player with extremely limited success. (Going by the numbers, Rusch is a better bet to provide more value than Eyre over the lives of their respective contracts.)

[JeffH]

Right now we're down to about 20 million do fill our needs with.

 

With a $100 payroll, there's about $25 left. That's counting Todd Walker as being on the team.

[Clogged Basepaths]

Where does this leave Ohman, who did a commendable job last year? Do we need 2 LOOGY's? Or is Eyre Dempster's setup guy? I don't get it.

 

Maybe Ohman is now possible trade bait.

 

Also, I'm not going to judge this signing until I see how Eyre does in a Cubs uniform. I guess all the "Mr. know it Alls" here know what the market is regarding LOOGY's as FA's. NOT!!!!

 

Give it a chance all you pessimists & overreacter's!

Maybe the optmists should give it a rest. Almost 4 mil for a loogy. Yeah!

 

Just because he is left handed doesn't mean he has to be only a LOOGY.

 

Christ, look at his BAA against righties. Very solid.

 

Hi, I'm Dusty Baker - I don't think we've met?

 

I didn't know you posted here! Quick question: who was the league leading walker last year? I'm sorry, I mean can you tell me an anecdote about Hank Aaron, he sure was good.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

And let me reiterate. If this were the first signing of the offseason, I would likely roll my eyes at it, but I wouldn't be terribly upset. My reaction to it would be similar to how I reacted to the Rusch signing. Combined with Rusch and Perez, this is a bad signing.

 

Let me share a simple analogy. Blowing an extra thirty bucks on something I don't need at the mall is likely not going to put my family in a bind. If I do it every day it starts to add up. Doing it once, no big deal. Doing it for two weeks, then I start to look around at a bunch of crap that could have really equaled a nice purchase. Neifi, Rusch, and Eyre are the pile of crap that could have been Giles or Furcal.

 

Let's put it this way...assume all those guys were under contract. We're about to make a trade. On one side, Neifi, Rusch and Eyre. On the other side, Furcal or Giles. Which side would you choose?

 

Now if Hendry has a blank checkbook and still can pay the money for Giles and Furcal....great. But with a 105 payroll, the prospects of that happening are looking pretty slim.

 

Moves like this make me wonder if Hendry really understands how flawed this team is.

Hendry has no damn clue. I'm starting to question if he has the vision to put a contending team together in 2006.

 

I'm going to hi-jack the thread and say something that I'm sure I've said before among my 17,000 posts. I think Hendry had a plan and a clue when he took over. As much as the 2003 success was exhilirating, I think it (and having Baker as manager) caused Hendry to toss his plan into the crapper and try to turn a mirage (2003 team) into a reality. We've made moves that jeopardized the long term health of this team, and we're still doing it.

[Clogged Basepaths]

I've said this before, but I'll say it again: Eyre has a career Fielding-Independent ERA of nearly 5.00. (4.94 for those of you who are sticklers for decimal points.) For a little perspective, Glendon Rusches career FIERA is a comparitvely scant 4.21. To be fair, though, Eyre has been a much more effective pitcher since turning 30, posting FIERAs of 3.79, 4.25, 4.85, and 3.01 over the past four years. Still, is it a wise decision to commit $11 million to a player who's unlikely to provide any more value than a 4.00 ERA for 60-70 innings? Particularly when you have an in-house option (Ohman) that could fill the same role just as competently for a fraction of the cost? I don't think so.

 

You make a very good point. But I already pointed out that I don't feel we can actually 'count' on Ohman to even be healthy, let alone good this year.

He 'could' fill the role is the sticking point. He's been so banged up over his career that I almost can't believe he's back on the big league club. As we've seen recently, it's not 'easy' to acquire a quality left reliever through a trade during the season. What would we do if Ohman exploded in April? If Ohman fills the role, that's even better, as we'd have 2 lefties capable of being good out of the bullpen. I, for one, do not want to see Rusch and his giant WHIP out there in any inning, let alone the last couple.

While concerns over Ohman's health/performance are certainly valid, I still don't think they justify giving a eight figures to a player with extremely limited success. (Going by the numbers, Rusch is a better bet to provide more value than Eyre over the lives of their respective contracts.)

