Clem Fandango

I think if this team wants to be successful they need to make the kind of moves that win championships [/McCarver]

I loled We should throw that money at those Indian pitchers that were in the Pirates system a few years ago. One of them is still pitching. http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=singh-001rin Just looking at his numbers they look alright, but he's super old for his league. Then again, he's only been playing baseball for 4 years, so... I'm not sure if I should be somewhat impressed or massively underwhelmed on that information.

If true, it is exciting that they are going all out on this pitching. If they do end up signing Sanchez and go after Jackson (and happen to get him) I would think that Garza gets dealt for offense. Likewise in the case of Marmol and the relievers they're targeting. Sanchez/Samardzija/Jackson/Baker/Feldman is still pretty darn nice. And a bullpen that could possibly consist of Wood/Adams/KRod/Fujiwaka/Russell/Camp/others isn't too shabby either. I personally don't expect all those rumored targets to come to fruition, but it would be very very nice .

Well, that was quicker than expected...

Yup...

someone do some kyle math on this [expletive], because beep beep boop boop sanchez' 2012 was not better than wood's 2003. You might be confusing those with WAR numbers. That's FIP. Yes, and it ranks three of sanchez' seasons as being better than wood's 2003, which ranks his 266 strikeout 6.5 h/9 season as "above average" DERP... I thought you confused FIP for WAR when I confused Wood for Prior

someone do some kyle math on this [expletive], because beep beep boop boop sanchez' 2012 was not better than wood's 2003. You might be confusing those with WAR numbers. That's FIP.

fwiw

Brett over at BN is speculating that Nightengale's source was Sanchez's agent, given the fact that Nightengale has all of a sudden stated dropping lots of quotes directly from him.

I lol'd

um yeah if youre a team that just lost 100 games on purpose you're prolly gonna have to up your $ if you want to outbid a team that was just in he WS. Not what I was implying with that question, but you keep on doing you.

If these reports imply that if the Tigers match 5/75 means he's going back to the Tigers, would you guys go 5/85 or 5/90?

From BN:

It was discussed in one of the catch-all offseason threads.

It feels like when a report comes out that a player signs with the Cubs or is traded to the Cubs it's always contradicted, but if it's any other team it's almost always confirmed.

HOLY [expletive]

If they get LaRoche then Olt will be blocked at nearly every position/spot he can play. I assume they'd switch Moreland to DH, since Olt would represent a better return in a trade than Moreland would, and since Cruz will need to spend more time at DH to rest his legs Moreland would make a better part time DH than a guy who could be starting for someone else at 3B.

I'm not sure what's left of the Angels farm system, but would a package involving Bourjos and Conger for Garza be acceptable? We could always expand the deal to include Marmol. No thanks. The Rangers have to be absolutely panicking right now. Garza for Olt sounds nice. I'm not sold enough on Olt to do that. I'm sold enough on the fact that Garza probably isn't going to be a Cub after next season, though, and he's not a sure bet to bounce back to a desirable trading chip after this injury. If they can get Olt for Garza right now then I'd do it, honestly. Whether or not Olt is a legit bat at 3B, his defense is still good and he represents far greater upside offensively than anything we can put there now and we'd have him for another 5+ years or so. I'd take that in exchange for one more year of an uncertain Matt Garza, personally. Especially when we can still go out and sign another FA pitcher (ala Marcum, Liriano, or any other comparable pitcher) to replace Garza if need be.

Apparently the Hamilton deal is 5/125

Absolutely. If he can put up a .730ish OPS with that elite level defense and good base running I'd be thrilled. Not to mention a combination of Barney/Castro/Bourjos would make the Cubs a tremendously strong defensive team up the middle. Do you guys think it would take a lot to get him? I wonder if they are still interested in Marmol? Marmol+$$$$ for Bourjos would be a pretty nice trade for both sides. I think Bourjos should cost less, honestly. He's a bench player in LA, and his overall numbers don't impress that much. He should be able to be had for less than Marmol, IMO. That being said, I like him on the Cubs

Wow.

That is one of the most pointless points I've read on here. Point I was trying to make was that the Royals wanted a consistent ace and paid an ace's ransom. That price should've gotten them a Halladay level ace. Shields was not a befitting return.

I'm not saying Wood is a sure thing, but if the odds of Wood vs. Davis being stuck at the back end of the rotation had to tilt in someone's favor, Wood probably edges him out. Wood is a 4 win pitcher (fWAR) over 61 starts in 3 seasons (1.6 bWAR)... Davis was a 2.6 win pitcher over 64 starts in 3 seasons (0.6 bWAR). Davis was the same age Wood was during his starter years, too. (23, 24, 25). Honestly the two of them could also be a wash.

Shields' fWAR was steadily going down in 4 consecutive seasons before it spiked in 2011, and again trended downward this season. He's not a bad pitcher, but I think Samardzija is being undervalued in this situation while Shields is being overvalued. Technically neither are a sure thing. Shields HAS shown inconsistency, albeit positive inconsistency (3-year fWARs between 2009-2011 of 3.7, 2.0, 4.9), but they traded Myers for someone who is a sure bet ace, and Shields isn't exactly that. If Garza were healthy, and it were after 2011, Garza is all it should have taken. Garza right now? I don't know how much value he holds in terms of player/prospect return value. And to clarify I like Davis vs. Wood a lot more as well in terms of starter potential, but Wood still holds value as a starter where it's debatable if Davis will actualy be good enough to stick in a rotation. Davis was an outstanding pen arm this past season, but has been a bust as a starter during the rest of his career. The Royals are either going to find out that if he can't stick in the rotation then they relegate him to the pen where he likely flourishes, but then they have team control contract options from 2015 until 2017 which look nice if he's a starter, not so much if he's a reliever... so they may not exercise those options due to cost if he's a reliever and he ends up being a 2 year reliever, whereas Wood might be a 4 year starter/reliever regardless of contract situations. Marmol + cash to help cover his remaining contract this season is the cherry on top that gives them a big bullpen arm to help them compete this season like they're desperately trying to do. Also if I were Dayton Moore I don't know if I'd trade Myers for this package of players... I'm merely just saying that I think this package of players is comparable to the one they got. Same with Barney + Jackson for Bauer. I don't think either package should net the ones those teams gave up... but for some reason they did, and if tha twas the case, I think these packages should've been enough to compete.