BigbadB

Let me go take a look at how Piniella structures his line ups and I'll get back to you on that. Better OBP in the #1 and #2 spots in the order. Probably explains why the D'Rays #3 hitters have more RBI's on the year than Derrek Lee. I'll take Piniella over Baker.

That's the way I would go. Get Walker and Nomar committed for 2006 and then worry about the outfield. Giles may or may not leave San Diego. If he shows interest in seeing what the market will bring, the Cubs should be able to put together an offer that would wow him out of San Diego. If Giles is off the market, which will be known before Furcal's situation is known, then maybe we do make a play for Furcal. If Giles and Furcal are not options, I think the next options will be to trade for upgrades. With the Rule V eligibility problem, some guys will need to be moved anyway. You would hope that these guys could be used to beef up the bullpen, but fixing that outfield has to be the bigger concern. The Cubs have much more flexibility this year than last. They have the resources to make this a good baseball team in 2006. I'd like to see Hendry get aggressive this offseason rather than sitting back waiting for the right deal to come along. He got burned big time on that last year. He needs to find the right pieces to fix this team and go get it.

Stay away, yes! However, this buy out thing looks awful nice. If only Cubs brass was that smart.

How about a big loud NO?! I don't understand the obsession with him. We do NOT need another manager with an insane love for veterans. Who would you rather have at 3rd? Alex Gonzalez or Jorge Cantu? I rest my case. That's one reason why I certainly wouldn't do it. I never understood Tampa going after a washed up Roberto Alomar, Alex Gonzalez and the other washed up players they added to their roster this past offseason.

For the price he'll cost to resign him, he'll probably be worth the risk. But, you keep Cedeno around in the event he does miss significant time. If Nomar plays all year, you get very good production for the cost.

Wouldn't you rather have him strike out a little more over grounding into double plays? 21 is downright pathetic. Especially considering the amount of times he actually comes to the plate with runners on. 326 at bats this year, Neifi has come to the plate with no one on. 202 times, he's come to the plate with runners on, 21 of those times have resulted in a GIDP. That would have been 21 more opportunities for Lee and Co. to drive in 21 more runs. Give Neifi 21 more outs to put towards his OBP for making two outs instead of 1. Now his OBP looks even worse. But, let's keep batting him at the top of the order since it's worked out so well this year. :wink: he should bat no higher than 9th Actually, I was thinking 8th is a good fit for him. Decent AVG that could drive in runs. The fact he never walks would drive pitcher's crazy trying to get to the pitcher's spot in the order. But, since Dusty sees Neifi as a premier top of the order hitter, one or the other needs to go, preferably both.

Neifi starting is the wrong spot. The only reason he didn't strike out was the same reason he didn't walk. He swung at everything. At usually, early pitches are pitcher's pitches. Which is why he leads the team in GIDP. I don't dispute that at all. But RBI is a real stat that can't be discarded. Same with Burnitz. People like to decry him as a terrible outfielder. I lump them into the same boat. Both are above average defensively, and both have given more RBI than expected. That's not to say I want either back, but no one here likely believed that the two would combine for 135 RBI and 133 runs scored? Compare that to last season, when the primary RF (Sosa) and SS (Nomar/Martinez) combined for 130 RBI and 119 runs scored. Sadly, Neifi and Jeromy have been a slight upgrade offensively and a big upgrade defensively. Probably why management defends them so much. I don't really understand the thought process that Burnitz and Neifi provided quality RBI's this year. Burnitz hit directly behind 3 guys hitting .300 or better all season. 1 of those guys (Walker) got on base in front of him at a .356 clip, another is one of the league leaders in OBP in Lee at .423 and Ramirez had a .358 OBP. Burnitz should have 83 RBI's with his eyes closed up there with that kind of production in front of him. But, 23 of his RBI's came from his own bat driving himself in. 12 of those at bats came with runners on, which now explains where a minimum of 35 of his RBI's came from. His poor .256 AVG/.426 SLG/.742 OPS with runners on base explains why after more at bats than anyone else on the team in a high production slot in the batting order, he only has 83 RBI's on the season. In 100 less at bats this year, Aramis still has 9 more RBI's than Burnitz. That's what comes from an OPS difference of 150 points. Burnitz has come to the plate this year with runners on 295 times. Ramirez has come to the plate this year with runners on 247 times. Lee has come to the plate this year with runners on 275 times. I would also give Burnitz the advantage in lefty/righty match ups. In other words, Burnitz sees more right handers than Aramis and Lee see left handers. This makes Burnitz look even worse. I won't even go into Neifi's RBI totals, since his OPS is as horrible as it is. Burnitz was probably the best we could get given the circumstances last year. I don't fault him for that. I do fault management for waiting until the last minute to do something with RF and having to settle for Burnitz. I was adamant about getting Cliff Floyd last year to replace Sammy. But, I really can't give Burnitz any offensive production props. Poor OPS, average pop, lack of overall production from a high production slot in the batting order. I think Murton can outproduce Burnitz with a bat now. Therefore, that experiment should be over. Next!

