Cubzfan64

Before I'd waste any $$ on Jones, I'd put Corey out in RF and tell him he has a full time job. Save the $, find out what some of our young players like Murton, Cedeno, Hill etc... can do over a full season, play the best you can as a team in 2006 and hope for enough breaks to keep us competitive - then go into next year's offseason with $ as well as a wish list, FILL IT and go for broke in 2007!!!!!! I'm not about to give up on 2006, but the last thing I want to do is tie up useful $$ in a waste of space like Jones for some stupid 3 year contract or something!!!! If Hendry does this, my support for his decisions and knowledge of what this ballclub is lacking offensively will be over.

That's where the problem is - he has little to no value due to 2005

I can't believe we're going to end up adding another guy who strikes out every 3-4 AB's!!! Preston Wilson is going to LOVE Baker's hitting philosophy of "swing at anything close!" All I can say is our starting pitchers HAVE to stay healthy and Murton and Cedeno have to continue showing the success they had when they played last year. Out of all the options, I guess I'll take Wilson in RF, but truth be told I'd rather save the money and just give it to Patterson. I think he could put up similar numbers. Mr. Hendry - just don't sign Wilson to ANYTHING longer than a 1 year contract!!!

Your question basically answers itself - you can't put that many "ifs" and assumptions into a question and not have the answer be luck. It's putting all your eggs in one basket and you have a team which could very easily end up in last place just as easily end up in first. I want a team that both on paper and on the field is above average and gets themselves into a situation where they can contend every year.

I really have to give the White Sox credit for going out there and making some moves after their success of 2005. The Sox are in an excellent position because to win a WS means you likely had a few players who had "career" years or at the least played well above expectations. If an organization is good at evaluating talent, they can then turn around and move a couple of those players while their stock is high and further improve their ballclub either for the present or future. Once that's done, it's possible to continue "selling high" and "buying low" - the main key to a successful run for a number of years. I'm sure it's not true, but barring a few instances, the Cubs organization tends to do alot more "selling low" and "buying high" which in turn gives you a team that might contend one year, and then end up in last place the next. :-(

When dealing with a middle of the road payroll, I really think you have two choices. Be ultra conservative, try to maximize every dollar spent and every prospect you have, or be ultra aggressive and go for broke. The thing about the Sox is that even when those high risk high reward teams bombed, they never totally bombed. They've win 81 or more games for 6 straight seasons. Their worst three seasons this decade have been 79, 79 and 81 loss seasons. The Cubs worst three were 97, 95 and 83 loss seasons. The Cubs are the ones hitting bottom on the high risk moves. The Sox have been anywhere from average, to good, to great. The Cubs have been either good or bad. The Cubs payroll allows them to be conservative, but take high reward risks at the same time. They should be able to field an 81-85 win team every year, and mix in plenty of 90-95 win seasons, and the occasional 99 win season. There really is no excuse. I think this is an excellent analysis of the Chicago Cubs and where the organization SHOULD be more often than not. Barring unforeseen injuries (which we've legitimately had alot of the last 2 seasons), there's really no excuses for not competing for the division most every season. I really feel the last few season's offenses were simply too "one dimensional" with too many hitters with similar aggressive styles and good pitchers took advantage of that in general and exposed that weakness. The one thing I feel Hendry has failed in is putting together a more balanced offensive team - if we mixed in 2-3 guys with some speed, OBP and bat control, we would have other ways to score runs and win games besides the old "swing for the fences" strategy. IMO, a more balanced offense (in terms of power, OBP, AVG. and speed) gives you a much better consistency over a 162 game season - in other words, "you'll find yourself in more ballgames." It remains to be seen if Hendry can find a way to address the lack of OBP guys in our everyday lineup.

Jones would be an AWFUL option for this current Cubs team - the last thing we need to add is a free swinger with a low OBP who strikes out once a game. I'd rather we put Corey out there and hope he finds himself.

I have to second that also - I'm not thrilled with Mr. Hendry so far this offseason, but I respect the fact that he didn't string along Nomar, but rather made a decision and gave the play the chance to find a job somewhere else.

