seanhopper

I agree with most of your post. There are similarities. And if Dopirak emerges into a big power hitter, well, there's value somehow. And obviously he's limited to 1B/DH/PH, it's not like he has defensive potential to move. (It's not clear whether he has defensive potential to be even adequate at 1B). And obviously it's not like he needs to hit like Howard. There is a level less than MVP-caliber that is still of value. But, the real question for Dopirak revolves around how much huge power he'll ever had. "Both have hit for huge power numbers in the minors..." doesn't really seem true to me. He had one good power season, in low-A. He's consistently hit for big power in batting practice. But only at Peoria (or was it Lansing then?) did he hit for meaningful power. His Daytona season he showed only minor effective power. Producing huge power is more than a matter of being strong and able to hit batting practice bombs. It requires that you can hit the pitches with the speed and movement that real pitchers throw when they are not trying to feed you bombables, but when they are trying to avoid throwing you bombables. Dope obviously has the physical power to do that. At present, it seems that Peoria is likely to be the production exception, and that against better pitchers he'll never be able to apply his power often enough to be a value power guy. It's also obvious that last year was injury. So basically he had one good year at Peoria, and one bad year at Daytona. If he stinks again this year, 3-years-ago Peoria will be further established as the irrelevant fluke. If he produces big this year, the fact that he stunk at Daytona for a year will appear to be the who-knows-why fluke. I see this as a make-or-break year for him. Most likely it will be a break, but too soon to know.l Craig--all good points and you eloquently pointed out what I was trying to in comparing Dope to Howard's minor league careers. In regards Cubswin's points (sorry I don't have your real name), they are valid, as Howard was older at each level, but being drafted out of college vs. HS for Dope is the reason why. Howard was consistently good throughout and progressed each year. Dope has been injured, so he has that as an excuse for last year, but not for the yr. prior. He really needs this season to be his breakout or the Cubs are going to have a tough time justifying him on the 40 man roster and taking the spot of someone else. As Craig has pointed out, he's not a strong defender even at the position he's supposed to play at. He really needs to put it together offensively for him to take the next steps and eventually make it to the majors. I would love to hear what some of the new blood, in the organization think about him, i.e. Wilken, Piniella? It wouldn't surprise me to see Dope end up with Stockstill in Baltimore after a few more yrs. of ok results.

Last time I saw him take BP was two years ago before he headed to Daytona. I swear he hit more balls over the fence than short of it. Heck, he hit more balls that landed across the street than he hit short of the fence. And that was just to right field. Oh, how I would love to see him recapture that in the games. I've not yet given up on him. Howard took a long time to get his stuff together, too. Were you refering to Ryan Howard? With all due respect (and honestly I respect your knowledge of the Cubs minor league system), Howard never had any down years like Dope has had. Howard always had a good BA and his power was consistent throughout his minor league career. We can only hope Dope makes a comeback this year--especially his power #'s. I just don't see where he fits within the Cubs system once he does establish himself again.

Definitely get a custom driver. Try to go to a place that has a computer system that provides information on your swing speed, ball loft, etc. The shaft should be flexible for a slower swing and stiff for a faster swing. It will help tremendously to get the right one. There are plenty of good choices out there for the brand/type of driver. The Ping G5 is one of the best in my opinion, but really it's just a matter of preference.

Teams definitely conduct try-outs. I went to an Orioles try-out my senior year of high school. I highly doubt they have a walk-on sort of thing. The Padres invited a Marine to camp who had just gotten back from Iraq. He's supposed to be a pitcher, but he's missing a finger or two on his throwing hand from when a flash-bang went off in his hand. I haven't heard much about how he's doing though... Not to lessen the story, because it is a nice one, but he lost a finger (I believe his pinky) on his non-throwing hand. I have not heard how he has faired so far this spring, but I'll check it out.

First Federer loses, and now this.... :cry: :) Bruce tends to struggle on the clay courts. And with making Clay Rapada my darkhorse, "Michael Wuertz," candidate for the pen this year. That's why you have to love the best sports writer in Chicago (I would say the best journalist in Chicago, but I don't read the other news). No worries on the slight mix-up, it was bound to happen at some point.

