goonys evil twin
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Everything posted by goonys evil twin
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I would view it simply as clearing space on the roster. I don't think GMs need test trades to see how they interact with one another.
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Orton and Grossman will make for a pretty good QB battle next summer. I wouldn't mind taking on another experiment late in the draft, but QB isn't going to be addressed this coming offseason. This team is going to win on the strength of defense and the running game. RB is set, both with quality and depth. WR is still filled with holes, but I don't see this team ever being a strong 3 WR offense. I wouldn't be opposed to a WR early, but it would not be a priority in the 1st for me. TE is hit or miss. I can't think of too many great 1st round TE in the league. I don't see a Shockey out there right now. Personally I'd rather wait for a TE in the 2nd or 3rd.
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I've been thinking about it since April. I'm guessing the Bears will be between 16-20. Without naming names I'd like to see O line (the oldest group on the team) addressed, but would be very happy with a defensive playmaker.
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Where are you Bruce?
goonys evil twin replied to b_wiggy_66's topic in MLB Draft, International Signings, Amateur Baseball
I don't really want Giles 2nd. I'd rather have him 3rd. Giles would have the highest OBP, so you want your power (Lee, Ramirez) getting the cracks at knocking him in. But Giles also has the ability to knock home some runs. In a perfect world, the Cubs would have a 1-2 combo (Furcal and Walker/Murton) who could get on base 35% of the time in front of Giles, Lee, and ARam. Giles between the 2 RHs would be nice, but I'd rather Lee and/or Ramirez hit with a runner on 40% of the time, than Ramirez and/or Murton/Barrett/whoever. If Giles signed with the Cubs, then I would want him batting 2nd unless there were two top of the order hitters brought in, or 1 was brought in and Walker stayed at 2nd. -
I think it's perfectly fair. They could have become creative, they chose not to. The only time they've gotten creative is with the Nomar signing, which was basically trading for a guy a team was desperate to get rid of and nobody else wanted, and the Dempster move to closer, which was talked about forever before it was actually implemented. There's always been an excuse not to go after the big fish. Excuses for mediocrity defines this franchise.
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You are the one who chose to change the argument to not spending. I never said he didn't spend all he had available, or close to it. I've said all along the Cubs problems have been about spending stupidly, not spending enough. You interpreted the line incorrectly. I was making the argument that he spends on mediocrity all along.
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The February sell-outs are a new phenomenon, they'll end if the team reverts to mediocrity for an extended period.
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And you called them great, which they were not, because Hendry hasn't come close to putting together a great team and doesn't yet seem to know how to. They were great enough to win it all IMO. You just can't overcome all those injuries (Sosa, Aram, Wood, Prior, Holla, Walker, Borowski, Remlinger, KGon. That team was good enough to win it all. And almost everyone on this board believed that. I don't remember a consensus opinion of greatness about that 2004 team. There is a difference between having the ability to win it all if things go your way, and just being a great team who is among the most favored to win it all. That team dragged their heals all season, when they were hurt or healthy, it didn't matter. And they collapsed when healthy, then the GM did nothing to improve the team in the following offseason besides hope for health and chemistry.
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Who is making the offers? It'll be interesting to see if they start making big decisions before even hiring a GM.
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And you called them great, which they were not, because Hendry hasn't come close to putting together a great team and doesn't yet seem to know how to.
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And he's spent it like a freaking moron. When guys like Tejada and Vladdy are out there, he's giving raises to Alfonseca, Macias and Neifi. Before he even gets a chance to spend on the impact players, he spends significant chunks on replacables like Rusch. He cuts corners repeatedly. I'm not saying he doesn't eventually spend the money. I'm saying he spends it on mediocrity, and that is exactly why this team has been barely above average under his control.
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If you're a top 5 payroll with $30m to spend, and you rely heavily on improved health to increase your team, your GM is an imcompetent moron. This isn't an $85m payroll team that has to cut corners in spots and hope for things to work out. The Cubs' front office has been given the resources to pretty much guarantee a playoff spot, and make themselves among the favorites to win the world series, not just be in the picture. Every team relies heavily on health. If 2 of your top 3 pitchers go down, you're done. NY and Boston's juggernaut offenses couldn't overcome subpar pitching. Everybody relies on health to an extent, but no top 5 payroll team has the right to count on improved health to improve their team. You make your improvements with personel acquisitions. If you get healthier than you were before, that's all the better. But this organization has to build a team that can withstand injuries, not wilt in their presence.
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I'm wrong? You think he put together a great team in 2004 and I'm the one who is wrong? Wow. Need I remind you that team won 89 games, the same as Texas, fewer than 10 other teams. That team was so far from great it's almost laughable that you tried to paint it that way. The Cubs have been nowhere near great in the MacPhail tenure. I don't deny that Hendry has tried to make them better, but it's pretty clear this administration has no interest in doing whatever they can to be the best. They settle for mediocritry, and overpay for it, whenever possible. It's not about contending. Half the teams in the league can call themselves contenders in a season. Contending is settling. It's about winning it all, and being the best. There is no reason why the Cubs couldn't have been a 95+ win team at some point in the past 3 years. They started the 21st century with by all accounts a top 3 farm system in place, and they went from a 12th ranked payroll to a top 5 quickly, at a time when nearly everybody else was cutting costs.
