USSoccer

This pretty much confirms that load of crap about wanting to win a World Series. Jim Hendry will go down in history as the worst General Manager in the history of the Chicago Cubs, and that's saying a lot. We went from 5 outs away from the world series to 90 losses, and now we have lost our best offensive player. But, never fear! We'll sign Mark DeRosa! He'll "hustle"! He'll "scrap"! He'll be everything Aramis wasn't!...including good. He'll suck. And then people will wonder why they pissed and moaned about jogging out 20 groundouts over the course of a season while the gamer of a 3B we'll have hits .270 but busts it down the line every time he grounds weakly to short. Screw this. Screw it screw it screw it. Screw Jim Hendry. I hate that man. He'll overpay to get his Neifi and his Glendon Rusch and his Henry Blanco, but heaven forbid we act like a major market team and pay a guy market value! God no! If we paid Aramis $6m more than his 2006 salary ($17m), then how could we afford the veteran savvy of Henry Blanco and John Mabry? Where would Cesar Izturis go? Good thing we dealt Maddux to his old buddy Ned Colletti and took on a terrible contract for a terrible SS. We already HAD a terrible SS. At least he made league minimum. It sure will be nice watching a 5th place team that hustles and has a manager who yells, and a front office that pays lip service to being a contender, but shys away from the big decisions and big contracts.

The only incident that ever occoured with Sosa and PED was when Manny Alexander (Sosa's best friend on the 1999 team) got busted with steroids in his car.

Only NOW? Angrier. I'm seriously concerned about what I might post at 12:01.

I'm getting angry...

Isn't it Eastern time? :titanic:

Closing in on 5 hours left until I have a stroke.

Sure there is, haven't you heard? Hendry is an idiot. Come on CW. There's ample evidence to support the fact that Hendry isn't good at his job. Yes, there is. And there is a huge difference between having failed and being an idiot. There is also ample evidence that he has done some very smart things. One side of the scale is far heavier than the other.

Sure there is, haven't you heard? Hendry is an idiot. Come on CW. There's ample evidence to support the fact that Hendry isn't good at his job.

That's funny. I predict a toolsy power hitting OF who has a hole in his swing the size of a hula hoop and the plate discipline of a hyperactive squirrel. Whoever he is, he'll likely never be as good as Ramirez is now. Just under 6 more hours now...

I tend to think so, too. It just makes too much sense. But he might not. If he doesn't, he better have one helluva plan B. Just because Hendry isn't signing him before he hits the open market doesn't mean that he doesn't want to resign him or isn't going to resign him. Think about it, people. Ramirez opted out for reason. It was to get more money and the best way to get as much money as you can is to see what you are worth on the open market. If the reports are true that Hendry has offered something close to 5/75, that is a more than fair offer, IMO. If Kinzer thinks he can do better than that once he hits the open market, then he has to advise his client not to accept the offer. If Hendry thinks that Aramis won't get offered more than that, then it is also in the Cubs best interest to let Ramirez test the waters rather than up the offer before finding out what other people are willing to pay him. Its not like Hendry has pulled the offer off the table. Its called negotiations and there are two sides to them. If one side wants to create leverage by having more than one team in on the bidding, there is much you can do to stop them. Heck, maybe Ramirez doesn't like Piniella. Who knows? When my wife and I were negotiating for our house, we had given a final offer and were contemplating a counter offer. We were really worked up and frustrated by the sellers' and their agent. We weren't that far apart, and the other details were pretty minor, but we were getting hung up on them. Finally, I asked my wife point blank if she wanted the house. She said yes. We agreed to their counter. Sometimes in negotiations you have to realize that to get what you want, you have to let go of your idea of what you wanted. Hendry needs to ask Kinzer what it takes to get him signed tonight.

Don't trust Andy MacPhail? Never trust a man in a Cosby sweater.

Come on, Jim. Don't let this get to the open market.

I blame Hendry because Aramis is the best 3B for the Cubs since Santo. Give him whatever he wants and get this over with. And I mean whatever he wants. Pretty much. Sometimes you have to overpay for talent.

This was McPhails kiss goodbye.[/quote I hate that man.

This is terrible.

I understand what you're saying, but budgetary principles can be stupid things to hang onto. Lets say you have to buy 2 items: You need to buy a TV and a DVD player. You have a fixed amount of money to spend on both. You go into Best Buy saying you want to spend no more than $1000 on the TV, and $300 on the DVD player. You bring $1300 with you. You get there, and you see an unbelievably good TV for $1150. It's more than what you resolved to spend, but it will make a huge difference in picture quality. Do you stick to your budgetary principle and get the inferioir TV that will get you by, and get your nice DVD player with a bunch of options, or do you change your budget around, get the nice TV that will make even a poor DVD player look awesome, and get a midrange DVD player? This is what Hendry is faced with. He has the choice between the really good 3B and a cheap bench, or an average 3B and a moderately priced bench. Which is going to make a bigger difference? Both will cost the same net amount of money; its where you allocate your funds that makes the difference. why should we buy a tv and dvd player when we can get 8 vcr's? Half of which are Betamax VCR's. Just because the costs fits into your idea of what something should cost doesn't mean it's worth buying. I personally think I should be able to buy a plasma for $500, but the market doesn't dictate that price, so if I want a plasma, I have to pay market value.

Depending on the cost, he'd be a good bench/RF platoon candidate.

I was mostly trying to draw an analogy to how having budgetary principles shouldn't affect the way you allocate said budget. You prioritize what's important, and it's okay to overspend within your budget on something that's worth it.

That made me spit up coffee at my desk. :soap:

I understand what you're saying, but budgetary principles can be stupid things to hang onto. Lets say you have to buy 2 items: You need to buy a TV and a DVD player. You have a fixed amount of money to spend on both. You go into Best Buy saying you want to spend no more than $1000 on the TV, and $300 on the DVD player. You bring $1300 with you. You get there, and you see an unbelievably good TV for $1150. It's more than what you resolved to spend, but it will make a huge difference in picture quality. Do you stick to your budgetary principle and get the inferioir TV that will get you by, and get your nice DVD player with a bunch of options, or do you change your budget around, get the nice TV that will make even a poor DVD player look awesome, and get a midrange DVD player? This is what Hendry is faced with. He has the choice between the really good 3B and a cheap bench, or an average 3B and a moderately priced bench. Which is going to make a bigger difference? Both will cost the same net amount of money; its where you allocate your funds that makes the difference.

I'd rather have the everyday player than the pitcher who will only impact 30 games anyway. In those 30 games, he has a very significant impact on allowing the team to win if they simply score their normal RPG. Ramirez has a big impact on said RPG. :D I'd like to have both, though. Has anyone done studies on which is more important, a middle of the order bat or a number 1 starter? I'm sure there has been... VORP? WARP3? Win Shares, maybe? I dunno. One of those metrics should give us insight.

I'd rather have the everyday player than the pitcher who will only impact 30 games anyway. In those 30 games, he has a very significant impact on allowing the team to win if they simply score their normal RPG. Ramirez has a big impact on said RPG. :D I'd like to have both, though.

Maggs and Pudge were both younger than Sheffield is. Sheffield is a giant risk for next year, let alone 2008. Also, no one said the Cubs weren't dumb. :D

Wow. What a stupid trade.

I'd rather have the everyday player than the pitcher who will only impact 30 games anyway.