mg420

i have 2 tickets for thurday & 2 for friday if u r interested. they are bleacher tix for both days and i have them in electronic form (pdf). we bought them in Feb and planned on going to Wisc. for the week but had to cancel.

font might not be able to but theriot can. bring 'em both up & trade nefi & walker!

whats wrong with giving negron a shot at cf next year? if they can trade jones & sign lee, how about an of of murton, negron & lee.

fontenot = left handed marcus giles?? not a bad option imo.

cedeno for aram?? are the cubs trading with themselves now? this team is screwed up!

I disagree. This was NOT a good year for the draft. There was only ONE SURE-FIRE stud in the draft in Andrew Miller. Guys like Linecum, Bard, Rowell, and say Marrero and the like are pretty much boom or bust caliber players....including Tyler Colvin. Talent wise, part of me wish the Cubs would had taken Daniel Bard (dude, was throwing 98 mph in the 8th, with a very good breakin ball in the Nat'l Champ game) but oh well. To me there wasn't much value difference between 13 and 30. Players between 13-30 could had gone in any order. So it wasn't a "stretch" per se, it wasn't unexpected. And unexpected doesn't mean the pick of Tyler Colvin was a bad one, either. Only to those, who like the "sexy" names like a Billy Rowell, or a Hank Conger, or a Travis Snider, or a Chris Marrero. Looks to me like the Colvin pick reaks of Hendry trying to get players who can contribute to the big club in no time. So he went with an OFer with limited potential, but IMO, Colvin has a better chance at reaching the "lower expectations" then say Snider or a Conger, who has "higher ceilings. In his first draft, I didn't mind drafting players whose potential was closer to the floor, then to the ceilings. It has worked for Oakland. Again, before we write off this draft as a "bust" (this draft will need Colvin, Sammy, and Rundle to produce, immediately, I admit) let's see what the kids can do. Don't write off the kids, because of the bitterness towards the franchsie. I could live with the .340 OBP with 15 hrs and prolly closer to 20 sbs, with solid defense in CF, anyday of the week. Speed isn't the only thing that matters in CF, and if Wilken believes this kid can play CF, Colvin will have to prove he can't, before I am concern. Let me answer that question with this question....why not take the gamble? Alot of people were going to question the draft, and call it "failed draft" anyways. Why not roll the dice, on players who they feel can play and hope for the best. If Colvin can't prove to be anything more then a "4th OFer), or if Sammy elects to play NFL, or Rundle is a "bust", oh well nothing really lost. This wasn't a great draft. To me...taking a kid with characters issues like Drabek would have been "BAD" (remember Sisco, the kid still won't grow up, and I fill Drabek will be in the same mold) over a good character, good kid, solid baseball talents would have been disasterous. Look, all I ever ask from my fellow Cubs fans, is stop being so short-sighted about the draft. This isn't the NBA/NFL when young players are expected to make an imediate impact. MLB draft is designed for the long-term, the big pictrue, so to speak. And Tim Wilken, and the Cubs have followed their draft picks longer then the Cubs fans, and I believe they did their homework. And call me naive, I trust Wilken. If they fail, fine....but don't say they fail because they are players you didn't want the Cubs to pick. Not fair to the kids. nicley stated imo.

i agree. if anyone on the cubs starts showing any leadership, they might actually start winning games and screw up the draft next year. keep quiet lee and let baker keep the excuses flowing! hopefully he is well on his way to seattle (or anywhere else but chicago).

wow, that's a lot of incorrect statements in a really small space. Well i'm pretty sure that's sarcasm on mg's part, esp. considering he's calling for Hill in the '07 rotation. you are correct sir. i am a big fan of hill's and get tired of hearing how he sucks and should be traded. i'm glad to see he's rebounded from his stint in the majors by being so effective in aaa. if the cubs had a decent manager & pitching coach, i'm sure he would do just fine in the majors.

i guess someone should tell the other aaa teams that hill is quite hitable because he only has 2 pitches-a mediocre fastball and ok curveball. if rusch gets another start for the cubs this year there should be an investigation. i would still liketo see a z, prior, miller, marshall, hill rotation in 2007.

Actually, Marmol's future might be as a closer. Marmol also could use some more development time in the minor leagues. I'd send Marmol to AAA and let Hill come up and start for a series of 5 or 6 starts and see what happens. this sounds like the logical strategy to me so i doubt the cubs would do this. i would love to see a rotation next year of z, prior, miller, marshall & hill with marmol & guzman in the minors in case of injury (ie prior & miller). are the cubs worried about bringing hill up before the deadline because they are planning on trading him and dont want him to get torched again in the majors thereby lowering his value? either way, his minor leauge #'s the past 2 years have been nothing short of incredible and i sure hope that if he does translate his talent into production in the majors, it's with the cubs.

