KingCubsFan

Combined with the fact that he has a plus pitch (his changeup) and got roughed up last year in a hitter's park, there's definitely a chance he could end up being pretty valuable.

You don't know any of this. Know any of what? You're right I don't know about Rose's character (hence why I said "seemingly" completely different). But LeBron has stated in interviews his favorite teams growing up were the best teams in each league.

Not quite the same scenario. Rose is from Chicago and grew up a Bulls fan. LeBron is from Akron (I know it's in the Cleveland area but they view it differently there) and did NOT grow up a Cavs fan. Plus, LBJ is a bitch and DRose is not. I'm sure Cleveland fans weren't saying that LeBron was a bitch when he was on the Cavs. Derrick Rose's favorite teams growing up also weren't the Yankees, Cowboys and Lakers. They're seemingly completely different people. If Reinsdorf continues to refuse to go above the luxury tax over the next six years, and the Bulls keep barely missing championships, I would completely understand Rose leaving. But he's not going to do it because he likes South Beach and wants to play with his friends.

Not sure why they'd want Wells in that deal. If I were them, I'd keep Oliver and give up someone else.

Is this Carimi's second or third surgery? At this rate, not sure if we can ever count on him to be healthy.

Kelton/Choi/Hill/Montanez are the infield of the future Prior/Cruz/Brownlie/Wood/Sisco are going to be dominant for years Pie is going to be awesome. CPatt is the next Mays. That's why big market teams shouldn't just blow ish up and rebuild. Because it's a complete and total crapshoot and you're far more likely to end up in the Kansas City Royals wilderness than you are with some badass homegrown team like Tampa Bay, and even they took a decade of drafting competence to become good. A major market team should have the resources to carry a couple of large longer term contracts without it being crippling, not to mention the fact that we now have this supposed badass front office capable of properly coordinating the roster so you can do both. Two of those prospects got us our two cornerstones over the past half decade.

Yeah, I probably underestimated Cain. 7 or 8 year deals are pretty rare for pitchers though.

That team is so bad that it's going to take several offseasons to fix it. 1. Trade Garza and Marshall in three team deal for Rizzo, Perez, Olt + another prospect 2. Trade Marmol to Angels for Hank Conger + (pitchers like Garrett Richards and Daniel Tillman) 3. Trade Soto to Dodgers for Jerry Sands 4. Play out 2012 5. Sign Cole Hamels: 5/100 6. Sign John Danks 5/75 7. Sign Matt Cain 5/75 You head into 2013 with a rotation of Hamels, Cain, Danks, Perez and McNutt. Young cornerstones in Stewart/Olt, Castro, Rizzo, Jackson, Conger and Sands. If Stewart is good, you trade Olt for another outfielder. If he flames out, you have Olt. You now have one of the best rotation in the National League, along with one of the best young cores and still plenty of money to spend. The Cardinals get a year older, the Reds lose Votto, and the Brewers lose Greinke and Marcum.

Can't blame Forte for that mindset at all. The Bears didn't want to pay him, so he has to look out for the rest of his career. No reason to do this organization any favors. Nice work, Angelo.

Can't blame him with St. Louis and Milwaukee getting weaker. And quite possibly the Cubs. I'm sure Jocketty is afraid of our 70 win juggernaut. Didn't Latos have decreased velocity last year after having a big innings jump in 2009? Overall, he seems like a perfect candidate to get Dusty'd.

You've clearly never seen Dayne Crist play, either.

I think he was in 10th in 2010. But this is when stats go wrong. In the real world, there's no way this team is better off with Daric Barton at first base.

What's curious is that folks point to all of the ways Soriano is different than Fielder, and I look at the same things and see them as similarities. There's been lots of talk about how the last few years of a Fielder contract will probably be lousy like Soriano's, but yet there's a pervasive "who cares" attitude now. Fielder's mediocre production in his down years suggests that he's also non-elite. Soriano was 31 and fit/athletic; Fielder is 28 and overweight/non-athletic. They are likely at similar places in their aging curve, despite the age discrepancy. Both guys are defensive liabilities. Soriano had foreseeable contact problems; Fielder has foreseeable batspeed problems. Etc. etc. "Fielder is not Soriano" is often stated on here; I'm not convinced they're all that different. Part of the problem is that people portray Fielder as this fat slob who never works out and just shows up to spring training after eating junk all offseason. In reality, he's a naturally big guy who is pretty athletic for his size and works hard.

All this is true, but there were three negatives to take into account. He was coming off a bad elbow injury, he was over 30, and his production came in a league that doesn't translate all that great in the states. He was a worthwhile target, but he had bigger red flags than somebody like Fielder. Yeah, people forget these. Especially the elbow injury, which may have killed a lot of his projected power.

