nilodnayr

Being, up until very recently, a HUGE Hendry supporter who over the last few months has began to realize that his great moves are completely counteracted by his horrible ones, relegating this team to certain mediocrity, this is the nail in the coffin for me. When even in a difficult market we have discussed multiple options to put a winner on the field, we proactively sign crap players. I can't believe that right now, I'd much rather have Jim Bowden as my GM.

Theres your good reason. 1991-95: .343 BABIP 1992-96: .345 BABIP 1993-97: .361 BABIP 1994-98: .346 BABIP 1995-99: .342 BABIP 1996-00: .334 BABIP 1997-01: .320 BABIP 1998-02: .301 BABIP 1999-03: .301 BABIP 2000-04: .291 BABIP 2001-05: .302 BABIP 2005: .365 BABIP

If Bowden wants Bradley, I'd be more than happy to take Ryan Church off of his hands. No need for 3 CFs on their team.

Im pretty sure Ice isn't out of options. Also, Im sure Daniels, the new GM in Texas knows the only way his team is going to challenge its to load up on sinkerballers. Mitres is pretty darn nasty, thats why he'd be a good fit for the Rangers. Also, hes not in our plans for a rotation spot. Welly doesn't induce the ground balls (at least he hasnt in the majors). I'd offer Mitre and a decent prospect and nothing more. Definitely not worth give up walker as mench will provide similar offense, similar quality defense, and similar price for a significantly more offensive position.

Isn't today the deadline?

I'll see what I can find out, I'm friends with Annixter's son, well more of friends with his roommate, who happens to be George Ofman's nephew, but I'll see if he knows anything.

Really? Where have you heard those? Not to question you, but because that would be exciting! Hoops posted a thread where he said there was a three-way trade possibility between the Cubs/Marlins/Dodgers in which the Cubs get Bradley. Ohh right, I forgot those are whispers. Unfortunately he prefaced it with take it with an extreme grain of salt. Because pretty much all of us would have sacrificed our lives to get that deal done.

He's had well-documented problems with Jeff Kent in LA. Now, whether you think that falls on Bradley or Kent is another matter altogether... I believe the story went, Bradley said to a reporter that Kent was being an a-hole and wasnt talking to the black players and was being discrimatory. Former teammate and seemingly good guy, Brad Ausmus, quipped "thats crazy, Kent hates all people the same" or something like that. Frankly, I wouldn't exactly call that a clubhouse problem. And in all honesty I think he handled the beer bottle (plasitc) situation about as well as you could hope him to. He could have easily chucked it back and tried to hit the guy or God forbid pull an Artest. IMO at least publicly hes improved his maturity with age.

Really? Where have you heard those? Not to question you, but because that would be exciting!

I hope I am wrong, but I don't get the feeling Brian Giles is ALL that interested in joining the Cubs, to be honst. I say...Giles will sign with Anaheim. They got the owner, with deep pockets. They are a contender. They are still consider home for Giles. And he gets to play his more natural LF (with GA moving to full-time DH). Any hope of Giles coming to Chicago, is buried, to be honest. I would love to see him in Chicago, but it ain't happening. I too thought Giles would be going to Anaheim, but now with the Manny to Anaheim buzz it might hold them up long enough for another team to grab him.

Several fans on this site, not saying one of them was you, have criticized Hendry heavily for not having better back-up plans at SS and in the rotation where known injury-risks exist for the Cubs. Hill is still unproven and can't be counted on to perform when called upon like Rusch can. So Hill doesn't seem like a sound option as an insurance policy while Rusch's numbers over that last two seasons show he has the ability to get the job done when called upon. And the results of this season seems to have shown the need for reliable insurance policies. Plus, estimates show the Cubs have around 50 million dollars to spend this off season. So, spending 2.75 million on a player who can provide insurance to the starting rotation and effective relief is money well spent considering the amount of money the team has to shell out. Will this team make the playoffs with a rotation of Z, Prior, Maddux, Rusch, Williams? Thats an average rotation. Unless we get Giles, resign Nomar, keep Walker, and get Bradley, we need at least an above average rotation. If you are going to get an insurance option, why not get actually a decent starter and use Williams as insurance. If we get a #3 and Wood gets hurt and Williams has to step in, we still have a chance. Dusty needs defined roles because he has no clue what the right moves are. Who said Hendry was done acquiring starting pitching? The FA signing period hasn't even begun. He may not acquire anyone else for the rotation considering that the latest report on Wood is that he is on schedule. (I'll believe it when I see it). But, still, it is a little early to make that assumption, isn't it? I described Rusch as an insurance policy against injury not as a member of the rotation. You would like Williams to be the insurance policy. So would I. Who wouldn't? But who are you going to sign to be the 5th starter? The Cubs have to, have to, get someone the caliber of Brian Giles. Whether that is Giles himself or someone else acquired in a trade, it is going to cost money. Then it seems they will sign a SS. That will cost money as well. Then there is CF. Who knows what Hendry will do there, but the question remains, after all that is done will there be enough money to get one of the top FA starters for the rotation? If you want to bump Williams from the rotation then that FA will have to be better than him. Now it doesn't have to be a FA, he could come in a trade (Zito), but it is going to have to somebody good and likely expensive. Who do you have in mind? Id gladly take Bradley and Lowe/Odalis from LA. I completely understand the desire to stockpile pitching, but in my opinion 7 ML starters is overkill, if we lose 2 starters we are done for anyways, what kind of insurance is that? If Hendry wanted insurance he should have gotten some one that is not good enough to compete for the 5th spot (which Rusch is questionable), but some one who is good enough to bump Maddux down to the 5th spot. CF and another starter are two positions that Hendry should look to acquire through trades, since theres no one on the market who would be adequate/get a reasonable contract. In a FA market like this you have to focus more on trades than signings.