 

Well, thankfully we've got them BOTH locked up! This team is the anti-sabr team. It makes me so sad. It really isn't that complicated, is it? OBP=GOOD. BAVG=POINTLESS. GUHHHHHHHHHHH.

I mean, go Neifi!

[YearofDaCubs]

Where does this leave Ohman, who did a commendable job last year? Do we need 2 LOOGY's? Or is Eyre Dempster's setup guy? I don't get it.

 

Maybe Ohman is now possible trade bait.

 

Also, I'm not going to judge this signing until I see how Eyre does in a Cubs uniform. I guess all the "Mr. know it Alls" here know what the market is regarding LOOGY's as FA's. NOT!!!!

 

Give it a chance all you pessimists & overreacter's!

Maybe the optmists should give it a rest. Almost 4 mil for a loogy. Yeah!

 

Just because he is left handed doesn't mean he has to be only a LOOGY.

 

Christ, look at his BAA against righties. Very solid.

OK, that's fine so would you rather have Eyre or Howry as your setup man?

[MeatampPotatoesMan]

Awesome signing. I love it.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Right now we're down to about 20 million do fill our needs with.

 

With a $100 payroll, there's about $25 left. That's counting Todd Walker as being on the team.

 

After an arbitration raise to Zambrano, my guess is its closer to 20. Either way, it's drying up pretty rapidly with little to show. It's like eating out every night. Sure 10 bucks isn't much, but keep doing it every night and it adds up.

[Clogged Basepaths]

And let me reiterate. If this were the first signing of the offseason, I would likely roll my eyes at it, but I wouldn't be terribly upset. My reaction to it would be similar to how I reacted to the Rusch signing. Combined with Rusch and Perez, this is a bad signing.

 

Let me share a simple analogy. Blowing an extra thirty bucks on something I don't need at the mall is likely not going to put my family in a bind. If I do it every day it starts to add up. Doing it once, no big deal. Doing it for two weeks, then I start to look around at a bunch of crap that could have really equaled a nice purchase. Neifi, Rusch, and Eyre are the pile of crap that could have been Giles or Furcal.

 

Let's put it this way...assume all those guys were under contract. We're about to make a trade. On one side, Neifi, Rusch and Eyre. On the other side, Furcal or Giles. Which side would you choose?

 

Now if Hendry has a blank checkbook and still can pay the money for Giles and Furcal....great. But with a 105 payroll, the prospects of that happening are looking pretty slim.

 

Moves like this make me wonder if Hendry really understands how flawed this team is.

Hendry has no damn clue. I'm starting to question if he has the vision to put a contending team together in 2006.

 

I'm going to hi-jack the thread and say something that I'm sure I've said before among my 17,000 posts. I think Hendry had a plan and a clue when he took over. As much as the 2003 success was exhilirating, I think it (and having Baker as manager) caused Hendry to toss his plan into the crapper and try to turn a mirage (2003 team) into a reality. We've made moves that jeopardized the long term health of this team, and we're still doing it.

 

You're thinking of the 2001 Bears causing harm to the future (i.e. Jauron/Shoop being retained).

 

Hendry's plan was to stockpile young, fireballing starting pitchers. His plan went awry when they got injured. The reason for this can be attributed to his misstep in choosing a manager.

[YearofDaCubs]

And let me reiterate. If this were the first signing of the offseason, I would likely roll my eyes at it, but I wouldn't be terribly upset. My reaction to it would be similar to how I reacted to the Rusch signing. Combined with Rusch and Perez, this is a bad signing.

 

Let me share a simple analogy. Blowing an extra thirty bucks on something I don't need at the mall is likely not going to put my family in a bind. If I do it every day it starts to add up. Doing it once, no big deal. Doing it for two weeks, then I start to look around at a bunch of crap that could have really equaled a nice purchase. Neifi, Rusch, and Eyre are the pile of crap that could have been Giles or Furcal.

 

Let's put it this way...assume all those guys were under contract. We're about to make a trade. On one side, Neifi, Rusch and Eyre. On the other side, Furcal or Giles. Which side would you choose?

 

Now if Hendry has a blank checkbook and still can pay the money for Giles and Furcal....great. But with a 105 payroll, the prospects of that happening are looking pretty slim.

