BigbadB

I'd say Wood is a better prospect than Ramirez. Wood has incredible power potential at a position that has so few guys with that kind of power potential. If I made a deal with Anaheim, Wood would need to be one of the guys in the deal. Period. Maybe they couldn't get Adenhart as well, but I'd want at least one other prospect. Maybe Mathis or Saunders?

I consider Z a better pitcher than Beckett, what did the Marlins get for him? It's impossible to determine. Mike Lowell and Guillermo Mota were included in the Beckett deal and netted Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, Harvey Garcia and Jesus Delgado. Garcia and Delgado probably aren't enough for Lowell and Mota, though Florida is a bit of a different team when it comes to dumping contracts. The same Florida Marlins traded Derrek Lee for Hee Seop Choi and Mike Nannini. Lowell and Mota were probably a similar dump. Beckett should have netted Ramirez and Sanchez by himself, but there is no way to really determine that from the trade.

It will be interesting to see how hard they abuse Carlos in 2007 given the risk of losing him to free agency, too.

The Angels seem like the perfect trade partner. Arte Moreno and Carlos Zambrano is like a match made in heaven. Brandon Wood is exactly what the Cubs need more than anything. Wood will be 22 in a few weeks and hasn't played above AA ball yet, but in 2005, the guy had 98 XBH's in 130 games. Last year, he had 71 XBH's in 118 games. The guy can mash. He's got A-Rod type production at SS. If the Cubs could get Wood and a top flight pitching prospect as well, someone like Adenhart, I'd do it in a heartbeat. This is assuming Prior is going to be healthy. If the Cubs had a guy like Brandon Wood at SS, which pushes Izturis into a bench role, this offense would have the capability to make bad pitchers look good.

To be fair, Pierre was not a worthless ballplayer in 2003. As a lead off man, he got on base at a very respectable clip. He has trended downwards since then. His walk rate has plummeted and he won't always hit .300, which really drags on the production he provides.

I'm torn on this one. I wanted Z locked up. I think it's absolutely silly that Hendry finds himself in this position after spending 300+ million dollars this offseason and Zambrano doesn't have a contract past 2007. That's on Jim. Jim is probably in a no-win situation now because of it. If Arte Moreno approached Hendry and offered up Brandon Wood and Adenhart or Weaver, I'd have a tough time not making that deal. You stick Brandon Wood at SS with the rest of this line up and you may not need a Zambrano pitching every 5th game to win more games than you lose. Realistically, I don't see Hendry pulling the trigger on a deal like that. I think he's made his bed and now he has to lie in it. Zambrano will play out the season and he'll leave as a free agent. The Yankees WILL give Zambrano what he wants. They gave Mike Mussina 17-19m a year many years ago, they'll do it again for someone of Z's caliber. The Cubs will not be out of contention at the trade deadline, so deadline trades for Zambrano aren't going to be an option. I like Z a lot. But, given a choice at this point, I would definitely explore a trade. I don't see Hendry doing it though. His job is on the line this season. His career as a GM is on the line this season. He can't afford another losing season, especially after spending 300+ million.

I was the under the impression that "affording" Zambrano isn't the problem, but rather worries about injuries (ala the last two long contracts we gave to pitchers). Santana is consistently the best pitcher in baseball. And he's 27. Why wouldn't one worry about an injury to Santana, but at the same time worry about an injury to Zambrano? I don't get it. In the last 3 years, Santana has averaged over 230 innings. The most innings Zambrano has thrown in a season is 223. The next highest is 214. Granted, Zambrano gets left in too long in many games, but there is no way to no whether Santana or Zambrano can or can't handle the extra abuse they each have been put through. Not all pitchers have the same threshold.

So, Cabrera does his best imitation of a Marlin fan, which is to not attend Marlins baseball games, and someone is upset with him? Cool.

There is never a reason for the opposing pitcher to waste so many pitches attempting to strike out Juan Pierre. He will rarely hurt you with a bat, so you're better off throwing fastballs right down broadway and let him bounce out to the 2b.

If we can't afford Zambrano, how do we afford Santana?

Something went very wrong with those quotes. :D

Statistical evidence isn't needed. I watched the 2006 season. I watched Juan Pierre play. I am so thankful that Pierre is no longer the Cubs problem, that I can't stop thanking someone, anyone, for kicking him to the curb this offseason. A guy who hits .300 that can't get on base any better than .330 has no business batting anywhere but the bottom of a batting order. Period.

