BigbadB

I checked out Baltimore's line up from last year, and it rivals what the Cubs line up looked like, so let's really look at the difference between Brian Roberts and Alfonso Soriano, since Soriano is apparently extremely overrated hitting lead off: Baltimore's typical line up: Roberts, Mora, Markakis, Tejada, Huff, Millar Chicago's typical line up: Soriano, Theriot, Lee, Ramirez, Floyd, DeRosa I've left off the 7-9 hitters since we would be including quite a bit of garbage for no real apparent reason. Roberts 2007: 716 plate appearances, .377 OBP, 59 XBH's, 50 SB's, 103 R Soriano 2007: 617 plate appearances, .337 OBP, 80 XBH's, 19 SB's, 97 R Soriano scored 6 less runs in 99 less plate appearances. I would venture to guess that Soriano would have scored many more runs than Roberts if given another 99 chances at the plate, and that's taking into consideration he was hopping around on a bad leg for a good stretch of the 2nd half of the season. You do want your top of the order hitters to get on base and Roberts is better at getting on base. However, getting on base is no guarantee of scoring. A lot of Soriano's times on base was circling the bases via a HR, which is plenty valuable for a top of the order hitter. It's really great that Roberts can get a single and steal second. But, I'll take a guy who can hit a home run over a guy who can hit a single and steal 2nd. But, it's an argument over nothing. If the Cubs get Roberts, it would make sense to lead off with Soriano and bat Roberts 2nd. I'd take that option all day long over batting Roberts 1st and Theriot 2nd, that I can assure you. And no one is saying DeRosa is as good or is better than Roberts. The difference in value between Roberts and DeRosa is NOT worth Cedeno, Gallagher and Marshall. Period. Derrek Lee is not the best first baseman in MLB. If Hendry was currently working on trading most of the farm for Teixiera to slide Lee to the super PH role off the bench while Theriot is still playing SS, it just wouldn't make any sense to do that either. 2nd base is not a problem. 1b is not a problem. SS is a problem. SP is a problem. Fixing what's broken makes a lot more sense than attempting to fix something that isn't broken.

First off, I would argue that the Cubs are not in the market for a lead off hitter. They are in the market for a top of the order lefty bat. If the Cubs land Roberts and the offseason stops right there, I'd almost make a wager with you that Soriano STILL bats lead off and Roberts bats 2nd. 2nd is still a top of the order spot. Secondly, how in the world is Soriano a very overrated leadoff hitter? Please explain to me what Brian Roberts does as a lead off hitter that Soriano doesn't or can't do?

While you are singing the praises of All Star 2b Brian Roberts, let us all take in a moment of silence in honor of the greatness that is Cesar Izturis. Afterall, Cesar was an All Star.

If Hendry knew how to multitask, boredom wouldn't be a problem.

Alright, who's digging up old threads? Tim? B&

Making an offer like that won't solve the Cubs problem at SS. The Marlins would laugh at our offer and hang up.

We should pursue Furcal. And as far as what the Dodgers would want in return would likely be the pieces necessary to help them finish up a trade that netted them Johan Santana or Erik Bedard.

Maybe that is truth because of this : The indians have offered Franklin Gutierrez and Adam Miller for Roberts per Bruce Levine on espn 1000 last night. With the indians now having an offer on the table maybe AM wants to create a bidding war. If he wants to play this game the cubs should just walk away. Roberts is a good player but i wouldn't go higher than Gallagher- Murton- Cedeno for him and that is assuming De Rosa plays SS. If De Rosa is going to be on the bench i am not thrilled about this trade either. Getting Peralta to play SS makes much more sense because it would fill the real hole the team has which is SS although Peralta isn't a good fielder he at least has power and would be an improvement over Theriot. Herein lies the problem. Hendry wants a speedy, lefty hitting top of the order guy and Roberts fits his description. Peralta does not. Nor does Khalil Greene. Hendry cannot see the forest through the trees. Hendry cannot see that we don't really need a speedy lefty hitting top of the order hitter. WE NEED A GOOD SHORTSTOP, and Theriot ain't that guy. And if and or when he trades Cedeno for Roberts, he may have actually gotten rid of "THAT" guy.

That's good stuff. Here is a quick list of all the other lead off hitters that should lose their jobs as lead off hitters because they either failed to get their team to the playoffs, or they lost in the playoffs: Ichiro, Hanley Ramirez, Curtis Granderson, Jimmy Rollins, Brian Roberts, Jose Reyes, Grady Sizemore, Rafael Furcal, Johnny Damon and David DeJesus. These guys ALL failed to come through for their respective teams. Shame on them.

