Jimmy Ballgame

What about SS? What about CF when Edmonds goes down or if he doesn't perform as his bat speed keeps decreasing? How are you going to move Soriano? How is Soriano hurting this team? Last time I checked, the numbers Ryan Theriot put up in 2008 were outstanding. I would not consider SS a weakness at all. Nobody questioned the bat speed of Barry Bonds at age 38 and beyond. So I would say until Edmonds STOPS putting up numbers, he shouldn't be considered "done". I am not saying Reed Johnson can replace Soriano. I'm saying whatever star outfielder we acquired in this process could. Then, Johnson would be replacing Kosuke essentially except flip-flopping in the outfield. The reason I hate Soriano is because he goes through long streaks where he fails to make any contact with the baseball, and I don't consider that acceptable. He makes up his mind about whether or not he's going to swing before the pitch is even thrown, and no matter how far off the plate it is, he'll still wave at it. First, Theriot's numbers were not outstanding. He had the 8th best OPS of NL SS, behind such sluggers as Cristian Guzman and Yunel Escobar. A 93 OPS+ is below average, granted slightly below, but still below. Second, Bonds was a freak of science, and already one of the best players ever, at the age of 38. While Edmonds had a great career, nobody compared him to Bonds( even off the juice). And the fact that his numbers have dropped the last few years, up until an incredible June and July this year, does not bode well for the future. Third, while I agree that they should be looking for another corner OF, it shouldn't be to replace Soriano, it should be, at a minimum, to force Kosuke to CF( where he could platoon with Johnson). You do realize that of everyone on the team that had 300 PA( roughly 50% playing time) or higher, Soriano was their second best hitter, behind ARam. Not every single player needs to hit for power. I wouldn't consider slugging % to be a relevant stat for a middle infielder that hits 2nd in your lineup. If they hit .300 with a .400 OBP, that's good enough to be my starting SS any day. I also like how Theriot seemed to have the least number of slumps out of anyone in our lineup (and also the least severe). He was pretty much always getting base hits.

I haven't seen a thread about this but I did see on ESPN rumor central that the Brewers were listening to offers. Has anyone heard anything further on that? I'm assuming the Brewers wouldn't trade him to the Cubs, or any team in the central for that matter, but it's still nice to ponder. He'd sure make a nice lefty bat to replace Derek Lee with.

"We'll get em one of these years"

As far as Lilly... yes, the homers are part of my reasoning. He also isn't much for velocity, and I think if you don't throw hard, you need to have the control to make up for it. His control is pretty average at best. All he has going for him is a curveball that moves alot. In general, I just feel that he is way too inconsistent. His numbers have been comning out decent, but I think they are somewhat misleading. Seems like he either goes out and pitches shutout baseball, or he gets shelled and knocked out of the game in the second inning. I don't really mind him as a 4th or 5th starter, but he's not a top of the rotation guy. We started the season with him in the #2 slot and I was outraged.

Who hits well in the clutch season after season. Uh I dunno... Manny? He's Mr. Postseason.

We need to be adding relievers, not subtracting them. I love Woody and I don't want him to go. He's only what...31? 3 years isn't a huge commitment. Him and Marmol are the only two guys outta that pen I ever felt safe with when on the mound. Samardizja(sp?) isn't even a reliever. He did a pretty good job of pretending to be a setup man for awhile, but he's a starter. Let's not even talk about Howry. Neal Cotts is worthless and frankly, I'm not a big fan of Marshall either, as a starter or a reliever. He reminds me of Ted Lilly (who I also dislike). I'd use him as trade bait. I think Gaudin is pretty average. He can be good but he's not consistent. We should have never traded Scott Eyre. He wasn't even pitching bad. I wouldn't mind seeing Wuertz get a chance, it doesn't seem like we ever stuck with him long enough. In summary, our bullpen needs alot of work and if we let Woody go we're only making the problem worse.

Personally I don't think clutch hitting is a fluke. Some guys are just able to focus better and choose their pitches better when the game is on the line. Sure, sometimes it's a fluke, but I don't believe that's always the case. I understand the school of thought that it's just luck, and there's no difference what inning it is or what situation arises. However, I think after certain players hit well in the clutch season after season, and sometimes for an entire career, it's hard to say that it's all luck. Things tend to prove themself over time.

1st base and right field. Personally I'd like to see Soriano moved as well, but that's not as big of a priority. We need a #3 hitter that can hit more homers than ground ball double-plays, at the very least. And obviously we don't have anybody good at all to stick in RF.

I would never give up Marmol to get Hermida. Our bullpen is already shakey enough.

I was thinking out loud when I made that first post. I probably wouldn't send Reed out there every day, probably more like a platoon with Fontenot or something like that. Basically what I meant was that the remaining corner OF spot could be filled by people we already have on the roster. As far as Soriano, I wouldn't just trade him for the sake of trading him. However, if we were able to get a deal where someone (for whatever reason) was giving us a comparable OFer in return, I'd pull the trigger. And if we have enough payroll to keep Soriano AND sign Teixeira and a right-fielder, great. Again, I think one of our biggest issues is that the superstars we depend on to win simply aren't as good as other people's superstars. As far as Edmonds in wrigley, I'm not saying he has a super-human ability to play at wrigley, but it is true that certain players hit better in certain parks because they see the ball better or whatever. Wrigley also has a small CF territory to cover, and the grass is soft. Those are good things for a slow guy with bad knees, in addition to solid career numbers at Wrigley. what could these three people have in common? ohhhhhhhh Are you serious? I just think it's odd that two people in this thread have called me a racist. I didn't realize how white my suggested lineup was. Just to even things out, I'm going to recommend we sign a free agent OF that is black or hispanic. THERE.

