goonys evil twin

To a much more limited amount than pitching saves runs and offense scores runs. Defense in baseball is about on the level of special teams in football. It's important, but you'd be crazy to build a team around it. I agree with this statement but I think it raises an interesting point. Football teams do go out and add return men, Dante Hall for the Chiefs and Pacman Jones for the Titans, with the intent to improve the special teams thus improving the team overall. Building off your argument, the Cubs have done exactly this adding Cesar Izturis to a decent defense. The key now will be to go out in the offseason and getting some good offensive players to compliment Izturis' glove. Just like the Chiefs need to improve their defense and the Titans simply need talent on offense and defense to compliment each teams stellar return games. The special teams comp isn't all that good, because you can score on special teams, not in the field in baseball. There is no Danta Hall equivalent on defense in baseball. Defense is more like the kickoff and punt coverage team in football. You have the kicker, but he also works with offense, and the vast majority of the coverage guys are just backups for other positions, and not highly paid. Not to mention, replacable at the drop of a hat.

I'm not so sure there is no point. The two things he needs are innings and control. The Cubs are a notorious pitch to avoid contact team. He might be a lot better off racking up those innings without trying to avoid major league bats, and that can be done in the minors better than the majors.

through 4 innings, AZ has an OBP of .400 while the Cubs are at .313, but that probably doesn't mean anything.

Why don't we have every NSBB member wrap up and ship our copies of Moneyball to Jim Hendry with a little note asking him politely to read it? Maybe then he will sit down, read a book and get some semblance of OBP. There are better books for Jim to read than Moneyball. I'd prefer he start with the Hidden Game of Baseball and work from there. Moneyball would just antagonize him and make him more stubborn.

That's how Hendry builds his teams. If everything works out, they should be okay. But everything doesn't work out. You can't say, well, this guy hit .300 two years ago, so if he gets back to that we can be good. You can't say, this guy hit .355 with RISP last year, even though he was just .285 overall, so all he has to do is repeat that and we'll be fine. Smart people realize numbers with RISP are not typically maintained over time. You have to build a team expecting setbacks. You need multiple high OBP players, multiple power threats and bench players that actually do something good besides field a position.

His OBP is a must have on this team. I wouldn't have been so hot after him if this team wasn't so pathetically lacking in the vital stat. I was a big Giles fan back in the day, but cooled as he aged. It wasn't until Hendry passed on all options and left this team with inevitable failure that I once again picked up the Giles bandwagon. This team is desperate for OBP, but they don't have a ton of talent to trade. The only thing they have is money. is a .744 ops worth 10 mil a year? imo, the teams failure had more to do with them counting on wood & prior yet again and lee's freak injury. Generally no, but would he have that with the Cubs? Probably not. He not only has the drag of Petco, but he no longer gets the benefit of Coors, which has gone pitcher friendly this year (wet balls or something). Blaming injuries is weak. This team was set up for failure from the beginning. They guaranteed another low OBP year, and had questioable pitching situation. Lee's freak injury just brought out the worst in them, otherwise they'd be just a slightly below average team other than a horrible team. They've played their best this season without Lee doing a thing.

Prior is guranteed to start the season on the DL. Anything else you can guarantee? I can gurantee you Hendry will make a offer to Zito, but Zito wont except it. Then Hendry will go the cheap way, and sign Padilla. Marquis is a option if you ask me. He is still young, has a live arm, and throws a heavy sinker. I just think he would get a offer he cant refuse from another team though. Are you poo-pooing the idea of Padilla but then calling for Marquis? They are pretty similar pitchers, with Padilla likely having a slight advantage and a higher upside.

Well it was a wrist, but DLEE pretty much did the same thing a month ago. Prior pitched with achilles/ankle pain during the 2003 playoffs, then went out with an achilles injury the next spring. He also pitched after injuring his shoulder against Atlanta.

Is that true? I thought he had been on the DL in Atlanta. He only started 25 games in '94... http://espn-i.starwave.com/media/apphoto/339bebc6-59f0-403e-b124-130fda08b6e0.jpg I believe the stat is he's never been on the DL for an arm injury, but he was on for a toe or something.

