Grudz wants a three year deal?

[Warpticon]

Why do people keep saying that neifi is getting $2.5 mil? At the absolute minimum, neifi will make $6 million over the next 2 years.

Signing bonuses aren't free money, people

 

Sorry, I don't pay enough attention to financial detail to remember if Neifi gets 2.5 or 3M. I just really don't care. He's the backup infielder. Meh.

 

is he? i don't remember Hendry saying that.

 

Hendry also said Sosa wasn't going anywhere - who goes by what he says. It's widely assumed its going to be Furcal/Cedeno or Cedeno/Walker

 

Except he never said that. He said he was operating as though he expected Sosa to be his right fielder, not that he wasn't going anywhere. There's an enormous difference, and I don't know why so many people contend he said that he wasn't going to trade Sosa.

[YearofDaCubs]

Yeah, Neifi was such a lifesaver he got us right into the playoffs. Neifi is overpaid and I'm worried he might be starting for us. I dont mind if he was our backup but the money he got was ridiculous especially considering we have cheap options off the bench.

[nolanwood]

Yeah, Neifi was such a lifesaver he got us right into the playoffs. Neifi is overpaid and I'm worried he might be starting for us. I dont mind if he was our backup but the money he got was ridiculous especially considering we have cheap options off the bench.

 

by no means am I defending that Neifi was worth that money....

 

but he had aboslutely NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs last year, and to claim that he sucks because he didnt carry us to the playoffs is the most absurd thing Ive ever heard.

 

We failed to make it to the playoffs for these reasons:

 

1. Poor coach decision making

2. The suckage in CF

3. Health issues with our SP

4. Reliablity of the bullpen minus Dempster

5. Not signing a legitimate LF'er and platooning Dubois/Holla

 

Neifi did a quality job of filling in for Nomar last year....otherwise, I would say that the health of Nomar was another reason we didnt make it. If Crusty would've stuck Neifi in the 8th spot in the lineup, and all those other issues I addressed above hadn't occurred...we would've had a great chance at the playoffs - a wild card slot that is.

[goonys evil twin]

Yeah, Neifi was such a lifesaver he got us right into the playoffs. Neifi is overpaid and I'm worried he might be starting for us. I dont mind if he was our backup but the money he got was ridiculous especially considering we have cheap options off the bench.

 

by no means am I defending that Neifi was worth that money....

 

but he had aboslutely NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs last year, and to claim that he sucks because he didnt carry us to the playoffs is the most absurd thing Ive ever heard.

 

The fact that Neifi played so much at SS and hit so often at the top of the lineup had a whole bunch to do with why the Cubs didn't make the playoffs. He's not good enough to start on a playoff contender that already has offensive issues, and he's a brutal top of the order candidate.

 

You can't blame Neifi for not carrying this team to the playoffs, he doesn't have the talent, skills, abilities or production to be relied upon for such a task. He's a 25th man. And you don't let your 25th man leadoff or give him $6 million. Also, he's not the savior so many tried to paint him as last year. How many "where would we be without Neifi" comments did we have to hear before the truth was spoken about how handicapped this team was by his presence atop the lineup?

[goonys evil twin]

We failed to make it to the playoffs for these reasons:

 

1. Poor coach decision making

2. The suckage in CF

3. Health issues with our SP

4. Reliablity of the bullpen minus Dempster

5. Not signing a legitimate LF'er and platooning Dubois/Holla

 

 

The suckage in RF was just as damaging as the suckage in CF.

 

The Cubs got the worst OPS out of CF of any NL team. But they also got the second worst OPS out of RF, and the RF normally hit in an important RBI position where he failed more than anybody in the league. LF was actually rated the highest against the league of the three OF positions, 12th.

 

Poor personel decisions by Hendry have to go in that list. He chose that brutal OF, which many, including myself, predicted to be bad (although admittedly not that bad).

[nolanwood]

Yeah, Neifi was such a lifesaver he got us right into the playoffs. Neifi is overpaid and I'm worried he might be starting for us. I dont mind if he was our backup but the money he got was ridiculous especially considering we have cheap options off the bench.

 

by no means am I defending that Neifi was worth that money....

 

but he had aboslutely NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs last year, and to claim that he sucks because he didnt carry us to the playoffs is the most absurd thing Ive ever heard.