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If you're a top 5 payroll with $30m to spend, and you rely heavily on improved health to increase your team, your GM is an imcompetent moron. This isn't an $85m payroll team that has to cut corners in spots and hope for things to work out. The Cubs' front office has been given the resources to pretty much guarantee a playoff spot, and make themselves among the favorites to win the world series, not just be in the picture. Every team relies heavily on health. If 2 of your top 3 pitchers go down, you're done. NY and Boston's juggernaut offenses couldn't overcome subpar pitching. They overcame it to the point of a pair of 95 win seasons.
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I haven't heard of him being in on Giles, I haven't heard him express any sort of interest whatsoever. He could have gone balls out for improvements with all the money he had available, instead he wasted it on mediocrity and garbage like Rusch and Perez. The entire MacPhail era has been about cutting corners. Andy has always been about trying to contend within the division. Never have they talked about trying to be the best of the best, or going all out for a World Series. They're goal is to be in the NL Central race all year, and if they make the playoffs, just hope it works out. The OBP problem has been an enormous problem for years, and the Cubs ignored it year after year. The OBP problem is in fact strictly a BB problem. This team doesn't draw enough walks. The average has been there, the walks have not, and that's why the runs have also been lacking.
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Writing a story in which you claim Giles is a perfect fit and the Cubs should make him their top priority is not making yourself the story. It's not even close to that.
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If you're a top 5 payroll with $30m to spend, and you rely heavily on improved health to increase your team, your GM is an imcompetent moron. This isn't an $85m payroll team that has to cut corners in spots and hope for things to work out. The Cubs' front office has been given the resources to pretty much guarantee a playoff spot, and make themselves among the favorites to win the world series, not just be in the picture.
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But your just assuming better health, that's the same problem last year's plan created. You can't base your offseason improvements off of health. No, Giles is not the only option in RF. But he is clearly the best, and therefore he should be the priority. You can't just improve here and there and then just hope for better luck than last year. There is absolutely no justification for settling for mediocrity in RF. This team has the resources to greatly improve their chances this offseason, not go into the season with the same or similar chances they had last year. Settling for Furcal, Pierre and very little else would put them in no better position than they were in during spring training last season.
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I'd like to think that most journalists understandthat there role is to report the news and not create it. However, that just ain't true. Go crazy, Jay Marriotti. He was writing a column. Columnists write opinion pieces. Beat writers report the news, but that wasn't the role he was playing here. Either way, saying the Cubs absolutely should go out and sign Giles because he's the perfect fit for their biggest need would not be creating news, it would be expressing an opinion.
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That is about as far from a fact as you can get. RF is the biggest problem on the team. It's the only hole where they do not already have an internal option who at least stands a chance of producing average numbers. It's the one spot where they absolutely without question suck right now.
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Well said. This team is talented. They already have a shot for the playoffs if everything works out. However, I hate hoping for the best with baseball teams, bad stuff does happen. I'm all about maximizing your chances at whatever payroll slot you have. Given a top 5 payroll, there's no reason this team can't be a favorite with many great players and both solid pitching and hitting. There's no excuse to settle for mediocrity from the offense and just hope for health, pitching and defense to carry the day. They can afford to drastically improve this team's chances, so there's no justification to fail to do so.
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So once you get a "type" of player, you can't get another similar (and I'm not even sure I like the comparison)? Wilkerson is a leadoff/CF who gets on base a lot. I don't see how there would be a problem if he became a Cub.
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That's insane. No matter who? Contrary to popular belief, offense does matter. You have to score runs to win. While the White Sox made it seem like all you need is pitching and defense that's not a wise way to build a team. The Cubs were bottom half in runs scored last year (repeating a multi year trend due to never addressing the OBP/BB problem). That was primarily due to OF production. Yet, contrary to another myth, LF was the least of the problems. LF wasn't good, but it ranked higher in the NL than both CF and RF did (16th/15th respectively). 3 of the top 5 pitching teams in the NL last year didn't even make the playoffs. Simply getting healthy in the pitching department and moving up to a top 5 spot there does nothing to guarantee success. Offense must be improved, and improving SS alone won't get it done.
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If I had a middle of the order of Giles, Lee, Ramirez, I'd be very willing to gamble on Cedeno with those numbers. The Cubs seem poised to go with Murton and Cedeno somewhere, from what I can tell. if you know you're going with those two, who may or may not produce, I'd like to maximize the production out of the other 6. If Hendry keeps wasting money on roster fillers like Perez and Rusch when you can get similar or better production out of minimum wage players, then no, they won't be able to afford all those raises.
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Why not let Ronny start at SS and spend the money on a difference maker? There's also guys like Lugo out there who is a small step down from Furcal, but much less expensive. I love how you don't even consider Furcal a difference maker. I'm sure there are some people in Atlanta that might disagree with you. A career 750 OPS player is not a difference maker, especially when you have a minimum wage guy on your team that would probably put up a 700 OPS pretty easily. A difference maker is a guy with a 900+ OPS, or if you are a SS, you better be an 825-850 OPS guy at least.