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KingCubsFan

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  1. KingCubsFan
    IIRC, he was a guy who had a lot of tools but was pretty raw for being a college player when he was drafted. His first year in Peoria was pretty good, but it looks like he never built on that. I don't know how is defense is, but that will probably determine whether or not he ever gets a shot as a utility player.
  2. KingCubsFan
    Never underestimate the desperation of NBA GM's to get under the cap so they can waste it on overrated players a few years down the road.
  3. KingCubsFan
    If they're really that desperate to give up Elton Brand, I'd gladly throw Hinrich (or trade Hinrich for an expiring contract) and the #16. And Gibson if that's what it took.
  4. KingCubsFan
    If all we're going to get is someone like Johnson/Boozer/Lee, I'd just assume take our cap space and take Elton Brand off the 76ers hands along with the #2 pick. Rose, Turner and Noah would be better than overpaying for a semi-star.
  5. KingCubsFan
    That has to be the funniest post I've read in a long time. Take a page of of Kenny Williams' book? The WS have one of the worst farm systems and he has traded all of his prospects for "young" players like Andruw Jones, Peavy, Pierre, Teahen, and Kotsay. :lol: Did you even read what he said? Williams isn't all that great at his job, but he is smart about what KCF was talking about. Carlos Quentin being the most obvious example, although injuries seem to have kept him from being useful since 2008. Well the guys I listed average almost 32 years old and have a 2010 line of .228/.321/.371/.693. That certainly doesn't sound like "some underachieving/underutilized young players" to me and neither does it sound like guys I want to build a team around. BTW, I agree that Quentin was worth taking a chance on, but he's been terrible this year too. What about Quentin, Matt Thornton, Bobby Jenks, Sergio Santos, John Danks, Gavin Floyd and Paul Konerko (maybe before Kenny's time)?
  6. KingCubsFan
    And posts a near .400 OBP with excellent defense in right field. His slugging has also improved each year he's been in the majors and currently sits at .456. Teams value that. His career slugging is .408, and his .456 slugging currently sits 14th among right fielders. While his .375 OBP is good, it's not good enough to overcome his lack of power at a position where teams typically look for it. And teams don't typically pay much of a premium for defense in right field. I'm not saying Fukudome isn't a useful player, but his worth on the current market is nowhere near his salary.
  7. KingCubsFan
    Kosuke couldn't get a 2/26 deal right now? Or Z get a 2/36 deal? I'd bet both would get similar deals to those. And I'd just about guarantee Ramirez would have gotten a 2/30 deal before this season and if he can rebound in the second half of this year and first half of next year, there's no question whatsoever he'd get a 1/14.6 deal. None of those three are vastly overpaid. Kosuke has been very productive for two seasons and started this year well. Z and Ramirez have struggled this year, but both have very recently been very good to great and can very realistically get the trade value back that they had as recently as this past offseason. I don't see the logic in just dumping players who could net us some decent to very good prospects. Kosuke is a right fielder who hits 10 HR's a year. He'd probably get something closer to 2/10.
  8. KingCubsFan
    Trading Kosuke and getting nothing would be awful, same with Z. Both have been very good to great very recently (this year for Fukudome) and neither have awful contracts. There's really no comparison of Kosuke and Rios' contract either. Rios is paid $1 million less than Kosuke per year, but is guaranteed through 2014, while Kosuke's contract is up next year (three years earlier). In the same way, Z is overpaid, but his contract is guaranteed only through 2012 – two years less than Rios. That difference cannot be overstated. In the part of what you said that I quoted, we would save quite a bit of money, but we would also lose out on the chance to get value for very valuable pieces. There almost certainly is a market for Kosuke and Z, there will be for Aramis assuming he rebounds and there could be for Soriano if he continues to hit. Getting nothing for Kosuke and Z and selling Aramis at the lowest point he'll ever be at are extremely short-sighted at best. Other than Ramirez, I would be surprised if any of them had a significant market unless we ate a lot of money.
  9. KingCubsFan
    Pretty much every veteran on this team is overpaid (other than Byrd and Lilly), which makes sense considering when they were all signed. A "fire sale" would basically mean paying off half or more of their contracts and getting a few Hendry specials: high A/AA bullpen arms with the ability to throw in the mid-90's. In today's game, young players are a much more valuable asset than underachieving veterans. The best use of a fire sale would be to simply remove these players from the team so that players with more upside could get a chance, and save some money in the mean time. Hendry should take a page from Kenny Williams' book and go get some underachieving/underutilized young players and build from there. Guys like Alex Gordon, Stephen Drew, Cameron Maybin, Delmon Young, etc. are the type of players we should be targeting until most of these contracts are off the books in 2011. If you get lucky with a few, you've got some cost-effective players under control for a few years. If not, it's not a huge loss and you retool when Prince Fielder/Adrian Gonzalez become free agents.
  10. KingCubsFan
    are you suggesting that 17 walks in 25 innings is not that good? He's sucked out of the pen, but his two outings as a starter have been halfway decent so far. I know, small sample size and all that, but it seems like the only success he's had in his career has been in a starting role. I can't wait for next year when he's in our rotation and Cashner is still our all-important right handed setup man.