Please define what makes a "pretty decent leadoff hitter"? To me, a decent lead off hitter gets on base for the production guys who hit 3rd and 4th. Juan Pierre is horrible at getting on base. And when he does get on base, he runs himself into outs, taking away chances for the production guys to drive him in. Alfonso Soriano scored 119 times last year compared to Pierre's 87 times. Soriano got on base at a .351 clip. Pierre was at .330. Pierre really provides nothing at the plate, while Soriano provides SLG to go along with a respectable OBP. Kevin Youkilis scored 100 runs (mostly in the lead off spot) without having any speed to speak of, and he only played in 147 games. He got on base 38% of the time. He didn't always bat lead off. Had he stayed in the lead off spot all year, it's hard to say how many runs he would have scored. He scored 73 times in just 95 games. The primary job of a lead off hitter is to get on base. Pierre is not good at getting on base. He can hit for decent average, but he can't walk to save his life. And I'd like to point out that it is not hard to lead the league in hits when you easily lead the league in AB's. He also led the league in outs by a wide margin. It's what he does in those at bats when he doesn't get a hit that decreases his value. Not to mention the fact that he got caught stealing 20 times. That's pathetic.

There are typically 3 results to a Juan Pierre at bat. Ground out to the 2b, ground out to the SS. Ball gets past one of the SS or the 2b.

I agree with that too. However, I think there will be plenty of times where the pinch hitter (pitcher's spot) will be leading off an inning if Izturis is batting 8th, and it would be a good thing to get the pinch hitter on base somehow with Soriano due up next.

When you can predict the outcome of an at bat 7 times out of 10, the player you are referring to is pretty bad. And I wasn't referring to just predicting whether he makes an out or not, but rather where he makes his out. For what Pierre offered at 6m, I'd rather have Alex Sanchez for less than a million. .280 for a lead off hitter would be good if they had an OBP of .350+ to go with it. Pierre's .330 is not good enough, and tack on the 20 times he got himself out attempting to steal, and it's even worse. Pierre really only has 1 skill. Speed. After his speed, there is very little to get excited about.

touche. i have a feeling i'll end up with one of the guys i dropped. though i doubt vlad lasts to #3. i'll take either the best OF or best SP available. i'm still trying to figure out how i feel about matsuzaka. i pick three times before that...burrell won't be there at #25. the draft isn't as deep as i thought it would be. Once the last few teams make their drops, there should be plenty of decent players to draft.

Cleveland is probably another year away, but might be worth dropping a couple of bucks on to win it all. They have a lot of exciting young players in Marte, Barfield, Peralta, Garko, Shoppach, Sowers, Guthrie, Carmona, etc... Now that they've pretty much blocked Franklyn Gutierrez in the Cleveland outfield, he's a guy I wouldn't mind having as a 5th outfielder.

Scouts believe he can handle shortstop longterm. I've been sarcastic about Wood, just as Tim was being sarcastic about Adenhart. Sarcasm aside, I'd give up quite a bit for Brandon Wood.

Grant complements Vasgersian so well, that they are just so natural together. One of my favorite commercials is Mark Grant circling the bases on a motorcycle and sliding into 3rd base.

Todd Hundley probably tops the list, but in the top 10 should be names like Dave Rosello, Mike Tyson, Kenny Reitz and Mick Kelleher. The Cubs teams of the late 70's to the early 80's were horrible. 1984 was the first reason to get excited since 1972. Not one winning season from 1973 through 1983. NONE.

I was shooting for something a smidge more realistic than BBB and Tim :) In reality we'd be lucky to end up with Willits. Reality is that Wood will rot in AAA behind Orlando Cabrera, and Jones can help them now. Hey, if they don't want to part with Wood, we'll be happy to run Cesar Izturis out there everyday. Oh, wait....maybe happy isn't the correct terminology.

Brandon Wood! Come on down.

Not really.

You are correct, sir. However, if he played 10 more years instead of 8, he would only need to average 33 HR's a year. If he played to Bonds current age, it would be significantly less. Barry Bonds only had 292 HR's at the stage of his career that A-Rod just reached. A-Rod has 464. Bonds has averaged 40 in the timeframe A-Rod has remaining. While A-Rod probably won't have a 73 home run season, he probably won't have a 5 home run season, either. To put it another way, if A-Rod hit as many home runs as Bonds has hit since he turned 31, A-Rod would eclipse 900. While i'm skeptical that he could hit 900, I think 800 is well within reach.