CP_414

Tiger?

Lol. It's pretty funny to read the crying about refs every game. In fairness, there just happen to be mostly UI fans here. Every teams fans (internet fans anyway) seem to think they get screwed by refs in every college basketball game. For some reason the crying is a lot more frequent in basketball than football and baseball.

So is this what the Cubs look like on opening day? (not the batting order) 1B - Lee 2b - Fontonot 3b - Ramirez SS - Theriot Lf - Soriano CF - Fukudome RF - Bradley C - Soto Bench: Miles Gathright Johnson Bako someone crappy like Uribe Rotation: Zambrano Dempster Harden Lilly Heilman Bullpen: Marmol Gregg Marshall Vizcaino Guzman Wuertz Cotts Iowa: Samardzija Hart Ascanio Hoffpauir Rule 5 pick gets sent back to Denver. That team looks worse than 08. Hopefully Hendry has a significant move left in this offseason.

I don't get the uproar. I like this trade. I doubt any GM values Cedeno very highly. Olsen seems like at best he'll be an average #4 or #5 starter, and he may be a few years away from reaching that potential, if he ever does. Heilman was brutal last year, but he was very good in 05, 06, and 07. This gives the Cubs another swingman they could use in a potential Peavy deal or frees up Marshall for that trade. I don't think this in any way hurts the chances of the Cubs adding Peavy. Olsen was a guy San Diego liked, but they just said a few weeks ago he was a very minor part of the trades being discussed in Vegas. If the Cubs don't get Peavy this gives them more options for the rotation. Out of Marshall, Gaudin, Heilman, and Samardzija the Cubs should get above average production from the #5 spot on the cheap in 09. I know he hasn't been connected to the Cubs, but this trade makes Sheets even more appealing to me, with the added depth to our pitching staff. Overall, I don't think the 09 Cubs look better than the 08 Cubs were, but Hendry may still have a significant move once Ricketts takes control.

From MLBTR... Cubs Close To Deal With Takahashi? By Drew Silva [January 11 at 9:47pm CST] Patrick Newman of NPB tracker is relaying a report from Japanese-based Sports Hochi that states the Cubs are close to inking a one-year deal with left-handed pitcher Ken Takahashi. Newman calls it "very early speculation," but it's definitely a situation worth eying. Sports Hochi believes that Takahashi would be used mostly in middle relief by the Cubs and could be in line for some spot starts. According to the report, the Cubs are looking for emotional support for Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome. Others have drummed up a similar idea in the past. I googled him and this came up...http://www.japanesebaseball.com/players/player.jsp?PlayerID=281 He doesn't look very good.

No. I think his name is Jim Anixler. I like that Ricketts is a fan, I'm sure he would put money into the team, but I worry that he is a dumb fan. Dumb Cubs fans have some awful ideas about what this team needs. He seems like the best option at this point anyway.

Jake Peavy Ben Sheets That is all.

Is hendry pretty much done after Bradley/Marquis? Is another SP after the ownership situation is resolved unrealistic? The Peavy thing, from what I've been told, probably can't happen until the ownership situation is resolved. However, Hendry will try to add a starting pitcher not named Peavy before spring training opens. Ben Sheets? Having Sheets and Harden on the same team would be like...well, you know. It would be like...awesome. I agree, for the week or so, that be some freak occurance that they both end up healthy at the same time. He had about 200 IP last year

Is hendry pretty much done after Bradley/Marquis? Is another SP after the ownership situation is resolved unrealistic? The Peavy thing, from what I've been told, probably can't happen until the ownership situation is resolved. However, Hendry will try to add a starting pitcher not named Peavy before spring training opens. Ben Sheets? Having Sheets and Harden on the same team would be like...well, you know. It would be like...awesome.

Is hendry pretty much done after Bradley/Marquis? Is another SP after the ownership situation is resolved unrealistic? The Peavy thing, from what I've been told, probably can't happen until the ownership situation is resolved. However, Hendry will try to add a starting pitcher not named Peavy before spring training opens. Ben Sheets?

No. Boston isn't stupid. Maybe they ARE....If they were willing to do the deal for Beltran, who is far LESS of an offensive threat than Soriano!~ Whatever you want to tell yourself...

No. Boston isn't stupid.

Which board?

if this is supposedly a detractor for Bradley. I have some words for you. You are doing it wrong. I'll bite. 98 101 141 75 96 61 126 (DH) The numbers of games he's played in a season since 2002. We all know those numbers and it is a concern, but that's not what SweetZombieJesus was saying. There isn't much to complain about with thise home/road splits. Just as there isn't much to complain about his 07 numbers in Oakland and San Diego. I'd prefer Dunn too, because of health reasons, but Bradley is a stud when he plays no matter what park he is playing in.

