AramisRamirez

that ridiculous rumor yesterday got me thinking (the one where we net soriano, furcal, and mench). im a huge todd walker fan, not into trading him really but soriano would be one guy i so it for. throw in a good prospect and that deal should be enough. handing him a $100M deal, as rumored yesterday. was literally laughable. not sure what deal he'd get, but certainly no where near yesterdays rumor. anyways we'd still need speed at the top of the order but bringing in soriano would definitely hand us another solid hitter in the lineup. spending that much on soriano would probably stop us from furcal but juan pierre would still be right there for the taking. so basically what im thinking about is adding soriano and pierre instead of furcal and giles. we're going to pony up some prospecs for pierre, which is fine as long as its not our best best prospects/. soriano is somewhat streaky but he's definitely capable of playing at a high level. anyways here would be the 2006 cubbies after these two additions: this situation would field one of the few times id be content bringing back burnitz (as an 8th hole hitter). im not a fan of burnitz but as an 8th hole hitter i could deal. OF pierre 2B soriano 1B lee 3B ramirez C barrett OF murton SS cedeno OF burnitz what do you guys think?

.318 BA .388 OBP 37 HR 112 RBI that by most peoples standards is a monster year. infact, those numbers would be a career year for the majority of players in the league. is he capable of more? yes. is it realistic? not sure. the following stat line could occur if the stars aligned: .341 BA .440 OBP 44 HR 130 RBI i just dont think its realistic but if stayed healthy and both derrek lee and todd walker got on-base all the time iti is possible. it would take a multitude of factors for it to happen though. i think 130 RBI would be pretty hard for him to accomplish. thats why i respect ortiz and manny so much because they put up 140 RBIs. thats just sickening.

cubS are too cheap to put names on the jerseys....j/k.

at this point i just want somebody. if its pierre, fine. if its furcal, fine. if its giles, fine. if its soriano, fine. just bring in somebody. im still laughing about that other thread that said $100M for furcal. lol. yeah a $100M.

if burnitz is back in the 5th hole for the chicago cubs in 2006, i will commit suicide on hendry's doorstep. im already cringing at the thought of us not making an significant transacations this year. if neifi and burnitz are starting in 2006, i will be 100% certain that the cubs organization is the biggest money making scam in the world.

im going to kill myself. being a cubs fan is just grueling, i think my hair is turning gray despite me being 26 years old. i know we're not going to get giles. i doubt that we get furcal. i highly doubt we get pierre. i think getting mench isnt going to happen. no milton bradley either. no zito. no ANYBODY. these people are all attainable but i just feel like none of its going to happen. hendry better make me think otherwise or else youll be looking at the most bitter cubs fan in the city.

if opening day rolls around and neifi perez is batting leadoff and juan encarnation is batting 5th i will slit my wrists. one less cubs fan to buy $7 beers at wrigley.....

take this for whats its worth, but i was on RealGM.com checking out the knicks forum. one poster mentioned he heard this on WFAN, a new york radio station. here is the link to the post: http://realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=437671

well the past 2 years he keeps going down with injuries, but i think he might finally pull of the full season. so it appears like the time is now to change my signature. im thinking .318 BA .388 OBP 37 HR 112 RBI yes yes yall! bust out the glowsticks, turn on the techno, and pop the ecstasy because Aramis is coming strong in 2006!

all this furcal talk which i completely agree with, but how would we stand with the loan addition of giles. say its 3/35 for him what is our lineup shaping up as?? maybe something like this: SS cedeno 2B walker 1B lee 3B ramirez OF giles C barrett OF murton OF pie or patterson not bad, not bad. i think cedeno will be nice fit at any part of the order, but with no furcal we need cedeno up there. he'd be our only base-stealing threat considering corey patterson refused to make a commitment to being a serious threat. giles would add so much because we were so desperate for a legit 5th hole hitter. burnitz just isnt consistent and giles' OBP would fit in perfectly. between giles and walker sandwhiching lee and aramis, we got nice OBP in our murderer's row. i cant wait for us to make a serious transaction. whether its furca or giles, we really could use one.

this is BS. i cant imagine any Pierre-to-the-Cubs deal is about to be finalized any minute. i need somebody credible to say they actually heard it. but if its true, Pierre would look great at the top of our order. I then would look hard at re-signing nomar with the idea that cedeno will get full-time responsibilites when nomar goes down. finally i would than sign giles and we'd be pretty much set. call up pie 2 months into the season to replace corey and we're good to go. OF Pierre 2B walker 1B lee 3B ramirez OF giles SS garciaparra C barrett OF murton now that is a sick sick lineup. speed with pierre, high OBP with walker and giles, and good power between lee and aramis.

