goonys evil twin

Actually, this team could thrive with Walker at leadoff. Depending on who they get in the OF, they could also live with Hairston in that role. The only true need they have is one good bat in the OF. After that they have lots of options to mix and match.

How is that true? Blanco catches specific pitchers, Barrett catches just about everybody else. Mr. Personal Catcher himself, Maddux, has been comfortable using Barrett.

Why would you rather have Neifi at SS than Walker at 2nd? It makes no sense to purposefully downgrade a position. As crappy as he's been this year, Neifi is capable of much worse.

A little doom and gloom? GMs are willing to trade. Deals are out there and can be made. C'mon gooney, we ARE Cub fans, after all. It's part of the deal, isn't it? :wink: I think such a mindset doesn't take reality into account, and pushes the blame for failure to third party figures. The Cubs can get much better this offseason if Jim makes the right move. They aren't doomed to a crappy offseason where nobody will want to trade anybody of value, and no free agents will be available.

A little doom and gloom? GMs are willing to trade. Deals are out there and can be made.

I thought Aardsma was supposed to be prjected as a quality BP arm. I'm I wrong? That was the story at the time of the trade, however, his numbers in West Tenn did not impress me: 33 G 50.6 IP 43 K 32 BB .259 AVG against 3.91 ERA Not a dominant K rate, awful walk rate.

Burrell's fielding still scares the bejesus out of me. But, in the absence of a better option, I'd take him. His OBP has been strong, even in the midst of a bad AVG. year last year. Complete, baseless, idle speculation: Thome seems like a good fit for Boston next year. I wonder if Boston would consider sending Manny to Boston for Thome and Burrell, with Philly spinning Manny off to the Mets for Beltran? Does Beltran have a no-trade clause? http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2004_12_27_mlbcontracts_archive.html Carlos Beltran of 7 years/$119M (2005-11) $11M signing bonus ($5M at signing 1/05, $2M 6/15/05, $2M 1/15/06, $2M 1/15/07) 05:$10M, 06:$12M, 07:$12M, 08:$18.5M, 09:$18.5M, 10:$18.5M, 11:$18.5M signed as a free agent 1/05 $22M deferred to 2012-18 (8 annual installments of $3,142,857 @ 1.7175% interest) $8.5M deferred annually from 2008-2011 club agreed to not offer arbitration after 2011 season perks: hotel suite on road, 15-person suite at home games, club agreed to lease ocular enhancer machine (device that throws numbered & multi-colored tennis balls at 150 mph) Doesn't look like a no trade, but I know he would have the "veteran who is traded in the middle of a free agent contract" clause that would allow him to renegotiate. Now, he probably wouldn't want to renegotiate, because he might not get anymore money. I wonder what Boston would send to Philly in return for Thome and Burrell. Nixon and ??? Both Philly and Boston would be left in great need for pitching after those moves.

Why? I am pretty intrigued by a Guillen possibility. From strictly a baseball standpoint, he's practically a perfect fit for the Jim Hendry style. He's a swing early and swing often kind of guy, but he's moderately successful with that approach. He's been a .290/.350/.490 guy the past few years. That kind of line would be perfectly acceptable for this Cubs team. He is by no means ideal though. He doesn't help much in the approach/OBP department. He's a moron and a troublemaker as well, which is why I doubt Hendry would be interested. However, if he were to somehow get Guillen on the cheap, he could help the team. I would have rather had him than Burnitz this year at similar cost. What would have been nice would have been Guillen in left this season, that could have saved a lot of headaches. Bringing up a previously stated option that I didn't like, I could see Hendry going hard after Preston Wilson and Jose Guillen, filling CF and RF, and allowing him to go with Murton in LF. You wouldn't be getting a ton of production out of any of your OF, but you should get moderate production overall, and for relatively low prices. The Cubs would once again run into the problem of too many 6th/7th hole type hitters, and no ideal leadoff man, but it would be interesting.

He was born in East Chicago, Indiana. Philly does not have as much money to spend as the Cubs. With Abreu, Thome, Lieberthal (option vested for 06), Burrell, Rollins, Lieber and Wolf, they have a ton of money already committed for 2006. The only significant cash coming off the books is Wagner and Bell. I think Philly, moreso than the Cubs, it as a crossroads. If they do not make the playoffs this year, they could be in for a major overhaul, and they have to spend big on pitching this offseason.

At the risk of nitpicking, I would say the minimum is RF. SS could already be filled from within, either with Nomar, or Cedeno (or Nomar backed up by Cedeno). Now, I would prefer to make multiple upgrades with the lineup. But the first thing they must do is upgrade RF. If they can make a major move there, then settling on Murton in LF will be a lot easier.

If you have the kind of money Giles has, there is nothing crappy about Southern California. Also, his current team is likely to make the playoffs, while Chicago clearly isn't. From a non-Cub-biased view, the Padres are already home, already a "contender", and probably will make a good offer. If he leaves SD for Chicago, there is a legitimate argument that can be made to say he goes only for more money (and not because he wants to win). That might be a legit argument, but the Cubs could easily finish with a better record than San Diego, and could easily win more than them next season, so at least an equally legitimate argument could be made that he was moving from a stagnant ballclub to a more likely winner.

