BigbadB

That's a pretty incriminating list, right there.

And by some weird chance that all the pieces fell into place (stud RFer, Cedeno kicking butt, Lee and Aramis never hurt) and you had Nomar and no place to play him, do you think he would reject a trade to a team that had a place to play him? I surely doubt it. Do you think some team would pass on Nomar for a measily 5m contract? Nomar healthy for only half a season (or healthy for most of the season)for 5m on a 1 year deal>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Neifi and Rusch and their 2 year/5.5m per year deal. I might have missed a few >>>>>, but it's really a no brainer. And that wasn't hindsight, either.

Is it really hindsight? One can't speculate that a guy coming off a .326 OBP season might put another one just like it? I did. Couple that horrible .326 OBP for a lead off guy with getting picked off 17 times attempting to steal, and what does the OBP look like now? Even worse. The only positive I potentially saw in the Pierre deal is that he's in his contract year, and that he might put up respectable numbers with that added inspiration. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear as though that's going to happen. I've never been a fan of trading several prospects for a guy in his walk year. I suppose it might be alright if that player is the difference maker between being a winner and a loser, and Pierre is not that guy. All the Cubs can hope for at this point is that he'll bring his production level up prior to the trade deadline where they might net an equal return like the one they gave up to get him. I was perfectly fine going into the season with Walker hitting 1st and Murton or someone of equal OBP capability hitting 2nd. Maybe add Kenny Lofton as a 5th outfielder and part time CF, which not only gives the team even more respectable OBP from the top of the order, but gives you a solid veteran PHer off the bench. Lofton was certainly more fragile than Pierre, but he was 1/3 of the price, a free agent who wouldn't have costed any draft picks and likely just as effective or moreso than Pierre when he is in there. The saved money on Pierre could have been used towards a pitcher and more depth. I would have much rather seen the Cubs give those 3 prospects to the Dodgers for Milton Bradley. Once again, cheaper and better. The Cubs could have added Bradley AND Lofton for less than it costs for Pierre. The Cubs could have had Bradley and Lofton for less than it costed for Jones. Hindsight is signing on the dotted line that you were for a trade when it took place, and then claimed later when that player was lousy that they never should have picked him up. I was never in favor of it, therefore it's not hindsight. It's being right all along.

I'd much rather be discussing how awesome a job the Cubs brass did to make the team better each and every year under their guidance, but unfortunately for all of us, we have to sit here and analyze all the things that are wrong. They really couldn't get it much more wrong, IMO. I'm not one of those "I told you so" kind of guys. I don't get any satisfaction being right about something. In the case of the 2005 offseason, I could only hope that my theories on what is wrong with the organizational philosophy would be proven wrong. I definitely had my doubts, and it appears I was right on the money. I labeled the 2005 offseason as the worst offseason that I could ever recall. I ranted and raved about the direction this team was going. The emphasis was on guys who could catch the ball and had speed. Well, guys are catching the ball and many of those same guys are stealing bases at a pretty nice clip, but catching the ball and stealing bases don't do you a whole lot of good when you can't hit. Every aspect of this offseason (outside of beefing up the bullpen) was totally the wrong direction. If Hendry were to be publicly courting a ballplayer this past offseason with his undying affection, it should have been for Brian Giles and not Rafael Furcal. If Hendry's stalking of Giles proved unfruitful, then move on to someone else who fit the huge, gaping hole in RF. As nice as it might have been to stick Furcal at SS, we had a SS already in Cedeno. As nice as it might have been to have a bat like Furcal's at the top of the order, we already had a lead off guy in Todd Walker. As nice as it might have been to have Furcal on this team, his price tag didn't really fit when you take into consideration the Cubs should have been spending the amount of money that it would have taken to sign Furcal on a RFer instead. No back up plan. None. Nomar made for an excellent back up plan. He didn't cost any prospects in the next draft. He was fairly inexpensive. His production (when healthy) can't be mirrored by any player on the team outside of Lee or Ramirez. They just gave Patterson away. Who did we get for him? I don't even remember. The problems with Patterson are starting to look more and more as though it's the fault of the coaching staff that he struggled. Conveniently, every player on this team is struggling with this coaching staff. Coincidence? I think not. This tree needs to be uprooted and fresh seeds planted.

The quoted part above is another perfect example of why the entire management team needs to be kicked to the curb. A comment like this is supposed to net a huge return in trade? Ahem, that's Jayson Stark talking (guessing), not anyone within the Cubs' management. Sure, it's Stark talking. But it's not completely out of the question that he gathered this information from someone within the Cubs administration. And it wouldn't be the first time the Cubs have devalued a player and traded them for pennies on the dollar. :wink:

I vote LH batting practice pitcher.