i for one would be thrilled to nab furcal early. a 5-year deal with me is fine, considering he will be only 33 whens it finished. i think furcals top of the order speed, ability to play D, and base-stealing production is just what we need. if we nab Zito for twp gppd prospects. i thnk we already make our team signficantly better. i doubt pierre for patterson materials, so id be cotent starting corey in CF and bat him last until Pie is ready to come in. a 2B/SS trio of walker, furcal, and cedeno would be sick.

well i dont think hendry will trade todd walker. walker is a tough at-bat for opposing pictures. when he was with boston he was the hardest player in the AL to strike out. i think his defense isnt as much a liability as people think. i think walker in the lineup as our full-time 2B is completly fine. so i guess im one of the few who thinks/hopes walker is entirely fine in our lineup. as far as hendry bringing in a marquee FA, i dont think that will happen either. our best bet is with furcal for many reasons (speed at the top of the lineup, defense, money situation, etc) i think the odds of us landing brian giles or AJ burnett is ultra-slim. i just cant see hendry paying either with a 5-year contract. if you notice the cubs front-office has been reluctant to sign 5 year deals. if burnett or giles do accept 4 years, ot still going to be Burnett is just a pipe-dream. the cubs organization wont meet his price. its likely that boston or NY will offer alteast one more year to Burnett. i think Burnett could be 5-years/$50-$65M. for that price i really cant blame them for passing. Burnett is great but he's been injured alot and after kerry wood's failure to earn his huge contract i assume hendry is uneasy paying that much money for somebody who could easily end up hurt sitting alongside kerry wood on the bench. Giles is just too old for hendry to throw down a 5-year deal. i think he'll end up wre-signing with the padres. should he accept a 4 year deal, i dont think we'll end up topping the annual salary enough. so that brings us back to furcal, our best and most reasonable target. with him we'll need to over-pay, which is fine with me due to his age. he is probably in renteria territory with 4-years/$40M. every off-season FA's sign contracts that are bloated, it happens constantly. look at JD drew's ridiculous salary despite historically being injured prone. so we need to allocate $10M a year fpr 4 years for furcal. i think its unlikely Atlanta would match that. i agree that murton will start, but i think a furcal/walker doulbe-play combo is acceptable enough to bring cedeno off the bench.. actually they'd also do well batting leadoff and second, respectively. cedeno would be a great utility guy filling in for both furcal and walker. in my opinion furcal, walker, and cedeno would be a great trio. as far as filling the RF position, i think we should consider nomar garciaparra to switch and play it. sounds like a wierd idea, but he actually suggested it. i dont think nomar would be a terrible RF, though i dont think he'd be gunning runners out at home much. nomar's hitting ability would be nice in the lineup. anyways here is my reasonable opening day 2006 lineup. SS furcal 2B walker 1B lee 3B ramirez RF garciaparra C barrett LF murton CF patterson (until pie is called up 2 months into the season) SP1 zambrano SP2 prior SP3 wood (hurt during his first start after getting rocked) SP4 greg's vesting option SP5 rusch/williams RP dempster as usual, should nomar and kerry wood get hurt we will be a .500 team. you take away those 2 guys, which happens every year, we're plain and simple not a good team. at team with the cubs payroll cant play out the year with maddux, rusch, and jerome williams pitching 3rd, 4th, and 5th. that is way too weak. i think all three with have an ERA 4.00+ which isnt good enough to make a run. than you take away garciaparra's hitting ability and our batting order is too weak. we'd be right where we were last year with burnitz batting 5th (a terrible idea for a team trying to win a world series). so in conclusion, the cubs will probably one sign one big contract with furcal or nobody else. the addition of furcal by himself wouldnt make us good enough to withstand losing nomar and wood. dont get your hopes up. last year at this time we were saying hendry would sign beltran and edgar renteria. the Trib owns most of the big newspapers throughout the country and they can spin anything, including things yet to happen. with the beltran situation the Trib conviently leaked the cubs $75M offer. i dont think it would have been smart to increase the offer, but the point im making is the cubs let us all know that they made an offer. hendry knows beltran wouldnt accept $35M less so they made an offer to make them look bigger.

this whole pursuit of burnett is similar to the pursuit of beltran last year. the Trib spins tall tales. burnett is not coming here. now furcal might, but only one of the big 3 will come our way with furcal being the likely candidate.

why not trade cedeno and jerome williams to the yankees for derick jeter? than possibly murton and todd walker for Arod and put Arod at second base. and maybe toss in corey patterson to get johann santana. then we got a team!! hello Jeter, Arod, and Santana!!

