Backtobanks

The average is terrible, but his OBP is quite good for a guy with a sub-.200 BA and he still managed a .433 SLG in a down year with a terrible BA. He seems to be a very up and down player (.843 and .892 OPS in 2007 and 2009, .779 and .753 OPS in 2008 and 2010), but his walk rate has improved each of the past 4 years and he generally has a decent or better slugging (.458-.543 from 2007 to 2009). His horrid average this year could make him pretty cheap as well, considering the possibility (probability?) of a rebound in production next year. The strikeouts don't concern me that much. He seems like a poor man's Adam Dunn, to be honest. My thought exactly. We need a 1B, not a 3B or pretend RF. Can you imagine Dunn, Reynolds, and Soriano in the same lineup? Lots of HRs? 100 HRs and 600 Ks.

The average is terrible, but his OBP is quite good for a guy with a sub-.200 BA and he still managed a .433 SLG in a down year with a terrible BA. He seems to be a very up and down player (.843 and .892 OPS in 2007 and 2009, .779 and .753 OPS in 2008 and 2010), but his walk rate has improved each of the past 4 years and he generally has a decent or better slugging (.458-.543 from 2007 to 2009). His horrid average this year could make him pretty cheap as well, considering the possibility (probability?) of a rebound in production next year. The strikeouts don't concern me that much. He seems like a poor man's Adam Dunn, to be honest. My thought exactly. We need a 1B, not a 3B or pretend RF. Can you imagine Dunn, Reynolds, and Soriano in the same lineup?

How do you feel about Carlos Pena? Not crazy about Pena either, but at least he plays 1B.

I would love to have him back for 2 years, but it won't happen when there are teams offering more money and more years than the Cubs will be willing to pay.

Personally, I would pass on Reynolds. More than twice as many strikeouts as hits and a sub-.200 BA just doesn't get me too excited.

Not saying he deserves the credit, but he had the same pitchers and pitching coach that Lou had all season.

What are you basing this on? Everything I've seen makes it sound like: 1. Girardi 2. Quade 3. Sandberg

I think they really ought to have 2 awards to clear up the question of MVP meaning "best" player or "most valuable" player. Most Valuable Player goes to a player on a playoff team (or no lower than 2nd place team) and Player of the Year goes to the player who had the best season. Obviously one player could win both awards. As my username shows, I'm a big fan of Ernie Banks, but how could he be a two-time MVP on teams that were at the bottom of the NL?

From MLBTR: Ozzie Guillen To Manage White Sox In 2011 By Ben Nicholson-Smith [september 27 at 5:12pm CST] White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who is under contract for 2011, told Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times that he'll be "with the White Sox next season" and that he wants to return (Twitter links). There has been uncertainty around Guillen, partly because of the many upcoming managerial vacancies and partly because he appeared to want more job security. The Marlins, in particular, seemed like a potential fit, but Guillen isn't going anywhere soon. GM Kenny Williams says he won't allow rival teams to interview Guillen for potential jobs. The 46-year-old is now in his seventh season as White Sox manager and has a regular season record of 595-533. Guillen, who led the team to a World Weries title in 2005, steered Chicago back into contention this year after a poor start to the season. Thankfully this will end the ridiculous speculation of Ozzie to the Cubs.

At least he wouldn't be behind Adrian Gonzalez or Albert Pujols here (unless we sign Dunn).

I'm surprised that all the sports reporters aren't smart enough to realize Ozzie is using them to get an extension from the White Sox.

With all of the discussion about Carlos Lee being moved to 1B next year, rumors have started about Brett Wallace being on the move again. He would certainly be a great long-range option at 1B. Obviously if the Cubs really think they can contend next year they need someone like Dunn, but if they really don't expect to contend next year it might be worth exploring a trade for Wallace.

I think Sandberg will leave the Cubs organization for another job if he doesn't get the managerial job this year.

As opposed to Mark "perfect mechanics" Prior.

Obviously something wrong with his thinking if he prefers the Braves to the Cubs. :-k

That's missing the point entirely. It's not that Aramis could receive more money on an annual basis. It's that he could receive one last long-term contract in case next year is all 1st 2 months, and no strong finish. That was from MLBTR, not something I wrote. I would assume he is thinking he will remain healthy enough to get in 500+ ABs and will earn a "long-term" (3 year?) contract. Coming off of this year (even though he has rebounded the 2nd half), I'm not sure anybody would be offering him $40+ million over 3-4 years.

