Little Slide Rooter

That sounds about right to me. Being the 87th, 90th, 80th or 62nd best starting pitcher is right exactly where I was placing him: A solid No. 3 starter. Using "qualified" usually undersells a player (and yes, I did it too with LFers earlier) because the bad players don't play enough to be qualified. I think a lot of the talk about whether a guy is a 3, 4 or 5 is a bunch of nonsense, but I'll comment anyway because I'm drawn to nonsense. Maybe that qualifies a guy to being labeled an average pitcher on an average team, but better pitching staffs are going to have better guys as their 3rd best. I wouldn't call such a player a player a "solid #3", he's a #3 if you are comfortable with a pitching staff that probably isn't good enough to be playoff caliber. If you are thinking about being a good team, you don't want such a guy as your 3rd best starter unless you have the best offense around, and even then you're probably spending half the season looking at finding a better pitcher to slot ahead of him. Also, it's not just bad performers that aren't qualifying, it's good guys who deal with injury, or good call-ups. Exactly my point about Wood and Sappelt. On a poor team they are a #3 starter and a starting OF. On a decent team, Sappelt is a 4th OF and Wood might be a #3 starter. On a good team, Sappelt is a 4th OF and Wood is a #4 starter. I realize we're punting 2012, but some of you need to be reminded that we're a large market team. I think that Wood could a good starter. As for Sappelt as a starter, that poor mans team would probably have to star Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, and Dennis Haysbert. This being said, if we did trade Soriano and Byrd and didn't sign Cespedes, I don't see the harm in giving him the job for the year or at least a few months. It's not like we have anyone in the minors who will be coming for a corner OF job anytime soon.

That's how it's been with these minor signings. One day we hear of the agreement being reached or close. We hear nothing for a week or so and then hear that it's official. That's pretty much what happened with Corpas and Johnson anyway.

1st off, how on earth is Martinez only 23 years old? It seems like he's been a prospect for eternity. We know that Theo is all about those young, former top prospects. As young as Martinez still is, is he too far removed from those days to be deemed salvageable? He was considered a top 100 guy as recently as pre-2010.

Somewhat surprised about McGriff. Very susprised about Bagwell. As good as we was, like Larkin, he spent his entire career with one team which tends to hold some werght with the voters. Larry Walker is a double shock that not only did he get in but how few votes he got. 383 career HR. and a 313/.400/.565 slash line. He was never implicated for any PEDs was he? Palmeiro and his 569 HR will probably end up in the asterisk section with Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, and Clemans.

More than flipping these guys, what I like about this is giving Wood, Maholm, Volstad, Wells, and Sonnenstine a year to audition for 2-3 rotation spots for 2013 and beyond rather than shelling out 7-10 mil a piece for veteran inning eaters. Between them and McNutt and maybe Struck, Rusin, and even Jackson we have more than enough candidates lined up for the 3-5 starters and put more money and assets toward acquiring a few front end guys.

My point is that it's great to use advanced sabermetrics to find value in players that would be as obvious, but if you're going to compete you're going to want to mix in some established stars as well when the right ones become available, and that's what I'm thinking that Theos doing. My response was to an exchange between B2B and Kyle just above my post.

Looks like we're still trying. For the right price, I have no qualms. Sounds like a heavy indication that at least one of our starters is going to be moved sooner than later.

Nothing wrong with the brilliant statistical analysis and research method of building a team, but eventually they'll need to add the big money no brainers to the mix in order to be successful. "Moneyball" alone was just swell for Billy Beane until teams that had money to spend started doing both, once again leaving the small market teams in their dust.

Theo understood Red Sox sentiment because he was a fan of the Red Sox. We're not talking about bringing back Carlton Fisk to sign autographs. He kept a horrific player on a team whose success determined the security of his own job. A middle reliever is more important than a backup catcher, but not by much. There's no reason to not get this done. If Kerry is seeking actual money now because the thought of taking a discount to play on what's likely to be a pretty bad team isn't all that appealing to him, there is. I'd actually be glad to see him go to the Phillies (based on their chances) and I'd have to root for them to win the Series, just like I did the Yankees in 2010. Certainly a possibility, but what's "real money" to a a 34 old middle reliever? 3 million? If he doesn't want to play for the Cubs because they're going to be bad, that's fine, but I'm somewhat skeptical given his past willingness to stay with the Cubs. If somebody is offering 2 years at 6-7 million, they should just match it. Chances are he'll be a spokesman for the organization for a long, long time. Can't he pitch a few years for The Phillies and come back as a spokesman? Wouldn't be the first time.

