Backtobanks

I don't understand resting Aram on a day against a tough team with the wind howling out and the offense in the tank for the last few weeks. I do understand resting Aram at certain points, but this looked like a day he should have been playing.

How about Mark Grudzalanek? I always thought that he was underrated.

I understand what you are saying, but I still think that Zambrano got booed for losing his concentration and focus and not for performance or lack of effort. Booing may not be the answer, but professional athletes should be able to concentrate and focus on their task for 3 hours.

Zambrano got booed for losing his focus and concentration, not for having a bad game. I'm not a big fan of booing the home team, but fans should be allowed to voice their displeasure when a player with a ton of talent isn't concentrating on the task at hand.

I wouldn't call walking a ton of batters antics. I'd call it bad control. I'm more concerned with that. I think it's more being a complete headcase which leads to many of the walks. The guy just can't control his emotions. It is a case of not being able to control his emotions. Look at how many walks, hits, and runs come immediately after a bad call, an error, a botched play, or a mental mistake. It throws off everything for at least an inning while he tries to get his emotions back under control.

Zambrano has a $100,000,000 arm and a $.50 brain. I'm starting to think that the fight between Zambrano and Barrett was a battle of mental midgets. Maybe Trachsel should replace Zambrano for a start to send him a message about getting his head out of his arse.

This ties into the thread on how bad KW is as a GM. If Eckstein is their #1 target, they will positively be a 4th place team next year.

You gotta go with who's hot and look for good matchups. If you were a manager with a soft-tossing lefty, wouldn't you try to pitch him against the Cubs?

Moore was a top prospect for the Cubs????? Moore wasn't even going to get called up this week. Both Cherry and Moore are old AAA players who had no future with the Cubs. To put it another way, if Trachsel wins 2 games this month the deal would be considered a steal. If he wins 1 game, that would be fine because Cherry and Moore weren't going to contribute anything this month. Also, consider the fact that this was a 30-day rental, because Trachsel, Moore, and Cherry wouldn't be part of the 2008 plans anyhow.

Well, if he passed waivers, than that means everybody had a chance to take him for nothing but didn't. That's not necessarily true, is it? If someone claimed him, the Phillies would then try to work out a deal with that team. Maybe nobody wanted Burrell at his salary and what he would cost in trade if they claimed him.

He'll probably homer off of Trachsel in the DH game.

I think Lou had a lot to do with this deal and the last few deals. Lou has done a good job of incorperating some kids into valuable members of the team, but when push comes to shove, he trusts veterans at this point in the season. It has worked with Kendall and the jury is still out on Monroe. We'll have to see what happens, but the Cubs didn't give up anything of value.

His real value would come when your down by 5 runs after two innings and a heavy downpour is one hour away.

I don't think the Cubs would "collapse into awfulness" as quickly as the White Sox. The core of the Cubs are still in their "prime" years and the pitching staff has lots of young arms waiting to replace someone who falters. Obviously, the Cubs could regress after winning big, but not to the extent of the White Sox.

Lefty, no mlb experience, and his velocity is down. Sounds like he is a Cub killer for the next 10 years.

I think Kenny Williams got very lucky in 2005. He wasn't considered a great GM before that and now is regressing back to his "below average" status. I think he really blew a chance for the WS to go young next year and compete in 2009-2010 by not making deals last off season and at the deadline this year. It was obvious at the deadline that this team was not going to rebound and would not be in contention for 2008. Williams then traded Iguchi for nothing and resigned an aging Dye. As another poster mentioned, he could have traded Crede last year. I would have asked for more in return for Iguchi, traded Konerko to LA, traded Dye for a decent prospect or two, and traded Contreras to anyone who would take him for next-to-nothing in return. This off season, I would trade Garland, Uribe (if anybody wants him), and anyone in the bullpen not named Jenks. With the trades of Crede, Iguchi, Konerko, Dye, and Garland, you can't tell me that they wouldn't have enough major league ready players to have a decent team in 2009. As it is, the best they can hope for is 4th place next year behind the younger and more talented Tigers, Indians, and Twins and there isn't much on the horizon for 2009 and beyond.

Today's Tribune hinted that the Cubs might want to add another veteran OF for the playoffs. Anyone have any ideas on who that might be?

As politely as he could, Hendry basically made it clear that Monroe is here to face LHP. I'm thinking/hoping he's going to be Jacque's platoon partner in CF, the top bat off the bench to face lefties out of the pen and get an occasional start on the corner based on matchups. Actually, if you heard Hendry, he stated that Monroe was a right-handed bat off the bench to replace some of the kids. Lou will make the final decision on playing time, but Hendry made it sound like he is a right-handed pinch hitter.

I think great is probably out. He might be effective. If they tender him what will it cost the Cubs? I am guessing the payroll is getting pretty tight already and the need for another OFer is more important than a questionable starter/reliever. I'm wondering if the Cubs can sign him to a high-incentive low-base contract for 2008 with an team option for 2009. I'm not sure about the rules on tendering or non-tendering, but I agree with the others who said that they've sunk so much into him and you would like to see the final result.