 

Moves like this make me wonder if Hendry really understands how flawed this team is.

Hendry has no damn clue. I'm starting to question if he has the vision to put a contending team together in 2006.

 

I'm going to hi-jack the thread and say something that I'm sure I've said before among my 17,000 posts. I think Hendry had a plan and a clue when he took over. As much as the 2003 success was exhilirating, I think it (and having Baker as manager) caused Hendry to toss his plan into the crapper and try to turn a mirage (2003 team) into a reality. We've made moves that jeopardized the long term health of this team, and we're still doing it.

Not exactly a vote of confidence for the direction of this organization. You bring up a valid point. Bringing Baker here might have been one of the worst mistakes this organization has made in a while.

[E.J.]

Right now we're down to about 20 million do fill our needs with.

 

With a $100 payroll, there's about $25 left. That's counting Todd Walker as being on the team.

 

After an arbitration raise to Zambrano, my guess is its closer to 20. Either way, it's drying up pretty rapidly with little to show. It's like eating out every night. Sure 10 bucks isn't much, but keep doing it every night and it adds up.

 

You have 17,000 posts? Geez Vance. I don't think you spend enough time on here. :wink: :lol:

[Andy]

Not to hijack the thread but what does LOOGY stand for, if anything?

[Sarcastic]

Awesome signing. I love it.

 

Whaaaaaaaaaa? :o

[XZero771679666304]

Not to hijack the thread but what does LOOGY stand for, if anything?

 

lefthanded one out guy

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

And let me reiterate. If this were the first signing of the offseason, I would likely roll my eyes at it, but I wouldn't be terribly upset. My reaction to it would be similar to how I reacted to the Rusch signing. Combined with Rusch and Perez, this is a bad signing.

 

Let me share a simple analogy. Blowing an extra thirty bucks on something I don't need at the mall is likely not going to put my family in a bind. If I do it every day it starts to add up. Doing it once, no big deal. Doing it for two weeks, then I start to look around at a bunch of crap that could have really equaled a nice purchase. Neifi, Rusch, and Eyre are the pile of crap that could have been Giles or Furcal.

 

Let's put it this way...assume all those guys were under contract. We're about to make a trade. On one side, Neifi, Rusch and Eyre. On the other side, Furcal or Giles. Which side would you choose?

 

Now if Hendry has a blank checkbook and still can pay the money for Giles and Furcal....great. But with a 105 payroll, the prospects of that happening are looking pretty slim.

 

Moves like this make me wonder if Hendry really understands how flawed this team is.

Hendry has no damn clue. I'm starting to question if he has the vision to put a contending team together in 2006.

 

I'm going to hi-jack the thread and say something that I'm sure I've said before among my 17,000 posts. I think Hendry had a plan and a clue when he took over. As much as the 2003 success was exhilirating, I think it (and having Baker as manager) caused Hendry to toss his plan into the crapper and try to turn a mirage (2003 team) into a reality. We've made moves that jeopardized the long term health of this team, and we're still doing it.

 

You're thinking of the 2001 Bears causing harm to the future (i.e. Jauron/Shoop being retained).

 

Hendry's plan was to stockpile young, fireballing starting pitchers. His plan went awry when they got injured. The reason for this can be attributed to his misstep in choosing a manager.

 

I agree part of the problem has been the health of the rotation. I'm not going to debate that. And my feelings for the incapable weilder of toothpicks are well known. But the window of opportunity is closing with Zambrano and Prior about to get very expensive and this team still hasn't figured it out.

[Sarcastic]

Not to hijack the thread but what does LOOGY stand for, if anything?

 

Don't we have a place for this stuff, or did I imagine it? Any way, LOOGY means lefty one out guy, or something along those lines.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Right now we're down to about 20 million do fill our needs with.

 

With a $100 payroll, there's about $25 left. That's counting Todd Walker as being on the team.

 

After an arbitration raise to Zambrano, my guess is its closer to 20. Either way, it's drying up pretty rapidly with little to show. It's like eating out every night. Sure 10 bucks isn't much, but keep doing it every night and it adds up.

