RynoRules

Here here. Give D Lee a nice day off every couple of weeks.

and now they're paying more for him than they offered at the time. it's hilarioius. i'm sorry, but OM is a moran! a moran with a lot of cash, but still a moran. If I were a Mets fan i'd be pissed. Talk about no game plan... I don't know about that. If Reyes ever learns to draw a walk, that team will have a pretty good offense, though Shea will mask that fact to some extent. A Beltran-Wright-Floyd-Delgado core is pretty darned good. If Reyes can start to get on base at a .350 clip in front of them...oh, boy. Agreed. I don't see how you can be upset about this as a Mets fan. Money isn't an objec there like it is everywhere else. Who cares how they got Delgado, the point is that they have him, will have Wagner by next week, and have a solid rotation. Looks pretty good to me. EDIT: And, BTW, the money they used o pay to Piazza (I think 17 mill/ yr.) now goes to Carlos. Sounds like a good trade to me.

Yowza. Yeah. My son has a book called "Little Pea". When the main character finally gets to eat his dessert, he reacts with: "Yum!...Yum!...Extra Yum!" That lineup is like a good piece of your favorite dessert after a steak dinner... ...or something....[/i]

Do you think the Cubs are an Abreu away from winning the World Series in the next couple years? Yes. It wouldn't guarantee, but it's the closest thing to it. The Cubs have been a top pitching team in 2 of the past 3 years. They've been a mediocre or worse hitting team every year. An impact RF to go along with Aramis, Lee, Barrett and whatever top of the order player Hendry gets (assuming that player is competent) would put them as close to the WS as any team in the NL. Is the difference between Giles and Abreu over the next couple seasons worth giving up Pie? That is a great question. If Giles is willing to come to the midwest, which is a big if, and if he is willing to sign for only 3 years and for around 10 million, as has been rumored/reported, then no, I don't think that difference between Giles and Abreu is worth giving up Pie. Of course, I'm still not sure whether giving up Pie for two guaranteed years of Abreu, who will be 32 next March, is a good idea. But, clearly Abreu is better than Giles. He is younger, faster, has better defensive range and a much better arm. Their bats are quite similar, but there is certainly more confidence in Abreu's ability to maintain his offensive production over the next couple of seasons. If the Cubs can obtain Abreu without touching their core of Prior, Zambrano, Lee, Ramirez, Murton, Cedeno, Pie or Pawelek, I would do that over signing Giles. Here here.

isn't he supposed to be the clubhouse/chemistry/attitude superking? if so, he should take it in stride since it would be the best thing for the team. Sure. That seems to be the response anytime this question or one like it comes up. Its a very helpful and productive solution. A better argument - and one I could understand - would be that we should not have resigned Dempster until we took a run at Ryan. That's a reasonable argument. fine. whatever argument you want to use...but dempster + ryan (in whatever order) is better than eyre/howry + dempster. and i don't care whose feelings get hurt...this is baseball, not the girl scouts. dempster should be happy w/ the $15 mil he got and pitch whatever inning they tell him to. I love how these guys are treated like robots simply b/c stats exist by which we can evaluate them. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this. well, you're acting like they're sensitive, insecure little cry babies that will single handedly take down a team from the inside if they pitch the 8th inning instead of the 9th. Yeah, so? I guess that sort of thing has never happened, according to you? It happens all the time (I don't have the time to tick off all the examples, but lets start with Sosa's crying about being "demoted" to the six hole in the line up) But I am not sure if I would blame Dempster if he they signed him to close and then went out and grabbed Ryan.