Wouldn't you rather have him strike out a little more over grounding into double plays? 21 is downright pathetic. Especially considering the amount of times he actually comes to the plate with runners on. 326 at bats this year, Neifi has come to the plate with no one on. 202 times, he's come to the plate with runners on, 21 of those times have resulted in a GIDP. That would have been 21 more opportunities for Lee and Co. to drive in 21 more runs. Give Neifi 21 more outs to put towards his OBP for making two outs instead of 1. Now his OBP looks even worse. But, let's keep batting him at the top of the order since it's worked out so well this year. :wink:

Rios debuted at the ripe young age of 27. Murray debuted at the ripe young age of 28. I don't think either of these guys had much of a shot considering they took as long as they did to reach the majors in the first place.

No response to the boston / ny question? I'm disappointed. i edited it into a post a few back... BTW my plan includes keeping Neifi for a late inning defensive replacement and spot starter for Nomar, or Walker if you are in love with his 2.5 million option or whatever it is. This will be an improvement defensively, and also cheap by utilizing Cedeno. It also will not be any worse offensively than what we've had the majority of this year. Thennn improve the offense in the outfield. I should be GM i swear Not if your idea is to dump Todd Walker for Neifi Perez. If it was all about defense, guys like Jeff Kent and Alfonso Soriano wouldn't have jobs. They are horrible defensively. But, what they provide with the bat more than makes up what they give up defensively. The same can be said for Walker. The offense Walker provides more than makes up for his defensive weakness. This team isn't horrible because of their defense. They are horrible because they keep putting guys like Neifi Perez at the top of the batting order. If you give Dusty Baker someone like Neifi Perez, he'll put him at the top of the batting order. To defend this (which is a defensive move in it's own right and quite possibly a web gem) is to not put players like Neifi Perez on the roster.

Worst defensive team ever? Well if that is the goal then we can trade wilkerson and whoever the heck the red sox want and put Manny on the team. Now that is a bad defensive team.... Also, does Dunn make that much that after signing for Giles (10-11 mil) and trading for Wilkerson (4 Mil i think) that we are out of flexibility financially? I was hoping that would leave us some money left over for atleast one more big signing since the only real signing (and hence big expensive deal) would be Giles (unless i am wrong and Dunn makes over 4 mill). I was thinking more in terms of when the time comes to give Zambrano and Prior their cash. Maddux will be off the books then, but Dunn will get what Maddux gets. Giles will cost a small fortune since we are outbidding about 10 teams.

My pick depends on how the rest of the team sorts out. If we sign Giles early, then I'd rather have Wilkerson. If we don't get a good lefty power bat, then I want Dunn. Also, it will be hard to afford to do anything else if you sign Giles and trade for Dunn. It also limits who can hit at the top of the order for all the big bats. If you got Giles, Dunn AND Wilkerson, this team wouldn't have a very good outfield defense and you'd have essentially no speed at all at the top of the order, but you sure would have an incredible increase in OBP and OPS on offense: Wilkerson Walker Giles Lee Dunn Aramis Nomar Barrett Everyone all the way down to Nomar has OBP's of .360+, and a few guys with 1.000+ OPS. Nomar's is respectable enough given his AVG. and OPS for a shortstop. I like that line up. You just need an idiot proof bench and the offense is all set. It might be the worst defensive team to ever play the game, though. I'll take it! Email this to Hendry!

