AramisRamirez

at this point i think rusch is our best bet. he's a lefty and picking up a FA lefty starter is expensive and usually turns out negatively. id feel more comfortable with rusch penciled in than wiliams. williams appears to have the talent, but we dont need a 5.00 ERA guy. we can look to anybody for that (mitre included). not only would i like rusch back at this point, due to lack of other feasible options, but id take it a step further and put him in the 4th slot. i think maddux at this point is a 5th starter. i think you have to prepare for maddux having a 5.00 ERA next year. he never had much speed, but today i saw larry walker stole a base on him. when larry walker is stealing bases, you know your pitcher isnt throwing with much speed. i think we should go 1) prior 2) zambrano 3) wood until his inevitable injury 4) rusch 5) maddux i just cant trot maddux out there in any slot except 5th anymore. he's 12-13, but if zambrano had maddux's run support he'd probably have 20's win by now. if wood only gives us 75-100 IP next year, we're going to need williams, rusch, any probably even mitre (or hopefully guzman if he's ever ready). too bad zito isnt easily attainable.

this has been mentioned before, but i think if the sox dangle him again this off-season you have to seriously consider adding him. yes, the price tag is as expensive as they come, but without question his level of impact is enormous. knowing the cubs organization like we do, the chances of us trading for him is basically non-existent. BUT if it were to go down, he would be the only addition with any financial baggage. we'd go cheap to fill every position, but even then bringing in manny could completely change the team. lets look at an off-season featuring manny..... cedeno and murton become fixtures in the starting lineup. cedeno, neifi, and todd walker make up the 2B/SS rotation. Nomar and Burnitz are let go to play elsewhere. The pitching staff has no new faces either. So here we go with the 2006 cubs: OF hairston 2B walker 1B lee OF manny 3B aramis C barrett SS cedeno OF murton SP1 prior SP2 zambrano SP3 wood SP4 rusch SP5 maddux (hello 5.00 ERA during vesting option year) RP dempster literally dempster would be the only other deal negiotiated worth any money. but i think this lineup trumps the other scenario's involving furcal or brian giles. the Trib isnt about to sign both furcal and giles to lucrative deals, and i think we pretty much need both to signifcantly improve. both are very good players and as a tandem their level of impact would be huge --but individually neither would have the impact that manny would obviously bring. for the record, manny currently has 36 HR's, 126 RBI's, and a .380 OBP. those numbers are astronomical, as he should finish with 135 RBI's. should the cubs bite the bullet and pick up his monster deal, we would have Murderer's Row with Derrek Lee, Manny, and Aramis Ramirez. i cant imagine any pitching staff in the league being able to handle those 3 on a consistent basis. i havent looked into what our payroll would be or how this deal could be struck. i'd be willing to give up doperiak, guzman, and other top prospects because the thought of Manny in the heart of our lineup brings a smile to my face. if we really had D-lee, Manny, and Aramis hitting consecutively we could be looking at mammoth production in '06: D-Lee .315 BA, 35 HR, 110 RBI, 15 SB Manny .300 BA, 38 HR, 146 RBI Aramis .319 BA, 33 HR, 106 RBI i would literally quit working and become a Cubs Head, the sports version of a Dead Head. just follow them around from stadium to stadium asking fellow game goers to 'miracle me'..... anybody think adding Manny by himself would propel the cubs to a playoff birth??

maddux stats for 2006: 6.55 ERA 209 IP 58 MPH fastball 22 MPH changeup 15 strike out's 15 wins and 20 losses :shock: meanwhile, wood will finish the season with 44 IP and prior will finish with 110 IP. zambrano will pitch 300 innings, record a 1.05 ERA and finish with 5 wins, 0 losses, and 30 no decisions do to no run support. dooood where's macias??

texiera is a monster he's on my fantasy team this year and he's just going crazy, he's going to go 45/140 this year!! and i dont know whats gotten into andruw jones, he's going to go 55/130 this year.