We only know the first part in hindsight. And Zambrano was freshly turned 26 and coming off 4 straight seasons of 4 WAR, two of which were 5. Yes, he was having a bit of a down year in 07, but to say that at age 26 it was clear that he was on the decline is wrong. I don't want to derail this thread with Zambrano, but Zambrano was abused by Dusty at an early age and was clearly already declining. Doesn't mean he wasn't a good pitcher anymore, but he was not going to be an ace he was paid to be. FIP 2004-2007: 3.57, 3.70, 4.14, 4.58 I'm not a big fan of WAR in general, but from 2004-2007: 4.7, 4.5, 3.9, 2.8. The groundball percentage was dropping, the HR/FB percentage was rising, and the walks were rising. The smart thing would have been to trade him or take the picks given the amount of money he was commanding.

No they aren't. They were instrumental in the only really successful team Hendry put together. Soriano is the one everybody focuses on because they are blinded by the dollar signs. But Dempster and Zambrano have both been worth a boatload to the Cubs while being here. Hendry messed up just about everywhere else. You don't put all your hopes on young arms and then hire Dusty Freaking Baker. The outfield was an absolute wasteland due to a lack of anything resembling a major league bat coming up through the system, which practically forced Hendry to sign Soriano that offseason. But again, Fielder is not Soriano. Soriano was a highly flawed hitter without a position who was in his 30's. Even with all his flaws, if you signed Soriano to that contract when he was Fielder's age, he would have lived up to the deal and you wouldn't be crying about him. Fielder is not Soriano. I never said he was. I support the Cubs signing Fielder to a reasonable deal and preferred him to Pujols. I was originally responding to the premise that the large contracts given out by Hendry aren't part of the reason the Cubs are in the position they are in now. They're not the only reason, and the terrible drafts are a larger part, but they're certainly a part of the problem. Having the 2008 team on your resume where everyone had a career year doesn't excuse those contracts either.

No we don't. So it's not a problem that we gave superstar money to Soriano and Zambrano, and gave $12 million a year to solid players like Fududome? We're just going to blame this mess all on John Stocksill and Jim Hendry signing guys on the margin like John Grabow? It's not great, but it's not the reason why they suck. They suck because the GM sucked at putting together a baseball team. And they won't suck just because they pay a really good player too much money. You suck when you don't have enough good players, and the Cubs haven't had enough good players in their system in a decade. They drafted like crap and focused on nonsense. I agree, but these big contracts are some of the most glaring examples of sucking at putting together a baseball team and not having enough good players. When your entire philosophy is flawed, that's when you give players like Soriano 8 year mega deals.

No we don't. So it's not a problem that we gave superstar money to Soriano and Zambrano, and gave $12 million a year to solid players like Fududome? Aren't these years supposed to be the "budget hell" years of the Soriano and Zambrano contracts? And aren't we serious contenders for a one of the two superstar free agents during this time of supposed "budget hell"? No, the two years prior were the time when our budget was in serious trouble. Hendry admitted it. Remember when we had to defer $5 million dollars for Carlos Pena? And didn't Dempster defer money so we could sign Marlon Byrd?

No we don't. So it's not a problem that we gave superstar money to Soriano and Zambrano, and gave $12 million a year to solid players like Fududome? We're just going to blame this mess all on John Stocksill and Jim Hendry signing guys on the margin like John Grabow? I'd do two of those three contracts over again. Well, I'm glad you're not the Cubs GM then. We just signed a similar player to Fukudome for a fraction of his deal, and Zambrano was clearly on the decline by the time he got that extension.

No we don't. So it's not a problem that we gave superstar money to Soriano and Zambrano, and gave $12 million a year to solid players like Fududome? We're just going to blame this mess all on John Stocksill and Jim Hendry signing guys on the margin like John Grabow?

By drafting poorly, having crappy instruction, a small crappy front office, and an overall poor organizational baseball philosophy? I agree with you on Fielder, but I don't agree that we suck right now because of some big questionable contracts. All of what you said was true, but we also suck because of the big contracts we gave out. Not necessarily because we couldn't afford them, but because the players we gave them too simply weren't worth the contracts, and we didn't have enough money (or a smart enough front office) to make up for the fact that we were paying solid players superstar money.

My guess is they would go with McCown for now and save Enderle for the final game. Yeah I agree. Putting in Enderle is throwing in the towel, and realistically they can't do that.

The Bears would never admit the season is over, but now would be a good time to give Enderle a few starts to see if he can be a backup eventually. Don' t want to have to relive a Hanie-like experience if Cutler gets injured again next year.

haha, really? I'd imagine cameras were already on TIM TEBOW like they are on ALL QB's during a game winning (or losing) kick. Watch him walking off after the game. He stops and points to the sky several times. Like Z after every inning?

From last year's thread: