KaiserCesar

I think I'd prefer having him in AAA and maybe move McGehee around or have him be the major league utility man. Moore defnitely has a higher ceiling and a little bit of a K problem he could use some work on.

THE DON!!!

Here we go, THE DON!!! Shaver! and Taylor! too

That Pie OPS is gettin real close to the .800 mark. I think its up to ~ .790 now

I don't think Hendry views Izturis as untouchable. I think he'd go in the right deal. Yeah, I think there are other GMs who think as highly of Izturis as Hendry. I'm holding out hope that he is traded to one of those teams for a legitimate major league player, and not another young Neifi.

Strange, didn't he break his left wrist?

This is going to be far from perfect, but I think I can translate pretty well. SANTO DOMINGO (AP) - ¿Será Angel Villalona la próxima joya dominicana en las Grandes Ligas? Will Angel Villalona be the next dominican jewel in the big leagues? Los Gigantes de San Francisco le apuestan a un sí tras desembolsar 2,1 millones de dólares por el prospecto de apenas 16 años. The San Fran Giants signed one of only 16 years old for 2.1 million dollars El antesalista recibió el segundo bono más alto en la historia de la República Dominicana, superado sólo por los 2,3 millones que le otorgaran los Yanquis de Nueva York a Wily Mo Peña en 1999. He received the second largest bonus in the history of the Dominican Republica, second to the 2.3 million that the Yanks paid Willy Mo in 99. "Esto significa mucho para mí. Es un sueño hecho realidad", dijo Villalona en una entrevista telefónica con la AP. "It means a lot for me, it's a dream come true", said Villalona in a telephone interview with AP. Villalona mide seis pies y tres pulgadas de estatura (1,92 metros) y pesa 200 libras (90 kilos). Villalona measures 6'3 and weighs 200 pounds De acuerdo al cazatalentos responsable de su firma, su potencial es enorme. According to the scouts responsible for his signing, his potential is enormous. "Este muchacho tiene unas habilidades tremendas, tiene un poder enorme, buenas manos y un brazo por encimo del promedio", dijo Pablo Peguero, jefe de scouts de los Gigantes para América Latina. "This kid has tremendous abilities, he has enormous power, good hands and an arm filled with promise," said Pablo Peguero, chief of scouts of the Giants for Latin America. De hecho, Peguero fue tan lejos como comparar al prospecto con estelares que hoy militan en las Grandes Ligas. In fact, Peguero made comparisons on stars that play in the big leagues today. "Yo firmé a (Adrián) Beltré a los 16 años; a Raúl Mondesí a la misma edad y tuve cerca a Vladimir Guerrero y a Alfonso Soriano y ninguno de ellos tenía las condiciones de Villalona a su edad", afirmó el veterano cazatalentos. "I signed Beltre at 16 years old, Rual Mondesi at the same age and I was close to Vlad and Soriano and none of them had the same conditions of Villalona at his age," affirmed the veteran scout. Villalona expresó que los Gigantes no fueron el equipo que más dinero ofreció, pero el trato que le brindaron lo convenció. Villalona expressed that the Giants weren't the team that offered the most money, but the deal that they offered to him convinced him. Uno de cuatro hermanos de padres divorciados, Villalona proviene de La Romana, al este del país. One of four brothers of divorced parents, Villalona comes from La Romana, in the east of the country Viajaría a Estados Unidos en septiembre, y los Gigantes ya tienen en mente una fecha para su debut en las Grandes Ligas. He will travel to the United States in September, and the Giants will already have a date in mind for his debut in the big leagues "Este muchacho va a ser como Beltré, y en tres años creo que va a estar en las mayores", sostuvo Peguero. This boy is going to be like Beltre, and in three years I believe he is going to be in the big leagues," maintained Peguero.

So you're saying it doesn't matter if you make outs if you hit 2-9?