You want to know what kind of rotation they were? OVERACHEIVING! If you want to bank on all of your pitchers having career years/coming up huge in the clutch, then why do we even need Rusch? Wood will be healthy and will strike out 250, Prior will win 25 games and Z will have an ERA under 2 and Maddux will win 10 games in the second half.

Several fans on this site, not saying one of them was you, have criticized Hendry heavily for not having better back-up plans at SS and in the rotation where known injury-risks exist for the Cubs. Hill is still unproven and can't be counted on to perform when called upon like Rusch can. So Hill doesn't seem like a sound option as an insurance policy while Rusch's numbers over that last two seasons show he has the ability to get the job done when called upon. And the results of this season seems to have shown the need for reliable insurance policies. Plus, estimates show the Cubs have around 50 million dollars to spend this off season. So, spending 2.75 million on a player who can provide insurance to the starting rotation and effective relief is money well spent considering the amount of money the team has to shell out. Will this team make the playoffs with a rotation of Z, Prior, Maddux, Rusch, Williams? Thats an average rotation. Unless we get Giles, resign Nomar, keep Walker, and get Bradley, we need at least an above average rotation. If you are going to get an insurance option, why not get actually a decent starter and use Williams as insurance. If we get a #3 and Wood gets hurt and Williams has to step in, we still have a chance. Dusty needs defined roles because he has no clue what the right moves are.

Unfortunately. However it also takes Anaheim out of the Giles sweepstakes.

edit: our payroll ended up being 92m not 90 last season. I don't know where those salary figures came from, but they don't look close to being accurate. Of course Dewitt is going to say that the budget is tight. Do you honestly think it would make good business sense to say "we've got all kinds of money to spend..... we're just waiting for players to come & get it!".??? Come on, people. It's business. STARTING LINEUP: C- Molina- 300K ---400K 1B- Pujols- 14M ---14M 2B- Grudzielanek- FA ---probably resign at 1.5M SS- Eckstein- 3.3 M ---3.3M 3B- Rolen 10.4 M ---9.2M (+2M deferred) LF- Sanders- FA ---probably resign at 4M CF- Edmonds- 10 M ---9.3M (+1M deferred) RF- Walker- Retired TOTAL: $38 Million (Without a 2B, LF, or RF) ---41M (+3M deferred) BENCH: C- Diaz- FA INF- Nunez- FA INF- Luna- 300 K ---400K OF- Mabry- FA ---800K OF- Taguchi- 600K ---700K OF- Rodriguez- 300K ---400K OF- Gall- 300K ---300K TOTAL #1: 1.5 Mil (without backup C and backup infielder.) ---2.6M --------------------- In-Organization potential bench members: C- Mahoney- 300K INF- Seabol- 300K TOTAL #2: 2.1 Mil (if Mahoney and Seabol replace Diaz and Nunez.) ---3.2M ROTATION: 1. Carpenter- 5 M ---5M 2. Mulder- 7.3 M ---7.75M 3. Morris- FA 4. Suppan- 4 M ---4M 5. Marquis- Arbitration Eligible ---~4.5M TOTAL: 16.3 Mil (without 2 rotation spots filled) ---21.25M without 1 rotation spot BULLPEN: RH: Isringhausen- 8.8 M ---9.5 Tavarez- FA Thompson- 300K ---300K Eldred- FA LH: King- 2.8 M ---2.45M Flores- 300K ---300K TOTAL: 12.2 Mil (with 2 RH spots open) ---12.5M w/ 2 TOP RH spots open TOTAL PAYROLL: 68.6 Million (this is counting Seabol and Mahoney as bench players.) --- The above 80M payroll leaves the following needs: RF, SP, RH Relief, RH Relief With the remaing 12M Jocketty signs Encarnacion to a 3 yr 18M contract (5M, 6M, 7M), decent starting pitcher for 5M, set up man for 2M and fill the last spot within the org.

The Gold Glove voting is becoming more of a joke everyday. You got that right! In 04' both Schneider & Patterson were far better defensively than Matheny & Edmonds. This award has 0 credibility. Offense stats shouldn't matter when it comes to this award, but it does & that is ridiculous. See: Alex S. Gonzalez See: Alex S. Gonzalez's crummy range.