The full details of the transaction that brought him to the Cubs were quoted earlier in the thread. Bruce Miles is virtually a flawless journalist in my book, but he did make a slight error in his article this morning when he mentions Holdzkom coming back to the Cubs. It was mentioned that the Cubs received Holdzkom from the Royals instead of actually coming to the Cubs via the Marlins. I guess because Wellmeyer is currently in the Royals system (at least I believe he is) Bruce just had a slight mix up.

From the Trib article on the Floyd signing. <> Is there any other market for players currently under contract? The bonds market?

Link. The Cubs need a legit centerfielder before they move Jacque and they take on another corner outfielder in Floyd. As the article mentions, it seems inevitible that Floyd will be on the roster come ST, but they need to make the real hard decision and look for a trade or a free agent signing for center. It appears in both scenarios this will be a stop gap move --until Pie is ready--so what makes the most sense? I'm still holding out hope that Mil. decides to move Brady Clark--even in the division--because of the money saved and a prospect or two they'll get in return. He's not ideal for sure, but to me he seems to be the best option when you take everything into account. Church will likely cost too much in prospects, if he's moved at all, Finley is old, Erstad seems to always be injured and the Pirates CF's don't appear to be better than Pagan or other lower level guys the Cubs can pick up at the end of spring training for nothing.

<> I didn't see this posted yet--it's from an article in the tribune. Both Duffy and McLouth are lefties and are 26-27yrs. old, but they have not proven a thing yet in the majors. The Cubs deserve more in return for Jones--even if the salary swing is over $5 mil. This would be a really bad deal, in my opinion.

It appears any Todd Helton trade would be off the table and the pie in the sky deal of Figgins for Jones will live as only a message board rumor.

If there's something bigger, than why didn't they save McCarthy for that deal? He has a live arm, upside and is 4-5yrs. away from free agency. I guess there's a posibility TB or NY could consider Danks a better prospect, but I doubt both would be discounting McCarthy's value for '07. I won't write it off completely, but I'm skeptical this leads to another deal.

< It's believed the Marlins have talked to the Giants about Benitez. However, they'd need San Francisco to pick up the majority of the $7.6 million he's owed in order to take him on. The Giants seem less likely to do that since they've been unable to find a closer elsewhere.>> I read this and it sparked an idea. What if the Cubs get involved in a deal with SF and Florida. -The Cubs trade Dempster and cash to Florida -SF trades Benitez and cash to Florida for Dempster -Florida ships prospects to Chicago The Cubs will have enough relief pitching without Dempster. I don't dislike him, but I believe in this market he could be an asset -in a trade. Another asset and could possibly be included in this deal perhaps is Jones - to SF of course.

Williams is a pretty smart GM. It appears (as you mention) that he's making deals to possibly have some cash available and/or he's looking for a bigger deal down the road to fill a need. He could be after Vernon Wells--but with Toronto losing out on Meche and Lilly, they may now want a #3 starting pitcher rather than prospects in return. It would appear that the Garland to Stros deal was put in place to stockpile prospects and low-income players, i.e. Tavarez. Williams could have then put a good mix of players together for Wells. Now that Toronto has missed out on any of the free agent pitchers than it may not have worked out. Garland for Wells may make some sense, but it would appear that the Sox would be really decimating their starting pitching.

My point in comparing Hudson to Schmidt was that they both have had what some would call down years in the past 3yrs. Hudson is 3yrs. younger and if he's physically sound, than he has a better chance of having a better overall performance than Schmidt does over the next 2-3yrs. It all then comes down to the package of players going both ways. Schueholz seems to be a GM that comes out of nowhere and makes a big offseason move, so I wouldn't be surprised to hear a bigger deal made, but if the focus can remain on the one main need--top of the rotation starting pitching-- than I say the Cubs should go for it.

<> This is from Ken Rosenthal's column. If the Cubs would take on all or close to all of the salary owed to Hudson over the next 2yrs., could the Cubs get him for a reasonable price of players? Schuerholz seems to love stock piling relief pitchers, so could a deal centered around Dempster and a prospect or 2 make sense? Due to the dollars the Cubs would be absorbing, I would suspect Hendry would want a prospect to come back the Cubs way as well. Hudson has pitched over 200 innings only once in the last 3yrs. and his overall #'s were not good last yr., but he is a solid #2 pitcher at 31yrs. old. The concern is that his agent will want an extension (I believe he has a limited no-trade clause) before he accepts a deal. He matches up well with Schmidt and is 2-3yrs. younger.

