BigbadB

I hope that is sarcasm.... If I were the Cubs i'd just play the rookies, Cedeno, Pie, and Murton. If they put up the numbers Bill Jame projected i think we have a very good chance of making the playoffs. If not by 2007 they should all be ready for a big years. I got this from Gammons...Cubs CF Felix Pie to hit 21 HR and an .874 OPS; Cubs INF Ronnie Cedeno .310 with an .800 OPS; Murton .318 with an .859 OPS. I'm going to take a wild stab and say Gammons has probably never seen Pie play. If Pie has an .874 OPS, I'll assume that he will have to hit somewhere between .330-.350 to have that high of an OPS considering he has a walk rate that hovers right around where Corey's is, and he has yet to develop the power Corey had in 2003 when Corey's OPS was .840. Basically 3 rookies that will all hit .310 or better? I want some of what he's smoking.

Yankees: Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, Shawn Chacon, Chien-Ming Wang, etc.... Boston: Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Matt Clement, Wade Miller, Tim Wakefield, Bronson Arroyo, David Wells, etc.... Are you sure you meant rotation? They look plenty deep to me. The only thing the Yankees need is a centerfielder, and Hideki Matsui said he'd be happy to play there. Between Matsui, Crosby and Bernie Williams, I think they'll be just fine. Boston only needs a SS. Realistically, they could just stick Alex Cora, Kevin Youkilis or Andy Marte there and they'd probably be just fine. Assuming of course they resign Damon, which I have no doubt will happen. So, each of these two teams not only have in house alternatives, but they could both open the season as is and be playoff caliber. Can we say this about the Cubs? Not a chance. We have Jerry Hairston Jr., Corey Patterson and John Mabry in RF. The Cubs have a lot of work to do to be "playoff caliber".

The best team doesn't always or automatically win the World Series. The best 8 teams make the playoffs. Any one of those 8 could win a short series against one of the other teams. The White Sox had a good team last year. They were NOT the best team in baseball.

There are 20 teams that are in desperate need of a RFer? :shock: Kinda makes me wish Hendry put a little more priority in filling that spot.

Rangers typically like to draw the short straw.

If what you are saying turns out to be true, then Hendry is probably waiting until Dec. 20 to see who gets non-tendered: maybe the Jay Gibbons/Craig Wilson platoon will be cheap. He can't afford to go cheap in RF at this point.

I really don't think that Giles was an option at all. It seemed like almost everyone knew he was going back to the Padres cause he didn't get barely any offers. Was it that Giles wasn't interested in going anywhere but back to San Diego, or is it that no one offered enough money to justify a move? I think it's that no one would cough up the 15m a year it would take to make him move. The Cubs had the money, the hole in the outfield, the hole in the middle of the order and it was a perfect fit. For the money it would have taken to sign Furcal (if he signed the Cubs deal), Neifi and Rusch, they could have had Giles. That's my opinion. That, coupled with Hendry's mad love for Pierre to hit lead off, which he was still able to make happen whether he got Giles or not fixed that spot as well. Furcal was not someone we HAD to have. Giles, in my opinion, WAS! We heard about LA's offer of 13m a year for Furcal. Where was the Cubs offer of 15m for Giles? Giles might have told Hendry from day 1 that he wasn't interested in leaving San Diego, but I still would have thrown out a 15m a year offer to see if he'd change his mind. And if he turned down 15m a year, I'd shut up about the whole thing. Money and baseball players have always gone hand in hand. I'd have a tough time believing that Giles was so enamored with staying in San Diego that he would toss several million aside to stay. Especially considering SD not only lowballed him on a contract, but Hoffman as well and made NO offers for Ramon Hernandez. I won't believe Hendry made an attempt to contact Giles until I hear he did. I won't believe Giles wanted to stay here in San Diego all along until I hear he rejected big money elsewhere.

