rawaction

What's the way to win in the ML? How do you explain the perrennial playoff teams (Min, Oak, LAA, Fla, and Atl)? Even the Cards and Giants have competed with less than top 10 payrolls. Do the names Mike Hampton, Denny Neagle, Preston Wilson, and Eric Milton ring a bell? There's just as many overpaid mediocrity in the MLB.

This is unwarrented critisicm. He has owned the team for 5 years and you are saying that in order for him to be considered a good owner he must have won a championship in that time? That's absurd. If you read my previous post, it's not a World Championship, but at least make it to the Western Conference Finals - they may have done that once. But my point is what could he do that the Trib hasn't done in the past five years? And I'm an NBA fan, and it's my opinion that the Cubs are closer to a World Championship right now than the Mavericks. I would disagree. The Cubs are going to have to get extremely lucky to even make the playoffs while the Mavericks consistantly get to the second round or further. I'm a basketball fan as well, and I think that a lot of this criticism of Cuban is based on his Reality show, his jumping on the floor, etc. You really can''t dispute his success as an owner. That being said, I really don't think he would be the missing link, I just think that he doesn't diserve to be trashed like he is being here. Over half the NBA makes the playoffs. 8 teams make the MLB playoffs. Not a fair comparison. And the Mavs don't get further than the 2nd round. They have never made the West finals. They don't even compare to the Spurs and Suns, and the same was true for the Lakers and TWolves in recent history. They are the Minnesota Twins or Oakland As of the NBA. Yeah, they make the playoffs, but they are a huge step behind the real contenders.

Not even Brownlie? The bandwagon shouldn't be hard to pull when it's empty.

That's what still surprises me. I saw him when he first came up in Lansing, and he moved very smoothly. The problem was that he had iffy hands and would rush his throws over to 1B.

I can live with that scenario. However, OF needs to be addressed regardless of what happens with SS. Holly/Dubois, Patterson, Burnitz was blatant negligence going into this season. They have to find an impact bat out there, somewhere, even if they do bring Nomar back. Sorry. I actually meant upgrade OF MORE. Maybe go out and get a couple corner OFs instead of just 1 and go with Cedeno at SS. We should have some wiggle room with Sammy's contract off the books for next year. Forgot about that. But raises will go to Wood, Maddux, Prior, Z, Lee, Ramirez, Barrett, and possibly Patterson next year to basically wipe out that amount. The Cubs do have the potential to go league minimum at SS, CF, or LF next year.

I can live with that scenario. However, OF needs to be addressed regardless of what happens with SS. Holly/Dubois, Patterson, Burnitz was blatant negligence going into this season. They have to find an impact bat out there, somewhere, even if they do bring Nomar back. Sorry. I actually meant upgrade OF MORE. Maybe go out and get a couple corner OFs instead of just 1 and go with Cedeno at SS.

Walks vs. hits are immaterial. The key to winning baseball games is making outs less frequently. Adam Dunn gets out far less than most baseball players. And who cares if he only gets hits 24% of the time? He's in scoring position (or already scored) 61% of the time he does get a hit. For the record, I would hit Dunn 3rd. Hopefully he would get more to hit in front of Lee and his average will go up. Hairston Walker Dunn Lee Ramirez Burnitz Barrett Cedeno

Yeah, September callup. Very good shot to break with the team as the starting RF in 06.

I've said all year that I want Nomar back for about $4M plus incentives. I don't want Furcal anymore. Best case scenario, you have one of the game's best SS's and another huge bat in the lineup. Worst case scenario, he gets hurt again. But you don't waste as much money as you would with Furcal. You get Cedeno some valuable playing time. If someone offers Nomar a long-term deal, let him have it and go with Cedeno at SS and upgrade OF.

I don't think I would have a problem with that. Once the Jaxx season is over if they wanted to call him up to be a pinch runner and get the occasional spot start, it could be good for him. I really hope they let him finish his season at West Tenn. though. The Jaxx have games schduled through the first week of September. I don't know what their playoff picture looks like, or what that schedule is. However, I think the Atlanta series has left a significant mark on the Cubs with respect to not being afraid to bring up young players. I suppose we will see whether that mark was written in indelible or disappearing ink after the break. This is usually the time I reiterate, I do not want to see Felix Pie in a Chicago Cub uniform until September 2006. Having said that, at least Hendry, unlike Baker, seems to be willing to make corrections to initial mistakes. Too bad it took this long to bring up young position players instead of poor re-treads. Why wait if people in the organization can see him performing reasonably well right now? I agree with you that if he's gonna sit every other day like Corey did when he first came up, that he needs to stay in AA. I think people are assuming he won't be effective or that he will be ruined, and there's really no reason to think that. He's not Corey Patterson. A completely different person and player. There's just as good a chance he comes up and has an impact like Miguel Cabrera or Andruw Jones.

I would do Zambrano for ARod and probably Cabrera too.

Another question. In your honest opinion, do you think you could play an adequate SS?

Welcome Bo! You do a great job. Haven't had a chance to listen much this year, but I was a regular listener last season.

