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What kind of kool-aid has Donnie Murphy been drinking?

the problem with doing that is if he truly is as horrific as dunn was once he started to lose his athleticism (like mid 2000s), then his bat loses a lot of value. with dunn, you're talking about a guy who was cranking out a wOBA around .390 every season, which was damn near elite, but he was ending up anywhere from a 1 to 3 win player because he gave back so much value on defense. and there's certainly no guarantee that abreu's bat is as good as in-his-prime adam dunn. you can get as much value in LF with a platoon like schierholtz/hairston at a fraction of what abreu is likely to cost. to me, the only realistic option if you sign abreu is to turn around and trade rizzo. i don't like the idea of playing abreu at 1b and rizzo at lf, because they're both going to leak value defensively, and abreu will probably be a joke in lf (and may not even sign to play a new position). Don't fall into the slippery slope argument over positions. Abreu, if signed, is simply a talent grab that opens up more OPTIONS for the organization. You're smart and realize how fickle the baseball gods can be with injuries and regressions. Focus on the talent not the position. No one wants to see an outfield like Rizzo in center, Abreu in left and Vogelbach in right field, though it would bring a beer league softball feeling to wrigley. Seriously though, Rizzo, would be a very nice trade chip to headline a Stanton deal or to grab a power arm rather than having to include Baez to get anything done. The FO has done a great job of restocking the system through scouting, drafting and selling. What remains to be seen is how they use the talent to purchase missing pieces when we are buyers. Can still remember the elation of acquring Garciaparra and Harden at the trade deadlines. Hopefully this ever increasing talent pool yields more 'buys' at the deadline.

From what I've read and heard 1st base is the most likely destination. Hence my comments on getting Rizzo work over the winter with McKay. Abreu seems to fit the FO parameters for adding talent. He is young at 26, has a good pedigree, the cost to acquire is purely monetary with no prospect costs. Most likely will be signed to longer deal and should peak within the FO's 'compete' timeframe. There is a risk associated with any free agent signing. To the casual fan this signing will go under the radar and won't tell the fan base "were ready to compete" as a signing of Cano would. Think the FO will want to appease the casual fan base by making a splash this off season.

Sign Abreu despite the defensive short comings. Give Rizzo some sessions with Dave McKay after the holidays and slowly ramp up to spring training. Rizzo will make the adjustment just fine. Personally I would rather have Cano than Ellsbury. With Cano having a slow start to the second half it might just drive down some of the interest.

When the Garza trade was put on hold for bad physical(s), there was some talk of injecting Seattle into the trade since they had interest in Olt. Rumors were that they Cubs would get an arm for Olt. Sure would like to know which arms were available from Seattle.

Seriously? 2 stinking hits off perennial CY Young candidate Bronson "freaking" Arroyo? Someone lock the game thread index. :banghead:

interesting - must have had a runner hung up and Javy ran at him forcing a tag for it to be unassisted.

Anything's possible, but I have a really hard time seeing that. Starting next year, I think you are going to have to really force your way into the Cubs' roster if you aren't an elite prospect. Johnson doesn't seem like he's going to do that when you could just as easily give him another year in the minors. From what I saw of Hendricks last Thursday in his AAA debut, it wouldn't surprise me to see Hendricks in the #5 spot coming out of spring training. And he is far from an elite prospect but the kid can flat out pitch. He misses a lot of bats and some of those bats were just resting on shoulders. He works fast even with runners on and he quick pitched several hitters.

No need to thank me...Typing and posting before a significant event seems to be my style.

Just checking in to see if the scoreless drought has ended...Same sh*t different day. And who says we don't need an impact bat in Abreu that only costs $$$$. Carry on.

According to the Iowa Cubs website, Hendricks is due to make his first AAA start on Thursday against Fresno. Barring rain - I will make it a point to get down and watch him on Thursday thanks for the heads up! What should I expect? If I recall correctly the radar gun is a tad slow at PP. Hendricks tops out at what? 91- 92 on a normal gun?

Maybe this will shut up some of the people who have way overrated Nate Shierholtz. I'm sure if several team gm's had thought the club's price tag was reasonable Nate would be sporting different colors and would not be penciled in the lineup for right field tonight. Good news for Shierholtz fans - he won't make it through waivers. Bad news is I don't think he will have more value than he did this afternoon.

What are the odds of AA skipping AAA all together with a breakout this spring? With Hendry driving the cub wagon it would be likely. The current FO is another story.