I highly doubt the Cubs are at risk of a grievence if they use Dempster as a set-up man rather than a closer. Yeah, that would be unprecedented, I believe.

isn't he supposed to be the clubhouse/chemistry/attitude superking? if so, he should take it in stride since it would be the best thing for the team. Sure. That seems to be the response anytime this question or one like it comes up. Its a very helpful and productive solution. A better argument - and one I could understand - would be that we should not have resigned Dempster until we took a run at Ryan. That's a reasonable argument. fine. whatever argument you want to use...but dempster + ryan (in whatever order) is better than eyre/howry + dempster. and i don't care whose feelings get hurt...this is baseball, not the girl scouts. dempster should be happy w/ the $15 mil he got and pitch whatever inning they tell him to. I love how these guys are treated like robots simply b/c stats exist by which we can evaluate them. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this. The guy just got a huge extension! We're not taking money away from him, we're putting him in a different role. Would you accept a demotion if you got a huge raise and job security for several years? Can't answer that out of context. It depends. Money is not everything to everyone, as you are implying it is.

isn't he supposed to be the clubhouse/chemistry/attitude superking? if so, he should take it in stride since it would be the best thing for the team. Sure. That seems to be the response anytime this question or one like it comes up. Its a very helpful and productive solution. A better argument - and one I could understand - would be that we should not have resigned Dempster until we took a run at Ryan. That's a reasonable argument. fine. whatever argument you want to use...but dempster + ryan (in whatever order) is better than eyre/howry + dempster. and i don't care whose feelings get hurt...this is baseball, not the girl scouts. dempster should be happy w/ the $15 mil he got and pitch whatever inning they tell him to. I love how these guys are treated like robots simply b/c stats exist by which we can evaluate them. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this.

Not unless Dempster wants to set-up. Ryan says he wants to close, which is why the Yanks are not getting him. Then let Ryan close. Sure, its that simple to just walk in and tell Dempster he isn't closing anymore even though that's what he was signed to do and he did it well last season. Then trade Dempster if he has a huge problem with it, his value will likely never be higher anyway. Use him in a deal for Abreu, Philly needs a closer. Not really. Ryan is likely to go there if Wagner signs with the Mets. Well, in this scenario we already have Ryan. With Wagner in NY, Philly's out of luck. OK - so now we are advocating signing Ryan, thus forcing us to trade Dempster, who just signed a new deal and is thus likely to be untradeable under the players CBA. But even if that were not the case, Hendry is now (once again) in a terrible negotiating posture b/c the he must deal Dempster. Its fantasyland, IMO.

Not unless Dempster wants to set-up. Ryan says he wants to close, which is why the Yanks are not getting him. Then let Ryan close. Sure, its that simple to just walk in and tell Dempster he isn't closing anymore even though that's what he was signed to do and he did it well last season. Then trade Dempster if he has a huge problem with it, his value will likely never be higher anyway. Use him in a deal for Abreu, Philly needs a closer. Not really. Ryan is likely to go there if Wagner signs with the Mets.

isn't he supposed to be the clubhouse/chemistry/attitude superking? if so, he should take it in stride since it would be the best thing for the team. Sure. That seems to be the response anytime this question or one like it comes up. Its a very helpful and productive solution. A better argument - and one I could understand - would be that we should not have resigned Dempster until we took a run at Ryan. That's a reasonable argument.

Great, you sit around and wait for Todd Wellemeyer and Roberto Novoa and Cliff Bartosh to figure it out and have a "high BABIP" year. Me, I won't be holding my breath. I like my odds better on going with guys that have at least shown they can have ML success, than guys who have never had any. Or, we could use that money to sign someone like Ryan who's been lights out for a while, or trade for someone who's capable and we don't have to make a 3 year commitment to. Not unless Dempster wants to set-up. Ryan says he wants to close, which is why the Yanks are not getting him. Then let Ryan close. Sure, its that simple to just walk in and tell Dempster he isn't closing anymore even though that's what he was signed to do and he did it well last season.

Maybe Hendry shouldn't have wasted a talented prospect in that worthless trade for Bartosh, or given up on Farnsworth for the lesser Novoa. I understood why Farns was moved, but didn't lik what we got in return. The Bartosh deal still makes me scratch my head.