  11. KingCubsFan
    I'm quickly souring on LeMahieu
  12. KingCubsFan
    He actually kind of looks like him and has a similar swing but I think he could have more power than Byrd. Given this organization's track record, he sounds like the next Mike Mallory
  13. KingCubsFan
    It happens in every other draft, so I don't see why it can't happen in baseball. You see people trade up 1 or 2 spots in the NFL draft every year to steal a player. Those moves aren't based on a hunch.
  14. KingCubsFan
    These two statements don't really work together in the context of the Simpson pick. In the game theory of the draft, it can definitely be a great benefit to not draft the #1 guy on your board. What they're saying by drafting him is that they had Simpson rated high enough that: a) he was the best player on the board b) he was so much better than the #2 guy that it was worth to pass on the high probability that Simpson lasted to the 2nd(or even 3rd) round I'd prefer Wilken taking the #2 guy on the board 150 times out of 10 if it means that there's a strong likelihood that they can end up with their #1 and #2 guys cumulatively. I just find it hard to believe that Simpson rated so highly it wasn't worth that gamble, and that there was a team out there waiting to take him before 67. From Phil Rogers:
  15. KingCubsFan
    Thank goodness he's in our bullpen! http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0606-bits-cubs-astros-chicago-20100605,0,4786128.story I don't have a problem with Cashner getting his feet wait on the majors as a reliever. Is it ideal? No, as I prefer him getting him innings as a starter in the minors. But what will pissed me off is if (or possibly when) the Cubs bounce him from bullpen to starter back to the bullpen, ala Sean Marshall and Shark. How about when they make him a starter next year, let his innings increase by 100 innings, and then he blows out his elbow?
  16. KingCubsFan
    You have a very short memory. Dusty is a franchise killer, Lou just has ADD and can't manage a bullpen.
  17. KingCubsFan
    Thank goodness he's in our bullpen! http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0606-bits-cubs-astros-chicago-20100605,0,4786128.story
  18. KingCubsFan
    They pulled him from Peoria too early, especially considering the lack of offensive talent on the team.
  19. KingCubsFan
    This is why you can't let GM's (and managers, to a lesser extent) stay in the organization with a "Win Now or Leave" mandate, because they make stupid, shortsighted decisions like this. I respect Ricketts' decision to evaluate the management before making any decisions, but if he's serious about making the farm system a priority this should be the final straw. Hendry has now moved our top prospect to the majors at the age of 20 and moved our #2 and (arguably) #3 prospects to the bullpen, all in an attempt to save his job. He's basically trying to Dusty this organization for the second time in 10 years.
  20. KingCubsFan
    Why? Because in a non-Lou NL lineup that's typically where you dump someone who is not a terribly good or consistent hitter because the pitcher is coming up after them. It basically gives the opposing team all the incentive in the world the pitch around a good hitter in that spot in certain situations. He's probably just going to see too much garbage pitching if he's kept in the 8th spot and I'd rather he be challenged higher up in the lineup. There's also the added "pressure" of having to make something happen because the pitcher is up next. Ironically, having Castro up is about the only time you could sorta justify Lou's insistence of hitting Soto 8th if Castro is hitting 7th...but not really. Having those two that low in the lineup is just dumb. To me, the biggest thing that Castro has to learn is the ability to lay off that junk and identify a good pitch to hit. The 8th spot is good for that. I find it strange that you feel he may have the pressure to "make something happen" out of the 8th spot, but don't recognize that same pressure hitting leadoff, where hitters make careers out of providing a "spark" or "jumpstarting" an offense simply because they make contact and can run.
  21. KingCubsFan
    Why?
  22. KingCubsFan
    The media might talk about the need for a true leadoff hitter ad nauseum, but that does not make the leadoff spot any more difficult to actually play. It's just hitting. And Castro hasn't looked any different going from 8 to 2. He's handled every "promotion" he's been given incredibly well. And you aren't asking him to play out of position, since despite all the nonsense, leadoff is not a position. He might handle it well, but I don't see any reason to put unnecessary pressure on him. It's pretty obvious most players see leadoff as some sort of magical position, and you don't want Castro to start pressing in order to impress his coaches and teammates.
  23. KingCubsFan
    What's wrong with Castro leading off against lefties? In his limited time up he's posting significantly better OBP against LH pitchers. LH starters: .316 .480 .474 .954 (6 games) RH starters: .366 .366 .512 .878 (10 games) It may be asking too much of a first year player. However, since it's the lesser half of the platoon (so to speak) I guess it would be ok. How is it too much? It's not like that guy has extra duties. Right or wrong, players, managers and the media put a lot of emphasis on the leadoff spot, and you don't want to put any added pressure on Castro to perform like a "true" leadoff hitter. I still think the 8th spot is the best place for him, simply because it should help his pitch recognition.
  24. KingCubsFan
    Good to see Larry Suarez finding a role, although it's strange he basically pitches 2 innings every appearance. If they were stretching him out to be in the starting rotation, you'd think his outings would be longer by now.
  25. KingCubsFan
    Yeah he isn't slow BP's kevin goldstein has said multiple times that he has average speed, but does an average runner really beat the throw easily on that liner in the gap yesterday? sure doesn't seem like it to me. he had 5 triples in 26 games at tennessee; hard to do that as an average runner. He's always been the one guy that has been down on Castro compared to others. Was he the one that compared Brendan Harris to Albert Pujols? Ever since that comment, I've always taken BP's minor league analysis with a grain of salt.
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