we all have furcal penciled in as starting SS on opening day but what if he re-signs with atlanta under similar terms? i think we have to let nomar walk and give cedeno an extended look. unfortunately part of whats bad about this year has been we were semi-competitive and havent yet got extended looks at cedeno and murton and havent gotten even a glimpse of injured pie or the forgotten guzman. part of next year we're going to find out the hardway once again, unless we bring in other quality guys to hold it down. there is the remote possibility that both are studs, but a city as big as chicago cant afford to take that chance. the fanbase is demanding wins NOW. anyways i think if furcal rejects us, we have to immediately turn our attention to brian giles. sadly, he could be looking at JD Drew money. and sadly, with his OBP i would be willing to go pretty high. i would offer 3-years/$30M to start and 4-years/$40M if san diego matches. yes, that is ivan rodriguez money, but we desperately would need help if furcal spurns us. lets pray we get one of them.

woah, zito has a 3.37 ERA over 192 IP so far this year. it would take more than rich hill and corey patterson. we'd really have to sweeten the deal to get him. maybe dopirek or even guzman. at this point, i would definitely consider trading angel guzman. we need people at the majors winning us some games. i would give up a package of hill, dopirek or guzman (one of our highest rated prospects), and possibly another decent prospect would get the job done. if we had to throw in corey i would do that too, but we would need an opening day CF for a month or two until pie gets called up. i could see 1 major signing (furcal) and 1 major trade (zito). if we really plan on going with murton and pie in the OF, we absolutely have to stack other parts of the team (ie pitching staff). poor zambrano, he has a 3.00 ERA and only 11 wins to show for it. in his past 10 starts he's had 3 ND's and 1 loss that all should have been wins. he should be 15-5 based on that alone. figure in another couple of times he had no run support and we honestly should be looking at 18-5. he's nearly at the 200 IP-mark and has performed admirably. we may be our opening day starter in 2006. here is my updated version of the Cubs cheapskate off-season. 1) ink furcal 2) trade hill, patterson, and dopirek/guzman for barry zito 3) buy out burnitz and re-sign him 4) re-sign neifi perez SS furcal 2B walker 1B lee 3B walker C barrett RF burnitz LF murton CF patterson/pie SP1 prior Sp2 zambrano SP3 zito SP4 wood SP5 maddux (7.75 ERA in vesting option year).

I want the cubs to ink furcal, brian giles, a 4th starter, two middle relievers, and a utility player of all high quality. in reality, we're looking at furcal by himself and cheap fill-ins at every position. assume the cubs spend $32M over 4-years to get furcal, which is one year more than suggested in the trib recently. i think we could be looking at an outfield with murton, a re-signed burnitz, and corey opening in CF before pie gets an extended look a month or two into the season. it pains to think of this possibility. i cant fathom expecting to win with those 4 as our main OF rotation in 2006. but you cant expect several high-priced signings either --not with this organization. anyways this lineup doesnt cut it for me: SS furcal 2B walker 1B lee 3B ramirez RF burnitz C barrett LF murton CF patterson/pie bench: cedeno, neifi perez 1-4 its acceptable but if burnitz is in the 5th hole in 2006 ill commit suicide. true, his numbers arent terrible but he's not a 5th hole hitter on a world series winner. you need a brian giles as a true third threat in there. i will riot if we go cheap. as far as pitching is concerned, we need a 4th starter -a lefty is possible. somebody mentioned zito, and if rich allen, corey patterson, and a prospect land us him im all for it. but i wouldnt count on it....

id offer up 4-years/$32M and see if he accepts. thats renteria money. furcal has been a big part of atlanta's sucess. he'd do great here, giving us a nice 1-4 with him, walker, lee, and aramis. but we'd still need to add giles or a legit threat other than burnzy. good bye burnzy!

manny ortiz is the best combo in baseball. im hoping dlee and aramis reach that level one day but not sure if it'll ever happen. they both are 40-140 guys. yikes. id be content with 35/120 here in chicago.

yikes. its time to let neifi perez walk. nomar garciaparra has to go, too. he just cant be relied upon in 2006. i would ink furcal to whatever albatross deal he commands. cedeno would be my backup and todd walker would start at 2B. in the OF i would bring in brian giles for whatever albratross deal he commands also. murton can stay and either corey patterson or felix pie can hold down CF. the only way corey stays in the majors is by batting last. with his BA and OBP he has to hit last, nothing else. SS furcal 2B walker 1B lee 3B ramirez OF giles C barrett OF murton OF patterson bench: cedeno, pie, blanco SP1 prior SP2 zambrano SP3 wood SP4 SP5 maddux RP dempster we need to fill in that SP4 splot, hopefully with a lefty. rusch and williams cant be depended on.