Having watched Millar play in Boston the last 2 years here is my opinion: 1. He's a typical "class clown" type of guy - you tend to either hate him or love him - generally considered to be a real good clubhouse guy (when he's happy) 2. He's an EXTREMELY streaky hitter!!!! When he's hot, he can really drive in runs, but when he's cold he can't move runners over and more often than not can't even make contact. in 2004, he got hot in parts of the second half of the season - enough to keep him playing most of the time. In 2005 he never hit a hot streak of longer than a week or so - he ended up platooning alot with Olerud. 3. I don't know who to compare him to because I haven't seen alot of the other guys mentioned for RF, but I would have to say he's generally below average defensively. 4. He considers himself to be an everyday player - he claims that he can't get hot unless he plays regularily (like every day), even though that didn't help him last year. As much of a good clubhouse guy as he can be when he's happy, he can be a sour disgruntled guy when he isn't playing regularily. To sum it up, imho I don't want to waste the $$ on him - although other options out there seem to suck, a full year of Millar as a regular in RF would suck just as much if not more.

I wish more than anything that Nomar had proven himself to be named the Comeback Player of 2005, but it just wasn't to be. I was a huge proponent of getting him and truthfully thought I could get through 2005 with only minimal down time due to injury. Call it a fluke or call it his body just "starting to wear down," whatever you call it, 2006 just wasn't a good fit for him with the Cubs as much as I hate to say it. He didn't prove he can stay healthy and with the injuries this team has gone through the last two seasons, I just don't think it would have been a smart financial or "operational" decision to resign him. Hendry took a gamble in 2005 and it didn't pay off - in a risk vs. reward scenario at this point of Nomar's career, I just don't think it was worth the risk in 2006 for the Chicago Cubs. I sure wish him the best though!

You know, the sad thing for those of us who've been Cub fans since the 60's is that we actually HAVE decent starting pitching FINALLY, and each year those arms go to waste because of the lack of a couple key position players that could take us over the top. It truly is frustrating

Technically I wouldn't call anybody untouchable. I'd trade Prior and Z "in the right deal", but that right deal isn't likely to come along. I'd trade Dempster in a heartbeat for a good player. I'd trade Lee or ARam in a deal where they can be replaced as well. I'm right there with you - I've always felt that there are never any untouchable players - any deal that can improve your ballclub should be considered.

Trot plays the game ALL OUT which is admirable and makes him a real fan favorite.... however it also means he doesn't normally make it through the season without an injury. I would have no problem whatsoever having him as part of a platoon in RF, but I don't particularily like his salary.

I have no idea - maybe it was strictly financial. All I know is that Boston got the better of this deal.

According to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/08/AR2005120801802.html, Soriano won't move to the outfield. Looks like the Nationals already have an unhappy camper.

Wasn't Ty Griffin a third baseman ? Second basemen, I thought. He was gonna be the guy to replace Ryno. You're right he was, but I thought they decided to screw with him and move him out to CF because Ryno wasn't going anywhere for awhile and they thought Griffin could come up sooner. It was a total flop if I recall

Are you staying that's too much? Heck, I'd make that trade in a minute. I second that motion - I wouldn't even think twice. The O's will want more than that I'm sure.

He gone. I don't think Manny is as "gone" as people think. I personally believe Boston is gonna tell Manny to sit down, shut up, and enjoy the vastly overpaid contract he got fro Duquette and stop acting the fool. The Red Sox simply can't get FULL VALUE for Manny, thus...Manny stays. The general concensus among the baseball writers and sports talk show guys in Boston is real simple... "if you can't get full value for Manny in a deal, it's a dumb move to trade him," which is similar to what you said above. You're right that Manny has had moments every year in Boston where he's been "difficult" to deal with, but for what it's worth, the "insiders" closer to the Red Sox organization are saying that this time they feel it's different with Manny and it may not be as easy as it has in the past to just expect him to show up and play regardless of how he may feel. Keep in mind, one of his best buds on the team is Millar who WILL be gone from Boston this year. Millar has always been the one who's tried to be a peacekeeper and gone to the media on behalf of Manny to shoulder alot of the attention and take it off Manny - that's not gonna happen this next year. His condo in Boston is up for sale and the story is his wife and family want to leave as well as him. The guy's a multimillionaire and to tell you the truth, I've never gotten the feeling that Manny absolutely loves and has a passion for the game of baseball - what I get from Manny is that he has this amazing natural talent and ability to hit a baseball and that he doesn't have to work super hard like some guys to be able to do it. He plays the game because he's good at the offensive side of it and he's having fun - the day he stops having fun, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him walk away and not come back. I just don't think he has that "Pete Rose" love for the game or anything. We'll see what happens in Boston this next year - it's certainly going to be interesting to see what happens. Oh, in fact yesterday WEEI was talking to Peter Gammons and when the guys asked him a few questions about Theo Epstein, he actually said he thinks Theo is still helping some of the guys in Boston make moves and that he wouldn't at all rule out Theo coming back as GM - In fact when they point blank asked him if he thought Theo would be back, he said "yes."

