nolanwood

What am I to say to this? Neifi sucked. The fact that he had to play so often hurt this team. The fact that he hit atop the order hurt this team. There were other reasons as well. SS and the OF (the entire OF) were useless, the bench was worthless, the manager was stubbornly anti-objective. Starting pitchers failed to live up to hopes and parts of the bullpen stunk. But there is no possible way to gloss over the fact that Neifi at SS was a bad thing last year. Cedeno was no guarantee to be good, but given his 2004 season and the start to his 2005 in AAA, he was an infinitely better option than Neifi. Neifi is fine for the bench at minimal cost (not necessarily the minimum, as it's hard to get any veteran to play for what the kids cost - $500k-$750k is about what he's worth). There is nothing wrong with having somebody like him on your roster, at the end of the bench. But there is something terribly wrong with giving him 600 plate appearances and letting him hit at the top of the lineup in more than half of those at bats. Neifi's presence on the roster didn't lose games, Neifi's over abundant presence in the lineup did. Great post. Let me define what is NOT great with that post, aside from all the parts you repeated from my previous post as issues and failed to notice. You CANT blame Neifi!!! He served his role!!! It's that simple, and if you can't grasp it, I'm glad you're not the GM of this team either!! Blame Hendry for all the reasons I stated before! Blame the health concerns of the starting pitching staff! Blame Crusty for his mis-use of Neifi! Blame the handling of the bullpen!! Blame Nomar for going down!! NEIFI JUST DID HIS JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :evil: :evil: :evil:

The suckage in RF was just as damaging as the suckage in CF. The Cubs got the worst OPS out of CF of any NL team. But they also got the second worst OPS out of RF, and the RF normally hit in an important RBI position where he failed more than anybody in the league. LF was actually rated the highest against the league of the three OF positions, 12th. Poor personel decisions by Hendry have to go in that list. He chose that brutal OF, which many, including myself, predicted to be bad (although admittedly not that bad). And to think after those #'s we have YET to see/hear of any solid improvements to CF and RF....Mench? Yeah, he's gonna really help us out :roll:

by no means am I defending that Neifi was worth that money.... but he had aboslutely NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs last year, and to claim that he sucks because he didnt carry us to the playoffs is the most absurd thing Ive ever heard. The fact that Neifi played so much at SS and hit so often at the top of the lineup had a whole bunch to do with why the Cubs didn't make the playoffs. He's not good enough to start on a playoff contender that already has offensive issues, and he's a brutal top of the order candidate. You can't blame Neifi for not carrying this team to the playoffs, he doesn't have the talent, skills, abilities or production to be relied upon for such a task. He's a 25th man. And you don't let your 25th man leadoff or give him $6 million. Also, he's not the savior so many tried to paint him as last year. How many "where would we be without Neifi" comments did we have to hear before the truth was spoken about how handicapped this team was by his presence atop the lineup? Neifi at SS last year had NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs - its not hard at all to figure that one out. Dusty's use of Neifi in the batting lineup did for sure, but his performance was far from the reason we didnt make the playoffs. Please examinie the other issues I claimed for us not making the playoffs - those are extremely more relevant. Please contrast Neifi's defense and offensive skills with those of the other #8 batters in the lineup for last years playoffs.

by no means am I defending that Neifi was worth that money.... but he had aboslutely NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs last year, and to claim that he sucks because he didnt carry us to the playoffs is the most absurd thing Ive ever heard. We failed to make it to the playoffs for these reasons: 1. Poor coach decision making 2. The suckage in CF 3. Health issues with our SP 4. Reliablity of the bullpen minus Dempster 5. Not signing a legitimate LF'er and platooning Dubois/Holla Neifi did a quality job of filling in for Nomar last year....otherwise, I would say that the health of Nomar was another reason we didnt make it. If Crusty would've stuck Neifi in the 8th spot in the lineup, and all those other issues I addressed above hadn't occurred...we would've had a great chance at the playoffs - a wild card slot that is.

You think Giradi's regretting his decision to take the Marlins job? I've got to believe that they told him prior to taking the job what he was in for - but I know if he had the opportunity to come back to the Northside and replace Crusty he would've been here in a heartbeat. It's gotta suck being in his shoes now, though. At least the expectations won't be very high this year... :wink:

We shoulda jumped on Girardi and told Crusty to hit the highway :)

It's a joke to claim that Maddux is any worse than a 4th starter....I'd like to see Maddux as a 5th man on this team with somebody even better as a 4 man.....but there's many other teams in baseball that Maddux would fall in line as their 3 man easily.

I think Murton is gonna be great - I too have had the same great feeling about him as well.....and I think he's gonna have a great year for us starting in LF :)

Id much rather have Giles in RF than Furcal for about the same price - I just dont get it.... A middle infield of Walker/Cedeno/Perez would be more than adequate with Pierre in CF and Giles in RF. Whats the problem?

Totally agree. Stone opens his mouth and everybody runs with it. It's like becoming left handed after being a righty your entire life. I agree as well!!

