nilodnayr

I think from Hendry's body of work we can surmise that he does not understand the concept of negotiating from a leveraged position.

Indeed I am. "Teenager with a credit card" to me means spending without realizing future consequences. The future consequence is that in 2009 if we give Z Zito money and remain at 110M budget, we will have $20M for 18 spots on the 25 man roster. However, you have to count Murton and Pie at about 4M, and Hill and one of our prospects should round out the rotation for about another $2M. So you can realistically call it $14M for a catcher, shortstop, bench and bullpen. Not a great position to be in, but the sky is not falling.

Yeah, you're not the only one worried about it. But Z could easily command more than Zito money on an open market, so that'd be nice. He very much should command more. Also, why go out and spend so much money this year if you are going to let your only significanly above average pitcher walk after this year. Hendry does not have any other option but to sign him.

Wonder if BA even had that info, legit or not... Geez, if Johnsons off the radar that quickly then Mainieri really owed us Samardzija. I'll be looking forward to the upcoming influx of LSU pitchers.

Actually it was March 16th... Per KFFL

Just thought I'd add these particular quotes. VERY nice to hear. Hopefully they're not blowing smoke. When did the Cubs start murmuring that Prior wouldn't be ready for Opening Day in 2006? Are we past that point yet? March 14th. Not even close.

Is that Grant Johnson?

Bud light bleachers Under Armor Arms Ben Gay bench?

Hes just lucky the Yanks didnt draft him.

It's funny, but Zito's deal is heavily backoaded, with the first big payment due in 2009. It looks just like a Hendry contract. It also looks like 90% of long-term contracts. Heavily backloaded deals are not exclusively a Hendry thing. Yeah, I'm aware of that, but Hendry has developed a trademark mania for dumping every big paycheck on 2009. It's like he thinks the world will end on December 31st, 2008. Or that his tenure as the GM of the cubs will

Sounds good to me. By the time he breaks the million dollar barrier, he could very well be in the majors and pitching. And if he is, he's a cheap option. Someone on Comcast this morning said Samardzija's fastball occasionally hits 99. I'll take that for 2mil/yr. Well if he makes it to the majors in 09 then we overpay his pre-arbi years by about 4M, but obviously we make that up in only paying him a 2.5M signing bonus. Overall its a fair contract if he makes it to the majors in 09 or 10.

Who? Tom Sizemore...although he makes Dukes and Delmon look like choir boys. Actually I meant Grady Sizemore. He was kidding, Tom played Pete Rose in the ESPN movie about Rose. Biggest Emmy snub EVER (including Susan Lucci). :)

That's exactly what I was thinking. We could do a hell of a lot better though.

I wonder if moving from CF to LF isnt considered a position change by Sori. Maybe when he said they promised him one position he meant OF vs 2b?

That's being a bit harsh. Theriot is only 27 years old. He put up a .412 OBP last year. Yes, sample size is a big concern. But even if that average comes down, like we know it will, the adjustment in OBP will still leave it respectable. Looking at his minor league numbers, .290/.350 is not out of the question. Not setting the world on fire, but useful in our lineup. Hairston only got close to that twice during two shortened seasons. I see no reason to assume that one equals the other. I think Theriot has much greater potential. 134 ABs of 412 OBP is nice and all, but his MLE from his time in the minors last year was 262/307/323. He hit 310/372/408 vs lefties although his BABIP was 30 points higher than league average. I don't think he'll be as bad as his MLE, but just trying to put things in perspective. Hes been about a 350/350 guy in his minor league career. And I wouldn't exactly use the word "only" to describe 27. Average CF production in the NL last year was 264/335/418. He MIGHT be able to put that up with a little more OBP and less SLG. That is a big improvement over what Jones did against lefties last year. But like I proposed in the Indians thread, Michaels has hit 303/387/464 vs lefties in his career and Gutierrez put up 320/413/583 vs lefties in the minors last year (albeit with a high BABIP). Theriot in CF vs lefties would be an improvement over Jacque Jones, but we have a chance to improve much more by acquiring someone else.

Who? Tom Sizemore...although he makes Dukes and Delmon look like choir boys.

