goonys evil twin

My attendance at Cubs road games will surely double.

I don't believe Walker or Nomar got a raw deal, or are getting a raw deal. I just think the Cubs are making a mistake with them. If they end up improving the trade with a Walker trade, I'll have no problem. That's part of the reason I really wanted that option picked up.

$11m had a lot to do with Eyre coming here. And I was thinking more about impact free agents, not middle relievers with sketchy career numbers. If Brian Giles signs here because he really wanted to play for Dusty, or if Furcal signs here for the same or similar money that Atlanta offered because he wanted to play for Dusty, or if BJ Ryan signs here because he wanted to play for Dusty, then I'll start to listen. But there have been a lot of impact free agents in the market since Dusty came in, and none of them signed with the Cubs.

Is Philly really that tough of a sports town? I honestly don't know. Anyone? Anyone? Beuler? NY is absolutely brutal. IMO NY, Boston and Philly are the hardest places to play. The thing about NY and sometimes Boston is that you also get a lot of national recognition if you are doing well. I don't think that happens in Philly nearly as much. The one thing that makes Philly a little easier for baseball is the Phillies are clearly an afterthought in that town. They are all about Eagles and Flyers, and a little about the 76ers. But they have no faith in the baseball team there, so there is very little expected. The fans are still quick to turn on players, and it is tough to deal with, but it's easier than being a baseball player in Boston or NY.

Is that really the type of reputation you want your organization to have. IT would have an impact on future FA signings. Right now, If I'm not mistaken, Hendry really appears to be a man of his word, for better or worse. Mistreating players, misleading players would get around through the fraternity. Hence why I don't want him to F over Walker (besides the fact his production for 2.5 million is an absolute steal. But everything is fluid and I think the players realize that. If a situation arises where you are able to acquire a premier closer, I dont' think it would ruin your reputation by moving Dempster (who hasn't even spent a whole year closing, not to mention his peripherals really aren't spectacular) to a setup role. The GM has a job to do as well, and that is to put the best team on the field. The only way I can see it being a real negative would be if you totally misled the player from the beginning and really had no intention of letting him close in the first place, which I don't think would be the case in this particular hypothetical. It can be a fine line I guess. I'm not sure which badger fan I'm responding to here. I don't buy the "keep the reputation intact at the expense of the team" theory. Hendry has talked about that stuff for years, especially with the theory that Baker will talk free agents into coming here (and Dusty seems quite convinced half of baseball really wants to play for him). But every indication is he's going to trade Walker against his will. And he already went overboard in the diss Sammy ordeal. They let the whole Mercker/Alou/announcer thing get out of hand. I don't think signing a great reliever and bumping Dempster to set-up man is going to hurt their reputation anymore than any of these things did, if that's even an issue to beging with. I think most players would be excited to play for a team that's willing to keep getting better. As long as Hendry presents it well to Dempster, I can't see it as a problem.

I'm not saying the Cubs are going to ignore hitting this offseason. I am saying they've ignored the problem that caused the lack of offense the past few years. I was just responding to the many statements I've read where people seem to be advocating purposefully ignoring the offense and focusing exclusively on pitching. I want a top 5 run scoring team and top 5 run preventing team. Some people don't seem to care if the offense is 9th in the league, and I just don't get it. If Hendry does indeed go out and spend $20 on actual offensive improvements, I'll be ecstatic.

Not really. The pitching was near the top of the league. Certainly good enough to make for a 90+ win season. The offense was mediocre. That's the reason they failed to win 90 wins. You can't really snicker at a top 3 pitching staff, or expect much more. You can expect more than a 9th ranked scoring offense, especially when you have a top payroll. Wasn't their bullpen awful that year also? aside from Borowski and Farns? I seem to remember Wood having at least 5-7 games he left with the lead but got a ND. Not awful, middle of the pack, according to ERA. They were 8th in the NL and 16th in MLB. Starting pitching was fantastic, overall pitching was great. It was hitting that held them back. FYI, Remlinger was fine that year. Overpaid, and not as good as he was before signing, but a nice bullpen arm. Guthrie was also servicable, but his peripherals were not sparkling.

