Andy

So, we're not supposed to say good job when our GM makes a good move? That's news to me. What are we supposed to do? Complain? Sorry, I meant that more along the lines of how we had to worry about whether he'd actually make an obvious move like picking up Walker's option. I wasn't worried. I feared the worst but I was above 90 percent sure that Walker's option would be picked up.

I love humor. Barrett "a freak experiment gone wrong"...excellent. If you want a complete package, All-Star, superman at every position, then be a Yankees fan.

Who said anything about replacing him with Henry Blanco boss? Henry Blanco is a fine back up Catcher and if Barrett was unable to learn a lick from Blanco, he's hopeless. He should DH in the AL or play 3rd or LF (somewhere FAR away from Wrigley...he'd actually be a better DH), cuz he's a liability as a Catcher, period. But since you didn't read my entire post, I said to replace Barrett with RAMON HERNANDEZ, who is a 100% upgrade over Barrett and would be SPECTACULAR on the Cubs in 2006. Because all people are talking about in this thread are how important it is to have a defensive catcher. Who needs offense from catcher, just go out and grab these unnamed stud OFs since they're a traditionally hitting position. Sound like Blanco to me. After all he's an even better defensive catcher than Ausmus OR Molina!! World Series here we come!! For that matter, SS is a defensive position too. Forget pursuing Furcal, let's stick with Neifi, he's got a slick glove over there. CF too, they're defense is too important, let's stick with Corey, no need to upgrade there iether. Now all we need are top 5 players at 1B, 3B, both corner OFs, and a stud starting staff and we'll be set! Seriously. Of all the positions the Cubs have, some fans are choosing to focus on a position that the Cubs are already among the best in the majors at. Barrett is, at worst, a slightly below average defensive catcher, and I'll take that and his .270-15-60's every year and you fans will take a Brad Ausmus type and my team will win every time, all other things being equal. Blanco is a very solid backup. The Cubs' catching is among the best in baseball and for the moment there is absolutely no reason to tinker with it.

One of the top five funniest things ever written. :lol: :lol: :lol:

I don't see what else Dempster could have proven. He closed for 4 1/2 months out of the 6-month season, converted 31 of 33 saves, and had an ERA under 2.00 as a relief pitcher. He was legitimately one of the best closers in baseball. Yes, he walked some people and got himself into jams from time to time but the great thing is that unlike LaBlown Save Hawkins, he had the mental toughness and extra pitches to get out of those jams, then come back and pitch well again the next day. If you're waiting for someone to jump out of the Cubs' system and turn into Brad Lidge, Eric Gagne or Mariano Rivera, you're gonna wait a very long time. IMO Dempster will end up being the best closer the Cubs have had since the Shooter in 1998.

it's called overpaying based on save percentage rather than stuff. not a smart move if you want consistent numbers...especially from an important piece like your closer. even a good player is a bad deal based on the money and years you give them. Dempster could have gotten much more than a 3/15 on the open market. Watch the contracts a lot of relivers get that had much worse seasons than Dempster and you will see what I mean.

Nice! Good to see Williamson back. So far, we have two good moves (Walker and Williamson), one debatable move that will probably turn out to be positive (Dempster) and one move that probably shouldn't have been made (Rusch). I'll take that.

Dusty? Is that you?

If that's the total amount, that's not a terrible deal. Rusch is a nice insurance policy for when (not if) the Cubs' rotation starts dropping like flies in mid-May. I'd have liked to see the Cubs go in a different direction but I highly doubt this signing will turn out to be that bad.

Please let this be correct... (the first post, not the last one)

I have a hard time believing any of these guys used, but we'll see what happens.

The best was the secret home run derby location that was a living room. "Oh darn, wrestling was about to come on!" "This guy's a real bull in the china shop!" :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

won't corey sit on the bench & pout?? wonder who Texas would give up for Patterson?? I bet the hold up on walker is that we only pick up the option if texas agrees to take him, corey, and mitre for Soriano. :pukel: :pukel: :pukel: :pukel:Yuck. No, thanks, Jim. If you were even thinking about that, then stop right now! :shock:

I don't believe this is the case, mainly because Greg, from what I know, wants nothing to do with managing or coaching once he is done playing. But would I like to see it? Hell yes.

