goonys evil twin

I have no interest in trading Prior or Z for ARod. But ARod is an MVP candidate playing SS. The improvement from last year's production at SS to ARod at SS would be greater than anything we've been talking about in the OF. You'd still have to get something in the OF, but ARod would change much of the existing problem.

regular season play: .297/.370/.489 postseason play: .319/.377/.556 Of course, he wasn't good this year.

True, they are almost painting it as a "this has to be the year" kind of light. Of course, two year extensions in the spring will change all that.

I wouldn't want to give up Prior or Zambrano either. I think Prior's trade value has about bottomed out (lets hope). What the thought out there goony? Are the Yankees going to go young or are they looking for more all-stars? People expected a big change to more speed and defense after the 2003 WS loss to Florida, didn't happen. People expected a pretty significant move after the 2004 loss to Boston. In a way, that did happen, since pitching was acquired in great quantity. But they hardly made any lineup changes, and still relied on the same arms that failed them in the past. Right now the mood is a cross between stunned silence and acceptance of the inevitable. People are not up in arms for change, but they are very frustrated, and I believe expecting a major overhaul, but not with a bunch of kids. I could see them dealing ARod without getting back name players in that deal, rather signing or trading for those names in follow up moves. I think their inability to fix the problems that have been a hindrance the past couple years (no dominant pitching, poor defense, and a lack of "true yankees") may be reaching a boiling point.

I wouldn't expect them to go way up, although they should improve a bit. Ryno did quite fine with power in the 2 spot. To me, Giles' biggest draw is his OBP (and it just so happens to be the Cubs biggest need), so on a team with Lee, Abreu and Ramirez, it makes perfect sense to me to put him in the 2 hole. Ramirez, as a swing first kind of guy who doesn't walk or strike out a whole bunch, would flourish in that lineup of OBP terrors. Walker would also get tons of chances, and you get the whole RLRLRL thing, which might just be most valuable in the postseason when managers sometimes overthink pitching changes.

He was great in last year's DS and LCS, as well as the 2000 LCS. His team lost 2 of those 3 series, which gives many the perception that he, as the marquee player, failed.

I don't think that deal stands a snowball's chance in hell of getting done. The Yankees are going to want a name player to give up Arod. Only if Stein and his cabal are calling the shots. If Cashman is, well, ARod is not the most popular Yankee, and he knows that they need some young, cheap pitching. I think it's a deal that could be considered. When it involves marquis players, Stein is always calling the shots. I could see Stein turning sour on ARod and demanding he be traded, with or without a name coming back in return. In fact, any deal involving ARod would almost certainly demand that type of action.

Because Giles' ~.400 OBP is much better than Walker's .350, and would give Lee/Abreu/Ramirez an unbelievable amount of RBI opportunity.

6 years ago though. George isn't the same, and I don't think Orton or Grossman are of the same caliber as Culpepper. i think that george has as good an arm today as he's ever had. that's pure spec on my part, but that's what he says. even if his arm has deteriorated, there are few QB's in the game that can match his release speed or arm strength. the guy is simply a freak of nature. This isn't baseball. You can't just sign a guy midseason and expect him to do fine. The system matters, and George would have to know it. There was no reasonable expectation for 9 wins this year, with Grossman. If Orton can't win the next two, then I think about a change, but not right now. There's no upside to that move.

And yet, the manager is a sympton of the GM, the guy who went hard after him, bid against himself, overpaid, and stuck by him through repeated garbage.

Did you know: Jeter is a lifetime .314/.386/.461 hitter. For his career he's hit almost exactly that in the postseason (just slightly lower in AVG/OBP), in the divisional series he's been much better than that, but in LCS he's been much worse, and in the WS he's been a little worse. ARod is a lifetime .307/.385/.577 hitter. In the posteason overall he's .305/.401/.534 (less in the division series, better in the LCS). Choke, clutch, choke, clutch. They're fun words to use, but largely meaningless.

Aramis/Wood for ARod/Gordon, sign Nomar to play 3B and pick up a decent backup like Hinske or Mueller. Have NYY pick up enough of ARod's cost to bring the Cubs payment down to $14m per year. I wonder how I feel about that? I really want ARod to be the Cubs SS the next 5 years. I've already come to grips with losing Wood after next season. I just don't want to have to deal Ramirez. The Yanks biggest need is pitching. They can go out and sign Damon for CF and have a great lineup. What if the Cubs kept Ramirez and NYY signed Nomar for third, and the Cubs threw in more pitching (Williams, Mitre, Hill, etc.)?