 

The fact that Neifi played so much at SS and hit so often at the top of the lineup had a whole bunch to do with why the Cubs didn't make the playoffs. He's not good enough to start on a playoff contender that already has offensive issues, and he's a brutal top of the order candidate.

 

You can't blame Neifi for not carrying this team to the playoffs, he doesn't have the talent, skills, abilities or production to be relied upon for such a task. He's a 25th man. And you don't let your 25th man leadoff or give him $6 million. Also, he's not the savior so many tried to paint him as last year. How many "where would we be without Neifi" comments did we have to hear before the truth was spoken about how handicapped this team was by his presence atop the lineup?

 

Neifi at SS last year had NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs - its not hard at all to figure that one out. Dusty's use of Neifi in the batting lineup did for sure, but his performance was far from the reason we didnt make the playoffs. Please examinie the other issues I claimed for us not making the playoffs - those are extremely more relevant. Please contrast Neifi's defense and offensive skills with those of the other #8 batters in the lineup for last years playoffs.

[nolanwood]

We failed to make it to the playoffs for these reasons:

 

1. Poor coach decision making

2. The suckage in CF

3. Health issues with our SP

4. Reliablity of the bullpen minus Dempster

5. Not signing a legitimate LF'er and platooning Dubois/Holla

 

 

The suckage in RF was just as damaging as the suckage in CF.

 

The Cubs got the worst OPS out of CF of any NL team. But they also got the second worst OPS out of RF, and the RF normally hit in an important RBI position where he failed more than anybody in the league. LF was actually rated the highest against the league of the three OF positions, 12th.

 

Poor personel decisions by Hendry have to go in that list. He chose that brutal OF, which many, including myself, predicted to be bad (although admittedly not that bad).

 

And to think after those #'s we have YET to see/hear of any solid improvements to CF and RF....Mench? Yeah, he's gonna really help us out :roll:

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Yeah, Neifi was such a lifesaver he got us right into the playoffs. Neifi is overpaid and I'm worried he might be starting for us. I dont mind if he was our backup but the money he got was ridiculous especially considering we have cheap options off the bench.

 

by no means am I defending that Neifi was worth that money....

 

but he had aboslutely NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs last year, and to claim that he sucks because he didnt carry us to the playoffs is the most absurd thing Ive ever heard.

 

The fact that Neifi played so much at SS and hit so often at the top of the lineup had a whole bunch to do with why the Cubs didn't make the playoffs. He's not good enough to start on a playoff contender that already has offensive issues, and he's a brutal top of the order candidate.

 

You can't blame Neifi for not carrying this team to the playoffs, he doesn't have the talent, skills, abilities or production to be relied upon for such a task. He's a 25th man. And you don't let your 25th man leadoff or give him $6 million. Also, he's not the savior so many tried to paint him as last year. How many "where would we be without Neifi" comments did we have to hear before the truth was spoken about how handicapped this team was by his presence atop the lineup?

 

Neifi at SS last year had NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs - its not hard at all to figure that one out. Dusty's use of Neifi in the batting lineup did for sure, but his performance was far from the reason we didnt make the playoffs. Please examinie the other issues I claimed for us not making the playoffs - those are extremely more relevant. Please contrast Neifi's defense and offensive skills with those of the other #8 batters in the lineup for last years playoffs.

 

Neifi's OBP would've been 26th of 30 teams last year for the 8 spot, ahead of Molina at STL, Matheny at SF, Buck at KC, and the juggernauts in Detroit and Seattle.

[WrigleyinEngland]

I think we have to look at Hendry rather than any individual players. He risked SS with Nomar and it blew up in his face. He left the RF position until there was nothing except JB and he didn't shake the team up quick enough when we started falling. Last season for Hendry was all about being Reactive rather than Proactive along with dustbag that is the main reason we didn't make the playoffs.

[goonys evil twin]

Neifi at SS last year had NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs - its not hard at all to figure that one out. Dusty's use of Neifi in the batting lineup did for sure, but his performance was far from the reason we didnt make the playoffs. Please examinie the other issues I claimed for us not making the playoffs - those are extremely more relevant. Please contrast Neifi's defense and offensive skills with those of the other #8 batters in the lineup for last years playoffs.

