BigbadB

Which would also mean that the Cubs would have to be leaning towards giving in to Furcal's recent demands of a 50m contract. This won't be done anytime soon, unless the Cubs REALLY overpay.

The problem is that many of these guys don't have a .900 OPS when then face RHP's. It's only when they face a left handed pitcher. I understand what you are saying, and I can agree with it if all the guys you are signing hit just as well against right handers as they do lefties. What I want is better production against right handed pitchers. The Cubs as a team last year had 1 player with an OPS above .900 against right handed pitching (Lee). After that, here are the guys who hit well against right handed pitchers: Ramirez (859), Zambrano (845 :shock: ), Cedeno (840), Garciaparra (820), Murton (807) After Lee and Ramirez, you have a pitcher, a small sample size, a guy who was hurt most of the year and a small sample size. Against lefties, the Cubs have Lee, Ramirez, Barrett and Murton all above 1.000 OPS and Walker is almost there at .980. If you had that kind of production against right handed pitching, you'd win a lot more games. Since there are 3 right handers to every lefty, it's probably a good idea to focus on the guys who hit right handers better, since that's mostly what you'll face. Bullpens probably feature closer to 4 out of every 5 as righties.

For a number of reasons. Lefties tend to hit righties better than right handers. The league is dominated by right handed pitching. Aramis Ramirez vs. LHP 1.112 OPS Aramis Ramirez vs. RHP .859 OPS Barrett vs. LHP 1.039 OPS Barrett vs. RHP .732 OPS Murton vs. LHP 1.006 OPS Murton vs. RHP .807 OPS Lee vs. LHP 1.112 OPS Lee vs. RHP 1.069 OPS Kevin Mench vs LHP .980 OPS Kevin Mench vs RHP .743 OPS With Mench, it's more of the same against right handed pitching. Wouldn't it be better to have say: Cliff Floyd vs. LHP .710 OPS Cliff Floyd vs. RHP .915 OPS Brian Giles vs. LHP .843 OPS Brian Giles vs. RHP .933 OPS Luis Gonzalez vs. LHP .749 OPS Luis Gonzalez vs. RHP .857 OPS Shawn Green vs. LHP .669 OPS Shawn Green vs. RHP .887 OPS Considering how many more right handed pitcher there are in the league, you need a couple of decent lefty bats to counteract the offensive decrease you seen when your right handers face them. Not to mention the fact that a better balance doesn't make it nearly as easy on the opponents bullpen. I only threw Gonzalez and Green in there just to add a couple more lefties to the mix. I am in no way advocating any kind of arrangement to make them Cubs. If you pack your line up with right handers, the team will not score as well against right handed pitchers. If there are 3 right handers to every lefty, wouldn't the better idea be to have some lefty bats in the line up? Maybe you still don't agree. But, I'll take a nice balance of lefties, righties and/or switch hitters everyday. Note that everyone of those lefty hitters hits better than Aramis against right handed pitching. Guys you would never consider trading Aramis for hit right handers better than he does. Maybe that puts into perspective the importance of a couple of decent lefty bats in the line up.

Wal-Mart loss is Burger King's gain. speaking from experience? go blow yourself it's better use of your mouth. I believe the entire board can do without this kind of commentary. Don't ya think?

Poor bullpens is a better excuse than expecting Kerry Wood to go the distance in every game he pitches. There hasn't been a starter in either league go more than 9 complete games this century. With 33-35 starts the average, that's not a very high percentage for the HIGHEST complete gamers. Basically, they all turn it over to the bullpen. Wood should have won 20 in 2003, just like Roger Clemens should have won 20 this past year. The reason you can't compare Wood to Clemens or Ryan, is because Wood hasn't stayed healthy long enough to be able to compare them.

The Cubs already have Lee, Ramirez, Murton and Barrett hitting from the right side. Why is Mench a better fit than say, a lefty power bat?

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't Steve Phillips the Cubs GM now?? Yes..... In fantasy world.

I'm not so certain that Hill, Pie or Murton would have to be included in a trade to get some of the guys they are shopping for. If Mench costed anymore than Sergio Mitre, I wouldn't do it. I probably wouldn't do it anyway, since he doesn't really fit what we need. A lefty power bat to tuck in between Lee and Ramirez. I haven't a clue what Florida wants for Pierre, but if Patterson and Novoa gets it done, I'd be fine with it. It sounds as if we could get Bradley for Cliff Bartosh, or a bag of balls if they prefer. Dunn or Abreu would take something special. Signing Giles would not.

http://www.ajc.com/braves/content/sports/braves/1105/12furcal.html So the Yankees probably don't have any interest. The Mets only have interest if he's willing to move to 2b. The Braves are starting to focus their interest elsewhere? What other teams would be interested? Me thinks this is why the agent came out and said Furcal was worth 5/50 and that there were at least 5 teams willing to pay that much. He also said there were 5 teams willing to pay that much? :shock: Is 5 really a dramatic overexaggeration of zero?

