MrApril

I think the Cubs are a year to late with that one...I would have liked to have seen them give Kroeger a chance last year instead of signing Koske...The Cubs would have been better off taking the money they gave him and gone after Torii Hunter or Aaron Rowand to play CF for the next 5 or so years.

The only guys I see re-signing are Chirinos (who cares) and Dubois (just because the Cubs gave him a second chance). If I were Kroeger or Craig, I'd also retire before I re-signed with the Cubs...go someplace else, where they need you and will use you correctly. Scales and Torres both had solid seasons, but will move on to other teams like usual...I'd personally like to see them back as insurance policies.

I really hate this line. Either the GM utilizes his resources correctly, or he doesn't. There have been plenty of 'expensive' teams that are not playoffs teams over the last 10 years. If you believe he has correctly utilized his budget when acquiring talent, then you can't come to the conclusion that he's not a good baseball man and just fortunate. If you believe he has poorly utilized his budget when acquiring talent, then it seems reasonable to question his baseball talent evaluation skills, but then you have to do an adequate job explaining how a consensus elite and deep team is merely a fortunate team. It is a tough argument to sell that he is a poor GM coming off a 97 win season in which the team had an elite offense (2nd in MLB Runs, 3rd in MLB OPS), an elite pitching staff (3rd in MLB Runs Allowed, 3rd in MLB OPS Against), and a middle-of-the-pack defense. And it is very much the same team from 2007, and likely the same team in 2009 which will be projected as the 90+ Win division holder once again. Every year the Cubs have been contenders Hendry has gone out and gotten something to fill a hole, or even just to bolster a weak spot. What have the Cubs lost for them? Bobby Hill, Hee Seop Choi, Dontrelle Willis? Ricky Nolasco is about all the Cubs have lost off the top of my head that I would really want back. Then think of '03-'04. Hill, Choi, Willis, Hundley, Alex Gonzalez, Brendan Harris out the door for ARam, Lofton, Simon, Lee, Karros, Grudzielanek, Nomar, Clement, and Murton. Murton, Sean Gallagher and Eric Patterson netted us Harden and Gaudin this year. You get the picture, he get's a lot back on his returns. Sure he's made some stupid moves (Pierre), but at the same time everybody was begging for a leadoff hitter and the Cubs still don't have one. I'll take my chances with Jim any day. I personally have to agree with Soul. He isn't a good baseball man but a fortunate one. Fortunate to have/had basically the unlimited resources and money from the Tribune Company. Being able to read ESPN's or Baseball America's top winter free agent list and then throw the most money at the "top player" doesn't make you a good baseball man. Being able to know when and where you need or not need to spend money, who to promote, who to trade, who to keep makes you a good GM. This is where guys like Billy Beane and John Schuerholz excel, which makes them "good baseball men". I know hindsight is 20/20...but I knew it was a mistake 2 years ago and again last year with the signing of Soriano and Koske...we did not need those guys. Murton was a good left fielder that was young and developing. The kid hit over .300 his rookie year, then led the team in hitting his second year, the year before they brought in Soriano. The money that went to Fonzie could have gone to a stud #1 pitcher. He could have put a package together or Pie, Marshall, etc. to land Santana and then signed him to a long term deal with that money. The recipe for building a dynasty is simple and pretty well documented by the Braves of the 90's, Yankees of the 90's, and A's in the year part of this decade...You build from within, then add a couple key free agents to fill holes that you haven't developed with your own guys. Sure the first couple years will be tough, all those Yankees, Braves, A's teams were bad, but then they turned it around, and sustained a championship level for many years. If you say the Cubs haven't been able to develop any players like Jeter, or Smoltz, Glavin, Chipper Jones, Andrew Jones, or Giambi, Tejada, who were the cornerstone type players or those organizations, then who's fault is that?? It's got to be the GM's and the guys he picks to be in charge or developing those minor league guys. Which gets back to being a true "baseball man". Sorry for the rant...I blame it on the election coverage.

i'm pretty sure that derosa is earning his keep. I don't think he's saying that any of them weren't. He's arguing that the offense should be good enough no matter what else is in the lineup with those guys. Yes, Thanks David...that's what I was trying to get at. Anybody know how much money our supposed top 3 offensive guys are making next year...or compared to the top 3 guys on the top offensive clubs.

