nilodnayr

I think a lot depends on what they think Kerry is goign to do. If they are weary of him being able to throw over 60 pitches then you have to go out and get a starter. I like Williams, I like him a lot, infact for the cubs his ERA was 3.90 and take out one bad game against cinci and its down to 3.48. I am just fine with him as my 5th, infact in reality hes the 4th ahead of maddux. Its just if Kerry goes down and we need to plug in an inconsistant Mitre, an often injured Guzman, or a super struggling Welly, then thats 2 mediocre and one below average pitcher. Who knows what Rusch is going to do, but at his best hed keep us in games, I think hes not going to repeat 2004. I dont have a problem picking up a pitcher and moving Williams to the pen for the time being. However, no one on the FA market will be close to what they are worth. Weaver has potential but will get a big contract and could bomb again. Milwood is the best of the bunch, but will probably get paid for it. Burnett is Pavano II, new and improved with injuries and probably a bigger contract. Byrd gives up too many homers and doesnt strike out enough. I would be interested in picking up an overpaid pitcher with a few years left who has potential to be more than an innings eater should Wood go down in order to get a position player to fill one of our needs. Javy and Tracy/Conor/Quentin as well as Odalis and Bradley have been mentioned, is there anyone else out there?

A lineup with a 3-4-5 of 950 OPS with the rest of the team 800+ we should score some runs. Ohh and it wouldnt be unreasonable for EVERYONE in that lineup to have a 350+ OBP. A rotation of Z, Prior, Wood, Maddux, Perez Pen of Dempster, set up man (Howry?), Williamson, Wuertz/Novoa, Ohman, Williams That should get the job done as well as provide insurance incase of injury.

Doubt they'd have to take on Bradley to get Perez. Perez has been grumbling about lack of run support though, so I wouldn't be too excited about him joining the Cubs. I meant the opposite, Id take on Perez to get Bradley. Perez has a ceiling of a 2/good 3 but is already getting paid like one, more likely he will pitch like a bad 3/4. Bradley on the otherhand is the best value for the money among NL CF. Hes a tier below Griffey, Jones, and Edmonds but will also be making 8M or so less.

Wow, two headcases for the price of...two. I say make Dusty earn his 4M :D

Although not a FA, I'd be interested in Odalis if it would get us Bradley. Odalis is a bit of an enigma but is the lefty Hendry has always wanted. Hes had good WHIPs and his expense would be offset by Bradley's cheapness.

Yeah, I'm fine with leaving 2B alone, too. Its just that the Cubs need OBP and Castillo provides it, that and a Gold Glove. But you have to think about what his 370 OBP would be replacing...that would be Walkers 350 OBP. And considering Castillos baserunning has gone from extremely disrupting to detrimental as well as Walkers big power advantage, all you are really paying for is Castillos defence. And since I am in the camp that Walkers defense is average and not really detrimental to the team I wouldnt be willing to pay the extra money and prospects to "upgrade" at 2B. Giles is the only guy I would want to upgrade to at 2b.

I was at a game this summer and my girlfriend, who is a redhead w/very fair skin forgot to bring sunscreen. Around the 5th inning you could see her turning bright red so I went to get her some sunscreen...$15.00!!! It was for a small bottle also. I know everything is expensive there but 1 small bottle of sunscreen>2 oldstyles, thats just not right. Also I hope they don't go shirtless like Harry used too. :-s Ohh well all rules are off for girls. And yes, I went with an Irish girl earlier this year and she had to buy a bottle as well. One game they were giving away bullfrog (the official cubs sunscreen) to everyone waiting in the bleacher line, little did the girls know how much money they were saving.

Theres only one rule in the bleachers and thats 1 Old Style per inning, no more, no less. Ohh and 2 during BP. And yes, Hebrew National Hot Dogs on the middle level with loads of mustard, tomatos and banana peppers. Ohh and no sunscreen. I guess thats more than one rule, but the first one is the most important. Ohh and "left field sucks/ right field sucks" chants well, suck.

Is that 766 OPS worth 8M?

If we took on Chipper and most of his contract we wouldnt have enough money to get Brian Giles. I'd do anything possible under the sun to get Marcus by himself though. I like his potential, but I guess the braves would be attracted to Walkers consistancy and low salary.

I was waiting until CF to talk about him. I imagine with the multiple middle infield options and lack of CF options, others were as well.

Agree with all except if we traded walker (God I hope we dont) it would most likely be for bullpen help and wed solve 2b internally with cedeno.