I wanted him gone as much as the next guy. He's made some poor decisions over the years, but he will always be remembered as one of the greatest Cubs ever. I hope he finds a team that will give him a shot a 600 HR's, and in turn he can help that team be competitive. So, no, I don't find it funny.

Let's compare the Reds and Cubs teams of 2005. We know the Reds pitching was HORRIBLE. And that horrible pitching is what made them a less than mediocre team. What the Reds quietly did last year offensively was a thing of beauty. If the Reds could figure out how to combine decent pitching with their philosophy on hitting, they would be a scary team to compete against. The Cubs batted .270 AVG as a team last year (2nd in NL) The Reds batted .261 AVG as a team last year (7th in NL) The Cubs SLG was .440 (2nd) The Reds SLG was .446 (1st) The Cubs scored 703 runs (9th) The Reds scored 820 runs (1st) That's nearly 1 run per game more than the Cubs. The Cubs had 1506 hits (1st :shock: ) The Reds had 1453 hits (6th) The Cubs had 540 XBH's The Reds had 572 XBH's The Cubs stole 65 bases The Reds stole 72 bases The Cubs walked 419 times. (dead last in NL) The Reds walked 611 times. (2nd) Ignoring all the injuries last year, the Cubs were one of the better teams offensively in the NL if you don't look at walks and runs scored. If Nomar, Ramirez and Walker were healthy all year and if Baker just stuck Murton out there and let him play everyday, it's quite possible the Cubs would have been #1 offensively in many of the offensive categories. However, if you look closely at their poor walk rate, it most resembles their poor run production. Let's look a little closer at the OBP's of the players on each team for all players with at least 100 at bats: Reds: .387/.371/.371/.369/.362/.356/.355/.352/.338/.333/.324/.319/.308/.304 Cubs: .418/.386/.358/.355/.345/.336/.322/.320/.301/.298/.289/.287/.274/.254 The .386 is Murton (140 AB's). The .358 was Ramirez (injured). The .355 is Walker (injured). The .345 was Barrett (part timer). The Reds had NO players with a less than .300 OBP. Of the Reds players that had more than 200 AB's, only two players had an OBP lower than .324. The Cubs had 5 players with a less than .300 OBP. Of the Cubs players that had more than 200 AB's, 5 had an OBP lower than .324. The Reds are a small market club, unable to afford to go out and land premium players at each position. The Cubs are a big market club that has all the resources they need. There is absolutely no excuse to trade for, sign or promote any player that cannot provide an OBP of at least .320 (except maybe back up catcher). The starting line up should feature players with a minimum OBP of .340. The starting line up should fall somewhere between .340 and .360 with the Cubs resources. It is my belief that if the Cubs put 8 players on the field with a .350+ OBP day in and day out, they would be right at the top in runs scored, which far and away is the most important stat for an offense. If the aggresive plate approach hasn't been proved fruitless over these past 3 seasons under Dusty, I really don't know what to think. We had 50 more hits than Cincinnati, yet they outscored the Cubs by more than 100 runs. The nearly 200 more walks Cincinnati had "might" have a little something to do with that. Ya think? That's why I'm all about OBP! In case you were wondering. :D

I like everything EXCEPT giving up Pie. You're going to go for the short term with Lofton, and not find a way to hold onto a guy who just might be a future All Star? We know that the Phillies are eager to move him, don't give them your best prospect. Try to wow them with a substitute of good prospects we might lose through Rule 5 anyway... I HATE giving up Murton, because it's classic Cubs to give up a guy with his potential, but if it gets Dunn, I can't complain. I'd try to swap someone for him though in that deal, if possible. Cincy doesn't really need outfielders. Any chance of Cincy taking Walker instead? He's cheap, cheap I say... Freel and Lopez are cheaper. :wink:

How does Dunn only make 5m in 2006? That's what he made last year.

I would imagine that Hendry sees Lugo as a #2 hitter, and his want and most significant need is a lead off hitter. But, if he covets Pierre, where would Furcal hit? Wouldn't that be the same spot as Lugo? Personally, if I'm Hendry and I see 5/50 being floated across my desk, I tell Furcal's agent that my SS prospect hit .374 in AAA last year and .300 in the bigs and he can keep his client. We'll focus our energy on Giles. It wouldn't have to be a bluff either. You have Walker to play 2nd, Cedeno to play SS, and Neifi to back them up. Trade for Pierre, sign Giles and voila, Furcal can resign with Atlanta for dirt cheap. Attempt to get Lugo from Tampa or something comparable elsewhere, and spend other energy on pitching. Just because it's slim pickings this offseason doesn't mean you given in to ridiculous demands. By keeping SS open, maybe a historic deal that involves A-Rod is still possible.

