goonys evil twin

Who? Just to throw it out there.....Trot Nixon Nixon: (2006)283AB--AVG .304 | HR 6 | RBI 44 | OBP .407 | SLG .438 (career) .281/.369/.485 Abreu: (2006)310AB--AVG .287 | HR 8 | RBI 62 | OBP .438 | SLG .452 (career) .302/.413/.508 Nixon is a free agent and would be a heck of a lot cheaper. Abreu is exactly one month older so age makes no difference in this case. Edit to fix a stat. Nixon is a platoon player with a 120 career OPS+. Expose him to more lefties and his numbers plummet. Bobby is an everyday guy with a career OPS+ of 138. If you want to play Nixon in left and platoon him with Murton, fine, but then you still got a platoon guy in right with Jones. Get Abreu and he plays everyday, then Murton can spell Jones against lefties. Big difference here.

Yep. Finally broke the Thursday jinx !! SeriouslY??? 4 months into the seaon and its the first time we won on a Thursday? we are now 1-8 on Thursday. Postseason here we come!

The only answer to the Cubs problems is more impact bats. They can deal with mediocrity in the middle infielf if they have 6 other solid bats, including some stud in the OF.

The coaches have to take some responsibility for the development. Sure, it's on the back end, but they still have to do something.

The reason for the high pitch count is Dusty is a moron. The reason for the walk ratio is probably a little more complicated. The Cubs in general always have high walk ratios, so I can only assume they either don't work with pitchers to control that issue, or they do work with them but do a terrible job at it. Plus, Carlos has always had control issues. And he knows that his team is pathetic so he might be trying to be too fine, working to miss bats more than usual in an effort to shut out every team, because giving up 1 run is very dangerous with the Cubs behind you.

What does he have, 450 professional innings? And I'm assuming that's with very little pitching experience prior to the conversion. Control should not be surprising. I just wonder if the Cubs organization is the right one to get a guy to fix such a problem.

No doubt. At the very least you offset the potential loss of Ramirez. And you should be locking offensive upgrades for 2007. They should still be able to sign a decent role player, as well as some pitching.

By the sounds of things, you can get Abreu for next to nothing, and not even have to pay all of this salary. It sounds like Philly wants the other team to pay most. And I'm betting Abreu approves any deal if the team exercises the option. So, it's 2/31 (probably minus a couple million) for a guy that always plays 150+ games, and consistently puts up .400+ OBP. Floyd on the other hand is much less consistent, 1.5 years older, injury prone, and significantly less productive (especially in the OBP department). As a free agent, he could probably negotiate his way into a 3 year deal, not to mention, cause the Cubs to give up draft picks if Mets offer arby (sure, picks aren't that big of a deal, but they do count when weighing your options). Abreu is better and younger. Sure he's more expensive, but the one thing the Cubs do have is money to spend on guys. I'd much rather make a trade today, guaranteeing you get your guy for 2 years, than wait for November to negotiate with a dozen other teams that might want Floyd. The Cubs don't have the option of missing out on the offensive upgrade. If they have a chance to lock into some talent now, they have to do it. Waiting for free agency would be a huge mistake.

I heard that too. that makes no damn sense. I remember criticizing Jocketty for getting Rolen when the Cards needed pitching to put them over the top, but this trade takes that similar theory to it's absolute extreme. not only do the Mets get a guy they really don't need (don't forget Floyd is really heating up too), they add a ton of payroll and gets rid of a potentially great player (Jocketty didn't go that far). all of the rumors I have heard the past couple of days make no damn sense. then again, the one trade that went down (Nats-Reds) made no damn sense either. maybe Hendry is playing the Mets against the Dodgers for Maddux, and this is the Mets posturing to gain some leverage in that situation? either Ethier or Milledge coming our way? hey, I can dream, can't I? You think Hendry is smart enough to pit one team against the other, in the persuit of a mediocre starting pitching? I love Maddux, and he is a HOF, but any team---in this case LA and NY---an Andre Ethier or a Lastings Milledge (shades of Kazmir for V. Zambrano ringing loud in NY, perhaps?) should be laugh at. I take a solid package of Willy Aybar and Joel Hanrahan/Jonathon Broxton for Maddux right now, tho. I can't see them trading Milledge for Maddux, but maybe if the Cubs added something to the package to make it more enticing?

Who? How about Cliff Floyd? I wasn't going mention anybody imparticular, but I decided to. At this point in Abreu's career he is SIMPLY not worth $15 mill dollar for a couple of yrs, no matter how good his OBP is. If the Cubs would do their homework (which I seriously doubt :roll: ) they could find more cost-effeficent (sp?) players with similar offensive skillset as Abreu. Floyd isn't in Abreu's class.