First off, you didn't really say why the stat geeks were saying Neifi is better. Also, all stat geeks are not represented in all of their views by one stat geek who may or may not actually exist and had poor reasoning skills. Now on to the Izturis deal which I'll try not to further hijack this thread. Izturis gives you no improvement offensively and some defensively over what you already have. He also might block an acqusition of a better player because of overvaluing of defense by management. So, what's to like about this deal besides the ability to use some cliche about defense up the middle and some relationship to championships that is really unproven? I don't think you need to be a stat geek to be critical. To the original point in this thread, good luck to EPatt, hopefully "Fontheriot" can move up to the big leagues and he can be given a chance to produce and maybe move up to ChiCubs within a couple of years.

1st off, Jacque should be followed around by a platoon partner wherever he goes, maybe that's Restovich, maybe DeRosa, which is a name mentioned earlier in this thread. Also, the CF option I think should be very short term. Pie has been heating up after his cold stretch in May/June and I think he'll be ready after he gets a shot to tear up AAA next year. Therefore, not a lot of money nor years should be eaten up. Pierre should be offered arbitration, no long term deal, in order to try to get that pick, and if he doesn't accept arby then, Dave Roberts has been an option I've liked for awhile now. For second base, you could pay for some mediocre players, or you could play Fontenot or Theriot or a combination I'm going to call Fontheriot. They both can OBP high and in combinated with Roberts, give you a nice 1-2 thats cheap and could combine to put together a .360 OBP. I was down on Murton earlier this year, strongly hoping for a Jones/Murton platoon but his splits have been less exagerrated aand he is red hot since the ASB, despite not playing everyday. I think he could pretty easily build on his 1st full season with a .800+ OPS that is OBP heavy. When you weigh that for LF with some options like Carlos Lee whose OPS is more BA dependent, he could outproduce guys like that by 08, without investing a lot. I'd make an offer to Soriano and outside of signing him, not replace Murton in LF. Starting pitching, get some. Schmidt/Zito good top of the rotation, and with the quantity of young guys, I'll just hope that a couple of em can be good back end of the rotation starters.

:evil: :evil:

My first ever if I didn't miss it before..... THE DON!!!!!!

No kidding. In fact, I could live with an OF of Pie, Wells and Jones (assuming Pie produces like Wells does). I agree, except Jones needs a platoon partner to follow him around no matter which position he plays. Also, if you already have a CF, isn't it pretty likely that Murton could outproduce Pie straight up and by giving Murton the job, you allow Pie to not be rushed, given he still has a lot of time. Now, if Murton is the only platoon option for Jones, then you got to have Pie in there.

I feel exactly the same way.

:lol: 10 points HEY!!! I used that exact point why Ramirez should use the escape clause and all y'all just said Beltre was coming off a career year. All garbage. http://home.student.uu.se/hape2405/aabf18_sarcasm_detector.jpg

Yeah, they both look like they can win as many as 19 games in a year.

Grudzielanek has a club option next year. My guess, and this is pure speculation, is that the Royals will pick it up. Grudzielanek is one hell of a player. A perfect 2 hitter on a playoff team. Puts the ball in play, dosent strike out much, and moves the runner over. grudzielanek is not very good and isn't getting any younger. this notion that he's some kind of small-ball god isn't accurate either. he had 2 sacrifices last year for the cardinals in 563 PA's. he's become a simple slap hitter that doesn't get on base well and would consider himself successful if he hits the ball out of the infield. simply because he has a stubble-beard, short arms and legs, no neck and appears to be a "gritty little ballplayer" that conventional minds would value, doesn't mean that anyoner values him anymore. he's not good. Grudzielanek is a good baseball player. Solid with the glove, he will have is BA around .290 each year, his OBP will be around .330. He puts the ball in play. He wont be that 10hr guy, but thats not what kind of player he is. He was a huge factor for the 03 Cubs. Not a vocal guy, but he leads by example. These players are a dime a dozen. And in the Cubs org - Ryan Theriot

my guess is that Pierre would be playing LF for the Cubs next year. They fairly intent on signing him. It is interesting that Fontenot isn't on the 40-man roster yet and that the Cubs haven't replaced the open spot(s) on that roster. This is why I fantasize.

