CubinNY

I think a better option would be to try and make the offense better and still play the season. We just did make our offense better. How much will be the key. Will Soriono mirror last season again? Will D. Lee put up his 2005 Numbers? Its a safe bet Aram will remain steady. Its a safe bet Izturis will be terrible at the plate. If Soriono and Lee put up those #'s, this team should score plenty. Go take a look at the 2003 and 2004 teams. They crushed the ball, but the Cubs were still in the middle of the pack in terms of runs scored.

In 25AB: .360 .407 .840 1.247 Not bad at all... yeah, but that was against Cubs pitching People never seem to look at that side of "Oh, well he hits well in Wrigley". Some guys just hit really good at certain parks...Thats why I wouldnt mind C Lee here, hes a monster at Wrigley with over a 1.000 OPS...I rember hated playing Abreu when he was on the Phillies whenever he came here..He destroyed us every at bat pretty much..Also Beltran was a monster at Wrigley...Lot of guys just do really good in a certain place and atmosphere I think you would have more of a case if Carlos Lee played for the Cubs previously. You cannot separate the pitcher from the team.

Holy hyperboli, Batman!

He has Ceaser with 3 I believe.

I want chaos. USC beats ND and looses to UCLA Florida looses in the SEC title game Arkansas looses to LSU this week. However, no one will touch OSU this year. I've been saying it for a while now. I don't think I've seen a more complete team in a long time. That includes the first USC championship with Palmer.

I'ts been stated in numerous threads. I've done the number crunching before, and don't want to repeat it again. Soriano's splits at leadoff for his career dwarf his splits at 3, 4, or 5 in the lineup. It's not even close. It the guy had his worst years in Texas surrounded by Texiera and Blalock in a power lineup in a hitter's ballpark, but had his best year ever leading off in Washington, surrounded by a lot of duds in the worst hitter's park in baseball, I would not even consider Soriano as anything but a leadoff hitter. He defies convention and the best coaching move is to ignore convention in his case. Put him where he will produce based on a history of production, not where he is supposed to produce but has come up short in over 1000 ABs sample size for his career. Fair enough. I'll take your word for it. Corelation does not equal causaltiy. There are any number of alternaitve explanations that can account for his production.

*cringe* Caviar Thank you CT. How's the freshman year treating you? Sorry, I'm an English major. I'm a sophomore now actually. It's going alright. Wow. Time fles. Post more, why don't ya?

*cringe* Caviar Thank you CT. How's the freshman year treating you?

The tool assumes .150 OBP and .150 SLG? No, I plugged in the actual OBP and SLG of Cubs pitchers last year. You expect 830 runs? Really? Do you think Soriano makes that much difference? You do know that the 2004 team with Lee, Alou, Sosa, Ramirez, Patterson (who had a pretty good year), Barrett, Gonzalez/Nomar (both better offensively than Izturis) and Walker/Grudz didn't score even 800 runs? You do realize the 2006 team was 2nd worst in the NL in runs scored? I'd be happy if this were a top 5 offense, but it's not. I'd be thrilled if this was an 830-run offense, but it's not. Nice work. I think this is the point that many people were trying to make in the first 50 or so pages of the Soriano thread. Soriano is a definate upgrade, but for the Cubs to be an elite offensive team they will still need someone to get on base in front of the big hitters. Soriano brings the pain with his SLG, but he is not an OBP guy. I believe it would be wise for the Cubs to take the most advantage they can from this lineup and move Soriano down. Producing runs is the name of the game, 40/40 is nice but unless it leads to a lot more runs the Cubs will still have a mediocre offense.

If I were Hendry, I give Drew a heavily front loaded five year contract with big incentives for PAs. I really doubt they are going to activley pursue Drew though. I think he was plan B all along.

Good call. I have no problem with this. I wouldn't have had any problem with Pujols either though. Pujols will probably sitll win 3 or 4 more MVPs. I bet the Cardinal fans are a whizzing and a moaning over this one.

see But isn't that true about most people? If one can do something he or she likes and get paid for it, it doesn't necessarily make one a whore. Or does it? I mean, I'd love to get a job at Harvard but if they don't pay me what I could get at Oklahoma I'm going to be a Sooner.

I imagine the press conference will be tomorro. He's supposed to be taking a physical today. I hope his blood pressure is in acceptable ranges after potentially making his children's children rich.

Imagine that lineup. I would be impressed too but I don't see that happening. We still have to spend money on pitching. If Hendry can sign Shmidt, I will be impressed. If Shmidt stays healthy I will be more impressed. I think if Hendry gets a top of the rotation starter out of this offseason he will have had a smashing success... at least on paper.