A couple guys I could see in Boston next year, assuming Manny is gone: Helton Dunn Konerko Delgado *for some reason I forgot to write down Burrell* If the Cubs want in, they would have to act as a third party, willing to take on major money, and throwing a couple cheap prospects the other direction.

That would obviously depend entirely on what the financial exchanges look like. If the Cubs take on the entire deal, I really don't think it would take much. Mitre and Williams would probably serve the Sox really well pitching 300+ innings between them and taking advantage of that offense, for very little compensation. A three way deal can't be ignored, possibly involving the Mets, with Cameron, Floyd and Beltran as potential players going to Boston. Even though he's nothing like the patient, high OBP player that characterizes the Boston offense, I could see them taking Corey and hitting him at the bottom of their order. Better coaching could still allow Patterson to develop better habits, and my guess is Theo would be interested in taking guys who are at their lowest trade value. I could also see them taking an interest in guys like Sing and Craig. And I would not be surprised if Boston had an interest in a guy like Kelton, who would be a poor man's Kevin Millar, with less patience but similar platoon ability. But Boston is also going to be looking for 2B/3B help this offseason. They might be happy to take back Walker at $2.5m. I think they might be willing to take something like Mitre, Williams, Patterson and Craig/Sing. Or Mitre, Williams and Walker, if they were able to do a follow-up deal that nets them a solid bat elsewhere. There are not going to be many teams willing or able to touch Manny. The Mets might be the only other besides the Cubs. But again, I don't see the Cubs having any interest in Manny, and I'm not even sure what my interest is.

The Red Sox have already put him on waivers at least once. I think it's pretty clear they are willing to give him away. Did they put him on waivers again before this season? If not, they may not be willing to just give him away with that much less remaining on his contract. It might also be that they were willing to give him away when there was a Vlad or a Beltran on the open market, but not when Giles is the cream of the crop. Yes, I realize this, but my point is they were willing to give him away before. They've been talking about trading him ever since. The comment I responded to was the insinuation that the Cubs wouldn't have the value to satisfy Boston. I think it's quite clear it won't take equal value to get them to give up Manny. And if the Cubs wanted him, they could get a deal done. I just don't think there is anyway the suits, Andy or Jim will have any interest in risking another Sosa situation.

The Red Sox have already put him on waivers at least once. I think it's pretty clear they are willing to give him away.

I don't see it. Murton and Corey are nothing alike. Corey is blazing fast, Murton has good speed, but nothing special. Corey has true power hitter abilities. Corey uses a long swing, Murton is much more compact. Other than relative youth and the fact that they play in the OF, I don't see any comparison between the two. Corey will never have the patience of Murton, he could improve in that category, but he's always going to be a swing first type of player.

That was a young mistake by Burnitz. The kids must be a bad influence.

I like Burrell. Another failed season by Philly could bring about change at the GM level, as well as many trades.

It's the Joe Girardi/Ron Coomer effect. When you have a bad hitter who is likely to ground into a DP, it's almost worth sacrificing the guy just to limit the outcome to 1 out instead of 2. Of course, you can always ask why a player like Neifi is anywhere near the 2 hole, but that's neither here nor there. really all this does is give up an out, take the bat outta Lee's hands and put Burnitz in a spot where he has the same DP opportunity except this DP opp is for the end of the inning. Granted it worked out this time, but more often than not it doesnt My point is, yeah, you give up one out, but with Neifi batting you were likely to have 2, so giving up 1 is a net gain. I was mostly kidding.

If that's the strategy, then why play, and why pay for Hunter? I don't buy that they can't get better OF offense. Why can't they get Giles? Why can't they trade for an impact bat? They can, they should, and they should not settle on $10million stop gaps.

But Tim, he robbed Barry Bonds in the All Star game, you just can't use a stat to measure the importance of such a play. I'm not Cameron fan, but I'd take him over Hunter.

It's the Joe Girardi/Ron Coomer effect. When you have a bad hitter who is likely to ground into a DP, it's almost worth sacrificing the guy just to limit the outcome to 1 out instead of 2. Of course, you can always ask why a player like Neifi is anywhere near the 2 hole, but that's neither here nor there.

Hunter and Pie in the same OF in 2007 would require immense production from the LF. Both are likely to produce, at best, mediocre CF numbers, neither will be a credible RF. It's not just Corey and Neifi that has killed team OBP. Team OBP has sucked for years because the Cubs never address it, anywhere. Your lineup is still likely to have bottom half OBP. It's not just the worst players that struggle, it's the fact that the better ones are still usually just above average. Don't count on Lee at .420 next season. Your lineup is basically adding Furcal and Hunter to this team, which will cost a ton of money, and make it tough to address any pitching problems. I don't see enough likely improvement to justify the cost. I think that's a wild card contender at most. They need to make a 95+ win team.

I don't view that as a problem. If it means Hunter plays elsewhere, I'm happy.

If they did Hunter for Welly, and paid some money, I wouldn't be too upset. But that is assuming the Cubs don't foolishly settle on Hunter as some sort of savior based on his tools and reputation. He'd have to be treated as a band-aid, and other major moves would have to be made. And he'd have to be the 7th hitter at most.