I'm saying that it's quite clear that many factors played into the increased offense, and steroids being used as a catch-all is a big mistake. They were 7th in 2004, but 9th in 2003 and 2005. That's consistently mediocre. I didn't ignore your point. The fact is scoring runs has been a problem for years. It has been a problem because of a lack of walks taken by the team, which led to a lack of OBP. It has been the same problem year after year. But because this team doesn't value walks taken, it's never been fixed. I don't buy the injury excuse. Injuries can be used to explain the one year downturn in pitching a lot easier than they can the consistently mediocre offense.

I am not at all high on Huff. If we thought Sosa was bad defensively in RF, Huff makes Sosa look like Andruw Jones. I don't see the Cubs getting a big bat for RF, at least not this yr, even tho it is a weakness. I know this is going to anger some people but, if the Cubs can land Furcal (or Lugo) and/or Pierre, I could definately see the Cubs bring back Burnitz for another yr. I could see it too, which is why I'm not about to give Hendry the benefit of the doubt. This team would be no better with Furcal and Burnitz, unless the new CF was a stud. RF was a blackhole last year but I think the Cubs believe they got good production.

The hypocracy is palpable. Please, tell me where the hypocrisy is. There was a long discussion about this reported signing, and then a whole bunch of stuff related to it. It was hardly all negative or complaining. But somebody felt the need to once again admonish those people who were in the discussion for taking part, and for having opinions. The whole point of this board is to have discussions and share opinions. I didn't threaten to bump this thread and shove that back in his face if next season indeed does end in failure due to a bunch of bad signings.

I'm talking about how incredibly immature it is of you to threaten to bump this thread to try and humiliate people who have a different opinion of yours, and how incredibly hypocritical it is of you to react the way you did when somebody asked if you'd do the same if the opposite were to happen. Jesus christ it was half hearted reply, I wasn't trying to "humiliate" anyone.. Quit whining about everything. If someone bumped a thread where I said Eyre is the greatest Lefty ever, and bumped after a 4.5 era season, I woudln't feel humiliated at all. React WHAT way? I said I NEVER advocated for the Neifi and Rusch deals so his post using those deals to "get at me" wasn't accurate. I have said I like the Eyre and Howry (if it happens) deal, so that would be an accurate place to call my opinion out. Man for as aggressive and attacking as you are, you sure do get defensive about some things. Who is acting defensive? You're the one who made the threat, then quickly flipped out when challenged with a question. What if Wagner is great, again? Will you bump it?

Perhaps steroids isn't the catch-all for the improved offensive numbers, huh? Offense has been a big problem every year. It's been a below average scoring team consistently because this team doesn't get on base enough. And this team doesn't get on base enough because this team doesn't draw enough walks. Hendry has completely ignored that problem year after year, which is why this team has had the same problem year after year. Pitching was a problem last year. But hitting has been a problem every year.

I'm talking about how incredibly immature it is of you to threaten to bump this thread to try and humiliate people who have a different opinion of yours, and how incredibly hypocritical it is of you to react the way you did when somebody asked if you'd do the same if the opposite were to happen.

The basis for my doubt is that I think that would be a ridiculously far-fetched, and unprecedented theory. And that I think Dempster is pretty much a good guy and team player who is very happy with how the Cubs have treated him and would love to see the team get better. He never begged for the job. This isn't a TO situation. He's got nothing to stand on. If he has incentive clauses for games finished, I could see his agent asking for them to be changed to appearances, but I highly, highly doubt he'd be a problem. And I think that the fear of him tearing apart this team from the inside is a rather illogical reason to avoid upgrading the bullpen with the best arms possible.

yeah. given the amount of $ the cubs have to spend, i'd rather have wagner at $10 mil than eyre at $3ish. and as long as we're throwing opinions out there, i'd rather have wagner at $10 mil than eyre, neifi and rusch at $10 mil. I'm bumping this thread when the old fart blows out his elbow next year and we will have avoided another Benitez/Urbina are you also gonna bump it if he has another season like this past one? or if eyre sucks, neifi starts 110 games w/ a .280 OBP, or rusch posts a 4.90 era? Since apparently you've been feeling ornery lately, please tell me when I've EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER advocated for the re-signing of Neifi or Rusch? I would like to be pointed to ONE single post where I mentioned I was happy with those deals. I'll give you some time to find it, but you won't, because they don't exist. If Eyre sucks, then I'll eat my crow, but I'm not the one bashing hendry left and right for EVERYTHING he does and doesn't do 3 weeks into the offseason (not implying that you necessarily are, but some people are) And did you see what happened to EVERY high priced closer last year? So it's okay to throw words back into the faces of those who don't like his moves, but not okay to throw stuff back into the faces of those who do like his moves?

