A New Era

Have you fixed your bad mechanics so you won't get injured again? Isn't it Ironic that you joked/took a stab at Steve Stone criticizing your mechanics earlier in the year by saying "Maybe someone can teach me better Mechanics, I don't know", and then later in the year you were shut down YET AGAIN!!? When you go down again next year, will you please stay in the 8th inning, because that's the only way you can actually help this team. Would you please waive your non trade clause to get traded so you don't ruin another one of our chances with your injuries? feel free to use any one of those. . . :roll: I'm as frustrated as anyone else that he hasn't had that breakout season that we know he's capable of, and that he hasn't been able to stay healthy, but damn, people...quit acting like he's a jerk or something. Wood has done nothing wrong. All he has done is pitch his heart out when he's out there. If you want to blame someone, blame the minor league pitching coaches who never worked with him to learn how to pitch with correct form in the minors before he ever got this far along. I think this, and a couple of other posts, are pretty classless. Some of you act like he's hurt because he doesn't care/he's lazy/has a bad attitude, whatever. Those mechanics are the mechanics that the coaches in the minors let him go through the minors with, they're what got him to the majors, they are what got him the 20k game, those are the mechanics that got him all of his success. I'd use mechanics that hurt my arm after a few months if it would get me in the majors and a multimillion dollar contract that would set me and my family for life. You defend him, yet you prove my point. You'd use bad mechanics if it got you $12 million. BTW I wasn't being completely serious with my post. But those are questions you COULD ask him. I didn't think about nor did I go on the air asking these questions. So please don't call me classless. I agree the coaching SUCKS in the Cubs orginazation. But Wood is still partly responsible if he is still using bad mechanics. We have a right to be upset. We are lossing ~$10 million a year on a guy who can't play half the season. And who isn't very effective for the time he IS healthy. And who very likely will not be ready in April, and miss more significant time. Hurting our chances at another WS.

You wouldn't find me complaining. I already think Furcal, Pierre infront of Lee/Aram is already a HUGE improvement. If we can get someone even remotely simular to Giles/Matsui then I'm in heaven. And we are gonna kick ass next year. BTW Love your little picture!! Can I borrow it? 8)

Have you fixed your bad mechanics so you won't get injured again? Isn't it Ironic that you joked/took a stab at Steve Stone criticizing your mechanics earlier in the year by saying "Maybe someone can teach me better Mechanics, I don't know", and then later in the year you were shut down YET AGAIN!!? When you go down again next year, will you please stay in the 8th inning, because that's the only way you can actually help this team. Would you please waive your non trade clause to get traded so you don't ruin another one of our chances with your injuries? feel free to use any one of those. . . :roll:

Why is this good news? Cedeno might hit like Neifi and Furcal will be hard pressed to outproduce what Walker did last year. Since Neifi had a good year at short, on a net basis the Cubs will be no better off. If you sign Furcal, leave Walker at second, Neifi on the bench and Cedeno at Iowa. If I'm not mistaken, Furcal hit 15 homers last season and had an OBP as good or better than Walker. IMO it won't be all that difficult for Furcal to surpass Todd's rate of production from 04-05. Edit - It should be noted that I want a Furcal/Walker middle infield for next year. I just don't see it happening anymore. :( I say if we get our leadoff hitter, defensive SS in Furcal. Might as well go defensive up the middle too with Cedeno. That way you have a very stront middle infeild (with more range and probably capable of MANY more DPs than Nomar/Walker) Cedeno and Furcal are no slouches in the hitting department either.

IF Corey plays at WB, does VERY good (I mean like .300 w/ .350 OBP good), then I am willing to give Corey another chance and root for him. With Furcal, atleast friggin Dusty would keep Corey batting 8th or something. Where Corey and just relax, and have more room to improve with no major pressure on him.

With the way this offseason has started, I would LOVE that lineup. Unfortunatly, with the way this offseason has started I would be shocked to see a lineup resembling that one. Why? Not arguing, just please enlighten me.