Good points. He does have a lot of money and flexibility. Part of that flexibility is having a lot of servicable options internally for open spots, even if some of the internal options aren't great. It's not like he absolutely *has* to get a rotation pitcher; he could hope that Wood will be healthy, and Williams or Rusch or a prospect could handle #5. It's not like he *has* to get a 2B; walker could do that, or Cedeno, or Hairston, or perhaps Nomar. It's not like he *has* to get a SS; Cedeno could do, or Neifi wouldn't be the end of the world (if some other spots were upgraded significantly, a team could win with Neifi at SS..), or Nomar might be a possibility again. It's not like he *has* to get a LF; Murton might be a good guy there, or Murton/Hairston combo, or perhaps sign Nomar to play left; or even resign Burnitz to play left instead of right, and to platoon or share with Murton. It's not like Hendry *has* to get an outside CF; he could go with Hairston, and hope that Corey would bounce back, or Pie would be ready sooner rather than later. And it's not like he *has* to get an outside RF. Burnitz isn't going to carry you, but he wasn't awful, and if the rest of the team was clicking, having Burnitz be an average RF wouldn't be the end of the world. Or Nomar could perhaps be resigned, but used in RF. My point is, Hendry doesn't really need to go after roster-fill players to plug any of the holes. He's got acceptable hole-fillers for each of the open spot, guys who look decent enough so that if he was to focus his spending and successfully upgraded 2-4 of the spots, he could just leave things alone and settle with the internal candidates at a couple of the other spots that don't get addressed with outside pickups. He'll clearly have the capacity to make several big moves this winter, unlike last year. I don't think he's got it any lighter in terms of return contracts, though. Last year Aramis was the only major return contract, other than Walker and Nomar. He'll have at least as many FA returners to decide about (Nomar, Dempster, possibly Rusch if he opts out but Hendry wants him back, Burnitz..). And whereas last year Aramis and Dempster were the only guys entering possible free-agency years, this year DLee, Aramis, and Wood will all be entering a year where they'll have the freedom to become FA's after the year. I agree with everything here except Neifi. If Neifi is given the shortstop job, he'll be hitting at the top of the order and that is a recipe for failure. As much as Neifi has been a trooper as a utility/replacement guy this year, Dusty can't be trusted with him on the roster. If Cedeno and Neifi were to go into ST battling for the starting job at SS, Cedeno would have to hit like Miguel Tejada to beat Neifi out of the starting job. Reality. It's because of this that Nomar will need to be resigned. Cedeno gets one more year to be an understudy, or becomes the starter in the event Nomar gets hurt. Murton's OBP is currently over .400. Yet, Murton is batting 6th and 7th right now. In a game the other day, Macias and Neifi were batting #1 and #2 in a game that Murton was also playing. Dusty just doesn't get it. Because he doesn't get it, you have to load up the roster in a way that Dusty can't mess it up. This will be Hendry's biggest test this offseason. If he brings back Neifi, Macias or any other hack with an OBP below .300, the season will be on his shoulders. A team that has the financial latitude, the talent to trade, and quality talent already on the roster has no excuse for putting guys who can't get on base on the roster.

This is the answer. But, what is the likelihood we get even one of these guys this offseason let alone both?

It looks like I fit in the Diffusion camp with my plan. I'm not so sure it will happen, but if I was Hendry, I'd consider my infield as set with the resigning of Nomar to another 1 year deal. Ramirez, Nomar, Walker and Lee in the infield, and Barrett behind the dish. The outfield is where things have got to change. I'm going to predict that the opening day outfield in 2006 will be completely different than the opening day line up from '05. I like Murton a lot, but with Dusty at the helm for another year, I don't like his chances of playing time over a veteran of lesser ability, so Murton and Cedeno are my 4th outfielder and 5th infielder. Giles is an absolute must for RF. You throw as much money as needed to lure him in. You don't let him slip away. Without him, the team could be a middle of the pack team once again. With him, and the Cubs are a superpower. With the signing of Giles, there probably won't be enough to get Damon, but I'd sure try to free up the money to make it happen. The bidding for Burnett could go higher than what Damon will get, and the Cubs biggest need is exactly what Damon does, get on base. Damon Walker Lee Giles Ramirez Nomar Murton Barrett The likelihood the Cubs land the two best offensive free agents on the market this year? NONE. So, it's Patterson and Hairston in center until Pie is ready and an upgrade over Murton in left. I'll expect Wood back in the rotation: Zambrano Prior Wood Maddux Williams/Guzman/Hill Trades to upgrade the bullpen will be necessary. Sometimes you've just got to blow up something! The outfield and the bullpen are the two best candidates. Dempster is my only lock in the pen. Every other job is up for grabs.

