noisesquared

The dilemma would be that they could sign either a Weaver/Washburn #4 caliber starter, or a body for RF. IIRC, they can only sign one more type A free-agent, and then they'll have to trade for the other spot. Who is left to be traded? Walker? The cupboard would be bare, and gaping holes still exist. If Wood opens the season hurt, who becomes the #5 starter - Wellemeyer? Koronka? And the RF situation needs no elaboration.

You've really convinced yourself that you'd make a better GM, haven't you? I would make a better GM. And I am absolutely sure of it. I hope you're kidding. There's more to being a GM than the trades and free agent pickups. That is like saying, "I could run Ford Motor Co. better than Bill Ford because I know alot about how car's work." That's so ignorant, it's ridiculous. And if you're that sure you could do it better, you'd better start sending you're resume out to some minor league teams. That's where you have to start. Then qualified applicants with real experience in professional sports get a sniff. Baseball is not brain surgery. Nor is being the GM of a professional sports franchise comparable to running all facets of a multi-billion dollar corporation. There are many posters on this board who I'm confident if given the opportunity could perform better than several current GM's in the ML. The primary requirements to be a quality GM (performing player evaluation, understanding salary/budget/value, a complete and thorough baseball knowledge regarding players, systems, rules, transactions, etc.) are topics that are discussed at NSBB on a daily basis. I thought Theo Epstein broke the stereotype that you had to be a baseball 'lifer' in order to succeed in management at the ML level. **Edit for spelling

Only if LA eats about 1/3 of Furcal's contract. I'd only do the swap without money involved if the Cubs can throw Neifi in :wink:

Randel "I never saw a pitch I didn't like" Simon. Man I loved him. He would swing at anything...and make contact. He was a guy Hendry traded for and he was a decent pinch hitter. I wish Hendry could figure out how to get a quality bench guy via the free agent route. Todd Hollandsworth was a pretty decent FA bench pickup IMO. At least before Dusty decided he was starter material.

This is what concerns me - the decline in quality of SP over the last 3 years: 2003 - Wood, Prior, Clement, Z, Estes 2004 - Wood, Prior, Z, Clement, Maddux 2005 - Z, Prior, Maddux, Rusch, Williams These are the 5 starting pitchers with the most GS in each of the last 3 years. Wood has made a combined 32 starts and 200 IP over the last 2 years combined, and is coming off of major shoulder surgery. Maddux has become nothing more than a 5th starter. Matt Clement has never been replaced. The starting pitching which was a strength as recently as 2004, has gaping holes as significant as the offense. If no starting pitching is added, Wood does not rebound, and either Z or Prior goes down, the Cubs could have the '27 Yankees offense and it won't matter. How good does a rotation of Z, Maddux, Rusch, Williams, and Hill sound? Yikes! Even if Wood is healthy Maddux is still the #4, which is a problem IMO. I'm all for adding to the offense, but I don't for a second believe the pitching is a strength on this Cubs team.

But it would proclude the Cubs from signing 2 more big name FA's, right? If Howry is signed, then it's Furcal or Giles or Millwood, not a combination of 2 of 'em. That seems like a questionable way to use 2 of your 3 impact free-agent signings.

Question: Are Howry and Eyre Type 1 (I think that's the terminology :? ) FA's? Or in laymans terms, does signing the both of them prevent the Cubs from adding more than 1 additional top end FA?

ESPN 1000/Bruce Levine reported this morning that the Sox are in talks with PHI about a Thome for Rowand with Contreras or McCarthy swap with the Sox picking up 2/3 of the remaining 3yrs/$42mil on Thome's contract. Levine reports if this goes down, the Sox will still have enough cash left to resign Konerko.

Prior's Achille's injury which supposedly flared up in late 03, lasted through 04, turned into elbow problems, and subsequently cost him most of spring training 05 would be the bigger issue. Prior did not seem to be himself after the broken elbow last year. Hopefully, rushing back from the that injury last year did not create any mechanical problems that flare up this year.

Morris has made at least 27 starts and pitched no less than 172 innings in each of the last 5 years. Regardless of what he's said about the Cubs in the past, I'd take that kind of durability on a Cubs team that desperately needs another starter that pitches lots of quality innings.