In the last 4 years no NL qualifying shortstop has had an OPS over 816 except for Renterias break out year. Just to put an 800 OPS in perspective. If Nomar plays 125-135 games at SS, and puts up .295/.340, that not only is a giant inprovement over our SS this year, but it also allows Cedeno to play at least 25-30 games at SS alone, and allows him to ease into what should be a starting role in 2007. That said, Nomar has to agree to a reduced salary for us to want to bring him back. He is a high risk/high reward player now. We need to treat him as such, and if he legitamitly likes Chicago and the organization, he'll be accomodating. I see Nomar as not much of an injury risk. I was most worried about the achilies as those seem to be somewhat nagging. It hasnt popped up this year, but who knows if it would have if Nomar would have played an entire year. Nomar doesnt have a history of muscle injuries, arthritis, or issues with him being in condition, so I have no problem bringing him back for even more than 5M bucks.

I think you have you leadoff hitter in Walker. We need his OBP and Left handed bat at the top of the order. Slide murton at number two, and you have a pretty duo up there. Hendry's priorites should be (in order of when it should happen) -Pickup Walker's option -Pursure a big OF bat in trade or free agency -Pursue a starting pitcher, and a setup man. -Dusty proof the bench. Woah, lets stick to the subject (in case youve entered this thread late, read Roasts first few posts). Is talking about batting order within the topic of talking about position? I guess batting order should be discussed after weve come to the consensus on all the position players on the team.

In the last 4 years no NL qualifying shortstop has had an OPS over 816 except for Renterias break out year. Just to put an 800 OPS in perspective.

Sure that has been suggested, but suggested by a moron. Id put no credence into that claim. Who? I'm just looking for a source, that's all. Bah, i give up. Could have possibly not been a link but some one something heard some idiot say on the radio.

Sure that has been suggested, but suggested by a moron. Id put no credence into that claim. Who? I'm just looking for a source, that's all. I'll look, I know a link to an article stating that was posted in the last few weeks.

http://www.fangraphs.com/graphs.aspx?playerid=1109&position=OF&page=3&type=full haha, bonds is literally "off the charts"

I said seems and no one has pointed out all the games he's won with his bat. His defense is sub-par. Have you watched him try to turn double plays? I will never figure you guys out. I am convinced you don't watch/understand much baseball. You pillory Perez all year and the guy, while admittedly streaky and too anxiuos at the plate, has played well all year. I think if you asked knowledgebale people who has had the better year -- based on watching the game, rather than based on reviewing box scores-- perez would be an overwhelming choice over walker. The point here is not to praise Perez-- he's far from great-- it's that stats-- at least in walker and perez's cases-- have blinded stats-livers to their actual contributions. I know I am not going to change the metric minds but maybe you guys should start watching more and crunching numbers less. You might get an actual line on players that way. Dusty, is that you?!?!? Fact of the matter is these metric minds that are countering your points actually DO watch the games, they wouldnt have thousands of posts on this board if they didnt watch the cubs at any chance they had. And I keep hearing from people who hate Walkers defense that he sucks turning the DP, and Jeez I watch on average about 100 games a year and just cant figure it out, I dont see it at all.

Question... (I just want to stay on topic) is this starting shortstop or should this include backup as well (i.e) I would like to resign Nomar and use Cedeno as back up and get him 1 start a week. Would that be off topic?

That is a Cubs option, btw, so Walker doesn't have any choice about coming back if the Cubs want him. And that's the question. It's not a question for me, though, as I exercise the option the first day I can and bring back Todd for 2006. I try to sign him to a very similar contact hes signed to right now (with a 500K raise or so), I'd like to keep an option on him for 2007. Some would argue for EPatt in 2007, but as much as I like him, I cant see him going from low A to AA to the majors. If Todd wants to be able to test the market after 2006 so be it, Ill be very happy retaining his services in 2006 for 2.5M by picking up the option. Just my preference to keep him around past 2006. Well in that case, then pick up his option, then try to extend his contract after the fact. Because if you let the date for picking up contracts pass, you run the risk of losing him if he does not want to return. Well yes of course I would pick up his option before it runs out, im not Tim Allen. But to save on lawyers fees and to prove that I love todd walker and people who bash him for not turning enough double plays are ignorant, id go for signing him to a 1 + 1 right away. It shouldnt be too tough of a decision for him.

Sure that has been suggested, but suggested by a moron. Id put no credence into that claim.

There really arent any. Probably the best possible FA out there (besides Walker) is Durham, which is scary.

Although it involves retaining Walker's services in 2006, its not picking up his option so I guess Ill have to vote other.

That is a Cubs option, btw, so Walker doesn't have any choice about coming back if the Cubs want him. And that's the question. It's not a question for me, though, as I exercise the option the first day I can and bring back Todd for 2006. I try to sign him to a very similar contact hes signed to right now (with a 500K raise or so), I'd like to keep an option on him for 2007. Some would argue for EPatt in 2007, but as much as I like him, I cant see him going from low A to AA to the majors. If Todd wants to be able to test the market after 2006 so be it, Ill be very happy retaining his services in 2006 for 2.5M by picking up the option. Just my preference to keep him around past 2006.