MeatampPotatoesMan

What?! He spent less than a season in the minors. All he did was go through the paces. He was MLB ready out of college. I guess those 9 games in the minors "developed" him. Murton spent little over 1 season in our system to get to the major league club.

get ready to defend yourself. Nah. I've seen a lot of posters make similar assessments of late. Well, I'll agree it is not great, especially after producing major league caliber players like Murton and Cedeno just last season. It is thin at top end talent like Pie and Pawelek and maybe Guzman, but it has depth with other quality players that have a shot like EPatt, Harvey, Dopirak, Pinto, Marshall, Marmol, Nolasco, Gallagher and many others. They'll probably rank in the middle of the pack after Murton and Cedeno joined the big club this season. If middle of the pack equals "suks" to you. That's fine. To me, this is the bottom part of their cycle. Their system has been fairly productive of late (Choi, B. Hill, Prior, Zambrano, Harris, Dubois, R. Hill, Murton, Cedeno, Pie) and needs to restock itself over the next couple of years. They've done it before. They can do it again. Prior and Murton weren't products of our farm system.

wow, if Depo had to work with these clowns that are calling the shots now, no wonder he "had communication issues." what a bunch of morons. bradley in Wrigley? yes, please. earn your freaking paycheck baker. you can't have wall to wall choirboys.

get ready to defend yourself. Nah. I've seen a lot of posters make similar assessments of late. you're right, IMO. i like following our farm system, but we really don't have any can't miss prospects. pie is supposedly our best, and he really doesn't impress me, but i'm not a huge fan of scout potential assessments. we did have a very good farm system several year ago. now we're pretty much middle of the pack.

i love when she reads my emails. :lol:

Put me down for the idea that he won't get back up there. I think that was just one long freak accident. Dude can't walk. i concur.

Huston Street (Closer - Athletics) in the AL Ryan Howard (1B - Phillies) in the NL

sounds more like a nightmare to me. :(

i'd be happy with murton in LF, giles in CF, and mench in RF. :lol: forget stellar defense in the OF.

here's what Baseball Prospectus has to say: He already has a tremendously powerful stroke, pretty decent plate discipline, and an uncanny ability to adjust the head of his bat in mid-swing. He reminds me of Troy Glaus offensively. Defensively, he reminds me of Ben Grieve or Greg Luzinski. (Jamey Newberg, BP) --------- He was considered the best prospect in the organization in 2001 (by BP) and then a wrist injury (and subsequent surgery) caused him to delay his MLB debut.

For this guy...really? I don't see trading a decent 3-5 guy like Williams for a possible 4th OF guy. 4th OF? I think you're selling him short. His .797 ops from last year places him 12th amongst rf's in 2005. Yes, nothing great, but he's shown that he can go over .850 which would place him 6th in 2005. He'll only be 28, so he can improve. .. Not a bad gamble for Williams, who may end up in the pen anyway. Mench is far from option #1 tho. Isn't Texas a hitters park? Could that skew the numbers? here's his '05 splits: home: .273/.340/.486/.825 away .254/.317/.452/.769 the amount of 2B, 3B, and HR are pretty much equal away/home.

Well, we have heard reports that the Cubs are going hard after Giles. I think many are just choosing to disregard it because it was Gammons. When did Gammons link Giles to the Cubs? viewtopic.php?t=26193&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15 Scroll down to Bruno's post. Heck, you even replied.. :wink: EDIT - lmao. i just remembered Gammons saying we were looking for an "impact corner outfielder" in the ESPN Radio 11/4/05 thread. it's kind of funny that ESPN insider doesn't even have the Cubs listed as a possible suitor for Giles (they have: Cardinals, Red Sox, Mariners, Yankees, Indians). I guess Gammons isn't an "insider." :lol: Gammons seems to be the only soul who thinks Giles in Chicago is more than a pipe dream. I hope he's right.

Well, we have heard reports that the Cubs are going hard after Giles. I think many are just choosing to disregard it because it was Gammons. When did Gammons link Giles to the Cubs?

i think it's well known that Furcal is their #1 priority. That isn't stealth. we're probably just not that interested in Giles. With other big spenders on the loose and in need of an OFer, he's very likely to get more than Hendry is willing to pay ($ and years).

Just say no to Preston Wilson.

