CubinNY

So stipulated. Maya Culpa to everyone agreed again I'm a hittin what your a pitchin You have taken the words out of my computer See page 1 or 2 of this thread If Hendry signs Furcal Ronny better get a subscription to Reader's Digest to keep him altert on the bench. He can really bone up on the word power stuff. The quteable quotes he can give to Dusty as his are getting tired.

For the Cubs to solve problems, he is worth a good amount, whatever that turns out to be. Your selective use of stats is entertaining, but not complete. Help me see the light then. How much is a good amount? Select some stats that shows he is worth 13m a year? Throw me a freaking bone

For his career Frucal has a 78% SB/CS. If one wants to say the break even rate is 75% then his speed is slighlty valuable as it relates to stolen bases. If one wants to use 80% he has negative value, as it relates to stolen bases. So, perhaps his speed is marginally usefull. Will his stolen base rate be this good in 4 or 5 years at the end of his contract? The Cubs have Cedeno. People get upset that the Cubs never develop homegrown talent. Well they have one in Cedeno. What is Hendry doing? Efectively making Cedeno redundent. Before I hear the 2nd base stuff, you should know RONNY HAS NOT PLAYED ONE INNING AT 2ND BASE THIS WINTER. I ask again is Furcal worth 13 million dollars?

bump. Just in case it gets missed.

I could be off b/c I'm trimming a tree and drinking a few beers but Furcal is at 189/53 in the SB category that is roughly the break even point. Therefore his speed is niether a + or a -. No? If the Cubs sign him for 13 mill/year they will be paying him almost as much as what they paid Sammy. Can he carry the team? Would the money be better off spent elsewhere where the Cubs actually have a need?

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Sorry I didn't finsih my thought. He doesn't steal effetively enough to warrent the attempts so..... Don't overvalue the benefit of a leadoff hitter.

He most certianly does not fill any need. Walker can lead off just fine Cedeno can cover SS just fine The Cubs current needs: 1. OBP 2. OBP 3. RF 4. OBP 5. Left handed bat 6. Someone to tell Hendry to release Macias 7. CF There is no way anyone can convicne me that Furcal is a 10 million dollars worth of upgrade over Cedeno (who BTW, is having a fantastic season in Winter ball) or a 7.5 million dollar upgrade over Neifi. Help me to understand, how is Furcal that good? 1. Walker is never going to hit leadoff with Dusty Baker managing the Cubs, so why keep complaining about it over and over? 2. Furcal has been one of the top leadoff hitters in the NL for the last two years and is in the prime of his career. 3. Name 1 available FA SS with a better OBP than Furcal? It is true that we could argue about the importance of having a bonifide leadoff hitter all night on the board, but Hendry seems to think, and imo rightly so, that a leadoff hitter is a current need on the team. The Cubs need to do something to upgrade the offense and like it or not Furcal is one of the few offensive FA upgrades available who may want to come to Chicago. I reject your assumption. Furcal's OBP is not that good and his defense is over-rated. He doesn't steal bases so who give a frog's but about his speed. Miguel Tejada only made 10 million last year and he is actually worth the money.

If that is the case then then can have Pinto and Williams for Abreu. The Cubs can take on all his salary and still get to keep Pie.

Absolutely agree. Think about this folks: 5 years and $45M for a guy, who has never achieved an OPS over .795, and who's OBP has not been above .352 in the last 4 seasons. This is just not smart. Ronny at shortstop. Trade for the biggest RF bat you can possibly get, throw all the trade chips at him. I'm thinking Abreu-size. Walker at 2B. Plug CF. Bradley when the Dodgers non-tender would do. Barrett, Lee, Ramirez and Murton to fill it out. I fully endorse this idea even if it means the Cubs have to trade Pinto and Pie to get Abreu. Abreu actually fills two needs for this team. Pie and Pinto won't get it done. They're going to want Prior or Zambrano. I don't know about that. They are not going to get an established ML #1 for Abreu. I've even read some reports that suggest he is available for much less.

Absolutely agree. Think about this folks: 5 years and $45M for a guy, who has never achieved an OPS over .795, and who's OBP has not been above .352 in the last 4 seasons. This is just not smart. Ronny at shortstop. Trade for the biggest RF bat you can possibly get, throw all the trade chips at him. I'm thinking Abreu-size. Walker at 2B. Plug CF. Bradley when the Dodgers non-tender would do. Barrett, Lee, Ramirez and Murton to fill it out. I fully endorse this idea even if it means the Cubs have to trade Pinto and Pie to get Abreu. Abreu actually fills two needs for this team.

He most certianly does not fill any need. Walker can lead off just fine Cedeno can cover SS just fine The Cubs current needs: 1. OBP 2. OBP 3. RF 4. OBP 5. Left handed bat 6. Someone to tell Hendry to release Macias 7. CF There is no way anyone can convicne me that Furcal is a 10 million dollars worth of upgrade over Cedeno (who BTW, is having a fantastic season in Winter ball) or a 7.5 million dollar upgrade over Neifi. Help me to understand, how is Furcal that good?

My suggestion is to stay away from the ESPN board. See Phil Rogers is on Dope Thread

Hopefully something smart

Why do you say that? I'm Furcal's agent: Jim, hi. Great. And you? Fantastic. Say, listen Raffy and I were talking and he really likes the Cubs offer but the Dodgers are willing to go another 3 million per year. What do you have to say about that? Jim, hello? Jim. It's actually easy.

Right now the Cards are in a holding pattern until Burnett makes his decision this weekend. Unlike the last two years I think there is going to be a lot of goings on going on at the Winter meetings. It should be a fun filled and hotly debated week here at NSBB>

I hope so

I hope he does go to the Dodgers. 1. He is not that good 2. He does not fill a hole (I don't need a "true" leadoff batter) 3. The Cubs can spend the extra dough on player development and scouting I hope Hendry doesn't get caught up in the chase.

You take some beano for that gut feeling :jocolor:

:D

It physically impossible to present evidence that something didn't happen. It is only possible to present evidence that something did happen.

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Personally, I don't want the Cubs to give up anything for Slappy. Period. :P I'd rather they go after Bradly or Lofton after the Phils don't give him arbitration. Baring that trot Patterson or Hairston out there. I don't like Piere one bit.

:P :D :D :P This so funny.

Then again you are not a professional baseball player. Anything can happen during the contract length. Most guys want stability, they'd take years over dollars 9 times out of 10. And if they can get a no trade, even better. Nobody likes change. Why do you think your beloved Cards and my beloved Cubs won't do long term contracts?