stitchface

So what if he is 22? The best way for him to get better is to get out there and play every day. Having some competent coaches would help too. Frankly, I don't think he'll show he's ready next year but if he tears up AAA and improves his plate discipline, I would turn him loose.

Why waste a year stunting his development in a platoon? Beat me to it. He'll only be 22 for all of 2007, easing him into his role like that is the way I would do it, as long as the platoon partner is competent. Remember as a lefty he'll get the majority of the AB's in a platoon. Like Choi?

:evil: :twisted: :x It looks like execution of deals in a vacuum to me - no gameplan. Its like Hendry makes up his mind that he is going to do certain things and come hell or high water, he's going to do them - with no thought to the big picture.

Why waste a year stunting his development in a platoon?

Pierre Neifi (to bunt him over) Lee Token Lefty in RF Ramirez

Why? If Pie earns a promotion with performance at AAA, why waste money on a platoon partner that Dusty will overuse (if he is still here). Its not like the Cubs are one player from the world series so why not let Pie go at it if he earned his spot? I can't agree with you at all on this one. A caddy for Pie is worthless if he proves he can play at AAA (in which case he should get a shot late next year anyway). I guess I don't see your point at all except that you like Michaels better than Pierre.

Ok, but what does that leave us for RF this year? Another 1 year rental? I think the idea of having options next year makes sense, but why go get Pierre if you aren't planning on winning in 2006? Just let Corey have another go at it if you aren't upgrading RF as well. So, what one year options are there in RF?

Oh, can you imagine how angry dusty would be to see stairs out there clogging the bases?

Two organizations with no gameplan.

Goodness, if any of those names are involved, this is a bad deal (except Corey).

How would it be different with someone else in center? I think committing to keeping Pie in the minors all of next year is a good thing. Lets not Corey him. I don't understand your argument at all - all it seems to show is that Dusty should be replaced for failing to use his expanded roster to give young players a chance. The Cedeno argument is not a great one though because he got hurt.

Pierre is not a marquee name. He's known but even the casual fan knows he's not a star.

except for the dempster closing part.

I would definitely rather have lugo - for a quarter of the price.

I see. Unfortunately best options now have to be weighed considering how to minimize the number of times neifi picks up a bat. If you consider only RF free agents, you have to get giles. furccal is a better option than marcus though unless you actually play cedeno (who managed 4.5 VORP in 89 PAs (so figure 25-30 in a full season projected conservatively). Furcal was at 36. This is a no-brainer. I agree with Goony. Sign Giles, then worst case you have cedeno at SS and Walker at 2b. This is clearly the best option as you can overpay giles and still have money to spend elsewhere. upgrading to marcus giles only makes sense if you can keep him longterm IMO.

if its not neifi, who is it going to be goony? cedeno? do you believe that? adding giles and furcal would increase team VORP by 84. 48 for giles over burnitz and 36 for furcal over neifi. given those numbers, 9 and 12 make sense relaively speaking.

I find it funny that you argue for Giles over Furcal because Furcal is past his prime. The difference is that Furcal was never great at his prime. His price is being driven up by the hype surrounding the theory that he is the best young position player in free agency. He's past his prime, but his prime wasn't all that special. Giles was an absolute stud in his prime, and still brings far more to the table now than Furcal. Furcal's unspectacular production (750 OPS) is being glossed over because of his defense and position. But I know one thing, adding a 750 OPS to this lineup isn't going to do much to solve the team's immense offensive woes, especially when the cost of adding that 750 OPS will likely force the Cubs to once again go mediocre, or worse, in the biggest need position on the team, RF. Giles, far and away, adds greater improvement to this team than Furcal does. The Cubs were 10th in the NL last year in SS production, and were just 011 points of OPS from being 6th in the NL. On the other hand, they ranked 15th in OPS from RF last year, and were 050 points from cracking the top 10, 077 from the top 6. Cedeno could easily provide them a chance to be at least average at SS next year. They have no similar fallback option for RF, and based on the many rumored names, they are likely to get no better than minimal improvement from the disaster that was Burnitz. The fact is they can afford to get both Furcal and Giles, and I'd be ecstatic if they did. But if there is only a chance for one, there is no debate that Giles would be the more helpful acquisition. But what was the cubs OPS from SS last year? Sure adding a 750 OPS doesn't sound like a big deal but I"m assuming Neifi's OPS wasn't even approaching 700. Well now you're talking about a major improvement. Giles would definitely be a huge upgrade but for some reason Hendry sounds like he's looking to improve RF through trade. And I don't know if I disagree with him. Like I said in an earlier post I'd rather wrap up Furcal now and then explore my options in right, rather than pass on Furcal and just hope Giles signs with us. I can just see that approach ending in disaster. Much like last year's offseason. Is there a reason to assume the Cubs can't sign Giles before Furcal signs somewhere?

not if he's sitting next to me . . . :)

I find it funny that you argue for Giles over Furcal because Furcal is past his prime. Giles has the type of skills that don't rapidly decline. Is Marcus Giles really much better than Walker? I would sign B Giles, Nomar and turn my attention to the pitching staff. You still need a CF'er, putting Corey at the btm of the order for 140 games is asking for trouble given the amount of time you'll see Perez, Blanco, and of course the SP in the same batting order. CF/RF/Nomar at SS would do wonders for the batting order. Of course, the bench would consist of Perez, Macias, Cedeno, Blanco, and one open spot. Offensively, that bench is horrible. They likely need two relievers at this stage as far as addressing pitching. You can replace Corey in-season if he stinks it up again. Or you can trade for a cheap CF now (Wilkerson or Pierre would be decent options if the price is right). I wouldn't trade too much to get a mediocre CF though and I certainly wouldn't sign Furcal. Why do you have Macias on the bench? He should be gone and replaced by Hairston in that spot (I could live with Hairston in CF as well with the cubs staff and homepark). The Blanco/Corey combination is no worse than say everett and ausmus - well not much worse anyway. The greatest improvement to the bullpen would be to manage it correctly. Unfortunately, that won't happen with this staff. Dempster is likely to regress next year leaving the Cubs with virtually no one I trust out there. Van Buren should be traded while he has some shred of value.

He's not a free agent. yet.

Macias does not have an ideal role on a major league roster. his ideal spot is really with a runner on third, less than two outs, no one on first, and the infield back.

I find it funny that you argue for Giles over Furcal because Furcal is past his prime. Giles has the type of skills that don't rapidly decline. Is Marcus Giles really much better than Walker? I would sign B Giles, Nomar and turn my attention to the pitching staff.

BP has those - not sure how meaningful they really are. The Cubs have a lot of strike out pitchers and play in a small park - so I would think defense is not as important as all that. Last year the Cubs ranked 13th in MLB in defensive efficiency. Boston, the Yankees and Atlanta ranked behind them amongst playoff teams. The White Sox were #2 behind Oakland. So does going from Neifi and Nomar to mostly Nomar hurt the cubs severely? I would guess about 20 runs over the season which is maybe 2 or 3 wins? If Nomar hits like he did late 2005, I would guess he makes up those runs with the bat. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/sortable/index.php?cid=206

This is the most important point to me - Hendry seems to at least be targeting some useful players and this is encouraging.

or did he assume all three would be at AAA?