BigbadB

I'm assuming that's part of the reason why you have a pitching coach. Someone can chart his pitches and see if he's major league caliber. The pitching coach can evaluate, instruct and educate to identify whether there would be a need to bring Rusch back as insurance. This mess is of their own making.

I have never said I'm down with Furcal. Not once. I think he's a very solid SS. However, he is not currently in the Cubs stable and there is no guarantee he will be. The Cubs seemed pretty intent on getting Beltran last year and everyone here was loving the idea of it. But, when Beltran's price soar as high as it did, was everyone still under the impression that they should outbid the ridiculous bids that were being made? No. That very well could happen with Furcal. He is not only a good lead off hitter, but he's also playing a position that is difficult, and there is little else on the market that compares. As far as leading off, I really don't care that much about speed. Walker is a nice lead off option. His OBP is better than Furcal's and Walker won't get caught stealing as often as Furcal will, which is another boost to Walker's OBP in comparison to Furcal's. Derek Jeter led off for the Yankees this year and his OBP was .391. He scored 119 runs. He had 712 plate appearances as a lead off hitter. As a team, the Yankees had 767 plate appearances. The better OBP a team has, the more opportunities the rest of the team has to make something good happen with someone on base. That's why.... The Cubs need to improve OBP throughout the line up, not just lead off. A team with a 100m payroll has no excuse for putting sub .300 OBP's anywhere in the line up. NO EXCUSE! The Yankees pitching staff was not good this year. Their offense carried them. Their .350+ OBP got them where they were this year. Obviously, a combination of good offense and good pitching is where you want to be. I'd like to see the pitching improve, and it probably will with the guys they currently have. But, there are glaring holes on the offense. I certainly do not want to see them sacrifice offense for defense. Poor defense will cost you a game here and there, but bad offense can cost you games all year.

We? Okay, I'll help if that's what it takes. I'll give every cent in my pocket right now... Do you guys think $0.25 will do the job? I'll run down the street and ask him....

I believe dealing with Cincinnatti for Griffey is a possibility, but I don't see why they would want Corey Patterson. They already have a logjam in the outfield, and chances are they don't wouldn't want to replace a productive outfielder with one whose OBP didn't even crack deuce and a half (or .250) last season. The more young, talented pitching we offer, the more likely a deal is with Cinci. Perhaps Guzman, Hill, Williams, and Brownlie could get it done. That's a lot to give up, but Junior's stock has risen greatly over the last year. For that price, they can gladly keep Griffey. It would be horrific to trade Guzman in the same style the Cubs have traded Sosa, Juan Cruz, LaTroy Hawkins and are likely to trade Corey Patterson. The worst time to trade a guy is when his value is at his worst. Guzman is on my untouchable list right now. Not just because he is finally showing signs of being over his injuries, but because no one would offer anything equal to his value IF he were healthy.

We? Okay, I'll help if that's what it takes.

I think it's viable. You're basically looking for moderate production on the bench with different strengths for different guys. A .250/.320/.440 line would be acceptable for RH power threat. Sing is capable of that. I'm not saying he'd be a lock, but at 25 next season, he's not too young, and he does have over 2200 pro at bats, a pretty significant amount. It would depend on how the OF is constructed, and how the rest of the bench looks. I'd be happy with Blanco, 2 vets with good history and 3 minimum wage kids. Dubois was not the first pinch hit bat off the bench this year. Baker wouldn't use Sing as the first bat off the bench either.

Well said. That's why there is a playoff. If a team is truly #1, they should be able to prove it in the playoffs. If they don't, I guess they're not the best. And, flukes happen. It's a part of life. A short series does not determine the best, though. As bad as the Cubs were this year, were they worse than the Pirates if the Pirates beat them in a season series, or even in an individual series? Of course not. Just because Houston is in the World Series doesn't mean they were the best team in the NL this year, either. The long season determines who the best teams are.

Also, can you imagine Manny and A-Ram hanging out? They could place bets on who would take longer to run out a groundout. Aramis has been playing with a bad hamstring for quite some time now. How do you want him to run out a ground out? Like Nomar?