What about SS? What about CF when Edmonds goes down or if he doesn't perform as his bat speed keeps decreasing? How are you going to move Soriano? How is Soriano hurting this team? Last time I checked, the numbers Ryan Theriot put up in 2008 were outstanding. I would not consider SS a weakness at all. Nobody questioned the bat speed of Barry Bonds at age 38 and beyond. So I would say until Edmonds STOPS putting up numbers, he shouldn't be considered "done". I am not saying Reed Johnson can replace Soriano. I'm saying whatever star outfielder we acquired in this process could. Then, Johnson would be replacing Kosuke essentially except flip-flopping in the outfield. The reason I hate Soriano is because he goes through long streaks where he fails to make any contact with the baseball, and I don't consider that acceptable. He makes up his mind about whether or not he's going to swing before the pitch is even thrown, and no matter how far off the plate it is, he'll still wave at it.

I would re-sign Demp without a doubt. I think it would be stupid to let him go based on the prediction that he potentially possibly maybe won't be as good as in 2008. Give the guy a chance to stop dominating before you make that call. From watching nearly all of his starts this season, I believe Dempster is extremely talented and he knows how to pitch.

I wouldn't say I'd be totally thrilled about Reed being my every day left fielder, but I think if we ended up scoring Teixeira and a star outfielder and Reed Johnson was our only weak spot, that's a good thing. By swapping Lee and Soriano for just about ANY other star 1B and outfielder, our team is much better. And besides, every other contender has more than just one position that doesn't produce very much, so if we only have one and it happens to be in left field, so be it.

I wouldn't at all mind re-signing Prior. I loved the guy and I hated to see him go. His stuff is so nasty, I would be afraid of him coming back for some other team and dominating.

If I were the Cubs GM, not only would I resign Edmonds, I'd give him the every day job in 2009. Wrigley Field is a great place for him to play. Before we signed him he already had 17 career homers at Wrigley. I dunno if anyone noticed, but Jimmy almost hit 3 home runs in the NLDS. I would just love to see what he could do in a full season with the Cubs. I mean [expletive], if he had gotten enough at bats he would have hit 30+ homers in 08. [hahaha I just noticed that obscenities are changed to "Howry"]. The other thing is I HATE FELIX PIE. Just like I hate Corey Patterson and Eric Patterson. They all seem like the same person to me. Speedy lefties with good defense, but all they do is strike out. I think people need to realize that there are way bigger problems with this Cubs team than center field. I would love to see Soriano, Lee and Fukudome all gone next season (though I realize we may just be stuck with Kosuke). I would make sure to end up with a star corner outfielder in one of the deals. Then I would sign Mark Texeira and start Reed Johnson at whichever corner OF spot was vacant. SS - Theriot 2B - DeRosa 3B - Ramirez 1B - Texeira C -- Soto RF - *insert big-name guy* CF - Edmonds LF - Johnson I think that lineup is much better than our 08 lineup. We can't depend on Soriano and Lee to be our two big sluggers because they just simply aren't that good. I can't watch any more of Lee's GIDP or Soriano swinging at pitches 8 feet off the plate. I like Hoffpauir alot, I just can't decide if I would be comfortable going into 09 with him as a starter. Whatever the case, I would have him ready and waiting in case Johnson or Edmonds doesn't produce (which I would not expect to be the case). Any thoughts?

That's a shame... I always liked Lieber. Got the chance to meet him at Wrigley and he signed an autograph for me back during his 20 win season. That last game the other night he didn't pitch bad either. There was a legit single, and then the double wasn't even hit well. The only mistake he made was the pitch that went over the fence. I was rooting for him to get a few scoreless innings under his belt, too. Oh well.

Maybe nobody else noticed, but Edmonds is just starting to break out of his slump. He had the game with 2 doubles and a triple (the triple would have been a homer in any other ballpark, or if it were hit to any other part of THAT ballpark). Then he had the homer a few games back. Then he had 2 hits the day before Lou benched him for Reed. He's also hit alot of deep flies to the track. You might say he's still making outs, and that's true, but my point is that he hasn't been missing the ball lately. Also, even when he's slumping, he still manages to work counts and get on base via the walk. That plus his amazing defense (so he's a little slower than the old days, so what?) and I'd say Edmonds is still my man. If we didn't happen to have Reed Johnson, I'd be comfortable letting Edmonds play full time. And as far as the playoffs are concerned, that's even more of a reason to give Edmonds playing time. He's a veteran with winning experience and playoff appearances. He's had alot of huge hits for the Cubs this year, alot of them unnoticed. Like in "the comeback game" against the Rockies, without his double we don't win that game, though everyone focused on the homers that came later. Also, how many game-tying homers has Edmonds hit this year? Seems like quite a few. I say let the guy hit himself out of his slump (which he appears to be doing). Go Jimmy and go Cubs.

I did read in the Trib today that Lou had set Z, Dempster, and Lilly as his 1-3 in the NLDS. I almost fell off my chair when I read that. Lilly is garbage, and he always has been. I wouldn't trust him in the playoffs at all, and if everyone is healthy, Loue would have to be out of his mind to stick Lilly in the 3 spot. You just never know if he's gonna throw scoreless ball or get shelled... way too unpredictable. Is there anyone else out there who thinks Marquis is better than Lilly? I've thought so for a long time now.