jersey cubs fan

Why do people always write this?

And yet, they do much worse against LHP than RHP, which should tell them they need bats, not specifically lefty bats. It never ceases to amaze me how focused this team can be on getting specific types of players that they don't really "need" to be focusing on.

David Faber is all over it. I'm just providing a service. You think everybody watches CNBC? I surfed over there during a commercial on "Law and Order." The acquital of a cop killer leads to the murder of a defense attorney. Hey, I've seen this one, and I don't watch much L&O anymore. Free ad time for Fred!

David Faber is all over it.

I will be in attendence at this instant classic. I'm sorry. Please try not to gouge your eyes out. My prediction, Mr. Jersey isn't able to put 2 coherent sentences together by 11 AM. Try 3 am Saturday morning. I probably should have said, "may be in attendance", since, I have the tickets, and the ride to the game is lined up. But there's probably a solid chance I will be sitting at the Clevelander watching games all day while girls with morally casual attitudes strut around the pool/stage.

The incentives you offer Prior are A) The chance to make a lot more than $3.5m this year, if he pitches a significant amount of major league innings, and B) A chance to be paid a lot of money in 2009 if the Cubs pick up an option, or he reaches certain vesting numbers. You have to put the top line incentive at a very high level, so, that if Prior does pull off a miracle and start 33 games with 215 innings pitched in 2009 he's going to be getting paid something like $15m. The Cubs offer those high end incentives for both 2008 and 2009 in exchange for getting him a little cheaper on the guaranteed money this year, and the opportunity to bring him back, for significant cost, in 2009.

I will be in attendence at this instant classic.

The problem with major league performance incentives for 2008 is that, as supposed contenders, the Cubs may not want to let Prior "strengthen his arm" by pitching at the major league level. If he's going to give us sub-Dempster/Marquis/Marshall/Hart performance in the rotation or sub-Wuertz/Ohman/Eyre performance in the bullpen this season, they may not want him pitching on the big club, even though it may be best for the long term. The incentives for 2008 should be based on starts and/or appearances at the AAA level, assuming that is permissible under the CBA... No way. I doubt that's possible anyway. But why not give the team insurance against poor performance. If he's pitching major league innings, presumably he's going to be pitching well, and worth the incentives. If he's not good enough to pitch major league innings, then there's no point giving him incentives for logging time in the minors.

i think that's likely. there is going to be a whole lot of rage around here if Hendry comes up a few million dollars short on Fukudome because he feels the need to over-pay the likes of Infante and K. Matsui (if that happens). I understand the pessimism but don't forget that Hendry can always trade Infante. Yes, he CAN fix all the mistakes he's made over the years. The likelihood is extremely low, however.

Only because Jim Hendry puts all his cards on the table well in advance. And when did he lay his cards out about Prior? Those executives thought he would be non-tendered because they thought that it was simply too much money for him, not because they expected the Cubs to make some sort of mistake. Because it's a fairly open secret that the Cubs and Hendry have taken issues with Prior, and have questioned his toughness, as well as the legitimacy of his injuries. Prior's name has been dangled for over a year now. It's coming out in the press that they want an option or he's going to be traded (team leak?). Of course other execs are going to sense the blood in the water. They feel the Cubs are either going to sign him, or practically give him away. What they don't want to do is non-tender and get nothing. Jim has been in his position long enough, and shown the same tendencies often enough, that other execs feel comfortable assuming what he's going to do.

Only because Jim Hendry puts all his cards on the table well in advance.

I think Jim Hendry thinks you can win games without scoring runs, so, who knows, maybe he would be interested in.

Staying overnight is not necessary, I've been in a city for a day, arriving in the morning and leaving at night, and feel that fulfills any standard necessary for having been there. I would lean toward just setting foot on the ground, provided it's outside the airport terminal.

I'm holding off my praise until you convince Hendry not to screw up this offseason by signing Matsui. It's the least a servant can do.

No.

So this now means he will be signed or let go. Those of you that want Prior back, hope that one of the Chicago writers says he will be let go. Can someone help me out here. I saw something about Prior not being a FA until after 2009, since he didn't accrue any ML service time this year? Is that right? With all the talk about having the option year added after next year, it can't be right, can it? I wouldn't think an option year would be necessary, since he'd still be under Cubs control. I'll see if I can get a link to where I saw that. At the beginning of the year, when he was sent to minor league camp, it looked as though he wouldn't accrue the service time in 2007 to become a free agent after 2008. However, with the disclosure of the injury and the subsequent surgery, he was eventually placed on the major league roster and then the DL, which was enough to push him over the threshold as soon as next offseason. If they decline to offer him arbitration this year, he will essentially be a free agent in two weeks.

So this now means he will be signed or let go. Those of you that want Prior back, hope that one of the Chicago writers says he will be let go. Could very easily be a little negotiating in the media, reminding Prior's camp the Cubs still have the right to trade him, anywhere.

Great idea. Selling as low as possible is always smart. Almost as smart as spending 14 for a guy on the DL. Who, aside from a poster here, said anything about $14M? There's not a chance in hell he gets that much. Wait, wait, wait...I said it, and only as the high end estimate of a deal where he likely met all of the incentives in the deal offered. Please don't toss that out there like I said the Cubs or anyone should just pay him $14 million per, because nobody said that. You still listed a guarantee (6-7m per year) that is obscenely high, given the circumstances. That's $12-14m guaranteed. They could just offer arbitration and probably pay him $3.5m or lower this year and worry about next year much later.