Since when was a 334 BABIP on a 20.1 LD% really high? .013 above expected BABIP? Thats nothing. His BABIP is 256 this year on a 17.4 LD%. Thats .038 points below expected, or 3x as unluck as he was in 2006. In 2005 he had a 286 BABIP on a 20.7 LD%. Thats .031 below expected. Is Dye as good as his 2006 campaign? No, but hes better than he was in 2005 and better than hes been this year (especially because hes had to deal with injuries. He has a 20.6M MORP for 2008-2009. The Sox were hoping to have 4 serviceable, cheap OF options for 2008 with Anderson, Sweeney, Owens, and Fields (until he takes over for Crede in 2009). Of those Fields is the only one whos been anything close to adequate (only trails Konerko, Thome, and Dye in OPS). With no adequate internal options, no options on the FA market for the $ or years, and PR, I don't see how this is nothing short of a really good move by the whitesox. .334 is high when you have a career average of .297 over 5900 PAs and have only had a similarly high BABIP once, 5 or so years ago. Maybe he became a significantly better batter in terms of core skills at age 32 and this is just a fluke. I don't know, I don't watch the Sox. Maybe I'm way off base. Still, aside from last year and 2003 (a terrible injury year) he's been pretty average this decade. Not bad average, but $11 million average? Its more appropriate to look at the variance of the difference between his expected BABIP and actual BABIP. .013 "lucky" is not high whatsoever. I think no one really expects him to repeat 2006, but hes provided very solid, consistant production over the course of his career. Like I said, you have to look at the opportunity costs. What are the white sox going to put in RF if they don't resign Dye? Can they get production anywhere close to Dye's for similar or less money in a contract for similar or less years on the FA market? The answer is a resounding NO. Can the whitesox offense afford to hand RF over to an unproven youngster (unproven as in they've all sucked this year) or a crappy 25th man. Again, the answer is a resounding NO. Can the whitesox from a PR perspective let one of their more popular players leave in a critical time as their following is waning in a possible last place finish, just two years after a WS Ring? Again, a resounding NO. Regardless of whether you believe a .013 BABIP over eBABIP is significantly high or not, I don't think anyone can dispute with the answer to those 3 questions, and thats all that really matters when making the decision. Resigning Dye was a good PR move, but a lousy baseball move. The Sox should have been big-time sellers at the deadline and should be selling again this off season. As I've written before, the Sox should have received more for Taguchi, traded Dye, Konerko, and Contreras (for a bag of sunflower seeds) at the deadline. During the off season, they should trade either Garland or Vasquez and Uribe (if anybody wants him). The trading of Dye, Konerko, and Garland/Vasquez should have gotten them 2 major league ready players and at least 2 more very good prospects. The White Sox have no hope of competing in 2008, so their focus should have been on 2009-2010. They will be a 4th place club next year.

What a friggin waste of an asset that would be. Err, what SSR said. Asset? What exactly does Cedeno bring to the table? 24 year old who has torn up AAA. Could be valuable in a trade if we find a gullible GM...so basically if we try to make a trade with ourselves. I think Cedeno will be traded because he doesn't seem to have any future with the Cubs. I think the Cedeno experiment along with Murton and Jones goes to prove that some players are not part-time players, they need to play regularly. Of course that's hard to do when another player is outperforming you at your position. I could certainly see Cedeno being part of an off season package for Tejada or Renteria.

I don't know why we continue to discuss this, we all think Soriano would be better in the middle of the order and playing RF, but Lou has said Soriano will bat leadoff and play LF and his is the only opinion that counts.

Kenny Williams needed to take lessons from Jon Daniels (Texas GM) on what to do with a team that has no chance of competing in 2007 or 2008. He should have received more for Iguchi and should have traded Dye, Konerko, and Contreras (if anyone would take him) at the deadline. This off season he should trade Uribe (if anyone wants him) and either Garland or Vasquez. The Sox are the 4th best team in their division and I can't see them passing the Tigers, Twins, or Indians for quite a few years since those teams are better and younger than the White Sox. Also, Reinsdorf is not noted for throwing around too much money at free agents, so there isn't much hope of a quick fix.

People criticize Hendry because the only thing that counts is the team's record and then there's an article listing the top GMs and it doesn't include Schuerholz. Just goes to prove that it depends on who is doing the rating. As for Hendry, he could trade for Arod, Cabrera, and Santana during the off season and some posters would complain because we had to give up 3 good prospects to get them.

I've heard through some correspondents that the org doesn't like the idea of a sidearm throwing right hander playing RF. The belief is that he wouldn't be able to make the throw to third base at all when he has to go to his left to make a catch. ETA - these correspondents were not connected to the org, so I don't know for certain if that's the opinion of the org of the guys I'm talking to. Wasn't that one of the arguments against resigning Nomar to play RF.