BigbadB

I'm sure Atlanta is just trying to drive up his price. But, if we end up with neither Nomar or Furcal, I am not going to be very happy with Cubs management. And I'll be even angrier that Neifi Perez is on the team.

I'll take a wild guess that the labels idiot, stupid and moron have been used over 100 times in the this thread. There's no decorum today. Hmmmm guess it's just your typical Neifi/Dusty thread. ;) Since Neifi being signed was announced, Hendry was called an idiot, stupid, or a moron 5 times total, by a total of 4 posters. Maybe even 4 and 3 if you don't consider this: "If Neifi Perez is our starting shortstop or second basemen next year, I might just have to take a season off of watching baseball. Just, jesus, how can you be so stupid? " to be calling him stupid. Without looking it up, I would wager that there are more people are calling the signing stupid then there are calling Hendry stupid. Calling a decision stupid and calling the person that made that decision stupid are two completely different things. Nicely put, Grass! =D>

I would rate Furcal the 2nd best option Hendry has this offseason. As far as production, Furcal could end up being much better over the life of his contract than Giles, but I'm in the Giles camp. If there is one thing that this team could use, it's a spike in OBP. Giles has the best OBP on the market, but he brings a lefty bat and power AND fills a huge hole in RF, where we have NO ONE! Furcal is a lead off hitter. He's not the best lead off hitter, but he is one and we know Dusty will use him there. That is probably the 2nd most important need for this team. I can't see anyone getting down on Furcal unless Furcal joins the rest of the team in "enjoying hitting" much more than watching pitches. In other words, if Furcal's OBP falls below .340, World War III will be within arms reach.

Why should Nomar consider staying now? The Cubs have been courting Furcal since the season ended. The home discount is gone, folks.

It sure appeared as though Baker loved his lead off men last year, since they batted there day in and day out. Why didn't Murton bat lead off? Why didn't Walker bat lead off? Either and BOTH would have been better options than everyone except Hairston. The good news is that I can't see how Dusty could possibly mess it up if he has Furcal on the roster. But, am I convinced Baker still hasn't learned his lesson with Perez batting 2nd? Heck no.

I'd love to see what Neifi's incentives were for last year. I'm not going to say he didn't deserve them last year, because he really did. It was Baker's fault he batted at the top of the order. But, if Cedeno did more sitting toward the end of the season because Baker was helping Neifi get incentives added on to his contract, I won't be happy. I assumed it was because Baker was trying to help his own cause (reach .500) and he just couldn't trust a rookie to help him.

I believe I'm legal now.

A masochist couldn't have it any better if they were a Cub fan.

Nationals signing Carl Everett, Juan Encarnacion, Scott Elarton and Esteban Loiza? I doubt it.

Trolling? Please stop!

Hey, I'm not real pleased with the mess this former owner left me. And, I still need to understand all the rules. Why is Andy Pratt on my roster? Basically, I need to get my major league roster down to 2300? My active roster? My entire roster? Can I pick anyone up to be a keeper?

Actually, "player relations" are one of the few explanations that can be given for re-signing Neifi, unless Hendry really is a 100% complete moron. By all accounts, Aramis Ramirez is an emotionally fragile guy, he was hurt by the departure of Sammy and particularly, Moises Alou. Now he has a countryman on the team in Neifi, and Furcal would complete the Dominican version of the Cub Musketeers. Some of these Caribbean players in the big leagues really struggle with life in The Show, and if it takes a couple compatriots to bring out the best in Aramis, then maybe that's why Hendry brought back Perez. That, and it might help bring in Furcal rather than see him go to the Mets. Makes sense actually--we all know from direct observation that Neifi seems to be everyone's "buddy" on the team, I guess Hendry didn't want to lose that. Crappy justification for the kind of money he paid him, but then, Hendry never has been smart with the wallet. I responded once that you post was well put. But, as I sit here and think about a player who took less money to come to Chicago for a potential bench role (Walker) get treated with disrespect... and as I sit here and think about how Nomar seemed to want to stay in Chicago (quite possibly for non personal reasons, like playing a full year healthy for the wonderful fans of Chicago and attempting to prove he can still be the great player he was) and no one showing any interest whatsoever.... and how the whole Sosa thing went down..... and the unprofessional comments like "I like guys who can catch the ball".... I wonder what some of the other guys on the team think about all of this stuff going on. Walker had to have some friends in that locker room.

Preach it, Bob's Keeper!

