nilodnayr

Yeah but when its cold in Chicago hes going to lose a step which will make all those hits he would have gotten turn into easy ground outs.

Don't get too excited...Figgins is Pierre with Ks.

Why are you using wins to value a pitcher?

Yeah thats a poorly worded title, but I think its a good idea to provide possible insight in some players Hendry might target by looking at players he has either mentioned in the past or been rumored to be interested in (who are also possibly available). I'll start by throwing some out there: Vidro Kearns Roberts Heilman Durham Counsell Randa Lofton

Holy Schnikeees! (And no wonder Ramirez opted for FA. He'll get more than Alphonso!) FYI, Beltran signed a pretty reasonable contract because of all of the deferred money...heres his contract 2005 10M + 7M bonus 2006 12M + 2M bonus 2007 12M + 2M bonus 2008 10M 2009 10M 2010 10M 2011 10M 2012 3.1M in deferred $ 2013 3.1M in deferred $ 2014 3.1M in deferred $ 2015 3.1M in deferred $ 2016 3.1M in deferred $ 2017 3.1M in deferred $ 2018 3.1M in deferred $ 12M more is deferred but not explicitly stated when it is paid Not that I would want to pay Soriano all that $ after two of his last three years in an extreme hitters park hes put up OPS+ of 98 and 110

It only takes two teams...or 1 team if Boras is involved. There will be plenty of teams giving token interest that will get him up to a high level. I think Soriano will probably go to the team who will offer him the longest contract even if its a mil or two lower per year. If he can get a team taht will go 7 years 16M per he should take it over a team that offers 5 years 18M. In order to equal the $, he would have to sign a 2 yr 22M in his late 30s. Plus if he gets injured he will be out the $. The good news is that the cubs definitely do not like the long term contract. Although that seemed more of a MacPhail thing than a Hendry team. But I guess we will see with what he does with ARam.

Considering the Mets options at 2b as of right now is Jose Valentin and Anderson Hernandez (I believe), I could see the Mets be interested in Patterson. (Yes, I know, Minaya could also sign his pet Soriano to play 2b, now that he is available). I think the Mets might be more interested in a "legit bullpen arm" like Howry (I wouldn't trade him), or Eyre (I would trade Scott) moreso then Patterson. Reasoning...quality bullpen arms are harder to find then MI who can play. I could see Heilman ending up in Chicago. I would do it...a starter is 2.5x more valuable than a reliever (80 innings vs 200 innings). I really like Howry though and would love to get rid of Eyre. Also, in addition to lugo and Soriano Minaya could go after Loretta, Durham, Belliard, Kennedy, Biggio, Walker, Iwamura, Counsell, Aurilia, Giles (through trade)...a WS hopeful team has a lot more options than a prospect like Patterson who struggled mightily most of the year.

Evidently ECB has not done its job...he had a torn ligament and a dislocated tendon in his left wrist that required surgery. It was originally said that he had a broken hamate bone after running into Shea Hillenbrand April 28th.

MLB Trade Rumors suggests Patterson, although I dont think he really fills the Mets need of a second baseman NOW.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2006/10/unfounded_rumor.html Haven't seen this posted anywhere...some very very good news.

Hes going to be at the very least equal to the likes of Suppan and Padilla who could be receiving 4 year contracts for 8-9 per year. I would very much like to have him in the back end of the rotation.

Wouldn't hurt to inquire. Re-sign ARam, put Soriano in CF, Young at SS, and all of a sudden your offense looks a whole lot better. Then you go after the pitching problems. IIRC, his natural position is 2B so we could put him there also. His production would be very nice at either position though. No he is a SS and not to bad a glove guy that can hit a little bit. He switched to 2B when the Rangers picked up ARod. Before that he was the Rangers SS of the future and pretty well thought of by the BA folks. I believe he is regarded as one of the worst defensive ss in the league. Not that I care abou that.

Bobby Abreau disagrees. Too bad for Bobby. the stats agree with me... Drew OPS+ 158 148 125 Abreu OPS+ 123 129 120 (as a Phillie, since my claim was that Drew has been the best RF in the NL) Drew beat him all 3 years and pwned him in 04 and 05 Abreu VORP: 73.5 47.0 49.0 (25.5 in NL) Drew VORP: 69.5 26.9 34.9 Seems to me that Drew's rate stats are just as good as, if not better than, Abreu's... but Drew just isn't ever healthy enough. And even in his one healthy year, Abreu stole 40 bases and only got caught 5 times, so he still got the edge. Yes, obviously any player will fall behind in comparison when injured for a good part of the year. Drew was healthy enough in 04 and 06 to be nearly as good and better than Abreu.

886 PAs would be one hell of a season (I know you were just exaggerating). Its a longshot that they will be able to get AROD or ARam, but if they do, then that will take up about 16M of the 30M they have to spend. So they will still have 14M to lure a Schmidt/Zito if they so desire. It doesnt make a lot of sense to subtract Drew's production unless you think you can use his 11M more effectively and get a good amount back in a trade. So far, no one has come up with that scenario, so I remain unconvinced that it would be best for the dodgers to trade Drew.

Bobby Abreau disagrees. Too bad for Bobby. the stats agree with me... Drew OPS+ 158 148 125 Abreu OPS+ 123 129 120 (as a Phillie, since my claim was that Drew has been the best RF in the NL) Drew beat him all 3 years and pwned him in 04 and 05

11.4 Million for a .498 SLG %. I think any team would be looking to dump that like a bad habit. Average NL RF slugging in 2006 was 453 Drew was second in the NL in OPS in 2006 by 8 points. In 2005 he led NL RFs with 250+ ABs in OPS by 86 points In 2004 he led NL RFs in OPS by 35 points All of the reasons we want Drew are the same reasons LA would want to keep him. What do those historical numbers have to do with Drew's current production given his salary? It means that over the last 3 years Drew has been the best RF in the NL, so yeah that has a lot to do with why the Dodgers wouldn't want to trade him.