I don't see it that way. He was given a blank check to spend on Furcal even after blowing ridiculous amounts of money on Rusch, Neifi and Eyre. He had this blank check and they knew they still needed to fill holes in CF, RF and possibly in the rotation even after they signed Furcal. It appears to me that he has just failed to land the guys "he" wanted. I was worried at the end of the season that the Tribune might tighten the budget considering they now seem to be doing worse each year they expand the payroll. That doesn't seem to be the case. To me, he gambled the entire offseason on landing Furcal. That gamble might end up costing some jobs. But, I'll stop there. The offseason isn't over yet.

I've already given props to Kenny Williams, so I don't want my next statements to sound like it was nothing but luck. However, I wouldn't bet on that team winning the World Series 1 out of 10 times when considering all the other good teams that played in the AL last year. An element of luck was involved. A healthy pitching staff sure can go a long way as well. With the offensive weaknesses the Sox had last year, their manager (Guillen) put the right guys in the right places to make the best of what little offense they had. For that, even he deserves some credit. The most interesting thing about it all, is that they didn't stand pat this offseason thinking that the team was good enough as is to win again next year. They went out and improved the offense by bringing back Konerko and adding Thome (and shopping for Tejada). They improved the pitching by going out and getting Vazquez. With those moves, they will be a force again next year.

Yeah, nice game plan Hendry seems to have this offseason. I'm thinking someone casually mentioned to Jim after the winter meetings that he still doesn't have a RFer, which made Jim go :shock:, as he stormed out the door with the available free agent list in his hands. When Preston Wilson is signed to play RF, he will dress up Wilson as if he was the guy they were targeting all along. That's okay, we can always stick Neifi out there when Hendry can't find a taker for Todd Walker.

The Cubs probably could have had him for 4m if they showed some interest at the end of the season.

Got a hole in RF? Trade your 2nd baseman for a SS. That should fix that hole in RF. My apologies for the sarcasm. The black hole in RF has been there too long this offseason to continue ignoring.

Sure would rather be lucky than good...... :D

I don't think Green would waive his NTC to play in Chicago. From what I understand, he wants to stay in the Southwest. I thought Green was from around Chicago...or am I making that up? I thought he was only from Chicago in the sense that he was born there and lived there a couple years. He spent most of his life in southern California, went to high school and college in CA, and was considered a returning hero when he first went to LA. Nice sig.......

Arizona is paying part of Vazquez' deal, and Phily is paying a big portion of the Thome deal. Big Skirt is off the books, as is Carl Everett. Maybe they can, maybe they can't. But, it might be a gamble worth taking.

I didn't think much of KW's moves his first few years in Chicago. That trade to Pittsburgh was horrible (Kip Wells for Todd Ritchie). However, he has created a winner in Chicago. He put together a strong pitching staff, they stayed healthy and the team won. He's had good moves and bad moves along the way. Lately, all of his moves have turned to gold, which is what you basically want your GM to do for your team.

And you can trust that none of these people posting here are Jim Hendry or Jim Hendry's wife or Jim Hendry's dog. I don't think everyone should have to put "IMO" at the front of every comment they make. It would be easier if everyone just assumes that opinions are being expressed, not fact, when facts are not provided.

They are opinions, people. No one posting here is Jim Hendry. Once you understand this, feel free to agree or disagree with the poster, but leave the personal stuff out of it.

Since when did everything have to be proven as fact in order to post here? From the day I started posting here, I've always been under the impression that a message board was about expressing one's opinions. The problem isn't Goony providing facts to back up his opinion, but rather your lack of ability to provide baseball discussion in a baseball discussion forum. Since you know already that Goony cannot back up his opinion with fact, instead of calling him out, why don't you just disagree with his opinion and provide some opinions of your own. Opinions that discuss the topic at hand, of course, rather than trying to run down another poster.

I agree with you on a lot of things, but this isn't one of them. The White Sox have put themselves in a wonderful position. They have given the team a name. They have won the hearts of many Chicagoans. They are in a position to double, triple and possibly quadruple season ticket sales. Trading for a guy like Miggy would do that, IMO. It does somewhat mortgage the future in regards to McCarthy being included in a deal for Miggy, but the team is definitely built to win NOW. When Thome's skills have declined to a point he is no longer contributing, and the team is no longer in a position to be competitive, then they can trade Miggy to a team that will give up their "McCarthy" for him. That might only be a year or two down the road. They just won a World Series. They don't have to be conservative. They've made the moves this offseason that put them in a position to possibly win again this coming year. Tejada just puts them one step closer. I'd make that deal.