There was a reason I responded with a one line response. Because it should be obvious. However, if you need it spelled out... Micah Hoffpauir entered the majors at age 28 after several years in AAA. He had under 400 PA in the majors, during which he compiled a total of -0.2 WAR with an 88 OPS+ as a poor defensive 1B. Bryan LaHair entered the majors for good at age 28 after several years in AAA. He had under 600 PA in the majors, during which he compiled a total of 0.0 WAR with a 106 OPS+ as a poor defensive 1B. Hist best stretch was a good two months of offensive production, which earned him an all-star nod because of it. Nate Schierholtz entered the majors for good at age 25 after 1+ year in AAA. He has over 1600 PA over 6 years in the majors, during which he compiled a total of 5.3 WAR with a 103 OPS+ as a serviceable defensive OF. He was released by the Phillies after posting a .251/.321/.407 line last year, good for a .739 OPS and a 103 OPS+. He's being used strictly in a platoon this year to accentuate his positives and avoid his negatives. Which one of these is not like the others? Don't go into this rant about platooning in any comparison. The collect trio were all members of a platoon due to bad LHP splits. You proved my point for me. To help clarify my point - How old is Shierholtz right now? 29 I could care less when Shierholtz got into the league I'm not arguing service time nor am I arguing who has accrued the best WAR over ANY season. All three of them had their best season at roughly the same age. From my original post: "Shierholtz is at that magical age where fortune has shined on the likes of Hoffpauer and LaHair" I'm taking you to task over this statement: (Schierholtz is nothing like LaHair/Hoffpauir. Terrible false dichotomy) The trio have more in common than they do differences. They all put it together rather late in their MLB careers around the ages you mentioned in YOUR post for LaHair and Hoffpauir . All three were parts of a platoon as the LHP splits were bad. The trio peaked at basically the same time frame in their perspective careers. When you look at the peripheral percentages they look like triplets to me.

For now, I will ignore the multiple negation preceeding the dichotomy reference. Which begs the question, were you referring to a jointly exhaustive dichotomy or a mutually exclusive dichotomy? Take some time, which you didn't when responding to my post, to actually look at the numbers and draw some conclusions. If you need me to do that for you then I can proceed with the Player A , Player B, and Player C format comparison. I'm thinking though, my time is better spent having meaningful discourse with fellow Cub fans rather than responding to: "Schierholtz is nothing like LaHair/Hoffpauir. Terrible false dichotomy" There was a reason Shierholtz was non-tendered by the Phillies in the offseason.

I don't have a problem with retaining Barney, Shierholtz, and Russell. Their value, I fear, won't ever be this high again since a lot of their value is tied to team control for at least another year. Shierholtz is at that magical age where fortune has shined on the likes of Hoffpauer and LaHair. There is a window right now where the Tigers could give us a nice asset for Barney and bullpen help. Gregg's value is already starting to erode, especially, after last night's 3 walk performance. He needs to go and fast. Could care less if Shierholtz goes to the Pirates. By the time we are ready to compete, Shierholtz will be long forgotten. DeJesus I would prefer to hold onto, if for no other reason, his wife is smoking hot. He works deep into counts and provides adequate defense. If some club wants to give us a B level prospect for him, take it and take his picture down from the Cub press room.... With Soriano on the way out my main concern has been addressed. There will be plenty of at bats and reps available for the Olt's, Vitters, and Lake's this fall. Valbuena can get quality reps at 2B if Barney is moved. If we are having selling discussions at the trade deadline of 2015 then this FO has failed.

I think there was more fallout from trading DeRosa than there ever was regarding the Garza deal. Think Archer and Stevens were the centerpieces of that deal.

I forgot his name but the Yankees are linked to a big time Latina IFA who won't turn 16 till August. That money is already spoken for. Is she a position player or a pitcher? lol classic

Bravo bhogg! Most of the posters here have no clue who those guys were but you forgot a couple more busts.. Eric Duncan and David Parrish should slot right between Taylor and Kevin "no" Maas.

Getting a little tired of the Rangers and the leaks coming from them. No Profar (pipe dream anyway), No Feliz and no Perez. Oh but they are willing to add in Ramirez with only one option year remaining. I realize Garza is a rental but they are getting a second player. If that second player is Shierholtz or Russell then you simply hang up on them. Edit: Add - Sure wish we could trade Garza to the A's just to remind the Rangers they messed up.

I'm guessing that the Rangers are not going get Garza. And leaking this information to the press is a way to save face. Bet the deal is already done with another team. And Texas was notified that a deal is already place. Hence the "too expensive" crap from them. There is no other scenario I can think of for leaking the information.

Those shoes Harvey and Scherzer are wearing are filthier if that is in fact a scrabble legal word.

I'm a huge fan of Castellanos. He would provide average defense at 3B and his BAT would be noticed in Chicago at the same time he would provide long term lineup flexibility. Playing 3B until the cub prospects push him to the outfield. Could also allow Valbuena to move to 2B as needed. Heck I would add Barney to the Bowden deal remove Garcia and Thompson just to add Castallanos.

Cecchini reminds me of Dave Magadan in the early 80's with the mets. Great contact / BA with anemic power. Magadan was 6-4 tall and 245 pounds. Has anyone seen Cecchini? The press release stats are usually fabrications.

Hopefully this is somewhat realistic. Filling the tigers needs: Garza - Gregg - Barney (may need to add more to get this deal done--- some options could be (Russell, Christian Villanueva) for Nick Castellanos and Endrys Briceno and/or lottery ticket. Tigers would address 3 glaring holes in a win now mentality. Castellanos is an impact bat that could move back to 3rd base and then back to the outfield when the Cubs 3b prospects mature. Briceno, a low A pitcher, with a plus fastball and an even better changeup. opinions?