badnews

The same could be said about Will Ohman. Look at his BABIP. But we managed to parlay him, cash and Jacque Jones into one relief prospect and people crowed more about money saved than a day's worth of Geico commercials.

I would take Bill Mueller and Rich Aurilia over ..............? I actually like Cain better than Lincecum but I'm not married to that position.

Oho! You set yourself up for this one. Matt Murton is useless because he is _ _ _ _ _-handed. If Matt Murton were _ _ _ _-handed like Andre Ethier, life would be easier. Now let's play fill in the blanks.

Ethier's fine but I don't think he's a guy you go all out to get.

I am not surprised, Wilken and Hendry seem to share similar views on certain types of guys.

Once again, I ask - how is it Chris Burke has all this trade value but according to people on here "Sam Fuld isn't even qualified to be the 6th outfielder in the beer leagues?" They've got pretty similar minor league careers. Yeah Burke can play second, but is that small amount of versatility a huge difference? I just don't understand the people who claim to already know that, okay, Fuld isn't great or particularly good, yeah, we know that, but useless is what I balk at.

I am disappointed, but it really seems like a Hendry pick, a big strapping hoss of a pitcher who gets groundball outs? Are you kidding? That's about as Jim Hendry as a raw, speedy outfielder who has the promise for power, gets a 5 tool label, but in reality strikes out a ton and never walks. At the end of the year I don't want to see one of the guys we picked doing well elsewhere. I thought Barton, Bierd, or Fernando Hernandez (the short guy from the White Sox) would've been good picks. All right Jim, let's see what these scouts know.

The two big Rule 5 prospects are Brian Barton and Randor Bierd. Bierd's out of the Dominican, Barton went to Miami. Chris Kline of Baseball America reported he heard the Cubs were in the Rule 5 draft for "arms, arms, arms." Don't see anyone from an Ivy League institution.

Chris Kline says the Cubs will be players in the Rule 5 draft: http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=680 I call Aselton as Ohman's replacement!

Step 1 - Acquire Josh Hamilton Step 2 - Acquire Jeff Allison Step 3 - Film "Trainspotting 2: The Wrigley Edition."

Jason Marquis had something like a 5.40 ERA after the month of May. What a stud. He's a fine back of the rotation starter if we're talking about the 2002 Colorado Rockies.

Not trying to be a jerk, but as I write this, five topics below this one is an "Andruw Jones to Dodgers" topic with 18 responses, it seems this could've gone in there to reduce clutter. Oh well. Flame away, just saying.

Let me just ask, if he comes to the Cubs, what do you think his rate stats will be assuming a full, injury free season?

Fukudome's career averages are a .305 BA, .397 OBP, .543 SLG. Matsui's career averages are a .304 BA, .413 OBP, .582 SLG. Fukudome's strikeout rate being higher than most other Japanese hitters who've come over here, besides the so-far unimpressive Iwamura is also a concern for me. If I remember your formula, applying it to Matsui would give him an .878 OPS and he has a career .856 OPS. Applying your formula to Fukudome (if I remember it correctly) would give him an .830 OPS which Matsui is pretty consistently above. Also, you said Fukudome be a .290 EqA, but I'm looking at Matsui's page, and it says after his first year he's posted EqAs of .316, .305, .311, and .301. Also, you said Fukudome would be Mark Kotsay back in San Diego but I've never really thought of San Diego Mark Kotsay as a great comparison to Matsui, so I guess I'm confused.

Why should we believe Fukudome is going to hit as well as Hideki Matsui?

This is a great deal for the Dodgers. I'd rather have Andruw Jones for $18 million than Torii Hunter, I'd rather spend $36 million on Andruw Jones than Jose Guillen.

I kind of agree the opposing viewpoint. Nobody knows for sure Hendry feels like way about Fuld. Fuld doesn't fit the bill of the prototypical guy Hendry falls in love with. He could just be trying to build up his mystique. "Who is this guy? He's getting all of these AFL Awards and AFL write-ups (some of the quotes fairly glowing), he crashed into the wall at Wrigley, now Jim Hendry is saying he's untouchable? What does Jim Hendry know about him that I don't?" There's nothing wrong with this. It's probably not going to work, but still, why not try it? It's not like it'll hurt his image. We saw a guy squarely in Fuld's class, Rajai Davis, go over to San Francisco and put up nice numbers considering what people look for in leadoff men. Maybe some other GM will have it in his mind to buy low on a guy he liked what he heard about from the AFL. I mean really, we're basically at the point where replacement level players get $10 million a year, why not? Nothing will come of all of this, I imagine, but still. I don't see it as a source of outrage.

Maybe that is the case. I don't think it's inaccurate to say that trading Jacque Jones, cash, and Will Ohman for a minor league reliever that has solid but unimpressive career numbers has generated an overwhelmingly (and to me, surprisingly) positive reaction. It edges upon gung-ho in some of the comments. Someone compared him to Marmol. Unlike Marmol there's no expected bump to get from turning him from a starter to a reliever - he's pretty much been a reliever all of his career.

