BigbadB

Ugh. Cabrera and Erstad combined aren't half of what Manny is offensively, not even including Clement.

Personally, I think Boston is WAY overpaying for Tejada. So, let's leave Baltimore out of the Manny sweepstakes, and we'll take Manny while Tampa takes prospects while sending Huff and Lugo to Boston. Done!

To read old news on Rotoworld, go to the player search bar at the top of the screen, type in the last name, click on the player you are doing the search for, and then when the player comes up, click on "previous news". To save you the trouble, Rotoworld never gave a break down of Jacque's signing bonus.

Done!

From Rotoworld: Cubs signed outfielder Marquis Grissom to a minor league contract. Before his ugly 2005, Grissom had OPSs against lefties of 1056 in 2003 and 933 in 2004. If he replaces Jacque Jones versus southpaws for the Cubs, the team will probably be better off. Still, the Twins never had the guts to make Jones a platoon player and the Cubs might not want to upset him so soon after giving him a three-year deal. Jan. 3 - 7:40 pm et Pretty much my feelings. The Twins didn't platoon him and I doubt the Cubs do. Cubs signed infielder Augie Ojeda to a minor league contract. Ojeda spent four years in the Cubs system before joining the Twins two years ago. A defensive specialist, there's certainly no room for him on a team already carrying Neifi Perez. Jan. 3 - 7:34 pm et See that, Dusty? Neifi is a utility player, not a starter! Cubs signed outfielder Michael Restovich to a minor league contract. Did he enter into this agreement before or after he knew Marquis Grissom would also be joining the Cubs? He may be at least as good of an option to platoon with Jacque Jones as Grissom, but we doubt he'll be the choice. The Cubs will probably have him waste away in Triple-A. Jan. 3 - 7:37 pm et Dubois looked like a better prospect than Restovich when comparing minor league numbers. We know how that turned out.

We all know what an NRI is, but does Dusty?

I'd probably list Mondesi as an option before I'd list Jordan. I think Jordan's done. Jordan's been bad the last 2 years. Mondesi has been bad too, but he's much younger. I'm not advocating either, but Jordan shouldn't even be on this list due to his age and decline.

Hmm. Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, etc., weren't as good as Sammy? :shock:

I would rather keep Reed and trade Pierre as well. He's going to be one of the better leadoff hitters for the next 10 years. Based on what? We finally have a true leadoff hitter and this board doesn't like him. Well, 1st off, I won't be baited into some useless group think of NSBB vs. rest of the world type argument. If you're going for that angle, try it for someone who enjoys wasting everyone's time. If you're not, I'll apologize. 2nd, as far as why I'd rather have Reed than Pierre, he has a higher ceiling than Pierre's current level of production. Pierre will likely outproduce Reed this year, but not to the point where I wouldn't want the player who will likely improve to heights that Pierre has never seen, much cheaper and much further away from FA than Pierre. 3rd, why I think Reed will be one of the best future leadoff hitters in the game; Reed has a perfect line drive swing, a great strike zone recognition, great work ethic, above avg. speed, and will only improve. Hey, don't forget that we'd have both of the Reed brothers in the line up at the same time in 2008. :wink:

From who? The Royals and who else? I'd rather platoon with the Cubs than start everyday in KC too. I wouldn't assume quite yet that he'll start everyday. I'm going to assume this until Dusty proves he's a changed man. I'm not saying it's right. It's just the way I see the ball bouncing. Over time, a guy develops a reputation if he continues to do the same things year after year. I didn't give him the reputation, he earned it. He's been quoted as saying that dark skinned players can handle playing in the heat better. The Cubs play a lot of day games. He and Hendry seem to like the toolsy player, and Jones is more toolsy than Murton. I could go on and on, but I honestly believe that Hendry and Baker feel quite comfortable putting Jacque Jones and his 30/30 potential out there day in and day out. I think Jones could potentially hit 30 HR's playing most of his games in the NL Central. If I can think that, then I know Hendry and Dusty probably think it more than I do.