at this point you got to be open to simply upgrading. we cant plan on furcal or giles coming here because their current teams can offer them money too. i would be open to anything pretty much. if furcal signs with atlanta, we could be looking nomar and todd walker as our double-play combo and cedeno playing a utility role. if that is the case, i would consider damon also despite his age and large deal coming up. lets say furcal and giles sign elsewhere, bringing in somebody like damon or a different player like sheffield has to be better than what we got. sheffield would be a nice 5th spot hitter. burnitz is not a #5 hitter on a world series team, thats im sure of. but a 3-4-5 of Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, and Gary Sheffield is. or Damon-Walker-Lee-Ramirez-Garciaparra would also work in the 1-5 spots, if nomar is healthy. if he isnt, which he hasnt been for 2 years, than we're looking at somebody like murton hitting 5th. can murton be counted as a #5 hitter right now? i wouldnt try it....

i wouldnt get our hopes up about adding a starting CF. i think its corey to start than pie time later in the year. furcal is our best bet, id pony up 5 years if necessary.

I would give up a very accetpable package for a proven high quality up and comer like gikkes, im a big todd walker fan, i think im probabaly the highest of any one on this board in regards to walker. i just think he's a great at-bat and a wonderful 2nd hitter. BUT marcus giles is a baseball player, he just has natural abillity, high BB IQ, and consistently improving,. in order to get this deal done, we have to start with todd walker (who is slightly less paid than giles). obviously we have to give up a good prospect, too. i think sergio mitre, who had pitched well on the major league level s few times, would have to be incluced. even if mitre isnt good enough for them, we could replace mitre with dopirek. dopirek has richie sexson-like hitting skills but with derrek lee as the long-term 1b we might as well move him. then i would re-sign nomar garciaparra, hoping he can make it though 140 games, according to some newspaper the braves and furcal and working out a deal. its a shame because a furcal-giles tag team would be sweet, atlanta-style! but anyways i would re-sign nomar in that case and also bring cedenoi as a backup to both. the outfield needs some helo. i think Brian Giles is our best possibility. remember how much money drew got? we have to consider that a 4-year contract might be the LEAST amount of years, despite him being 32 years old. id still give him a 4-year deal, in the range of $40M. for a man with his OBP he's worth alot and we need to spend. bringing in the two giles would improve our hitting but i think we have limited options for improving our rotation. millwood is soon to be locked up. AJ burnett will get $60M from the yanks or the red sox. Zito is possibly a trade option, thought it would cost us angel guzman, rich hill, and two or three high prospects. it would cost too much.... bring the Giles Brothers home!

1) who cares about a poster's sig on a message board on the internet?? honestly, does it really both you what a poster's sig is on a baseball message board on the web?? as far as im concerned, its not worth pointing out. 2) who cares if they have no IR in baseball. if you are hurt and cant play, you are no longer active. who cares if its called IR, DL, or something else? 3) i put rusch's ERA at just over 4.00, which isnt that much lower than he is now. to the best of my knowledge, he's in the 4.00's right now. 4) predicting RBI's certainly cant be as pointless as pointing out to another poster that he needs to change his sig.

iif hendry used my wish list he'd have the most expensive off-season in the orgaznitions history. but every summer NY adds atleast 3 big contracts, with boston not too far beihind. this is a glimpse into living large...yankees style. 1) millwood and his sub-3.00 ERA. he's going to command alot of money but we pretty much need an impact starter with wood likely to get injured and maddux's production likely to continue to slide. we could be looking at $33M over 3 -years. boston and NY will probably offer up 4 years so we have to plan on spending. 2) rafael furcal. he's young and has been an anchor for atlanta at the top of the order. we have to choose him over in my opinion because the lack or consistency in the 1 and 2 holes has killed us. with furcal we're likely looking at renteria money (4-years/$32M). 3) brian giles. this third signing would increase our payroll ALOT. but for this to happen giles would have to accept a 3-year contract. he's getting older but his OBP is absolutely ridiculous. it would be a yankee-type off-season. these three signings could change the entire team. it would be taking 3 weak spots in the team (lead-off hitter, legit #5 hitter behind Dlee and aramis, and 3rd starter) and turning them into strengths. todd walkers option would be picked up, neifi, nomar, and burnitz would be allowed to walk. cedeno would back up 2B and SS. SS furcal .275 BA, 45 SB;s 2B walker .285, .355 OBP 1B lee .312 BA, .387 OBP, 38 HRs, 128 RBIs, and 21 SB's 3B ramirez .288 BA, .348 OBP, 36 HR's, 108 RBI's OF giles .290 BA, .388 OBP, 31 HR's, and 102 RBI's C barrett .274 BA, 20 HR's OF murton .270 BA, 17 HR's OF patterson .258 BA, .305 OBP, and 22 SB's eventually felix pie will steal that CF position from corey. it could happen within a month or two of next season. 1 though 6 is pretty stacked lineup, lee ramirez, and giles woiuld make one of the best trios's in the league. furcal and walker would be perfect to hit in front of them, combining speed and high OBP. here's how i would stack the rotation: SP1 prior 189 IP, 15-6, 2.98 ERA SP2 zambrano 212 IP, 18-8, 3.44 ERA SP3 millwood 206 IP, 15-9, 3.64 ERA SP4 rusch* 187 IP, 13-12, 4.09 ERA SP5 maddux 216 IP, 12-16, 4.77 ERA * = replaced kerry wood on the IR RP dempster 3-5, 43 saves, 2.02 ERA that team is pretty damn good, even if murton and corey and pie struggle. we have speed, power, and pretty solid defense. furcal and lee would give us two defesnive achors in the infield. offensively we' d be set. everubody can phit. milwood is a priority because you have to figure kerry wood wont play. at this point zambrano is nearly our ace over prior, just because zambrano is healthy as an ox and prior gets hurt alot --which again makes millwood a high proirity