today in the tribune it has a quote from griffey saiying he isnt coming to chicago and wont.

i would definitely go with furcal and giles. if nothing else, we need those two elements A) lead-off hitter and B) 3rd true threat alongside Derrek and Aramis. furcal, infact, would be my first choice. i think 4/$32M, similar to the renteria deal, is a far offer. lets see what the market is, seeing as he's the best FA SS. giles would be my second target, as atleast two major moves are needed. our lineup depserately needs a third true-threat to take us to the next level. our offense is terrible and has cost our starters alot of victories zambrano's ERA is barely over 3.00, he should have gotten alot more W's this year. giles would be perfect bating 3, 4, or 5. burnitz had his moments, but in all .265 BA doesnt cut it in the 5th spot (where dusty has played him alot this year). in particular i want to see neifi, nomar, and burnitz out of here. since we aren the yanks we still have to infuze high-priced players with minimum-salary prospects (ie murton, cedeno, etc). so like this batting order alot, should we sign furcal and giles. SS furcal 2B walker 1B lee OF giles 3B ramirez C barrett OF murton OF patterson i dont think zito could net us corey patterson, though its possible. but pie's injury set hm too far back to start opening day. we needed him called up for a period this year. its also very possible hendry could attempt to trade for ken griffey jr and iniclude corey, rich hill, and possibly a prospect for him. he has an outrageous salary and his injury prone so the risk is MAJOR, but if the reds would eat even a couple M, it might be worth it. who knows, he's sure doing pretty good this year. if we did that, scratch the giles signing because they'd never make the commitment. but i think giles is the better more conservative route, especially with the nomar injuries we've experienced. the giles/furcal signing has a ridiculous 1-6. as r as pitching im worried about rusch, hill, and maddux. rusch has been used as a starter and in relief, and i realize thats an adjustment. but his ERA is in the mid 4.00's. hll has been shaky lately also even though da's young. and maddux, well maddux very well could have a 5.00 ERA the way he's going. dempster can close, ill leave him in place. but starting we're lookng at prior, zambrano, wood, williams, and maddux. we need long relief, short relief, and set-up men. the main additions have to come offensively because the pitching with be there. if williams struggles or wood gets hurt we'll bring in mitre, or possibly rusch, or eventually angel guzman (although who knows what his timetable is).

well, alot of you missed the important assumption that he comes relatively close to repeating this years offensive numbers. in 2006 if he goes .340 BA, .381 OBP, 38 HR, 117 RBI, and 14 SB he will be in-line massive contract. I am suprised that under those circumstances, some of you still wont go higher than 4/$40M. 6/$75M may sound excessive and im still cubs brass feel it will be no matter what numbers he puts up, but i respectful disagree. i cant say i agree with the notion that the afformentioned five 1B who are supposedly better than Derrek Lee actually are (with the exception of pujos). id take Dlee over nick johnson, delgado, and even probably sexson at this point. texiera is a monster though and talk about over-paid, then helton is your guy.

Lee has next year under contract and should he go crazy again, how high are we willing to go to keep him here? I think him and Aramis are cornerstone type players. Aramis got his $42M, now we can start to think about Lee. This year he'll probably finish with 40-45 HR and 115-120 RBI with a .340 BA. those are ridiculous numbers, no doubt. and should he come relatively close to repeating such a feat, we could be looking at a 6-year deal for him. I think $100M, as jay mariotti mentioned recently, for Derrek Lee is a little excessive --though I do think he'll get a bigger deal than Aramis got. $75M over 6 year is pretty reasonable for a protype 3-hole hitter like him. His numbers are serious, and while others in the past have put together massive single seasons (Beltre last year had like 48 HR's) i think Lee's everyday defense is likely to stay Gold Glove caliber. Potential outline for a 6-year/$75M deal: year 1: $10M year 2: $11M year 3: $12M year 4 $13M year 5 $14M year 6: $15M