 

What am I to say to this? Neifi sucked. The fact that he had to play so often hurt this team. The fact that he hit atop the order hurt this team. There were other reasons as well. SS and the OF (the entire OF) were useless, the bench was worthless, the manager was stubbornly anti-objective. Starting pitchers failed to live up to hopes and parts of the bullpen stunk.

 

But there is no possible way to gloss over the fact that Neifi at SS was a bad thing last year. Cedeno was no guarantee to be good, but given his 2004 season and the start to his 2005 in AAA, he was an infinitely better option than Neifi. Neifi is fine for the bench at minimal cost (not necessarily the minimum, as it's hard to get any veteran to play for what the kids cost - $500k-$750k is about what he's worth). There is nothing wrong with having somebody like him on your roster, at the end of the bench. But there is something terribly wrong with giving him 600 plate appearances and letting him hit at the top of the lineup in more than half of those at bats.

 

Neifi's presence on the roster didn't lose games, Neifi's over abundant presence in the lineup did.

[CardsFanInChiTown]

Neifi at SS last year had NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs - its not hard at all to figure that one out. Dusty's use of Neifi in the batting lineup did for sure, but his performance was far from the reason we didnt make the playoffs. Please examinie the other issues I claimed for us not making the playoffs - those are extremely more relevant. Please contrast Neifi's defense and offensive skills with those of the other #8 batters in the lineup for last years playoffs.

 

What am I to say to this? Neifi sucked. The fact that he had to play so often hurt this team. The fact that he hit atop the order hurt this team. There were other reasons as well. SS and the OF (the entire OF) were useless, the bench was worthless, the manager was stubbornly anti-objective. Starting pitchers failed to live up to hopes and parts of the bullpen stunk.

 

But there is no possible way to gloss over the fact that Neifi at SS was a bad thing last year. Cedeno was no guarantee to be good, but given his 2004 season and the start to his 2005 in AAA, he was an infinitely better option than Neifi. Neifi is fine for the bench at minimal cost (not necessarily the minimum, as it's hard to get any veteran to play for what the kids cost - $500k-$750k is about what he's worth). There is nothing wrong with having somebody like him on your roster, at the end of the bench. But there is something terribly wrong with giving him 600 plate appearances and letting him hit at the top of the lineup in more than half of those at bats.

 

Neifi's presence on the roster didn't lose games, Neifi's over abundant presence in the lineup did.

 

Great post.

[nolanwood]

Neifi at SS last year had NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs - its not hard at all to figure that one out. Dusty's use of Neifi in the batting lineup did for sure, but his performance was far from the reason we didnt make the playoffs. Please examinie the other issues I claimed for us not making the playoffs - those are extremely more relevant. Please contrast Neifi's defense and offensive skills with those of the other #8 batters in the lineup for last years playoffs.

 

What am I to say to this? Neifi sucked. The fact that he had to play so often hurt this team. The fact that he hit atop the order hurt this team. There were other reasons as well. SS and the OF (the entire OF) were useless, the bench was worthless, the manager was stubbornly anti-objective. Starting pitchers failed to live up to hopes and parts of the bullpen stunk.

 

But there is no possible way to gloss over the fact that Neifi at SS was a bad thing last year. Cedeno was no guarantee to be good, but given his 2004 season and the start to his 2005 in AAA, he was an infinitely better option than Neifi. Neifi is fine for the bench at minimal cost (not necessarily the minimum, as it's hard to get any veteran to play for what the kids cost - $500k-$750k is about what he's worth). There is nothing wrong with having somebody like him on your roster, at the end of the bench. But there is something terribly wrong with giving him 600 plate appearances and letting him hit at the top of the lineup in more than half of those at bats.

 

Neifi's presence on the roster didn't lose games, Neifi's over abundant presence in the lineup did.

 

Great post.

 

Let me define what is NOT great with that post, aside from all the parts you repeated from my previous post as issues and failed to notice.

 

You CANT blame Neifi!!! He served his role!!! It's that simple, and if you can't grasp it, I'm glad you're not the GM of this team either!!

 

Blame Hendry for all the reasons I stated before!

 

Blame the health concerns of the starting pitching staff!

 

Blame Crusty for his mis-use of Neifi!

 

Blame the handling of the bullpen!!

 

Blame Nomar for going down!!