I think it's perfectly fair. He stepped into a perfect situation. The Yankees were not the top payroll when he took over, yet they were the most talented team. Bob Watson did the dirty work. Brian was able to keep every single player he wanted, and he was able to go after more guys than anybody else. It's an easy job. It might not be easy to take the heat from the fans, press or George, but his job is assembling a great team, and that part is easy when you can spend twice as much as anybody else, and 4 times as much as most. Bowden could create a winner if he could keep every player he has, and then move his mistakes to utility roles and start over with new guys. Poor teams can't afford one player who underperforms his contract. The Yankees can afford to trade for every one of those guys, and since they take the contract, they don't have to give up talent. And when a guy might be underperforming his contract, he can still be good enough to be valuable to a team that doesn't care about cost. For instance, on any other team, Jeter is overpaid by a wide margin, but the Yankees can afford to pay $20m to a guy who has never been a $20m player, and is just going to keep declining. The Yankees have about $30m in wasted pitchers on their staff. But since they can cover that up with another $45m in pitching talent, it doesn't bother them. Every GM would like a do over on his worst mistakes. Cashman is the only one who actually gets that chance.

Other than the conventional wisdom that says he's good, I've seen no proof. I don't think he did a very good job with Clement or Dempster. Clement was the same inconsistent occasional train wreck when he left the team as he was when he arrived. And Dempster is still a wild man who lets too many men reach base. The only reason he was successful was the move to the pen, where the 1 inning tight rope proved easier to walk than the 5-7 inning inevitable failure. Also, I don't see how Z is any better with Larry than without. Frankly, I was hoping for more by now, with him. He obviously can't help pitchers prevent injury worth a damn, nobody has great form. He doesn't seem to concerned with stopping Dusty from abusing guys to the extreme. He hasn't helped control the efficiency of pitchers'. So far, the only thing he seems to have done well is build up a reputation he had before even coming to the Cubs.

They scored the 2nd most runs in baseball this year. Or are you talking about the playoffs? They hit .276/.355/.451 in the regular season, but just .253/.351/.329 in the playoffs. I think that's all about playing the Angels, a top 3 pitching staff in that league.

If Orton keeps struggling I'd have no problem with Grossman starting as soon as he can. That would be great for next summer's competition. I think your description of Orton's game is not very accurate, and mostly a sympton of his status as a rookie thrown in at the last minute to be the starter. I would have less confident in Jeff Blake right now. I've seen Orton make 20-25 yard throws that last year's QBs could never make. He's got a strong enough arm to get the job done.

If you gave the two an SAT or something, I'd put my money on Beane.

I think the Cubs would have to offer much more than just that package. Sub in Jerome Williams for Rich Hill due to the park the Phillies play in, and then toss in Scott Moore & Felix Pie and you'd have a deal they might bite on. My guess is even more than that. They'd want an "ML-ready" position player, and arguably, Pie isn't that guy. Murton might be on their radar, and with the way the ball jumps out of that park, he would be very succesful there. Would you deal Murton, Hill, and a Single A prospect to get Abreu? It depends on who you get for LF and CF. It doesn't do you much good to upgrade to Abreu in RF, and then get crap in the other two spots. I don't think the Cubs should talk much about a 1 on 1 deal, I really think they have to get involved in a three way to help Philly unload Thome. That's the way you get away with giving up less talent. *Oh, and yes I'd do that deal if I could sign Giles for LF. Then I'd go Hairston, Giles, Lee, Abreu, Ramirez, Walker, Barrett, Cedeno and be pretty happy with my lineup.

Come on, he seriously can't be the WORST. He's consistently handcuffed by Steinbrenner. And lest we forget the travesty that was Chuck Lamar? Cashman is not good. Anybody could look good if they were able to cover all their mistakes with another $8 million signing. The guy has more than twice the resources of Hendry. I give Hendry crap for innefficiantly putting together the Cubs roster with $100 million, but I think Jim could have turned this team into an absolute force if he had another $100 million to add on. I don't care if George sometimes forces a guy on him. Some of those guys are people like Sheffield and ARod, two MVP caliber players. I don't pretend that I am qualified to run a baseball team, but if you gave me the Yankees payroll, I'm pretty confident I could build a team that would compete with Cashman's squad.

No, no he's not. He's awful. The Cubs' RF position was 15th in OPS in the NL last year. Burnitz sucks and he can't come back. The only possible way you bring him back is if he's a $1.5 million 4th OF. That roster is terrible.

The bottom line is the amount of hyperbole in this thread has been hilarious. You don't know what he would have done. Farns was a fantastic reliever for the Cubs in 03, and a big reason why they went anywhere. The Farns myopia's funny as well. So he wasn't fantastic in '03 and didn't play a major part in that year's success?

Weren't you all about signing Kent before? It wasn't chemistry that won games for those teams, it was great pitching. And in Boston's case, an amazing lineup with multiple great pitchers. Nomar was doing nothing for Boston, and he did nothing for the Cubs.

Save totals don't tell the whole story. Remember, Alfonseca once racked up 45 in a season.

The bottom line is the amount of hyperbole in this thread has been hilarious. You don't know what he would have done. Farns was a fantastic reliever for the Cubs in 03, and a big reason why they went anywhere.

However you want to compare those two, it doesn't really matter. Farnsworth was far and away better than any reliever the Cubs had this year, Dempster excluded. The closer/non-closer talk is worthless. Set-up men are valuable, dominant set-up men making less than $2m are a great asset. Making trades and signings based on BS like clubhouse chemistry is absolutely moronic and self defeating.