This is my position as well. It's not that Soriano is a bad signing. As I've said before, the Cubs will still have a hard time scoring runs on a consistent basis unless Soriano has stopped his free swinging ways. But what I'd really like to see is Soriano dropped in the order to take advantage of his SLG. He's not really a guy that brings a ton of OBP with him. But he can drive in runs. ? Murton Lee Soriano Aramis or ? Murton Lee Aramis Soriano

Blurb about Lee in the ESPN Rumor Central. Does this guy really consider Lee to be a superior hitter to JD Drew and Barry Bonds? Wow. It's not an indefensible position to say that Lee is a better hitter than Drew. Drew has the better OBP, but Lee has the better power. The why does Drew have a higher career slugging average? The only way that Lee is better than Drew is that he is more a sure thing to play 150 games. When Drew is on the field he is superior to Lee in almost every single way. Maybe Lee has intangibles? Will never know becuase they are intagible, but it could be true.

Vance, Are you still drunk from last night?

What a terrible argument. Last I checked the BoSox won a WS in 2004. The Yankees have won a few in the past 10 years as well. The Mets could easily win it next season. No Big Spending does not equal championships, but it usually keeps you in contention year in and year out. Right now, as a Cubs fan, I'll certainlty take that. Why is it a terrible arguement. those three team have one championship between them in the last six years. the yankees went on their championship run before they started the massive spending the have today. the mets have been spending big for years and haven't come close to a championship. how many championships did baltimore win in the 90's when they were grossly out-spending everyone? it's relevant. Spending money doesn't keep you from winning. That's completely absurd. It will increase your chances of going to the playoffs and get you better players in the long run. Just because other teams who spend money haven't won the World Series in the last few years doesn't mean it's impossible to do so. But the key is spending wisely. The Mets of the Mo Vaughn era where terrible and spent and spent. Baltimore has spent big time too. I think that is what gets lost sometimes when looking at Minnesota and Oakland. They spend money. They're not the Tampa Bay's and Pittsburghs of the world. What they do differently is that they spend money wisely and use the assets they have to make themselves better. On the face of it, I would say getting Soriano for the price and years was not wise but it beats not getting him, I guess. The Cubs will still have a hard time scoring runs this year unless Soriano has left his free swinging days behind him.

I think I read somewhere that the Cubs will not be raising ticket prices.

Are you serious? Personally, I think what you just said is completely, utterly absurd. Soriano, regardless of what team he's on, has a position to play. Just MO. Let's just have fun with this, shall we? If what people are saying is true, i.e., the Cubs are penciling him in for RF, then I worry about it. If he's replacing Murton in LF, then I hope the Cubs can get a RFer. If he's in CF, then I worry. We know he is terrible at 2nd, but the Cubs have signed DeRosa. Even with the poor defense at 2nd, that's where I'd play him. I know it is self-evident, but the point is making a good team, not signing a collection of good players and moving them around.

does anyone realize that would trash Pie's development completely? did anyone contemplate that maybe this strong push for Soriano was due to Drew's demands shooting up considerably the past few days? I think Pie is talented enough that he could handle any position in the outfield.

Hendry got plenty of praise when he resigned Aramis, he got praise when he resigned Lee last year. He got praise for signing Wood to a good deal. If and when he locks up Z he will get praise. I think he is getting praise by many on this board for the Soriano signing. It is not fair to this community for a few people to make such generalizations. Hendry has long ago worn out whatever good will I had for him. But I praised Hendry after the signing of Aramis and Lee. I think Soriano is a good player, but right now he doesn't have a position to play. I'll reserve judgment on that until I see him in the field. I am happy they got another run producer, but the cost is prohibitivie, IMO. I hope the Cubs can still get Drew for CF and trade JJ. If Hendry can do that I will sign his praises until the next time he acquires a player. Then I will evaluate that trade on its own merit.

I agree Cuse, but on it's face it is a bad contract. If Hendry can trade Jones and put Soriano in RF, and then land Drew to play CF, I will be quite pleased.

And apparently never will either... Who is going to play CF and what happened to Murton and Jones?

I don't like the signing. 1. Soriano has never played CF 2. Soriano is a good, not great, player and now he will be paid like a great player, hampering the Cubs ability to acquire a great young player somewhere in the next five years. 3. Soriano has a career OBP of .325. He's only been above that average three out of his six years in the majors and before this past season he posted craptacular .324 and .309 numbers in the last two seasons. 4. Soriano is on the wrong side of 30 and he just posted career highs in almost every category.