Go look at Clemens game log.

What worries me is Hendry wants to overpay average to below average players. Furcal, Preston Wilson, Encarnacion, Jacque Jones, Pierre, Rusch... Where did you see that Hendry wants to overpay for Preston Wilson, Encarnacion or Jacque Jones?? Also, why do you think that Rusch is not worth $3M a year? Most all media outlets had confirmed Hendry's interest in Preston Wilson at the deadline last year, coincidentally all media outlets confirmed Hendry's interest in Burnitz at the deadline the year before and look what happened there. Encarnacion and J Jones are very similar players, and the cubs have been rumored to be interested in J Jones. Rusch is worth 3M a year to a team that doesn't have a better option for .5M (and you know Rusch will get the 5th spot over Williams). We need 6 starters because of Wood, but if he goes down and Rusch, Maddux, and Willaims are in the rotation then we are pretty much screwed anyway.

But you know as well as me that Jocketty will figure out some way to make it work. He always seems to approach things with the "glass is half full" vigor; sadly, our guys tend to think the "glass is half empty." Its really not Jocketty who makes it work, its his 3 big players who deferred significant portions of their contracts at 0% interest.

What worries me is Hendry wants to overpay average to below average players. Furcal, Preston Wilson, Encarnacion, Jacque Jones, Pierre, Rusch...

It's remaining at $92m. Accounting for the changes listed in the thread, STL might only have about $20m to play around with despite having some big need positions. They don't have the farm system to effectively fill those holes from within, so if they get Giles, they will potentially be short-changing their potential to fill holes in the rotation, bullpen, and in the lineup in a big way. Pujols:14M Rolen:9M (+2M deferred) Edmonds:11M (+1M deferred) Izzy:8.75M Mulder:7.75M Suppan:4M Marquis;~4M Eckstein:3.25M Carp; 5M (+"significant appearance incentives") King:2.45M Molina: ~.4M So thats 11 players at a bit over 70M with holes at 2nd (Grudz will probably come back for 1.5M again), both corner OF (Sanders might come back for 4M again), and a starter (resign Mo or hand it over to a prospect), not to mention pen and bench. It really depends on what they want to do with the other OF spot and Mattys rotation, but realisticly they will need to expand the payroll to be able to sign Giles.

won't corey sit on the bench & pout?? wonder who Texas would give up for Patterson?? Not enough to justify trading him. No reason to sell low; we have nothing to gain by trading him. As for him pouting, where do you get that idea? He expressed disappointment but didn't cause any stir when sent down to AAA. And Corey has never shown anything to indicate that there's anything wrong with his attitude. I'm not sure where people get this idea that he's any sort of a problem in that department. coreys attitude has never been a problem. In fact hes never shown any emotion whatsoever.

won't corey sit on the bench & pout?? wonder who Texas would give up for Patterson?? I bet the hold up on walker is that we only pick up the option if texas agrees to take him, corey, and mitre for Soriano. :pukel: :pukel: :pukel: :pukel:

Ive told this story before, but for what its worth I was in the bleachers when the marlins were in town and Burnett played with the fans in the bleachers a ton during warmups and eventually through the innerworkings of wrigley made his way up to us in the CF bleachers and took pictures and signed autographs with fans for about 20 minutes, then as he came out from the doors in the wall and was running back to his dugout he pointed at his chest and then pointed down at the ground, assumedly stating that he wanted to be here. Frankly I dont want him, but it really seemed like he showed a desire to come here. Of course its not altogether up to him.

It seems clear that some of the contract is covered under insurance; the only question is how much? Nice pull vance!!! This is my guess... 01:75% (6M) 02:70% (6M) 03:55% (6M) 04:33% (4M) 05:32% (4M) 06:22% (3M) 07:20% (3M) 08:20% (3M) 09 25% (5M) Option year Thats 40M in covered salary. I don't understand. How did you come to those numbers? The insured volume (my predicted 40M) is only half of the equation. The other part is the premiums the team pays to continue the policy. I'm assuming the premiums are rather normal, nothing obsene. Underwriting is all based on predicting risk. The longer the contract goes on, the less ability you currently have to predict risk, also compound that with the possibility of career ending injuries. Quickly looking at Hamptons previous career, it doesnt look like he missed any significant amount of time. However, he was 28 when he signed the contract and had 6 full years and 1200 IP of starting in the majors of wear and tear on his arm, not to mention over 500 innings in the minors/as a reliever before that. I would obviously need a lot more info such as physicals and MRIs as well as assumptions the underwriters made when developing the policy. It is totally just a guess, but I assumed they would pick up the first 3 years as if they would a normal contract. But as the contract gets more mature, Hampton gets older, his shoulder and elbow have more wear and tear and his injury risk goes up. I consider that in the 6th year of this contract (2006) I am covering a guy who if healthy has well passed 2000 IP and is 33 years old. Am I going to want to take on the risk of insuring a sizable portion of his contract? Especially because IIRC the time his contract was written was at the early stages of TJS.