jersey cubs fan

They just moved their closer to starter. Howry and Eyre may be gone after this season. If Wood is gone, I would be shocked if he didn't go out and get relief help. Happy, but shocked.

Pretty obvious pass interference on LSU there, not called. I love how announcers praise corners for great coverage and being "all over the play" when there is no call, but if it's the same play and a call is made, they criticize the coverage.

I really need someone to explain to me why he could possible interested in Kaz if it is not for a buddy for Fukudome. It makes absolutely no sense to me, especially after trading for Infante. Cedeno Theriot Infante DeRosa Fontenot If they sign Kaz that will be six semi-interchangeable parts and almost half a roster of position players. Obviously, Fontenot probably gets shipped to AAA or traded. Cedeno doesn't have much trade value and they probably won't deal Infante for much the same reason. I don't like the logic, but from what I've heard from Bruce and others is, he likes Matsui's table setting abilities. He likes the added flexibility of DeRosa supersub. He likes that Matsui is the lone LH bat (and we know he's looking for LH bats). And he's always liked doing what the previous year's winner did, including going after their available players. I wouldn't say it makes sense to me, but I think that's what supports the notion that Hendry would be more than happy to get Kaz, regardless of Fukudome. If somebody tells me Kaz and Fuku have a strong bond outside of just being Japanese, then I'll think it's all about getting a companion. But it looks to me like he actually wants Kaz here.

This is correct. The upside is worth the guaranteed money. I'd not hesitate to give him 2/$10m. I'd hesitate, but I'd probably do it. Any other reliever who is going to be getting 2/10 in this market is going to have his own injury worries, or just not be any good. Decent middle relief is going to get 3+ years, and "established" closers are going to get 4/40 type deals. 2/10 is a risk, no doubt, because of Wood's health. But the only thing keeping the offers from being 5/55 is that health. There isn't a comparable reliever on the market. If Jim lets Wood walk, and then decides to go in-house for relief help, I'll respect his decision. If he just goes out looking for more expensive help elsewhere, or similarly priced but much less potentially effective, it'll be a huge waste.

Really, then why do they keep track of those for the team? Is there no such thing as a team OPS and ERA? It doesn't matter. If you have a team OPS+ of 110, you're going to score a bunch of runs. And if you have an ERA+ of 110, you aren't going to give up a bunch of runs. You are going to win a lot of games. For the sake of discussion, I'll say I'd prefer the pitcher to be split with wider variance, leaving you with a few dominant guys, which is a great way to plow through the postseason. But then again, that also leaves you more susceptible to one or two pitcher injuries derailing your season. However, it still doesn't matter, because if you are guaranteeing a 110 and 110, you are going to be a great team.

All well and good, unless, or until, Jim goes out and spends more on another reliever. It would be a mistake to give any reliever in this market a 5 million dollar per year deal for multiple years. It would be a big mistake (as far as percentages, not saying it couldn't work out) to do it for Wood. So if Hendry went out and signed another reliever instead of Wood for 2/10, he would have done his job wrong but not made the big mistake. I agree with Cuse. You offer him a deal, but it has to be heavily incentive laden. I disagree. The mistake is the years, moreso than the money. 4/19 is stupid, mostly because it's 4 years. 1 year is ideal, but unrealistic. Getting a guy for 2/10 is pretty reasonable. Wood's health is the only thing that makes it a risk, and it's a significant risk. But I'd rather spend a little more per, and only go 2 years, then end up with somebody else for 3/15 or higher. I don't get why people are pretending Wood is just another reliever. Wood is quite different from most guys signing for middle relief money, in that he actually stands a chance of being dominant. Most available middle relievers are at their best, pretty good. But few ever flirt with dominance. If you are going to take risks, take ones that actually come with a possibility for reward. You can have all the healthy Alfonsecas in the world, I'd still rather take my chance on a guy with Wood's ability.

All well and good, unless, or until, Jim goes out and spends more on another reliever.

Which is why I don't get the folks who get all upset when there is speculation about the Cubs adding a CF. I sincerely hope Pie turns out to be the guy, but if you don't bring in anyone else capable of filling that job you are just setting yourself up for failure. Because typically the speculation is about garbage players who won't do anything to help the team win, and will only serve to prolong the unknown regarding whether Pie can make it. You don't need a stopgap. You need to give the kid a chance to sink or swim. Settling for mediocrity (or worse) is not a good decision, even if you might wind up with failure by a kid.

I thought John John's gramps died years ago. I had to look up Kennedy on baseball reference to know who he is. Played on 3 teams this year, came up with Tampa.

Yeah, that's not true. It's been said the Cubs don't have the pieces to compete with the offers of other teams. And they may be true, if every team was willing to offer everybody they have. But teams aren't often willing to trade their best young chips. NY is talking about getting Johan without giving up any of their big guys. Most teams with the bluest of blue chips try as hard as they can to hold onto them, and deal their second tier of prospects. The Cubs can probably compete with any package teams are actually willing to give up. The question is whether the Cubs want to compete. Going by their long standing strategy of just doing enough to hope to contend within the division, the Cubs are doubtful to throw their hat into the ring on such a player. They've traded for guys that other teams were trying to dump for payroll considerations, but they weren't competing with anybody for the likes of Ramirez and Lee. It's all about whether the Cubs have the balls to go big. They can put a package together that will get the job done, but odds are they don't have any interest in doing so.