From who? The Royals and who else? I'd rather platoon with the Cubs than start everyday in KC too. I wouldn't assume quite yet that he'll start everyday. There were several teams talking to Jones, including St. Louis. I wouldn't doubt it one bit if part of Jones' decision to come to the Cubs was some sort of agreement that he wouldn't be platooned.

There is still hope that a better hitting outfielder will come along that will make Grissom super expendable, then you can go back to liking me again. Grissom would actually make for a decent 5th outfielder, IF USED PROPERLY! I think he'd be an asset as a pinch hitter or possibly even a defensive replacement. Dusty would give him too many starts, and those starts will be at Murton's expense. The other thing that really gets somewhat ignored is the injury potential. Any one of those outfielders could experience some down time with an injury, which puts a guy like Grissom right at the top of Dusty's "available" list. I know it won't be popular with many people, but I'm still holding out hope that a guy like Huff will become available closer to Spring Training. The amount of money he is owed this year is the biggest reason that I believe Tampa will want to move him. The fact he just came off a bad year makes his value somewhat null and void, like Corey Patterson. If the Cubs can trade for Huff, Huff plays RF, Jones switches to LF and Murton is the guy who gets playing time whenever someone needs a rest, someone is slumping, someone is hurt, or against a LHP, etc.... Murton may end up being the better player between him and Jones, but I think Dusty will need more convincing. The problem here becomes, will Murton's skills deteriorate if he sits on the bench too much? By playing the vet in Jones and Huff (or the like), Dusty can feel comfortable giving Cedeno the everyday job at 1 of SS or 2nd. I have zero faith that Dusty will play 2 guys as inexperienced as Murton AND Cedeno in the same games. Maybe later in the season if they have proven they belong, but not in the first month or two.

Augie is going to haunt us forever. Restovich is Jason Dubois all over again. Grissom's stance at the plate is so bad, it will make you turn off the tv each time he steps to the plate. Jacque Jones had many offers on the table for his services. Grissom will not platoon with Jones. Jones will start in about as many games as Burnitz did last year. Burnitz led the Cubs in starts last year. Jacque Jones vs. Lefties the last 3 years: .238/.295/.658 Jeromy Burnitz vs. Lefties the last 3 years: .253/.301/.786 (aided by Coors Field) Jeromy Burnitz vs. Lefties last year: .236/.268/.713 If Burnitz played everyday, why will Dusty platoon Jones? Dusty will know that Jones makes the major league money and will play everyday. Meanwhile, an unproven, light skinned semi-rookie will need to play lights out to beat out the likes of Grissom for playing time.

Andre Dawson

Bobby Hill is most similar at age 27 to Patsy Gharrity. :shock: I hope that's a dude. :D

Are you comparing Jones and Soriano? I have only heard a few people state that Jacque Jones will return to his career norms. One of those people seemed to have a pretty good understanding of why Jones' numbers have slipped. I believe it had to do with a nagging injury and the death of a relative (dad?). I can buy into a "return" to career norms. Aramis Ramirez hadn't set career norms when he joined the Cubs, but I watched him play enough to know that he had a very special skill. I saw how painful it was for him to play on that bad ankle in 2002. Aramis is now blowing his awesome 2001 season out of the water production-wise. Will Jones revert back to career norms? I don't like his chances. He's a ground ball hitter that will be facing pitchers he's never seen. He is moving to a very hitter friendly division, but only Cincy will be sending out a poor starting rotation on a regular basis.

2 hours? Did you take the freeway? Tuscon and Phoenix are only 111 miles apart.

Which means that the lineup will be: CF Juan Pierre SS Neifi Perez 1B Derrek Lee RF Jacque Jones 3B Aramis Ramirez LF John Mabry 2B Ronny Cedeno C Michael Barrett SP Carlos Zambrano SP Greg Maddux SP Mark Prior SP Glendon Rusch SP Jerome Williams CL Ryan Dempster I'm guessing Dusty thinks they signed John MAYBERRY. Speaking of John Mayberry, what's going on with his son? I believe he was a very high draft pick within the last few drafts. Never heard if he signed or went back to school (if that was even an option). Haven't heard a thing about him.

