KingCubsFan

5 years, 70 million? I guess he really did take a discount

Didn't Ramirez have a NTC?

Hendry? Is that you?

Dear Jim Hendry, http://www.users.muohio.edu/rothkr/fdup.jpg

He throws hard, has good stuff and put up pretty good numbers this year. I agree that he's not one of the top 5 pitching prospects in the minors, but he was probably the Tigers' best trading chip this offseason. He's certainly more valuabe than Wuertz

Tigers give up their top prospect... http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/11/10/sheffield.tigers/index.html

He is still under 30 years old and a switch to the National League favors him. Yes he has an issue with walks. No he isn't Greg Maddux in his prime. But he is in the top 2 for FA pitchers this year (not counting Matsuzaka as an FA). And he does improve the Cubs pitching staff. I like Schmidt more, primarily because I think power wins more often in the playoffs, but Zito is good. You have to take what the market bears - it's not like the Cubs can summon up a better option than Zito or Schmidt. I dont have a problem with Zito. I think hes fine, but severly overrated. The orignal argument was that the two characteristics that Gammons used to value Zito in your original post...being healthy and winning are poor ways to measure a pitchers value. Just because he is in the top 2 FA for his position doesnt mean I'm enthused by him...hell, Wes Helms is in the top 2 FA for 3b (assuming we keep ARAM). Health is a poor way to measure a pitcher's value?

Wasn't there a controversy a couple years ago because Drew wanted to play CF because he said there was less cutting involved and it was easier on his knees than RF? The Dodgers put Milton Bradley in CF instead. Yes, that is correct. Plus in Wrigley, I'd have to imagine its actually easier on the body to play CF than RF. Plus, I dont really understand how playing RF would be easier on one's body (legs). Didn't Sammy say something to that effect when he played center for a few games too?

Would make a much nicer addition than Carlos Lee. http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6149242 Referring to another player mentioned in Rosenthal's article, I wouldn't mind trading for Jason Jennings if the price wasn't too steep. With the Rockies' need for a center fielder, Jennings' salary and his performance last year, I would think any package would at least start with Pie and another prospect.

Same here, I don't want either of them. Sheff is just one of those players I do not like. I like players that help the Cubs win - I remember that whole "going with good guys" after 2004 didn't pan out so well... If Kim-Jong Il had a nasty slider I'd want him in the bullpen. Why not as a starter? Durability issues?

That's not the point. He inherited a team capable of winning the division. If he didn't, they wouldn't have won the division. Wait a minute-the original point is that a GM who takes a team capable of winning a division and doesn't do much more isn't that good of a GM. The original point I made was that it's absurd to claim Depodesta inherited a team that could win the division but Hendry did not. It's true that the 2002 Cubs had a lot of talent, although I don't think they were quite as good as the 2003 Dodgers, who won 85 games. A team that loses 97 games is not set up to win a division. Regardless, this still does not explain why DePodesta should ever be a GM again, or be hired to solve the Cubs problems.

Paul Depodesta is certainly not the answer to any of our problems Yeah Penny, Lowe, Drew, and Kent are sure stinkin up the joint. Neither are Barrett, Lee, Ramirez or Jones. Your point? the point is that hendry's had 4 seasons to figure it out and hasn't, while depleting the majority of the minor league system that he himself built. depodesta was given 2 years and fired, while accomplishing everything that hendry had accomplished--he wasn't allowed the time to develop a minor league system (which is what the success in oakland was built around) and was fired before being able to assemble his team. sometimes things have to get worse before they get better. with hendry, they got good (due in part to moves he made and players he had drafted and developed) and then they got way worse, which was directly his fault. depodesta wasn't allowed to build a team. he was allowed to tear down, but not rebuild in his vision. that's totally unfair. the cubs have been very fair with hendry, including giving him a 2-year extension for letting his team get bad. in addition, he's shown no organizational plan other than flying by the seat of his pants, there's no blueprint for going forward or certainty that things will get even slightly better. DePodesta took a good team and made it worse. Unlike Hendry, he inherited a team capable of winning a division. Of all the players he signed or traded for, he overpaid for all of them. He couldn't even find a manager to replace Jim Tracy. In fact, he was one step ahead of Hendry when he entered the organization because he inherited a great minor league system. I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say that DePodesta "accomplished" in his two years everything that Hendry has. To me, DePodesta really accomplished nothing. If you want to replace Hendry with someone who has ties to Billy Beane, that's fine. But there are much better candidates than DePodesta. Also, you say that DePodesta never got to build his vision of a team through his farm system. I think all Dodger fans should be thankful for that. One of his few good moves as GM was keeping Logan White, despite the fact that their philosophies on drafting are completely opposite. Without Logan White, the Dodgers would be a complete disaster.