 

NEIFI JUST DID HIS JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

:evil: :evil: :evil:

[fearthecubs]

 

Let me define what is NOT great with that post, aside from all the parts you repeated from my previous post as issues and failed to notice.

 

You CANT blame Neifi!!! He served his role!!! It's that simple, and if you can't grasp it, I'm glad you're not the GM of this team either!!

 

Blame Hendry for all the reasons I stated before!

 

Blame the health concerns of the starting pitching staff!

 

Blame Crusty for his mis-use of Neifi!

 

Blame the handling of the bullpen!!

 

Blame Nomar for going down!!

 

NEIFI JUST DID HIS JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

:evil: :evil: :evil:

 

You, sir, have it 110% right.

Edited November 25, 2005 by fearthecubs

[nick23]

Neifi at SS last year had NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs - its not hard at all to figure that one out. Dusty's use of Neifi in the batting lineup did for sure, but his performance was far from the reason we didnt make the playoffs. Please examinie the other issues I claimed for us not making the playoffs - those are extremely more relevant. Please contrast Neifi's defense and offensive skills with those of the other #8 batters in the lineup for last years playoffs.

 

What am I to say to this? Neifi sucked. The fact that he had to play so often hurt this team. The fact that he hit atop the order hurt this team. There were other reasons as well. SS and the OF (the entire OF) were useless, the bench was worthless, the manager was stubbornly anti-objective. Starting pitchers failed to live up to hopes and parts of the bullpen stunk.

 

But there is no possible way to gloss over the fact that Neifi at SS was a bad thing last year. Cedeno was no guarantee to be good, but given his 2004 season and the start to his 2005 in AAA, he was an infinitely better option than Neifi. Neifi is fine for the bench at minimal cost (not necessarily the minimum, as it's hard to get any veteran to play for what the kids cost - $500k-$750k is about what he's worth). There is nothing wrong with having somebody like him on your roster, at the end of the bench. But there is something terribly wrong with giving him 600 plate appearances and letting him hit at the top of the lineup in more than half of those at bats.

 

Neifi's presence on the roster didn't lose games, Neifi's over abundant presence in the lineup did.

 

Great post.

 

Let me define what is NOT great with that post, aside from all the parts you repeated from my previous post as issues and failed to notice.

 

You CANT blame Neifi!!! He served his role!!! It's that simple, and if you can't grasp it, I'm glad you're not the GM of this team either!!

 

Blame Hendry for all the reasons I stated before!

 

Blame the health concerns of the starting pitching staff!

 

Blame Crusty for his mis-use of Neifi!

 

Blame the handling of the bullpen!!

 

Blame Nomar for going down!!

 

NEIFI JUST DID HIS JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

:evil: :evil: :evil:

So did Burnitz, and he also sucked. Neifi did nothing to help this team make it to the playoffs last year. Who cares if he did his job if he sucked at doing so.

[goonys evil twin]

Let me define what is NOT great with that post, aside from all the parts you repeated from my previous post as issues and failed to notice.

 

You CANT blame Neifi!!! He served his role!!! It's that simple, and if you can't grasp it, I'm glad you're not the GM of this team either!!

 

Let me then point out what is not so great about your reading comprehension skills.

 

 

I repeatedly said that Neifi's presence in the lineup was the issue, not Neifi himself. I'm not blaming Neifi. I'm blaming the fact that he got 600 PA, over half of which were in the 1 or 2 hole. Can you please take the time to think about that? Neifi is fine on the bench. I said that, and I repeated it to make it very clear that I am not saying Neifi is completely worthless. If you signed Neifi to a 1 year $500,000 - $750,000 contract to be a backup middle infielder, and did whatever you could to not start him very often or let him leadoff or hit 2nd, you would be making a good decision. Perhaps a small market team would be better served finding another all glove no bat shortstop for half that price, but the Cubs can handle it.

 

Take for instance the Dempster issue. Dempster in the rotation was a bad thing. It took a good bullpen arm out of the bullpen (putting excess pressure on lesser bullpen arms) and put a mediocre starter into the roation (when there were several similar starters who could have done the same job). Dempster starting? Bad. Dempster relieving? Good. That doesn't mean Dempster is sometimes a bad guy and sometimes a good guy. He's an unreliable mediocre starter (or worse) and a pretty good reliever. If you have him starting, and he just "does his job" your worse off than if you had him relieving, and he just "does his job".