Then Schmidt's agent will politely tell Hendry that Jason is not interested in coming to the cubs by asking the insane asylum to come get Hendry.

11.4 Million for a .498 SLG %. I think any team would be looking to dump that like a bad habit. Average NL RF slugging in 2006 was 453 Drew was second in the NL in OPS in 2006 by 8 points. In 2005 he led NL RFs with 250+ ABs in OPS by 86 points In 2004 he led NL RFs in OPS by 35 points All of the reasons we want Drew are the same reasons LA would want to keep him.

11.4 Million for a .498 SLG %. I think any team would be looking to dump that like a bad habit. aside from his contract, as i indicated in my original post they have several rookies like either & kemp ready to start in the OF to go along with anderson. who knows if they would be willing to trade drew but he does make an awfully large amount of $ at a position which they have several prospects ready to take over. The Dodgers have 30M to spend on a starter and back up corners (upgrading 3B if one is available)...they don't need to get rid of Drew's contract. Marlon Anderson is not going to start for them. A playoff hopeful team with $ is not going to go with an Ethier, Kemp, Repko OF. If they were cash strapped maybe, but they have $ to spend and would have to replace his offensive production if they were to trade Drew. They don't need any of our prospects so some one please explain to me how the dodgers benefit from trading Drew?

where would you prefer the much needed offense to come from? i don't love soriano or anything, but he's the best hope for making this offense respectable. i would much rather see drew in cf for the cubs than soriano. As would I but Drew may cost the Cubs plenty in prospects as Soriano will just cost money, especially if the Cubs lose Ramirez they'll need all the assets to get a 3rd baseman. Hendry has some very good options and if he screws this one up he deserves the boot. i dont know that to be true. the dogers have several good young Of guy like either & kemp that are ready to take his place and they might take less than you think to lose drew's large contract. they need some lefties in the bullpen so maybe eyre & ohman might be enough for drew. i know it's a longshot but stranger things have happened. I was thinking that if they're in a hurry to get rid of Drew's contract, then maybe they take Jones straight up. That saves them a pretty nice chunk of change over 2 years. If Murton could play in RF, then Burrell - Drew - Murton is a pretty potent (albeit defensively suspect) OF that would come relatively cheaply in terms of players dealt, and gives you contracts that are up in 2 years (IIRC). Add Schmidt, Kuroda, and a 2B (Durham? Giles? Ikegawa?), and that's a pretty nicely upgraded roster. Can you please explain to me why the dodgers would be in a hurry to get rid of Drew's contract? Or why they would even want to trade him at all?

where would you prefer the much needed offense to come from? i don't love soriano or anything, but he's the best hope for making this offense respectable. I would prefer a trade with Washington to get Church to fill CF, not block Pie, and save a ton of $. I'd also want to acquire Kearns and Vidro and get rid of Jaque at the same time.

1. Lots of Cubs fans go to their parks and act like a-holes. 2. Unbearable smugness during the pre-injury Wood/ Prior era, when we all thought the Cubs would dominate the division for the rest of the decade. Actually its because of all of the hot babes we pull down. Say, that reminds me: 3. We're completely delusional. speak for yourself. I'm drowning in hot babes over here. I'm sure your wife just loves that. :)

You're joking right? So you would rather have Julian Tavarez pitching in the 9th rather than Papelbon? No, what he's saying is that if he's winning by 1 run in the bottom of the 8th, he'd rather bring in his closer to face the heart of the team's order, then save a worse reliever for a lesser part of the order and give us a chance to increase the lead. He's saying put your best relievers in the highest leverage situations. Sometimes that's in the 9th, sometimes it's the 7th. Moot point, the BoSox will either be using Papelbon or Tavarez as a starter next year. Yes, Tavarez possibly going into the season with a spot in the rotation ala Lowe. He and Tavarez are somewhat similar and it worked for Boston before. And if I had my copy of moneyball within arms reach of my bed I would point you to the section which describes what raw and TT are talking about. Unfortunately when the BoSox did this a few years ago it failed miserably and they were lambasted in the media for it, so I don't see any teams going out and (full out) doing this any time soon.

Yeah if you piss it away...half went to raises, half to marginal players... I believe the Dodgers have 30M AFTER raises and don't need to sign a RF, CF, two top end relievers and overpay for crap bench players. They can be much more focused and spend it on a top starter and a couple corner OF/IF vets. (Not that we couldn't have been focused, we just chose not to because our GM sucks at signing players.) How to be a GM for Dummies (Cubs 2006 offseason expenditures) 6M raise to DLee 2.5M raise to Wood 2.5M raise to ARam 3M raise to Z 2M raise to CF (Pierre-Patterson) 2M raise to Dempster 3M to Jones bonus not included 1M raise to Barrett 1.5M raise to Prior 2.5 to Howry bonus not included 2.7 to Eyre bonus not included 1M raise to Blanco and Rusch 1M to Mabry 1M to Miller Yeah Jim, that stellar bullpen really helps when you are losing the game 5-1 after the starter gets pulled every freakin time.

Where's Doc Brown when we need him? :D http://www.spencer1984.com/image/m116a.jpg I think the answer to that is really damn busy... http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000502/