So, fantasy world, the Cubs get Jones, they can then possibly afford Murton porudction in LF and they are smart and get a platoon partner for Jones. They also trade Izturis/Cedeno and play Fontenot at 2B. Murton Fontenot Lee Jones ARam Jones/platoon partner Barrett Zambrano Cesar Cedeno Not bad.

Wrong.

I think Maddux in the postseason would be a nice end to his career, if he gets a start, so I'll root for the Dodgers.

Jones is really bad against lefties. Even in CF he should have a platoon partner. My original plan was a lineup along the lines of Roberts CF Fontenot 2B Lee Aram Lee Murton/Jones Barrett Cedeno Now, with the Izturis whatever you want to call it, I can only hope he is involved in some deal to bring in a power SS like a Tejada. That would leave Cedeno at 2B and no room for Fontenot's great OBP and decent power. However, if Murton's splits are straightening out, and you trade for your SS in Tejada, you can get another platoon/bench guy for Jones and have a similar lineup. Roberts CF Murton Lee ARam Tejada Jones/Platoon guy Barrett Cedeno Now I don't know how feasible the whole Tejada thing is, but this is just me coping with the Izturis thing. Worst case scenario is Izturis, Cedeno, Murton and Jones are all full-time players and Pierre is extended at a high price. Here is the best way to make that lineup in my mind. Pierre Murton Lee ARam Barrett Jones Cedeno Izturis If Aram opts out, I quit. The best in-house solution is would likely be sliding Fontenot over since McGehee is much worse offensively in AAA (although 3 years younger) and Moore is a K king in AA. Probably what will happen is Pedro Feliz. In that case, I'm going to scare you all with the potential lineup with Dusty being retained next year if things go bad. Pierre Izturis Lee Jones Barrett Feliz Murton Cedeno Looks like I got a little off track

You could definitely live with 2 youngsters considering Marshall and Marmol have both logged some innings this year and been somwhat impressive. Adding a FA like mentioned before in the thread (Schmidt) would bolster the rotation pretty significantly. Then, you still have Mateo, Ryu, Guzman, maybe Hill, as still pretty good fill-ins in case of injury. Either of these could be tried out as well if Marmol/Marshall struggle a lot.

In what way shape or form? Well, Pierre is considered to be a marginally bigger threat on the bases than Posednik. Also, as much as we have been upset at Pierre for how he plays center, Posednik is that much worse. When their offensive games are so similar, the tiebreaker should either be amount of contract (which I don't know what either of them will ask for) or their other attributes, which Pierre is better at. It would still be a very close call between the two players, but the fact that a natural center fielder by both speed and the limited offense that Podsednik brings was moved to left is a telling sign I think. Considered to be marginally bigger threat on the bases? By whom? Pods is more successful stealing. And he makes considerably less money. You can't just claim Pierre is "better in every category" and expect not to be called on that completely made up and arbitrary statement. I'm fine with being called out-especially since Pierre has been more successful at stealing bases each of the last 2 seasons. 2005-Podsednik-59 steals, 23 times caught Pierre- 57 steals, 17 times caught 2006-Podsednik-30 steals, 13 times caught Pierre- 38 steals, 12 times caught Podsednik's percentage is going down and is getting caught much more frequently than earlier in his career, while Pierre is staying level to his career. So yes, Pierre is now considered to be marginally better on the basepaths. Great post and I didn't realize that at all. perfect example of why small-ball doesn't work--even with fast players. giving up outs by needlessly trying to steal is stupid. there are only a few guys in the league whom i'd give the perpetual green light to, and neither of these guys is one of them. the stealing is not what i like about podsednik, it's his plate discipline--which is much more important than speed or steals or bunting the runner over. Yeah, but you also have to pay $ for the speed. As a left fielder, his production is terrible and as a center fielder he is horrible defensively. Also he is at the age where he'll still be looking to be locked up for multi-year (bad for Pie) unlike a guy like Dave Roberts who gives you similar production, but for 1 year and cheap.

I'd like a stop-gap solution for at most 1 year in CF and give 'Lix another year. I think he might be getting a little hot right now and a September callup might be good for him as well. The good news is, even if he's unable to take over the CF job until after next year, he's still only twenty three years old on opening day 08.