But the cost of Williams and maybe others to upgrade to Soriano isn't worth the upgrade. So who do you want batting 5th? With the team we have now, I'd probably put Murton or Jones in the 5th spot, leaning heavily towards Murton. Jones could show an increase in SLG playing in the NL Central, but that's quite a gamble that Hendry was taking. He's mostly a ground ball hitter.

Washington is rumored to want Josh Beckett from Boston for Soriano. Of course, you have to take a rumor with a grain of salt, but would the difference between Walker and his 2.5m salary and Soriano at close to 10m plus the quality player or two it would cost to get him really be worth it? Personally, I don't think so. This offseason has really been a nightmare in regards to improving the team. Some Hendry's doing, some because the market was so barren. At this juncture, I'd really just like to see Hendry hold out for something to fall in his lap or just go to battle with what we have and hope a team will be willing to give up something decent at the deadline. The biggest problem I have with giving up a lot for Soriano is that we had a comparable player in Nomar that wouldn't have costed any prospects and would have been much cheaper. The only concern would have been injury, which is a legitimate concern. We didn't want a poor fielding shortstop, but now we want a poor fielding 2nd baseman. And what will be the cost? If there was a choice of Vidro or Soriano, I'd prefer Vidro. He's locked in beyond this coming year, which helps with the potential turnover next year will again be hard to replace. I also lean towards Vidro due to the signing of Jones. Jones is a very poor hitter in general, and Vidro can make up for Jones' inadequacies. Not only would Vidro make for a very good #2 hitter, which the team lacks, but he can also play some 3rd base. Next year could feature a huge turnover. If the Cubs traded for Soriano, there is the potential of Maddux, Wood, Lee, Soriano, Ramirez and Pierre all hitting the road. Some of these guys might see greener pastures by testing the market. At this point, I'd lean towards just keeping Walker. Trading for Vidro would be my 2nd choice.

Ryno shared his wife with Cub teammates. Can Sammy beat that? :D

Walks anywhere in the line up are good. But, I probably value AVG and SLG a bit more than OBP in the 5 and 6 spots in the order. For example, Nomar was ideal in the 5 or 6 spots last year (assuming he was healthy). His high AVG and decent SLG driving in the 2-3-4 hitters provides more value than drawing a walk for the weaker hitters in the line up. Nomar good OBP derives more from AVG than OBP. Soriano would be a good 6th hitter in a line up that featured good OBP in front of him. A few problems I have with this though. Dusty sees Soriano's speed as a plus at the top of the order, and the fact Soriano doesn't have a good OBP, nor does Jacque Jones and possibly one of Cedeno or Perez starting everyday is another possibility of an mediocre or poor OBP makes the line up weak in regards to OBP. Couple that in with a start every 4th and or 5th day by Blanco along with a possible slight regression from Barrett and Derrek Lee regressing to just above career norms and you have the recipe for disaster.

What I'm curious about is how low he'd actually be willing to go on a contract.

So what if those guys were overrated here. What's your point? No one here knows what their talking about? Should we "hope" all the Cubs prospects suck? As overrated as they might have been, Choi turned into Derrek Lee, Bobby Hill turned into Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton, Brendan Harris turned into Nomar and Juan Cruz turned into the infamous Andy Pratt. Tell me how that's not a good thing? Indulge me rather than insult me. Thanks in advance.

And I can respect your opinion. However, I don't see it that way. Hendry basically said Dubois was his starting LFer for 2005. Didn't happen. Hollandsworth was brought back to be the pinch hit extraordinaire that he was in 2004. Didn't happen. Dubois got 7 starts in April. He finished April with a .346 AVG. In the first 8 games in May, he got 5 at bats total. After that long layoff, all of a sudden, Dusty gave Dubois the everyday job. 31 at bats total over the first 31 games of the season, then blam, thrust into the starting job. Meanwhile, Hollandsworth was about as horrible as it gets as an everyday LFer. Granted, Dubois didn't amount to anything, but Dusty gave Hollandsworth and his .211 AVG all the playing time over a guy hitting .346 and having a hot month. The first time Murton has an 0fer, we should all be very scared.