Unfortunately, he's very very bad at it. You're just missing the point entirely. What makes you think if you were a coach and I was a FA, I would in any way want to play for you? You obviously as a coach wouldn't hold any loyalty to players, and its questionable whether your commitment is winning or sticking to your SABR for right or wrong in order to possibly come out in the end looking like a genius. No, I understand the point, and I think you're dead wrong. How do we know that everytime Neifi goes to the mound, the pitcher just wants him to get away, half the pitchers I've ever played with didn't want anyone to conference with them. Same thing in the dugout/clubhouse. Someone who is a happy guy can be perceived as annoying as they are uplifting. Again, from my own experience, and in my day I was the one trying to be the positive teammate. It's not ALL about the numbers, but when someone is as lacking as Perez, all the platitudes about him making contact and being a nice guy don't change the fact that he's horrible, and terribly undeserving of 2 years and 5 million. Now, for your hypothetical on free agency. Neifi played pretty poorly last year, so if anything he should be down my "loyalty" list. But there's what, 1 in 50 guys who won't bolt the "loyal" club for more cash when their time comes. That's what free agency is about. Money. It may sound nice to say that we're being scumbags to treat Neifi that way, but it's not like he performed amazingly and we kicked him to the curb, or we reneged on a promise. He was bad, we should've gotten rid of him, that's how the market works. And finally, it's not trying to make myself look smart, it's about building the baseball team that's most likely to win you games. SABR does NOT = Stats necessarily. It's all about finding the best way to evaluate players/teams. And signing Neifi Perez to a 2 year 5 million dollar contract, especially when you have Dusty Baker managing your team, is a very poor decision if you are trying to build a team that will win you the most games. I think Neifi was a lifesaver last year after Nomar went down the 2nd week. He hopped in and filled that role beautifully, the only knock against him was the Crusty kept throwing him in the wrong spot in the batting order. Neifi was above league average in regards to his batting avg., and his .obp was right around .300. I think those numbers, coupled with all the other positive attributes he brings to the game, justify Neifi being a very legitimate 8th man in our batting lineup. If we need to address the REAL issues, how about that lump of suckage in CF - we NEVER ended up solving that problem. My biggest worry is that we'll address RF and ignore the suckage factor in CF. At least Neifi stepped up when Nomar went down and was productive. I can't handle watching Patterson stepped up to the plate anymore - it makes my stomach turn :evil:

Well the thing is -- and this is the tricky part, mind you -- he actually isn't. Actually, there's nothing "tricky" about your opinions. :wink: Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. An opinion is neither right nor wrong. A condescending retort, however, is very blatant and factual....

I don't care what people on here like or dislike about Neifi, to be honest. There are a ton of Neifi bashers on here that overlook the tools he has, which was my point. If Crusty new half a crap about running a team, Neifi would've been serving the roles he should and everybody would love him! It seems very few people here are ever happy with any Cub....kinda ironic on a Cubs messageboard :wink: And Grudz is better defensively than all the other "average" second baseman.

Grudz IS effective in the field....and fun to watch as well. And for that matter, to all the Neifi bashers - he's effective in the field as well!!!

rate....stats....blah blah blah....sometimes its best to not get so tied up in #'s and enjoy watching somebody play ball.....and Grudz, imo, is always fun to watch out in the field.

I can't imagine any team giving grudz 3 years. I got a big kick outta my cards fan buddies who were so high on him the first part of the season - and I kept telling them, "just wait, he's gonna come back down to earth very soon".....and he did:) On the contrary, he's got spectacular defensive skills, and I always liked him on the northside. I was pleased we went with Walker over Grudz though.....

schucks!! :P What other features do I get with the premium membership?

It's a feature I know nothing about. :) Seriously, it is a feature avail. for premium members. So what does it take to become a premium member, and what other features are included in that package? THANKS!! :)

Is there an ignore feature on here that allows me to block out posts from certain members?

can we afford Giles with Pierre, Furcal, Eyre, and Howry? If we couldn't afford both, I'd rather have Giles and go with Walker/Cedeno/Perez in the middle infield. Actually, if we COULD afford both, I'd rather go with Giles and a quality starting pitcher. I'm just unsure if I wanna dump as much money as it would take to get Giles....but I'm sure after a season with him on the northside my thoughts would change. :)

You just summed up my theory and thoughts exactly! :)

It just seems that the majority of the folks on this board get pissy every offseason if we dont sign the biggest name or contract. We wouldve made out really spectacular if we'd snagged Beltran for that sick contract - his numbers would've really helped us go nowhere this season as well. I'm not looking to argue, which is why I read more on this messageboard than post. I'm not looking to toot my own horn and make myself feel better because I "felt like" I won a worthless argument that means nothing.... just get some info on the latest Cubs movements. And I'll continue to sift through the name calling. hendry/cub bashing and 33 page posts going nowhere to acquire legitmate info about our latest pickups/trades. And this is the only place I know where I can hear opinions/info from my favorite info guy - Bruce Miles.

Eliminate Eyre, Howry, Rusch and Neifi and there's plenty of cash for those three. Which is the point we were making in the Howry thread that you fought against. I believe you're forgetting so quickly WHO I was defending - I mentioned nothing about the Neifi or Rusch deals. I think the acquisitions of Eyre and Howry will prove to be important to our '06 season, and those two wouldn't be the difference maker for us overpaying for Furcal, Pierre AND Giles. Some of you folks on here just aren't very practical in your theories about us dumping all our cash on 2 players. This team has many more holes that need to be fixed than dumping half our cash on Giles. Now, would I like to have Giles? YOU BETCHA!! I'm just being practical and would like to see everything get addressed in the offseason.

Excellent - we're gonna have one helluva dominant bullpen in '06! Now, I have faith Hendry is gonna bring us the offensive help we need and we're gonna go into '06 looking very tough.

there is absolutely no way we end up with Fural, Pierre AND Giles. We don't have that kinda money in our payroll, and the Gile's dreamers need to realize that he's obviously not on Hendry's radar at all.