NewUserName

Along with table setters doesnt Hendry also want defensive players. Pierre would probably be the defensive equivelant to Todd Walker at 2nd. Since Walker is a better offensive player I just dont get going after Pierre. We dont want Walker because he cant play defense very well, yet we go after Pierre because he is a table setter who doesnt play defense very well. I think Hendry is reading too much into the White Sox success this year and is missing the key point. It was pitching not Podsednik.

I really am glad that we are probably going to get Frucal, not that I wanted him for the money he is going to get. I just want to make sure that Neifi gets as few ABs as possible. Sadly I think it is inNiefable that Niefi will get 400 ABs.

I probably shouldnt say that he is one of my most disliked players. He really doesnt fit into this catagory. So I am probably wrong. Maybe most over-hyped story or something. Also sweetpeteman it isnt about who is backing him up. It is about his performance by not taking days off. Also the Os may have intentionally not gotten good backup options knowing that Ripken wasnt taking the day off.

At the age of 31 Cal Ripkens numbers do start a serious decline. Maybe not serious but they do go down. The Average player prime is usually from 27-32. Cal Ripken did peak early though. Again I didnt stress my point. If a team was comprimising wins to get a player the all-time HR record it would probably be mentioned that personal records are being held to a higher standard then team records. If Barry bonds was completely useless a player but somebody picked him up to just get the record it would be mentioned. It is widely considered that players, especially when they start getting into their 30s do need more time off. If it would have benefitted Ripken to have days off but he didnt take them it is detrimental to the team. What bothers me is that I have never even seen the issue brought up. Yes Ripken does seem like a first class guy, but I think it does come off as egotistical that he may have played when sitting may have been best for the team. Again it probably isnt him but the way it was covered in the media. One last thing though is that I do find that media coverage does effect how I precieve players. when they seem to attack one guy for something but give another a complete pass because he is more likable it does bother me. Or when the over-hype something without giving balance reporting I find myself disliking something also(tiger Woods is a good example)

Cal Ripken Jr. OK it isnt really him but it is kind of. He seems like a super cool guy and all and was a great player. I just always thought that the consecitive games played streak was a PERSONAL record. That his doing this probably later in his career was a detriment to him as a player.(It did show in his stats) It just seemed kind of hypocritical to me that we seem to go after players for seeking personal stats instead of team wins and loses, yet he is held up as some kind of consumate team player. I am not ripping him personnally, like I said he does seem cool. I think it was more the media coverage. The other one I really dislike is Mike Piazza. Does he ever play a game were the trainer doesnt have to come out and look at his pinkie or something?

Larry Biitner, Rick Monday, Steve Swisher, Pete LaCock, Manny Trillo, Bill Madlock, Jose Cardenal, Tarzan joe Wallis, Mick Kellerhall, jBobby Murcer, Dave Kingman, Bill Buckner, George Mitterwald, Rick Reushcal, Dennis Lamp, Mike Krukow and of course bat above his head Jose Moralas. With players like that how could someone cheer for another team in the mid to late 70s when I was a growing boy. It may also be that they were on TV everyday.

I already puked, when I heard we resigned Perez

OK i seen the thread and didnt want to read all 36 pages so if this has been said I am sorry. UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I have tried to give Hendry the benefit of the doubt but he is now going to be put into Dustys territory in my eyes. They both must go. There is nothing you can say that would convince me this is a good move. Heck it isnt even a bad move, it is just plain AWFUL

I think Mich is ranked again, 22 I think. For all the complaining I do about the BCS, they seem to have the most appropriate rankings though.

I would just as soon go with Adam Greeenburg or Felix Pie that get Preston Wilson. We shouldnt hold up young players to acquire a player of Preston Wilsons ability. If we acquire Wilson to play a corner outfield spot Hendry should be fired.

plz no niefi period. absolutely no need for him. If he was used properly I wouldnt mind, but since Dusty has proven he will not use him properly it would be a grave mistake to bring him back

I think that Jerome is one of Dustys favorites. When he had a rough stretch last year he wasnt removed from the starting rotation like Rich Hill. I think he will be the 5th starter this year. I am not exstatic about it but he will be in the upper half of 5th starters in the league. I also think we are done going after starting pitching. I also dont think what is on the list is a major upgrade over what we already have.

Washington plans on using a guy they drafted with the 4th overall pick last year. What a great move for them. I have always liked Vinny Castilla but he is going to be 38 and didnt have a good year last year.

How many yards rushing is Young averaging per game? 90 or so. I know I may be a little old school but I feel that 100 yd a game rusher is worth more than 300 yd a game passer. So basically Young combines being a B- passer with being a A- running back. I dont think this is a contest. When the other guys are A passers and at least C runners you might have an arguement, until then his passing, running and winning put Young #1 in the Heisman vote for me.

A couple of quick things I think ND is going to beat Tenn. May be close for a little bit but ND will pull away. I agree how come Penn St is a 10 1/2 point favorite. I am calling my bookie. If I had one

The White Sox also put their players in the proper places in the order. Yeah they may not of had alot of great bats but were smart enought not to have a guy with a 250 obp batting lead-off. Dont you think that if Dusty was managing the White Sox he would have had Uribe batting 2nd and Iguchi batting 6th. Some of the Cubs offensive problems could have been solved by just having a correct batting order thus maximizing the chances they did have.