 

By your logic, you can't blame Burnitz for sucking in RF. He just did his job. If you look at his numbers the past couple years when he was not playing in Coors, it was pretty easy to predict what he would do in RF for the Cubs, and he did just about that. However, JB in RF and in the middle of the order did indeed severely hurt the Cubs. The Cubs got next to no production out of RF and had poor production from his spot in the order. Now, put that same guy on the bench, pay him half of what you paid him, and all of a sudden you got yourself a pretty good 4th OF. Field yourself a decent lineup with a real 3, 4, 5 and solid production out of your corner OF spots, and JB is suddenly an excellent role player. He's still the same guy. But it's the usage that matters. JB starting in RF and hitting 4th/5th? Bad. JB on the bench, occasionally starting and hitting 6th/7th? Good.

 

Neifi's regular presence in the Cubs starting lineup, and his spot at the top of the order played a significant role in the team's failure in 2005. There is no avoiding that simple fact.

[nolanwood]

Neifi at SS last year had NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs - its not hard at all to figure that one out. Dusty's use of Neifi in the batting lineup did for sure, but his performance was far from the reason we didnt make the playoffs. Please examinie the other issues I claimed for us not making the playoffs - those are extremely more relevant. Please contrast Neifi's defense and offensive skills with those of the other #8 batters in the lineup for last years playoffs.

 

What am I to say to this? Neifi sucked. The fact that he had to play so often hurt this team. The fact that he hit atop the order hurt this team. There were other reasons as well. SS and the OF (the entire OF) were useless, the bench was worthless, the manager was stubbornly anti-objective. Starting pitchers failed to live up to hopes and parts of the bullpen stunk.

 

But there is no possible way to gloss over the fact that Neifi at SS was a bad thing last year. Cedeno was no guarantee to be good, but given his 2004 season and the start to his 2005 in AAA, he was an infinitely better option than Neifi. Neifi is fine for the bench at minimal cost (not necessarily the minimum, as it's hard to get any veteran to play for what the kids cost - $500k-$750k is about what he's worth). There is nothing wrong with having somebody like him on your roster, at the end of the bench. But there is something terribly wrong with giving him 600 plate appearances and letting him hit at the top of the lineup in more than half of those at bats.

 

Neifi's presence on the roster didn't lose games, Neifi's over abundant presence in the lineup did.

 

Great post.

 

Let me define what is NOT great with that post, aside from all the parts you repeated from my previous post as issues and failed to notice.

 

You CANT blame Neifi!!! He served his role!!! It's that simple, and if you can't grasp it, I'm glad you're not the GM of this team either!!

 

Blame Hendry for all the reasons I stated before!

 

Blame the health concerns of the starting pitching staff!

 

Blame Crusty for his mis-use of Neifi!

 

Blame the handling of the bullpen!!

 

Blame Nomar for going down!!

 

NEIFI JUST DID HIS JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

:evil: :evil: :evil:

So did Burnitz, and he also sucked. Neifi did nothing to help this team make it to the playoffs last year. Who cares if he did his job if he sucked at doing so.

 

 

Actually, Neifi wasnt hired last year as a stud RFer with power. He was hired as a bench player and backup for the middle infield. Well, he served that role more than adequately. I suppose you would've preferred to see Macias there? Cedeno WOULD have been a nice option, but at that moment in time, he was NOT the option. NEIFI DID THE JOB HE WAS HIRED TO DO.

[fearthecubs]

So did Burnitz, and he also sucked. Neifi did nothing to help this team make it to the playoffs last year. Who cares if he did his job if he sucked at doing so.

 

You still lose. Burnitz wasn't the problem either. Take a closer look at LF and CF before you point fingers at RF. You'd rather of had Sosa?

[goonys evil twin]

So did Burnitz, and he also sucked. Neifi did nothing to help this team make it to the playoffs last year. Who cares if he did his job if he sucked at doing so.

 

You still lose. Burnitz wasn't the problem either. Take a closer look at LF and CF before you point fingers at RF. You'd rather of had Sosa?

 

Why don't you?

 

The Cubs ranked 15th in the NL in OPS from the RF spot. They were 16th from CF and 12th in LF. RF was an enormous hole that needs to be filled.