yeah giles and furcal would be two huge additions. SS furcal .269 BA, 39 SB 2B walker .303 BA, .392 OBP 1B lee .325 BA, 35 HR, 120 RBI, 15 SB 3B ramirez .318 BA, 40 HR, 120 RBI OF giles .288 BA, 34 HR, 105 RBI OF lawton .267 BA, 22 SB C barrett .278 BA OF murton .270 BA SP1 prior 15-7, 190 IP, 3.39 ERA SP2 zambrano 22-10, 217 IP, 3.66 ERA SP3 wood 8-6, 110 IP, 4.01 ERA SP4 williams 7-12, 166 IP, 4.15 ERA SP5 maddux 13-15, 205 IP, 4.77 ERA RP dempster our payroll would be big bringnig in furcal and giles, plus re-signing matt lawton. probably push us into the $110M stratosphere, which couldnt be more unlikely.

Well, i would keep many of the same players but plug in a few big additions. I would start at SS with rafael furcal to a large deal. he's a solid guy to have, a big reason for atlanta's sucess. he's a base-stealing threat and a good top of the order guy. as far as lawton is conerned, id like to see him back also. hopefully he'd be willing to do a 1-year deal because with his age you cant extend for him for too long. that would leave us with this type of batting order: SS furcal LF lawton 2B walker 1B lee 3B ramirez C barrett CF pie RF murton now that is major speed at the top of the order with furcal and lawton. todd walker is not a 3-hole hitter, but he's a high OBP guy and will certainly get on-base for lee and ramirez to drive him in. lee is more the protype 3-hole guy, but i would rather move lawton down in the order than walker because he takes such good at-bats. im also moving murton to RF because corey is not fit to start at CF for my cubbies anymore and id like to see lawton back for a full-season. having furcal/lawton going 1 and 2 would be alot of fun to watch for an entire season. kind of change the dynamics of the team.

thank you for the recognition. I have been sitting back watching Aramis slowly put together a masterful season. Aramis is turning into a special player and 40 HR's and 120 RBI's would be a ridiculous year. But I have to admit, missing the playoffs is going to devastate me....

i would definitely move rusch back into the starting rotation. right now our starting rotation is completely depleated. wood -- in bullpen after being injured basically the whole season. maddux -- having worst year of his career by far. dempster --now the closer. hill --shelled. williams --shelled. that leaves us with zambrano and prior going 1 and 2 and nobody going 3, 4, and 5, yikes, hopefully we can get to something like this next year: SP1 mark prior 203 IP, 20-7, 2.98 ERA SP2 carlos zambrano 221 IP, 19-6, 3.71 ERA SP3 ryan dempster 188 IP, 12-12, 4.01 ERA SP4 glendon rusch 193 IP, 10-9, 3.88 ERA SP5 jerome williams 168 IP, 11-7, 4.21 ERA closer: kerry wood, 41 saves and 2.02 ERA. its the only way i see wood staying healthy and entire season at this point. plus, with him throwing 100mph with 5 different pitches, he could easily be a 40-save guy.

maddux's vesting option is pretty devastating towards us. if he was the same old maddux it wouldnt be, but when your throwing 62 mph fastballs and your ERA is 4.50 or whatever it is you know he's not the same pitcher. hip-hip hooray for $10M to both maddux and woody....now that is some good value right there.

Aramis signing for 4-years/$42M may very well turn out to be a coup for hendry. in the beginning of the season i started to question whether or not he was worth it, but he's proving my signature right. with another blast tonight he's up to 27 HR's and 72 RBI's. 40/120 is very attainable, thanks in part to walker's everyday presence and good OBP. plus Dlee is getting walked every at-bat now, tonight he's drawn 3 so far. his BA has been good also. Aramis is very impressive offensively, bringing him here in the Lofton deal was an exceptional move by Hendry and its a big reason for why he had so much respect in chicago in 03 and 04. that and Lee was the best move ever pretty much. but if Aramis stays healthy i think .300, 40 HRs and 120 RBIs is pretty much what he's on pace for....maybe 40 and 105, but either way he's certainly turning out to be worth his extension. lets hope he can keep this up through the duration of his deal. You look at Adrian Beltre and see his extension and his production, and you have to be thankful for Aramis. he's very soft-spoken, he hardly ever talks in public. he isnt a distraction, he's just extraordinarily productive. he's one of the NL's best hitters and with his age im thinking he should peak over the next 5 years. 27 HR's with alot of games left to play....it seems like him and Dlee hit one out every game. I hate Jay Mariotti but he may be right in his article today stating Aramis may finish with more HRs or RBIs than Dlee. on a side note, i randomly looked up stats for albert belle today and he had some of the best numbers ive seen. 150 RBIs one year, 50 HRs another, a .320 BA. wow. his second year with the white sox was monsterous.