The thread has been blown away. Oh, and In After Lock!

Good. Because your last post was an overreaction to people overreacting. :wink:

Ryan Dempster's walk rate is and always has been a concern of mine. If you stick him in the rotation, he's going to walk a lot of guys who in turn score a lot of runs.

That's reasonable enough. However, I think Zambrano can be way better than he was last year and I think one of Marshall or Gallagher can be good enough to neutralize any decrease by Lilly or Marquis. And there is still potential for a deadline deal. If Pie, Cedeno and Soto can be even close to as good as advertised, the Cubs can absorb a marginal decrease in production from the rotation.

I can't really disagree with alot of this but i would like to at least see if a club would part with a #2 starter for a package built around Pie. Would Atlanta talk to us about Hudson for Pie/Gallagher/Ceda? Why make a move now? Pitching was a strength last year for the Cubs and it has a chance to be even better in 2008. I don't think the Cubs are in a position to trade for an impact starting pitcher without weakening another aspect of the team. I'm perfectly fine going into the season with Zambrano, Lilly, Hill, Marquis, Marshall/Gallagher as the set rotation. Give Cedeno, Pie and Soto their opportunity to see if they belong. If they don't belong, then make some deadline deals to improve.

I agree that it's hard to say what Hendry really thinks about Pie or even Cedeno at this juncture. What I know is this team has the potential to be REALLY good if Pie, Cedeno and Soto can come close to duplicating their AAA numbers of a season ago. At Iowa last year: Pie: .362 .410 .563 Cedeno: .359 .422 .537 Soto: .353 .424 .652 These are staggering numbers. There is no way any of these guys duplicate those numbers at the major league level. But, if you took 50 points off the their AVG, 75 points off their OBP's, and 100 points off their SLG, I'd still be quite thrilled with that kind of output from them and the Cubs offense would be one of the best in the game. Each of these players needs an opportunity to mature at the major league level. I'd rather have the downgrade at 2b from Roberts to DeRosa than give up Cedeno, Gallagher and Marshall because I think we are giving up much more production than we would be getting. Personally, I'm fine if the Cubs call it an offseason today.

Of the order of players you listed, mine would be in exact reverse. Of that group, I think Blyleven is most deserving.

If you want to put it that way, we kind of still owe them for pillaging their roster in 2003 like Pittsburgh was our own farm system. I can't think of a deal the Cubs have made with the Pirates where we got the short end of the stick. I do remember quite vividly these deals, however: Jon Lieber for Brant Brown Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton for Jose Hernandez, Matt Bruback and Bobby Hill. Randall Simon for Ray Sadler

Well, I would hope that they sent us somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5m or whatever it was Craptastic Izgarbage made last year, but I'm thinking $10 is probably closer. But, it was worth it to get to see him in a Cardinal uniform next year.

And he probably juiced to suck as good as he did. Sam Fuld>>>>Scott Posednik

I'm currently working on a 30 team deal that should make everyone happy. Please stick around and refresh this page often. :D

Of course they didn't get the memo. When you are king, you answer to no one.

I'm not arguing whether a Brian Roberts trade is or isn't a bigger sports story than a HOF announcement because it doesn't matter what news is more significant. I think it's a somewhat unwritten rule (or even a written rule to all MLB sports teams from the commissioner of baseball) that you don't disrupt a significant MLB announcement with business as usual dealings. It's sort of memorium to pay respects. It's disrespectful to overshadow a major announcement. But, I could be way off base. I don't know. I'm not an insider. :D

I would in my front pocket. Chicks dig the long ball.

Huh? Please explain to me why MLB would cover up a trade? Where's Jim Garrison? This is Goose Gossage Day. It's disrespectful to bury Gossage and his election into the Baseball Hall of Fame announcement in the back pages of every major newspaper's sports section by making trades and conducting business as usual. I happen to think there is a trade already in place as well. I think any hold up might be because of the HOF announcement, 40 man roster issues and/or other trades that are being held up because they are semi-related.

The teams that score the most runs each season are the teams who put up the best team OBP. The more your team is on base, the more the team scores, the more plate appearances guys get. If you go back to Derrek Lee's 2005, not only did Lee suffer on plate appearances because of the poorly constructed line up, he had limited at bats with runners on base. His 99 XBH's that season ranks among the top offensive seasons in baseball history.