goonys evil twin

Furcal isn't worthy anywhere near that number. Not even close. which is why we keep nomar and try to add giles and (please don't hurt me) lofton, who'd offer the most reasonable stopgap. it also would probably give us the ability to add some pitching help, preferably burnett. i honestly don't think a lineup of: lofton walker lee giles ramirez nomar murton barrett looks that bad. I'm not a big Lofton fan, but I wouldn't have a problem signing him affordably, and I'd be very interested in that lineup.

That would make too much sense. No, then the opposition will be able to get a book on him. This way we keep him as our secret weapon for next year. [fast forward to next year] We can't really put Hill out there, we don't know enough about him. This team is trying to win, not develop kids. [return to present day] I feel like I never left.

So if the Cubs win 88 games in 2006 would it be a success? Seems to me that those who are willing to give him a free pass for this disaster, would also be willing to judge his 2006 season based on how it improved from 2005. When Hendry took over the team the Cubs were about 12th in payroll. They've moved up to around the top 5 throughout his tenure. Improvement should have been expected. Turning a top 5 payroll into a 88/89 win team is hardly what I would call impressive, even if it's a perennial 88 win team with no disaster seasons mixed in. Going from 12th to ~5th in payroll gets you to 88 wins, it's the GM's job to turn that into a 95-100 win team by maximizing the production/payroll ratio. It's hard to do that when you continue to inneficiently toss money after failed strategies.

Furcal isn't worthy anywhere near that number. Not even close.

You do not have to show that link. If a corporation repeatedly misses earnings estimates, but each time they do so there is a seemingly innocent reason why, do we say it's a healthy company. The trend is your friend. Anybody who was genuinely surprised that Nomar suffered a serious injury in 2005 should be ashamed of themselves.

Teams that could call 2005 a success, with or without winning the WS: White Sox (although that could change) Cleveland Oakland Atlanta maybe Washington Teams that must win the WS to make this a success: Yankees Red Sox Teams that must at least get very close to winning the world series to considering 2005 successful: Cardinals Astros Phillies Angels Marlins Padres Teams that have no reason even thinking about this season being a success: Cubs everybody else Cubs again I don't question Jim's desire. I question his ability, and his record doesn't speak well about his ability to make this team a champion. Pros trying to win should be expected, not applauded.

Was there a decree brought down by this website to soften any criticism of Hendry in an attempt to get him to appear in an Q&A forum? If so, I apologize. If not, can we stop giving the guy a free pass? The "only" bad thing he's done is hire Baker? Only? First off, at least you mentioned it's quite a significant booboo on his part. However, how is that the only argument against him? Top 5 payroll, no 90 win season, that's a pretty big argument. Wins are not a useless stat to judge a GM, and no, we don't know how they'd do without injuries. Anyway, who cares how they'd do without injuries? No team goes without injuries. You have to plan for injuries, and you especially have to plan for injuries when you rely so heavily on oft-injured players to carry much of the load. No, Hendry isn't as bad as Cubs GM of days past. But so what. To me, that's just like getting all excited over back to back .500+ seasons. Yippee, he doesn't suck! Jim's job is to field a team that can win 90+ games repeatedly, and hang with the big boys year-in, year-out. He hasn't done that. He's repeatedly overpaid for mediocrity, and in my opinion, perhaps the one of the main reasons he compares so favorably to Cubs GMs of the past is because he's been given a lot more room to work with that top 5 payroll, compared to the middle of the pack payrolls the Trib used to allow. This Cubs team is terribly inefficient. They pay for tools and talent over production. They pay for guys who had a nice RBI total in their resume as opposed to somebody who is likely to help increase the number of runs the team will score today. They've ignored the Japanese market when even the White Sox have gotten value from that crop. This organization contradicts itself at almost every turn, lamenting their pitchers' struggles to get through 7+ innings economically, then handing their opponent 7 innings of 80 pitch ball. They worry about not rushing prospects, then reportedly try and throw guys like Pie, with the same exact problems as Patterson, into the role of savior. They talk about stockpiling great young pitchers, both to use in the big leagues and as trade bait, then refuse to trade any of them for a potential difference maker, instead leaving themselves vulnerable to the rule 5 draft. Is Baker Jim Hendry's only mistake? I think not. I've got a few more for you: Alfonseca, then resigning Alfonseca for a huge raise when everybody thought he'd be non-tendered and end up on the scrap heap. Macias, then expressing pleasure with Jose's 2004 by giving him a raise to come back in 2005. Macias and Neifi on the same team. Your 2005 outfield, Hollandsworth, Patterson, Burnitz, with a little Dubois mixed in. Maddux, $18 million in 2005 and 2006. Cubs ranks in the NL in 2003, 2004, 2005 for Runs, Walks, OBP: 9, 14, 13 7, 14, 11 8, 16, 11 That's called failure to address your biggest problem. Has it all been bad? No. I'm not trying to say that at all. But it's been an overall failure, with some huge mistakes and other smaller ones. I'm not even counting things like the Remlinger or Hawkins contracts, that could be second guessing. I'm talking about predictable mistakes, things Jim did that many, many fans were worried about before they happened.