Hear hear on that.

I don't agree with that. Of the LIKELY free agents to sign with the Cubs, I would pick Furcal, because I honestly think he fills many holes. Defensive SS, constant threat on the bases (IE: efective speed), Lead-off. The rest can be done with trades, but sign Furcal.

By the end of November Furcal will be signed to be our SS!! Who thinks so!?? :lol:

I just read on Cubs mailbox that they are having him play 2B at winterball. Did you hear that? Sounds like they are seriously considering Cedeno at 2B.

Now now now, don't go raining on my parade!! Hey, does anybody know why the Cubs are thinking of putting Cedeno at 2B? I mean, has he played 2B in college or something? Or is it generally easy for a SS to play 2B and still be really good defensively there if they are good defensively at SS?

I don't know about you all. But I am pretty excited about next years baseball. Now I have always been a Cubs fan since I was little. But I didn't really get back into it (and I mean bigtime) until before the 2004 season. Yeah I guess them getting into the post season in 2003 got my attention. So there it was early 2004 and I couldn't WAIT until spring training just so I can LISTEN to some games. Ofcourse going into it, things didn't look too good. But I still had hope. I mean we had lost Sosa and Alou but I still thought we had a good team what with Garciaparra, and I was one of the Burnitz advocates. And he DID do better than Sosa last year, didn't he? And that's all he was expected to do anyways. . . . . But now here we are, all salivating on the possibilities of next year (I know atleast I am). . Hendry no longer has any more excuses about being "tied up". .. . There are some top FA out there, and I know Jim can pull some great trades too. Here we are talking about focusing on defense up the middle. We're talkin about Furcal, Giles, Lofton, Burnett, Millwood, and countless others. I can't stop checking every single day to see if there is any news (Nov 11th PLEASE get here). . I was never THIS into the Cubs before. But I'm pretty excited about what kind of team we might have year. I've heard it from many sports commentators who have said, the Cubs have a very strong "core", and are just a few peices from a very competitive team. It's exciting because we might finally get a lead-off hitter. I personally want to see Furcal and Cedeno at SS and 2B respectively. And I want to see a couple of strong players at CF and RF. It's exciting because we finally have some money free'd up, and we can get some great players to add to our "strong core". . . Here's to success for the Cubbies in 2006! Jeez I can't wait til Spring Training. Heck I can't wait to hear about some trades and FA signings!!

I just get scared every time I think of Patterson. Who knows, maybe he can get back to .280/.320 w 20 HR something like that. But IMO we need to get STRONG canditates and we need to do it NOW. We have the "core" to win. We can not take another chance on patterson we absolutely need atleast .280/.320 80 RBI out of the CF next year.

Speed and OBP, I'll take 'em both, and I'll take em right NOW. Get from 1st to 3rd on a line drive? I'll take that. But does anybody know why he had a drastic increase in steals in 2005 from 29 - 46? (and don't say, duh "he attempted more?") Will that trend likely continue (with Baker)?

