BigbadB

Aramis played 2002 on one leg. That's the explanation for his dip in numbers that year.

More fun stuff for San Diego fans....... The Padres lowballed David Wells (native San Diegan) after the 2004 season, a season in which he was their most effective starter. A season in which Wells gave San Diego a home town discount. Wells, angrily took a two year offer from Boston. The Padres then proceeded to sign Woody Williams to take Wells place. Woody was horrible. Nothing like the Woody Williams they "gave" to St. Louis for a delapidated, broken down, overpaid Ray Lankford. Williams was horrible last year. A 4.85 ERA in a pitcher's park is not good at all. Williams makes more than Wells. Wells is now in the last year of his contract and he not only wants to go back to San Diego, but San Diego now wants him back. To get him, it will cost San Diego Mark Loretta AND one of Dave Roberts or Aki Otsuka. Oh, and San Diego will have to pay the price Boston paid to get Wells in the first place, which might have been a million dollar difference per year at most. Of course, Dave Roberts is where the "fun stuff" all originated. Los Angeles traded Roberts to Boston for an unheard of minor leaguer, who is still unheard of today. Boston proceeds to trade Roberts to San Diego after winning the World Series for a veteran middle infielder (Ramon Vazquez), a decent 4th outfielder (Jay Payton), a minor league prospect AND 2.5m in cash. If San Diego makes that deal, Towers deserves some sort of award for this. But, not an award that he would want to proudly display on any mantle. Meanwhile, San Diego will be getting closer to being older than the San Francisco Giants with the likes of Vinny Castilla, Ryan Klesko, Brian Giles, Eric Young, Woody Williams, David Wells, Chan Ho Park and a closer (Hoffman) who might yet return.

Rotoworld does make a lot of typographical errors. But, maybe we now know Hendry's plan. He plans on signing all of the middle relievers and utility infielders and force teams to overpay for them at the trade deadline. Go Jim.

And now KC can focus their energy on turning him back into a starter.

My apologies. That's a quote from Steve Stone on the Score. Stone said that the Cubs could not afford to go into the season with 2 rookies in the line up. I disagree, especially if the reason one of the rookies is sitting is because Neifi Perez is playing his position. But, that's just me. Hmm. Something Stone and Dusty could actually agree on? I think Steve is losing it.

I haven't seen him play the outfield, so I can't make any judgments on his defensive ability. He did play in 95 games in RF last year. He had a comparable fielding percentage to Burnitz (.984/.986). Burnitz had 5 assists in 158 games. Huff had 6 in 95 games. Must be range that concerns people.

Furcal is young enough to do a 3/40 and turn around and sign another 5/50 right behind that if he's still productive. This is smelling more and more like Furcal is just waiting for Atlanta to up the offer so he can stay with his boys. Chipper has already made salary space for Furcal and what is the current hold up? Dusty was just quoted that the Cubs would not have 2 rookies in the line up (even though Murton doesn't classify as a rookie). There is your answer as to who will play SS between Perez and Cedeno. Nomar's ship has sailed. I suppose he could consider coming back, but I sure wouldn't if I was him. And there most certainly won't be a discount or incentive laden deal. I'm not so sure they would even get a 1 year deal like they probably could have if they pretended like he was alive since the offseason began. If Furcal re-signs with the Braves, the Dodgers will look to Nomar along with umpteen other teams that are now starting to court Nomar. I'm not so sure Hendry would do anything at SS if he doesn't get Furcal. He'll say that Neifi was insurance in case he couldn't get Furcal and then focus on a lead off hitter from the CF position. I still have no idea what he's looking at for RF, other than the rumors of Mench and Preston Wilson. Ugh. Oh, and if Furcal stays with the Braves, you can also forget about Bradley. The Dodgers already commented that they would consider keeping Bradley after Giles resigned with SD. Once they lose out on Furcal also, I doubt they move him. I'm holding off judgment until it's all said and done. But, I'm not liking this one bit.

I wanted Beltran then and I'd take him now. The Mets would have to eat some salary of course.