Is there someting wrong with Matt Morris besides his Cardinal-ness? The more I think about it, he should come cheaper than Millwood or Burnett, and would be nice 3 or 4 starter. Funny you mention Morris. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/85836E98A93E1474862570BE001A0AD2?OpenDocument This report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests that an undisclosed NL team made a 3 year offer to him. And it wasn't the Cardinals. It could be the Giants, who are considered favories along with Baltimore to get him. But I wonder if it was the Cubs? Early in the offseason, his name was mentioned as someone Hendry liked. And despite the Rusch signing, I am convinced that Hendry will sign or trade for a 200-inning starter, and will trade Rich Hill and Jerome Williams. Zambrano Prior Maddux Rusch Mystery Player Wood Those will be your six in the rotation. If there are 2 injuries, we'll see Angel Guzman. If Angel Guzman is healthy and Rusch stays in the rotation, injuries or not, there's a problem. The Post Dispatch article claims that SF is one of the teams interested in addition to the 'mystery' team, so I don't infer from that article that the Giants made the offer. Would the Post Dispatch avoid calling out the Cubs by name (if they made the offer) even if the Post Dispatch knew, to avoid riling up StL fans?

Is there someting wrong with Matt Morris besides his Cardinal-ness? The more I think about it, he should come cheaper than Millwood or Burnett, and would be nice 3 or 4 starter.

Good post. Except that theory is completely refuted from the previous year. And the fact that the vast majority of playoffs teams have routinely scored more runs than the Cubs have the past few years always refutes that notion. It would be a terrible decision to say "if Houston and the White Sox had enough offense than so do the Cubs". It would have been as silly as saying "if STL and Boston have enough pitching, than so do the Cubs" after 2004. In addition I think it's very easy to make the argument that there aren't any SP that would be a MAJOR upgrade over what we currently have. However, there is at least one available OF that is a significant upgrade over what we currently have. It makes more sense to throw money at a position that has more opportunity for improvement. I would strongly disagree that Burnett or Millwod in the rotation would not be a HUGE upgrade over Rusch or Williams. Or Maddux for that matter. Maybe Burnett and Millwood aren't stud #1's, but they are at the least solid #2-#3 starters. If a Z-Prior-Maddux-Rusch-Williams rotation comes to fruition, that's 2 quality but inconsistent #1-#2 starters(Z and Prior), a #4 whose best quality is his no. of IP(Maddux), and 2 fringe #5's(Rusch and Williams). How does adding Burnett or Millwood to that rotation not vastly improve it? Even if Wood is healthy, the addition of another top SP pushes Maddux back to the #5, and keeps Rusch and Williams in the pen, or allows Williams to be used as tradebait for more offense. Unfortunately, I haven't seen anything to indicate Hendry has any more interest in a top SP than he does in Giles...

There are no top tier starting pitchers out there. Taking a snapshot of this year's World Series teams and saying, "well, the Cubs have better X than them, therefore they don't need to improve it" is a baseless argument. In 2004 the Cubs had better pitching than Boston, and near identical pitching to STL. What did that get them? The only two playoff teams the Cubs scored more than this year were Houston and San Diego, the 6 other playoff teams all scored more. The contenders who fell just short all scored more runs. The Cubs were a bad team overall. They are also a $100m, top 5 payroll team. There is absolutely no excuse to put all their eggs into one basket and only address pitching, especially when it's the only area of the game where they have any sort of depth or any chance of filling holes from within. I am not saying that the pitching should be the only thing adressed. I am saying that in my opinion, the pitching should be adressed at least equally to the offense. If no SP is added this offseason, the season opening rotation is likely Z, Prior, Maddux, Rusch, and Williams. That is not a championship, much less playoff, caliber rotation regardless of the offense. If Wood can't get/stay healthy, that's potentially the Cubs' rotation for the year. Adding a Burnett or Millwood, will provide some much needed depth, with the possibility of a dominant staff 1-5 if Wood can get/stay healthy. Regardless of trends, I believe having a deep pitching staff is a necessary ingredient to winning consistently. You are correct that with the money available, upgrading both pitching and offense should not be a problem. But to the point of this thread, I'm hoping lack of interest in Giles pertains to Hendry's apparent desire to improve other areas before addressing RF, as opposed to just a lack of interest in Giles. If Hendry doesn't get Burnett/Millwood or a comparable starter via trade and then misses out on Giles, then I'll have a big complaint with Hendry's approach.