Hendry was upset with all of the "leaks" about the Peavy trade speculation, so he probably told Towers to keep any discussions private. I remember an article maybe 2 weeks ago where Towers said that if Peavy was traded nobody would hear about it and it wouldn't be as public as it got at the winter meetings, It's probably somewhere in this thread but I didn't feel like going through 30+ pages trying to find it, I think it was from Yahoo. I find it hard to believe that we had to trade DeRosa and Marquis to get just Bradley and we either needed to find pitchers to replace what we would trade for Peavy or find other pitchers to throw into the deal. Why is it hard to believe? Hendry can't add payroll until the ownership thing is worked out and he felt he couldn't afford to wait until then to add the guy he wanted (Bradley) so he had to dump DeRosa's salary. For me it's hard to believe because when you factor in Miles the Cubs only saved about $3M for 2009 by trading DeRosa. If the payroll really is a$140-143M they could fit Bradley in after the Marquis deal. If they really just needed another $3M they could have moved Wuertz and/or Gaudin and trading a player like DeRosa is not what you would exoect a team with the Cubs aspirations to do. One of 2 things is happening here: 1. Hendry really doesn't see the downgrade from Derosa to Miles as being very significant because of lefthandedness. 2. Hendry needed prospects for a bigger deal. I am really hoping it's #2, but I fear it's just #1.

Not one of those replacements is accurate in expected roles, so your notion of downgrading across the board is wrong. Replace Wood with Marmol at closer (even). Replace Howry with Gregg at set-up (even). Replace Edmonds with Fukudome in CF (moderate downgrade). Replace Fukudome with Bradley in RF (notable upgrade). Replace Marquis with Marshall at 5th starter (slight upgrade). Replace DeRosa with Fontenot at 2B (slight downgrade). Replace Fontenot with Miles on bench (slight downgrade). Replace Jon Lieber with Vizcaino in relief (moderate downgrade). That's how I see it. Who replaces Marmol at set-up? Fuku will be a big downgrade from Edmonds last season. Fonty is a big downgrade from DeRo.

Why would you srop MB so low vs LHP? He is a switch hitter. I didn't look it up, but I think he is much better vs LHP than RHP anyway.

Why are people upset by this? Us being back in the picture for Peavy would be GREAT news if true. I hope Levine is right.

So if the best defense is worth 11 wins over the worst defense, how many wins is the #1 offense worth over the worst offense? How about the best pitching vs the worst?

Good stuff Tim. So the difference between the best and worst was about 2 hits per game (which sounds very significant). If the Cubs were 2nd best and Dunn replacing Reed/Edmonds is the only significant change in the lineup, I wouldn't expect them to drop below middle of the pack. I am curious to see how many runs that would convert to, but I wouldn't expect it to significantly minimize the offensive upgrade Dunn provides. I guess the other factor here is luck. Was it a fluke last year that the Cubs were 2nd best in baseball at converting balls in play into outs or is that ther actual skill level?

Dunn playing good defense would not add $8million to his yearly demands. He's a great slugger and poor hitter, he would never command $20million a year. I think he will get more than $12M. I would also debate your comment that he's a poor hitter, but the last thing this board needs is another debate about that, so it is what it is.

There seems to be much more concern about defense on this board this offseason than I can ever remember. I'm not there yet. I would love to have Dunn on the Cubs at a "reasonable" contract. His offensive production exceeds any of the other options (unless Bradley somehow becomes Ripkenesque and matches his Texas numbers). Dunn's defense is really bad, but if it wasn't he would get $20 million a year, so you take the bad with the good. I don't really understand how each defensive metric works or how accurate they are so I am definitly open minded about this but I believe Soto, Lee, Ramirez, and Fukudome are strong defenders. Theriot and DeRosa are ok, and Soriano and Dunn would be very poor. I would imagine that would put us around middle of the pack in terms of fielding, but #1 in the NL in runs scored, and we should be top 3 or 4 in pitching. As was mentioned earlier, we also do have a lot of options for defensive replacments if the situation calls for it. I'll take him.

Hey! Seriously though, what is happening to this board? WOO WOO 4EVA!

Now you're just being silly :rotfl: Well since we have DLee locked up for 2 years and I would assume Morneau will make a run at Tex money, a case could easily be made for Dunn.

I don't understand where this thread has gone. Adam Dunn isn't as good as Justin Morneau, so Dunn isn't very good? What? Dunn is a very productive hitter. How is that debatable? If RBI's are so important, you might want to check, but he gets 100 a year. If you value HR's he hits 40 a year. If you value OBP he is around .380 a year. If you value OPS he is over .900. If you value OPS+ he is around 130. Runs Created per 25 about 7.3 a game. What does Morneau have to do with anything? Is he available? Dunn has his flaws (read: Defense), but hitting isn't one of them.