KingCubsFan

Yeah, I think Hendry keeps forgetting that he no longer works for MacPhail.... Link to where he did or didn't say this? We don't really know what the negotiations have sounded like. All we know is that the Orioles take forever to complete a trade, and that Angelos is probably meddling in some way. The Roberts trade isn't any different than anything else the Orioles have ever done.

And what have those three done since the trade though? Pinto has been somewhat decent, the other two, not so much. That's not the point. Even if all 3 of those guys were out of baseball by 2011, it still would have been a bad trade. When they were traded, they all had value. Value that should have been used accordingly. Actual value or perceived value? Unless you've been talking to a major league GM, then you have absolutely no idea what value they really had, other than what the Florida GM valued them at. Pierre sucked, no doubt about it. The trade wasn't near as bad as people like to make it out to be though. Ignoring for just a moment what those 3 prospects have or haven't done in a Marlins uniform, Juan Pierre should never have been a target in the first place. The failure to recognize that this team needed talented players to be added to the roster rather than a slap hitting lead off hitter is where the mistake began. Trading for a slappy lead off hitter making nearly 6m dollars and strapping the payroll from being able to add talented players is the second mistake. Including 3 cheap and young pitchers was the straw that broke the camel's back. I think another thing that gets overlooked when evaluating the Pierre trade is that it illustrated just how much Hendry values the input of his manager and looks to build his team around things valued by the coaches. As a former coach himself, that's understandable. But it hurts when the team's philosophy changes all the time. When Baker came in, Hendry's philosophy was clearly power pitching and power hitting. Baker wanted speed, defense, etc. and we ended up with two crappy teams. With Piniella, you're seeing a return to power arms in the bullpen, more power, and an increased value in the ability to take a walk.

Didn't we already have this guy? I think his name was the 2005 Chicago Cubs.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p228/irish1289/Net20Short.jpg

At one point, when it looked like he couldn't reach an agreement with the Pads, it looked like Greene might be available. Link? That seemed more to be a nsbb pipe dream more than anything else.

Has there been any indication throughout the offseason that any good shortstop was available, besides Tejada (and would you really want to give up that much for Tejada?)

Get it every February...

Wait, didn't Demp start a few games for us - or am I crazy??? I thought I remembered the Dempster experiment ending poorly and him quickly returning to the pen . . . He made a start, but I'm not sure that qualifies as being a starting pitcher. Didn't the fatter Jon Lieber (David Weathers) make a start against the Cubs in 04? If he attempted to become a regular starting pitcher again, I think you can safely say that he hasn't been a starting pitcher since the late 90's. It might be simple semantics, but I think that if you are the starting pitcher then you are a starting pitcher . . . He made 6 starts that year. I'd be surprised if he makes it past 4 this time around

How unfortunate for you. You don't like him?

He'll be having a Q & A at my school today...

Overall, Hendry is pretty mediocre. He's made some good trades, some bad trades, some bad signings. He's got some serious flaws, but overall he's not as bad as a lot of this board thinks he is. It's funny that a lot of people criticize him for wasting money, but just imagine where we'd be if we signed some of the players a lot of people on this board wanted (i.e. Drew, Schmidt, etc.)

So you're saying to trade those 3 guys for a slightly better than average 2nd baseman? :grin: With the way they are being treated and "showcased" to the rest of baseball, we might be lucky to get Macias. All Lou had to say was Gallagher has a shot at the 5th starter slot, Cedeno will be battling in the spring to beat out our starter at SS, and Murton is a great option to sub in LF and RF and to provide some punch off the bench. Instead we get Gallagher has no shot to start, Theriot is the starter and there's no competition at SS, and Murton is behind Fuld (and DeRosa if the O's trade happens) in the OF. It would be great to buy a used car from Lou, he would tell you everything that's wrong with it and lower the price significantly. If there is a GM that reads Carrie Muskat articles and uses them to evaluate players, I want to deal with him regardless of what Lou tells her.

He's entering the Corey Patterson zone after 177 at bats in the majors last year? Look at his minor league numbers, than look at Corey Patterson's at the same age. You might find something...

Please stop lying. I've listened to the Piniella interview and he never said that. All hew said is that if they made a trade, he'd CONSIDER moving Soriano down. Also, the part about Gallagher was a lie, since he's obviously pitched past AA, and pitched well. Oh, and Roberts also doesnt get on base 40 points higher than Soriano. Roberts OBP: .377 Soriano: .337

Any way you can list just the pitcher rankings?