[nolanwood]

Let me define what is NOT great with that post, aside from all the parts you repeated from my previous post as issues and failed to notice.

 

You CANT blame Neifi!!! He served his role!!! It's that simple, and if you can't grasp it, I'm glad you're not the GM of this team either!!

 

Let me then point out what is not so great about your reading comprehension skills.

 

 

I repeatedly said that Neifi's presence in the lineup was the issue, not Neifi himself. I'm not blaming Neifi. I'm blaming the fact that he got 600 PA, over half of which were in the 1 or 2 hole. Can you please take the time to think about that? Neifi is fine on the bench. I said that, and I repeated it to make it very clear that I am not saying Neifi is completely worthless. If you signed Neifi to a 1 year $500,000 - $750,000 contract to be a backup middle infielder, and did whatever you could to not start him very often or let him leadoff or hit 2nd, you would be making a good decision. Perhaps a small market team would be better served finding another all glove no bat shortstop for half that price, but the Cubs can handle it.

 

Take for instance the Dempster issue. Dempster in the rotation was a bad thing. It took a good bullpen arm out of the bullpen (putting excess pressure on lesser bullpen arms) and put a mediocre starter into the roation (when there were several similar starters who could have done the same job). Dempster starting? Bad. Dempster relieving? Good. That doesn't mean Dempster is sometimes a bad guy and sometimes a good guy. He's an unreliable mediocre starter (or worse) and a pretty good reliever. If you have him starting, and he just "does his job" your worse off than if you had him relieving, and he just "does his job".

 

By your logic, you can't blame Burnitz for sucking in RF. He just did his job. If you look at his numbers the past couple years when he was not playing in Coors, it was pretty easy to predict what he would do in RF for the Cubs, and he did just about that. However, JB in RF and in the middle of the order did indeed severely hurt the Cubs. The Cubs got next to no production out of RF and had poor production from his spot in the order. Now, put that same guy on the bench, pay him half of what you paid him, and all of a sudden you got yourself a pretty good 4th OF. Field yourself a decent lineup with a real 3, 4, 5 and solid production out of your corner OF spots, and JB is suddenly an excellent role player. He's still the same guy. But it's the usage that matters. JB starting in RF and hitting 4th/5th? Bad. JB on the bench, occasionally starting and hitting 6th/7th? Good.

 

Neifi's regular presence in the Cubs starting lineup, and his spot at the top of the order played a significant role in the team's failure in 2005. There is no avoiding that simple fact.

 

 

Let's examine your stellar reading comprehensive skills - rewording everything I said and throwing it in your reasoning?

 

I believe I read correctly when you stated "Neifi sucked". And that's where I'm coming from. My comprehension is just fine, thank you :wink:

Can you comprehend that?

Edited November 25, 2005 by nolanwood

[fearthecubs]

 

Let me then point out what is not so great about your reading comprehension skills.

 

Let me point something out, having a high post count doesn't allow you the luxury of personal attacks.

[Warpticon]

So did Burnitz, and he also sucked. Neifi did nothing to help this team make it to the playoffs last year. Who cares if he did his job if he sucked at doing so.

 

You still lose. Burnitz wasn't the problem either. Take a closer look at LF and CF before you point fingers at RF. You'd rather of had Sosa?

 

I'm sorry, but I don't understand how a player performing poorly is excused because another player might have sucked more. I thought the idea was to have fewer players that suck.

[goonys evil twin]

Let's examine your stellar reading comprehensive skills - rewording everything I said and throwing it in your reasoning?

 

I believe I read correctly when you stated "Neifi sucked". And that's where I'm coming from? My comprehension is just fine, thank you :wink:

Can you comprehend that?

 

Neifi did suck. His inability to hit wouldn't hurt a team that used him properly. But the Cubs inability to use him properly hurt them.

 

I've been saying what I said in that post for a while. I did not take any of your thoughts and simply turn the words around.

[fearthecubs]

So did Burnitz, and he also sucked. Neifi did nothing to help this team make it to the playoffs last year. Who cares if he did his job if he sucked at doing so.

 

You still lose. Burnitz wasn't the problem either. Take a closer look at LF and CF before you point fingers at RF. You'd rather of had Sosa?