 

You have 17,000 posts? Geez Vance. I don't think you spend enough time on here. :wink: :lol:

 

I thought today was going to be a slow post day until Jim decided to blow more of the family's money on an electric train set that we don't need.

[Clogged Basepaths]

This, in general is the problem with MLB. We're all on here complaining about the $ and length of the deal. If this was the NFL, nobody would give a crap. We'd be discussing the player. As we should be now.

Any budget discussion is ridiculous because we are not soothsayers and thusly cannot foresee who else we will sign. For all we know, Hendry is planning on leaving "room to add players through trade during the season" again. (You'd certainly hope not, but he sang that song all last offseason, and it worked out...great?)

[frostwyrm]

Just because he is left handed doesn't mean he has to be only a LOOGY.

 

Christ, look at his BAA against righties. Very solid.

 

Dusty really does have a strong bias to viewing LH relievers as "matchup" guys, to be used to get tough outs vs. LH batters. Maybe Eyre will be the exception but I doubt it.

[RockTheIvy]

This, in general is the problem with MLB. We're all on here complaining about the $ and length of the deal. If this was the NFL, nobody would give a crap. We'd be discussing the player. As we should be now.

Any budget discussion is ridiculous because we are not soothsayers and thusly cannot foresee who else we will sign. For all we know, Hendry is planning on leaving "room to add players through trade during the season" again. (You'd certainly hope not, but he sang that song all last offseason, and it worked out...great?)

 

But damn it's fun!

[MeatampPotatoesMan]

Awesome signing. I love it.

 

Whaaaaaaaaaa? :o

 

I figured someone with your moniker would get that. :wink:

[Clogged Basepaths]

And let me reiterate. If this were the first signing of the offseason, I would likely roll my eyes at it, but I wouldn't be terribly upset. My reaction to it would be similar to how I reacted to the Rusch signing. Combined with Rusch and Perez, this is a bad signing.

 

Let me share a simple analogy. Blowing an extra thirty bucks on something I don't need at the mall is likely not going to put my family in a bind. If I do it every day it starts to add up. Doing it once, no big deal. Doing it for two weeks, then I start to look around at a bunch of crap that could have really equaled a nice purchase. Neifi, Rusch, and Eyre are the pile of crap that could have been Giles or Furcal.

 

Let's put it this way...assume all those guys were under contract. We're about to make a trade. On one side, Neifi, Rusch and Eyre. On the other side, Furcal or Giles. Which side would you choose?

 

Now if Hendry has a blank checkbook and still can pay the money for Giles and Furcal....great. But with a 105 payroll, the prospects of that happening are looking pretty slim.

 

Moves like this make me wonder if Hendry really understands how flawed this team is.

Hendry has no damn clue. I'm starting to question if he has the vision to put a contending team together in 2006.

 

I'm going to hi-jack the thread and say something that I'm sure I've said before among my 17,000 posts. I think Hendry had a plan and a clue when he took over. As much as the 2003 success was exhilirating, I think it (and having Baker as manager) caused Hendry to toss his plan into the crapper and try to turn a mirage (2003 team) into a reality. We've made moves that jeopardized the long term health of this team, and we're still doing it.

 

You're thinking of the 2001 Bears causing harm to the future (i.e. Jauron/Shoop being retained).

 

Hendry's plan was to stockpile young, fireballing starting pitchers. His plan went awry when they got injured. The reason for this can be attributed to his misstep in choosing a manager.

 

I agree part of the problem has been the health of the rotation. I'm not going to debate that. And my feelings for the incapable weilder of toothpicks are well known. But the window of opportunity is closing with Zambrano and Prior about to get very expensive and this team still hasn't figured it out.

 

I spent half of last year begging for Hendry to just blow it up. Like, blow it up big time. Like the A's would do. Get people to WAY overpay in prospects/players for stud SPs who are still cheap (for maybe another year). Use the money to add a bat and fill out the bullpen.

 

Then again, this is a big market. Big market teams don't need to reload, in theory. But that is predecated upon us continually making deals for players like DLee/Aram who are still cheap for a few years. At a certain point, we either have to blow it all up, or start integrating a couple league minimum type players. For the love of jebus, I don't know if I'll be able to watch this team next year if Cedeno/Murton are not playing 130+ games.