If you were Baltimore, would you now trade your stud offensive player for a guy who hasn't pitched a single game this year? That would make the Baltimore GM twice as dumb as Hendry for making that deal.

we may be witnessing an historic season from albert. I'm not witnessing anything. I don't watch the Cardinals. :P

The quoted part above is another perfect example of why the entire management team needs to be kicked to the curb. A comment like this is supposed to net a huge return in trade? OTHER GM- "Uh, yes Jim, I'd like a pitcher than will never become the consistent innings eater that he was drafted to become." Jim-"Great! Got any Tony Womack's or Jose Macias' on your roster that you could give me for Prior? I'll pay most of Prior's contract if you do." And why just Prior? If you are going to trade Prior, trade everyone else too. Start all over again. But, if they do start over again, please start with a new management team that understands how to build a long term, successful team.

I gave Hendry the benefit of the doubt until this past offseason was over. Once the offseason was complete, I was done with him. Worst offseason that they could have possibly thrown together with over 40m of budget space and tons of trade commodity. WORST! He's got to go now.

Honestly, I'd rather watch a bunch of minimum base salary guys hustling their butts off and playing sound, fundamental baseball than watch a bunch of overpaid millionaires quit running half way down the first base line on a routine groundout or getting caught off base on a routine fly ball. There is certainly something to be said about trading your top players for a school bus full of minor league prospects. I like that option over trading your top player for a career platoon 2nd baseman and a couple of never were minor leaguers while paying his entire salary to play for someone else.

that's what it says on their world series trophies probably - you kids are a disgrace. this is a discussion about 2006. I wouldn't call the Marlins awful. And they are a whole lot more fun to watch than the Cubs right now. Those kids are playing for their major league careers and they are all getting quality major league experience that will be quite beneficial when Florida adds role players to turn the team into another potential World Series champion in a small handful of years. You wouldn't want Hanley Ramirez, Jeremy Hermida, Josh Willingham, Dan Uggla on your team? While the Cubs continue spinning their wheels in mediocrity, Florida will rebuild and crush the Cubs in a few years. Heck, they're crushing the Cubs now.

How many of those walks ended up scoring?

I would also like to note that it you take Derrek Lee out of last year's lineup, that team OBP drops to .308 A very welcome addition. I didn't realize it was that bad without Lee's numbers. Yowza.

It's funny that Baker brings up the Yankees and all their recent championships. Since 1995 when they started their yearly playoff run, they haven't posted a team OBP below .353 more than once. The Yankees have averaged 644 walks a season since 1995. Baker's Cubs walked 419 times last year. They haven't walked 500 times in a season under Dusty. The Yankees walked 718 times in '99 and posted a team OBP of .364. Check this out. The Cubs team batting average last year was .270. That's actually pretty good when you take into consideration that the pitcher bats a few times a game and they had Neifi, Patterson, Macias, Hollandsworth, Burnitz and a few other poor hitting players. But, they only walked 419 times. The team OBP was a measily .324, which probably helps explain why they only scored 703 runs all year. The '04 Yankees finished with a lower overall batting average than the '05 Cubs. They had a .268 team AVG. But, they walked 670 times and ended up with 897 runs scored for the season. Yeah, Dusty. It's all about swinging the bat, isn't it? That's nearly 200 more runs scored than the Cubs WITH A LOWER TEAM AVG. How do you suppose that happened? The Yankees had 543 XBH's that year. The Cubs had 540. Do you suppose the those 3 XBH's created nearly 200 more runs? Nah. That's not it. Could it be that the Yankees had more hits than the Cubs? Nah, that's not it. The Cubs had 23 more hits than the Yankees. Could it be that the difference of 419 walks and 670 (251 walks) created all those extra runs? I'd say they played a big part in it.

The Bradley fiasco is not how I interpreted the bad blood between Coletti and Hendry. I believe it goes back farther than that and that Bradley getting traded to the A's instead of the Cubs was a symptom of that bad blood. That Hendry can't get along with other GM's wouldn't be that big of a deal in my eyes if that was his only issue, but given all of his other inadequacies, only fuels my desire to see him kicked to the curb.

Here comes Verlander. :D He was facing the Royals, but the guy was throwing 99 MPH in the 9th inning yesterday.

Well, my team is 0-7, but is my team really "that" bad? My opponents have scored more than 2100 points against me. That's more than 100 points more than opponents have scored against any other team. 6 teams have scored less points at this point in the season. A little bit unlucky, I'd say. Not saying I have a good team. Just that they aren't necessarily as bad as the record shows. The Cubs, on the other hand, are much worse than their record shows.

Yep. I mentioned Loretta, Bradley and Crisp. And I could go on and on with players with better OBP's than the scrubs the Cubs gathered this offseason. I just listed a bunch off the top of my head. Ethier tearing it up is hindsight, plain and simple. Don't even go there. Marte is a great prospect. So is Pie. So is a combination of Nolasco and Marshall. Look at tonights box score. How many walks did the Marlins draw? How many did the Cubs draw? How do the walks compare with the outcome of the game. Sure, batting average and power are good too, but a whole team of guys who have no clue about patience at the plate will give you exactly what you are getting from this Cubs team. I don't want a whole team of guys who do nothing but walk. Don't even go there with me. I want guys who can hit, can draw a walk when there is nothing good to hit, and when they do hit, they hit for a respectable average. A 100m payroll team can afford to have those kinds of players throughout their line up. Heck, the Florida Marlins appear to have more patient hitters than the Cubs, and these guys are all fresh out of the minor leagues.