Actually, "player relations" are one of the few explanations that can be given for re-signing Neifi, unless Hendry really is a 100% complete moron. By all accounts, Aramis Ramirez is an emotionally fragile guy, he was hurt by the departure of Sammy and particularly, Moises Alou. Now he has a countryman on the team in Neifi, and Furcal would complete the Dominican version of the Cub Musketeers. Some of these Caribbean players in the big leagues really struggle with life in The Show, and if it takes a couple compatriots to bring out the best in Aramis, then maybe that's why Hendry brought back Perez. That, and it might help bring in Furcal rather than see him go to the Mets. Makes sense actually--we all know from direct observation that Neifi seems to be everyone's "buddy" on the team, I guess Hendry didn't want to lose that. Crappy justification for the kind of money he paid him, but then, Hendry never has been smart with the wallet. Well put. There's probably a lot of truth to that. But couldn't we have asked about Miguel Tejada's availability before giving Neifi the big money? :D

Who cares. He should have thought about this a year ago. Walker's not the sharpest knife. Hendry knew about Walker's defense when he signed him. It's Hendry who isn't the "sharpest knife." What a moran! As a side note, how did the Cubs come by Walker in the first place from the Red Sox? At the time the Cubs had Grudzielanek at 2nd base. Was he brought in as a utility man and was it a trade or FA signing? He was brought in, according to Hendry, to back up 2B, be a left handed complement to Grudz off the bench, and even couple "play a little LF and 1B". That's exactly right. He came to Chicago knowing his job wasn't guaranteed. He gave up the chance to have a guaranteed job elsewhere. And he took less money to do so.

Who cares. He should have thought about this a year ago. Walker's not the sharpest knife. #1. You didn't answer my question. #2. If you don't know the answer, why are you responding? #3. I care. If you don't like it, don't respond. I'll answer: Yes, I believe Walker did request that. However, I think Hendry's doing the proper business thing by picking up his option, and then exploring all options. I don't disagree with that. Even if the best option was to extend him and trade him. But, resigning Neifi at the same time you have basically extended him just blatantly disrespects Walker in every possible way. He took less money to come here, and he took less money to stay here. He's been nothing but loyal to the organization and he's been everything expected of him. By signing Neifi, they've just kicked Walker where it hurts. Now, if they kept Walker and signed Furcal, and Neifi was just Walker's back up, that might be something entirely different. But, all indications are that Walker's days are numbered. Something tells me that player relations on this team are traveling further south than they already have been.

All you managed to do with this post is prove that Neifi was overpaid last year as well. I want nothing to do with Orlando Cabrera, either.

Who cares. He should have thought about this a year ago. Walker's not the sharpest knife. #1. You didn't answer my question. #2. If you don't know the answer, why are you responding? #3. I care. If you don't like it, don't respond.

I used my decoder ring to translate your message. Please watch the language, but I agree with 100% of it. :D

Soriano doesn't "catch the ball" any better than Walker. :wink:

Take out Heilman, no big deal. Boston still makes out like a bandit.

Didn't Walker request that if the Cubs had plans on trading him, that they not pick up his option?

Wow, Boston makes out like a bandit in that deal.

Looking @ it from an optimistic perspective, it gives the Cubs the ability to use Jerome Williams, Rich Hill & Cedeno in a trade or trades, which can net a starting pitcher or OF. We also could have kept Williams and Cedeno and used that money on free agents that could actually help this team. If you feel Cedeno should be the starter, then go out and pick up D'Angelo Jimenez for 750K and call it a day. It is absolutely pointless as UK stated, to spend a ridiculous amount of money on crap players. No matter how this ends up spinning out, at the end of this offseason, we will still be paying Neifi 2.5m for the next two years. Nothing that happens from this point forward will turn this into a "good" deal. Maybe this will become possible if the Trib sells the team. It appears they won't take chances on giving 35 year olds 3-4 year contracts for $10 mil per. *shrug* I don't think it has anything to do with the Trib. Why would the Trib care whether Hendry spent 100m on 40 Neifi Perez's or 10 Brian Giles? The fact they increased the budget to 100m tells me they want to win a World Series. The fact they are trusting someone who doesn't appear to have the intelligence to make it happen (Hendry) is their weakness. A weakness they probably won't realize until it is too late.

How is that line up worse than some of the line ups Baker threw out there last year? Macias and Perez were hitting 1/2 for several days in August and September.