BigbadB

Jim Essian won 4 less games than he lost. Baker was 66-96 with a 95m payroll. The Joey Amalfitano managed team of 1981 is arguably one of the worst Chicago Cubs teams ever assembled. Dusty's 2006 team was most certainly not one of the worst teams ever assembled. Joey wasn't winning many ball games. But, it was pretty much to be expected. Dusty wasn't winning many ball games. With Dusty and the team he was given, he WAS expected to win. Lee Elia took over a team in 1982 that featured a pitching staff that most wouldn't have even heard of outside of a 39 year old Fergie Jenkins. Dusty had Wood, Prior, Zambrano and Maddux. I was not a fan of Elia, but he most certainly did more with less when you compare him and how Dusty did less with more.

If I moved A-Rod for one of those guys, it wouldn't have been any lower than 6th. Period.

I think the baseball team that employs him will be able to name their price rather than the other way around. He's a broken down player who is only continuing for his own personal goals. Anaheim seems like a decent fit. Oakland would to if it weren't for Thomas.

I agree. This situation is similar to the Sosa one. Baker waited to long to move him in the order and along with putting latroy hawkins as closer it doomed us in 04, among otherthings. But like A-Rod he couldn't handle the fans pressure on him. Under those circumstances you'd have to move him in the order, whether his name is Arod, Mantle or Ruth. Yes, Baker did wait too long to move Sosa. But, A-Rod is not where Sosa was. Would I drop Lee down to 6th or 7th in favor of Jacque Jones with the season on the line because Lee slumped for a few games? Not a chance.

Absolutely no thanks on Torre. Anyone could win 100 games a season with that roster.

You rang? :D I think Bochy would be a solid choice. Bochy has sort of worn out his welcome in San Diego in regards to the fans, but one has to remember that San Diego plays as a small market team, and he's done fairly well with what he's had to work with. World Series in '98. Back to back division championships. I honestly felt San Diego had no shot at a playoff run this year, but they made it. I disagree with the premise that Bochy doesn't like the rookies. Josh Barfield was handed the everyday job at the beginning of the season and Bochy didn't look back. He did the same thing with Kahlil Greene when he came up. He also didn't hesitate to go to Adrian Gonzalez at 1b. I believe San Diego is Adrian's third organization, and the one that actually gave him a chance. Ben Johnson got some significant playing time. Mike Darr was given a big opportunity, though he died tragically in a car accident. I think the guys he doesn't give much of a chance to are guys that were pretty much a longshot to make it in the first place. Adam Eaton and Jake Peavy were promoted through the organization. Tim Stauffer didn't make the best of his opportunity last year. I mentioned Ben Johnson earlier. I think they'd like to play Ben Johnson everyday, or at least get a regular platoon going with him, but Dave Roberts is their best lead off option, and I can't disagree with Boch's decision to go with Roberts. Boch does like OBP. I heard the rumor about Giles batting lead off as well, and with Giles' SLG sliding as much as it has, I think it would be a brilliant move. I haven't heard much regarding the pitcher abuse. My impression is that he doesn't abuse his starters. He may have overworked Linebrink in the bullpen a bit, however. Boch has been here a long time. The Padres don't have any World Series rings, therefore the fans are not satisfied with the results. Personally, I don't think Padres ownership has given Bochy enough to work with to really win a World Series. He definitely doesn't go for shenanigans. He really lets a guy have it for loafing. He also doesn't beat around the bush or shift blame. I'd prefer Bochy over all others mentioned.

With the Yankees out, the World Series just gained another viewer. Now we just have to put up with all those "What's wrong with the Yankees?" and "How to fix the Yankees" stories. Actually, I'm quite looking forward to the rants Steinbrenner will be tossing out left and right.

Can you list the Cubs managers that you feel were worse than Dusty? Dusty has been given much more to work with than any other Cub manager (outside of the late '60's early '70's teams) and his presence, IMO, only made the team worse. He's had Sammy Sosa, Moises Alou, Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Nomar, Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Carlos Zambrano, Greg Maddux just to work with, and Dusty finished his managerial career with a losing record. Juan Pierre is at the point in his career that he shouldn't bat any higher than 7th or 8th in a line up, if you have to play him at all. I make this comparison quite often, mainly because I think it's very fitting: Alex Sanchez- career OBP .330 Juan Pierre- OBP last two years .326 and .330 I did use Sanchez's career OBP, which some may say isn't fair. The last two years Sanchez has played, he had an even better OBP than .330. The fascination of both guys is that their OBP is completely AVG driven. If they aren't getting on base via a single, they aren't getting on base at all. Alex Sanchez can't land a major league job. Juan Pierre made 6m last year playing for the Cubs. If you want a speedy lead off guy, Dave Roberts would likely cost less and would produce better offense. Pierre makes way too many outs to get paid what he does. There are tons of players more worthy of batting lead off for the Cubs next year.

As the standings so clearly indicate.....

Who plays 3rd if Aramis leaves? I'd take Nomar at SS over Izturis and Cedeno, also.

So what? I never said you had to agree with me. It is my opinion that having a guy like Nomar only helps or benefits your team.