...or we could get Dunn. I'll just say right now that i'd give up Pie and then some for Dunn. No need to debate Dunn's weaknesses/strengths, it's been done before several times.

offer them a bunch of junk and they'll bite? they do have their own 40 man roster, you know.

he has solid plate discipline, but hasn't hit for average...yet. if that falls in line, we might be looking at a cheap .875-.900 OPS player. that's obviously not a sure thing though. if we did get Mench, who makes the league minimum, we'd have a ton of money to spend elsewhere (SS, 2B, CF, rotation, pen). i don't endorse that, but hey, i guess it's nice to see hendry interested in a guy with plate discipline. :? ...or he could be a solid bench option.

What a bad way to start a day... :x :x Why? don't you like Mench? ...or is it just the thought of parting with Walker? Both. What's there to like about Mench? Other than in 2003, his OBP has hovered around .330. Sure, his SLG is pretty good, but he's not very good at not making outs. Trading Walker for Mench would in no way improve the team. He played 38 games in '03. Just throw that year out. What you see in his stats in his plate discipline developing. Check the progression of his K/BB rates. that's a very solid indicator. his obp will improve. he is a career .818 OPS hitter (burnitz put up a whopping .757 in '05...i think he's done in MLB anyways) making the league minimum. if hendry is going out for him, i don't think he'll be a starter (he'd be a more than solid bench option). if he does start, hendry must be planning to spend a ton elsewhere (and we already have a lot of money to spend).

What a bad way to start a day... :x :x Why? don't you like Mench? ...or is it just the thought of parting with Walker?

Baldelli has also hit .289 and .281 in his 2 seasons. He's a much better hitter than Patterson. And you have ridiculously high standards if you call the seasons Baldelli had at 21 and 22, respectively, crappy. He is not entirely crappy, but i'm guessing you would want more out of your RF than what he has shown to date. Yeah. But what does that have to do with anything? His point was that the Cubs don't need a player like Badelli. His comparison may have been a little bit of a stretch, but it doesn't change the fact that the Cubs should try to do better than Baldelli. he hit .289/.326/.416 and .280/.326/.436 in his first two seasons. his obp sucks b/c he strikes out three times for every walk he takes (he's always been that way). it's amazing that he can be well above average in BA, but below average in OBP. i like his speed and he has ok power, but his plate discipline scares me.

Neifi has no business on our baseball team ever. You can find someone better, cheaper, younger, or all of the above really easily. He never should've been signed in '04, he never should've been retained, and we shouldn't be talking about bringing him back. I understand that is how you feel. I'm asking why. I don't understand how he could be considered to be so utterly worthless. Can you help me understand? Neifi is utterly worthless offensively. This season, as bad as he was, is one of (if not the) best of his career. Neifi should never be an option to start for a period of time, he's too terrible on offense. This is a catch-22, because Neifi's only value is playing good defense, which is mitigated when he's in a bench role. Cubbieinexile articulated this point very well earlier. Neifi isn't young, he has little to no upside. His production can be replaced very very easily. The only way he should be on a team of the Cubs' caliber is if they are absolutely ravaged by injuries(Think Nomar and Cedeno going down for the season) and he should be brought in as a backup to some other alternative(trade, younger signing, minor leaguer already in the system, etc.). i'm going to have to disagree. Neifi has a continually declining batting average and OBP as the season progresses (or after substituting him partway through the season). he's good offensively when using him as a short term starter. just look at the game logs for each of his MLB seasons. his D is solid. neifi is a good player when used properly, which Dusty obviously can't do, but that doesn't mean he is "worthless." overpaid for how dusty uses him? of course. blame that on both JH and Dusty the Fool.

Baldelli has horrible plate discipline. Horrible. He's been consistently crappy from day 1. No thanks. We don't need CPat Jr. in center field.

Trying to fill holes through free agency is just asking to be stuck with a bad contract. Sometimes it has to be done though. Hopefully we only get one player via FA (we have so many holes, it's hard to imagine filling them all via trade), and not 2 or 3 of the top FAs (Burnett, Furcal, Giles), which will burden us for 4-5 years. Keep in mind that those FA contracts listed on the link were for the first year of their contracts. How many of those players are going to regress as those contracts mature?

The only reason I like Boston is b/c they hate the Yankees.