KingCubsFan

Nope. Eyre's never been a closer, and I wasn't talking about last year. Look at Cpatterson's post, he knew what I was talking about. In 2003, batters hit .227 against Ryan with a .330 OBP. In 2004, batters hit .219 against Eyre with a .310 OBP. The differences, of course, were in their respective opponent's SLG and ERA. Ryan's was much lower than Eyre's, due most likely to his superior stuff along with some other factors. As for WHIP, Eyre's was 1.33 and Ryan's was 1.37. I'm not trying to say that Eyre is equal to Ryan, becaues I know Ryan is much better. I was just trying to say that, in his career, he has had 3 good years, 2 of which were stellar. The third, 2003, was not stellar. Eyre might not be the best comparison, but he was the first mediocre lefthander that came to mind. I'm sure I could find more.

I'd say 1.5 years is somewhat significant, especially given the contract length, although that's not what makes this contract absurd. True, BJ has had a few good seasons as a successful RP. But he's had 2 excellent seasons, and the other was just OK (think Scott Eyre with a few more K's). And when I say Ryan isn't that much better than Dempster, I am going to look at things like ERA and save percentage because, let's face it, that's what teams are going to judge player's value by. BJ Ryan is not getting 9 million per year just because of his stellar K/BB ratio, although that certainly helps his cause. He's getting this because he's relatively young, has great stuff, had a great year as closer last year, and the Blue Jays had to offer him more than the Yankees and Red Sox to pry him away. If we were operating on the Blue Jays payroll, and we gave someone this contract, I would imagine most of the people on this board would be up in arms over this deal. The fact is, most closers aren't worth that much, and I think it is wrong to throw that kind of a contract at a closer unless you can afford it like the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Cubs or someone like that. I just used Gagne as a comparison, because I think he is the best closer in baseball and much better than Ryan. Using the logic that Ryan was easily 4 million better than Dempster, I just threw that number out to illustrate how much I think the best player at the position should be getting if that's how we're measuring. Obviously, I know Gagne wouldn't get that much on the open market.

There's no way Ryan is justified in making 4m in Dempster. He's older, has closed for just as long as Dempster and, arguably, wasn't really that much better than Dempster when he did close. The Blue Jays are paying premium money for a guy who has had one year of success at the postion they are asking him to be one of the best in the business. If Ryan is worth 9.5 million, and 4m more than Dempster, than I think Gagne should be looking for 15-17 a year if he wants to earn his "value" over Ryan.

I'm pretty sure Maddux has a NTC, and he isn't going anywhere anyways. If we gave them Jerome WIlliams instead, though, that might be a start if we're willing to eat all of the salary. It's going to take a lot more to get Zito though (see the Mulder and Hudson trades). I'm a big fan of Nolasco, but it's going to take more than him, a less-talented version of Jairo Garcia and a failed mediocre prospect to get Zito.

Hendry said last night on WGN that Pie won't be in Chicago next year.

If the White Sox and others are now going to be involved in a bidding war for Pierre, I think it would be a wise move to see if we could get Castillo for much cheaper. If the White Sox really want Pierre, I could see them giving up Anderson, and I don't think we could match that. If we could get Castillo for ,say, Walker and Pinto, I'd do that. We'd still have money to go after Furcal, and then we could go after someone like Bradley for CF.

That makes the trade a bit more reasonable for the Phillies, considering they'll be paying half of Thome's salary. Gio Gonzales is one of their top pitching prospects, and Haigwood is a quality prospect too.

I think Ohman is guaranteed a spot as well. At Eyre's press conference, Hendry talked about how the left side of the bullpen will be strong now with both Ohman and Eyre. Also, I don't know if this has been posted anywhere else, but both Hendry and Baker were on WGN 720 last night. Baker basically confirmed that Howry will be signed by early next week. Hendry didn't mention Howry by name, but he said he hoped something would be done by early next week as well.

That's exactly what I was going to say. Baker never saw Walker as a leadoff hitter last year, and I don't think that will change. Furthermore, I don't think you can pencil in Cedeno in any lineup at shortstop. Dusty didn't play him when we were out of the race last year, so why should we expect him to play Cedeno when we have something to play for? Unfortunately, the best we can hope for would be a 60/40 split between Cedeno and Neifi, but I'm not sure even that is possible.

I have to disagree. By putting Furcal and Pierre into the 1-2 spots in the lineup, you've solidified the top and allow Cedeno and Murton to hit at the bottom of the lineup where there is less pressure. In my opinion, a large part of Corey's huge decline this year stems from the fact that Baker tried to make him into a leadoff hitter, which he never was and never will be. Don't you think if we had a legitimate leadoff hitter last year, Patterson would have been more successful hitting 6th or 7th?

Hopefully, Pie's poor performance will prove to Hendry that he isn't ready yet