goonys evil twin

So what? I'll answer that. Leadoff wasn't that big of a problem. Yes, the players they chose to put there last year didn't do well, but that could be solved better with somebody other than a 5/50 Furcal. RF has been the biggest hole. SS could be filled adequately with Cedeno. RF has absolutely nobody, and if you spend $10m on Furcal you leave much less money available to improve the actual need positions. I don't like Pierre, but he's much more economical leading off at $4-6m than Furcal.

Offering $10m per year for Rafael Freaking Furcal is pathetic fiscal irresponsibility, we're lucky somebody stepped in and prevented this mistake.

If it smacks of Any or the Trib, then it's the best thing they've done since reinvesting in the farm system. Mere pittance? What a ridiculous choice of words. 5/50 was a terrible contract. Not signing Furcal has been one of the best moves the Cubs made this offseason.

That is no pittance, and I'm glad they stayed away from that awful contract.

I'd have no problem with him on the bench. Give me 2 more corner OF and have Murton/Patterson as 4th/5th OF

A "not a chance game" in my mind about 4 weeks ago, now, I really don't know. Pittsburgh has not looked good. Their dbacks are susceptible to a good passing game, unfortunately the Bears don't have anything resembling a good passing game. If Pittsburgh can mount anything close to a decent running game, it'll be trouble. Right now I think the consensus is the Bears are too one dimensional to do anything in the playoffs, and they'll probably lose any road playoff game and possible even a home game against NY. If they win this game on the road, and show something on offense, the doubts will vanish. The more desperate team often wins in the NFL, and Pittsburgh has to be considered more desperate. But the Bears are not even guaranteed a wild card spot, let alone the division or home field right now. They need this game to reduce the chances of making that Vikings game meaningful. I think Orton makes some mistakes here, and the defense gives up 1 or 2 big plays, meaning a 13-6 loss.

After the racial overtones in those French riots, do you think he'll be able to work alongside Pepe Le Pew?

Yeah, that would be my impression.

Bradley is no ideal acquisition. But Hendry passed on ideal long ago, and so far has settled for spare parts that don't help much. RF has always been the biggest hole on the team, and they need a bat out there, but they don't seem interested in the good ones. I'd be happy with somebody better than Bradley, I just don't see the Cubs getting those few guys that are out there.

Bushels? Where? Hendry's OF options have shrunk. I don't see him getting in on the Abreu, Drew, Manny, Dunn ideas. Floyd and Bradley are probably the next batch, and Floyd's availability is much less know than Bradley's. Regardless, they need two OF bats now.

At this point the best backup plan you can have is to get Floyd and Bradley, with Murton as 4th OF and keeping Walker at 2B. If they insist on dealing Walker, then they need to get Lugo, or failing that, take Matsui and his possible .330 OBP off the Mets hands and put him at 2B. A Floyd/Mench platoon in RF probably isn't enough at this point, especially if they make the mistake of trading Walker and letting Neifi play more than a backup role.

Despite depressed value, he is still the Cubs 2nd best trade chip right now (behind Walker). And since the Cubs still have a need, it makes sense to move him. If they can move him for something valuable, I'm all for it. But if they are taking crap back, Patterson is fine for the bench. Pierre shouldn't be guaranteed a spot past 2006, a little healthy competition between relatively young players would be a good thing.

I would really like healthy Vidro playing 2B for the Cubs, I just have no idea if he's even remotedly healthy.

No this person doesn't exist. Hendry and Baker have both admitted that "true" leadoff hitters just don't exist anymore. Yet, they still decided to overemphasize the need to get a stereotypical one instead of just getting the best hitters they can find.

I'm all for overspending if it guarantees a WS, but none of this guarantees a thing. I'd overspend if it meant bringing in premier talent, but the Cubs have steared clear of premier talent so far. I'm not interested in overspending young talent for guys like Floyd and Lugo.

I would like that as well. But the Cubs are running out of tradable assets. They gave up too much for Pierre. They need Jerome Williams unless they get a solid starter elsewhere. The farm is not as rich as it was 3-4 years ago. Trading for Lugo and Floyd individually would probably cost big time talent, which the Cubs can't afford to give up. But then again, they can't afford to go into the season with the lineup looking anything close to what it looks like right now.

wow, good thought.

I'd rather trade marginal talent and take on Floyd (much great offensive impact than Lugo) and Matsui (could hopefully keep Neifi on bench more often) while paying the money (which is still available), than trade significant talent for Lugo (which leaves a questionable OF of Murton, Pierre, Bradley(assumed)) with no OF depth. The Cubs still have money to spend on the roster. If they aren't going to get an impact player like Drew or Abreu, they might as well use that financial flexibility to their advantage. The two things you need to make a deal are money and talent. If you don't have much money, you have to give up more talent. If you have the money, you can give up less talent. If this fascilitates a Manny trade, NY could give the Cubs Floyd and Matsui for very little, just for the cost benefit.

If they insist on trading Walker, thus opening another enormous hole in the lineup, and probably not completely filling the gaping hole in RF, you can't just stop there. Let's say the Walker for Bradley trade happens. I like Bradley, but I think it's ridiculous to trade for a guy as unreliable as Bradley to fill your biggest hole, while opening up the hole at 2B. The likely ensuing lineup: Pierre, Perez, Lee, Ramirez, Bradley, Barrett, Murton, Cedeno is pretty week and in danger of tremendous downside. Unfortunately I think you have to go after another OF, somebody who will add more pop, moving Murton to the 4th OF position. If Cliff Floyd is available, I think he's an obvious choice. And if the Mets keep going for Manny, it might happen. Then you've got Floyd and Bradley in the corners, neither being a lock to give you 600 PA, which is where Murton fits in. Plus, Cliff can give Lee a breather, preventing his usual slowdown. But, if you've already made that hole at 2nd, and if the one thing you do have available is money, and you don't have a ton of talent to spare, do you take a financial risk to make this happen? Would you take Kaz Matsui off the Mets hands along with Floyd, freeing up Manny cash in NY, and reducing the amount of talent you have to send back? I'd rather keep Walker and then find my corner OF. But if they insist on getting rid of him, you just can't go into the season with Neifi as a starting middle infielder. And your MI of Cedeno, Hairston and Neifi isn't exactly deep. Matsui has been a disappointment, but at least he stands a chance of giving you decent OBP, possibly .330, or even higher if he gets his game together. He also brings a SB threat that Neifi just doesn't have. (A side benefit may be opening the eyes of future Japanese players to the idea of playing for the Cubs, it seems to me that 3-4 teams have an obvious advantage in recruiting the Japanese player, NYY, NYM, SEA, LAD, while the CWS have made some inroads as well. The Cubs need to get in on that market of talent.) I don't want to pay Matsui what he's going to make, but if it makes it easier to acquire Floyd, and if your only other option is Neifi starting 150 games, well, you almost have to make such a deal. Your lineup looks more dependable: Pierre, Bradley, Lee, Ramirez, Floyd, Barrett, Matsui, Cedeno Plus, you get to keep Neifi on the bench, which looks like: Blanco, Perez, Hairston, Murton, Mabry. If they wise up and go with 11 pitchers, you can add another bat to the mix. Both Floyd and Matsui would be one year rentals, bringing money off the books next season and allowing the Cubs to bring Murton into a starting role after they learn more about him (assuming Dusty plays him more, which I think he'll have to do with Floyd and Bradley out there). Of course, none of this is ideal. But Hendry threw out the option of ideal a long time ago. Now it's time to try and make the best of a less than perfect situation.

I was hoping for one big acquisition and a slew of role players. Now it doesn't look they will add any difference makers. Is that what we're going to do every year? Just look at the previous World Series champ and make moves based off them? Boston won the year before, seems to me they made some big moves. When Florida won they made some pretty big moves. The worst thing that could have happened to Cubs fans is the White Sox victory. Not because our neighbors to the south are so annoying, but because the theories about "how" they won are making people delirious when it comes to possible Cubs moves. You know they also bidded on a good Japanese players, something the Cubs have shown no interest in, and they relied on an unproven crazy kid to be their closer down the stretch, something the Cubs would never do. They went out and acquired multiple solid veteran starting pitchers to go along with their core group of youngsters, something the Cubs aren't doing.

If US presidents lost wars as frequently as Cubs GM lose games, I'd be pretty upset. But by and large, US politicians have been far more successful running this country, its states and cities than any Cubs GM I've ever met.

Batting average and strikeouts are two of the worst ways to compare player production. And the stolen bases are not that valuable when you get caught as often as Pierre. Why do I have to be happy with the Cubs for settling for mediocrity? As a long time Cubs fan, I want to see them win a World Series. I don't feel like excusing them for sucking just because they've done it so often in the past.

Anti Pierre people have been anti Pierre for a very long time though. This isn't a case of just dissing a Hendry move for the fun of it.

If the Cubs showed any ability to do something similar, I'd be happy. But we've seen over and over that they don't know how to spread the wealth and create a great team at the same time. They are an inefficiently run ballclub. oh, and the contracts of Chipper, Andruw, Rolen, Pujols, Roger, Lance and others are very similar to some of the deals HEndry refuses to give.

They are not currently in a position to "compete within the division". But a good RF should change that. However, with a top 5 payroll in all of baseball, the Cubs should be in a position to win 95+ games, and I don't see it. This offense is an upgrade to last years, but with considerable downside risk. Take out Walker and add in more Neifi, and it gets worse. Personally I see Hendry going the easy way out with a bum in RF, which would probably leave the Cubs with no better than a 7/8th place finish in the NL for runs scored next year. Add in a better RF and maybe they are a 5th/6th place team (assuming no major setbacks). Add in a great RF and they could be top 4. And with so many questions about the pitching staff, I wouldn't be comfortable saying they'll definitely be top 5 there, that looks to me like a team that will contend for the wild card and maybe win 85-89 games, but hardly a top notch ballclub. Of course, Hendry still has a chance to rectify the situation and put a team on the field that a $100m payroll should demand.