And I think I can deal with 4/32. However, this past year was his contract year and he performed much better than previous years. That red flag alone should knock his price tag down about 18m. When you reward a guy a 50m contract for what they did for 1 season, you are asking for a ton of trouble. I'd rather overpay Tampa in prospects for Lugo than overpay in years and cash for Furcal. They are practically the same player.

I thought I heard that they either traded for or are contemplating bringing back their old 3b from Toronto. Koskie

Did Furcal's agent just ruin Furcal's offseason? Assuming the Yankees are only "playing the game" to drive up the price on Furcal (I'm assuming this is the only reason since there will be all kinds of CF's on the market this offseason).... And Atlanta can't afford anything more than about 6m a year.... And the Mets go a different route.... And the Cubs trade for Lugo..... Would the 5/50 demands scare off other teams from any interest whatsoever? Is this really a good negotiating ploy? Is this the way it's going to be from now on? I know it's probably a lot more work for an agent to work 2-5 teams to drive the price up, but doesn't this negotiating ploy seem like a more logical approach? It saves the player the embarrassment of missing his 50m mark by A LOT. It keeps teams that "think" they have a shot at him interested. It doesn't give every team in baseball the appearance that Furcal is all about himself instead of being a team player. Will this negotiating ploy turn people on or off? Is it just an agent being about as lazy as possible to earn his client top dollar? If Furcal gets anything close to what Aramis gets, I won't be too pleased.

he can't play defense or steal bases. :roll: What's with the eyeroll? You're going to sit there and tell me that Furcal is worth 4x what Walker makes? Not twice the player or 3 times the player, but 4x the player. Furcal had 27 errors in 2002, 31 in 2003 and 24 in 2004. One season at 15 (ahem, contract season), and all of a sudden he's a defensive wiz. I love it. Furcal averaged 20 something steals until 2004 (his contract year). Then he magically steals nearly twice as many. You know for a fact he won't go right back to his lazy 20 something steals and 20 something errors once he signs his name on that big fat contract? Edgar Renteria and Orlando Cabrera sure are earning their money these days, aren't they? My apologies if I misunderstood your eyeroll post.

I said from day 1 that it would be easier to bring back the guy who is already on your roster. Nomar's ship has already sailed. The day they shooshed Nomar aside to begin courting Furcal was the day they lost Nomar and any kind of incentive laced, low base contract. Kind of makes you respect Todd Walker's 2.5m "I'll sit on the bench, I just want to be on the Cubs and help in anyway I can" attitude, eh? Amazing that Furcal is worth 4x what Walker makes, especially when you just break down the production.

This might be a good place to let people know that Andy Pratt is on the market. You'll have to wow me. I won't just give him away. Hermida, Kendrick, Cain and Wood are enticing, but I have ANDY PRATT! Line forms at the rear! :D

Speed guy? Here's a list of major leaguers who had a lower SLG than Pie had last year: Chad Tracy Richie Sexson Adam Dunn Chase Utley Jason Giambi Todd Helton Paul Konerko Jim Edmonds Lance Berkman David Wright Troy Glaus Miguel Tejada Who was the AL rookie of the year? Robinson Cano? Pie's SLG was 100 points better. Pie is a speed guy, but he's developing power to go with it. Maybe that power doesn't look all that impressive to you, but note that he had a total of 240 at bats last year. That's approximately 1/3 of a season. Break it down for a whole year and you have over 50 doubles, 15 triples and over 30 HR's. He probably would not have kept up that pace over a full season, but who wouldn't want a speed guy with 40 doubles, 12 triples and 20 HR's? But, he's only 20 and he was only in AA. As he continues filling out, what might he become? How does his SLG compare with other AA players in the Southern League? Pie didn't qualify with 240 at bats, but Chris Young ended up being the best in the division in SLG with a .545. He had 26 HR's, 3 Triples and 41 doubles. Chris Young is 22. Pie still has some work to do, but he is definitely a top prospect.

It's not a fair question. You're listing a 2nd option at SS with a 1st option in RF, then a 1st option at SS with a 10th option in RF. To make it an even statement, I go with Furcal and Floyd. [edit - smelling pistakes] No, it is a fair question. Lugo/Giles will probably cost about the same amount as Furcal/Encarnacion. Furcal/Floyd would cost more.

Where's Vlady?

No Bonds, huh?

But he's not a finished product!!!!!!!!! I don't understand your comment. The original poster asked how good he is. I gave him that information. I know he's not a finished product as I previously stated. However, to trade him with what he has done so far, it would take something special. Why? Because of what he has accomplished at the ripe young age of 20.