Danny82

Are we talking about the Jim Hendry who GMs the Cubs? He has a history of signing or trading guys who have little market value for inflated prices. As indicated by the bold print, the parameters of his observation did not include those perceived with "little market value." Of course, after this offseason, I think that the OP has to reconsider his description of Hendry's spending methods.

Aren't teams prohibited by rule from trading free agent signees before June?

Stop nitpicking. The key is always putting the ball in play. Juan Pierre just hit very weakly. When DLee puts "a ball in play", that is much different than a "pierre ball" put into play. . I am not nitpicking. Derek Lee is not successful because he puts the ball in play a lot, it's because he swings at pitches he knows he can drive more often than not. See, I think the latter part of your sentence describes what Perry was saying. I understand him to mean that he wants the hitters to wait for a pitch they can drive and then crush it.

I would certainly hope that the team would do things in the manner they think is best for the progression and improvement of this team with no regard as to what the chatter is in the media. The media should not have any impact on how the team is handled in spring ball.

How is that different than any other day?

I think I might be getting a little excited about that Cotts trade.

Some people were up in arms about the chance of losing Jason Szuminski to the Padres too. Same story, different year.

Wade Miller isn't going to do this. You are most likely correct. I was simply responding to his statement that location of his pitches wouldn't matter if he was struggling to hit the mid-80s with his fastball. I disagreed. I still do.

CubinNY: I appreciation the condescending attitude, I really do. I continue to find it amazing how certain people around here consistently get away with it. Anyway, I don't care if a pitcher is reaching 85 mph with his fastball, if he can put it anywhere he wants to, whenever he wants to, and the same with his off-speed stuff, that pitcher has a good chance to be an effective major league pitcher. Excellent command can make up for a lot of other weaknesses.

I don't know if I'd call it scapegoating because it was Hendry's decision and I don't blame Miller for signing. The Cubs don't need him on the roster, that I'm not 100% sure off. Why, because I like to have the most options possible and this would have given the Cubs another positive option. It could have allowed the Cubs to trade Eyre(+) and get a SS or another player that could help. Who do you think the Cubs could get more value for right now, Campusano or Miller? Some of your feeling on this is hindsight. The Cubs signed him last year before a number of our pitching prospects got their feet wet at the ML level. One could argue that one or more of the prospects could out perform him (and probably be correct). However, after taking the flier on him last year, and knowing that guys usally recover in their second year removed from TJS, I totally understand why the Cubs resigned him. They would have hated to pay him to sit for a year only to watch some other team reap the potential benefits this year... I still think Miller has more value, right now, than Campusano. Wade Miller may still be effective if he learns to change speeds and hit his spots (that doesn't mean he's right for this team). I'd be willing to bet that more teams would gamble on him, right now, for $1M than be forced to keep (another gamble) Rule 5 guy on their 25 man roster. If Miller is stuggling to reach the mid 80s with his fastball, changing speeds won't matter one bit. Neither will location. Now, that's just ridiculous to say.

Dude, you were fine with this move when it happened. Quit hatin'. :evil: I know you were talking to CiNY but it isn't hating a player as I'm sure Miller is as a nice guy as any but it's a business move I wouldn't have made. You are acting like it's a certainty that he won't positively contribute to this year's team. You don't know that yet. Pitching is more than sheer velocity, as I'm sure you know. You are risk averse, that's fine. But to come up with all of these hypotheticals where this 2.5M could have better been allocated elsewhere is nothing but speculation.

IIRC, isn't that the stance they pretty much took all of last year?

I'm not changing your point. I was simply challenging a statement made in one of your posts. A statement I directly quoted in my initial post. My challenge to that point was the scope of my "argument." I'm not "trying to get out" of anything. Regardless, there's really nothing else to be said between us on this point.

I responded to your statement that you would take Neifi over Izturis. That was the point of our conversation. If you've discussed Izturis with others in this thread, fine, but the subject matter of our discussion was who was more preferable between Neifi and Izturis.

And again, improvement from career numbers takes him from one of the worst regulars ever to simply well below average. But better than Neifi, which was the point of our conversation. Page 4 of this link. viewtopic.php?t=38595&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45

CubsColtPacer (I think it was him) has broken down the statistical indicators (also considering his age and how he was rushed through the minors) several times that show that we can reasonably expect improvement from Izturis this year over his career numbers. I'll look for one of his posts. Again, I'm not saying he's a great alternative, but I don't think he's nearly as bad as he's made to be on these boards. And I think a lot of that has to do with the strict sabermatrician types having very little regard for the importance of defensive talent.

Isn't it relevant that in 2004 he had 25 of them? The last full healthy season he had? I don't care about his career numbers. In a fantasy draft, I care about what potential he has for that season.

One sort of good season isn't going to cut it. His career OBP is below .300. That's terrible. I'd rather have Neifi, and I hated Neifi. That's simply not a reasonable position to take, considering Izturis' age and likely improvement. I'm not saying Izturis is some great option or anything, but he takes an unnecessarily high amount of criticism on this board relative to what he will likely be asked to do...be the #8 hitter and play great defense.

Oh, come on now. If he can come anywhere close to replicating his 2004 season, then he is more than deserving of a backup SS role on a fantasy team. Personally, I value steals out of the SS and 2B positions rather highly.

More like 92-95.

As long as he keeps moving forward every time he goes out there, I think that's all we can reasonably hope for.

I see no chance that the Mets overpay that much for Marshall.

Here's to hoping that Weiters falls to #3.

They haven't begun to think in those terms yet. That's disturbing that they haven't at least thought of it. We're talking about a guy with a 6.02 ERA last year. I can't believe that he'll be allowed to post those type of numbers for very long after all the "World Series or bust" talk this offseason. It would make those words ring hollow if they were willing to keep a player starting for no reason other than contract. Why in the world would they talk about that issue publicly to the media?

I'm guessing the "hilarious" part of your post was in sarcasm?