That's not what anyone argued. The difference between Ohman/Wuertz and Eyre/Howry isn't worth the millions. That's the arguement. We already have the less expensive options. Who brought Bartosh into this argument? BJ Ryan isn't out for the taking. I agree. That decision was made back when we re-signed Dempster to close. I don't agree with it, especially when we run out and overpay on Eyre and howry, but that was the first domino to fall. Dempster was a ton cheaper than Ryan, and based on wha he did last year, I believe he can close games. Ad if you look back to the beginning of this thread, there was some talk that, dueo the unpredictable nature of bullpens, we might have been better off staying with what he have in-house. I was attempting to synthesize those arguments. In the end, Hendry can spend as much as he likes in the pen, just so long as we solve our problems in th OF and in the middle IF.

I agree with Kessinger's earlier post that this is a good move in terms of need, but that i would not have spent as much as JH did. My problem with many of the arguments I have read is that many seem to think there are so many equivalent and less expensive optiosn out there, that BJ Ryan is waiting around for the takling, or that some how Novoa, Wuertz, and Bartosh = Eyre and Howry. I disagree. - BJ Ryan wants to close. He's not going to do that here. - Guys like JC Romero might be available, but they'll cost you pitching prospects that I'd rather use to get Dunn or Abreu. - I don't buy that Wuertz, Novoa and Bartosh are the answers based on last years performance. To me, they are not set-up guys to be relied on consistently.

Great, you sit around and wait for Todd Wellemeyer and Roberto Novoa and Cliff Bartosh to figure it out and have a "high BABIP" year. Me, I won't be holding my breath. I like my odds better on going with guys that have at least shown they can have ML success, than guys who have never had any. Or, we could use that money to sign someone like Ryan who's been lights out for a while, or trade for someone who's capable and we don't have to make a 3 year commitment to. Not unless Dempster wants to set-up. Ryan says he wants to close, which is why the Yanks are not getting him.

No, middle relievers for pricey 3 year deals are bad ideas. Especially ones like Eyre who don't have any sustained success. As an aside, does anyone know what happened to Howry's K's this year? Look, I agree that 3-years and 3.75 mill is a lot more than any of us wanted to spend. But you certainly don't think that going to battle with a pen of Dempster, Ohman, Wuertz and the question mark of Williamson would be enough, do you? Assuming you don't and you agree with the need to improve the bullpen, who would you have gotten instead of Eyre who would have been just as good but much cheaper? Dotel, Howry, and maybe some others I haven't stumbled upon would be good FA's for 1-2 year deals. I've been campaigning for quite a while to make an acquisition via trade. Minnesota, Cleveland, and maybe a few others have overloaded bullpens and are under cash constraints. Romero and Riske are both arby eligible set up men with cheap, capable replacements. Prime trade targets. I'd also target Betancourt from the Cleveland pen, I've advocated trying to get him and Crisp in a deal where we give up a bit of talent. This is another indictment of the Eyre signing. Making it as early as it was, before other options potentially open up. Sure, but then som would complan about who we gave up when all we had to do was spend money on FAs. You cannot please everyone, and whose to say that the Twins or Tribe would make those guys available?

But if he show's his face...

Check the Howry thread. The sniping has already begun, and no one has confirmed that the guy has been signed.

He's done that with relief pitching, but not all his signings. Barrett and Ramirez weren't exactly at their peak when the Cubs acquired them. That said, relief pitching is probably the worst position to focus on when it comes to expensive free agents. I agree that if this comes to fruition he has overpaid by a about a mill each, but I also think assembling bullpens and getting the right middle-men is something of a crap shoot and you need some good fortune. Look at the Cards and White Sox. Taverez, Eldred and King. Hermanson, Pollite and co. They had some good fortune. Could easily have gone the other way.

Uh-oh. :wink: it's true though. the cards have right handed pitching depth, but that's about it. who needs a farm system when you can pull J. Rodriquez out of some unnamed orifice whenever you need to? Bingo. They've been luck as heck with that stuff for years. The best 3B in the NL goes down, they replace him with Nunez, who never had an OBP over .300 before this year, and he makes like Tony Gwynn. Ridiculous.

:?: :-k What I mean is, it is possible that he will reject this offer and the Cubs will bid even higher for him, possibly giving him a completely absurd contract. Oh. Let's hope not.

:?: :-k

Uh-oh. :wink:

That settles that, apparently.