ultimate RUSTY off-season: re-sign dusty for 4-years/$20M, big raise. re-sign hollandsworth from Atlanta for 1-year/$3M, big raise raise. re-sign macias for 1-year/$2M, big raise. re-sign perez for 2-years/$5M, big raise. re-sign burnitz for 1-year/$6M, big raise. re-sign dempster for 2-years/$10M, big big raise. 2006 lineup SS perez 2B walker 1B lee 3B ramirez RF burnitz C barrett LF murton CF patterson sp1 prior* sp2 zambrano sp3 rusch sp4 williams sp5 maddux * = why even act like kerry wood will stay healthy in 2006? RP dempster yes ladies and gentleman, i present to you the 2005 cubs in 2006!!! expect the very same things you saw this year. including jose macias and neifi perez playing more than anybody ever should. and cedeno getting bench for this all-world studs.

yeah this is a question i ask myself alot these days. who to build around and who to let go. i think alot of it depends on what is actually available. ive said before simply adding manny ramirez would make us a playoff team. adding a guy with 40 HR's and 140 RBI's to place alongisde Aramis and D-Lee would give us as fearsome of a trio in the majors. the odds of that happening are very slim. we have to prepare for adding either furcal or giles, but not both because the Trib isnt about to add two mammoth contracts, but anyway you look at it, here are pieces that im looking forward to getting good minutes next year: Derrek Lee Aramis Ramirez Carlos Zambrano Mark Prior Michael Barrett Todd Walker Matt Murton Ronnie Cedeno kerry wood is penciled in as the 3rd starter but has to be counted on the get hurt. we need a 6th starter in the worst of ways. its unfortunate we wont bid for AJ burnett, we could use him 3rd also. but im not planning on it.

well i guess im the only one on the board that would rather have lou Piniella than dusty baker. ive personally had it with dusty, and while lou isnt that muich better i still think he's an improvement. but i dont think its a terrible idea to keep dusty if llou is the only viable alternative because lou has alot of faults of his own. but i really cant blame their record on him because the players on the roster are terrible. they have carl crawford, aubrey huff, danny baez, and 30+ scrubs. meanwhile if crawford could get his OBP up he'd be one devastating player. he's headed for 90 RBIs, 50 SB's, and a .300 BA. dusty had a poor year managing but he's certainly not the only problem here. as ive said before i blame hendry and trib brass, dusty and the coaches, and of course the players. but hendry had his worst off-season to date this past one. he pretty much did nothing except get rid of some bad attitudes. we were better off without sammy and moises, but we could have used some other talent besides burnitz. dusty will probably be back but if thats the case hendry has to really remake the roster. we need an infusion of high quality players proven on the major league level. with murton and cedeno starting next year, we could use 2 or 3 really good players to stack the lineup. we're not that far off, not as far as i thought. i dont think we're at the point however where one guy like furcal will make us a playoff team. i did mention that manny ramirez as a lone addition would probably get us a post-season series. sweet lou. interesting, but may be more trouble than ihe's worth by having him get adjusted to our roster, dusty as much as i dislike him atleast knows our roster and as long as neifi and macias arent on the roster we should be ok. id personally rather have grady little take over than lou, but att this point dusty's return wouldnt kill me as much as it would have 2 months sgo, it ended up hurting us. dusty seems intent on letting murton become an everyday so im atleast happy about that.

the only way for me to survive maddux's vesting option is to smoke crack cocaine. we're going to pay him $9M and he will probably have a 5.00+ ERA. like i posted earlier when larry walker is stealing bases on you, your velocity isnt what it once was. ive penciled him in as 5th starter behind rusch. we could be in huge trouble next year if wood goes down early again. rusch would be pushed up to #3.

lol!!! yeah totally. here is dusty's lineup with manny: OF hairston 2b walker 1B lee SS neifi perez OF manny 3B aramis OF murton C barrett "dude i owe it to neifi to bat him clean-up"