KingKongvs.Godzilla

This is exactly what I see happening. I think Hendry can pull off signing one of the 1B, and that's a very obvious must do for the Cubs. Its a move that's much easer to make with a FO not in complete flux. I'm getting more and more convinced that Carlos Pena will be our Opening Day 1B next year. Generally a bad year will create the mentality that nothing good is to come.

This is exactly what I see happening. I think Hendry can pull off signing one of the 1B, and that's a very obvious must do for the Cubs. Its a move that's much easer to make with a FO not in complete flux.

Or Jeff Francouer when he showed he had no ability to tell a ball from a strike as he put up hilariously bad numbers in the major leagues for 3 seasons. Or Brandon Wood who hasn't hit outside the PCL in 6 years. Francoeur's plate discipline alone doesn't preclude him from being a successful player (look at Kemp, Soriano, Crawford, CarGo, Hart, Pence, ...) and Wood's defense at 3B has been good enough he could still hit his AAA MLE of .293 obp/.416 slg and be an above-average player where are you going with this? my central premise was that these guys were underperforming their potential. Alex Gordon had 0.1 WAR the last two seasons, getting oft-demoted and i was (outwardly) hoping like hell we would heavily pursue him That it's a lot easier to see these as guys to pursue in hindsight. Kotchman and Francouer haven't been prospects in a long time. How many major league ABs before a guy is no longer considered a former prospect, and instead is a mediocre major leaguer? (Or worse in Francouer's case.) You've got 2300 major league PAs of 720 OPS from Kotchman and you want to pick him up because BA rated him highly 6 years ago. You've got 3400 major leauge PAs of 730 OPS from Francouer, and you want to pick him because he had a good 250 ABs 7 years ago. Pedigree. The fact that at one point people really thought they'd be high end baseball players no doubt helped them stick around.

Pretty much why this whole story is kind of bs, though I don't see what Quade did wrong in this situation (besides existing as the manger for the 2011 Cubs). Just more press and attention for the Cubs..."Any press is good press," amirite? DO YOU SEE THIS PUJOLS/FIELDER?

etc There is a whole world of Cubs fans who truly believe Ramirez is lazy, doesn't try, doesn't lead, and basically doesn't do anything but promote losing. I hate it.

Rotfl @ Hollandsworth's new Ramirez made hole.

Anyone have an opinion on how Appel stacks up against the recent top college pitching prospects? Just to throw out a name - Justin Verlander-esque?

What's the latest word on Maples and Dunston Jr? I'm not sure what it is about Dunston Jr, but I really buy into him as a player and I want him in the system.

Gdamn that site was great...Maddux.xmission.com....Those were the internet days.

Me...Hendry's got one year left on his contract and the moves the Cubs have to make are fairly obvious one (signs a 1B, spend remaining money on pitching, maybe make a trade). I think Hendry can handle that. If I had a choice I think my top 5 candidates would be: 1 - Cashman - I do think his days with the Yankees are running short. 2 - Damon Oppenheimer - Background is very Hendry-esque as he's a farm system guy (which is why I'm not too big on Logan White here), but he's got a Yankee pedigree so he er..."knows how to win." No but really, he's a smart guy. 3 - Ben Cherington 4 - Rich Hahn - He's interesting. 5 - Kim Ng - Just to throw the baseball world for a loop. If she was a guy she'd have been a GM years ago (probably even the Dodgers job).

I slept on it, woke up, and still didn't care. Carlos Zambrano can still be a good pitcher and help out a team. Beyond that, meh. Is anything actually going to happen anyway?

I'm a huge LeMahieu fan so I hope it's him at 2B next year for vindication's sake. Just to throw the name out there, Kelly Johnson anyone?

and how did that turn out for the cubs? certainly none of those big contracts have hurt the cubs in the past few years. but hey, we were pretty for 2 years in a row, so who cares. Well they won the division, and in one of those years even lead the whole NL in wins. So....good? The only big contract hurting the Cubs is the Soriano one, IMO. MAYBE the Zambrano one, but at 30 he's got plenty of time to turn it around.

Hendry has been messing up with extra money to spend for years, not sure why it would change now. Can he spend 40 million to build an 85 win team? Sure. But I'd rather have a new GM put this organization in the right direction. Two things I disagree with: - The last time Hendry played with with freed up money the Cubs won back to back division titles for the first time in how many years? Almost 80 now? - 85 wins would be a step in the right direction. - What's the "right direction?" For me, the right direction is winning. This offseason offers a chance to do that simply by buying young and/or high end talent like a Fielder/Pujols plus maybe a Wilson and maybe even Beltran as a cherry on top.

That really does sound terrible. I'm not even sure I'd be able to look at myself if I was in that predicament. The guy's got a family to feed and the best he might get is 4 offers in the 200 million range? I suppose in this economy he should be counting his blessings, amirite?(!)