Boston went to a World Series in a year that "injury prone" Nomar played for them. The Dodgers went to the playoffs in a year that "injury prone" Nomar played for them. Depending who you have to back up that injury prone player, I'd take a guy like Nomar on my team. That goes for JD Drew as well.

If Boston made a play for Andruw Jones or Mike Cameron, I wonder if Coco Crisp might be available? He's coming off a down year, but the injuries probably played a big part in that. I'm not aware if he will have lingering issues with the injury he had, but I'm still pretty interested in him if he can reproduce his 04-05 numbers.

Why do you like Loretta so much? He reminds me of a weaker hitting version of Walker. True about Jones but that would Hendry's job to get him signed long term. Loretta- career OBP over .360 Cedeno- career OBP of .283 Izturis- career OBP of .295 There are other 2b options. Some won't be Cubs next year. Soriano will probably be somewhere else. Kent will probably be somewhere else. Durham is an option. Giles might be an option. I'd rather not see Izturis or Cedeno penciled into a starting gig if guys with MUCH better OBP's are available on the market. I like Lugo and Loretta for that reason. And I've always liked Todd Walker.

Considering the options we know about, I endorse Girardi.

That's a tad bit inaccurate. Hendry's MO has been to target the guy he wants and ATTEMPT to go get him. He has not always been successful getting the guy he targets. Personally, I've grown a bit tired of that philosophy. He should be targeting several guys and working aggressively to land more than just one guy. Options can be a good thing.

Replace Jones with Crawford and put Lugo and Loretta at the bottom and you have my list. Jones might only be a 1 year rental.

If McClendon hid 1b before every game, everyone would be out. No hitters for everyone.

If you look around the league at most of the 1st and 3rd base coaches, many are former middle infielders. While I believe most continue to land jobs because MLB does not like to farm outside of MLB for replacements, it's not really their coaching skills at 1b and 3b that keep them coming back. It's the knowledge they can share with the players about where to play certain players defensively. It's teaching them how to be better defenders, etc... that determine their length of stay in the coaching ranks of MLB. With that said, I'd like: Manager: Wally Bachman Hitting coach: Mario Mendoza Pitching coach: Jeff Fassero Bench coach: Albert Belle 1b coach: Lloyd McClendon 3b coach: Don Zimmer Bullpen coach: Todd Hundley Wouldn't that be fun?

The end of Baker's tenure was inevitable. Yes, it's only been 5 days since the season ended, but even I knew Baker wouldn't be back after this disaster of a season. He's had all year to quietly research replacements. He needs to replace these people quickly so that he can focus his energy on researching the guys that the Cubs will need to bring in to make this a competitive team in 2007. I agree with the sentiment completely. But, I have no faith that Hendry will do what's right anway, so I probably won't spend much time on this topic.

Under what fantasy-world scenario would Andruw Jones accept a trade to the Cubs AND sign an extension beyond next season?

How many teams are going to be in the bidding for Schmidt and Zito?

My dad had stomach cancer removed by the U of Iowa medical team at the VA hospital in Iowa City. They did an awesome job with an incredibly difficult procedure. Probably a good choice on Derrek's part.

Well. I'm excited that my wish has been granted. Almost. Hendry is still here, but that might not be a bad thing. Depends on which team wins the World Series and how they constructed their team to win the World Series, so that Hendry can emulate that team next. :D Better late than never. I am disappointed that the new fixtures won't be announced for another month. He's had 2 years to analyze the coaching talent that might be available this offseason. I suppose the delay means he was NOT analyzing the coaching talent that might be available. For shame. What will most likely do Hendry in this offseason will be a combination of a weak free agent market and coming off a horrible enough season that players might look elsewhere for a possible playoff caliber team. I'm about as pessimistic about 2007 as I can possibly be. To land the quality coaches and players to do a complete turnabout in the standings is not something I have any trust in Hendry to make happen. The guys that I feel the Cubs should be focusing their energies on this offseason will likely not be the guys that Hendry will be focusing on. In other words, I don't see Hendry pulling off a Jones/Drew switch. I don't see him putting in any effort to steal away Carl Crawford. I think he likes Izturis too much to improve OBP at one of the middle infield positions. As far as landing the top free agents, the Cubs don't have a very good history of making it happen. Hendry spent the entire first half of the offseason last year putting all of his eggs in the Furcal basket, and that produced nada. He kicked Nomar to the curb with the impression that Furcal was his for the taking. He just doesn't seem to look at the big picture. He traded 3 prospects for a 1 year rental in Juan Pierre. If Pierre was coming off a career year, it might have made a bit of sense. I won't bring up Brian Giles, but Hendry didn't focus any attention to the power corner spots in the outfield until all that was left was Reggie Sanders, Jacque Jones and Juan Encarnacion. I've got news for you, Jim. Sitting on your thumbs is not going to get it done this offseason. It's going to take creative trades to improve this team, and I'm not so sure you have the creativity to make it happen. My interest in the 2007 Cubs season is waiting for you to create the magic necessary to turn one of the worst teams in baseball this past year into one of the best teams. Good luck with that.

Has anyone heard anything about Derrek's daughter. I've been out of town a lot, and I haven't heard anything.