jjgman21

That doesn't make any sense. Why? This isn't fantasy baseball. All things being equal platoons are a sign of weakness. You are paying two guys to play one position, not to mention most players don't like being platooned. I understand the logic, but in this instance you cannot just use the numbers to justify a platoon. There are opportunity cost problems all over the place. I don't really care about "signs" of weakness. That's meaningless. There are no opportunity cost problems. A platoon can be fantastic if you have people on board. It's the managers job to get guys to agree to such a scenario. a Saturday appearance by Goon? me agreeing with Goon? dogs and cats, living together...chaos reigns.

and Schmidt's career up until 28 or 29 is indistiguishable from Padilla's career up until now. so which is more likely, Schmidt taking off and taking the triple crown, or Padilla stepping up and having three years like Schmidt did at Padilla's age? and where are you getting your info? baseballreference has Schmidt's most similar by age as Jack McDowell, Ramon Martinez, and Bartolo Colon. not that I agree with that, but that's a large disparity in similarity rankings between those guys and Clemens. but I think the comparison to Clemens is absurd in any regard. Clemens had 6 seasons of 154 or better ERA+ by the time he was Schmidt's age, and hoping that Schmidt will follow the same path as Clemens into the future is foolhearty. choosing one freak as a basis of comparison gets us nowhere.

Does Lilly deserve 35 million? NO. Does Batista deserve 20 million? NO. Does Suppan deserve 35 million? NO. Does Zito deserve 100 million? NO. Does Meche deserve 30 million? NO. None of the guys on the market deserve what they are going to get. Schmidt is closest to deserving his actual pricetag... I think "does deserve" improperly frames this discussion. the decision should be based on "will deserve." the answer to all is probably no, but the decision should be based on who will come closest to deserving the money he gets in the future. with that said, I don't think you can say hands down Schmidt is that guy because it all rests on seeing into the future.

because what can be done with the extra 5M could possibly improve the team more than just having Schmidt. I also have seen nothing on Lilly being offered 10M, more in the 8-9 range. his agent is on the record as saying he wants Washburn money, ie 9M/year. While in a normal offseason year i'd tend to agree with you, this year, the player talent available in free agency is pretty thin. The drop off between the A free agents and the B free agents is pretty steep. I also dont see where you'd make up for the talent difference between Lilly and Schmidt in free agency elsewhere. you might not see it, but there are a myriad of ways to keep improving the team via free agents. it will come down to a matter of preference of course, but improvement is out there, even in this limited talent market. you are also not seeing other ways the extra money could be used, ie. allowing you to release Izturis or using that extra money in getting a player from a team dumping salary. again, it's all each posters preference, but to close out the debate because you don't see a better way to improve the team is a little silly.

Well they definitely could still want Izturis. and what else? nothing we got. perhaps another pen arm, but I don't think Izturis plus a pen arm gets it done.

because what can be done with the extra 5M could possibly improve the team more than just having Schmidt. I also have seen nothing on Lilly being offered 10M, more in the 8-9 range. his agent is on the record as saying he wants Washburn money, ie 9M/year.

can we officially put any discussion about Westbrook to rest? Dellucci and these signings officially fills the Indians holes that we were suggesting be filled with Cubs in a deal for Westbrook.

I've thought about a DeJones rightfield myself. just exploring here, but for all that was made of Soriano's D at second, he was always a high range, high error guy. why not just stick him back at second, then sign Lugo and Lofton. Lofton Murton Lee Aram DeJones Soriano Barrett Lugo

I'll do you one better. If USC loses it would guarantee the rematch. It shouldn't but it would. ND should leapfrog eight teams and get it. I'm just kidding, but I can't say I agree. why shouldn't it? I'm thinking he's saying that Florida would have a legitimate case to be in the NC if they win today, but that they won't probably have a chance to pass Michigan whatever they do. I think Michigan is better, but I can see how some people would think that Florida was better. can't say I agree. it should the two best teams. right now, the three best teams in the country by far are USC, UM, and OSU. all three would crush Florida. if USC loses to UCLA, it shows me they are not better than UM.

speculation based on a report or two I believe.

True, that said though, I'll take Ted Lilly for a #4, or maybe a #3 over the likes of Gooz, Marmol, or Mateo any day of the week. He might be overpaid, but he is still an improvement. It's not our money, so if the Trib wants to spend it then let 'em. Lord knows we aren't going to improve from that steaming pile of crap known as the Cubs farm system. I don't care if the cubs spend the money either, what I do care about is HOW the cubs spend the money. For example, Gooz/Marmol + Lugo + Floyd>>>> Lilly + Izturis. not that I think Hendry's thinking is right regarding Izuris, but I agree. 17M in players is better than 13M in players. of course your calculation also assumes being able to get rid of Izturis, so it's actually 21M in players v. 13M in players.

I'll do you one better. If USC loses it would guarantee the rematch. It shouldn't but it would. ND should leapfrog eight teams and get it. I'm just kidding, but I can't say I agree. why shouldn't it?

Ted Lilly you say.

unless something changed with the new CBA, I thought teams still had to go through the formalaties and offer arby to their players that sign elsewhere.