The White Sox might have had the most drastic set of changes of any team out there. That move to gangsta inspired black and white was a major change. And both Philly and the Pirates have had major overhauls.

Well it's a mutual option, so I say if he's great this year, the Cubs pick him up, but if he wants to become a free agent, let him.

That's the assumption. The question is whether it'll be a trade for quality or a trade for mediocrity.

You don't become a professional athlete without a competitive ego. No, I wouldn't be happy about "job security" and a "huge raise" that came along with a demotion. I also wouldn't want to spend 8 months with a guy who was told to do just that. You play to compete and win, the money is a secondary issue. Right, money is secondary. If Dempster would turn into a problem child if the Cubs acquired a far better reliever and gave that guy the closer's role, then Dempster is a bigger clubhouse cancer than any of the victim's of the great chemistry experiment of 2004.

By all accounts, pitchers were just as into the illegal supplements as the hitters. Again, why are you so willing to accept mediocre offense when the team is using a top 5 payroll? There is no rational reason to advocate sacrificing offense for pitching. I'm simply asking Hendry to address something he's ignored every year that has hurt the team. I'm not asking him to sacrifice pitching.

I highly doubt the Cubs are at risk of a grievence if they use Dempster as a set-up man rather than a closer.

Are you sure about that? Drafting closers to be closers has been a pretty new phenomenon.

I don't think it would have been simple to add Greg Maddux to the 2003 team to make it's pitching better. Offense is clearly the biggest problem on the team. Pitching had one down year in the past 3. Offense has been bad every year. They have already addressed pitching, and are supposedly still focusing on pitching, but offense has been ignored, to the point that one of the most important spots on this team is absolutely vacant, with no signs for improvement coming. Using last year's WS teams as your basis for a change in the game is extremely weak. After Florida won everybody said speed was the new name of the game. Then Boston won with an enormous attack and average pitching. I suggest you look at a lot more than just the 2 WS teams. Look at the entire playoff group. There were a lot of top offenses in that group, and there are always a lot of top offenses in that group. There will always be a lot of top offenses in that group. It's unnecessary to promote a strategy that focuses almost exclusively on preventing runs. There is no one way to win, but greatness on both sides of the lines is the best way to go about trying. I don't want them to just have a good offense or just have a good pitching. I can't understand why so many Cubs fans seem content with just good pitching/defense (run prevention) and are willing to ignore the offensive woes. It has always been a fact that you need to score runs and prevent the other team from scoring to win in baseball. And it will always be the case. The Cubs have focused entirely on pitching the past 10 years, and it hasn't gotten them very far. MacPhail's strategy was to draft and otherwise acquire a plethora of young arms, then trade or sign bats when those arms were ready. After 10 years, it's about time the Cubs start thinking about scoring runs.

I've been pretty disappointed in all the non pinstriped Cubs jerseys in recent years. The current blues are hideous. The red billed cap is clownish. The road grays are hardly a classic.

I think you are completely ignoring what I said, and overstating the shift of the game. The Cubs were a top 3 pitching team but 9th ranked hitting team in 2003. Can you spot the area that could have been improved more easily in an effort to improve upon an 88 win season? They've constintently been an upper half (in the NL) pitching team and a lower half hitting team the past few years. Scoring runs has been a problem. It's been a consistent problem, it's been a big problem. I'm not saying ignore the pitching and only improve the offense. Unlike the pitching and defense crowd, I don't think it's wise to narrow your focus, and I think it's absolutely ridiculous to do so when you have the recources the Cubs have.