You missed my point, Don. No one in our farm is Delmon Young, therefore they are all available in the right deal. The example that was made was Pie and Walker for Bradley. Would you do that trade? I sure wouldn't. Walker for Bradley I'd do. If Bradley was the difference between being a playoff caliber team or a .500 team, then I'd consider adding prospects to Walker to get Bradley, but it wouldn't be Pie. Pie or Hill would be saved for a premium bat, like Abreu or Dunn. The Yankees aren't coughing up Wang for just anybody. I want the Cubs to be good every year, therefore you don't make moves like Walker and Pie for a guy who "might" be such a problem that they have to dump him. Now Bradley is gone and you no longer have that blue chip prospect to use in a big trade. I want the Cubs to trade prospects. I think they blew the opportunity to rebuild the bullpen by trading prospects for bullpen arms that don't cost an arm and a leg like Eyre, Howry and Rusch. I realize you liked the Eyre and Howry deals, and those guys may end up having great back to back years, so I'll leave it at that. There are a ton of teams like Florida that need to stay below their cap. There were most certainly some role players and middle relievers that could have been had for a prospect or two to finish off the rest of the Cubs offseason. Mike McDougal comes to mind. He made league minimum last year.

Japan? :D I just don't see the benefit of chasing off 3/4 of the interested teams by throwing out a ridiculous number like 7/84m at the beginning of the negotiating process. If that's the number he really wants, after he was signed to a 3/21m contract, I'd make a uniform that had the number 7.84 with his name on the back. :D

Whatever it is Tampa would want, the Cubs don't have it. :D

Single A: 62 BB / 90 K in 548 AB Double A: 16 BB / 45 K in 211 AB Triple A: 48 BB / 93 K in 462 AB Total minors: 1221 AB, 126 BB / 228 K Nice work. Got any comparison stats. Lofton? Pierre? That's not too shabby. Minor league, Kenny Lofton: 159 BB / 266 K in 1423 AB, .300 AVG, .379 SLG Minor league, Juan Pierre: 90 BB / 74 K in 1305 AB, .330 AVG, .392 SLG Interesting. But, his walk rate would likely decrease if he played for the Cubs.

Throw a couple more arms at Tampa and get Lugo and Huff. Done. We land Lugo and Huff then Bradley and I will be one happy camper. Do you guys think Tampa will be more reasonable than during the season when they were supposedly asking for Z before talking about Huff? Refresh my memory.... Was that before or after Johnny Gomes introduced himself to MLB? With Baldelli due back, Crawford locked up and Gomes looking like a budding star, Delmon Young needs to be promoted SOON, and then toss in Gathright into the mix, they are nice and full in the outfield. Huff made 5m last year, which is just about out of Tampa's budget. Zambrano is not someone that Tampa would easily afford either, and they aren't getting him anyway. Tampa needs pitching and we have it. Tampa would probably want one of Scott Moore, or Dopirak in the deal along with arms, as 3b, 2nd and 1st is probably where they could use the most help outside of pitching. But, for Tampa, it should be all about pitching, pitching and more pitching. We have it. Jerome Williams, Roberto Novoa, Todd Wellemeyer, Mike Wuertz, Will Ohman, Ricky Nolasco, Rich Hill, Renyel Pinto, Bobbie Brownlie, Jae Kuk Ryu, David Aardsma, Sergio Mitre, Bobbie Brownlie, John Koronka, Luke Hagerty, Jon Connolly, Sean Marshall, Raul Valdez, Carlos Marmol, etc..... Who do they want? A nice fit for both teams. Let the Dodgers or Braves pay 12m a year to Furcal. Heck, Tampa can fit all 3 of our needs offensively. Gathright, Huff and Lugo. We could throw in one of Corey Patterson or Hairston Jr. and pay part of their contract if they didn't want pitching. If I'm Hendry, I'm heading straight for the Tampa GM on Monday.

I know exactly what you are saying. But, I was referring to the example of Pie and Walker for Bradley. A trade like this what the Yankees have been doing for the last 5 years. Now, they have hardly anything left in their farm system and they rely completely on one sided trades with plenty of cash to add to the deal and free agency. Interestingly enough, they started their run in the 90's by developing talent from the farm system. Ever since they steered away from that philosophy and leaned towards "buying" a World Series, they don't win anymore. And I love it.

Single A: 62 BB / 90 K in 548 AB Double A: 16 BB / 45 K in 211 AB Triple A: 48 BB / 93 K in 462 AB Total minors: 1221 AB, 126 BB / 228 K Nice work. Got any comparison stats. Lofton? Pierre? That's not too shabby.

Throw a couple more arms at Tampa and get Lugo and Huff. Done.

Unfortunately, there is no mention of his patience at the plate. His major league stats are a pretty small sample size, and his walk rate is not good. That's too be expected. Anybody know what his walk rate was during his minor league career? Gathright reminds me a bit of Lofton. If he can take a pitch, he'll be a good major league lead off hitter for many years to come.

