Howry signs with Cubs (yes, it's official)

[CUBZ99]

Why wait for Brian F Giles?

 

because he's exactly what this team needs.

 

Hendry is aggresively bolstering arguably our biggest problem last season. Championship caliber teams, have strong bullpen's, and we'll have just that in 06.

 

not many teams can do it without men on base. and this team, last year, didn't have anyone on base, despite hitting very well.

 

The doomsday "omg" comments really are a tad irratating. I'm happy our GM is at least signing pretty good pitchers, to help out the bullpen. The only two big names left for bullpen help, are Ryan and Wagner.

 

people are upset because he virtually bid against himself, signed them for much more than they're worth, and also signed rusch to a ridiculous deal, not even knowing how he'll be used.

 

You forgot to add that Hendry vastly overpaid for Perez and like with the Rusch signing he doesn't have a clue where he is going to play.

[craig]

not many teams can do it (...championships...)without men on base. and this team, last year, didn't have anyone on base, despite hitting very well.

 

It's November, and Hendry still has $20 or more to spend. He's not done with the offense, so I don't see that the fuss about working on the bullpen is ignoring the offense.

 

Last year Corey, Dubois, Hollandsworth, Lawton, Macias, and Nomar combined for 1576 AB, and walked (23+7+18+4+6+12=) 70 times.

 

I may be wrong, but I don't expect any of those six guys to be back.

 

Seems to me that you get on base by hitting very well, and by walking. You thought that the Cubs hit very well. Seems to me that if they can hit as well, it's inevitable that they will walk more too, just by replacing those 6 guys.

 

Reducing Neifi from a 572AB/18walk guy to a utility player will also help.

 

Obviously replacing Walker with hacker Cedeno will not help the walk output. And ousting Burnitz, who walked quite a bit, could also be a wash or could result in a decline.

 

But it looks to me as if the offense will almost certainly walk more next year than this past, possibly by quite a substantial degree depending on who ends up in right and whether or not Walker gets traded and replaced by cedeno/Neifi.

 

If they can do the changes without hurting the actual hitting, the OBP will rise. If they can both hit better while at the same time walking more, all the better.

 

And that too seems possible. Dubois/Lawton/Hollandsworth were pretty sad. Murton and Mabry (or whomever) may not be Manny Ramirez or Brian Giles, but they could be a big upgrade. Juan Pierre may not be Jim Edmonds, but he'll hit for much higher average than Corey/Hairston did, plus have the better OBP and add some value with the stolen bases. We may not end up with the Giles-type upgrade we want in right, but it won't be that hard to at least equal the .258 BA/.755 OPS that Burnitz produced. And even within the Mench/Kearns/Wilkerson/Huff type of younger guys who may be essentially younger versions of Burnitz, they aren't likely to produce much worse and each has a chance to produce quite a bit more than Burnitz did. Even Jacque Jones is likely to at worst hold even and perhaps add some relative to Burnitz. Furcal at SS should produce considerably more than Neifi.

 

So it seems to me that Hendry doesn't need to be Houdini or pull a bunch of blockbuster Giles-esque signings in order to upgrade the offense, including the walks and also the average, both of which should result in improved OBP. Seems the only spot where there should be an offensive talent downgrade should be 2B, assuming Cedeno replaces Walker.

 

I think it's pretty reasonable to expect that the offense will be much improved even in the absence of adding Giles.

[Magnetic Curses]

Obviously replacing Walker with hacker Cedeno will not help the walk output. And ousting Burnitz, who walked quite a bit, could also be a wash or could result in a decline.

 

i'd like more than a .064 IsoD, although that is quite a large number on this team, and i think that it's very possible. giles nearly doubles burnitz's IsoD, with .122, as does abreu's .119, or dunn's mind-boggling .140.

 

any of these three would be acceptable replacements for burnitz, and they all are realistic.

 

and that's forgetting about wilkerson's .103, which would also do the trick.

[Lefty]

[quote name="Gunned

 

That's called correlation. Negative correlation' date=' actually. Essentially, what that graph shows is that pitchers with lower ERAs on average strikeout more batters. It's not a co-incidence. More strikeouts mean fewer balls in play. Fewer balls in play mean fewer hits allowed. And fewer hits allowed mean fewer runs allowed. A strikeout is an out every single time. A ball in play, well, it could go just past the dive of your shortstop with lousy range.[/quote]

 

So why doesn't that hold true for hitters? Prospectus are the same people who believe that a strikeout for a hitter is the same as any other out, right?

 

I'm not trying to be contrarian ... I just want to know what the difference is.

 

Because strikeouts for a pitcher are an indicator of "stuff." Strikeouts for a batter are not an indicator of anything specific. But it will usually correlate with power and walks. And that's an attractive combination.

 

Think of it another way. A batter who only strikes out won't be in the Majors. One who is will have the compensating strengths.

[Southpaw191679666239]

Wasn't Howry to take his physical over the weekend? Why hasn't there been an official announcement?

 

:?:

[Mark Priors Calves]

Wasn't Howry to take his physical over the weekend? Why hasn't there been an official announcement?

 

:?:

 

cubs.com reported the signing.

[Southpaw191679666239]

cubs.com reported the signing.