Question: What's the single most important thing about your leadoff hitter, almost to the exclusion of all others? Answer: OBP. Hands down. Speed is nice to have, but it's truly a secondary asset. So finding a leadoff hitter and addressing our OBP need are two sides of the same coin. Furcal's OBP this year: .348 (career .348). Way better than Neifi, Macias, and Patterson, yes, but is he worth paying a lot of money to get rid of the middle infield that we already have? Todd Walker's OBP this year: .355 (.348 career), with better AVG, slugging, and costs much much less. Nomar's OBP: .320 this year (which is hardly a good indicator), .367 career. Obviously not a leadoff hitter, but still way outproduces Furcal. Also for much less, probably. So replacing Nomar with Furcal does not address our OBP problem (in fact, it makes it worse), and getting rid of Todd Walker takes away one of our best leadoff/#2 hitter options. Signing Furcal is, at best, a lateral move that costs a lot of money. At worst, it's a steep dropoff in production. And another question for you all: if our MI is Furcal and Cedeno next year, who do you think the backup will be? My guess is Neifi Perez. If Nomar and Walker are our MI, I think Cedeno gets the backup job, and Perez walks. The second option seems in every way to be a big upgrade. It's not just about OBP; it should be also about defense at SS and durability. So the real question is whether you (1) spend big bucks for an excellent and durable all-around player in his prime(Furcal), (2) take your your chances with a medium priced, injury-prone defensive liability (Garciappara), or (3) go with a cheap, talented kid who may not give you much offense next year. I'm not sure about choosing between 1 and 3, but I'd definitely avoid #2. You can't necessarily frame it like this, though. Furcal is not for the Cubs taking. There are 29 other teams that might bid on his services. He may not even become available if the Braves decide to keep him. If that happens, you just took option #1 off the board. Cedeno, I'm assuming, is the cheap, talented kid. He's already ours. He's under contract for cheap. We don't have to go out and get him. Doesn't he make a nice replacement if the medium priced, injury prone, defensive liability gets injured? I say yes. He's also a nice late inning defensive replacement. He also spells Nomar frequently to keep Nomar fresh. Nomar is currently employed by the Cubs until the Cubs decide they don't want him anymore. Once they make that decision (pursuing Furcal would all it would really take) and Nomar's as good as gone. Now, Furcal is not an option, Nomar leaves since the Cubs obviously don't feel the need to reward Nomar's loyalty in wanting to stay, and all you have is a unproven, young player who Dusty wouldn't hesitate to bench for Neifi Perez, who would be brought back once it was obvious they have no shot at Furcal or Nomar. Dusty is the manager of this team. It may not work out this way, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

what worries me most about giles is his age & how many years he might want a contract for. 4 years is a long time for a 35+ year old guy imo. his power #'s fell off quite a bit while he was with the pirates too btw so his declining production cannot be blamed totally on pecto. What year are you referring to? The one year he was hurt? 2003? That was the year he started the season injured, and Aramis was basically the only offensive threat they had in the line up. When Giles came back from injury, it wasn't much longer after that, that Aramis became a Cub, along with Lofton and Randall Simon and then he too was shipped off to San Diego, where his numbers REALLY start to drop dramatically. Giles missed 30 games that year and still managed 88 RBI's, and over 60 XBH's. I live in San Diego and watch him play nearly everyday. I'd take him on my team in a heartbeat, and I'm not the slightest bit worried about a 4 year deal. The guy is one of the most physically fit and one of the most physically strong players playing this game today. He could decline and it's probably even likely. However, his decline will still be better than most players ceilings. I'll take it.

Question: What's the single most important thing about your leadoff hitter, almost to the exclusion of all others? Answer: OBP. Hands down. Speed is nice to have, but it's truly a secondary asset. So finding a leadoff hitter and addressing our OBP need are two sides of the same coin. Furcal's OBP this year: .348 (career .348). Way better than Neifi, Macias, and Patterson, yes, but is he worth paying a lot of money to get rid of the middle infield that we already have? Todd Walker's OBP this year: .355 (.348 career), with better AVG, slugging, and costs much much less. Nomar's OBP: .320 this year (which is hardly a good indicator), .367 career. Obviously not a leadoff hitter, but still way outproduces Furcal. Also for much less, probably. So replacing Nomar with Furcal does not address our OBP problem (in fact, it makes it worse), and getting rid of Todd Walker takes away one of our best leadoff/#2 hitter options. Signing Furcal is, at best, a lateral move that costs a lot of money. At worst, it's a steep dropoff in production. And another question for you all: if our MI is Furcal and Cedeno next year, who do you think the backup will be? My guess is Neifi Perez. If Nomar and Walker are our MI, I think Cedeno gets the backup job, and Perez walks. The second option seems in every way to be a big upgrade. Very well done. Nomar does have a good career OBP, but his OBP is magnified by his AVG, rather than his ability to draw a walk. Because he isn't a good plate patience guy, he's better suited using that AVG to hit runners in, IMO. 5th or 6th is an ideal spot in the order for Nomar. I think it's a waste to use Nomar at the top of the order. I'd rather put Murton there.

I think the Yankees helped them out in more ways than one with their financial problems (ie: Randy Johnson/Javier Vazquez and revenue sharing). I think the Dodgers also helped them with Shawn Green and a few other bloated contracts. Don't they now also have a tv deal in place, something they weren't able to do for 5 years after they became a franchise? I remember something about that, but don't recall the specifics.

Should Hendry want Giles here? Yes. Should they pay the ridiculous amount it may take to get him here? Yes. Here are Giles lifetime stats in the NL Central: At Wrigley: .317/.470/.1.173 At PNC (Pitt): .325/.440/1.046 At GAP (Cin): .302/.436/.971 At Busch: .337/.464/1.169 At MMP (Hou): .284/.407/.915 At Miller: .284/.451/1.000 Not once does he have an OBP less than .407. Only two of these have less than 1.000 in OPS. By the way, his sample size in GAP is extremely small since he moved out of the division before Cincy moved in there. Need I go on?

