mg420

i suggested this in another thread: wood, cp & walker to texas for young. cedeno could then start at ss & young at second. i seem to remember hearing that the rangers owner coveted wood since he is from texas.

i would like to see both of them starting with maddux watching from home in a rocking chair.

assuming rusch is the #5, i see a pen of ohman, 2nd lefty (jk?), wuertz, williamson & dempster leaving 1 spot open. i really dont see williams as very effective as a reliever (maybe a miracle will occur & maddux will retire-i can dream cant i) so that leaves it between jvb & novoa. i would assume 1 of them will be used in a trade and i am rooting for jvb to stick. While Novoa has had his moments, his stuff is much better than JVB. Both seem to have control issues, but I can't fathom anyway that the Cubs choose JVB over Novoa. This also assumes that the Cubs don't sign another reliever to improve the pen which I find likely that they will. You can root all you want, but I think it is not only probable, but very likely that JVB doesn't figure much into the plans of the 2006 Cubs. if you look at his minor leauge #'s, jvb doesnt have control issues. when dusty leaves him on the bench for 2 weeks between appearences its a different story. i just dont see how the cubs can overlook a guy with such spectacular #'s in the minors the past 2 years. i wouldn't be suprised if jvb goes to another team and excels.

speaking of the bench, it will be interesting how it shakes out with guys like cruz, branyon& jiminez along with minor leaguers like theriot & font. hopefully the cubs will do something with some of these fa's soon.

assuming rusch is the #5, i see a pen of ohman, 2nd lefty (jk?), wuertz, williamson & dempster leaving 1 spot open. i really dont see williams as very effective as a reliever (maybe a miracle will occur & maddux will retire-i can dream cant i) so that leaves it between jvb & novoa. i would assume 1 of them will be used in a trade and i am rooting for jvb to stick.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051030&content_id=1262503&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb If he continues to dominate like this, I wouldn't mind having him in the bullpen next year. the other lefty spot is open so why not? i like the idea myself. now if only the cubs would give jvb a chance in the pen. I think there are a number of options ahead of JVB in line for bullpen jobs. other than novoa and possibly williams (who should be starting next year and not in the pen imo), i dont see who would be ahead of him. i dont really knwo why the cubs dont like him much as he as done nothing but excel since the cubs converted him to relief last year.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051030&content_id=1262503&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb If he continues to dominate like this, I wouldn't mind having him in the bullpen next year. the other lefty spot is open so why not? i like the idea myself. now if only the cubs would give jvb a chance in the pen.

is it pretty much a given that williamson will set up dempster or will the cubs sign another rh reliever? if (a big if imo-see chad fox) he can stay healthy he would be a very good set up guy.

so it is definite that there will be no more nomar for the cubs.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=9660 God! I hope not. I don't see the need to give Damon a long term deal when we have Felix Pie on the rise. Normally I agree but at this point with this manager I would rather take a known commodity like Damon than a guess in Pie. Pie is still a prospect, sign Damon, trade Pie.... i dont think there is a chance of this happening.

between him and hawkins it should be interesting in the later innings when the cubs play the giants. they have KILLED both of those guys.

So you're saying all we have to do is acquire an entire new OF in a weak market. The Red Sox and Yankees seem to be doing just fine with terrible defense at their catcher position. White Sox survived with an awful defensive catcher who wasn't even that good on offense. You take good players no matter where their position is. It's not like Barrett is a Piazza back behind the plate, he's decent enough considering the great offense for a catcher that he brings. A run scored is worth just as much as a run prevented, and you don't take a huge downgrade on offense for less of an upgrade on defense. Especially considering how cheap Barrett is for his production. not entirely new as murton is penciled in for lf.

If that's the case we better have a new CF and RF to go with Murton if we want to be successful. i agree that they are both a must. how about trading for wilkerson (assuming he's available) to play center & tracy to play right?

the sox won the world series with el duke as the #5 and he was 9-9 with a 5.12 era. i think rusch will be a better than average #5.

if the cubs lose out on giles & trade for tracy to play right, they will have 2 red heads starting in the of. how much of a drop off would tracy be from giles? he is certainly younger than giles.

if rusch does sign it will be to start imo so we might be looking at the #5 starter next year. now if only maddux declines his option they can put williams in the #4 spot.

i still see cedeno starting at ss & walker at 2b in 2006.

The Rangers don't have any interest in trading Young. They view Young, Blaylock, and Teixeira as the core they are building around. would they do it for wood, cedeno & cp? they might be building around those guys but without some better pitching they aren't going very far. rodgers was their best starter last year and besides being a psycho, he's up there in years. how is young on d btw? They might would do it for that, but they would have a hard time affording Wood's contract. I don't know if they would have much interest in Cedeno as they have some shortstops like Ian Kinsler rising through their system. While they are always in the market for pitching, they have some young prospects that a rising and on the way. Wood might interest them, but they would probably want cheaper and younger if they move one of the "core" players. My guess is if we asked for any of the three of Blaylock, Tex, or Young the Rangers would want Zambrano heading their way. That's not going to happen, so I don't see a deal working there. no way the cubs trade zambrano. i thought the owner of the rangers coveted wood at one point which is why i suggested his name. i also thought they wanted walker when he signed with the cubs last year.

The Rangers don't have any interest in trading Young. They view Young, Blaylock, and Teixeira as the core they are building around. would they do it for wood, cedeno & cp? they might be building around those guys but without some better pitching they aren't going very far. rodgers was their best starter last year and besides being a psycho, he's up there in years. how is young on d btw?

hopefully neither soriano or mench (a right handed burnitz imo) will not be in a cubs uni's next year. i would be interested in mike young though if he can play 2b. maybe the cubs could ship cp, walker & a few pitchers like nolasco & ryu to the rangers for young. on a side note, in hindsight should the cubs have taken teixeria instead of prior? his #'s would look mighty nice in left field.