Can I suggest that in the future we schedule board maintenance during Cub games when Jose Macias and Neifi Perez are batting 1-2 in the batting order? [-(

Never let the facts get in the way of a good argument, eh?? pitcher R/G Mitre 5.43 Zambrano 4.80 Wood 4.70 Maddux 4.66 Prior 4.60 Williams 4.07 Leicester 4.00 Koronka 3.67 Rusch 3.59 Dempster 3.00 Hill 3.00 Never let a misuse of statistics get in the way either... Z's made 30 starts. Here are the number of runs that the Cubs have scored in the games that he's started... 16, 4, 5, 3, 9, 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 2, 4, 7, 6, 4, 2, 4, 9, 8, 1, 4, 2, 1, 4, 4, 2, 14, 9, 5, 4 Let's line those up in order... 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 14, 16 Interesting that the Cubs have never been shut out when Zambrano's started. But anyway, talk about 30 runs in 2 games skewing the numbers (and, remember, Z didn't get a win in the 16 run game against Arizona because he was ejected after 4.2 innings!). In 20 of Zambrano's starts the offence has scored 4 runs or fewer. That means to to get a win in any of those starts, Z would have had to combine with a pretty lousy bullpen and allow 0-3 runs, earned or otherwise (and remember we've played some pretty lousy defence too this year), over the entire game to get a win, and that's assuming that the Cubs score all their runs while Zambrano's the pitcher of record. Not the easiest of assignments, but Z has generally been up to the task, making 22 quality starts out of 30. And, since June 23rd, 13 quality starts out of 15, with one of the non-quality starts seeing him start the 8th having allowed just 2 runs (the other one was the ESPN Sunday Night game against the Mets when he left after 3 IP). More than the wins, that Z has only "lost" 5 games is a credit to him. In the games that he took the loss, the Cubs scored 1, 3, 2, 4 and 1. I don't see how you can jump on Aramis Ramirez for what he said just because you've got a misleading statistic to hand. That's a mighty fine homework assignment! =D>

He had another good outing again last night. Maybe he doesn't have the durability to last all year, but he has been pretty good when left alone as a starter, this year and last. I'd like to see him back next year, but will understand why he won't.

His value has skyrocketed this year to the point it would cost to much to get him.

There are teams that are in dire need of a centerfielder that would pay the Twins at least half of his salary to trade for him. Who is playing center for the Rangers? GMJ? Yuck! Kenny Lofton is going on 39 next year and he's the Phillies everyday centerfielder. Even though Torrii hasn't have much to bring to the table, he will command some interest. No way will Minnesota have to eat his entire contract. In fact, they'd probably just keep him if that were the case.

Well, let's see. He has Randy Johnson, Gary Sheffield, Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Jorge Posada, etc..... and he can't even guide his team to the playoffs, and with similar talent he hasn't won a World Series since 2000? I'm not sure if he's the answer.

Right, pick your poison. BTW, was Rich Aurilia batting cleanup for the Reds not the saddest thing you've seen in awhile (Cubs games not withstanding)? No. The Cubs LOSING to a team batting Rich Aurilia clean-up is the saddest thing I've seen in awhile. Good one!

The Yankees are proof that he who spends the most wins is not true. The Yankees haven't won the big game since 2000. Poor business decisions have been the Cubs curse of late. Selling Sosa at his lowest value made for a poor return. Not just in returned talent in trade, but in how much the Orioles paid to take Sosa. Hiring a manager whose managing style goes against the grain of the direction of the organization is another poor decision. While I have tried to steer clear of pointing fingers at upper management to this point, I find it harder to do so when Dusty's poor management phylosophy is rewarded and encouraged rather than punished. From where I sit, this team had enough talent to battle for a playoff spot this year. Poor management destroyed that opportunity. For that, I do now also point the finger at Hendry and MacPhail, along with Dusty.

Ages? He was drafted in June of 2002. He is getting up there in age, but I don't think he should consider hanging up the cleats quite yet.

Nic Jackson will have an incredible spring and win a back up OF job.