cheapseats

He's having the 14th best season of all RF's in baseball. That's in the top half, but just barely. I'd be happy with his production if he were moved to CF (the position he played in the minors before moving to RF because of Torii Hunter), but the Cubs don't think outside the box.

The answer is yes. Major League teams value 26 year old shortstops who have won 2 gold gloves, had 193 hits in a season and an All-Star appearance. At $4.5M there are multiple teams who would have picked him up. The Dodgers never would have DFA'd him. I will miss Maddux. It was an honor to watch him pitch. I would rather that he stayed but realistically he was gone in the offseason anyway so I hope he can have some good luck in cavernous Dodger stadium. Izturis doesn't thrill me, but his cost next year should not keep the Cubs from making any other moves they might want to make. The option buy out for '08 is so low that basically he is on a one year contract. I think this is a bit of a vote of no confidence in Cedeno. Hendry did not want to risk going to 2006 with him as the only option at SS again. It seems very unlikely that the "really good" prospects that Hendry referred to were any of the ones that the people here are looking for. This morning Will Carroll stated they were probably talking about Kemp or Guzman. As for Izturis, his projected WARP next year is almost identical to Cedeno. They're basically the same player. But Izturis makes $4 million more. That SHOULDN'T keep the Cubs from making other moves they might want to make, but the Tribune Company is well known for having a very inflexible salary ceiling. Stupid decisions like this one add up.

Dear Len and Bob: Please stop shilling Izturis. We're already one of the top defensive teams in baseball. Izturis might make us better defensively, but how is he going to help the worst offense in baseball. Baker is pencilling him in as the #2 hitter. Puke.

Aramis says, "I'm opting out!" with a homerun.

That's funny because I could probably explain it to him in 100 words or less. I am thinking of sending jim a couple of books this offseason. moneyball and bill james baseball abstract. Y Kant Jim Read

The thing is, we're already #5 in the league in defensive efficiency. We've been slightly better than the White Sox this year, for example. Our defense is very good. And we're still hovering around last place. Defense isn't the problem.

Yep. He said anyone who follows the game knows there's nothing wrong with the team that can't be fixed. And I believe that. The problem is getting rid of himself is one of the major steps necessary to make things better.

Hendry says it's hard to put his finger on just what's gone wrong this year.

Hendry just said Thursdays start will probably be Rusch or Guzman. Such a tough choice. That's why he's GM and we aren't.

Hendry just said they wouldn't have made the playoffs in 03 without Glanville and Simon. I'm glad he knows what kind of talent pushes teams over the top.

I wonder if Dusty helped nudge him toward Izturis the veteran. I wonder if Dusty nudges Hendry... nevermind

Hendry with Len and Bob just said he could have had two "really good prospects" from the Dodgers for Maddux, but when he found out Izturis was available, he had to make the deal. :x

Hendry just said that they were going to do a deal for 2 "really good prospects," but when he found out Izturis was available, he obviously wanted to make the deal for Cesar. :x

Boy, it's nice to see Juan Pierre still on the team. No way any team would have given up good prospects for him.

Not if he can move runners which many of the Cubs can't and neither could Walker. just moving runners over is a terrible way to approach hitting. slapping at any pitch in order to "just make contact" is gutless baseball, and is generally exposed--much like our team is being exposed as gutless. "oh well, at least they don't strike out much and move runners over." striking out is a small price to pay for attempting to put the ball in play effectively, not just slapping bad pitches around the diamond for the sake of moving up baserunners--who don't exist anyway because we never walk, either. Are we assuming Izturis will play for the Cubs next year? If so, isn't that a bit premature? Izturis is under contract for next year. The Cubs would have to make a separate deal to move him. So we can't use him in a future trade? Maybe if we sent along $2m, we could get Royce Clayton? :twisted:

I don't think there would be a point to that. Nor do I think it makes any sense to call the signing of a middle reliever to a 3 year deal a great move. The vast majority fail to maintain whatever success they had to earn the contract in the first place. Middle relievers are failed starters who aren't good enough to dominate in short stints year after year (which are the few closers worth the money). The Twins bullpen only has two guys who make more than $400,000, and their pen is arguably the best of the last 5 years. Instead of letting guys like Rich Hill continue to start in AAA where they have nothing left to prove, we could have those guys pitch regularly (this is important, Dusty) out of the pen. It worked for Earl Weaver, and it's worked for the Twins. Oh, and some guy named Zambrano.

Well, you're already in Naperville... :wink:

How many games under .500 are the Cubs? I don't know if you were here in the preseason, but most of the regular posters predicted a poor season. It's not as if no one saw this coming. This thread would be mainly positive if Hendry had traded for even a midlevel prospect, but instead he got someone who doesn't fill a need and will be paid a lot of money to not fill that need. I went to 25 games last year at Wrigley and several road games, but I sold all my tickets before the season started this year. It's not because I'm negative, it's because I didn't want to watch the product of such poor decision making. If the Cubs would give us something to be positive about, we'd be positive. This is a move that will hinder us from winning a world series.

Is that you, Jim?

your views are intriguing to me and i would like to subscribe to your newsletter. I just laughed out loud.

You said it.

Izturis's only value is that he plays good defense. Defense isn't as important at 2B. Therefore, moving him to second lowers his value even more.

Loduca was an all-star this year, and he's the 15th best offensive catcher in baseball this year and below average defensively. I don't care if Izturis was an all-star. And it's possible to lead the league in hits and be a poor player. Juan Pierre is top 5 in hits this season, but he's #20 in VORP for center fielders.

Not that we know of, anyway. But don't be surprised to see Izturis at 3B, Ronny at SS and Neifi at 2B at some point.

And then the Dodgers traded Joel Guzman + somebody else for Lugo, just to rub it in. Coletti really does hate the Cubs.