<> I know you're comment had nothing to do with the Cubs, but let's not forget their SP situation. Last I checked the Cubs have 2 starting pitchers that they can count on for innings in '07. One of them (Hill) is not a sure bet being that it's going to be his first full season in the league. The Cubs still need 2 SP's at least, and unless one of them is a top of the rotation guy, the Cubs need for the SP's to have career years. Hendry appears to want to win in '07, so I would assume he will bring some guys in, but at this time I'm concerned with what the Cubs have to put out there.

What continues to bug or scare me about this go all out and get him attitude from Hendry is that he's going to overspend this time and will live to regret it. The articles keep bringing up Beltran when they talk about the total yrs. and dollars it's going to take to get Soriano. The difference, in terms of years primarily, between the two is that Beltran was 27/28yrs. old when he was signed to a 7yr. contract vs. Soriano about to turn 31. He's going to be way outside of his prime a few yrs. from now and will not have all of his 5 tools that Hendry and Piniella are in love with. Sadly, knowing the Cubs luck he'll end up with one main tool left by the time he's 34 --his propensity for striking out. Now, I do have high hopes that either the Cubs win a world series within the next few years with the help of Soriano or Soriano turns into Barry Bonds and reinvents himself, but as you can tell I'm skeptical.

The Cubs should definitely try to put together a package for Jennings. His #'s are getting better as he comes into his prime years. I wonder if the Rockies would have a need for an athlete like Scott Moore and a pitching prospect--top five pitching prospect but not top echelon guy for Jennings.

While we're on the subject of jerseys, have the Cubs considered going with white on white--no stripes jersey ala the Oakland A's, Detriot Tigers? I think the Cubs need to have a fresh update this season.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061030/SPORTS02/610300440/1050 Seems like a typical piece where a reporter speculates a bit with little facts to back it up--other than Dombrowski is from Chicago (i.e. "causing some to wonder..."). I personally would love it, but I don't see it happening this offseason or next. < McDonough's interim tag has not been removed, causing some to wonder if the Tribune Company, which owns the Cubs, might make a splashy hire within the year. Dombrowski is a Chicago native and close friend of Cubs GM Jim Hendry. Since Dombrowski is under contract next year, however, Ilitch would need to grant his permission for another club to interview him.>>

I posted this on another message board (and honestly have no clue why), but this was my thoughts after hearing the tenth Piniella interview: < Did John McDonough and Jim Hendry decide that due to the lower ratings they needed another marketing guy to help sell the team? It seems lke the same old stuff we've heard from every other manager. I don't hear the confident attitude I expected out of Piniella. It's not even the official offseason and I'm already discouraged. If the Cubs are going into the season half pregnant again, like last year, than I really don't know if I could handle watching this again. I live in S. Florida and I can tell you that it was a lot more fun watching and cheering for a bunch of young talented kids than it was watching poor play out of veterans and middle tier prospects. The Cubs didn't have the farm system or the talent the Marlins did, but if they would have decided to go that route rather than a mix of the two than I would have understood and would have rooted for them--even if they were in last place. They need to decide to do one or the other and not waste more yrs.>>

<> If it wasn't his MO on every deal he makes, than I wouldn't care too much. But my comment was originally made because Hendry seems to claim every time he makes a deal that it was a last minute thing that started a half hour or an hour before a deadline. I understand that other discussions may have been on going or whatever, but it continues to appear (through his own words) that he's doing all of his "fine" work at the last minute.

<> Is anyone else annoyed as heck that Hendry continues to claim that these deals were done at the last minute. What does this guy do the rest of the time?

I started a thread a few weeks back speculating that Williamson may be the odd man out in the pen and one of Hendry's bargaining chips in a trade. Almost everyone disagreed with me at the time. To date, I rarely hear his name mentioned by Hendry and until recently by Baker as a guy in the pen for the Cubs this year. If the Cubs decide prior to the season that they need some more offense--in a platoon situation for Jones-- I believe Williamson may be the one to go.

Agreed, but in Williamson's case, Hendry has a pretty good bargaining chip come spring. I would rather not see someone like him go--especially if he can get his control back--but since I haven't heard his name come up in conversations related to the team and areas of improvement, I was merely speculating.