I know Cano is playing decently. But what about: Cubs get: Dunn, Christian Garcia (NYY pitching prospect) Yanks get: Patterson, Walker Reds get: Williams, Hill, Hughes, and Cabrera

:scratch: :-k :chin: *ahem* KARRY WUUD IS a BaD PIchER BeCuz He IzBAD inCluTCH Sittuattins!. ZaMbRano 2!!!!!111 Seriously...What "big games" has he been in? He was in like three playoff games. Whoopdy doo. yeah, but in those 3 playoffs games he wasn't very good. :roll: Nevermind the fact that he was only 22 at the time and in his first full year as a Major League starter... Dont forget how bad Kerry sucks. (minus the NLDS) I thought the thread was about Zambrano, not K. Wood. In any event, Zambrano looked bad in the playoff games, lost his cool against St. Louis last year, pitched poorly against the Red Sox this year (luck that he didn't give up more in that game), lost a game we needed to win in New York this year. It just seems to me when we have a game we need to win against a good team, Z just doesn't have it. There are some players always seem to want the ball when the pressure is on, Z just doesn't seem like one of them. Can he improve? Sure. Is he untouchable? No, so long as we get great value for him. Zambrano only gave up more than 3 runs in 1 of the 3 playoff games he pitched. He gave the team a chance to win in every game. He was 22 years old with 117 career innings, and throwing innings 215-230 in his first full season as a starter. He gutted out every performance in the playoffs. And no offense, but I'm so sick of people saying any interleague game is huge or a "must win". The Boston and Yank series were just for bragging rights in cities that won't likely see each other for 3-4 more years.

I wouldn't do it. Zambrano is an innings eater. He's still just 24 years old. The Cubs do have pitching depth, but that depth is largely plagued by injury and inconsistency. Abreu is a very good player. He's great. But he's not as rare of a find as Zambrano. There are more .900 OPS (or potentially .900 OPS) OFs than there are 200 inning, low 3's ERA pitchers under the age of 25. I would much rather take the 10-20 point hit in OPS and lesser speed numbers from guys like Dunn or even Giles than give up Zambrano. All things being equal (i.e. salary, age, pos. need, available replacements), I'd still take the pitcher over the OF, 9 times out of 10.

Thanks Eric for answering our questions. I've seen publications say that you project as just a ML utility player, yet you have always hit (back at GT) and lead the MWL in hitting. What do you see as your weaknesses as a hitter, and what is being done to make adjustments?

I would do that. I like Hill's curve, but I don't see him having any other major league pitch. He's a lot closer to Shawn Estes than he is Barry Zito. With the 'wealth' of pitching prospects we have, I'd definitely roll the dice here. You are so wrong about that. Estes probably had better stuff than Zito when he first came up, too. Hill throws harder than Zito and gets more movement on his fastball. If he can spot his fastball (which he's done well this year) and throw that curve, that's 2 plus pitches....and his curve is so good that it's enough for him to be successful.

I agree, Hollandsworth has been pretty good. I think it will be Burnitz getting the day off. And Murton should still be in LF. But I have to point out what's the point of taking everything in and learning, if you can't put it to use. Cedeno has been wasted, while Neifi does nothing.

Which is why trading Wood or Zambrano for an elite OF bat, and then signing AJ Burnett is not too far off the beaten path strategy-wise. Execution-wise is a whole other ballgame. I'm more of the persuasion that we should take a two year plan to regroup and rebuild. There is a much better crop of players that would be available in 2007. I just don't think that's a good idea. I understand your reasoning for it, but there's no need for that to happen. With a $100M payroll, some inexpensive options at multiple positions and a number of players with whom we have to do something before the Rule V draft, there's no reason we can't contend for a championship next year. I don't think it's a good idea either. Even if the Cubs get rid of all the guys they should, they will still have Wood, Prior, Zambrano, Dempster, Lee and Ramirez taking up around $50M. They will still have the most talented pitching staff. They will still have the deepest farm system in the ML. There's really no justification for rebuilding. Of course, there's no justification for losing, either with the amount of talent and payroll, but that hasn't stopped them.

Yeah, trading Hairston is a bad idea. He's one of the few players on the team that can take a walk. He doesn't have power, but the Cubs have enough of that to go round and not enough OBP. Trading him would likely add to the problem, as I don't think he and a minor leaguer alone could net the Cubs an OBP machine like Dunn. He could be a cheaper option at 2B next year over Walker. He could even come back on the bench and hopefully play for a manager that will give him regular playing time.

Montanez has a very good arm. As has been mentioned, he was a SS just last year. He doesn't have the best arm, but better than average.

Prophetic call. Murton's debut was great. Can't beat a 1.000 career batting average (with a sacrifice fly on top of that). Good things happen to players who answer questions from NSBB members. :D Indeed. And let's not forget the walk, too. Murton now has an OBP of .750 and an OPS of 2.250! It's just one game. Those were darn near his numbers after 2 months in AA this year. By August 15, Murton will be hitting .350/.480/.670....BOOK IT!

That's where he started his minor league career. And yes, at times, it was scary, I'm told.

Just moving a little closer to "The Burgh".