cubsfan26

Nobody is gonna take Crosby unless the A's eat almost all of his salary, in this market. I know this guy had potential at one point, but he's been really bad the last three years. I wonder if the Cubs were looking at him as a back up infielder option, before they signed Corey Koskie. Because right now it doesn't seem like there's room for anybody else. Unless they don't really think Koskie will be able to come back. We also have Luis Rivas, who was pretty much Bobby Crosby from 01-05.

Nomar probably wanted to stay on the West Coast.

I'd love to sign Schilling, I wanted him last offseason. In hindsight I'm glad we didn't sign him with him getting hurt. But I'd sign him to a 1y 2m deal with incentives or something like that.

With Koskie playing in the WBC you think it might be kinda hard for him to make the team. So I wonder how long Koskie is willing to play in Triple A, if he doesn't make the team. Because I don't see Gathright getting cut, or Hoffpauir not making the team out of spring training, if he keeps hitting like he has.

or just outright wrong Especially when it's only a 2y at 20m deal if he doesn't play 125 plus games.

Bradley taken out of the game after just one AB. I know the Cubs wanna baby the guy, but wow lol. Ron Santo assured everyone that there was no problem.

I know and I admitted, I did that and it was a mistake for bringing it up. I'll stop talking about this now.

Lou and I believe Jim Hendry both have said Hoffpauir will play 1b and the corner spots. I'm sure he will play a ton out there in during spring training.

Miles was brought in to take a part of DeRosa and Cedeno. Overall Fontenot/Hoffpauir are taking more of DeRosa would be AB's though. We traded the everyday guy, promoted the bench guy to starter, and brought in another bench guy. But the fact that DeRosa plays so much outfield, our power hitting corner outfield/1b in Hoffpauir is replacing some of what DeRosa did. Remember DeRosa is just one guy. If he's playing outfield, Fontenot or Cedeno had to play 2b. Those guys combined had over 350 AB's at 2b last year. This year Fontenot and Miles will be at 2b, and Hoffpauir will be taking DeRosa would be outfield bats. You can't say just one player is replacing DeRosa, because he played so many postions. This year a combo of players will be replacing him, and you can't judge how big of a loss it will be. Until you know how a combo of those players do. Of course Fontenot/Hoffpauir will be getting most of them, but Miles and Johnson will be taking some AB's to. Saying Miles replaced DeRosa, because they both play 2b, and were switched on the same day. Just doesn't tell the whole story of what will happen next year. If Miles gets over 500 AB's and is playing everyday at 2b or in the outfield, then you can say that. But most likely he will be taking 130 AB's of DeRosa, and getting Cedeno other 210 AB's.

Well if you're not sold on Hoffpauir, then it's not a surprise you feel like losing DeRosa was HUGE. As for defense, it's not like DeRosa was a gold glover out there, and we don't know how good or bad he will be out there. Having Gathright defense late in the game will help some. Awful is a strong word, but I would say Johnsons not a good option long term against RH pitching. We also don't know about Fukudome against LHP either. Last year he wasn't that much worse against LH pitching, and when he was hitting well he did just as good against them. Personally I'm expecting a much better Fukudome next year who will do find against LH and RH pitchers. Hey believe whatever you wanna believe. I don't see how Miles getting most likely less of DeRosa AB's, then Fontenot and Hoffpauir, is replacing him but whatever. I understand that, but some of us get sick of talking about the same thing over and over again. I have said the same thing I wrote today a few months ago, some agree with it, and some don't. Obviously you don't and thats you're opinion and thats fine. But you're also well known on this board for not letting things go, so that was my way of trying to end this discussion. I'm fine just waiting to the season to see that I'm right, there's no need to debate it anymore IMO. Thats why I didn't say anything on this topic for a few days, but gave in today due to being excited about the first spring training game, but that now seems like a mistake.

Bradley is replacing Jim Edmonds, last year Edmonds gave us 250 AB's. Bradley even with his history of poor health has still at least given his team 350 plus AB's, four of the last six years. Plus if Bradley only plays in 100 games with 350 AB's, the loss of DeRosa only hurts if Hoffpauir isn't hitting. If you do a Reed in CF, Fukudome in RF vs LH pitching, and Fukudome in CF, and Hoffpauir in RF against RH pitching, with Gathright defense late in the game. The loss isn't as big as people wanna believe it will be. Of course if Hoffpauir isn't hitting, then we will have a problem, but thats when we make a roster move I guess. IMO it will be easier then ever to get players in salary dumps this season. Yes he's replacing his roster spot, and can play the same postion. But that doesn't mean he's replacing his role on the team. Last year DeRosa had 272 AB's at 2b, and Cedeno had a 108 AB's at 2b. So thats 180-200 AB's more AB's for Fontenot next year, and 180-200 to Miles at 2b. So really 100-130 AB's or so DeRosa AB's at 2b and 3rd, that Miles is replacing(rest is Cedeno). The rest of DeRosa work was in the outfield, and guys like Hoffpauir, Johnson and Gathright will be taking up those 225-250 AB's. So really a combo of players are replacing DeRosa, not just one player. So like I said before If Hoffpauir is good(and of course Fontenot), there shouldn't really be a downgrade. But this has been debated over and over this offseason, we will just have to wait and see what happens.