Here's a list of all of the Cubs pitchers who've been on BA's Top 100 Prospects list since 2000: Mark Pawelek (#85, 2006) Angel Guzman (#88, 2005) Angel Guzman (#24, 2004) Justin Jones (#56, 2004) Andy Sisco (#77, 2004) Bobby Brownlie (#92, 2004) Angel Guzman (#47, 2003) Andy Sisco (#53, 2003) Mark Prior (#2, 2002) Juan Cruz (#6, 2002) Carlos Zambrano (#80, 2002) Juan Cruz (#18, 2001) Ben Christensen (#37, 2001) Carlos Zambrano (#68, 2001) Note that Hill was never on any of these lists. Believe me, the Cubs have had plenty of really good pitching prospects who never lived up to the hype. I think this list is exactly what we are talking about... in each of 2001, 2002 and 2003 3 of our pitchers were on the list (although in 2003, one of them was on the marlins). In 2004 we had 4...then it all dried up and in 2005 and 2006 we only had one sneak in each year.

Must be an NSBB member who asked this question, given the Cobs reference. :D I think Geech took the "U" key off of his computer and mailed it to Oneri.

He's up there in terms of having the highest pure ceiling along with guys like Pawelek, Ceda, Huseby, and Veal. I'm hesitant to put him above Veal ceiling-wise, but that's about it. As for being the best prospect, nah. I want to see what he can do over a full season before going as far as that. Thats kinda what I was getting at. Although, for me its not so much not having seen him over a full season, but how hugely raw he is. I know the reports say hes been a fast learner, but IMO right now hes like a (soon to be) 22 year old coming off his first year after graduating high school. He may have very high potential, but of our best prospects, he has the largest gap in comparison to where hes at right now.

Kudos to Raisin for the list: Made it to the majors but never lived up to the hype: Juan Cruz, Andy Sisco, Jae-Kuk Ryu Never made it to the majors: Bobby Brownlie, Luke Hagerty, Chadd Blasko, Matt Clanton, Justin Jones, Ben Christiensen Wild Card: Angel Guzman, Billy Petrick Ohh God, I forgot about Clanton...sad. The 2002 draft was so wonderful at the time and horrible in retrospect (save Rich Hill). The only other player to make it to the majors in that draft has the most unique batting line ever. I didn't count JK because he still could do something for us. Piggy would fall into that category too. Hell so could Guzman.

Oh God, this is going to open up a can of worms, but I'll get the ball rolling... Sisco, Hagerty, Blasko, Petrick, Brownlie, Koronka, Wellemeyer, Pinto, Nolasco, Mitre, Dontrelle, Juan Cruz, Justin Jones, Christensen, Leicester, Rohlicek, Geremi (or however he wants to spell it) Gonzalez, Szuminski, Felix Sanchez, Wilton Chavez. Some of those towards the bottom werent thought of as highly as those 5 your mentioned, but there was definite hope that they would contribute to the major league team.

Oh God, this is going to open up a can of worms, but I'll get the ball rolling... Sisco, Hagerty, Blasko, Petrick, Brownlie, Koronka, Wellemeyer, Pinto, Nolasco, Mitre, Dontrelle, Juan Cruz, Justin Jones, Christensen, Leicester, Rohlicek, Geremi (or however he wants to spell it) Gonzalez, Szuminski, Felix Sanchez, Wilton Chavez.

Hey, remember when we signed Lilly and Marquis? Good times. Tradable. You telling me if Zambrano, Prior, and Hill are locked up and pitching like they can. And 2 great prospects are ready to pitch in the majors, that JH seriously couldn't trade a couple of pitchers? Call me a pessimist but I don't think JH will be the one calling the shots by then. I'm sure every fan that predicts their team's rotation down the line has their team trading the crap pitchers that will be under control and signing the good ones that currently arent signed through then. Well, you can't deny we have some good pitching prospects getting close. Atleast 1 or 2 of them has to pan out (hill included) And you can't deny we have been saying that for years and have had much better prospects historically. Im sorry, I need to quit being Debby Downer.

#1 (not counting Guzman). Higher ceiling than Veal. Pawelek too? I think he has a higher ceiling than Pawelek (and I'm probably not as down on Mark as others). I could see arguments for Jeff being ranked below Veal and Gallagher, even Pawelek. Do you think Samardzija has the highest ceiling of the pitchers or is the best prospect? IMO under this circumstance those may have a wide gap.

For some reason I think that of the myriad of players who are going to split time in those positions, Blake is one of their favorites. Plus, I'd rather get a guy who can play CF.