And yet on the other hand, 3 of the best pitching teams in the NL didn't even make the playoffs. The Cubs did not have enough offense to win, and they can't just add "whomever they want". Ignoring the offense would be a terrible decision. The Cubs had more offense than the NL pennant winner and the World Series champ. If Houston and the White Sox had enough offense, the Cubs had enough offense. The NL teams that made the playoffs finished 1,2,6, and 7 in ERA. These teams were ranked 3,4,11, and 13 in runs per game. The top 2 teams (CIN and PHI)in R/G did not make the playoffs. How did finishing 1-2 in OBP help them? Don't get me wrong, I wholeheartedly agree that the offense is in need of serious upgrade, but going into a season without any major upgrades in pitching would be more potentially problematic, IMO. Giles would be nice, but not if it's at the expense of a top-tier SP. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL_2005.shtml

Maybe the lack of interest in Giles is due to the fact he would not help with a decidedly mediocre team ERA of 4.19. The pennant winning Astro's OBP and SLG was worse than the Cubs'(as was the world champion White SOx), but they gave up over 100(!) runs less than the Cubs. As much as I'd love to see Giles in RF, he is not going to help the Cubs give up less runs. The Cubs can add whomever they want offensively, but if the pitching is not addressed, we can forget about a WS title. If I'm Hendry, I'm targeting at least one other frontline SP as my top priority. The Cubs had enough offense to win last year, but the pitching was just not there.

Hendry is posturing. The fact that there are 3 quality players that will all address a need joining the team in a week helps Hendry's leverage, because all of the other GM's realistically know that Hendry does not have to make a move to improve the team. It would be a huge roll of the dice to not add a LF or upgrade the offense or pen, but it does not end the Cubs chances this year if Hendry stands pat.

That seems to be the mantra around here. This is getting ridiculous. Murton is probably giggling to himself because Dusty is starting to look stupid. Starting to? :wink:

In the trib article, they compared this injury to what Matt Morris went through last year. Morris had shoulder surgery on his labrum in December, and started the year on the DL as the Cards could go with a 4-man rotation early. We could only hope Kerry could come back as early and be as effective as Morris has.

My big issue is with when fans boo. I don't care if Cory or Neifi or whomever is 0-4 w/ 4 k's, when they come to the plate the 5th time, you cheer. Anytime any Cub comes to the plate, you cheer and offer some support. However if said Cub K's for the 5th time, feel free to boo til your heart's content. I don't agree with booing a player when he's trying to perform, but I have no qualms w/ anyone who boos a player after he fails to perform.

I'm looking at the situation like this: If Corey Patterson is not performing, it's mainly Corey's fault. Same thing for Neifi, Barett, Remlinger, etc. These guys are pro's, they know what they're supposed to do, and they aren't getting it done. However if the Chicago Cubs are not performing, it is strictly Baker and Hendry's fault. If the Cubs were still winning in spite of Patterson or Perez or whomever, then Hendry and Baker are doing their jobs. The great managers always find a way to win with whatever they've got (Bobby Cox is a great example), and the great GM's find a way to give their managers what they need to win. The scary thing is that none of the players are really doing anything that couldn't have been reasonably expected. Neifi is playing at his level. Blaming Neifi for being bad is like blaming the sky for being blue :) . Patterson has not yet reached a level of consistency in the big leagues where solid production should be expected out of him. If he was coming off consecutive .300-30-100 seasons, and was playing like he is, then this production would be unexpected. And these guys are all being put into situations that their production does not warrant. But the lineups continue to never make sense, and the roster moves to help the lineup haven't came. Who's fault is that ? Losing streaks make for long, wandering posts. :wink:

Haven't seen this elsewhere, but in today's Trib Dusty states that he thinks/hopes Nomar could be back by the AS break :D This is the first offical Cubs personnel statement I recall that gives any sort of possible return date for Nomar. Dusty also mentioned that he expect Prior back no later than the AS break, which is consistent with the 4-6 weeks mentioned earlier.