In what way shape or form? Well, Pierre is considered to be a marginally bigger threat on the bases than Posednik. Also, as much as we have been upset at Pierre for how he plays center, Posednik is that much worse. When their offensive games are so similar, the tiebreaker should either be amount of contract (which I don't know what either of them will ask for) or their other attributes, which Pierre is better at. It would still be a very close call between the two players, but the fact that a natural center fielder by both speed and the limited offense that Podsednik brings was moved to left is a telling sign I think. Considered to be marginally bigger threat on the bases? By whom? Pods is more successful stealing. And he makes considerably less money. You can't just claim Pierre is "better in every category" and expect not to be called on that completely made up and arbitrary statement. We need to stop talking about these two. If either is on the Cubs it would suck, since they both suck.

His OBP is a must have on this team. I wouldn't have been so hot after him if this team wasn't so pathetically lacking in the vital stat. I was a big Giles fan back in the day, but cooled as he aged. It wasn't until Hendry passed on all options and left this team with inevitable failure that I once again picked up the Giles bandwagon. This team is desperate for OBP, but they don't have a ton of talent to trade. The only thing they have is money.

In what way shape or form?

offensively, he's far superior to pierre, who actually is quite pathetic. Neither is good. Pods has a career OPS+ of 92 with 112, 79 and 86 the past 2 years. Pierre is at 87, with 98, 107 and 84 the past two years. Their careers OBPs are .345 (sp) and .355 (jp). Pods peaked at 27, Pierre peaked at 26. Neither is a good option.

They are in first place, in their division. They aren't a contender by any stretch. The AL west is weak and they are on pace to win it with just 85 wins. The Cubs better not do anything with the hopes of winning just 85. You act as if the low OPS is the reason they are in first. The Cubs need to try and build a potential 100 win team. Their payroll demands it, and allows for such a goal. They should try and build the best team possible, not accept crap just because it's there. guys like barrett, jones and dempster were called "crap" by many people here when they were signed or traded for. i even recall that many people were lamenting trading choi for lee. look at what a bust furcal has been in La and has anyone looked what bradley & giles are doing btw? not all that glitters is gold. What does any of this have to do with trying to win with sub 700 OPS players? Barrett has proved a lot of people wrong. Jones has done pretty much what was expected, which is make a ton of outs and hit for a little power. Dempster has done what I thought he would. He sucked as a starter candidate, but was a decent reliever, with a lot of inconsistencies. For what it's worth, the team has gotten worse since they got Lee. Lee proved me wrong by taking a big leap in his late 20's, but because of Hendry's inefficient roster moves, they couldn't even take advantage of a huge unexpected improvement.

No interest.

He's going to re-sign Pierre. He has to because Pie is not ready. Give him another year or two in the minors. In all honesty I would've liked another year in AA this year. Pierre has been very good the last two months of the season. Sometimes it takes a player a while to get used to Wrigley and the day games. I think Pierre was just trying to do everything to prove himself and he just needed to relax and play the game. I'm all for Pierre for another year or two... I think Pierre just isn't good, and his numbers prove it, both this year and career. I'm completely against him returning, but I think Pie needs more time as well. And he should just stop trying to steal. Do it like once a month and maybe catch the other team off guard.

They are in first place, in their division. They aren't a contender by any stretch. The AL west is weak and they are on pace to win it with just 85 wins. The Cubs better not do anything with the hopes of winning just 85. You act as if the low OPS is the reason they are in first. The Cubs need to try and build a potential 100 win team. Their payroll demands it, and allows for such a goal. They should try and build the best team possible, not accept crap just because it's there.

If you want to make it really short, you could make a videa of all the Cubs walks they have taken since 2002.