He doesn't have any choice on the issue. Unless he's non-tendered, he's the property of the Cubs. Any chance he would become a distraction though? Always a chance of that, but nothing the organization can do about it if nobody wants to trade for him. I feel badly for the kid, I really do - he showed so much potential before that injury he had but since then he's reverted to the point where I swear he's less disciplined now than he was when he came up - and it seems to have affected his CF defense a bit as well. It's totally a catch 22 - his value won't rise unless he's given a chance to succeed - he won't get a chance to succeed unless he gets better - he can't go down to the minors again. There really are very few options left. There's a small part of me that has to wonder how all of this affects his younger brother who's in the Cubs system as well. Put yourself in his shoes and you gotta believe he won't hold alot of love for the Cub organization if they just give up on his older brother. I really had hoped that after the Jerome Walton and Ty Griffin expectations we had for CF that Corey was the real thing. If he is, I'm afraid it'll have to show on another teams ML roster.

Boston believes Marte will be ready by midway 2006 and if push came to shove believe he could step in on opening day (for what it's worth).

The rumor here is that they'll sign Alex Gonzalez (the Florida one) - good defense but not much of a bat. The word is that Marte really is pretty much just a 3B (although may be able to play 1B) - Atlanta tried him in the OF but wasn't happy with the results. Boston still has alot of work to do before spring training.

If we get Floyd or Bradley I just don't see either of them being platoon players. Neither are superstars, but they have had ML success recently and we all know Dusty sticks with veterans if given a chance. At the very least, Murton will have a very very very short leash. My gut feelings is if we pick up two ML outfielders, Murton will not start for us. I don't know if that's good or bad - personally I'd love to see what he could do, but I said that last season when we started going down the crapper and hoped he'd play every day out there to find out, but that didn't happen either.

Don't forget that the grass is always greener guys. I live near Boston is this is what I heard on the radio all day long today.... Although they are assuming the trades aren't done yet, the Red Sox don't know who is going to play 1B, SS, RF or CF for next year. David Wells wants to be traded so they will lose a workhorse pitcher, but replaced him with Beckett who has a history of injuries and nobody seems to know how much longer his arm will hold out. They don't know what if anything they're going to be able to do with Manny considering he's said he'll sit out if he doesn't get traded (will he really sit and lose out $20 mil? Probably not, but will he give 100% - doubtful). Schilling wasn't the same pitcher last year although it appears he was injured most of the season - but will he be able to come back? Foulke was awful as a closer last year and they don't currently know who will close for them. Clement didn't look like he could handle the pressure last year and basically flopped the entire second half - can he rebound or will he get dealt? In addition, they received a highly touted prospect to play 3B, unfortunately a few days earlier they took on a HUGE salary in Mike Lowell for the next 2 seasons - can Lowell play 1B? Can Marte play 1B? Can they get someone else to play 1B? I do agree that it's been an interesting off season so far for Boston and they've done alot without a GM, but don't think for a second that things are all rosey out here - there's a ton of question marks right now and until a few more deals are done, those questions aren't going to be answered.

What a waste though when you think of it. Corey would have little to no opportunity to try to salvage his career, meanwhile we'd have a bench player who I'd hate to see come up in clutch situations against good relief pitchers because he swings at everything. I understand the thought process because you don't want to lose him and get nothing at all in return, but it seems like it wouldn't be a good fit for him or for the Cubs.

Which would give Neifi a guaranteed starting middle infield spot, correct? Not even remotely interested. With Pierre in center we need a lot more production from RF than a cobbled-together platoon would give us, particularly if Nefi gets 600 AB. For the amount of money we resigned Neifi for, I've accepted the fact that we will see Neifi starting somewhere for the 2006 Cubs. My guess is either he'll play 2B when/if we trade Walker (and I don't know what Hendry and Baker have against Walker) or Cedeno will be pulled as soon as he hits either an offensive or defensive slump and that will be the end of Ronnie's chances.