BigbadB

I'm all for it. As stated before, Hendry seems to like rehab projects. Mike Sirotka, Dempster, Sullivan, Fox, etc...

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but I think the likelihood that Murton is your everyday leftfielder next year is probably at about 20% odds at best. Hendry seems intent on trading Patterson and Walker, and he still has an extra arm or two in the bullpen he can deal between Ohman, Novoa and Wellemeyer. Between those guys I just listed and a prospect or two, Hendry WILL find someone that turns Murton into a platoon at best. Dusty has no faith in rookies. Cedeno and Murton might both be given plenty of playing time, but I doubt you see them in the same line up together very often. Unless they are both just creaming their competition silly. I could have seen Murton win the job all by himself if Hendry signed Giles or Furcal, or traded for Tejada. But, with Neifi now looking more and more like he's going to be a big factor in the offensive scheme next year, Jacque Jones being Jacque Jones, Hendry will feel the need to give the outfield a boost somehow. I mean, Jerry Hairston is currently the 4th outfielder. Yikes! Think about that. If Murton or Jones sprain an ankle, the outfield will be Murton, Pierre, Hairston. Ughh. I'm hoping that Hendry has taken my advice (I know he reads me daily :D at NSBB) and has decided that Huff wasn't worth what Tampa wanted, and that just before Spring Training breaks, Tampa will be asking for a Neifi Perez chewed piece of gum in exchange for the Cubs taking all or most of Huff's 7.5m for 2006. But, Tampa better hurry or Hendry won't have 7.5m to spend. Anyway, Dusty might put Cedeno and Murton out there at the same time if he gets enough pressure from Hendry. Once. But, out of spite Dusty will do it just long enough to show negative results just so he can play "his" boys. I would have loved to have seen Murton AND Cedeno playing everyday in 2006. But, in order to do it and make it work, the Cubs would have needed to add players that make Murton and Cedeno's offensive production look generic in comparison. With the players added, the Cubs can't afford generic numbers from Murton and Cedeno. They would need above average production, something that is not very fair to ask of a rookie.

I'm still holding onto hope that the Jacque Jones rumors aren't true. :D

Soriano is not a must have and he isn't a good fit for what this team needs. I woudn't give up much for Soriano. It's Bowden's problem he traded for a 2nd baseman when he already had a 7m+ 2nd baseman. We have a 2nd baseman in Walker. We have several if you include Hairston, Cedeno and Perez. That being said, I'd gladly welcome Soriano if it means the rotation stays in tact.

Heh! What did the Cubs pay for Jerry Hairston last year? 17m? :shock:

Derrek Lee hit 6th in the order 38 times last year. That's 37 more times than Albert Pujols has hit 6th in the last 3 seasons combined. Cool, huh?

Want more depression? Neifi Perez as a #8 hitter in 2005: .318 AVG/.375 OBP Jose Macias as a #8 hitter in 2005: .364/.375 Neifi Perez as a #7 hitter in 2005: .305/.341 Jose Macias as a #7 hitter in 2005: .345/.367 Jose Macias as a lead off hitter in 2005: .229/.270 Neifi Perez as a lead off hitter in 2005: .254/.263 Macias had just as many at bats in the top two spots as he had in the bottom 2 spots (7-8). Neifi Perez had more than twice as many at bats in the top two spots than he had in the bottom two spots. The numbers say hit those guys at the bottom of the order if they are going to play at all. What would Dusty do? The exact opposite. Kind of reminds of you of Mike Remlinger a little bit. He was good at getting righties out, so what does Dusty do? Bring him in to face 1 lefty. Matt Murton compiled 11 at bats in the top 2 spots in 2005: .300/.364 Ronny Cedeno compiled 24 at bats in the top 2 spots in '05: .292/.346 Cool, huh?

Tight End please. Either through draft or free agency.

I agree. In fact, he would probably hit more. Texas is the only real hitter's haven in that division. The NL Central doesn't have a poor hitters park to speak of.

I don't feel that way. I think they felt they were within striking distance with the combination of youth and talent they had on their roster along with some solid additions. Because of their location, their forced to spend top dollar to coax players to move to Canada. They might still only finish 3rd, but they have put together a team that has the potential to be better than all the teams in the AL Central or West, and could also slide by Boston or the Yankees if either team falters.

Can they afford a pitcher after taking on Tejada? I don't think so. With Dusty and Neifi on the same team, I wouldn't count on Neifi sitting all that much. To make a trade for Tejada so that Neifi doesn't play as much would be masking the real problem. Dusty. A real bad masking job, IMO.

Ah, I missed the NL East thing. Your right. They have no chance of that. Maybe I did say Seattle rather than the Bears. But, since Seattle has it locked up, we'll never know.

No chance? Boston hasn't done a whole lot. The Yankees are a year older. I wouldn't pick Toronto, but I wouldn't say they have no chance. Remote is a better word. Didn't we just have this same discussion recently in reverse? :D Edit: Oh yeah, I said the Packers had "no chance" to beat the Bears.

Why is that? I wasn't aware that Pierre had a no trade clause. He's probably thinking the old sign and trade thing. Technically we haven't signed Pierre yet. Even after we sign Pierre, we can still trade him. Not that we would. Do you know the rule on that Jeff? I would be curious to know about sign and trade with players in the MLB. I was told most other sports can do it but not in the MLB. Thanks in advance. Jeff can probably answer that one better than I, but I believe the only way it can be done prior to June 1st is if the player approves of the trade.

