Andy

Not to hijack the thread but what does LOOGY stand for, if anything?

Have you gotten that Encarnacion shirt ordered yet too??? I've had that one ready to go since the day after the Series. :wink:

I get the feeling that, if JH is smart, we'll see Abreu or Dunn in the Cubs outfield next season. If he's not, we'll see Torii Hunter or someone similar in the Cubs outfield next year. Either way, we'll be giving up those trading chips. Needless to say, I've already ordered my Hunter T-shirt.

The only rumor that I've fallen for so far was Pierre, and that wasn't an NSBB member's fault, it was rumor-monger Bruce Levine.

Hendry has no damn clue. I'm starting to question if he has the vision to put a contending team together in 2006. Starting to???

Maybe Ohman is now possible trade bait. Also, I'm not going to judge this signing until I see how Eyre does in a Cubs uniform. I guess all the "Mr. know it Alls" here know what the market is regarding LOOGY's as FA's. NOT!!!! Give it a chance all you pessimists & overreacter's! Maybe the optmists should give it a rest. Almost 4 mil for a loogy. Yeah! Just because he is left handed doesn't mean he has to be only a LOOGY. Christ, look at his BAA against righties. Very solid. If Dusty has his way, His Eyreness will never, ever, ever pitch against a right-handed batter. EVER.

Welcome to the Cubs, His Eyreness. This signing wouldn't be so bad if we hadn't already burned 5.5 mil next year on the inNeiffable Perez and Rusch...it's not that bad by itself but we've basically committed over 9 mil of our budget in the off-season and we've upgraded only at bullpen. We still need a RF, SS, CF and we have only 21 mil or so to play with now. I think it's becoming more and more likely that Neifi will play SS and Hendry will look to trade for an overrated Torii Hunter type in the outfield. This is depressing.

You dont like it dont read it. This board beats the crap out of most boards, and while some people here are hyper-critical, it rarely detracts from the overall quality of the board. The posters here are knowledgeable of the game. If you really don't think Hendry deserves any criticism for throwing 5 million dollars at Neifi Perez and possibly 10 million at Scott Eyre when we could get at least two pretty darn good players for that amount, then that's fine, but you probably should avoid Internet boards. Throw enough people in a baseball discussion and you're bound to find some negativity, especially with an organization this disappointing.

And the war begins... Andy versus over 50 percent of the NSBB fanbase. :wink: Let's see who wins!! I think this game is decided by a big special teams play. I'll hold off on my pick for now, though.

No, I do not have a position with the Cubs. Would you like right field? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Thanks for your insight, Hoops. Burnett is not at the top of my list by any means, but you can never have enough pitching and that news is encouraging.

Wow, that's a heck of a good deal. 4/40 is more market value for him, imo. I'd pay 4/40 for Bay in a second. That's one hell of a hometown discount he's giving the Buckos.

I've said many times Giles isn't the only option, but RF is clearly the biggest need. How many times do I have to repeat that it's the only position on the team with no internal options? Does that not mean anything to anybody? They can get average production out of SS for minimal cost. They can't get crap out of RF for anything. This team appears to be more interested in creating a hole (dumping Walker) than filling the biggest hole (RF). =D> =D> =D> Great post. We have Ronny and Walker already in-house, and that's a decent starting point. If we can improve on it, we should, but the fact is that we literally have NO right fielder, and that is the position of greatest need, therefore it should be the position of most emphasis.

I'll be shocked if he ends up anywhere other than STL or Anaheim.

I agree with you to some extent NewUserName, but how good exactly are Choi and Hill doing right now after their couple years of seasoning? I just don't think those guys and Dubois are very good, or ever will be.

If the Cardinals get Burnett, then he will not only stop being injury prone, but they will automatically be awarded the 2006-10 NL Central championships by Bud Selig.

WinE, I agree totally. It seems that Hendry is stockpiling assets so he can trade a bunch of minor leaguers. I definitely think that Hendry is making all these smaller moves with a much larger goal in mind.

seriously. it's a winter tradition -- hendry signs a reliever that will eventually fall apart to a three year deal. At least he's a real LOOGY. Yeah, that's my thought too. Eyre has a normal L-R split, so Dusty will use him more or less correctly. I never want to see another reliever with a reverse split on the Cubs while Dusty is here. I was just about to ask about the splits. It's a relief at least that he has normal splits. The thing about JH: He makes a lot of little moves that on the surface don't seem too dumb (Rusch, Eyre) but added together they take us right out of the race for any FA we want. Unless of course, he's decided that Furcal is too expensive, Giles is too old and he's going to try to fill holes thru trade.

Aren't we just one year removed from Hendry's unequivocable assertion that Chemistry wins pennants? Yeah, but that was last year. Now catching the ball wins pennants. Okay, that joke is probably "played" at this point. I still like it. And by "like it", I mean makes me smirk and then immediately want to shoot myself. I use it the same way. And I probably will use it on and off until the Cubs finally win it all.

That's a pretty good offer, although I expect it to be closer to 5/57 before it's all said and done.

I think he receives too much adulation. People have been saying for years that he'll reinvent the position. He won't. He is a very talented QB that can help your team win. But outside of the hype, I wouldn't even consider him pro bowl material let alone say he's on track to be a hall of famer. Far too many have simply annointed him as the next great one. In reality he's done very little. The defense down there has been the biggest reason for success. Right now I'd take him on the Bears in a heartbeat, because I don't have a lot of faith in the Bears QB's and think Vick could do a better job of managing the team, without losing games on his own. But I think Brees is better than him, and stands a very good chance of finishing his career as the better QB. I think some people complain a bit too much about Vick, but for the most part what I hear is people echoing my sentiments, basically annoyance at all the early praise he's received without having really earned it. Or perhaps better explained as annoyance that many are still praising him after he's shown over and over that he's not great. I agree with what you say, but the simple fact IMO is he wins games. He did not reinvent the position at all, nor will he. His arm is incredible (or at least it used to be) but he rarely uses it as he should. It don't think he has done as well as he can. There is no excuse for that. He is overconfident of his skills and it shows. But I think that since he has proved that he is a winner he should be given respect. He turned VT around (against a weak Big East) and he was expected to do the same with Atlanta. He hasn't done what everyone wanted him to do, but that does not make him bad. Maybe great is not the right word in terms of his skills, but he is an very, very good QB who gets criticized a lot, but keeps winning. I think by the end of his career he will have proven this. If he had come into the league quietly and done what he is doing, without all the hype, does anyone think people would praise him a lot more than they do? The Big East wasn't that bad at all in the Vick Era. Miami was on the way back up, Cuse was a good team, and WV and BC weren't bad either.

I really hope that all happens. At this point, the only people that can beat the Cardinals are their own organization, and trading for Kearns, signing Grudzie to an extension and shipping out Marquis would be a nice start to doing exactly that.

Ronny will have to double that batting average to even get a look over Neifi next year.

I agree! :)

Bay is an absolute stud. I can only assume the Pirates made some kind of informal promise to Bay to at least put up a marginal effort to win payroll-wise, otherwise I can't imagine him signing the dotted line for 5 years. I'd kill for Bay in left field, though. Probably the most underrated player in the majors.

Was that the year they went nuts and beat all those teams in Maui? Indeed it was. Beat I believe Duke and UCLA before losing to Kansas. Or something like that.