Way to gloss over the points that don't support your theory. What about Iguchi, a Japanese player. Hendry and the Cubs haven't even thought about bringing in Japanese players. If you call the $8m Lee's line of .265/.324/.487 very good for a LF, then Iguchi's .278/.342/.438 at 2.3m from 2B is great. Iguchi, Pods and Dye combined to make less than Lee, while Dye (.274/.333/.512) outperformed Lee on his own. Like I said, individual deals can be debated forever. But they don't matter. What matters is the total package. Williams has done a much better job with the total package than Hendry, and he's done more to improve his team this offseason than Hendry, and he apparantly still has plenty of youth to both add to next years roster plus trade for more parts. And Kenny did all this with a payroll $25m below Hendry's. That right there is a huge fact that people like to pretend doesn't exist. Williams has to make due with an average payroll, he's had an above average team every year, and built a great one last year. Hendry has had a top 5 payroll every year, and has had either an above or below average team as a result, never greatness, and it doesn't look to be coming. Hendry's extra $25m can be used to bring in a sure thing corner OF and allow you not to take the downgrade from Lee to Pods. Hendry's extra money should be an asset. So far it has not been. you know this as a fact because... Because the Cubs have regressed every year since 2003? hendry hasnt even thought about bringing in japanese players because the cubs have regressed every year since 2003? i dont get the connection. My apologies. I guess I didn't relate "you know this as fact because...." to the one sentence that speculated Hendry has no interest in Japanese players. They seemed to have given up on recruiting anyone outside the United States of late. Another problem this organization seems to have.

Way to gloss over the points that don't support your theory. What about Iguchi, a Japanese player. Hendry and the Cubs haven't even thought about bringing in Japanese players. If you call the $8m Lee's line of .265/.324/.487 very good for a LF, then Iguchi's .278/.342/.438 at 2.3m from 2B is great. Iguchi, Pods and Dye combined to make less than Lee, while Dye (.274/.333/.512) outperformed Lee on his own. Like I said, individual deals can be debated forever. But they don't matter. What matters is the total package. Williams has done a much better job with the total package than Hendry, and he's done more to improve his team this offseason than Hendry, and he apparantly still has plenty of youth to both add to next years roster plus trade for more parts. And Kenny did all this with a payroll $25m below Hendry's. That right there is a huge fact that people like to pretend doesn't exist. Williams has to make due with an average payroll, he's had an above average team every year, and built a great one last year. Hendry has had a top 5 payroll every year, and has had either an above or below average team as a result, never greatness, and it doesn't look to be coming. Hendry's extra $25m can be used to bring in a sure thing corner OF and allow you not to take the downgrade from Lee to Pods. Hendry's extra money should be an asset. So far it has not been. you know this as a fact because... Because the Cubs have regressed every year since 2003?

You would think so, wouldn't ya? But, it won't be easy to move Gonzalez or Green. If Gonzalez and Green knew they would be sitting the bench this year, would they be in favor of a trade then? That's how I would present it as the GM of the D'Backs.

I'd have to believe the Sox have the edge simply because Tejada wants to play for a winner and the Cubs are perceived as possibly the most disappointing team of the past 2 years. What does Tejada have to say about what team he's traded to? He doesn't. But, how ironic would it be for him to get traded to an organization that hasn't won a World Series in nearly 100 years? :D

I don't know if I can agree with this. The White Sox just won a World Series. They have won over a lot of fans. They have probably even converted the casual Cub fan that is tired of losing. By making this trade, they have added crazy offense in Tejada and Thome, meanwhile upgrading the rotation from El Duque to Vazquez. They may eventually fade to nothing in the next 5 years, but they will be able to enjoy the next 5 years knowing they can continue being competitive. Maybe from their standpoint, they forsee empty seats in Wrigley in the coming years while everyone comes to see Miggy in the Cell. If I was the White Sox, I'd include McCarthy in a deal for Miggy.