BigbadB

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.

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.

With Giles STILL on the market, is it a good idea to spend money like it's going out of style (overpaying for bench players Rusch and Neifi), then realize later you HAD the money to sign him, but you don't anymore?

If it cost the same money to have: Giles Bradley Furcal Fontenot Cedeno Williams spot/long relief Burnett than it would Jacque Jones/Juan Encarnacion Juan Pierre Furcal Perez Cedeno Rusch Burnett Assuming that 5m would be the difference between Giles and Jones or Encarnacion, which team would you rather have? If with 11m you could have had Brian Giles or Juan Encarnacion, Glendon Rusch and Neifi Perez, I'll take the Giles deal 100 times out of 100. It's a no brainer.

I personally cannot deal with having Neifi as the starter. I dont care who we sign or trade for having Perez here and starting when last year we had options like Nomar, Walker, and Cedeno is a bad idea. When did Neifi ever start over Nomar and Walker? (Besides when they were injured) Did you answer my previous question regarding Murton batting 2nd? Macias had more at bats in the top two spots in the order last year than Murton and Cedeno combined. To answer your new question, it doesn't appear as though Nomar or Walker will be here next year. What we do know is that Hendry and/or Baker thought Enrique Wilson was a better choice over Cedeno last year. How many more at bats has Cedeno gotten since that time to prove he can be better than Enrique Wilson, let alone Neifi Perez?

I don't see it that way, Don. The Trib has opened the coffers over the last 5 years. They've gone from a 65m a year team to a 100m a year team. They have loosened the purse strings and allowed the President, GM and manager have the cash to spend to put a winner on the field. Unfortunately, the Tribune Co. does not know how a successful baseball team is put together. They are trusting that the management they put in place knows what they are doing. It's easy for Hendry and MacPhail to report to the Tribune Co. that injuries and poor defense were the main culprits of their lost season last year. They can point to a playoff appearance in 2003 and a winning season in 2004 to prove that injuries played the biggest part in their losing. Why wouldn't the Tribune Co. buy into it. It's true, injuries did play a big part in their downfall. The Tribune Co. won't see a need to replace Hendry or MacPhail until the team completely bombs and/or attendance figures start dropping. Unfortunately, neither of these will likely happen, since Hendry does have such a big budget to work with. We all know that Neifi doesn't belong on this team. We all know he is being overpaid to be on this team. Why Hendry doesn't see that is beyond my scope of imagination. Only Hendry could put together a subpar team for 100m in back to back years. Oops. I said I would reserve judgment, and I'll keep that promise. In the end, it will not have been the Tribune's fault if this team fails. It will be the baseball people they put in place to put together a winning team. Unfortunately, it will likely take several years for a more competent GM to fix the damage that is getting done here.

I said I would hold out until this offseason was over before I made my final judgment on Hendry, but he's making this very difficult for me. Technically, Hendry could still put a formidable line up out there even with these signings. I could deal with Neifi if I knew he was just a back up. I could probably even deal with him as the everyday starter if we had Giles in RF, Bradley in CF, Murton in LF and Furcal at SS. But, Neifi would have to hit 8th and Cedeno would have to prove 100% that he couldn't play better than Neifi. What's the likelihood that the Cubs sign Furcal, Giles and trade for someone like Bradley? I would venture to guess no chance. There is absolutely zero reason Neifi should have been resigned. There is absolutely zero reason he should have been resigned for such ridiculous money. One more roster spot wasted. One more guy who will be exposed to the Rule 5 draft. One more guy that Dusty will prefer over a rookie. I'm biting my lip.

Murton whom JH did trade for. Oh never mind! Sorry, boys! I didn't mean to ruin the pessimist party. I have some homework for you. How many times did Murton bat second last year? How many times was Macias AND Perez chosen to hit at the top of the order over Murton? Maybe you shouldn't mock people's anger unless you have evidence to support your theory. Murton had 10 lead off at bats, and 1 at bat in the 2 hole. He had more at bats in each of the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th spots in the order than 1st or 2nd combined. Cedeno had 24 at bats in the 2 hole. That's 2 more than Enrique Wilson got. Remember Enrique Wilson? Cedeno got sent down when the Cubs picked up Wilson. Macias hit in the 1/2 spot 48 times. That's more than Cedeno and Murton combined. That's NOT Neifi Perez. That's MACIAS. I'm not even going to bother with Perez, because he hit at the top of the order a ridiculous amount of times. What about history tells you Murton will bat 2nd for the 2006 Cubs? I'm dying to know.