I'm gonna have to say I disagree with you. They can add Furcal, get Lofton for 1 year for cheap (who will probably have a very good season) and still afford a great RF through trade if not FA. Furcal is strong DF, steals tons of bases, and gives us that constant threat on the bases that people keep saying "shakes up" pitchers. We NEED that next year. We do not have anybody waiting in the wings to give us that next year at SS. Lofton is actually very likely to be much worse next season. He was very lucky due to his high BABIP, and at his age and past performance in that department he's likely to come crashing down production-wise. I don't really subscribe to the philosophy that speedy baserunners "shake up" pitchers. I haven't really seen any evidence to support it. Therefore, I think it's far from a NEED. Ronny cedeno is waiting in the wings at SS, and while I don't wish for him to be our starter quite yet, he's certainly capable of stealing a base or two and potentially putting up solid SS production. That's the difference between you and me. I think we out to go for it NOW (you know while we still have zambrono and prior relatively cheap compared to their production).. Furcal gives us a positive boost at SS immediately, making us stronger immediately. And increases our chances at the playoffs, immediately. Yet you want to be patient and do what? Sign Nomar and take a chance he doesn't get injured in the first month? Have Neifi keep it warm for Cedeno so that when Cedeno is finally ready, Dusty doesn't play him? I'm sorry, I think the Cubs should be trying to win the World Series NOW. We are not building for the future. We are ready, and we only need a FEW peices and some luck (wood). I never said not to go after Furcal. I'm not necessarily opposed to getting him, but I wouldn't make him my top priority. I was only responding to your insinuation that we didn't have anyone waiting to play SS. No I didn't say that. I insinuated that we don't have any body who can offer Furcal's production next year (highlighted in bold). . We don't have someone who can possibly steal 30-50 bases and provide that constant speed threat. Furcal is a significant upgrade over Cedeno at SS. And I think we should go out and get high calibur players while we still have a strong "core".

I'm gonna have to say I disagree with you. They can add Furcal, get Lofton for 1 year for cheap (who will probably have a very good season) and still afford a great RF through trade if not FA. Furcal is strong DF, steals tons of bases, and gives us that constant threat on the bases that people keep saying "shakes up" pitchers. We NEED that next year. We do not have anybody waiting in the wings to give us that next year at SS. Lofton is actually very likely to be much worse next season. He was very lucky due to his high BABIP, and at his age and past performance in that department he's likely to come crashing down production-wise. I don't really subscribe to the philosophy that speedy baserunners "shake up" pitchers. I haven't really seen any evidence to support it. Therefore, I think it's far from a NEED. Ronny cedeno is waiting in the wings at SS, and while I don't wish for him to be our starter quite yet, he's certainly capable of stealing a base or two and potentially putting up solid SS production. That's the difference between you and me. I think we out to go for it NOW (you know while we still have zambrono and prior relatively cheap compared to their production).. Furcal gives us a positive boost at SS immediately, making us stronger immediately. And increases our chances at the playoffs, immediately. Yet you want to be patient and do what? Sign Nomar and take a chance he doesn't get injured in the first month? Have Neifi keep it warm for Cedeno so that when Cedeno is finally ready, Dusty doesn't play him? I'm sorry, I think the Cubs should be trying to win the World Series NOW. We are not building for the future. We are ready, and we only need a FEW peices and some luck (wood).

I'm gonna have to say I disagree with you. They can add Furcal, get Lofton for 1 year for cheap (who will probably have a very good season) and still afford a great RF through trade if not FA. Furcal is strong DF, steals tons of bases, and gives us that constant threat on the bases that people keep saying "shakes up" pitchers. We NEED that next year. We do not have anybody waiting in the wings to give us that next year at SS.

Maybe he should have replaced "Cub fans" with "Baker". . I think the Kid will BE a superstud. Not an all-star, but close to it. The guy has shown EXTREME patience at the plate. You know when I watch ball games I get one of two feelings when our team is up. Either the nervous "oh no I hope we get a hit and score a run" when watching the likes of patterson or burnitz. Or the "ahh this guy will probably get a hit" when watching the likes of Lee or Murton. Murton makes me relax when he is at the plate because I have confidence something good will happen EVERY time he is up to bat. We need more hitters like this on this team. He will be one of the positives next year. Working the count, making the pitcher sweat, taking walks, getting timely hits. I hope Murton will be our Starting LF for many years to come.

I'd be happy with Furcal SS, Lofton CF, and someone slightly better than Burnitz RF. We have the money to get ir done. Our LF has already been giftwrapped for us.

Hi guys, here's my first post. (took 2 weeks to wait) As you can see from my moniker, I want Giles to happen too. Don't know how likely it is we get the "Giles Bros". . (probably 20%), but that would be a DREAM. =P~