CubinNY

I love getting dome! ... :-k Did you study today? Good pick-up :crosses fingers:

I wouldn't mind that at all. Either he'll not be worth the money or he'll be in the AL, so who cares. The WS are just another team not playing in the NL.

ST is about the worst time to evaluate a player. The problem is that the Cubs cannot really afford either one to stink once the season begins. I'd take my chances with Cedeno.

Pretty much every forum that has this info lists the payroll of the team's opening day roster. For instance, you won't see the $16m the Cubs paid Baltimore to take Sammy Sosa, or the $3+ million they paid Rusch not to pitch. They will not account for midseason acquisitions like Nomar Garciaparra, Aramis Ramirez, Kenny Lofton, or Steve Trachsel. They won't include the money the Cubs will pay Detroit to take Jones. They fail to take into account a lot of things, and when you do take this into account, it's clear the Cubs have had financial resources to spend than their divisional competition. That is certainly a factor in to why those numbers would be off. At the same time, over the years the Cardinals have added plenty of money at the deadline themselves (probably more than the Cubs have because the Cubs have rarely been good enough to add payroll during the season), and both have had years where they have cut money at the deadline. As for paying money as part of a trade, iirc the Cardinals have done that a lot less than the Cubs have. At the same time, the Cardianls have been much more active during the season of cutting struggling players, eating the dead money, and signing new players for small contracts that still add up. Those reasons do throw the reported figures off, but that still doesn't push the Cubs significantly above the Cardinals. How much is significant? I'd say $1 dollar more than it takes to get a player they want. The fact is that the Cubs have spent more to get less than almost any other team in baseball. They have an advantage over every team in this division, including the Cardinals. And it isn't even close. In the Hendry era they've spent plenty and have nothing to show for it but a couple of mediocre seasons and a few terrible ones.

Study!

It's got its own solar system.

I went with Krivsky. The Reds underachieve every year and he just hired Dusty.

If the Cubs get Fukudome and Roberts, I will be pretty happy with this off-season. I will be expecting at least 90 wins too.

Just the same, I wouldn't get too worked up over any rumor posted on a message board, we are usually among the unwashed masses who get to know when everyone else does. I imagine Bruce Miles will know something before bigbird.

If he has a good DC and recruits well his style of offense would really play well in the Pac 10.

The design of the stadium fits the design of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge very well. It should be quite beautiful.

Take off some weight, add some speed and various injuries, and put him in RF and he sounds like Ryan Harvey to me.

Cuban bashing at its most absurd

I read all 7 pages, nothing occurs in a vacuum, everything is relative. The entire thread is comparing him to Izturis. Would I rather have Theriot than Izturis? yes. But that's like saying I'd rather have avian flu than testicular cancer.

coughMattMurtoncough

If Sean gets traded will you still be a Cubs fan?

Leave it to the guy with the caveman avatar to talk about speediness and lineup balance. Interesting first post. Yeah, it wasn't that great. Second post isn't much better. I thought it was very à propos. Well done and welcome.

The funniest quote: Yea, Roberts isn't coming to Chicago.

Dave Dombrowski is a really good GM.

Welcome to the forum. Discrepancy in defense? Speed- ok, but marginal upgrade at best, I guess Lineup balance- The year that lineup balance becomes important will be the first year it's been important. Marginal upgrade yes, but any upgrade is good. The question is the cost. Fukudome fills a position of need. Roberts, not so much. I'm not necessarily against it though.

What the hell, are all the GMs going out to the bars or something? Will Fukudome's agent be fielding drunk dials? There are about 5 bars inside the Oppry Land Hotel and about 20 or 30 places to eat. The place is like a city.

I like that deal much better. I'd probably do a Sean M., Sean G., Matt M. trade.

Leadoff hitter is not a position in the game of baseball. what is your problem, I made a mistake on saying that if thats your best comeback on trying to make me look bad then u obviously have no case in that argument Ok, now it's on. Matt Murton is a pre-prime, cheap OF who's proven he can be a decent, cheap OF. We currently have no RF. Brian Roberts is a 32 year old 2B who's marginally better than our current 2B and makes $4.2m. He would cost the Cubs 2 or 3 good trading chips. Thus, Matt Murton has more value to the Cubs than this trade for Brian Roberts. Second, leadoff hitter isn't a position. It's an old timey way of looking at a lineup's composition (which really doesn't matter much when you look at it). Offense is offense, regardless if it is hitting 1st, 6th or 8th. Finally, baseballs don't travel differently in the minors as opposed to the majors. Pie's minor league career is a perfectly justified method of evaluating his defensive ability. And for what it's worth, 40 ML games isn't that small of a sample size. psst, Roberts will be 30 next year.

Cripes, not another painfully long and agonizing thread... What would you do as a moderator to shorten them?

Am I thinking of a different Brian Roberts? That's awfully steep. Done without a second thought. I must be thinking of a different Brian Roberts too, because that is one lopsided trade. He's basically Matt Murton playing 2nd. That is basically a ridiculous statement. .281 .351 .409 Roberts .296 .365 .455 Murton Sorry, a tad bit worse than Murton. I disagree. Those three statistics aren't the only three you can use to make blanket judgements with. Murton is also a butcher defensively in my opinion. Plus you are comparing statistics of players who play positions with drastically different offensive positions. I don't see Murton as ever being an above average everyday outfielder. He's a nice 4th outfielder type. He doesn't project for power and I don't think he's got enough speed in the field or on the paths to make up for his warning track power. Your opinion means a lot more than the numbers. Here's the deal for me, it doesn't matter where you get the offense it matters how much offense you get. I'd love to see the Cubs upgrade in RF. Hopefully they get Fukudome. However, nothing happens in a vacuum. Currently, the Cubs have a hole in RF, SS, and CF. Brian Roberts plays none of those positions and, if the rumors are true will take three tradable players to get. So, if they don't get Fukudome and Roberts moves DeRosa all over the diamond and they lose Cedeno, Murton, and another players. They've upgraded slightly at 2nd and have "shot their wad" so to speak.