I agree...Give Hoff the job, but I don't even think he needs a RH hitting Right Field to platoon with...Hoff holds his own very well against lefties (didn't he hit a bomb of a lefty in Shea). Hoff needs to play right everyday, Koske has enough range to play Center in small Wrigley field...end of discussion. You have your middle of the order LH bat in Hoff...If he doesn't do well, move DeRosa to Right for a bit and have Fonte play second...bingo, bango, bongo. Take the money you would have spent on a Right Fielder, and spend it on Pitching, Pitching, and more Pitching. Get another starter...Get a "lights out" reliever to go along with Marmol and Wood...because we all know, pitching wins World Series, especially in the bullpen...and its been 101 years. A few things: First of all, playing both hoff and Kosuke (assuming no massive turn around) would make our offense worse, not better. "lights out" reliever? Relievers are so incredibly fickle; there are very very few relievers who put up "lights out" numbers year in and year out. You can probably count them on your fingers. That's why spending big money on relievers is dumb (See: Bob Howry/Scott Eyre). As for pitching, I'd be all for another pitcher but I think that can be done without having to cripple our offense. In no way shape or form should we ever have a crippled offensive lineup with the amount of money being paid to Soriano, Lee, Ramirez and DeRosa to a certain extent...as well as the emergence of Soto. Put 3 blind monkeys in a lineup with those 5 guys and you should have a decent enough offensive squad. Spend the extra money on a 3rd starter and put him in as the 5th starter behind Z, Demp, Harden, Lilly. Then get the best reliever available not named K-Rod and shorten which will shorten everygame from 9 innings to 7 innings for the opposing team. If that crippled lineup can't score more runs in 9 innings then the other team can in 7 innings...then Hendry should just blow it all up.

They can still add one of those guys up until minor league free agency begins(which may or may not be the same day as major league free agency.) They probably won't, but McGehee isn't the reason why. It's because Matt Craig murdered Jim Hendry's dog, Josh Kroeger slept with his daughter and Bobby Scales sucks. Well I'm not quite sure Bobby Scales sucks...but you might be onto something with the first two reasons regarding Craig and Kroeger.

I agree...Give Hoff the job, but I don't even think he needs a RH hitting Right Field to platoon with...Hoff holds his own very well against lefties (didn't he hit a bomb of a lefty in Shea). Hoff needs to play right everyday, Koske has enough range to play Center in small Wrigley field...end of discussion. You have your middle of the order LH bat in Hoff...If he doesn't do well, move DeRosa to Right for a bit and have Fonte play second...bingo, bango, bongo. Take the money you would have spent on a Right Fielder, and spend it on Pitching, Pitching, and more Pitching. Get another starter...Get a "lights out" reliever to go along with Marmol and Wood...because we all know, pitching wins World Series, especially in the bullpen...and its been 101 years.

So can someone explain to me why we put him on the roster September 1st knowing all along he would be released/placed on waivers at the end of the year?? Wouldn't have that roster spot been better used for keeping a to be free agent like Scales, or Craig, or Kroeger (who happens to be a LH hitting Right Fielder)? It's not like McGehee put up good or even average numbers or had any impact in his brief call up.

So McGehee's first two AB's are an overmatched K and a Double Play...hmmm...yeah Dubois, Craig, or Scales would have been much worse. ](*,) :confused:

I second that and I also throw Bobby Scales into that mix of guys having better years than McGehee...plus he can play many different positions and would be a good pinch runner if needed. It's ashame that they wont give Craig a shot anywhere above AA and I believe he is a free agent at the end of the year along with Kroeger and Dubois (although I would be less upset if we lost those guys). It's not like McGehee is going anywhere next year in the Rule V draft, so why didn't we bring up Craig and keep him around for another few years instead of letting him go someplace else and pull a Luis Montanez on us again?

That would be one hell of a starting rotation...I don't know if Hendry can get it done. He would have to empty out the entire minor leagues, but I'm crossing my fingers that he can make it happen.

