CubinNY

The best of which is to retire from playing baseball

There are actually two positions left. CF and SS. Don't forget 2B... Mark DeRosa? Like he said, 2B... Like HE said, Mark Derosa. Kat is female.

Maybe 5 years ago. The kid has never ben above A ball, and has sat out two or three full seasons. There is no way he is in any position to be the Cubs CF for a long time. That said, there is no harm in picking him, but I don't think it is anything to get excited about. Read the follow-up discussion, if you haven't yet. As it turns out the Cubs drafted him in order to then spin him off to Cincinnati (apparently Cincinnati was afraid somebody else would draft him before it was their turn). REAL Sports on HBO had a real nice piece on Hamilton. According to the piece he's completely turned his life around thanks to his wife's father. He's been sober for over two years. IMO, this is a great pick up Are you saying it is a great pickup if they can work out a deal to keep him in the organization? I just don't see it as "great" if they expect this guy to somehow stick on a major league roster after playing only 15 games this past year. And those 15 games were the first games he had played since 2002! There is no way... We shall see. I wish Hendry wouldn't have traded him for cash. I really don't understand the point unless Hendry is working on a trade with the Reds and used this as a sweatener. I hoping the trade involves the Cubs RF for the Reds LF

Maybe 5 years ago. The kid has never ben above A ball, and has sat out two or three full seasons. There is no way he is in any position to be the Cubs CF for a long time. That said, there is no harm in picking him, but I don't think it is anything to get excited about. Read the follow-up discussion, if you haven't yet. As it turns out the Cubs drafted him in order to then spin him off to Cincinnati (apparently Cincinnati was afraid somebody else would draft him before it was their turn). REAL Sports on HBO had a real nice piece on Hamilton. According to the piece he's completely turned his life around thanks to his wife's father. He's been sober for over two years. IMO, this is a great pick up

That's what I said. But stronger than what they were doesn't mean good. I'd be shocked if the 2007 doesn't tack on .015-.020 to the 2006 team OBP, which would put them in the upper half of the NL. I'd be shocked if the Cubs are in the middle of the pack in terms of OBP. Soriano is a career .325 DeRosa is a career .331 Sure the addition of Lee may help, but the Cubs haven't done much in the way of addressing a major weakness, yet. A weakness that they've had for the run of the Hendry GMship. And if Soriano is leading off and DeRosa bats in the two slot I don't see a whole lot of improvement in the runs scored department aside from a lot of solo HRs from Soriano.

Take the number of innings pitched and divide by the number of starts.

That's what I'm hoping for. Leaving the AL East should help some.

The impression I got from that bit was that he would only buy the Cubs from whoever bought the entire Tribune Co. Smart decision on his part to look into that option, since it seems the Tribune will be sold as one big chunk. So look for Cuban to attempt to buy the Cubs from whoever buys the whole Trib Co. The problem with that idea is that the Cubs are the only asset that generates significanlty more income than it costs to prodiuce the product. That's why the Tribune Company wants to sell the Cubs with the Trib. It's like making a team take a bad contract for getting a good player. The team will not sell the good player without the other team taking back the bad contract. I cannot see whomever buys the trib selling the Cubs. They are a cash cow. The rest is just a loss leader. It's Walmart 101. Ah, the power of ignorance. Repeat a lie long enough and it becomes truth. If you actually checked the balance sheet, you'd note that in 2005 Tribune Co. had $1.15 billion in profits, on $5.60 billion in revenues, for a 20.5% profit margin--no chump change, that. Of that profit, only $33.4 million -- roughly a third -- was from the radio/entertainment sector, which includes the Cubs. Revenue for that sector was $248 million, which gave the Trib a 13.4% profit margin. So, in reality, profit margins for TribCo's OTHER divisions are HIGHER that that of the Cubs. The reason why the Cubs are such a valuable part of TribCo have more to with the value of the asset when SOLD, and the prestige of owning a very rare commodity. If I may jump on my soapbox, the reason TribCo is perceived as being in trouble is because newspapers are seen as a dying breed, and the market insists on 20% profit margins for them nonetheless. The Trib is not percieved as being in trouble, it is in trouble. Trib 2 year graph http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=TRB&t=2y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c= You probably don't own much stock in Gannett or other major newspaper companies Gannett 2 year graph http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=GCI&t=2y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c= Article on Newspaper market in general http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/03/14/newspaper-stock-and-the-paper-its-printed-on The only way for newspapers to make money is to focus on other media such as the internet or broadcasting to generate profits. I agree, the only reason why someone who bought the Trib lock-stock-and-barrel would sell the Cubs is the value of the sold asset. They'd make a killing. But they'd be left with the LA times, an asset that is hardly worth keeping as a stand alone.

One thing about Hendry that I like is that he seems to be hard working. I'd like for him to work more smartly and less hard though. I hope this is just exhaustion and not something more seriouse.