No, I wouldn't want him to mortgage what could be several trips to the pennant for one World Series. The best team does not always win the World Series. What if he mortgaged the future, and they fell short of winning the World Series that year? The Cubs, as of 2004, were in a position to be good for a long time. I didn't include 2003, since they did play better than anyone would have imagined. We are still waiting for them to be good.

Amusingly enough, Derrek Lee was originally traded in a salary dump move by the Marlins. San Diego sent Lee and two minor leaguers for Kevin Brown. Choi and a minor leaguer to Florida for Lee. Salary dump.

I'll believe Patterson for Bradley when I see it. Okay, we got a great return on Choi. But, Florida was trying to dump Lee for 2 years with no takers. We lucked out on that deal.

Then stick Walker in front of Bradley and call it good.

And that pitching staff was entirely his staff. Like I said before, there are different ways to build a winner. Jim and Andy decided long ago this team's success would rely heavily on the arms of the pitching staff. When you make that decision, and forego many possible offensive upgrades along the way, you take certain risks, among them, that injuries are more prevelent among pitchers. And you also are at the mercy of your manager's ability to run that staff, without running it into the ground. Jim chose the strategy, Jim chose the people to carry out the strategy. When those people fail, he is held accountable. That is what management is all about. Perhaps if he chose to build a better all-around team, one that wasn't consistently average or below average in the runs scoring stat, and did away with the "it's all on the pitchers" theory, then he wouldn't have to endure the slings and arrows of those people who think it's absurd to accept a mediocre offense when your payroll affords you the ability to be great at both scoring runs and preventing runs. I don't disagree that it's his staff but he had no control over their injuries. He was caught off guard in 2004 with Wood's injury and Prior's freak injury. In 2005 it looked like a repeat performance and I do fault him for assuming pitchers (Wood in particular) would be healthy but there were other problems. The team went into 2005 without a legit RF'er (there's no excuse for that), the Bullpen was completely useless ( who would know that they would all be injured or just plain bad?), Nomar had a catastrophic injury, Corey completely failed, Walker got hurt, then much later Aramis was injured. I'm not saying he isn't to blame for some of that but much of the problems with last year's team had to do with failed pitching and using bench players because the intended starters were injured or ineffective. RF-- Legit gripe anytime Holly/Dubois were out there CF-- Patterson bombed and Hairston/Macias started 2B-- Walker was injured and Neifi started SS-- Nomar was injured and Neifi started Bullpen-- Borowski broke his hand in ST, LaTroy Choked, Remlinger fell off the map, and Chad Fox's arm fell off before they brought in/up Wuertz, Novoa, Ohman etc Starters-- Same deal with Wood and Prior caught a liner. Koronka, Mitre, Williams, Rusch--a hodgepodge Let me put it this way, the Sox would have been no where without their pitching last year. They stayed healthy and were lucky to boot. However, the Sox did not have a well rounded offense. If a team is pitching dependent (like the Cubs) problems will be exposed when they don't pitch well and don't execute (good pitching can sometimes overcome stupid mistakes). At the same time, many of the batters Hendry was relying on either didn't produce or got injured for stretches of the season. Like I said earlier, if Hendry goes into 2006 without addressing those problems he should be crticized. right now I expect him to do all the things he said he would this offseason Attempting to mirror the 2005 White Sox is not the best of plans. Every team has a different make up. Each team has its strengths and weaknesses. Utilizing the strengths while hiding the weaknesses is exactly what the White Sox did last year. They didn't bat guys with .330+ OBP's at the bottom of the order, they hit them at the top. The Cubs, day in and day out put garbage OBP guys at the top of the order. They didn't utilize a strength, they utilized a weakness. A week goes by, two weeks go by, and Patterson isn't getting any better. Walker has been a respectable lead off hitter everywhere he's been. He didn't bat lead off on the 2005 Cubs. Why? Later in the season, Matt Murton was blazing the ball and his OBP was practically twice as good as Neifi or Macias, yet Macias and Neifi got the top of the order at bats. Why? The White Sox put decent OBP guys in front of the meat of their order and they maximized their limited offensive potential. The Cubs did not. In the end, the White Sox pitching stayed healthy and the team won a lot of close games to win their division. Same thing that the Cubs did in '03. Since '03, the Cubs have added more than 20m to the payroll and they have regressed. The pitching has regressed because of injury. I won't complain about that. The offense has regressed because they fail to put a team on the field that has the capability of scoring a lot of runs. The Cubs seem to have this appeal for driving a guys value into the ground, and THEN trading him or letting them go for little to no return. Farnsworth, Sosa, Patterson, Dubois, Juan Cruz, Choi, Hawkins, Nomar, Hairston if he is sent packing, etc....... They need to change this line of thinking. It isn't working.