Truer words have never been spoken. What kind of sick, twisted wretch puts cinnamon in chili? Someone from Ohio

Personally, I hope he wins 7 cy youngs to shove in the face of every douchebag Cubs fan that called him names for the past 4 years. But that's just me. I miss him already. :cry: Oh no! People called him names! It must have been really tough for him, especially considering he was earning millions of dollars to play baseball. And for the last two years, he basically was being paid to play catch and hang out on the West Coast. Did he even travel with the team once last year? Not to target you in particular, but I just don't understand why some people still have such a love affair with Prior. I'm guessing it has to do with a disdain for sportswriters/Hendry. He hated the team, he didn't want to be here, and he never showed any semblance of loyalty to the team, city or fans. Did you root for Ismael Valdes after he left too?

Are you affiliated with the Cubs' organization? If not, how do you know what his work ethic was, because I don't remember ever reading he was lazy. It seemed his problem was always that he was stubborn and refused to change his hitting approach. Combine this with the fact that Dusty tried to turn him into Lou Brock, and therefore pretty much wiped out any of the skills he naturally possessed, and you had a recipe for disaster. If we had left him alone, Patterson never would have become Ken Griffey, but he would have become a very useful player, probably the Khalil Greene of CF's, but with a lot more SB's. How about the fact that CPatt has been playing baseabll for along time, and for the most part he played the game on athlethic ability alone. Once he got into pro baseball, it never "clicked" as a player. He relied on his athlethicism too much, and he NEVER improved. He also chased FASTBALL up, or curveball/slider in the dirt. The only pitches CPatt ever hit were mistake pitches. And yes, I believe Patterson work ethics have been questioned before. I'm not saying having work ethic is the end all, be all to superstardom, because along with work ethic, you have to have to talent to make it work. So yes, I do question Corey Patterson work ethic, and his commitment to playing baseball. Re-read my post

Are you affiliated with the Cubs' organization? If not, how do you know what his work ethic was, because I don't remember ever reading he was lazy. It seemed his problem was always that he was stubborn and refused to change his hitting approach. Combine this with the fact that Dusty tried to turn him into Lou Brock, and therefore pretty much wiped out any of the skills he naturally possessed, and you had a recipe for disaster. If we had left him alone, Patterson never would have become Ken Griffey, but he would have become a very useful player, probably the Khalil Greene of CF's, but with a lot more SB's.

If anything, wouldn't thrusting Pie into the majors too soon be what would stunt his growth and make him "the next Corey Patterson" (again, if anything), seeing as how many feel Patterson didn't develop enough at the minors and was promoted through the system too quickly? That said, I think Pie has proven what he needs to prove in the minors and now needs to show he can do it at the MLB level. It's just that I don't see how having an insurance policy that would, if he's not ready, possibly keep him in the minors another year (he turned 23 4 days ago) would stunt his growth and turn him into the next CP. In my mind, he's proven everything he needs to in the minors. The fact that he's only 23 really doesn't matter, since he started in full season ball when he was 17. We just need to let him play, watch him struggle mightily the first two months, and then reap the benefits for the rest of the season and beyond.

Bringing in Corey Patterson to stunt Felix Pie's growth, in turn making Felix Pie the next Corey Patterson, would be the single dumbest move the Cubs have made in recent memory.

First off, he's 16 not 6. Secondly, what potential have the Cubs been waiting on? The Cubs have never had a good farm system outside of a few years earlier in this decade. And the main reason the Cubs have sucked for most of our lives is because they don't take chances on potential like this enough. They routinely spend at the top 5-7 of all teams in baseball and have nothing to show for it because they can't find and develop talent like this. I should say...around a decade. No team is going to see the kid's potential, till he's atleast 20. I mean, look how long it's taken Felix Pie to develop, and he still not there. I don't mind the Cubs taking chances, but calculated chances. Is this Salcedo kid legitimately talented, or is this a case of Boras overhyping ANOTHER young player? Spending essentially 1st rd money on a kid you have no clue on how well he will perform is not a chance I want the Cubs to get in on. And I realize the Cubs need some SS prospects, but overpaying an unproven SS prospect....is NOT the way to do it. Exactly. This is an even bigger risk than spending a lot of money on a first round SS out of high school who is raw and unproven but has a lot of tools.

Sounds like the next Joel Guzman. Considering he's already 6'3", he'll probably be a third baseman or corner outfielder within the next three years

He's not better than Pie in the long run, but next year I bet he will be. And we're not talking about getting crisp with pie still on the team. We're saying that we would get Crisp if Pie is traded in a different deal. Why not just sign Lofton then? He's better too

Still trying to figure out how Crisp is better than Pie...