Paul Depodesta is certainly not the answer to any of our problems Yeah Penny, Lowe, Drew, and Kent are sure stinkin up the joint. Neither are Barrett, Lee, Ramirez or Jones. Your point?

Stocksill can keep all of them. We need to clean out the system and get rid of his horrible draft picks. I'll take Wilken's undrafted free agent signees.

Paul Depodesta is certainly not the answer to any of our problems

It all depends on which Hendry we'll see this offseason. During his tenure, it seems like there's been two Hendry's. If we see a return of the GM who traded for Lee despite having Choi at first, constructing a trade for Nomar, trading for Barrett, etc. than he might surprise and do something like sign a foreign player to play 2nd base. But the past two years, he's been very reactive and has just tried to patch holes on a sinking ship. Hopefully that doesn't continue.

http://www.users.muohio.edu/rothkr/fdup.jpg Great idea! People like Mulder are just what we need, considering we haven't been burned by injured pitchers in the past. If we're going for upside, should we resign Wood to be in the rotation too? Slot him in with Miller and Prior?

He had a higher OPS last year away from home. Not saying I want to sign him, but his season wasn't a total product of Texas' stadium

The Cardinals with Yadier Molina

it would be tempting. i wonder if the bo sox would give up kottaras for howry or eyre? I dont think Hendry would do that deal. Hendry probably has to win now to keep his job. Kottaras needs more time to develop before he can become an elite catcher. Does he have to be an elite catcher right now for the Cubs to win in that scenario? I could deal with Kottaras and Bengie behind the plate. But, I think the cubs could do just as fine with Soto and Bengie. I would think Hendry would look for a defense-first catcher to replace Barrett. Doesn't Kottaras have some defense questions?

No, I think it's just that most writers are dumb enough to equate the Cubs' failure with lack of hustle. They've been criticizing Ramirez since the beginning of last season. I guess apparent lack of hustle=laziness=indifference=inability to produce early in the season. Yet, Pierre never gets criticized despite the fact that, while Ramirez was apparently singlehandedly ruining our season, he was probably the worst hitter, OPS-wise, in the majors and wasn't doing his one simple task: getting on base in front of Ramirez.

Also, it's good to have someone like him as the 5th starter because, if Prior comes back, Heilman could shift to the bullpen. You couldn't really do that with Padilla or Suppan and, hopefully, Hill's performance will dictate that he stays in the rotation.

I don't know what will be worse if Ramirez leaves. The fact that he's gone, or the idea of opening up the papers the next day and seeing idiot writers applaud the Cubs for not meeting the demands of a "lazy" and "selfish" player who wouldn't be able to meet the demands of Lou Piniella, complete with a reference to World Series MVP David Eckstein.

Your original post implies that Hendry makes it a habit of trading our prospects for mediocre garbage. This just isn't true. In his 3+ years as GM, he's done this once (Juan Pierre) and traded one good prospect (Ricky Nolasco). Hendry does a lot of things wrong, but he's pretty good at evaluating our own system and knowing who to trade. If anything, he holds on to too many of them for too long. I agree with your strategy though. No sense in trading away talent when we have money to spend.

where would you prefer the much needed offense to come from? i don't love soriano or anything, but he's the best hope for making this offense respectable. Get a 2B in Free Agency(Durham and Iwamura are my favorites, Loretta would be okay too), and revamp the OF in trade. Kearns, Burrell, A-Rod(which isn't the OF, but still), Sheffield, maybe Cabrera, Hawpe, or Cuddyer if they come available. What and alomst completely strip our farm system of any of the A prospects left of it? I'd rather keep the prospects and sign big free agents when they become available, somewhat simular to the mets. If we would have done it that way a few years ago, just for example. We could have a guy like Beltran and still have guys like Willis, Garland. . ect. . Instead we trade the Willis' and Garland's for mediocre crap and think we're gonna contend. (we=JH). . Your hate for Hendry is blinding. Garland was traded 8 years ago, when Hendry might not have even been in the organization. And Willis was traded before Hendry was GM too. Next time you try and trash Hendry, at least criticize him for things he's actually done.