Are they playing the A's?

Beat me to it. Nolasco= 1 HR Pierre= 0

Looking at those numbers, I'd say it's a safe bet Alfonzo will be a Cub very, very soon.

Tampa wanted the world for Lugo and/or Huff. Can you imagine the asking price for Gomes?

The more interesting stat for 3-2 is how many times has each team reached a 3-2 count?

I know there are many people that would argue with me regarding putting people in specific spots in the line up and how it would affect run scoring or producing over a long season. And we will have to agree to disagree. A DH typically hits somewhere in the middle of the batting order. The 9th spot hitter in the AL is typically going to be the worst hitter on the roster. In the NL, yes, the pitcher bats. But, he also gets pinch hit for late in games. I would venture to guess that over the course of a long season, unless a team has 9 solid hitters, the production of lefty/righty pinch hit match ups combined with the pitchers at bats would provide nearly equal production, but the edge would go to the AL #9 hitter. But, there is another reason that teams don't bat the pitcher first in a ball game. Poor OBP. If that reason isn't enough, then consider the fact that the lead off hitter will get another at bat before any other player on the team. Considering this fact, it makes all the sense in the world to bat someone who does a much better job of getting on base than someone who isn't so good at getting on base. I don't find it the slightest bit coincidental that Derrek Lee's 107 RBI was far and away (and not even close) the worst RBI production of any of the players who achieved 99 XBH's or more in a season. I would venture to guess that you could follow down that list all the way to 90 at bats and not find someone with so few RBI's for a guy with that kind of production. If you do find someone who matches that kind of RBI production, I'll bet that person suffered the same lack of OBP. If Lee is the most productive person at driving home runners, I think it would make a tremendous impact on his RBI opportunity if you have sub .300 OBP guys hitting directly in front of him and two .350+ OBP guys hitting directly in front of Henry Blanco and Neifi Perez. Is Perez going to drive in 100+ RBI's with two .350+ OBP guys hitting directly in front of him? If that's the case, why isn't he batting 3rd or 4th in the order? I think what will really happen, is that you boost the amount of GIDP's Perez will ground into. I will agree that moving a bunch of poor OBP guys around in the order isn't going to have as much impact as it would to get rid of the poor OBP guys, but Hendry doesn't appear all that interested in getting good OBP guys. He'd rather have the Juan Pierre's and Jacque Jones and Neifi Perez's in the line up than have good OBP guys. And because of that, this team is going to suffer. I like Ronnie Cedeno, but I knew his OBP was not going to be good. That's what made him the ideal #8 hitter in this line up. A good AVG, but lack of discipline. A bat like that should not be hitting in a key spot in the line up. A bat like that shouldn't be taking up umpteen spots in the line up either, and the Cubs have that with Cedeno, Perez, Jones and Pierre. Did I know they were going to be this bad? No. Do I think they will be better? Yes. Better than last year? Not necessarily. Pierre was coming off a .326 season. Jones has never put up good OBP. All the talk in preseason was that Neifi would be manning 2nd base regularly. I was around the entire offseason. You better believe they were still shopping Walker after the Furcal deal fell through. There was talk of trading him a week before the season started. Cubs brass considered him a malcontent and wanted to be rid of him. He isn't a malcontent. He just wants to win. He does open his mouth more than he should, but most of what he says is dead on. But, what he says is an embarrassment to the people who pay his salary, and they apparently can't have someone pointing out the obvious like that. Where do you play Loretta? 2nd base. If you have Walker and Loretta, you have depth. Something this team completely ignored in the offseason. The bench that Hendry put together this offseason has to be among the very worst in baseball. The San Diego Padres 65m payroll features bench guys that are actually pretty good at being bench guys. Geoff Blum, Eric Young, Mark Bellhorn, Adrian Gonzalez, Ben Johnson and Josh Bard. Gonzalez was thrust into the 1b job when Klesko left for surgery. The Padres didn't miss a beat. They had depth to cover 1b when someone got injured. That team beat the Cubs 7 straight games. And they did it with some rookie pitchers mixed in with veteran pitchers. Most of those pitchers don't hold a candle to the Cubs pitchers, but when Neifi Perez is your replacement for Derrek Lee (instead of Gonzalez for Klesko), what do you expect? Yeah, I felt strongly about Giles. I felt strongly about getting any guys who provided a good OBP, bonus if they also had a good SLG. Jones sucked before they signed him. He still sucks now. What you are seeing out of him today is pretty much his plateau. If that's the best he can offer, pass on the 3 year deal. Swing a deal with the D'Backs for Shawn Green. Swing a deal with some other team looking to move a fairly large contract that provides decent production. Offer the world to Brian Giles. I totally disagree with anyone who says he's in decline. His numbers aren't as good as when he played in a more hitter friendly division (Central), but they are still better numbers than most players on the Cubs provide. But, that argument has been made too many times to get into it again.