Goony and Brinoch have made very good arguments here. I've really enjoyed reading this thread. Of course, I'd rather read that the Cubs have signed players that will help this team more, but I suppose that will have to be another day. I said at the beginning that I would hold off final judgment on Hendry until this offseason was over. However, that does not necessarily mean that I will hold off judgment on each individual move made or NOT made. Castillo would have been nice, but he wasn't necessarily on my radar. I'm fine with Walker. I'd also be fine with Cedeno if we got that good power bat in RF, a good CF and a good SS, one of which is an exceptional lead off hitter. Signing Rusch was probably an insurance move. Insurance in case Williams was to be used in a trade, and insurance in case Wood is not ready to go in April. That move was probably the move that bothered me the least. The continued rostering of Jose Macias baffles me beyond belief. The Scott Eyre signing was bad. No doubt, we needed relievers. Better ones than we had last year. But, we had a plethora of young and cheap relievers, along with prospects and major league trade commodity to upgrade the pen, like Patterson, Hairston and Walker if he is truly on the market. Rather than blow up the budget on an overpriced market, why not offer trades to small market teams worried about losing their arby eligible bullpen arms? Would Florida have turned down Novoa and Wuertz for Mota? Or Novoa and Wellemeyer? Pick and choose an arm or two to throw at another team for another guy like Mota. Why not consider taking a look at Ramiro Mendoza? Fact is, between Rusch, Eyre and Howry, they spent 10m on the bullpen when they might have gotten away with only spending 2-3m by trading surplus. I'm not the slightest bit convinced that Scott Eyre will be a better reliever next year than Will Ohman. The Bob Howry signing is okay, but the money is once again horrible. The Neifi signing made little to no sense. D'Angelo Jimenez will make 3x less than Neifi and can play all the positions Neifi can, and he hits better. Why panic and re-sign Neifi so quickly. Heck, let someone else panic and take him. He might have been worth a supplemental pick if someone wanted him bad enough. Giles ignored. It could go either way. It could be that Brian Giles called Jim Hendry on the day he filed free agency and told Jim "don't bother knockin'." Why Giles would do that would be beyond me. Why Jim Hendry wouldn't at one point say that they were very interested, but Giles didn't want to come here is beyond me as well. It would certainly take the public pressure off him. Bringing back Neifi, letting people know he's interested in guys like Soriano, Jacque Jones, Preston Wilson and the like only further proves that they value tools over anything else. "Catch the ball" tells me that they believe defense will win them more games than a good offense. It's not too late to salvage this offseason. Scrap the tools ideas like Soriano, and stick with Walker and go get Bradley. Since they are committed to Furcal, might as well go the distance. The mere thought of Neifi Perez playing SS and hitting at the top of the order again next year makes the hair on my skin stand straight up. No one has to agree with my opinions or judgments on the deals that have been made so far. That's why we have this message board in the first place. To discuss stuff like that. I don't understand in the slightest why anyone would expect us all to wait until the end of the 2006 season before we make any wisecracks about the assembly of the 2006 team.

Now that I think more deeply into this, I wonder how determined Green Bay will really be to win this game. With one of the worst records in football, holding out for the #1 pick (Reggie Bush?) wouldn't be the worst thing they did. Just make it look good and keep it close? Or is the rivalry too important for Green Bay to just let the Bears go off and win the division? That much more important than the #1 pick? Tillman does get burned on occasion. As mentioned previously, every corner gets burned at one point or another. Reading the minds of quarterbacks and receivers and their routes is tough business. My take on Tillman is the Tampa game was the first game where he got burned on a play, but didn't have that "big" play to balance the scales. In the previous games, I felt he did something big after a gaff. But, that's just me.

I actually feel less comfortable about this game than I did for the Carolina and Tampa Bay games (Carolina losing won me an authentic Bears jersey and Tampa Bay losing won me "Rockzilla" at Red Lobster). If Orton doesn't find some receivers downfield, I really worry about this game. A one dimensional offensive attack is too predictable. If Orton is ineffective in the first half, I hope Lovie will consider making a change. I'd like to see Orton succeed, but I worry his ineffectiveness last week will have a negative effect on him each time he drops back to pass. All those sideline dumps to Justin Gage worry me as well, since those are the easiest to pick off and return for touchdowns. Green Bay is 2-9, but they might be the best 2-9 team in the history of the NFL.