Who cares if there is somebody to replace him? You don't need a closer to win 70 games. At the rate he's going, you might have to replace him anyway by next season. Besides, Howry is having a much better year and could easily step into the role Howry is more affordable and has better peripherals. I'd rather keep him and deal Dempster, whose status as a "proven" closer might bring back more value in trade. How do you know Howry could step into the role of closer? He's only had one season (1999) in which he recorded more than 10 saves. Sure he's had a bunch of holds, but LaTroy Hawkins did as well and we know how that turned out. I agree with you that it wouldn't be a big deal to trade Dempster and that we could find somebody else to fill in, but I just don't want to ruin another perfectly good set up man. Who knows, I could be wrong and Howry could step in and be lights out, but for this year at least, why not try somebody else out as closer, maybe somebody from the minors if we trade Dempster? I don't really care who they put in as closer. It's an overrated position. I'd rather keep my best relievers for most important times, which are not to start innings with the bases empty against the bottom feeders. But Hawkins showed himself to be a head case before he imploded as closer. And his peripherals haven't been as good ever since. My guess is Latroy just fit the bill of the non elite reliever who is inconsistent and has a short shelf life. i beg to differ. name a team that has been successful without a dominate closer. i cant think of one. most baseball peoplei have heard including steve stone put having a dominate closer right after good starting pitching on the mut have list for a championship team.

Wait, who says Wood has a stubborn attitude and questionable work ethic? wood has refused to change his delivery (which probably has alot to do with his inability to stay healthy) for several years now. i guess he made some progress on that front this year but it looks like too little too late. as far as his work ethic goes, that is an assumption on my part. he seems to have gotten out of shape the last few years and gained some weight. not every pitcher can be like clemens but he is way too young to be slacking off in the conditioning department imo. that's a pretty baseless and stupid assumption. God this sucks. I am uber depressed. I guess I will always have that game 7 HR against the Marlins to give me chills - "Kerry Wood plays longball" My favorite player ever on the Cubs, and his career with us will fizzle to an end. :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: perhaps it is but no more so or less so than many assumptions on this board. when i see wood looking like he gained 20 lbs after several extended stays on the dl, i assume it's due to lack of conditioning but i guess it could be due to other factors (but i cant seem to think of one myself). i deeply apologize for my obviously baseless observation.

Who cares if there is somebody to replace him? You don't need a closer to win 70 games. At the rate he's going, you might have to replace him anyway by next season. Besides, Howry is having a much better year and could easily step into the role Howry is more affordable and has better peripherals. I'd rather keep him and deal Dempster, whose status as a "proven" closer might bring back more value in trade. what about next year & beyond? it should be easier to get a rf than a premier closer (which dempster was last year). maybe negron will be called up to play cf if they trade jones for cabrera & cabrera could play rf. i dont want to see howry close myself. he throws far too many fastballs imo and i would rather they trade howry than dempster. dempsters value is less so far this year anyway due to his recent struggles and the cubs would be selling low imo.

i think that saying hill & wuertz having no value & guzman having a small amount of value is a MAJOR overstatement. the 1st 2 continue to dominate at aaa and guzman has never pitched a full season in the minors yet. the cubs need to jetison the overpaid vets and go with the younger guys to get anywhere imo.

not a bad idea if there is someone around to replace him. alot depends on if his current struggles are due to lack of use or loss of stuff. i would prefer keeping dempster & trading williamson, novoa, walker, pierre, jones & howry if possible myself. there are a few guys in the minors like wuertz, atlee & rapada who can take over in the pen to go along with eyre, ohman & dempster.

Career minor league numbers entering 2006, .285/.339/.409. He's got like a 650 OPS in the majors this year. He's a short pudge ball with just about no upside and no history of production. If my choices were Jacque for Melky or keep Jacque for three years, I'd probably make the deal just to clear the space. But Melky doesn't seem like a prize to me. he's listed at 5'11 170. i've never seen melky but aaron wasnt much bigger than that. again, at 21 maybe he's figured it out (as his #'s at aaa seem to indicate). from what i've read, at least he's got a good arm.

whats wrong with melky? he's a switch hitter, only 21 and is hitting .385 at aaa with a .995 ops. i would say jones for melky would be an acceptable trade. if he doesnt work out, at least jones wouldn't be in rf anymore.

when walker gets traded in july, i'm sure womack will get plenty of playing time.

the cubs would be insane not to trade jones if the yanks want him. i would just hope they get an outfielder or 2 in return. anyone know anything about melkey cabrera in aaa or brett gardner in aa?

Wait, who says Wood has a stubborn attitude and questionable work ethic? wood has refused to change his delivery (which probably has alot to do with his inability to stay healthy) for several years now. i guess he made some progress on that front this year but it looks like too little too late. as far as his work ethic goes, that is an assumption on my part. he seems to have gotten out of shape the last few years and gained some weight. not every pitcher can be like clemens but he is way too young to be slacking off in the conditioning department imo.

bad mechanics, subborn attitutude & questionable work ethic = usless, hurt pitcher. too bad they couldnt have dumped him to texas when he was worth something. i would say his days of 95+ are long gone and unless he can learn to pitch at 90, he doesnt have much value imo. time to dump wood, trade maddux by the deadline & prior by next year and see what marmol, marshall, hill & guzman can do along with miller & z.

the pierre trade is looking better and better (for the marlins anyway). watch nolasco win the rookie of the year award. the joys of being a cub fan.

What about when $11 million is for dead weight (Rusch, Jones, Neifi) and about $19 million is for perpetually injured pitchers (Prior, Wood) jones is way overpaid, has major defensive issues and as a baserunner is only second to alou in ineptitude but i would hardly call him "dead weight".

if the cubs keep any of the big 3 (baker, rothschild & clines) after this year, they deserve to lose imo.

i did! (j/k) viewtopic.php?t=32945