There isn't a rule against accepting less to stay. It's not going to happen via arbitration, but could through normal negotiations. Kerry seems pretty adament that he will not be a starter next year, and probably not for at least a couple years, if ever. I do not think many teams would be at all interested in guaranteeing him $5-6m as an experiment. The Cubs have been one of the most aggressive "experiment" teams, in terms of signing risky injured guys to low guarantees/high incentive contracts. Boston tried and failed with Wade Miller. The Yankees did it with Jon Lieber, but the Cubs seem to do it with somebody every year. I could see a team offering more than the Cubs, but I could also see him staying with the Cubs for a little less, out of some sort of duty. $1m is probably not going to do it. $2m guaranteed with $2-4m more in incentives (and even higher incentives for throwing "starter" innings), plus some sort of option/buyout for the following year could get it done.

That sentence pissed me off. It's like he was intimidating readers into assuming that was fact, so as to not sound foolish by thinking otherwise. I'm a supporter of Cedeno playing. But I have lots of doubts about the brightness, or lackthereof, of his future. If he does have a bright future, I see no reason why it couldn't be at shortstop. It's just an asinine statement that he probably feels comfortable writing because he knows the Cubs aren't going to give Cedeno a chance at shortstop anymore, so he can't be proven wrong.

CLee does still look like the most viable and Hendry-like move, although he has been more of a 825-850 OPS guy. That would still be an upgrade of 150+ OPS points in LF (and he could really explode at Wrigley) and enable a platoon in RF that could gain us another 100 OPS there as well. That said, I'd still love to see us go hard after Cabrera. Adding him to the lineup would mean a huge lift all over. Soriano would be about in the CLee category but probably more expensive. I wouldn't mind seeing JD Drew in RF either. What would Marlins want for Cabrera? That would be scary... How would 825-850 be a 150+ improvement in OPS from LF? Murton is at 740 and climbing, the Cubs as a whole are at 751 already. Cabrera would take the motherload. Other teams have better top prospects than the Cubs, but teams with the top prospects also aren't willing to trade them. As for what it would take, I'm guessing they'd want 2 cheap major leaguers, and multiple good prospects. Wuertz and Murton fit the bill as major league contributors who make nothing. Pie could be added to such a package as the high ceiling guy. And I'd guess they'd want one of the starting pitchers who has shown to be solid. Wuertz, Murton, Pie and Marmol, if necessary, sweeten with another prospect or two. Cabrera is going to use Pujols as a comparison in his arbitration/negotiation. His team would be wise to lock him up to a big time deal now, instead of riding out each arby year. Florida isn't in a great position to go to arbitration with him, if they have any interest in maintaining their payroll structure. The smart thing to do is to resign him. But counting on their notorious cheapness, a deal would not be out of the question.

The Cubs don't owe Wood a dang thing. Wood owes the Cubs. Regardless of what offers Wood gets from other clubs, he should decline all of them and come back with the Cubs for at least one year - maybe 2 (if a low base salary, incentive-laden contract can be mutually agreed upon). He owes the fans at least another try to get some production from him. I like Kerry Wood, but the idea that the Cubs owe him is ridiculous. With all the money we've invested in Wood and the disappointment he has been most of the time while in a Cubs uniform, his attitude should be one of owing the club and the fans and not seek some ridiculous salary (not that many teams would take a chance with a long-term contract). To Jim Hendry: Sign Wood for at least a one year, low base, incentive-laden contract as a reliever. Ken I think "owe him a chance" is a questionable choice of words. No, they don't owe him anything. But they should give him another chance at the right price as a reliever.

I'm with you. 1yr/$2m, another $2m in incentives if he appears in X amount of games (which would put him up there with the top set-up men). Then maybe a $5m team option with $500k buyout, that could get bumped to $15m if he throws 200 innings, or $8m if he "finishes" Y amount of games (so he'd get more if he becomes a closer).

Baseball players buy into the same macho mumbo jumbo that old school baseball men preach to the masses about defense. It doesn't surprise me at all that a player would be in love with a guy who has a great reputation defensively.

Somehow I don't feel the problem is that Bruce is being asked to do too much. I think the problem is that no matter what he did, Hendry and his "baseball men" are still going to dismiss him as a stat geek writer who "never played the game". speaking of rain delay theatre, Gary Hughes. Mr. Hughes looked........ differently than I pictured him. But in retrospect, that should have been my picture of him all along.