Don't know if Hendry wants him here, and he'd cost a lot.

Have you seen Giles? If he lost power, where did he lose it? He's probably one of the strongest guys in all of baseball. He moved from one of the friendliest hitting divisions to the absolute worst, even with Colorado in that division. My guess is that Giles has made adjustments because King Kong can't hit 38 HR's playing in Petco all year long. Klesko was averaging close to 30 HR's a year in Qualcomm Stadium. He's averaging about 13 in Petco. I challenge you to find someone who has a dramatic increase in productivity since moving into Petco Park. If the Cubs get Giles and had the pleasure of facing Reds pitching, playing in the friendly parks that are just about every team in the NL Central, I'd bet Giles could easily get back to 38 HR's a year. Giles has proven to be a much healthier risk than Floyd, as well.

I don't know about that. Sammy wasn't treated very well by the players on his own team. I think that speaks volumes about the type of person he was. I Maybe Ramirez doesn't want to play in any high pressure cities. Arizona and Cleveland certainly fit the bill, and pratically no one in Anaheim cares about baseball. That would fit in with his very laid back attitude towards the game. Why do you say that no one in Anaheim cares about baseball? They have some of the best attendance in all of baseball.

I don't agree that Floyd has more power. That being said, I was trying to get Floyd last year. I'd rather have Giles, but I would settle for Floyd as a consolation prize. Players do follow their roots on occasion. However, teams don't always treat their local boys well. Giles came to San Diego, but he wanted Jason Kendall there too. The Padres balked on Kendall. The Padres lured local boy David Wells for a hometown discount. The next year, Boston got Wells for peanuts, San Diego wouldn't go that high. Instead, they paid MORE for Woody Williams, who was much worse than David Wells. Rumor has it if San Diego loses Brian Giles, they will turn to Jacque Jones, another local boy.

How well do Sosa and Ramirez get along? The Cubs treated Sammy really bad there towards the end. Of course, he really didn't deserve to be treated any better than that, but the players don't see that part of it.

Furcal is just an aggressive swing or two away from having a below average OBP. This team believes in an aggressive plate approach. Will you still be excited about Furcal if he has a .325 OBP in the lead off spot, while earning 8m+ to do so? And I don't think that team is "much" better than the team the Cubs had last year.

The Wild Card team in the World Series this year had a better record than San Diego. Should there be a sanction against San Diego if Peavy was completely healthy and walked right through St. Louis in the first division series and went all the way to the World Series? Very rarely does an undefeated college basketball team make it all the way through the NCAA basketball tournament. It doesn't take away their great season, and it doesn't necessarily make the team that beat them the better team. The World Series is just that. A series. Either team can win, and in each playoff, any of the teams competing have their own shot of being that team in the World Series. There aren't any "advantages". You go out and make it happen in those series, or you go home. If you think it's momentum that gave Houston the advantage in the playoffs, the teams that lacked the momentum probably need to think about what they did wrong to not have that momentum. I think the only fair thing you can honestly do is not allow teams to use the same pitcher within a 4 game span. In other words, feel free to drop the 5th starter, but every team has to use 4. The #1 starter couldn't be used again until game 5, etc... But, then again.... I really don't care whether they make any changes at all. The Cubs should have beaten the Marlins in 2003. Boston should never have won against the Yankees last year. The Angels just barely got through some very tough series to win their World Series. I absolutely loved seeing the D'Backs beat the Yankees.

copycat!

The Yankees were no lock to win the division this year.

ewwww

I love the idea of having 8 four team divisions. Much better balance. Here's a problem that should be easily remedied. One of those spots needs to be out west. Portland or Las Vegas. It will need to be an American League team. Seattle Oakland San Fran LA LA Angels San Diego Arizona This shifts poor Texas and poor Colorado out of the West. I suppose instead of thinking East/West when you get to the midwest, you go Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Cubs in the North, and St. Louis, Houston, Colorado and one someone gets screwed being in the South rather than the East out of Atlanta and Florida. That would leave Phily, NYM, Washington and one of Florida or Atlanta in the East. Not bad. In the AL The West would be Las Vegas or Portland, Angels, Mariners and A's, the North would be White Sox, Detroit, Cleveland and Minnesota. The South would be Texas, Kansas City, Tampa Bay and the other expansion team and finally in the East would be NYY, Boston, Toronto and Baltimore. My votes would be Carolina and Las Vegas. If New Orleans didn't just have Katrina wipe out the city, my second votes would be for New Orleans and Portland.

The Cubs pitching staff was 5th in the major leagues with a .250 BAA. Figure out a way to reduce the walks, and it doesn't take as many runs to win more games. Figure out a way to improve your OBP, and you score more runs, therefore making life a little easier on the pitching staff.