The answer is it doesn't matter, a team with a 110 on both sides is going to be very good. So it doesn't matter how you get there.

He'll be expensive because he's great. He'd easily be the Cubs best player. The Cubs don't have a team of average to above average players, they've got too many crap players. They already have black holes, at SS, possibly in CF and 2B (depending on what crazy stuff Hendry does) and maybe even RF if they "solve" that problem by going for average. This team isn't going to win crap striving for average. They need to be great. The goal should be great. The target should be 95+ wins, and you get to that level by having great players. Cabrera is great. Ramirez and Lee are solid, but neither is a superstar. Soriano is a highly flawed overpaid player. Cabrera is a pre-prime stud who will in all likelihood just get better. He is exactly what this team needs. What they don't need are a bunch more average players playing average baseball in hopes of another 85 win season that may or may not get you into the postseason.

IMO he's looking for the "perfect" number 2 hitter. Which is as stupid and misguided as his pursuit of the stereotypical leadoff hitter. The Cubs need hitters, not 2 hitters.

nail meet head. andruw jones is 30 years old, i don't think it's fair to assume that he's past his prime. he had a down year last year, but that doesn't necessarli imply a trend. wildly overpaid, yes. What's so unfair about it? Being past your prime doesn't mean impending doom, it means your best days are behind you, and that's almost a certainty for a guy like Jones, who turns 31 this year. His age 28 season, with a career best 136 OPS+, will probably never be duplicated the rest of his career. He shows no signs of being a guy who will work his tail off to prolong his prime past the norm.

Prior to last night's win, I think the Hawks were in a group of 9 western conference teams within a range of 21-23 points. Their current point total, 25, ties them for 4th in the conference, even with the two other division leaders. But it looks like everybody besides Detroit is going to be in a dog fight for playoff position, and qualifying. There's really only 3 teams that have fallen significantly behind the pack. As nice as the first quarter of the season has been, there can't be any letting up. And as good a story as the kids have been so far, I'm a little concerned about how they hold up for the season. They've already hit a bit of a cold spell, and with all the attention being placed on them, there could be a lot of pressure on some untested shoulders. For the next quarter season I'm hoping guys like Lang, Havlat, Sharp and Khabi can do enough to draw some attention to the rest of the team and take some pressure off Toews and Kane. And Ruutu needs to get back on the score sheet.

I still don't understand why you so strongly support such a douche.

Then don't participate. Calling a thread dumb doesn't add anything of value. kind of like creating a poll to further instigate more friction between two posters who have had threads locked and warnings issued from mods doesn't really add anything of value? The poll was not created to further instigate anything, it was a joke and everyone besides you has had fun with it. We get that you don't care for the poll, no need to keep mentioning it. Just ignore the thread. And a pretty stupid one at that.

name one

Maybe he "seems" like that kind of player to you, but virtually no player willfully takes a 50% paycut (assuming that's the difference). Kendall loved everything about the Cubs. I'm sure he'd view playing here as a satisfactory fallback. The Yankees have done this before, so have other teams, coming to an agreement but not signing. Plus, we're talking Jason Kendall, a worthless piece of crap of a ballplayer. Milwaukee could fine somebody just like him in a heartbeat.

The Brewers would be then running the risk that the Cubs would offer arbitration and Kendall would accept. Considering that they just traded their starting catcher and that whole process could take weeks (where most of the other catchers on the market are getting picked up by other teams) it's too risky for the Brewers to do that. Besides, even if for the extra money I doubt Kendall would come back to a team that didn't want him in any form when he has a starting job lined up somewhere else, so he'd probably sign with the Brewers even if the Cubs did offer him arbitration at this point. It's not just extra money, it's most likely a tremendous amount of extra money. I know it's unlikely, but it's what the Yankees would do if it involved the Red Sox.

Possible, but not likely. There's no incentive for them to wait. It's not their draft pick we'd be getting. But it is their biggest rival getting an extra one.

He does? How has he proven that he has the ability to return to 04 form? How does one go about proving they have the ability to return to form? If Mark was already back at that form, he'd be able to sign a 6/100 deal.

Agreeing to a deal and signing one are two different things. No need to rush that physical until after the arbitration deadline.

I think Marquis and Andruw are very different, and I doubt the reaction would be nearly the same. I absolutely hated everything about the Marquis signing. I wouldn't be a big fan of Andruw coming here, but he'd probably help, and I wouldn't hate it that much.

Perhaps they'd hold Vitters back in only because they thought those guys were rushed. Plus, Vitters plays a position that filled. Corey was the CF of the future, and Don Baylor was pushing for him to be the CF as soon as possible. Obviously Baylor didn't make that sort of call, and wasn't even in the organization at the time to make that call. But it kind of symbolized the savior status the organization placed on Corey, which meant he was going to be rushed. Montanez was also playing a need position they wanted to fill sooner rather than later. Vitters isn't going to see Wrigley for a few years even if all goes well, and there's no major league need to rush him anytime soon. Hopefully they won't be aggressive with the kid and will actually teach him to be a pro, instead of sitting back and expecting his pretty swing to solve any problems on its own (Kelton).