batting order: OF Scott Posednik OF Bobby Abreu SS Miguel Tejada 3B Arodriguez OF Manny Ramirez 1B Derrek Lee 2B Brian Roberts C Joe Mauer Bench players: Derrick Jeter, Chone Figgins, Carl Crawford, and Aramis Ramirez. first of all, nobody could ever stop that lineup. Posednik has 50 SB's already, he's headed for Vince Coleman territory. Abreu last year was a 40/30 guy and he's definitely going to be 30/30 this year -plus he's an on-base machine. Tejada in the 3-hole with Posednik and Abreu in front of him would have 165 RBI's. Arod hitting cleanup would just be icing on the cake because if Tejada for some reason doesnt clear the bases.....Arod would. He'd have pretty much get an RBI every game, like Tejada. And Manny Ramirez hitting 5th would be beyond devastating. Then you follow him up with .370 hitting D-Lee and his ridiculous OBP/SLUG%. by the time he would make it to the plate, the bases would already by clear. As for the rotation, here's how i'd go. SP1 Pedro Martinez SP2 Mark Buerhle SP3 Johan Santana SP4 Mark Prior SP5 Carlos Zambrano RP Brad Lidge RP Dustin Hermanson RP Damaso Marte RP Trevor Hoffman RP Joe Nathan

i do place a signficant portion of blame on jim hendry. i also place the blame on the Tribune for not allocating a higher payroll enabling hendry to be more aggressive. Dusty Baker is another big part of the problem. Injuries too, and finally individual players like Corey Patterson. Hendry didnt make alot of good moves this summer, but to his credit he didnt make any real bad ones that caused the organization long-term damage. we're still positioned just fine, not too many players away from being contenders. he could have spent money on Armando Benitez, Troy Percival, or gave up some good talent for Kolb. it would have made us happy at the time, but all three havent lived up to their expectations. Dempster has been more productive than them. fortunately beltran didnt accept our 5-year/$75M deal. his .260 average is great an all, but we already have our hands full with corey patterson. i still have faith in hendry because he's made some big time moves in aramis ramirez and derrek lee. its the Trib that worries me. i think he's hamstrung financially, which has in some respects has worked to his benefit because he hasnt brought in any albratross deals. in retrospect, the one biggest mistake he made was passing on miguel tejada. not that the Trib would ever authorize hendry to offer anybody a $72M contract, but he's actually worth it. i cant help but think what might have been with Tejada, Aramis Ramirez, and Derrek Lee in the same lineup. If those three were healthy at the same time as Prior, Zambrano, and Wood we'd win the world series.

i might get killed for this, but the reds would be getting ALOT for dunn. patterson struggled this year but is a young 5-tool player who has played good extended periods in the majors. rich hill and mitre are also 2 high-end prospects who have also have sucess, albeit brief, in the majors also. dunn can hit well, but he is a high strike out guy. but he would certainly give us a better chance of the wildcard because we'd have a legit 5 hitter to put behind lee and aramis three big HR threats with a good on-base guy in walker and speedy hairston in leadoff. hell, lets go for it.

shammy sosa is having a great year. its not that much different than his year in 1998. the only difference's come in BA, OBP, SLUG%, HR, RBI, and R's. other than that, he's pretty much the same player. in all seriousness, burnitz is producing much better than sammy is right now. thank God, but its not really a consolation to me because we're not where we want to be.

"murton, since getting called up 2 minutes ago, has struggled mightily. Im thinking about starting Neifi in LF" -Dusty Baker