goonys evil twin

Is that the "you have 10 days to trade him" move?

I liked Fontenot's chances to be a 25th man, unfortunately this roster has about 5 of those. I'm assuming they didn't take off any of the crappy vets. If I'm a small market team with a CF question, I'd take Greenberg and see if he could stick.

I wouldn't call it a need. They needed to play Murton more often much more than they needed Lawton. Even an as expected Lawton doesn't get this team into the playoffs. They needed to replace Burnitz w/ Murton. Burnitz was like 0 for the summer or something close to that. :x True, but that wasn't even on their radar. They liked what Burnitz gave them.

I don't see anything that talks glowingly of Leicester in that article. They basically said it was a 40-man roster move, but a rather unimaginative one. They could have dumped Macias, or kept Neifi off the list, or gotten rid of plenty of other worthless players to clear 40 man space. They could have kept Neifi off the roster, but signed him after the 40 man draft.

I wouldn't call it a need. They needed to play Murton more often much more than they needed Lawton. Even an as expected Lawton doesn't get this team into the playoffs.

Tough call. I'm assuming Cedeno is playing the other position, whoever they get. Castillo is going to out OBP Furcal, with less power and SB. The difference is Castillo costs less money but more talent in the trade, while Furcal costs a lot of cash. But, the Cubs would probably be pressured to extend Castillo, which could backfire. Normally I'd take the free agent, because it only costs money, and not talent. However, the Cubs have a 40 man crunch so trades aren't bad, and I think the offensive impact of either guy is similar. I think I'd take Castillo, with Cedeno at SS, leaving a ton of money available for pitching and OF help.

you are 100% correct in my book....if he really wanted to be closer to home he would have taken less money to go play in tampa....i think if a japanese team would have given him 11 million he would be playing over there I think there is a significant difference traveling from Chicago to Florida or SF to Florida. There's got to be about 100 flights a day between Chicago and Florida, and depending on where his family is, it might only be a 2 hour trip. As a NYer with family in Chicago and family in other places, it's always easier to get to and from Chicago.

.264 .316 .391 in 2005, .237 .269 .379 in 2004. .260 .310 .380 from 2002-2004. You can't find somebody to give you that line with 200 at bats for a 1 year $400,000 deal? GM's are always whining about trying to find payroll space, yet they repeatedly overpay for garbage. What is the point of giving him a 2 year deal? Anderson is the type of guy that should be getting spring training invites, or at the most, 1 year $500,000 contracts. He's eminently replacable. The sad thing is, he's significantly better than Macias: .254 .274 .316 in 2005, .268 .292 .376 in 2004, .252 .279 .350 from 2002-2004.

Agreed. No use in not welcoming him. If the team plays well enough, he's the kind of guy wo could help us in the playoffs. We can hope anyway. I'd be happy to have Eyre, but not at 3yrs/11mil. water under the bridge, mi amigo. This is a very long bridge, and there's an offer lot of water rushing through it.

Unfortunately Lofton doesn't really solve anything. He's a platoon player at best, who had a brief resurgence in a nice hitter's park last year.

I think it was mostly the money. I doubt anybody matched the Cubs offer, that is just not the rate for mediocre relief pitchers.

Other than the fact that I don't see Jones signing onto a plan like that (and that there's no way Dusty would sit Jones for Murton), it's an interesting idea.

BA's already said that 2006 is shaping up to be a weak draft class, so as of right now I'm not too upset about losing a 2nd rounder. Cubs better nail their 1st rounder though. Won't the Cubs lose their pick, if they sign either Furcal or Giles? Not if the old system of protecting top 15 picks is still intact. Teams that finish in the bottom half will keep their 1st pick no matter what. If this was not the case, they would have already lost their pick for Eyre.

I think Carolina is going to win and cover the spread. This isn't a good matchup for the Bears. Although I would still think Chicago could win the central, and possibly win their first playoff game, as it would be at home against a wild card team. That being said, Chicago could pull this one off, and if they do, I think it vaults them to the top of the discussion list for NFC teams. They'd probably need a defensive or special teams score to pull it off, and Orton would have to be near mistake free. Either way, I'm really looking forward to an exciting game, but I'm all over the place in my menu selections. Ribfest, chili, wings galore? I don't know.

BA's already said that 2006 is shaping up to be a weak draft class, so as of right now I'm not too upset about losing a 2nd rounder. Cubs better nail their 1st rounder though. Given their track record, I wouldn't count on it.