And one is a SS and the other is a corner OF. Couldn't you match up Sandbergs numbers with a corner OF guy too and make him not look as good? Granted, the player cost is a big difference but I don't see how comparing a corner OF with a middle infielder stats and seeing them as the same value. That's exactly what was about to point out. It's a meaningless comparison. It's meaningless if you use it to rank the two players. It's not meaningless if you're talking about what that guy would bring to the team next year. Either Gonzo or Tejada would be fine for the 5th spot in the order, and both would bring similar production. The difference is what kind of production they would be replacing, Murton or Cedeno. Theoretically Murton would still be getting time against LHers, either replacing Gonzo or Jones, depending on the day. Gonzo would be replacing Murton vs RHP. Whereas Tejada would be replacing Cedeno vs just about everybody. Murton is likely to produce a bit more than Cedeno, but a nice chunk of that production would be against LHP. Against RHP he's not going to be as good. Without concerns for what you give up, you'd rather have Tejada, obviously. But when you take into account their similar production, you'd be insane to prefer Tejada + Murton - Prior over Gonzo + Cedeno + Prior. It's not even a debate. Well put. Too bad Hendry doesn't see stuff like this.

Then why would he want to come here? This is a really good point that should be expanded on. Why would Tejada want to come here? We don't have a winning tradition. We haven't made the playoffs since 2003. Teams don't become better when they trade 1 player for another of equal value when it just creates another hole somewhere else. If Tejada wants to win, I'm afraid he'd be going to the wrong organization if he became a Cub. He should want to be traded to the team that has Mark Prior. A combination of Tejada and Prior with a decent supporting cast will probably create a winner. How long will it take for Tejada to wear out his welcome? How long before he asks for another trade?

I thought he picked the Rockies to win the division in 2004? Which one of us has the wrong year? Or did he do it again? #-o

Now. I'd rather trade Lee for Tejada than Prior for Tejada. I'd rather assess our needs more accurately at the beginning of the offseason, and not trade either.:headache: =D>

Fred, are you saying this is a trade the Cubs should do? No, not at all. My conversation with Vance began with his assumption that it would come to pass. I'm not in favor of this trade in any way. Ah! Cool. The whole thing seems so ridiculous. Last year, Hendry wanted to be rid of Sammy so bad, he gave him away for a utility guy and a couple of prospects while paying nearly all of Sosa's contract. This year, Baltimore is about to fleece the Cubs again when there doesn't seem to be even the slightest reason to do so. At the trade deadline last year, Hendry was so enamored with Rich Hill, he wouldn't have traded him straight up for Adam Dunn. Now we're offering Mark Prior AND Rich Hill along with Patterson for Tejada and used or spare parts. Why? If Hendry is honestly dangling Prior, he needs to let the other 28 teams in the league know what he's doing so that they can line up with better offers. Of course, I'd just as soon see Prior remain a Cub and trade prospects to beef up the rotation. He dropped the ball on upgrading the offense. Now is not the time to trade from a strength to patch a weakness.

Fred, are you saying this is a trade the Cubs should do?

He mentioned adding another starter right out of the gates this offseason. How does he plan to add 2 if he moves Prior? How about we keep Prior, trade Hill and another prospect or two to Oakland for Zito and call it good? That'll free up the salary Oakland needs to sign the Big Skirt. Done! Zambrano, Prior, Zito, Wood, Maddux Prior and Zito probably get along pretty well since they pitched against each other in high school.

Alright, now pare down your list to just players who give you as much value or more than Miguel Cabrera does for how much he makes. He made 370K last year. In other words, would you rather have Todd Helton and his production at 17m or Miguel Cabrera at less than a million?

If Maddux kept the ball in the yard, he could easily yield a 4.00 ERA. In April of last year, he had a 4.20 ERA. In May, he had a 3.99. In July of last year, he posted a 4.15 ERA. In Aug, he posted a 3.55 and in Sept, he posted a 3.07 His June was the brutal month, with a 6.48 ERA. Interestingly enough, he went 4-2 during that month.

It would be unfair to say that that's all he does. He also just plain makes stuff up, too. I'm sure no one has forgotten the time he said a slugger OF was going to be traded to the Cubs any day now. He still hasn't ever followed up on that. Well, you do know what "any" day means, right? :wink:

I'm going to list 15 different players that never should have had any business batting in the top two spots in the batting order that DID bat in those spots during Dusty Baker's tenure. I left out the one's who were deserving of being there, like Walker, Hairston, Grudz, Lawton and even a guy like Jody Gerut or Ramon Martinez. The guys I'm listing have always featured horrible OBP's, and in parentisis is their number of at bats in those top two spots under Dusty: Alex Gonzalez (315) .303 Tony Womack (42) .316 Lenny Harris (17) .318 Corey Patterson (675) .293 Jose Hernandez (6) .312 Trenidad Hubbard (6) .333 Doug Glanville (32) .315 Tom Goodwin (146) .332 Augie Ojeda (1) .294 Jose Macias (146) .298 Damian Jackson (12) .325 Calvin Murray (3) .315 Neifi Perez (435) .301 Rey Ordonez (21) .289 Enrique Wilson (6) .288 Edited to add career OBP of each player. All totaled, that's 1863 at bats (the equivilent of 3 full seasons) from .320 or worse (mostly worse) hitters at the top of the order. Cool, huh?