My argument was more that we'll have to add more valuable pieces through free agency in the coming years, since the Cardinals already have more useful pieces than we do and potentially have more coming up. And I never meant to conflate Hendry's contract status with the Cardinals. I was originally pointing out that the Cardinals may have just as much money as we do in the offseason and a better team in response to a comment that the rest of the division is bound to get worse this offseason. I think it's up to debate whether the Cardinals have more pieces than us around a superstar. This team has individual pieces that can be called good, productive MLB players too, and more on the way like Brett Jackson. This division is bad. I'd be really disappointed if the Cubs didn't compete. I feel like a new GM is a ready made excuse for another year of losing (oh we want to rebuild it right!...which I also feel would mean "cheap"). I'm not 100% for keeping Hendry, but I do think that a new GM would have to acclimate himself quickly and move even more quickly to make some moves even Hendry would have a hard to messing up given the money he has to spend to do it. Another way I see it is that this offseason isn't about Hendry or the GM, it's about Ricketts. Ricketts is the one who'll be paying for the whole shebang, and with Trib contracts finally coming off the books he has a chance to show fans the kind of vision he has for this franchise. He'll be the driving force in a FA splurge this offseason for this franchise, and if anything gets done it will be because he let it happen. This is his moment to shine as much as it is for anyone else, and I don't think he's sat taking a beating for two years to sit around during his first chance to make an impact on the franchise.

While it isn't fair and I don't necessarily agree with it all, every columnist/talking head (even the ones I think a lot of people around here respect) has bashed the Cubs since the deadline. This team is the laughing stock of the league right now. Someone has to be held accountable. By your logic we should never make a move. Too much acceptance of loser culture in this fanbase. That's not my logic at all, and while this year sucks that doesn't mean they're bound to suck next year. All these little things...people laughing, calling for heads, and being a league wide joke (which I guess is new to the Cubs)...are a product of not winning.

I'd fire Hendry on the condition that the new guy is really good. I don't think the Cubs are far off from being competitive given than someone makes the very obvious right moves (sign Fielder/Pujols + add a pitcher or two + probably an OF bat + bring back Ramirez or figure out a 3B plan). You get 3/4 those things done and this team can compete in this crap division. There's other ways to boost the talent in the FO without firing Hendry. One even seems to be in the talks with Pat Gillick maybe coming on as a big title consultant to act as a pillar of wisdom and experience in the FO. It's a good idea, I think. And weirdly enough, I do feel there's something to Hendry giving us a leg up in bringing in one of the 1B. Why would they want to come to a franchise that has just fired it's longtime GM and plans to go in a completely new direction? That's a pretty dramatic change to be making while trying to pursue one of two of the ten best bats in baseball.

There does seem to be a general feeling that his head must roll or the franchise won't be able to move on. The results speak volumes. To me, it's simple as that. He hasn't gotten it done, for whatever reasons. And he's been given more than enough time to do so. Time to move on. See I'd completely buy that, but then Brian Sabean went and won a WS without Barry Bonds.

I'm still not convinced on Lee. He has made a major step forward, but thanks to his strikeout binge lately he has an .843 OPS on the season with a .393 BABIP. His speed should help give him an increased BABIP, but probably not that high. I'd put him as the best prospect from the Garza trade at this point and I think he will have a decent major league career especially if his defense becomes less erratic. I'm just don't know yet if he'll be a star. I think he's an Erik Aybar type who has the chance to become an Orlando Cabrera type in the long term....Probably my favorite prospect from the Garza trade, but in the end right now and for the foreseeable future he's simply prospecting for an MLB career.

There does seem to be a general feeling that his head must roll or the franchise won't be able to move on.

for a guy who has lost velocity and consistency since last year it is quite a trade. But that doesn't necessarily mean he wont be his dominant self again next year. Iunno the Indians have been pretty good at turning pitchers around, and Jimenez does have extraordinary talent. I'm not his biggest fan, but he could do really well if he makes the necessary adjustments after the league has adjusted to him.

I get that, but last year we didn't get a Lars Andersen back for Ted Lilly. Lilly is a lot better than what's left of Rich Harden. Lars Anderson hasn't been all that good since 2008. He had a good maybe 50 PAs at some level last year, but otherwise he's been uninspiring as a corner bat. And weirdly enough the difference is in DeWitt's favor.

What sucks is no clips on the internet.

None of this information has been confirmed, either. We need to be cautious. However, between this draft, the potential 2012 top 5 draft pick, the emergence of legitimately intriguing Latin American position prospects in the DSL and AZL, and the possibility that one of the high ceiling arms in Peoria/Boise has a breakout season next year, there is reason for optimism for this farm system going forward. Don't forget potential breakouts from guys who didn't break out (or completely break out) in 2011 like McNutt, Simpson, Jae Hoon Ha, and Matt Szczur. I like the Schlect and Jensen confirmed signings. DeVoss also has been pretty exciting for Boise.