I agree that it would be a big help if they get a great starting pitcher. I don't think AJ is reasonable though, given the supposed contract demands, and his history that is no more impressive than Wood's. I would be more willing to accept lesser offensive upgrades if they acquired a really good starting pitcher, however, I don't think it's going to be easy to get a really good starting pitcher, while I think it would be relatively more easy to get a good hitter.

I don't think an explanation is necessary, it seems pretty clear.

Good post. Except that theory is completely refuted from the previous year. And the fact that the vast majority of playoffs teams have routinely scored more runs than the Cubs have the past few years always refutes that notion. It would be a terrible decision to say "if Houston and the White Sox had enough offense than so do the Cubs". It would have been as silly as saying "if STL and Boston have enough pitching, than so do the Cubs" after 2004.

I forgot they changed the name. They've had a weird run, going from among the top, back toward the middle, toward the top and back to the middle. Either way, it's a better hitter's park than Wrigley, and Mench has been brutal away from it.

I'm sorry, but the fault lies in your interpretations of my words. Novoa is unreliable. That does not at all assume that he will always be unreliable. What irks me is the fact that I've had to repeat my stance several times that I have no problem with having Novoa in the bullpen, and taking the risk of a less than steller relief corps. I've said Novoa has great stuff with the ability to be a great reliever. He's just shown nothing to do to make me confident that he will be. He's unreliable. He's the very definition of unreliable when discussing pitchers. Why some people are so taken aback from such a simple, uncontroversial, completely dispassionate statement is baffling. Perhaps it's just a discussion. You gave your opinion, I gave mine, others gave theirs. I don't see how anyone has been right or wrong in this. Has living in NY made you bitter? I lived in NJ for three years and certainly came out angrier. :wink: My biggest problem was you lumping him in with Welly, Mitre and Koronka who have been much worse. I also don't agree with your assessment of JVB. I think it's very difficult for anyone to give any kind of assessment of his reliability (good or bad) based on six major league innings. My bitterness is based solely on diffusion's smartass replies to my statements and his decision to put words into my mouth and ignore what I wrote even as he commented on it. The fact that JVB hasn't done a thing in the majors and isn't a highly touted prospect is exactly why he's unreliable. Why is this word so caustic?

I'm sorry, but the fault lies in your interpretations of my words. Novoa is unreliable. That does not at all assume that he will always be unreliable. What irks me is the fact that I've had to repeat my stance several times that I have no problem with having Novoa in the bullpen, and taking the risk of a less than steller relief corps. I've said Novoa has great stuff with the ability to be a great reliever. He's just shown nothing to do to make me confident that he will be. He's unreliable. He's the very definition of unreliable when discussing pitchers. Why some people are so taken aback from such a simple, uncontroversial, completely dispassionate statement is baffling.

You want to pay Burnett 5/50, when the guy has been no more reliable (hopefully I don't cause another ruckus with that word) than Wood? I'm all for adding a stud pitcher. I just don't see it as feasible at this time. Plus, pitching has been a problem in 1 out of the past 3 years. Hitting has been a problem every year. The pitching has a much better chance to rebound back to its norms than the hitting has of suddenly improving on its own. There seem to be a lot of options to improve the offense, and the Cubs are in a position to take advantage of many of those options. There doesn't seem to be many options to improve pitching, and that will drive up the cost of those options. The one thing this organization has (besides more money than most) is pitching depth. I don't see much value in adding to that depth. The only thing I'd do now is add a stud (reliever or starter) if one becomes available, but I don't see it.

You don't need an actual answer to that question do you?

Mench hit .254/.317/.452 away from Arlington last year. He was .262/.315/.476 from 2002-2004. I would not assume an 800+ OPS out of a guy whose 818 career is help up only by his time playing in Arlington.

Why not try and get Burnitz back for $3-4m? I mean, I'd hate to have Burnitz back, but Mench doesn't give you anything more. You're probably right but at leats with Mench being 28 you might get something a little bit better considering he is about to enter his prime. Burnitz if anything will regress even more than last year because of his age. At 28, many would say he's already hit his prime, I don't see massive improvement coming, especially with a move away from Texas. Part of the concern with the stated lineup is going all RF in the middle. Burnitz would also solve that. And, as Bob's Keeper pointed out, Walker is better than Mench, why not just move Todd to RF? I'd look long and hard at all the other options before I'd entertain the idea of Mench in RF, and even then, I better only get him for spare parts, not a good 2B.