Sammy Sofa

Yeah, Swisher was a real mixed bag at the time. People seemed in love with his offensive potential, but there was concern about the flaws in both his offensive and defensive game. Again, not saying history would have repeated itself, but Swisher was pretty bad in 2008, and putting him in RF at Wrigley for half the season could have well exacerbated that. Couple that with the perception of him being the consolation prize after missing out on the real target and his easily targeted attitude by meatballs and I could see him getting chased out of town even before his deal was up. Would have been nice to have him available for 1b, so we could have dumped lee even sooner and not had to spend another $10m on a temp 1b (and I like pena but in hindsight - what a huge waste of money). All hindsight and I liked fukudome. But I like swisher and wanted him in 08. Far from JH's biggest mistake. Ok fine, so lets say its in the top 3? Sori Bradley Fuk? At least Bradley and Sori were coming off career years at the time, and Sori should have gotten 6 years, and Bradley one with a team option for 2 IMHO Again, you're inexplicably downplaying the hype and scouting reports around Fukudome. You keep making it sound like the Cubs went out of their way to sign and overpay a guy nobody else wanted. That simply wasn't the case. And the Juan Pierre trade was much, much worse. I mean, yes, the Fukudome signing turned out to be a mistake, but it was a "different" type of mistake for Hendry. That was a mistake GOOD GM's make (look at the caliber of front offices that have been burned by highly touted Japanese players even AFTER Fukudome). He managed to sign a highly coveted FA with a contract that was actually more reasonable than what he was being offered elsewhere. Yeah, it turned out to be a bust, but it's not like a "oh, that's Hendry being Hendry again"-type of situation.

Ok, agreed. However, Soriano was an org move for the most part, and Bradley was awful in terms of years, but gambling that much on Fuk?? Dempster should have gotten more along the lines of 10-11 mil per for 4 years. It's just we have Yankee type deals on this team for unlike Yankee production. Oh well..at least they are about to all expire soon, and the Cubs will probably eat Sori's deal in the offseason. Why do you think Desmpter is overpaid? He's not. And Fukudome was highly coveted by multiple teams who tried to pay MORE than the Cubs with glowing scouting reports from a ton of different sources. I just don't think most GMs would view Dempster as a higher than a #3 That's fantastic. He's been well worth his contract and then some.

I never thought the most annoying thing about the Soriano contract would be the meatballs who blanch at the idea of any contract for more than 3-4 years and $50 million as being some kind of millstone that's going to sink the Cubs for years.

Ok, agreed. However, Soriano was an org move for the most part, and Bradley was awful in terms of years, but gambling that much on Fuk?? Dempster should have gotten more along the lines of 10-11 mil per for 4 years. It's just we have Yankee type deals on this team for unlike Yankee production. Oh well..at least they are about to all expire soon, and the Cubs will probably eat Sori's deal in the offseason. Why do you think Desmpter is overpaid? He's not. And Fukudome was highly coveted by multiple teams who tried to pay MORE than the Cubs with glowing scouting reports from a ton of different sources.

Yeah, Swisher was a real mixed bag at the time. People seemed in love with his offensive potential, but there was concern about the flaws in both his offensive and defensive game. Again, not saying history would have repeated itself, but Swisher was pretty bad in 2008, and putting him in RF at Wrigley for half the season could have well exacerbated that. Couple that with the perception of him being the consolation prize after missing out on the real target and his easily targeted attitude by meatballs and I could see him getting chased out of town even before his deal was up.

Because, again, the author thinks signing Fukudome was Hendry's biggest mistake. He lets him off the hook by saying that the extra years/money in the Soriano deal were essentially forced on him by higher-ups, yet completely glosses over how in demand and highly regarded Fukudome was and that he actually took a smaller contract to play with the Cubs, so it's not like Hendry threw down a stupid deal yet again to blow everyone else out of the water. Yes, in hindsight signing Fukudome wasn't nearly the impact singing we all hoped/wanted it to be, but to deem him Hendry's biggest mistake? That's absurd. And Dempster has indeed been worth his contract with the Cubs until this year, and even this year he's not all that far off.