Personnally I still think paying Frucal 10% of the Cubs payroll is going to bite them in the behind in a couple of years. Especially since they have options that are almost as good and alot cheaper. Ask the Cards if they would rather be paying Renteria or Cabrera or Eckstein. The first 2 are still better players(maybe not this year but in their careers) but Eckstein is alot better value. Cedeno or Garciaparra or both would be better value than Frucal. It would free up the money to fix 2 humonguos holes in CF and RF. I wouldnt mind getting Pierre but would be setting the bar a little higher if I could.

I probably have said this already but I am a Mich St fan. Born and raised in the Traverse City area. I probably dislike Mich more than anyone. I just do not see any Pro-Mich bias in the officiating. Is there bad calls, Yes. If you would OBJECTIVELY watch all Michigan games they also get calls that dont go there way. I didnt get a chance to watch this years Penn St/ Mich game so I dont want to comment. I do remember the game 3 or 4 years ago when Paterno tracked down the referee and complained about the reciever catching the ball in bounds. One or two plays before that on 4th and long a Penn St reciever clearly used the ground to aid in his recieving a ball. If the catch isnt made it would have been Mich ball game would have been over. I never heard Penn St fans or Paterno complaining about that. Throughout the course of a game calls go both ways. We as fans pick out the ones that bother us and ignore the ones that help our teams. Since Mich is probably the most hated team in the Big Ten everyone picks out the calls that go their way and ignore the ones that dont. Heck they lost a game at Mich St a couple of years ago because of a bad time keeper. On John Stoccos QB draw that won the game for Wisconsin over Michigan one of Michigans DT wasnt held he was tackled and it wasnt called. Before Chad Henne fumbled on the QB sneak against ND, Mich got the ball over the goal line on both the previous plays. As a matter of fact Avant scored but the ball was spotted on the 1/2 yard line. The next play was a qb sneak that Henne got over wasnt given to them. There was an Offsides penalty on ND and the ball came out to the 1. So they lost a 1/2 yard on a penalty to ND. I didnt see the Minnesota game so I wont comment. I am just saying if you look at it objectively Mich isnt getting anymore calls than anyone else.

I have looked at Frucals stats over and over again since Sept and I just dont see paying 10% of our payroll to this guy. Especially since we have other options alot cheaper who will probably give us close to his production. If we had no other options I would endorse this move(like my endorsement means anything). To me SS isnt that big of a hole. CF RF should be top priorities this offseason and if we blow 10 million on a guy who didnt lead his team in runs scored, Had a defensive year out of context with the rest of his career and seems to have a drinking problem. Actually how good of a lead-off man is he if he didnt even lead his team in runs scored. If Chipper and AJones would have had the same ABs they would have scored more runs also. Like others this isnt an anti-Frucal post I just dont think he is worht 8-10 million when we have cheaper almost as good solutions

I dont understand the minor league players numbers. Are these the numbers they will have in AAA or AA or are these the numbers they would have if they played in the majors? I am sure it was on there somewhere I just didnt see it.

ESPN spends more time making news than they do reporting the facts. It is almost like tabloid sports. I can probably write a 10,000 word post about how much I despise ESPN. Yet it is probably the most viewed network in my house. I wish someone would be able to compete with them and be objective.

27-31 is generally prime years. ARam is just getting there. I dont think it makes a difference if prior and wood dont regain past form. With Dusty as manager if that did happen he would just overuse them and they would be hurt again.

In reality I dont want any veterans on the bench. They would be missused, younger developing players would suffer. Actually we probably wouldnt have any veterans on the bench, they would be starting.

A couple of points I would like to make on this subject 1. Frucal is probably going to make Renteria money. 8-10 mill for 4 to 5 years. For what he does bring to the table this does seem overpriced. Like most big time free-agents his best value years are before he becomes a free-agent. He is a good but not great lead-off man. He didnt even lead his team in runs scored. So are we sure we want to tie up 10% of our payroll on a slightly above average SS/lead off man. 2. Ronny Cedeno seems to be capable of manning SS for alot less. Will he keep his OBP at 350? Who Knows. The same could have been said about Frucal when he was a rookie. Actually Frucal had his career high OBP as a rookie. I am not saying that Cedeno will but I am pretty sure that he could provide us with as good/but probably better production as we had last year. Have another year of development.(yes most players still need to develop when they come to the major leagues) Be alot cheaper. Than in 2 years could be as good as Frucal and alot cheaper. Saving us money to go after positions where we are certain we need an upgrade. If you had 100 thousand dollars would you spend it on a new house if the house you already had was still good. Better yet the house you have is in a neighborhood that property values may be increasing in the next couple of years. If Cedeno doesnt work out there will be SSs available in a couple of years who are as good as Frucal. I would just hate to spend the money on Frucal when we may already have that SS. 3. Giles is potentially a major FA bust. He is 35 and will probably get a 3 to 4 year deal. Again do we want to give 10% of our payroll to a guy who may be done in a couple of years. See Jim Thome. 4. I feel no matter what the Cubs do this offseason the success of the Cubs next season is still going to fall on how well Prior and Wood do. I think Hendry will do a better job this offseason of preparing for a team that doesnt have these two healthy all year but we will not win a WS without these two guys being very good. If we add every top FA this year we will still not win a WS without them. This is in no way saying they shouldnt try to upgrade RF,SS,CF,2B and pitching. I am just saying that it should be done wisely. Do not go after over hyped(generally overpaid)but guys who can play and add good value.

i dnot think they would trade Clark to us. I would be extremely happy to get Clark for CPatt and Mitre and Wellmeyer. Some reason I dont think the Brewers would do that though. I wouldnt throw them too much value for Clark.