This is America. You don't go to prison for 5 years for something petty like rape. You've gotta get caught with DRUGS to do any real time. The problem with the justice system in regards to more serious crimes like rape and murder as opposed to drug possession and petty theft is that it's a lot easier to prove the latter, thus those types of offenders are more likely to serve time. I assure you that a convicted rapist will serve more time than someone getting caught with a dime bag or even caught with a trunk full of cocaine.

That's the way the Walt Jockettys and Jim Hendrys of the world see them. Our guys know better. They don't so much know better as they're more willing to give them a chance. If it's a sunk season why throw 3-4 years and $25-35 mil at someone who's not their type of guy like Kubel or Willingham when you can audition a handful of these young so called 4th outfielders in hopes that one is a pleasant surprise. If not, acquire someone who fits into their plans next year or when they become available. Most of NSBB doesn't seem to like Ethier, but Theo does and he should be available next year. Side note: Apparently, I know less about sabermetrics than I thought. Ethier won a gold glove last year, but it says that his dWAR was -0.8.

I was going to say that it's different when the team is a perenial contender and there's nobody quite ready to take over the job, but damn, I didn't realize how awful Tek has been the past four years.

I don't get the Sappelt love that others have but I guess there must be something to it. As for Campana I really don't see him as an asset and if anything he could be a toss in like Fuld was. If a guy is going to make a big league career out of speed , they better be able to get on base at a higher clip that he does.

Wood and the organization have enough mutual respect and understanding of one anothers plans to get out of the 2012 season to jocky over leverage for a few mil. Back end relievers are valuable and it's not out of the question that he has a 2 year deal on the table somewhere and Theo/Hoyer are telling him to take it. If we do end up paying him market value I hope it's with the understanding that we can trade him to a contender when the time comes.

Assuming Byrd sticks around, it's more likely that he'd be pushed to left and Jackson given center, or at least platooned with Sappelt. I'm no expert on WAR, but I can't imagine a lower oWAR corner outfield platoon than Campana and Sappelt.

Sounded like a great even up until this part

First off, I didn't even know there WAS a 9 mill buyout. Secondly, it got waived? There isn't a $9 million buyout and never was. WSR has been convinced there was one though, even though it's been pointed out a few times there isn't one. So SSR was making a joke about it. Before the trade BBR had it as a 19 mil option with 9 mil buyout. Might have been 8 mil but I assure your there was one. It would vest if he finished top 4 in the NL Cy Young. Just checked it again and it has a 19.25 vesting option but no longer mentions the buyout.

Speaking of which, do we know what will become of that buyout, because adding that to the money already coming off the books pre 2013 would be a fairly big deal.

I think this statement misunderstands some of the players we've acquired. A guy in A-ball is not guaranteed to reach his potential, of course. But a young guy with solid AAA MLEs is just as safe of a bet as a regular MLB player. We can live with some of the prospects. not panning out, an advantage we have over a small market team. With the A's or Pirates, they trade their worthwhile players for prospects, and their future hinges primarily on those prospects with some cheap free agents mixed in. If not enough of those prospects pan out, they end up having to trade those that do and start over again. With us operating that way at first, we acquire these young players, and those that don't pan out can be replaced with top free agents.

TT's irrational and intense hatred of him, I think. combined with WSR's irrational and intense adulation of him. Is irrational and intense adulation Australian for good enough left handed bat off the bench at league min?