Just for some non-davearm2 perspective, C.J. Wilson will turn 31 this fall, but will only have approx. 700 innings pitched under his belt. By contrast, CC Sabathia also turned 31 this year, and he will have approx. 2400 innings pitched to his name. Carlos Zambrano will turn 31 next year and will likely have nearly 2100 innings pitched. C.J. Wilson has not had anywhere near the typical workload a starting pitcher of his age usually has.

Stellar analysis there. Yes, they should pass on signing C.J. Wilson to 4 years because they signed Alfonso Soriano to an 8-year contract. Magnificent deduction.

So why would 4 years be a deal-breaker? It's just one more season and he has a lot less wear and tear on his body than most pitchers of his ability.

I strongly considered putting Garza in that group, but he's not on the same level as Soto or Castro are for me. Garza's on pace for the best year of his career by a longshot and I'm skeptical about whether or not he'd be able to keep that up over the next two years. Putting it bluntly, he's a fantastic sell high candidate. He should be worth a ton in the trade market and I don't think he should be untouchable. I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous. He's only 27, he's under their control for the next 2 seasons and he's an excellent pitcher. What is your skepticism based on? And why are you seemingly saying he has to match or better this year to be worth keeping?

He's not signing for 3 years.

I think the general idea is that we'll have somewhere around $35-45 million to spend after arb raises, etc. If we could get Fielder for $25 million and Wilson for $15, that falls right into the range of money we should have to spend. Wilson is 31, but he's largely been a reliever most of his career. He has less mileage than most 31 year old starters and should have a longer shelf life. Not to mention that really good pitchers nowadays seem to do alright in their early and even mid-30's. Wow. I did not know he was that old. I was thinking 28. what kind of contract do you think he will command? 4 - 5 years? No sure if I would be comfortable with them going that long. Why not? You seem to be missing half of what you bolded.

Why wouldn't Garza be an exception? I swear, people act like he's 32 or a FA after next year or something.

Don't forget Khalil Greene.

Jesus Christ. I was really optimistic about Fukudome, but that was [expletive] bonkers.

Wasn't just his scouts. Maybe I'm not remembering right, but weren't there a lot of scouting reports, not just from the Cubs, out there comparing him to Matsui? The general consensus seemed to be some kind of wonderful middle ground between Matsui and Ichiro.

Umadbro???? I'm not content with merely making it to the playoffs and losing in a horrible fashion. And I really don't understand how any fan can be happy with our personal moves. With that said why do you have a problem with me giving credit and respect to the pats while also being sarcastic at the same time? No, I'm not mad. You're probably too blinded by yet another spittle-flecked, vein-busting tantrum to realize that.

Wasn't just his scouts.

how often in baseball does one team sign two of the top 3 free agents? Granted I know we have the money but it just doesnt seem to happen to anyone other than the yankees and redsox. And it might not happen here. But the Cubs certainly have the means to do so and the glaring need to do so.

Dude's been nothing but a raging spaz his entire time posting here. Hopefully he lives up to his word and starts following other teams.

Signing guys like Wilson and Prince/Pujols isn't just "a couple of tweaks."

No worries they're a contender next year Take a bow.

How does that even compare? Don't be an idiot.

Meh. That's a pretty dumb article when you've got the writer basing it around the idea that he thinks signing Kosuke was Hendry's biggest mistake. Kosuke was a very sought after player and if the reports are true he actually took LESS money than what was being offered out there to come to the Cubs, so it's not like a a Soriano situation where Hendry pushed his way to head of the pack by offering an insane amount of years and money. Plus Swisher wasn't very good in 2008. That's not to say things wouldn't have been different if he had joined the Cubs, but you also have to wonder how much of his success since then has been the result of being able to be in that Yankees lineup.

you realize that other people can read your posts, right? Yes I realize that and I highly doubt anyone on here would disagree with the above statement or sentiment. We can barely manage the TE position, let alone the entire roster. EDIT: None of the 2007 draft picks made by Chicago remain on the roster. Nah, most of the people here aren't football whoooo-ahs.