The farm system has worked its way back up to average?

I'm surprised the Marlins actually couldn't do a little better than that - the big 2 is indeed mighty, though I am slightly less of an Andrew Miller fan that everyone else, though I'm not dumping on him by any means, but the rest... we are, after all, talking about a simply extraordinary hitter and the stunningly overrated Dontrelle Willis. Let's just get all the honeyed crap out of the way right now - reuniting Dontrelle with Pudge Rodriguez will make him go 30-0 with a 2.10 ERA and 290 innings pitched. I'm a little surprised people are so quick to crown paper champs. How often does the best looking team on paper actually win? Some of the "2008 World Series Champs" and "Poor Cleveland won't be making the playoffs for the next 4 years" comments are surprising. Does Detroit's starting staff have better name value than anything else? Willis is certainly name value, but what is he in terms of actual production? I don't know. Bonderman is perhaps the most overrated pitcher in baseball in terms of the gushing vs. the production. Yes, he's young. Yes, he has stolen the Javier Vazquez Crown of "Unlucky Sob Story Pitchers Who Are Guaranteed To Kick Ass Next Year, This Time We Really, Really Mean It." An ESPN graphic amused me - they lined up the killer staff, and two of them, Bonderman and Willis, had ERAs over 5. It's fair to say that it is very unlikely to happen again, but still. I won't make bets one way or the other if he flames out in the second half yet again. Wait and see. Kenny Rogers' ERA was 4.43. Is it impossible to think, even if the team wins 110 games, that a team with better pitching couldn't send them packing early? There is no doubt the Tigers look formidable. But remember the term "paper champs."

I like Sean Marshall better than Chuck James. David DeJesus hardly, if at all, outproduced Jacque Jones last year. Eh. He's somewhat interesting. You have the feeling if this guy could steal bases he'd be one of the hottest commodities on the trade market. Lofton is fine.

I strongly disagree. I also strongly disagree Kendry Morales is on the verge of even stardom, much less superstardom.

You forgot this part of the Baseball America trade analysis: I kind of get annoyed when everyone gushes in perfect harmony. It usually means people are getting wrapped up in sheep mentality. Couldn't someone at least have played Devil's Advocate? Have things sunk so low we're patting Hendry on the back and gushing for freeing up $3 million? What does $3 million buy in this day and age? Other teams celebrate great moves. We throw a party when Jim Hendry frees up $3 million! Give me a break. Put a mark in the "against" column - freeing up a paltry $3 million is part of an annoying reminder to me that this team doesn't spend what it should. What was Jeremy Affeldt's contract demand, I don't remember, if someone else could supply it - something like 4 years, $17 million? With demands like that on the free agent market, don't you think Ohman is worth more? He had a rough stretch where he got beat on by the Phils and Mets in a series where pretty much everyone did, but aside from that he was okay. Wrigley's a tough park to pitch in and Ohman's away numbers were a 1.45 ERA and an 0.70 WHIP. Infante looked okay for a utility guy. I thought his numbers away from Detroit were intriguing. But what angers me is the Jacque Jones trade. Why did we have to kick in money for the Jones trade? Guys like .773 career OPS Jose Guillen, one of the worst right field defenders in baseball last year, are getting 12 million a year for 3 years, and we have to kick in money for Jacque? Why, is Jones less than half the player Guillen is? Look at his seasonal averages. Oh but we "saved money" that may not mean anything, and if it does it could just get flushed down the toilet anyway. It's one thing to have a wait-and-see attitude on what precludes what. Okay. But now it seems like the board is reduced to crowing and mooning over any move that "saves money." I don't think it often makes a lot of sense to save money when the guys on the market are getting paid many times over more ridiculously than the guys you're cutting line of to save money. I reserve judgment until I see who these fantastic savings are spent on, and as for the Jones trade, I think as usual we sold too low.

On their minor league careers Fuld has outslugged Reggie Willits, who spent more time at hitter-friendly parks than Fuld, and I keep seeing Willits bandied about in nice trade talks. I'm not saying Fuld's great, I'm saying he could have value and I'm not going to totally dump on him before he craps out in the majors. There's a certain low level of play that will get teams interested, and that's when you can play center field, hang around a .720 OPS or so with a .350 OBP, steal 15-20 bases and some team decides they'd rather have that guy leading off than paying $15 million a year for someone slightly better.

Since he wasn't lefthanded I guess we didn't have to worry. Replacement level players are going to be $10 million a year at this rate. Let's just lower the bar all the way and get it over with, I want to see someone hand out a 3 year, $28.5 million deal for Pedro Feliz. According to the above headline he would qualify as a "righthanded power hitter." Why did we have to eat any money at all on the Jones trade if guys like Guillen are so expensive?