 

Wrong.

 

The deal is pending Howry passing a physical this weekend in Chicago.

 

Link

Edited November 29, 2005 by Southpaw19

[MeatampPotatoesMan]

Wasn't Howry to take his physical over the weekend? Why hasn't there been an official announcement?

 

:?:

 

cubs.com reported the signing.

 

cubs.com reported an "agreement" which is contingent on a physical, which hasn't been confirmed to have taken place.

 

it's pretty much a done deal unless something ridiculous happens.

[oldcubsfan]

They need to open up a space on the 40 man roster.

[Mark Priors Calves]

cubs.com reported the signing.

 

Wrong.

 

The deal is pending Howry passing a physical this weekend in Chicago.

 

Link

Just posting what they had for an headline on the website:

 

Cubs, Howry reach agreement.

[Southpaw191679666239]

Just posting what they had for an headline on the website:

 

Cubs, Howry reach agreement.

 

If you would have clicked my link provided earlier in the thread, you would know that is the article from which your headline is pulled. :P

[NCCubFan]

cubs.com reported the signing.

 

Wrong.

 

The deal is pending Howry passing a physical this weekend in Chicago.

 

Link

Just posting what they had for an headline on the website:

 

Cubs, Howry reach agreement.

Reaching an agreement isn't the same thing as signing. Reaching an agreement means that both sides have agreed to the terms for signing, not that the signing has actually taken place.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Looks like Howry will be at Wrigley today for a formal announcement.

 

Link

 

The Cubs are expected to announce the signing of free-agent utilityman John Mabry within the next day or two, and will bring recently signed reliever Bob Howry to Wrigley Field for a news conference on Tuesday.

[Mark Priors Calves]

Just posting what they had for an headline on the website:

 

Cubs, Howry reach agreement.

 

If you would have clicked my link provided earlier in the thread, you would know that is the article from which your headline is pulled. :P

just me being lazy.

[E.J.]

Looks like Howry will be at Wrigley today for a formal announcement.

 

Link

 

The Cubs are expected to announce the signing of free-agent utilityman John Mabry within the next day or two, and will bring recently signed reliever Bob Howry to Wrigley Field for a news conference on Tuesday.

 

Wonder what Hendry has up his sleeve this week. He has to add Howry and now Mabry to the 40-man. Who's getting kicked off? Is there a trade coming this week? I'm interested in seeing how this week plays out.

[Illini Iceman]

Looks like Howry will be at Wrigley today for a formal announcement.

 

Link

 

The Cubs are expected to announce the signing of free-agent utilityman John Mabry within the next day or two, and will bring recently signed reliever Bob Howry to Wrigley Field for a news conference on Tuesday.

 

Wonder what Hendry has up his sleeve this week. He has to add Howry and now Mabry to the 40-man. Who's getting kicked off? Is there a trade coming this week? I'm interested in seeing how this week plays out.

 

I think he actually has 3 spots to clear since by most counts the 40 man roster is at 41 with Scott Moore. I am assuming that it is because Wood is on the 60 day DL but I would have to think they have to move him back to the regular 40 man soon.

[JeffH]

Wood is not on the 60-day DL.

 

After Howry and Mabry sign, the roster will stand at 43 (but not really).

 

Eyre has not yet been officially added to the roster.

 

I assume that there is some deadline for doing that (and for Howry and Mabry, too), but I don't know what that is.

 

Certainly these guys will have to be added to the roster before the Rule 5 draft on December 8th and possibly much earlier than that.

[BigbadB]

Quite the roster crunch. If it's at 43 and doesn't include Eyre, and assuming that Furcal will be signed, you almost have to assume that trades will be coming to fill CF and RF.

 

Oh, and Macias being cut should be a given at this point. \:D/

[BigbadB]

And given the roster crunch, what would have made much more sense to me would have been to sign Giles, sign Lofton, sign Furcal and then trade your 40 man roster surplus for pitching and bench help.

 

The way it looks now, we overpaid in free agent relievers, and will overpay in trade to fill glaring holes that need to be filled.

[CuseCubFan69]

Quite the roster crunch. If it's at 43 and doesn't include Eyre, and assuming that Furcal will be signed, you almost have to assume that trades will be coming to fill CF and RF.

 

Oh, and Macias being cut should be a given at this point. \:D/

 

It better happen and if it doesn't I fully expect Macias to be re-signed while getting a raise to boot.

[Schwarber Fan]

Just in case anyone was still questioning the "officiality of this deal, here is a photo:

 

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20051129/capt.cx10711292141.cubs_howry_cx107.jpg

[Keener98]

Also for those of us who were complaining about Howry's contract, it was mentioned on Comcast tonight that Howry had 2 better offers from other teams. He chose Chicago because of his familiarity with the city, the packed stadiums, and the chance to win. I wonder who was offering him more :shock:

[Keener98]

Also for those of us who were complaining about Howry's contract, it was mentioned on Comcast tonight that Howry had 2 better offers from other teams. He chose Chicago because of his familiarity with the city, the packed stadiums, and the chance to win. I wonder who was offering him more :shock:

[Brian]

I love this background

http://espn-i.starwave.com/media/apphoto/CX10611292142.jpg