If I had a choice between two middle of the pack starters, I'd take Padilla over Lilly. Padilla and Westbrook would like create one of the better rotations in the NL. If Hill shows the same glimpses as last year as well as Prior showing somewhat of his '03 form, it could be the best. I'm with you. Padilla is the one starter of the FA's left that I have the most interest in. Me too. Me three. Padilla is my first choice after Zito and Schmidt for all the reasons our inebriated friend has already misspelled. :wink: USS's fingers might not be able to walk a straight line right now, but his judgement is still razor sharp. but I think he's advocating Padilla ahead of Zito and Schmidt. I admit before tonight I would have preferred Schmidt, but after further thought, I think Padilla is a better target based on performance and cost. their careers up until Padilla's age are very similar. there's a chance Padilla turns into the pitcher Schmidt was the past threw years, but if not, he's pretty much a lock to give you league average and 200 innings.

yeah, I think I'd find another team to root for at that point I would too but only because of OJ. a world series team doesn't have an outfielder with OJ's obp.

I've been pining for DeJesus for many months, but losing Barrett to get him completely defeats the purpose.

the problem with that is it ignores market conditions. you wait to sign someone until January this offseason, you end up with Mark Redman. He will probably a great consolation prize for someone and a very judicious use of their money. I really like Ohka, especially for the amount some one is going to have to pay him and the length of the contract. Probably not for a team like the cubs, but I think he'll be a good signing. see edit and second post.

the problem with that is it ignores market conditions. you wait to sign someone until January this offseason, you end up with Mark Redman. the reason for my edit in the above post is I first used Tomo Ohka. anyone know the extent of his injury last year, and if fully recovered why isn't he ahead of guys like Meche? he's actually been league average or above for several years.

the problem with that is it ignores market conditions. you wait to sign someone until January this offseason, you end up with Mark Redman.

In the press conference article on Cubs.com, it says Hendry announced that he asked Soriano not to play and that he agreed. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people in the organization above Hendry who also didn't want to see Soriano playing any winter ball either. I was just thinking about this situation, and my thought is why the hell not? with certain conditions of course. condition 1 - his time is equally spent in center and right and at no other positions condition 2 - no stolen bases. perhaps even suggest only solid singles and HRs are allowed (just kidding on this one) condition 3 - a scale is created so any injury reduces salary or years. if he's injured, screw it. your fanbase is resilient enough. scrap 2007 in a crappy FA market and look toward the future. deal off pieces, paying future salaries if you need to and rebuild from scratch with Z, Aram, and Lee as the core for the next three years. see how Murton does in full time duty. see if some of this young pitching pans out. then add the impact FAs when their prices are more reasonable or at least the talent pool is a little deeper.

Not if you're willing to pay 9 to 10 million per year. Padilla for 9 to 10 million a year or Lilly/Meche for say 8 million? I'll take my chances with Padilla. padilla is foing to be hthe best pictehetr signed this winter. brioook it. drown those blues USS. drown those blues. i can still make a choherent agrgument. Padiliia is a power pitcher, with less of an injruy history,. Lilly has been on and off the DL durnig his career. i'd erather thrown money at padilla than lillly. if coruse, if prior is acvtually alive, he's better tnan all of them. I've been advocating for Padilla since about August and was in no way disparaging your point as a drunken rant. just empathizing man.

Not if you're willing to pay 9 to 10 million per year. Padilla for 9 to 10 million a year or Lilly/Meche for say 8 million? I'll take my chances with Padilla. padilla is foing to be hthe best pictehetr signed this winter. brioook it. drown those blues USS. drown those blues.

You're right. Z Lilly Hill Westbrook Miller won't contend in the NL central at all next year, with. Soriano Murton Lee Ramirez Jones Barret Derosa Izturis :roll: You can roll your eyes all you want. But that team is maybe a .500 team. If everything breaks right they could contend for the division. But with a top 5 payroll I expect more. My guess is slightly above 500 with everyone healthy, 84 wins or so. Schmidt over Westbrook/Jennings would probably add another 5. You can't get into the playoffs with 83 wins every year. that team is far better than 4 of the 8 teams that made the playoffs last year. I want better, but Hendry has to get us into that position at the very least. obviously in a different year the offseason would be more fruitful for the Cubs with the simultaneous bump in payroll, but this isn't every year. dollars are flowing and the list of impact players are limited, hence fewer players can be acquired and the quality not so great. you can speculate as to what trades were possible and which weren't, but the bottom line is noone knows if any trades were possible or not, so I see no point in arquing like imaginary trades were possible (not that you were). another thing to keep in mind is no team plays the entire year with 25 guys. few teams roll into the playoffs with the same roster they started the year with. injuries will happen as will poor performance. hopefully, so will nice surprises from unexpected sources. hopefully the weeknesses show themselves early and are addressed quickly. I bring these things up because I see no point is setting about building a 'world series roster' in December. build a playoff roster in December, have a World Series roster on Sept. 1. in the Central, the addition of Lilly makes the Cubs the clearcut division favorite, pending the decisions of Pettitte and Clemens.

They'd be wise to blow that team up and go young. Their best players are pretty old. It was tough to try and rebuild in the middle of the streak, but now that it's over, they can more easily get away with a new look. huh? the team is blown up and already rebuilt. they had the second best offense in the NL last year with one regular older than 30.