Thoughts: I hope Burnitz does not come back because I don't know how much he will decline...after all he is getting up there in years. But he was an able replacement for Sammy and seemed to be one of the Cubs that was always in the middle of anything good that happened in 2005. I hope Jeromy knows that we Cub fans appreciated his game effort this year, which was always a constant even if his offense was not. Please pick up Walker's option. We're not going to get a better second baseman for that amount of money and he is one of my favorite guys on the team. I'd keep Corey around this year, if only because we know that he will go to the bench without causing too much of a fuss, enabling us to have a backup plan in case we come up with nothing in center field.

Sosa? I really hope Sammy ends up with an NL team in 2006 so that he can return to Wrigley. I'm extremely intrigued as to what the reaction would be. Unfortunately he is likely to be a DH-type player from here on out.

I don't even want to think about it, because I'll convince myself that we need to throw money at Burnett. As for the healthy thing, I was reading SI.com's Truth and Rumors and supposedly Wood was on track to be ready to start right away in 2006.

Let's not forget that the Sox scored most of their runs via extra-base hits, almost half of them coming directly via the home run. The Sox were not really any more small ball than any other team, they just marketed themselves as such. How many so-called small ball teams have seven 15-homer guys in the lineup?

That's very interesting. I never knew that Burnett would like to be a Cub. Obviously, most players would at least entertain the idea of being a Cub but I definitely did not think Burnett more so than anyone else liked the idea. Unfortunately for AJ, the starting pitching is the one area that is least likely to be messed with for the Cubs this off season.

I have a hard time believing that a) Dempster would be in a club in Denver and that b) if he was, that he would be leaking information about who the Cubs would be chasing in the off-season to someone he doesn't know.

Giles is getting less attention than I expected. Much more focus on Furcal and Burnett. Hopefully this is a good sign as it relates to how much we'll need to get him. Hopefully no one lets Dusty see that Lenny Harris is available. :roll:

Yeah, I was a little disappointed in that. Rocket's career was unfortunately derailed by injuries. I remember a brief period in the late 90's where he played for my Carolina Panthers and he was my favorite player in the world. My first college football memories are of the Rocket.

Leno, Letterman, Kimmel, Conan... No, dude, we're doing OPRAH! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: What hapless moron in the Sox front office made that pathetic decision???

Uh-huh. And how do you "know" that a real Cubs fan wouldn't vote to re-elect the mayor just because he's a Sox fan. I'm sorry, but we DON'T take it that seriously. Just because you work for ESPN, doesn't mean you know everything there is to know about baseball. Sox fans aren't real either. What the heck is this guy saying? How many people became Sox fans just because they got sick of the Cubs? I'd bet just as many as are supposedly Cubs fans just for the Old Style and Wrigley atmosphere. Scoop Jackson is mentally disabled if he honestly thinks Sox fans are somehow "real"-er than the Cubs' fans.

Yeah. And it featured BYU going for a 2-point conversion in the 4th quarter to tie the game. Instead, the pass was picked off in the end zone and returned 100+ yards for 2 points. The episode also features some PSU player talking to Shamu. I attended a PSU vs. BYU regular season game in which Penn State destroyed the Ty Detmer lead Cougars. Good times This could be a good time to re-launch my "Rocket Ismail for 1990 Heisman" campaign. Seriously, that was pathetic. That was back in the days when Penn State beat every team with a Heisman winner on it. I remember I had a T-Shirt that said "Heisman Graveyard" with the Nittany Lion next to the headstones of Detmer, Vinny Testeverde and Herschel Walker It wasn't just PSU, Detmer was a product of the BYU system, as was exruciatingly proven in the NFL. The classic example came in the team's respective bowl games after the 1990 season, where Detmer threw five picks in his bowl game while Rocket was a BS clipping call away from a national title-reversing punt return for a TD against Colorado.