Low guarantee in 2008 (2m), incentives that can take it to 5-6 based on starts/innings pitched, with a relatively high team option for 2009, let's say $8m, with more incentives for starts/inning that could take it to 12-14. Make that team option kick in automatically if he pitches something like 180 innings this year. If Prior just signs a one year deal for 3-4m this season, and he pitches reasonably well for a significant amount of innings, he'll probably be able to get a 3/30 type deal next offseason, or at least a 1/12-14. You have to give him incentive for giving the team control of 2009.

$45/3 for Mariano, or $44/4 or whatever for Cordero, that is "big money". $4.2, that's not big money. When you have a $115 roster, and around ten guys who will be <$1 each, that leaves you with around $105 for 15 salaried guys. So the average salary for the salaried guys is around $7. $4 for a free agent is well below average. It's not "big money". It's the cost of doing business. Sure, I wish we'd have gotten him at $1 base, with a club option on year two that would cost $2.5 or $0.2 to buyout. But that's not the market. 45/3 and and 44/4 aren't big money. That's insane money. Kerry will get $7.65M if he's able to close for the whole 2008 season. That's still a lot of money for about 70 innings of work, much of it in undemanding situations. I also don't think it's realistic to expect him not to get lit up every now and then. He's not Mariano Rivera. I think you are seriously nit-picking here. Wood's money is going to a good cause, that is, somebody who can be extremely good at his job. It's better than spending $2.5m on a mediocre utility player. And you are underestimating the value of it only being a 1 year deal. Relievers get paid a fairly wide range of money. Obviously you'd love to pay them all $350,000 and get Marmol and Joba like effectiveness. But you can't fill out an entire bullpen that way. If the Cubs had a $70m payroll, I'd be furious about gambling like that on Wood. But at $115m-120m, it's not a bad bet at all.

Matt Clement, Mark Prior, and Carlos Zambrano didn't hurt... It also helps to have your non strikeout guys be like Ted Lilly, and being able to call up Hill from the minors. Farnsworth, Howry, Eyre, Ohman and Wuertz all struck out guys at solid rates for many relief innings. I think it's a combo of Hendry preferring big hard throwers, and Rothschild preaching a "miss the bat" approach.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3128280&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines If I'm reading this correctly he has a $4.2M base salary and $3.45M in potential bonuses? Doesn't that seem kinda steep for a reliever who's a really bad health risk? Assuming the bonuses are for saves and games finished he should get $7.65M if he can grab the closer slot and stay healthy. Still seems pricy to me. I know he had a nice finish last year but there seems to be a pervasive excess of optimism regarding Kerry's health situation. you think it's too much to spend on a guy with health risks even though i'm sure his incentives are related to him staying healthy. then you say if he stays healthy and closes games effectively it's too much to spend for a guy who isn't healthy. even though in your hypothetical, he's healthy. i don't get it. His base salary is too high for my taste. He could end up not pitching an inning and still get $4.2M. Also, just a hunch, but I really doubt the terms of the contract will make the performance bonuses hard to achieve if he can stay healthy. I'm guessing he'll just need to pitch enough to get like 25 saves. Thing is, I'm expecting him to have his share of bad games too. He could easily end up getting the whole $7.65M and still not be much of an upgrade over what Dempster, Marmol, or Howry would have been in the closer slot. All relievers have their share of bad games. That's what happens when one run allowed can ruin an outing. It's very doubtful that Wood will be healthy enough to pitch and also pitch poorly. He's probably either going to pitch and dominate, or be hurt and not pitch. At that point, it's $4.2m wasted. It's not that much, considering it's 1 year. You also have to remember it was almost a certainty that if Hendry didn't resign Wood, he would have gone out and spent on another reliever. Howry and Wood are basically making the same guaranteed money in 2008, and Demspter, the worst of the bunch, is making more than both.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3128280&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines If I'm reading this correctly he has a $4.2M base salary and $3.45M in potential bonuses? Doesn't that seem kinda steep for a reliever who's a really bad health risk? Assuming the bonuses are for saves and games finished he should get $7.65M if he can grab the closer slot and stay healthy. Still seems pricy to me. I know he had a nice finish last year but there seems to be a pervasive excess of optimism regarding Kerry's health situation. If he earns the bonuses them it probably means that he was healhty for the most part in 2008. And if he stays healthy there's little doubt he'll be very effective. $4.2 is the risk, $3.45 is what you hope you pay by having a great pitcher. I hope they pay him 7.65 in 2008, it will most likely mean very good things.

wow..I find that really creepy that you know him...or maybe it's just ironic...don't ya think. I would bet he doesn't really know him personally. People around hear "know" a few regular callers because they call all the time and related some personal information and are basically characters from a show. There was an old lady a few years ago who had some sort of respiratory issue and would cough throughout her calls into WFAN. The Mike half of Mike and the Mad Dog hosts an NFL show Sunday mornings and he has the same guys call in every time.

Jerome (who does sound like Pesci) is not indicative of all Yankees fans. Jerome is insane and the radio staions let him on for comic releif. Please do not act like Jerome from the bronx speaks for everyone. Jerome has health problems and is basically a shut in, with nothing else to do but scream about the Yankees and Knicks. So, please use a better sample group than that when bashing Yankees fans. Yes most fans do not want to give up Cano. I am in the minority. I think if it takes Cano to keep our young pitching so be it. Santana is one of the best pitchers available, but I think the price might be too high. Cano, Hughes, Kennedy and Jackson (or Tabata) is quite pricey for the rights to negotiate a 7/140 with him. I didn't tell the story to bash Yankees fans. I just found it quite funny. But it is true that the majority of Yankees fans hold a "we don't have to give up our best to get their best" attitude.