Aramis Ramirez “Staying” In Chicago By Ben Nicholson-Smith [september 14 at 8:24am CST] Aramis Ramirez will be back in Chicago next year. The third baseman had suggested he might not return, but he told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday that he’s not considering opting out of his contract. ''I'm staying here,'' he said. ''Put it that way.'' Ramirez has a 2011 player option for $14.6MM and the Cubs will have to pay him $2MM more even if they buy him out in 2012. That's a lot of money, likely more than Ramirez would be able to find as a free agent, but the Cubs are getting a player who has recovered from a slow start to hit well in the second half. Ramirez had a .550 OPS heading into July, but has since posted a .940 mark and now has 22 home runs in total.

Same division - won't happen.

With his latest run of good starts, it makes no sense in trading him. With the bad publicity from this year, we would be trading him for pennies on the dollar, a terrible player with a terrible contract (Oliver Perez), or paying him $10 million per year to pitch for another team. As eccentric as he is, he still is a very good pitcher (though not worth his contract).

I'm sure he's not on the Cubs' radar.

My guess would be to try to use some of the money to outbid everyone else for Crawford.

The lack of position player development is an approach that I don't agree with but at least I see the logic in focusing on high-ceiling pitching. I guess it just seems so incredibly standard for a team out of the race to give players like Chirinos (or Castillo) and Smith PAs, if only because a hot month might turn them into an auxiliary piece in a trade. Yet here are the Cubs, passing them over for the likes of Bobby Scales. Of course this isn't the most detrimental oversight the organization has made, it's just so basic in my mind. I don't see the point in getting so worked up about this specific situation. September callups generally don't play enough to get really impact their standings. I totally agree, especially with Quade trying to win games and impress the front office. Scales and Fuld will probably pinch-run, Snyder might get a few PAs as a pinch-hitter, Shark may start 1-2 games, and Berg will pitch middle relief in a blow out game. Obviously, Shark will be the only one that might have anyone watching.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the problem with too many of the Cubs. Marmol, Byrd, Fukudome (for salary reasons) and Zambrano (for salary reasons) probably won't get you equal value in prospects.

I actually think his return could be more than his value to this team. He's far from irreplacable and hardly a difference maker. He's only been more valuable than Fukudome because of playing time issues. And he just turned 33. It really wouldn't take a huge drop in production for his value to be gone, like 2009. He's had a nice season, but he's probably getting praised for more than he's actually doing (the Mets announcers were slobbing all over him while disparaging guys like Fukudome and Ramirez - deservedly so on the latter). If the general consensus on Marlon is fairly high especially at his price you could get something significant for him and/or him and another player. After you list a multitude of negatives about Byrd, you then think some GM is going to give you "something significant" for him. Byrd is not a big-name player so I don't think any GM is going to give you anything signficant for him. He's been a very solid hitter for the past 4 seasons (all working with Jaramillo) and I don't see any reason to predict a huge drop in production.

I still don't believe so many posters think the Cubs are going into some kind of rebuilding mode. Byrd is cheap, productive, and certainly won't be traded unless they get an overwhelming haul from some team. I think Ricketts and Hendry are going to see all of the empty seats at Wrigley this month and reload with a team that can contend. As other threads have discussed, mix one part Dunn (or Pena) with a rebound season from Zambrano and Ramirez and possibly another starter, along with some maturity from Castro and Cashner and you're pretty close. It has nothing to do with rebuilding. A lot of people here I think are wondering if we've already seen Byrd's best season as a Cub. Another part of the equation is how far they're willing to go to get Colvin regular PT. That has nothing to do with rebuilding. What I was trying to say was they would need to have some sort of back up plan if Colvin turns out to be not so great next year. If they think Jackson might be ready to replace a struggling Colvin they would be more tempted to sell high on Byrd. You're right though, there's no way they trade Byrd who's said and done all the right things this year. That doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. Byrd's numbers this year are right in line with what he has done consistently for the past 3 seasons, so there's no reason o think there will be a huge drop in production next year. I think this was the exact same argument you used last off-season when I was advocating trading DLee and you wanted to keep him. Just like last year I didnt expect the Cubs to trade Lee, I dont expect them to trade Byrd this off-season. Sadly it is for the same reason though, not about good baseball sense but about appeasing the fanbase. Well if you think the Cubs are really going into a "rebuilding mode", then I understand possibly trading Byrd. My thinking is that Ricketts isn't going to wait 2-3 more years for a contending team and plans to contend next year with some younger players. Another reason for not trading Byrd is that the return would probably be of much less value than Byrd's worth to the team. He's not going to get you 2 very good prospects or a "can't miss" prospect.