Bradley, Soriano, Fukudome, Hawkins..etc.... you might remember them. I don't know whether the Cubs will be good or entertaining, but they appear to have a plan and I'm willing to give them time to see how it takes shape. I admit being less patient than most posters on NSBB, but I wonder how much time we give them before fans start to get upset. My first expectations were a decent team in 2012 and a contender in 2013. I've accepted the new strategy of rebuilding, but I think it should only push back expectations 1 year. If we aren't serious contenders with a solid roster in 2014 and every year thereafter, then Theo is not doing his job. All of this 4-5 year talk is BS. 2012 won't be fun to watch but it will about giving guys like Stewart, Volstad, and Wood an opportunity to audition for jobs before they decide where the free agent dollars will be spent. They have money to spend but if they really don't see what they want there's no reason to spend it on something they don't because it's burning a hole in their pocket. To many of us, Fielder seemed like a perfect fit but if those in charge don't agree that's what matters.

Isn't 25 year old Josh Hamilton as a Rule 5 pick the exact type of low risk huge reward that Theo would jump on? That's all I was trying to say, nothing having to do with the circumstances in which we did draft him.

But rather than spending that money now on holes we don't know if we'll have, doesn't it make more sense to use it in 2-3 years when it becomes more evident where we'll really need it. For example, I hate to bring up the Josh Hamilton conversation for the umpteenth time, and I really hope this doesn't become that but had Theo or someone who thought like him at the time been at the helm 5 years ago, maybe Hamilton would have been our center or right fielder since then and we could have used the money we spent on Fukudome and/or Milton Bradely elsewhere.

Well I've been a Cub fan for 57 years and my patience is wearing a little thin. Well damn, I wouldn't have expected that. Now as many maybe next years as I've been through in my life as a Cubs fan, the '00s did bring real optimism, as opposed to past years where good players seemed to pop up one at a time and either fade away or move on. The past 2 years, lack of patience was setting in more than ever after for the first time in my life having a Cubs team that was able to contend for more than a year at a time. Even when frustrations were at their highest with the mess of a team we had, I still had optimism for the future considering the amount of money we had coming off the books, and this was before we'd even entertained the possibility that Theo Epstein, let alone a front office dream team lead by him could be a reality. Before that, I was optimistic that we could go out and buy another team to contend for a few years and hope that a few prospects panned out to supplement our shiny new expensive free agents. However, until Theo started doing his thing I never would have had this kind of mentality that it's OK to take a few years to build our own dynasty, although using that word might be overly optimistic. At this point, I'm willing to accept that 2012 and 2013 are not likely to be the year, but I don't think it's as far away as some think. When we signed Epstein, a lot of people thought we were going to become the Red Sox, but maybe we become the Rays instead, and would that remotely be a bad thing? In the past, The Cubs have been accused of being a big market team operating like a small market team, which was true. Now, it seems like they're going back to operation like a small market team, but doing it the right way. It's simply not expected for a big market team to do this kind of rebuild without big spending involved but if they can get it right with young, high ceiling players be it our own prospects or through trades and signings, then comes the time to start the big money spending to fill the remaining holes left by those that don't pan out.

As long as he can still hit lefties well and hit 25 home runs it would be foolish to just cut him lose. If you're going to do that with such an expensive player, they should be completely useless, IE Oliver Perez and Aaron Rowand. If we were willing to eat the full salary anyway, I'm sure we could get at least another Chris Volstad, and if the other option is just cutting him lose that's clearly the better option. Soriano shouldn't be any less moveable than Zambrano if we eat that much salary, the differences being A. Z only had 1 more year of commitment, but if the other team is paying little to nothing, they can cut him when they're ready. Advantage: Even B. Zambrano was having obvious problems within the organization, and like Milton Bradley these issues were made more public than they shouldn't have been thus further lowering his value. Soriano doesn't have that problem. Advantage: Soriano C. Ozzie Guillen and Carlos Zambrano have a great relationship, so if there's anyone who could keep him in line mentally it's Ozzie. Soriano's problems don't stem from emotional issues so that possible fix isn't there. Advantage: Z D. American league teams have the advantage of being able to carry an extra bat, and the ability to hit lefties alone is often enough to keep guys in the league as long as they're willing to make less money than they have in the past. Of course with Soriano that part doesn't matter because he'd be making 19 mil/year from the Cubs regardless of what he's doing with his time. Advantage: Soriano