BigbadB

Someone may get to it before me, but I'll see what I can find out.

He could be good if we put him in a position to suceed. For instance, if he was only ever allowed to pinch run (not steal) and never touch a bat or a glove, he'd be amazing at his job. Can't argue with that.

I appreciate that the GM of my favorite baseball team uses wins as the true metric of a pitcher's ability. :roll: I know he's just looking for something to show the fans justification for the signing. Stick with the "we found a flaw in his delivery" kick and please stay as far away as you can from the "he's won more games than Zito" crap. He also pitched for one of the best offensive teams in baseball the last 3 years. He won a lot of games he didn't deserve to win.

Well, if that's the case, let's start a pool on when Wood will be on the DL next.

The moves that I made or didn't make are not the point. I've spent mega hours working on trades based on the points I currently have and assuming the cap was 2250. It certainly doesn't answer my question. I know all about the rule that you created that lowered the cap to 2250. Where is the announcement (prior to your announcement yesterday) that says that the 2250 cap is being kicked to the curb and will be recalculated based on new pitching points? When you point me to that, I'll shut up. I appreciate all of your efforts to improve the league. But, I don't appreciate being talked down to when I don't understand something or I don't agree with a change being made. I value my time and I wouldn't waste if I can avoid it. The trade I'm making does not affect the points, but my concern isn't about just me. It's about fairness to the rest of the managers who have possibly wasted tons of their own precious time working on cap space based off of old pitching points. I was aware you were changing the pitching points. I don't ever recall you saying that the new pitching points would count towards the cap. I just want it clarified that you said this somewhere so that I can see that I missed a very valuable piece of information. And I'm not referring to yesterday's announcement.

Can you point me to where you said the new points would be figured into the cap? All I remember is that the cap was being lowered.

Nevermind. I'm still one of the new kids on the block. I've put a stop on my trade until this gets ironed out. I'll let the seasoned vets decide what is and what shall be. But, I did have a lot of time invested in a trade. That's what frustrates me the most.

Why base it on new scores? I've been fiddling with my roster this offseason based off of old scores. I would tend to agree w/ this. you have two months to tinker some more. using new scores is far more fair. I'm in the middle of making a trade. Tim has already made one. I can't go through with my trade now, because I don't know what this new points system will do to my cap space. The league is already dealing with a lower cap. This throws a whole new wrinkle into the offseason.

I'm not so sure Huff will be less expensive than Vidro. His market is growing more and more as less and less players are available. And he's actually a pretty good player. I almost mentioned Giles, but Seattle isn't going to use Vidro at 2nd. They have a good 2b already. Arguably better than Giles at this point.

Weird. I think I would have thrown money at Aubrey Huff before taking on Vidro's constant ailments.

i agree that some good minor leaguers end up being bad major leaguers. but that sure as hell doesn't mean that bad minor leaguers end up being good major leaguers. I don't think RH was saying Pagan was going to turn into a superstar, I was agreeing that he could be a decent major league player, nothing more. He wasn't a terrible minor league player. I just think he can be a fine 4th or 5th outfielder and may be a short term answer in CF until Pie is ready. He certainly isn't the long term answer, but short term he could be. That's all I'm agreeing with. A 4th outfielder on the Royals or the Rockies, sure. He shouldn't be getting consideration for anything more than the 5th outfielder on a large market team like the Cubs. I actually wouldn't mind him as the 5th outfielder. I certainly don't like the plan if the plan is to let him play CF until Pie is ready. I don't think the Cubs offense can afford to have a no hit CF in combination with a no hit SS and a no hit C when Blanco plays. I can buy into RichHillisaBeast's argument that Pagan has more power. A lot of guys develop more power as they hit their middle 20's. But, it's not a significant increase of power. He won't be an ideal bat off the bench, but he can play multiple outfield positions. He's no Jose Macias.

Why base it on new scores? I've been fiddling with my roster this offseason based off of old scores.

They were thinking that mediocre veteran pitchers are worth more than unproven prospects, which, interestingly enough, seems to be the way the baseball world is thinking now. Thankfully, Hendry has only been acquiring that type of pitcher via the free agent market. Before the offseason got too deep in moves, I was kind of looking forward to what the Dodgers would be like next year with a line up of: Furcal Ethier Nomar Kent Loney Martin Kemp Betemit Now, it's looking more like: Furcal Pierre Nomar Kent Gonzalez Ethier Martin/Lieberthal Betemit I wonder how much better they think their new line up is?

Hendry subcribes to the "earn it" policy. Some guys don't get it done in ST, others step up. Pagan stepped it up bigtime. If what you say is true, Hendry is a worse GM than anybody realizes. Spring training is about the absolute worst time to be making decision about your 25 man roster. A great amount of the time teams are playing people who won't even make the 25 man roster and might never make it for even a cup of coffee in MLB, not to mention the limited number of ABs in the six weeks of get in shape, golf after the game, don't go on road trips, split squads, get in to get some work done baseball. Shoot, I've already mentioned some of the myraid problems with evaluating talent during ST. One last thing, if what you say is true Brandon Sing should have been on the 25 man roster out of spring trainging last year. And the year before "Die Hard" what's his name should have been on the 25 man roster. You list a lot of good reasons for why ST shouldn't be the be all/end all of earning a job at the major league level, but the biggest one to me is that Arizona and the dry air makes a lot of guys look better than they are. They typically play day games in warm weather and the ball off the bat there is nothing like a hot, humid day in the Midwest. If Chase Field didn't have a roof on it through a huge percentage of the summer (besides fans dying of heat exposure), it would battle Coors Field as the best hitting park in baseball.

I think Lou does not like his work ethics. I read this somewhere but can't find the link. Good to see you, Roadster. Where you been hiding?

I like Baldelli. Gabe Gross would be interesting as well. And you might as well include Jacque Jones, because I like him as an option over the likes of Darin Erstad, Steve Finley, Bernie Williams and Brady Clark.

I wouldn't mind Pagan as the 25th man, but is Pagan starting Hendry's idea of how to win a World Series in 2007? He watches really good players get signed by other teams in his previous years as a GM, then this year he panics and overpays for mediocre/crappy players or players that don't fit the need as much as other players. His future unemployment is his own doing.

Isn't it going to be harder to get back and forth to Canada after the new year? I seem to recall they'll require passports or visas from everyone? At least that's they way it will be in Mexico. Thought it was the same for Canada.

It was a good offer. Tampa better hope one of those outfielders knows how to pitch come Spring Training. Doesn't look like they are going to get any of them moved at this point.

Good for Toronto.

To me, it's about giving up 3 prospects for a 1 year rental. Stupid. The Cubs did it last year with Pierre, so I guess it was Houston's turn this year.

Didn't Minnesota non-tender David Ortiz after the 2002 season? Think there might be at least a couple of bitter Twins fans? :D

That's not what I recall. I seem to recall Walker gave up opportunities for a guaranteed starting 2b job for other teams in order to join the Cubs, even though Grudz was already on the team. Looking at baseball-reference transactions, Grudz was re-signed December 7th and Walker was signed January 6th.

Crisp, Baldelli, Church interest me. In a win now frame of mind, Wells and A. Jones are interesting. Finley? ugh.

Agreed. The bullpen guys need regular work. Not overworked or underworked. Regular work.