Kyle

I think Hairston is indeed better defensively than Murton and Jones. Hairston isn't a great defensive outfielder but he's pretty solid. He won't make as many mistakes in the outside as Murton and Jones will.

But Hendry seems intent on trading Walker and unless they get a middle infielder back that means that Perez will get PT likely at the expense of Cedeno. Furthermore, the Cubs are asking a lot of MUrton in what is still essentialy his rookie year to be a run producer. Maybe he grows into that role but if he doesn't it's going to be a long season watching the parade of garbage vets that will be paraded out to LF this year. I see what your saying. If Walker is traded I agree with your assessment, if he's our starting second baseball we'll be much better. I have a question for you. Would you prefer to have Walker bat fifth(if he's still here) rather than Jones? I know Cedeno is young but I'd still bat him second so Walker could hit fifth instead of Jones.

I like Hairston, but Walker has to start if he's still here. If we took Walker out of the lineup, we have no good left handed hitters left in the lineup. And with Walker you KNOW he'll hit around 300, and get on base a whole lot. Also, without the addition of a big bat in right field, we need all the pop in our lineup we can get. Walker has a lot more power than Hairston. Taking Walker out of the lineup would be a big blow to this lineup. I personally would rather have Cedeno batting second and Walker batting fifth next year, instead of Jones batting fifth. Even though Cedeno is young I'd bat him second to take Jones out of that fifth spot. If Walker bats fifth I think our offense will be much better, but if Jones bats fifth I see him KILLING our lineup. He's going to leave so many people on base. Hell, I'd bat Murton fifth over Jones. I didn't mind Hendry getting Howry and Erye to help upgrade our bullpen, and I didn't mind him getting Pierre because we were in DESPERATE need for a real leadoff hitter. Does 2003 with Lofton ring a bell. That team would have never gone that far without Lofton. He made us a completely different team. Pierre will give a lot of what Lofton gave us. But Hendry's decision to get Jones still bothers the hell out of me. I just don't understand what he was doing. I would take Burnitz in right field for one year over Jones in right field for three any day of the week.

This lineup WITHOUT Perez is hardly pathetic. Lee, Walker, Ram, Pierre, Murton, Cedeno, ain't too bad. But the big missing piece is no No. 5 hitter. We need one more big bat in the middle of the lineup to go with Lee and Ram. Which is why I'd love to get Soriano to hit fifth in our lineup if he weren't so damn expensive.

Soriano seems to expensive to me, but if we added prospects that makes its even worse. Say what you will about Hendry, but I don't think its out of the question Hendry would trade for him. If he does I hope we don't give the Nationals any prospects. His salary is to steep already enough.

Hendry has wanted Soriano for several years now. I'm not saying I would agree or disagree with a trade for him, but with Walker not exactly on his Christmas card list I think its possible. If this were too happen I hope we don't give up a whole lot. For some reason I just have a feeling Hendry will try and trade for him sometime this year, despite the fact it would appear to be highly remote.

I'm with those who think Arroyo isn't that great. Williams is better, and has more potential. I think a trade for Griffey would be a good trade for Boston. Arroyo is more than replaceable, and Griffey is the best option they have in CF, despite he's not near the player he once was.

I remember that. I think the pitchers should worry about their own jobs and cover first on a groundball hit on the right side. Ditto that. They should worry about their own jobs. Despite the fact some of you read that, I wonder how much of it is true. Was it just one pitcher or several pitchers. Either way I don't like to see teammates try and run someone out of town, unless they're an attitude problem. Walker isn't an attitude problem.

Going from MM to Shea is part of the problem. He also started out really hot for the Mets hitting a bunch of homers in the first few weeks. He then totally lost his patience. The more I think about it, the better a one-year deal sounds. Too bad we signed Jones for three already. I think taking a chance on him to be a backup player is worth the try. It's a risk I'm willing to take. Its not like we'll be counting on him to start a lot. If he puts up anywhere near his numbers in 2003, he'd be a great addition. He may continue his decline if we took him, but I'll take that chance that he could play like he once did.

We were a better team last year when Cedeno and Murton were in the lineup. Cedeno and Murton's athleticism helped more than I thought it would. Neither are speed demons, but both run real well. Both ran the bases extremely well, something a lot of the veterans didn't do.

This is one of the few moves this winter that I don't want Hendry's head for. IT would have been an easy and popular move to re-sign him after his end run of 2005, but if he went down again, he would have been crucified for the move. No doubt. Hendry would have been blasted if he had brought him back and he got injured. Also, I have a prediction that if Nomar has a very good year with the Dodgers, many Cubs fans will be blasting Hendry for not re-signing Nomar. But his decision to not resign him was made much easier, with the young talented Cedeno from his own system. I think both Cedeno and Murton will be the best position players from our own system in a while. Its nice to finally have some position talent from our own farm system.

Yea, that's what I've been thinking, although this is Dusty we're talking about.

:shock: Are you serious? I don't have copies of direct quotes, but Dusty is full of "over the line" material, starting with.... Walks clog the bases...... Dark skinned players can handle playing in the sun much better day in and day out.... This thread could get real long if someone wanted to put Dustyisms in here from the past 3 years. He says stuff that's over the line practically every day. We all know the laundry list of idiotic comments by our manager, and there is no denying that. In my mind, this is different though. It's one thing to have a screwed up philosophy on walks, it's another to discuss where you would play someone who is currently a Devil Ray. These comments could be considered tampering, while is typical comments are just considered stupid. That's what I'm trying to say. This is different than talking about how his baseball mind works.

He came into 2005 out of shape, and as the season went along he got in better shape and pitched much better. I think you make a good point that Williams had 6 quality starts in his last 8 games. It's very possible that was a result of being in better shape. I wasn't impressed with him early on at all, but as the season went along I started to become a big fan of his. If he's in good shape I don't think its out of the question that he could win between 10 and 15 games this year. Williams was a good trade IMO, and possibly end up a great trade.

I agree. Williams is much better than Rusch, and he's also only 24 yrs.old, and could get a lot better.

I'm very surprised Baker talked about where Lugo would play, when he's not even on the team. Whether you like Baker or not as a manager, he usually doesn't step over the line, and make a comment like that to the media.

How much did he sign for with the Red Sox?

This is only my second post on here, so sorry in advance if this subject has been discussed. I was wondering what you guys think about Hendry pursuing Matt Clement. With Wood's uncertainty, I'm hoping Hendry will try and trade for him, and bring him back. Now I know the Red Sox may use him in some kind of trade for a shortstop, but I wish Hendry would pursue it anyway. We traded Van Buren to them already, although he isn't a established Major League pitcher. Maybe if the Red Sox don't get Lugo in a trade, we could send Neifi to Boston for Clement, and maybe a minor league prospect. Just some food for thought.

First time poster, love the site. I sure the hell hope Baker and Hendry stay with Walker at second base, and not Perez. This issue has been driving me crazy. Why in the hell would Hendry want to trade Walker and start Neifi. Also, the fact we couldn't get a big time left-handed hitting right fielder, it would seem that Walker's bat in the lineup everyday will be sorely needed. Neifi having a 298 OBP is horrible, and Walker's 355 OBP isn't good enough to warrant a starting job?