USSoccer

Why hasn't Rocket created a "Bruce Miles Signal"? We could use one right now.

It's depressing to think of what we could have had selling Cruz when his value was sky-high.... :x And I agree with your statement.

No, you are right on par with our thoughts. What the hell is the point of this deal?? I have a strong inclination that its part of something larger. Tell me if this makes sense For some reason, the reds want Gerut. But, for whatever reason (probably a territorial thing) the Indians GM does not want to trade with him. So, Hendry trades for Gerut. THen spins him to CIncy in a package for dunn. He could be the "Established major league position player" that we have talked about in the dunn threads. THoughts? Roast- I wish that were true, but somehow I doubt that Dan O'Brien would be pining for Jody Gerut. I think that the hangup with any Dunn deal would be the pitching prospects we could give them.

He's not that young; he's only 27, and he doesn't have great power for a corner OF. He's basically Ben Grieve with slightly more power.

The guys on the Score have the baseball knowledge of your average Cubs.com poster. As a group, they aren't very insightful. They are very impressed by "name" players, as evidenced by the pining for Jason Schmidt a few weeks ago.

Is this official, or are you guessing?

All everyone's saying is that it seems odd, given that we already have Hollandsworth and Grieve, and Gerut isn't better than either.

I joked earlier that the White Sox might want Hollandsworth for Shingo. Maybe it's Grieve for Shingo. Boston doesn't need another OF, right? What about the Angels? Certainly we wouldn't deal with the Cardinals, who just lost Sanders, right?

Byrnes? A Gerut/Byrnes platoon would be good, yet we would probably overpay for what it would provide. Who would we send Colorado? It would have made more sense to just send Colorado Dubois for Byrnes.

Maybe we're trading Hollandsworth for Shingo... just kidding. I agree that it doesn't make sense. Someone page Bruce Miles or Hoops!

Who would want him, and for what? Holla would only be attractive to teams looking for an extra bat off the bench. FWIW, I really doubt we send Murton down because of this. Grieve most likely goes down. Why would one platoon Gerut and Hollandsworth?

Why not keep Grieve? It's almost the same player. He is two years younger, way more athletic and a much better defender. But it's not like it's a major upgrade between the two. In my opinion, it's not worth giving up a player who's 2 years younger, has ML power, and could be used as part of a larger deal. It seems to me to be a very lateral, unecessary move.

Or Grieve. I don't get this move unless we're moving someone else. Why give up Dubois and send Grieve down to make room for Gerut when you could just keep Dubois in AAA, maybe use him in a bigger deal, and leave Grieve on the 25 man as the 5th OF?

Why not keep Grieve? It's almost the same player.

I'm not a fan at this point...I'll reserve judgment for now, but the numbers don't look good...

WSCR reported it...

Hmm...interesting.... Gerut's carrer line and season line: G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS 304 1096 150 291 73 8 34 137 107 143 18 12 .266 .337 .440 .777 44 138 12 38 9 1 1 12 18 14 1 1 .275 .357 .377 .733 I'd say this is a completely lateral move, but that's too easy to say. No offense, man, but I hope your source is wrong.

Pierre's SB % is a huge improvement over Hairston. 20 more SB's and still CS less than Hairston. That is 20 more singles or walks that were in essence doubles. Pierre has much better range than Hairston. You are right Pierre doesn't have a great arm, but he is hardly lacking range. Looking at their career numbers to say that Hairston is comparable to Pierre is a joke. Once again, nothing that you said backs up your point. -Pierre's career CS % is 36%. That's bad. While his overall percentage this year is better than Hairston's, that's partially a result of Hairston only having 8 attempts. Now, Hairston is no base stealer, and in my opinion, I'm perfectly comfortable with having my 1-2 hitters not running at all, or only in 3-2 counts, because it lessens the chance of a CS taking a baserunner away from Lee and Ramirez. I don't think the SB is as signifigant of a thing as others do. Baseball Prospectus stats bear this out, as BK has posted. -Now, career numbers: G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS 773 3119 482 958 106 44 9 226 206 190 236 86 .307 .356 .378 .734 604 2052 274 537 113 13 30 177 183 259 100 47 .262 .335 .373 .709 Hairston has nearly as many career BB's, more career HR's, a comparable CS% (36% vs 47%), nearly as good of an OBP, comparable SLG% and OPS in about 1100 fewer AB's. What does this tell me? That Pierre benefits greatly from the infield track in Florida, which is not an advantage he's enjoy in Chicago. Fewer bunt hits would severly reduce Pierre's effectiveness, as evidenced by a guy who has 1100 fewer AB's but nearly as many walks. That is a big red flag. -Regarding their defense, Hairston has a stronger arm, Pierre is faster. Push. They both take bad routes to balls. This is a draw, as I said. As you can see, I made several points which back up my statement that Pierre's percieved value will always be much higher than his actual worth. If you believe them or not, I can't control, but the numbers are right there, and they don't justify paying the likely price for a marginal upgrade.

If the deal that's posted on Yahoo Sports is accurate, the Fish just unloaded Lowell and Burnett, and those were the only players there was a real need to move. They don't have a CF to replace Pierre, and I wouldn't characterize what they are doing as unloading. They're clearing room for a top OF prospect to play LF, Cabrera slides into 3B, they dump salary, aquire a decent pen arm and bench bat (Bigbie and Julio), and pick up a allegedly serviceable SP in Redman. Florida is more retooling. There's still lots of time for them to get back into the race. Which means if a team wants Pierre, they'll likely listen, but they'll ask for top talent from the minors as well as a ML arm or 2.

Interesting deal. The fish must want Lowell gone pretty badly to nearly pay all his salary to get himout, although they do make out very well in that deal overall. Except for Redman. He's not that good.

Few have said he wouldn't be an upgrade over Hairston. At issue is how much of an upgrade he'd be and what it would likely cost to get him. I'd agree with that - but that doesnt seem to be the general consensus here at all. His numbers this year and in years past show hed be a considerable upgrade in our outfield and batting in the leadoff spot - correct? that's the word that makes the difference in the debate. Consider a few things: -The infield grass at Wrigley is cut longer than at Dolphins Stadium, so Pierre's bunting would be less effective. -his SB% are low enough that they adversly affect his OBP; when you factor in his slugging %, it's a real blight. -His OF defense is a bit below par. The overall defensive difference between Hairston and Pierre, when factoring in arm strength and accuracy, range, routes, etc is roughly equal. -The Marlins would ask for a mint for Pierre, since everyone in baseball seems to think he was the reason behind their WS run in 2003. Thus, if we tried to aquire him, the price would be comparable to getting Adam Dunn. So consider that for a moment. If you're going to spend those prospects, would you rather have the leadoff hitter who will perform, at best, slightly better that the leadoff guy you already have, or the LF who would severely outperform your current LF? That's why there's little Pierre love here. The numbers don't bear it out to be a wise aquisition. The perception of Pierre's ability will always be greater than his actual worth.

Given how his tenure ended, I doubt he'd be thrilled to come back. Plus, his numbers this year, plus the fact he's signed for 2006, mean that we'd have to give up decent prospects for him.

Somehow I think Tim doesn't miss him in LF. :P I do, though. Despite his flaws, i think he'd be better than what we have....

Per WSCR 670. A proposed trade to the D'Backs fell through, so the Sox DFA'd him to make room for El Duque. Any interest here?

Too many Cub fans are haunted by the perception of how the Marlins beat us in 2003. Pierre's speed didn't account for a single run in the NLCS. He'd be a marginal upgrade over Hairston, and certainly wouldn't be worth the cost you'd pay for him. That said, I can see Hendry pursuing him.