A couple dozen more series wins and this team will be in contention!

Jacque playing against a lefty and sitting against a righty would be so very Dusty.

It's only been mentioned about a billion times over the years. And I'll just say the same thing I always do. I go to Shea and Yankee stadium a few times a year and you will see the exact same thing in those stadiums. And I bet you will see the same thing at many other venues, especially in bigger cities with large populations of young people.

I stand in the anything can happen zone. I could see him opting out, or staying on board. I would have to get a better feel for his plans before making the decision. I think the only way I deal him is if I end up with somebody like ARod, or if I end up with a major impact player elsewhere as well as a decent 3rd baseman. The one thing I can not be on board with his (d). The Cubs cannot afford to let such a talent simply walk away with no compensation. Either trade him for significant quality, or make sure he stays.

I've been thinking this would be a wise move ever since the collapse. When they talked about him coming back early with no rehab assignments I was not happy. Even if this was a less serious version of a broken wrist, it was still a broken wrist. All that matters is 2007.

I certianly hope you are right, but right now, somehow I think he will pull this feat off without any kind of problem. I don't think he has a clue. BCB There's no reason why he can't have a $95+ million payroll with Cedeno at SS next year, if he spends the rest of the money on good players. You can deal with an unproductive player or two in the lineup, you just have to pay them the minimum and spend wisely on your regulars.

Besides general business ethics, yes, the commissioner's office would most definitely get involved.

People have been giving up on young players long before NSBB, or the internet was around.

The Cubs have a lot the Dodgers could use at the moment. They've reportedly expressed interest in Maddux. They have the middle relief help that LA could use. Dempster may interest them as a closer. And with Kent out Todd Walker might even interest them. If the rumors of bad blood between Colletti and the Cubs are true, I don't see much happening on this front.

I think they put him on waivers, with the chance to pull him off if the team that chooses him doesn't offer a reasonable trade. However, it also seems like they are willing to pretty much give him away, so the Cubs could be in a position where they can claim him, offer Toronto next to nothing (or who knows, maybe they want Rusch (or Nevin) for the stretch run) and then control him for the rest of the year.

He sounds really annoying, but I'd like to see the Cubs gets him. If they can steal him for nothing, and somehow trade him for value, that would be great. Or, if they could keep him around he'd be the best bench player on the team, and provide insurance in case Ramirez opts out of his deal, or if they magically trade Ramirez in a deal for ARod, who could play SS again. But reading the story on the TBJ website makes me question this guy a bit: http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060719&content_id=1564979&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor He was away from the team for 3 days midseason for an adoption? I know adoption is a difficult process, and I know family comes first. But players normally don't miss more than a game or two when their wives' give birth. Why did he have to miss 3 games midseason? Then he supposedly shows up late and is goofing around in pregame? Then he cries to the media about how he's being treated. Lots of red flags there. But the Cubs are desperate for talent, and if they can claim him off waivers and give up next to nothing, I think they really should.

If being a player's manager had any value, I'd be all for quotes like this. But it doesn't have any value. The quotes don't cause any harm, but they give you glimpse of the real motivation and thought process of the man. Trading Maddux is good for the Cubs organization. Maybe it's bad for Dusty because he needs somebody who actually understands baseball to be in his dugout, but it's not bad for the Cubs. Furthermore, Dusty obviously has some sort of hex over Jim Hendry. Hendry went bonkers trying to woo the guy over here when nobody else was considering him as manager. Hendry wanted to give him an extension a long time ago, but it seems MacPhail's decision to wait on Hendry's extension is the only thing that kept it from happening. Hendry has gotten everything Baker has wanted, with neither man apparantly realizing that a team full of speed defenders isn't going to win baseball games. He's gotten him his veteran bench, despite the fact that a rookie bench could have outplayed them for much cheaper (thus allowing more money for impact players). No, the quote isn't that big of a deal by itself. A lot of his quotes are no big deal. The problem is he has one a week that shows you his priorities, which are misplaced.

how many times can this lame joke be repeated?

Burrell is too pretty and his worst year was the one right after he signed his big deal. I don't like the "they lost with him, they can lose without him" argument. I guess I should say I understand it, I just don't agree it's a good plan. They do have young cornerstone position players to fall back on when Abreu leaves though.

I don't get the motivation for the dump, although I have been sort of predicting something like this for about 2 years. The ridiculous thing would be if the Cubs don't get involved. Abreu is exactly what they need, and while they will have money to improve, they won't have the players to spend it on.