Danny82

Does spending $17 million on Soriano mean the Cubs will win a WS though? I'm sorry, I'm just having trouble leting this go. It brings them closer, yes. But it's a pretty far cry from a sure thing that they would even make the playoffs with this team. More needs to be done. Okay, I'll stop now. Obviously more needs to be done. If this was it, and there was no room for anything else, then it's a terrible signing. But that doesn't seem to be the case. This is exactly why it is a terrible signing. More needs to be done, it seems we all agree, but now we have far less payroll flexibility for 2007 and beyond. Sor's money would have bought Drew *and* most of a Meche or Lilly contract. I would be shocked if Hendry didn't think he was done with the offense (save for signing a Lugo, maybe) and turn 100% of his attention to pitching. How can you call it a "terrible signing" until you see what else ends up happening?

Blurb about Lee in the ESPN Rumor Central. Does this guy really consider Lee to be a superior hitter to JD Drew and Barry Bonds? Wow. It's not an indefensible position to say that Lee is a better hitter than Drew. Drew has the better OBP, but Lee has the better power.

The WS may have played out differently if the Tigers had some guys who would take a dang pitch already. They were a bunch of free-swinging hacks up there. Doesn't matter to me which side of the plate a guy hits from, I just want one that can get on base (and plus, we're already terrible against LHP, why do we need a lefty?). As for CLee...ugh. I don't want to spend any more of this crazy money on guys who had career years during their walk year. His numbers in 2006 weren't that different than what he did in 2004.

I think it certainly does matter for what he can do with all of those home runs with Lee batting in front of him rather than the pitcher.

And we know that Hendry was close to losing Aramis how?About three or four more hours and Ramirez would have either signed for at least $20 million more than what Hendry offered or would be considering multiple offers for even more money. Ramirez and his agent knew that Hendry was significantly low-balling Aramis in terms of market value. Even at the very end Jim didn't bump up his price that much. I'd give more credit to Ramirez for staying than for Hendry keeping him. Of course, because Lord knows some people around here would rather walk on a bed of hot nails than give Hendry any credit. Hendry got lucky. Big time. All he had to do was throw in some more cash, probably as little as $1 million a year, and Ramirez doesn't wait until Sunday to sign. Yet he decided to take a huge gamble. It was not a good strategy. again, the armchair GM'ing. we have no idea what happened during the course of those negotiations. for all we know, the deal was in place for days and only took until Sunday due to logistical reasons. Even the post-deal quotes point to the exact opposite. And Jim bumped up his offer a few million dollars in the final 24 hours of negotiation, so there was no deal in place. Every single quote I've seen indicates that both parties moved some towards the end. Is it really fair to say that "Jim bumped his offer a few million in the final 24 hours" with NO mention of Aramis coming down off of his demands when you don't really know what each party gave at the end? Answer: No, you don't.

Okay, going from our 06 prodcution to Izturis' career line is an improvement of 9 runs which fails to put the signing Soriano course of action ahead of the Lugo option. [/b] But it certainly makes it a lot closer than your original analysis would have people believe, doesn't it?

And we know that Hendry was close to losing Aramis how?About three or four more hours and Ramirez would have either signed for at least $20 million more than what Hendry offered or would be considering multiple offers for even more money. Ramirez and his agent knew that Hendry was significantly low-balling Aramis in terms of market value. Even at the very end Jim didn't bump up his price that much. I'd give more credit to Ramirez for staying than for Hendry keeping him. Of course, because Lord knows some people around here would rather walk on a bed of hot nails than give Hendry any credit. Hendry got lucky. Big time. All he had to do was throw in some more cash, probably as little as $1 million a year, and Ramirez doesn't wait until Sunday to sign. Yet he decided to take a huge gamble. It was not a good strategy. again, the armchair GM'ing. we have no idea what happened during the course of those negotiations. for all we know, the deal was in place for days and only took until Sunday due to logistical reasons. No, Jon knows. It was not good strategy, he said so.

how long will it take people to realize this isn't an argument saying that lugo is a better offensive player than soriano? i think ive addressed that 10 times in the past hour. once again, that's irrelavent. I think you have to acknowledge that it is highly unlikely that the Cubs have that low of production again out of the SS position--just with Izturis' career averages (I know, I know, they aren't that good) bringing up Cedeno's awful numbers. Plus, we don't know if they plan on playing Theriot at short some either.

And we know that Hendry was close to losing Aramis how?About three or four more hours and Ramirez would have either signed for at least $20 million more than what Hendry offered or would be considering multiple offers for even more money. Ramirez and his agent knew that Hendry was significantly low-balling Aramis in terms of market value. Even at the very end Jim didn't bump up his price that much. I'd give more credit to Ramirez for staying than for Hendry keeping him. Of course, because Lord knows some people around here would rather walk on a bed of hot nails than give Hendry any credit.

And we know that Hendry was close to losing Aramis how?

I don't think that is really the case. Most teams have a weak hitter at some point in the lineup. Barrett's plus abilities on offense help offset weak hitters at SS. Generally, I would say one bad hitter in the lineup, particularly a great defensive shortstop, can't be pointed to as the single problem with an offense.

Honestly, what is EITHER Pierre or GMJ waiting for?

what difference does it make? he's either going to be productive or he's not. the big thing about soriano's 2006 was his improved plate discipline. a low OBP is what kept his OPS down in previous seasons. i'm hoping he turned the corner discipline wise, b/c if he did, he at least has a chance at being worth all the money he's going to get. Then how do you explain the huge difference in production when he bats anywhere else in the lineup?

Why? If people have gribes with Hendry's moves they have every right to voice thier displeasures. Completely true. Not only do they have the right to say those things, but they also take with that right the possibility of looking like a complete fool down the road when the finished product is much different and improved from the point in time when he was being chastised.

How is Aardsma anything like Jon Garland? he's right handed. And he left the cubs in a trade with the white sox. And he was a first round pick with brown hair?

I think that the Braves are actually giving up quite a bit.

A starter his whole career, Cotts struggled last year to set up his changeup, his best pitch. His fastball doesn't get much above 90 and his deceptive motion was not a big issue for lefthanded batters, who hit him surprisingly hard. Cotts was up with too many pitches last season, allowing more homers than he had in his minor-league career. He needs to work on his move to first base as he was easy to run on a year ago. I thought I always heard about him having a plus curve ball when he was coming up.

It is a true indication of how some people tend to grossly overestimate the value of the Cubs' prospects.

Exactly. Not about the money and "needed to take a break" my butt.

doubtful, he'll get big time guaranteed money. Define "big time."

I prefer Lee. It's a close call, but judging by the responses in this thread, one would think the numbers were staggeringly in favor of Westbrook. They're not.

Because we know if the Cubs sign him they will give him 9M a year?

If that is actually the rotation, they had better be adding two impact bats to the lineup.

There's no "next in line" about it. It's either Boston or back to Japan.

I'm quite sure you could have made your same point without the gross exaggeration.