Pagen actually has some value. He's not a bad 25th man.

I'd give them Hill and J. Jones and their pick of an AA pitcher for Hudson and Andruw Jones at call it an offseason. The minor league would need some serious restocking (but let's be honest, it already does). So the rotation would be Zambrano, Hudson, Miller, Marshall and Prior? Really, I wasn't thinking about who else would be in the rotation. But if I compare any of the minor leaguers to Meche or Lilly I don't think there is that much of a difference. I think I'd have Guzman in the rotation somewhere My idea probably isn't a good one, however I'd rather have A. Jones, Hudson, and Guzman than JJ, Meche and Lilly

I'd give them Hill and J. Jones and their pick of an AA pitcher for Hudson and Andruw Jones at call it an offseason. The minor league would need some serious restocking (but let's be honest, it already does).

I can go with that. IMO, he's a good scout who's in way over his head.

Hates giving up walks, "you can't walk guys and run the count with at wrigley" Likes the young pitchers and thinks that they've learned a lot. Thinks Marmol could be a good pitcher and looks to use him in the bullpen Thinks Wood could be a huge addtion "at the end of the game" (sounds like Dempster could be on the hot seat) Loves Soriano, "I look for some big flys at the begining of the game" Not much else to report.

No, they would be good but you hadn't given one... A quote from a MLB.com writer saying Schmidt's agent hadn't ruled out St. Louis is not a quote from Schmidt stating interest in Chicago. Which leads me to: Then I guess the problem was in how you worded it. You have to understand when you attribute a quote to someone and say you could provide it that's quite different than saying your opinion is that West coast isn't a necessity since he hadn't publically stated zero interest in all the non-West teams in circulating rumors. The latter (what you actually meant) is an opinion and something I would have had no questions with. The first (what you actually said) was not a matter of opinion since you claimed you could provide a published statement of interest. I only wanted to know if I missed something or if you had meant something other than you said. Glad we got that cleared up.

Funny that's exactly what my friend said about Lilly but I think Lilly is better than that. It's not even close. The most they have in common is that their left-handed. Do you bother to look stuff up? Career Averages Lilly Estes 184 203 IP 99 90 ERA+ 4.6 4.7 ERA 75 104 BB 157 148 SO 1.3 1.5 WHIP Pretty close, but Lilly looks marginally better.

If the 4/60 rumors re: the Cubs were true, he must have really wanted to stay west of the rockies. Does Lilly remind anyone else of Estes?

well, poop.

IMO going into the seaon hoping Hill, Marshall, et al. improve is equivalent to going into the seaon hoping Meche and Lilly maintain. Neither option is good.

Dunn is not slow but he had a bad year in the field. However, he'd have to really be a butcher out there to overcome the number of runs he creates. He's exactly what the Cubs need. But I expect Jim Hendry to be appearing in a GEICO comercial very soon so I doubt Dunn is an aption "So easy even a Hendry can do it."

JJ also bested career numbers in AVE/OBP/SLG/OPS and OPS+. One could call that a career year. Still he was better than Giles and is four years younger. I'd expect JJ to outproduce Giles again next year too.

12 conference champs 4 Alternates All D-I school must be in a conference. All confernces must have a championship game. Alternates chosen by a selection committee (made up of the media and league officials). All games played at the higher seeded team's field until the championship that is played at a neutral site the week before the superbowl. The season starts later and there is only 10 games per team not counting the playoffs and championship game.

4/40 for a 4.36 ERA in 1st year of the deal? Awesome, what a bargain! feel free to share your ideas for what the cubs should do. They could've NOT tried to do a worst-to-first overnight rebuilding job in the least favorable market in the history of pro sports. I would have liked them to go after Drew instead of Soriano. However, they still got a pretty good player. Now if the Cubs get Lilly and Marquis I won't be happy. But if they get Schmidt and Lilly I will be. Anyone know if they get both how many SP will be on the team. Who's out of options?

Yeah we signed a utility infielder so we can move one of our better prospects to another position. Brilliant. Gotta love how Jim Hendry's not held responsible for his actions as closely as he should. http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-061204cubs,1,1236144.story?coll=cs-home-headlines Oh and then the article goes on to talk about how the Cubs are excited to have two 40 stolen base threats at the top of the lineup in a few years in Pie and Patterson to go along with Soriano. I'm so thrilled. I hate ignorant people. I agree. It hurts so much to see this crap happening. If they move Patterson from second permenantly he goes from a good prospect to a roster filler.

Floyd really doesn't have much in the way of value any longer. If I were Kenny I'd throw in Crede to try and get Hamels. won't work, hamels is untouchable I doubt untouchable is the word. Ryan Sweeney, Crede, Vasquez and Garcia would probably get Hamels and Rowand. That'd be a steal for the sox. Hamels can deal it.