Go, EPatt! I am really pulling for him to make good and be the Cubs 2nd baseman of the future. Ramirez, Cedeno, Patterson and Lee. I doubt it will happen, but they could be good. And maybe Koronka is on the Chronic? When pitchers relax good things can happen... i am very much hoping for the same thing along with murton & pie in the of. why do you doubt it can happen? murton & cedeno are ready to start in the majors next year imo and epat & pie might be ready by 2007. with prior and z already established & guzman, pinto, nolasco on the verge of breaking out, the cubs would have the vast majority of their starters being developed by their farm system. I have doubts that both Cedeno and EPatt will succeed as starters at the major league level because it so rarely has happened in the past for the Cubs, and most other teams for that matter. I believe that it is possible, but it would be the exception to the rule thus far. However, rules, especially these kind, are meant to be broken. As far as the rest of your list (Guzman, Pinto and Nolasco) is concerned, there is a difference between succeeding in AA and the majors. Some guys succeed at the AA level with major league stuff and some succeed with AAA stuff. The word on Nolasco is that he has really good AA stuff. We will see. Guzman's right arm is made of glass. Talent isn't his problem, but the most games he has pitched in one season is 22. Maybe he would be better served in the bullpen. Again, we will see. Pinto is the one pitcher from that list that has the combination of major league stuff and durability. If one of them has a lasting impact on the Cubs starting rotation in the future, I think Pinto has the best chance of doing it. But there are so many things that can cause a player who puts up great numbers in the minors to fail at the higher levels that I think a team would consider themselves lucky to introduce one rookie position player per year and get something out of him. If you can get two, you are way ahead of the game. With Murton, Cedeno, EPatt and Pie, you are talking about 4 in two years. Possible? Sure. Likely? Something you want to count on and plan around? I wouldn't. i thought guzman's problem had been his shoulder not his arm. i agree that its unliklely but staying withing the farm system seems to have worked well for the braves. assuming they are not traded, hill and williams are ahead of the guys i mentioned anyway but i think mitre & welly are most likely gone by next year so nolasco, pinto & perhaps guzman are the next level of almost ready to be tested prospects. perhaps marmol can also be put in that catagory. as far as aa stuff goes, i would say its more of a matter of a aa head. i would say that the vast majority of guys who make it to the majors have the talent to stay but if they never stick its more of a mental weakness.if a pitcher can throw strikes and spot the ball he can get alot of guys out with average stuff.

Lofton was brought to the Yankees to help smooth the transition of Bernie out of CF, but Lofton was awful out there. He is not good defensively anymore. 1 year at $6m for Cameron does not come close to the money that Damon will reportedly get. It's a very weak comparison. Cameron got a $3m signing bonus, and there is a $7m club option for 2007, with a $0.5m buyout. According to this site (I've found that site to be much better than ESPN when talking about contracts) his salary in 2005 and 2006 is $6m. Regardless, whether you call it $6m, $6.5m (counting the '07 buyout) or $7m, he's not terribly overpaid, and it's only 1 year, not the 4-5 Damon will get, and not anything close to a bad contract. its not a comparision but a preference based on need. what damon wants is pure speculation. look at what walker signed for to play for the cubs when other teams offered more years and more $. that said, 1 year of cameron would be an overpriced stop gap and the cubs might be in the same postion next year if pie isnt ready to take over. who knows how the collision will affect his health & play in 2006 (and the cubs would still need a leadoff hitter too if cameron played cf).

Cameron is an everyday CF with a good glove, Lofton is a platoon player who can't play defense anymore. what does cameron have to offer except defense? is it his lifetime obp of .340 , his lifetime slugging of .442 or his lifetime ba of .249 that makes him worth 7 mil a year? talk about a horrendous contract! i would take a platoon of jhjr & lofton over cameron any day. I think Cameron may be a little overpriced, but he's only got one year, left, so you can't say he's got a horrendous contract. He is not good in the OBP department, but he isn't a drag either, and in CF he'd be an enormous OBP improvement over 2005. He is by no means a top target in my book, but he's perfectly suitable to fill-in at CF for the season. I think Lofton is likely to fall back to the .340-.350 range for OBP in 2006, at his age and with his flukish resurgence in AVG last season. If they went big in RF and pitching, then I don't think Lofton/Hairston would be an awful idea, on the cheap, but neither comes close to Cameron's defense and I think his overall production will be greater than the two of them combined. *Oh, and according to the information I see, Cameron makes $6m in 2006, not $7m. for that kind of $ they might as well go after damon. he's not as good on defense but at least he can lead off. has lofton's defense fallen that much since he was with the cubs? i seem to remeber him as being very good on d. here is the salary info i was quoting: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=5492

Cameron is an everyday CF with a good glove, Lofton is a platoon player who can't play defense anymore. what does cameron have to offer except defense? is it his lifetime obp of .340 , his lifetime slugging of .442 or his lifetime ba of .249 that makes him worth 7 mil a year? talk about a horrendous contract! i would take a platoon of jhjr & lofton over cameron any day.

Felix's top two pitches are better than Angel's. His fastball sits at 96-97 and hits 100 at times. Felix's curve is absolutely nasty. I'm not sure about after that. I saw him shut down the Twins in Seattle and could not have possibly been more impressed. felix sounds alot like gooden when he came up. very impressive for a 19 year old. he must be the top prospect in the majors with that kind of stuff.