and jack cust was available to any team in baseball for a couple of years if they were willing to put him on their major league roster. he only had the #8 OPS+ in the AL last year. The Rule V draft is filled with guys who can't play and guys that can play at a high level...to me its just as big of a crap shoot as the regular draft, but you have to have to roster space in order to draft...maybe two or three teams a year can draft a guy and sit him on the bench for the entire year and not handcuff their 25 man roster. For me, I guess I'm just tired of seeing all these upstart, young, teams like the Marlins, Rays, Diamondbacks(remember last years sweep), Rockies(last years NL champ), etc...beat up on my Cubbies using "their" young and developed guys while we use our highly overpaid free agent guys. Obviously those teams know how to develop and push guys, and we don't...So give Kroger and Craig a chance, we just might stumble upon something good with them. Craig would be an old man on the Marlins, Rays, and Diamondbacks. He's neither young nor developed. Kroger on the other hand might be worth a shot in a platoon situation. again, this is because he hasn't been advanced by the cubs. he hit very well (.275/.363/.509/.872) in his FIRST crack at AA at age 23. since then the cubs have not moved him anywhere. why should he be punished and thrown in the non-prospect Dusty because of this? move him up to iowa - where he should've been about 3 years ago - and see if he can play at a high level there. the PECOTA numbers and his solid patience suggest that he could be a decent RH bat off the bench, so why not at least give this somewhat of a chance? I had to go back aways in the ole memory, but I first saw Craig in 2004 in the AA All-Star game playing along side Soto and Cedeno, where he had better numbers then both of them. One can only imagine what we would have now if he had been pushed along and given the same chances as both Soto and Cedeno. Switch hitting corner guys are as rare as left-handed power pitching starters....would you hold one of those guys back or would you push him along and give him every opportunity to contribute to the big league club?

and jack cust was available to any team in baseball for a couple of years if they were willing to put him on their major league roster. he only had the #8 OPS+ in the AL last year. The Rule V draft is filled with guys who can't play and guys that can play at a high level...to me its just as big of a crap shoot as the regular draft, but you have to have to roster space in order to draft...maybe two or three teams a year can draft a guy and sit him on the bench for the entire year and not handcuff their 25 man roster. For me, I guess I'm just tired of seeing all these upstart, young, teams like the Marlins, Rays, Diamondbacks(remember last years sweep), Rockies(last years NL champ), etc...beat up on my Cubbies using "their" young and developed guys while we use our highly overpaid free agent guys. Obviously those teams know how to develop and push guys, and we don't...So give Kroger and Craig a chance, we just might stumble upon something good with them.

He was busted juicing last year or the year before. I'm not saying that has anything to do with it... just thought it needed pointed out. He was suspended 15 games for the beginning of the 2005 season...I've personally seen the kid play countless games throughout the Southern League before and after that 2005 season and he still looks the same and is one hell of a player. I've read articles quoting him as saying he denies ever taking anything and looking at his numbers since then, I would have to believe him. He did play a month or so last year in AAA and had pretty decent numbers for such few games and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe he was a player of the week during that time also. I think the kid deserves a shot, if you can play corner infield I'm sure you can stand out there and do your best Soriano impersonation in one of the corner outfield spots. Craig 27 years old and in AA. He's an organizational filler at this point. most likely, but he hasn't really gotten a shot above west tennessee. blame the cubs for dumping him in daytona for 2006 after he had years of .872 and .799 OPS in AA (a pitcher's league). i wouldn't condemn him to being organizational filler; guys like jack cust and ryan ludwick have contributed at the big league level after being given up for dead. craig's major league PECOTA projections have him at a .260-.270 EqA with decent pop, especially against LHP. it seems to me that they should move him up to iowa and see if he might be able to contribute with the big club as a backup corner IF and RH bat with decent power. IMO...Craig is the perfect example of the Cubs inept ability to produce any type of major league position player. Outside of Soto (who didn't "breakout" till his 3rd year of AAA) and Theriot (who didn't "breakout" till he stopped switch hitting) what major league regular have they been able to produce?? I would think a guy that can switch hit for both power and average would be something an organization covets since they are so rare (the only ones I can think of in the Bigs are Chipper, Texeria, and Beltran). Best case scenario, if the Cubs knew how to develop position players, would be a Chipper or Texeria type, worst case you have a Greg Norton or Scott Spiezio(sp?). Both types of players would help the Cubbies immensely. Btw, I just saw this looking over his career stats, he has twice been an All-star at AA and for some reason the Cubs won't give him a chance at AAA...wow I'm actually starting to feel bad for the kid. :cray: :confused:

He was busted juicing last year or the year before. I'm not saying that has anything to do with it... just thought it needed pointed out. He was suspended 15 games for the beginning of the 2005 season...I've personally seen the kid play countless games throughout the Southern League before and after that 2005 season and he still looks the same and is one hell of a player. I've read articles quoting him as saying he denies ever taking anything and looking at his numbers since then, I would have to believe him. He did play a month or so last year in AAA and had pretty decent numbers for such few games and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe he was a player of the week during that time also. I think the kid deserves a shot, if you can play corner infield I'm sure you can stand out there and do your best Soriano impersonation in one of the corner outfield spots.