 

I'm sorry, but I don't understand how a player performing poorly is excused because another player might have sucked more. I thought the idea was to have fewer players that suck.

 

Burnitz didn't suck that bad. His defense was above average. Every team has a hole, look at the Mets and 1B last year. You can't expect greatness from everyone, I'd say the Cubs got what they paid for from Burnitz. While that doesn't make Burnitz a critical cog in the Cubs machine, it puts him above Wood in my opinion, and Wood made 4 million more than Burnitz. You can look at it any way you want to - the point is, Neifi and Burnitz did what they were asked and how many Cubs can you REALLY say that for last year?

[nolanwood]

Let's examine your stellar reading comprehensive skills - rewording everything I said and throwing it in your reasoning?

 

I believe I read correctly when you stated "Neifi sucked". And that's where I'm coming from? My comprehension is just fine, thank you :wink:

Can you comprehend that?

 

Neifi did suck. His inability to hit wouldn't hurt a team that used him properly. But the Cubs inability to use him properly hurt them.

 

I've been saying what I said in that post for a while. I did not take any of your thoughts and simply turn the words around.

 

 

Oh, come one....this is alot more simple to figure out than what you're making it. The misuse of Neifi DID suck. That doesn't mean Neifi sucks, right? It's that simple, Captain Comprehension.

[Warpticon]

Let me define what is NOT great with that post, aside from all the parts you repeated from my previous post as issues and failed to notice.

 

You CANT blame Neifi!!! He served his role!!! It's that simple, and if you can't grasp it, I'm glad you're not the GM of this team either!!

 

Let me then point out what is not so great about your reading comprehension skills.

 

 

I repeatedly said that Neifi's presence in the lineup was the issue, not Neifi himself. I'm not blaming Neifi. I'm blaming the fact that he got 600 PA, over half of which were in the 1 or 2 hole. Can you please take the time to think about that? Neifi is fine on the bench. I said that, and I repeated it to make it very clear that I am not saying Neifi is completely worthless. If you signed Neifi to a 1 year $500,000 - $750,000 contract to be a backup middle infielder, and did whatever you could to not start him very often or let him leadoff or hit 2nd, you would be making a good decision. Perhaps a small market team would be better served finding another all glove no bat shortstop for half that price, but the Cubs can handle it.

 

Take for instance the Dempster issue. Dempster in the rotation was a bad thing. It took a good bullpen arm out of the bullpen (putting excess pressure on lesser bullpen arms) and put a mediocre starter into the roation (when there were several similar starters who could have done the same job). Dempster starting? Bad. Dempster relieving? Good. That doesn't mean Dempster is sometimes a bad guy and sometimes a good guy. He's an unreliable mediocre starter (or worse) and a pretty good reliever. If you have him starting, and he just "does his job" your worse off than if you had him relieving, and he just "does his job".

 

By your logic, you can't blame Burnitz for sucking in RF. He just did his job. If you look at his numbers the past couple years when he was not playing in Coors, it was pretty easy to predict what he would do in RF for the Cubs, and he did just about that. However, JB in RF and in the middle of the order did indeed severely hurt the Cubs. The Cubs got next to no production out of RF and had poor production from his spot in the order. Now, put that same guy on the bench, pay him half of what you paid him, and all of a sudden you got yourself a pretty good 4th OF. Field yourself a decent lineup with a real 3, 4, 5 and solid production out of your corner OF spots, and JB is suddenly an excellent role player. He's still the same guy. But it's the usage that matters. JB starting in RF and hitting 4th/5th? Bad. JB on the bench, occasionally starting and hitting 6th/7th? Good.

 

Neifi's regular presence in the Cubs starting lineup, and his spot at the top of the order played a significant role in the team's failure in 2005. There is no avoiding that simple fact.

 

 

Let's examine your stellar reading comprehensive skills - rewording everything I said and throwing it in your reasoning?

 

I believe I read correctly when you stated "Neifi sucked". And that's where I'm coming from. My comprehension is just fine, thank you :wink:

Can you comprehend that?

 

So I guess you're saying he *didn't* suck? Because while he was good defensively, he was pretty poor offensively. Just because he wasn't supposed to play that much doesn't change the fact that, besides one hot month, he was awful at the plate.

 

Just because he was "doing his job" doesn't mean it was adequate.