Ding Dong Johnson

Marquis will wear the number 7¼ to match his 2007 ERA.

Dawson wore #8.

What he said.

I agree. Furthermore, the Airing of Grievances Thread cannot begin until 12:01 Dec 23rd. The other threads can begin whenever. I nominate Jon to go to Naperville to wrestle Tim. I second that nomination. All in favor?

Here's hoping for a double-player jersey retirement ceremony for Maddux and Jenkins. Retiring numbers for two different players is a little ridiculous, especially since Maddux's Cubs career on its own wasn't even close to worthy of a jersey retirement. Retiring numbers is ridiculous enough.

I doubt Hermida goes anywhere anytime soon, unless Florida is overwhelmed with an offer.

If my choices were Taveras and Pierre, I'd keep shopping.

They could if DeRosa plays like he did before September and SS was upgraded with anyone.

No idea at this point. Let them know I'm available.

And NO

Bagwell was amazing offensively and defensively. He is HOF worthy.

They shouldn't rush Pie. Because, you know, rushing Patterson had such fantastic results. I think the situations have a chance to be quite different. Patterson had less than 1000 pro PA before his first callup. Patterson skipped high A ball. Patterson had only a partial season of AAA under his belt (and it was really bad) - and his numbers regressed as he got promoted. Patterson got the yoyo treatment, both in terms of callup, and usage. He sat the bench a lot as well. And I believe the biggest problem was that when he was drafted, they said "despite the fact that he's a fast CF, he's not a leadoff hitter, he's more of a middle of the order guy", and then they let silly old school managers try to turn him into a slappy leadoff hitter. Felix has well over 2000 pro PA. He's been in rookie ball, low A, high A, AA and AAA (with an extremely brief stop in short season ball). Felix's numbers improved at each level from low A to AA, and his AAA numbers improved as the season went along. Pie has had professional developmental people for 5 years, compared to Corey's 2.5. If the Cubs callup Pie, and hit him 7th everyday this season, with a couple rest days against really tough lefties and/or when he's in a funk, I don't think he will necessarily have teh same fate as Patterson. On top of that he's won three championships at the minor league level. What does that have to do with anything?

I'd rather get someone who can play SS then worry about a backup.

Would they bite on quantity over quality in exchange for Teixeira?

Marmol instead. The Nats want pitching Marshall or Marmol instead I don't remeber which source said/wrote it, but the Cubs had already said no to Marmol for Church I recall (wasn't straight-up deal). The Cubs would rather part with Marshall, but the Nationals wanted Marmol and more. That was the gist of it. I'd like for you to find that, but I don't recall anything more that just speculation of what it would take on the Cubs' part to get Church, if they were even seriously interested.

Dave van Dyck is speculating it's done. And all the talk of Pie (by writers, Lou and others) makes me think they really want Felix to win the CF spot this year. I don't see them signing Floyd and keeping Jones, so, it's probably one or the other. What if they just keep everything intact from here. That would make LF a platoon of Murton and Jones, which would be really productive. And CF would be a mix of Pie, Jones, Pagan and maybe Theriot, which could end up anywhere from terrible to fantastic. And if Soriano needs a day off here and there, Jones plays there. I just don't like the idea of Jones still being on the team next year. He isn't likely to repeat his numbers, so I'd prefer to deal him now. I also don't like the idea of a platoon w/ Murton since there are more RHP in the world than LHP. Murton has enough experience that we should run him out there every day. If he struggles mightily for 3 months, maybe he's not meant to be an every day player. But if he rarely faces RHP, we're not going to know that. The days of Jones, Pie, Izturis, Blanco, P in the 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 spots are going to be really tough. Especially b/c that lineup also features DeRosa in the 2-hole most likely. Yikes. Jones put up an .833 OPS in 2006. If he put up those numbers as a CF, he would have ranked 8th in the majors among regular centerfielders, behind Mike Cameron and ahead of Torii Hunter. His three year avg. OPS is .777, which would have ranked him 11th in the majors among centerfielders in 2006, behind Eric Byrnes and ahead of Curtis Granderson. His contract isn't that bad considering the market. If the Cubs can get good talent in return for him, they should make a deal. But having Jones in CF in 2007 doesn't necessarily handicap this team offensively. I not saying Jacques killed us last year, I'm saying I don't think he'll repeat those numbers. I'd rather trade high now than see him repeat his '04/'05 numbers next year. And he wasn't really lights out defensively in right, so I'd prefer he not patrol CF next year. He really didn't finish all that much higher than his career numbers: 2006: .285/.334/.499 Career: .280/.328/.461 A move from the stronger AL to a weaker NL could certainly be argued to account for that. I don't see why you are so convinced his numbers are going to drop. 30 is the new 20, you know :wink: Jacque needs to be in CF if the team stays the way it is now.

People are wasting their time talking about this shortstop thing and Giles. The Cubs, whether you like it or not, are happy with Izturis and are not looking for a shortstop. They signed DeRosa for three years to be their second baseman. They are not going to sign Giles. I hate it when you say such things. Any ideas on what's happening with Jacque? There doesn't seem to be much of a trade market for Jones at the moment. As one poster pointed out above, a Murton-Jones time-share in left isn't out of the question if Pie tears it up in spring training. The Cubs will bide their time on this one. Thanks. I'd love to see Jacque get serious consideration for CF if Pie is less than spectacular in ST, much like he has been in winter ball.

People are wasting their time talking about this shortstop thing and Giles. The Cubs, whether you like it or not, are happy with Izturis and are not looking for a shortstop. They signed DeRosa for three years to be their second baseman. They are not going to sign Giles. I hate it when you say such things. Any ideas on what's happening with Jacque?

This thread is quite funny. Not "ha ha" funny though. ANGEL PAGAN IS NOT GOOD, AND HE NEVER WILL BE.

Mats didn't get 51 of that.

Dopirak had a much better spring than did Sing, as did quite a few others. Pagan was actually quite good in spring, hitting for average and power. I don't quite think he deserved a roster spot based on that alone, but he had no options.

He looks like Beltran. Looks like Beltran, hits like Beltran's grandmother. Fixed

I think the best option, if another CF is not picked up, is to put Jones there. If Jones is on the roster, Pie will not be.

"There's no such thing Like a female with good looks who cooks and cleans"

He did the same with Walker about a year ago.