I'm not sure what kind of support you could possibly have for such a statement. The team went from 88 to 89 to desperate for 80 wins. I don't know how a GM can do more good than bad and have his team get worse. If I look at the structure of the team today and compare it to the structure of the team at the beginning of 2003, I'd say he's improved the overall talent level and condition of the team (including age of core, etc.). Talent is worthless without production. The team has gotten worse under his watch. But Hendry didn't take over an 88 win team. He inherited a 67 win team at the end of 2002, didn't he? 80 is still greater than 67, isn't it? And they won 88 the year before 67. Make all the excuses you want, Jim's tenure has been a failure. I can't, for the life of me, comprehend the support for a man who has put all his eggs in Baker's basket, and has continued to support an organization philosophy of swing early, swing often, and ignore the problems with early high pitch counts and walks. He's a tools over production guy, he's had a top 5 payroll and he doesn't have one stinking 90 win season. Failure. It's defined this organization for decades and that fact has not changed under Jim. Sure, they're less bad, but they still aren't contenders.

I agree. That injury could have happened to anyone. It was a fluke. It didn't happen because Nomar is fragile. He just slipped. No amount of conditioning can avoid freak injuries like that. The injury caused the slip, the slip did not cause the injury. The injury was caused in part by Nomar being susceptible to "freak" injuries. He's going to be an enormous risk next year. If he comes back, you have to have Ronny available to back him up. You can't afford another $2.5m .300 OBP in the lineup. I'm not sure that's case. It looked very much like his cleat didn't hold in the ground, and without that support, the abnormal strain on his leg led to the tear -- a basic overextension. I could be wrong; I'm not a doctor, but that's what it looked like to me. Cedeno needs to be on this team, one way or another. If we don't sign Nomar or Furcal, Cedeno needs to start at SS, NOT 2B. Walker and Cedeno up the middle would be tremendously cost-effective. So you think that was a completely fluking injury with no relation to the fact that Nomar has been falling apart the past couple years, and that it could have happened to anybody? Drew getting hit by a pitch is a freak injury that could happen to anybody. Prior getting hit by a line drive square on the elbow is a freak injury that could happen to anybody. Nomar's groin injury was no fluke. It's wasn't predictable, specifically, but it had a lot more to do with Nomar being Nomar than an ill-timed bad step. That's about as "freakish" as Fox mysteriously having his elbow blow out on his 29th pitch during a back to back outing, having thrown 64 pitches in 3 days.

But as has been discussed ad nauseam, there is an enormous difference. Corey at least has a chance to put up better numbers. Neifi has no chance. He's crap, has always been crap, and always will be crap. If people don't understand the difference, there's not much point in discussing the matter further. I do understand you are comparing a back-up (Perez) to a starter (Patterson) and their career OBP is nearly the same (slight advantage to Perez). There are too many "potentials" on this team and not enough producers. That's interesting. Neifi has more than 100 more PA than Patterson, I'd call him the starter before Corey. He's been a starter the vast majority of his career, and in Dusty's eyes, he's a legit starter, and would probably start next year, somewhere, if Dusty had the chance. I don't think you understand the point if you are trying to compare their career OBP. Neifi guarantees you poor numbers. It's a lock. He's always done it, he always will. Corey will probably put up poor numbers, but given his rollar coaster career, you never know. He could put up a respectable .340 OBP, and have a rock solid OPS. Corey could do that, Neifi gives you no hope. It's the old Cubs mentality of guaranteeing mediocrity (or worse) rather than striving for excellence (or something resembling excellence).

You have to take it one loss at a time my friend.

I'm not sure what kind of support you could possibly have for such a statement. The team went from 88 to 89 to desperate for 80 wins. I don't know how a GM can do more good than bad and have his team get worse. If I look at the structure of the team today and compare it to the structure of the team at the beginning of 2003, I'd say he's improved the overall talent level and condition of the team (including age of core, etc.). Talent is worthless without production. The team has gotten worse under his watch.

But as has been discussed ad nauseam, there is an enormous difference. Corey at least has a chance to put up better numbers. Neifi has no chance. He's crap, has always been crap, and always will be crap. If people don't understand the difference, there's not much point in discussing the matter further.

I'm not sure what kind of support you could possibly have for such a statement. The team went from 88 to 89 to desperate for 80 wins. I don't know how a GM can do more good than bad and have his team get worse.

Why is Rusch still starting games?

Good point. I'd take hot Neifi over most others. The problem is hot Neifi doesn't like to stick around very long, and cold Neifi feasts trash.

I agree. That injury could have happened to anyone. It was a fluke. It didn't happen because Nomar is fragile. He just slipped. No amount of conditioning can avoid freak injuries like that. The injury caused the slip, the slip did not cause the injury. The injury was caused in part by Nomar being susceptible to "freak" injuries. He's going to be an enormous risk next year. If he comes back, you have to have Ronny available to back him up. You can't afford another $2.5m .300 OBP in the lineup.

I think he needs to partner up with Kenny Rogers, letting Rogers pitch the first half of the year and Maddux the second. But let Maddux do all the talking. Since team photo day is normally in the 2nd half of the season, this could work.

That's my number 1 concern. I fear Hendry will try to emulate the Sox style, and will go after some speedy hack job at the top of the order, and fill the rest of the lineup with "gritty ballplayers". Ozzie has gone on and on whining about how his team was playing awesome but now they're playing sloppy, when in fact, they've hit like this all year, and they've just started seeing their pitchers regress to the mean. But I have a feeling Hendry won't do that.

That's what I've wanted for a while now. If you have a 40 man roster and you're out of the playoffs there is no reason your franchise starters should throw more than 100 pitches. Dusty doesn't need a reason to make stupid decisions. I'd love to see them put a limit on those guys. And they should bench Rusch as well, who is pretty worthless at this point. Give a start to Hill and have Mitre piggyback that day.

Neifi starting is the wrong spot. The only reason he didn't strike out was the same reason he didn't walk. He swung at everything. At usually, early pitches are pitcher's pitches. Which is why he leads the team in GIDP.

Keep Nomar (if cheap) and Walker, backup them up with Cedeno. That way at least you have a shot at solid production, unlike when you use Neifi, and guarantee yourself a load of crap.

Neifi shouold be on the bench, if anywhere.

Coin toss. It's not like Cedeno's a 5 tool prospect, and Neifi hasn't been horrible this year. He's been a middle of the pack SS. Neifi has been horrible. And, personally, I think it's quite a little bit more than a coin toss. Neifi was extremely bad for us. His OBP, on an OBP-challenged team, was a .301. .301!! And, get this, he now has a career .301 OBP. We knew about what Neifi was going to give us -- a .301 OBP and about a .380 SLG (his career norms, including time in Colorado)! Cedeno could hardly have done worse than that. And, given his numbers in AAA, he was likely would have done a lot better than that. In 80 AB, he gave us a .356 OBP and a .375 SLG. That's a substantial upgrade, and you get the chance to evaluate him for 2006. This is what the Cubs should have done. Moreover, you probably could have traded Neifi to the Nationals, who were desperate for any kind of "upgrade" to Christian Guzman, and gotten something for one of the five worst players in MLB. You can't trade Neifi, he's been fantastic! And he helped us get where we are.

We owed it to Hollandsworth for what he did in April, 2004.