Or Cedeno, and you could also say Hoffpauir is taking DeRosa roster spot, with Fontenot getting a bigger role. People can word it anyway they want it to make it sound better to prove their point. Overall this is what we did though. Lost DeRosa-RH Edmonds-LH Ward- LH Cedeno-RH Added Bradley-S Hoffpauir-LH Miles-S Gathright-LH I guess it depends on how good you feel Hoffpauir can do against RH pitching next year, will factor in how good you feel about the switch. If you feel Hoffpauir can have a 850 OPS(facing mostly RH pitching) off the bench filling in at RF, LF and 1b for 250 AB's or so. Then you probably won't feel we downgraded much, and depending on how much Bradley gives us(should be at least 100 more AB's then Edmonds did) and If Fontenot hits the way the Cubs think he wil, you can actually say we might have upgraded. But right now people can't see that as being possible, because Mark DeRosa is awesome.

I did not mention that, quite the opposite. any specific reason given for the lack of interest? He hits with his right hand. Most likely. Not really since there looking for a RH bat for this spot.

I did not mention that, quite the opposite. Maybe he meant Bruce Levine. :D It was Bruce Levine who mentioned the Cubs had interest in Nomar earlier in the offseason. I recall Bruce saying the Cubs talk to Nomar agent, and he told the Cubs at the time that he was looking for a everyday job. Who knows if the Cubs have spoken to Nomar since though. One thing that people aren't talking about is Nomar is considering retirement. It's no lock he signs with anyone this week, he's just deciding if he wants to come back as a bench player with some team or retire.

I agree, but I don't know if Lou is gonna go with a straight platoon with Miles and Fontenot at first. I can see them switching off and Lou playing the hot hand. I think it will lead to a platoon at 2b in the long run. But so far, I haven't heard the Cubs say anything about a platoon. It was more us fans deciding that because it makes alot of sense. I think Lou wants to take a look at things during the spring games, and figure out what he wants to do. But as long as Fontenot(CSN called him the favorite when taking about 2b tonight) hits the way he's capable of, I don't see a problem. Lou has been pretty good about playing superior hitter in the past, I don't see why things would change now. Plus I really don't know if Fukudome is a lock to be a strict platoon player yet. Yeah thats the plan right now, but If he starts to hit, I can see them giving him starts against average LH pitchers.

Thats been posted elsewhere, Piniella never said he would leaning towards that line-up. He said, he could go with that line-up when both Miles and Fukudome play. He was more talking about how balanced the line-up could possibly be. It was Carrie Muskat who used a poor choice of words in that article. The Suntimes and Tribune worded it much differently. Thats not the line-up he's going with next year, just one of the potential ones he could use or try during spring training.

I guess it depends on how easy those incentives are to hit. I have a feeling it might be based on something like games played for alot of it. Plus you're missing one big important part about the Dodgers signing Hudson, and thats the Dodgers giving up a first round pick.

I think three spots are pretty much locks going into the season IMO. Soriano will most likely still be leading off, Lee will at least start the season as the number 3 hitter, and Theriot will probably bat 8th. Lou commented yesterday that Lee needs to hit for more power. So I think Lou is giving him the benefit of the doubt right, and is now writting it off as a bad year. But if he's got 3-5 HR in early to mid May, and hitting alot of ground balls, Lou will probably move him down then. With a LH bat(Fukudome, Fontenot/Miles) most likely to hit second to balance the order a bit, that leaves Theriot as the 8th hitter. I still would be surprised to see Miles starting alot over Fontenot, Ramirez batting 5th and Fukudome ahead of Soto, especially if Soto is hitting like Soto, and Fukudome is hitting not like the April and early May version of Fukudome.

After reading articles from the Tribune and the Suntimes, I think this could just be confusion caused by Carrie Muskat using a poor choice of words in her article. She writes Piniella is leaning towards a line-up of Soriano, Miles, Lee, Bradley, Ramirez, Fukudome, Soto and Theriot. While the Tribune and Suntimes mentions it as more of a possiblity when Fukudome and Miles play. Piniella was talking about how balanced the line-up could be and just put those names out there. He said nothing about this being his line-up, or Miles starting over Fontenot. Even if he did nobody should pay much attention to it when we haven't even played a spring training game and still have 39 to go.

Yeah last year he had Fukudome batting 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th at one point. I believe he also had line-up ideas of Soriano batting 1st, 2nd(started the first two games of the season batting 2nd) and 3rd. He had Lee 4th and Ramirez 5th with Fukudome or Soriano batting 3rd. In Lou's two years with the Cubs, he's been pretty good about putting a good line-up together overall, and usually lets the superior players play. So once the season starts, I still have faith that he will put a pretty good line-up on the field with the best players in it.

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: WTF is this? Our best hitter batting 5th? Fukudome before Soto? Where the hell is Fontenot? If Miles is starting on opening day I'm going to flip out. Me too, unless for some reason Wandy Rodriguez is starting opening day for the Astros. I'm not concerned yet though, because I doubt Fukudome will hit as high as 6th or Miles is starting everyday. Even if Lou does do something dumb like flip flop them at first, I'm still confident Fontenot will hit his way into a primary everyday role. If Fontenot hits anywere near the way he did last year, Lou won't be able to justify playing Miles over Fontenot very often. Lou changes his mind about the line-up almost daily, during spring training so this is no big deal yet. But if Lou comes out and says Miles is the everyday 2b(would go against everything Randy Bush and Crane Kenney have said), then I'm gonna be pretty pissed off. Until Fontenot takes Miles job sometime during the season.

It's been pretty much assumed that Fontenot will be the primary 2b. Even Crane Kenney and Randy Bush have hinted at that as well. Fontenot will play against mostly against RH pitchers, and Miles will play mostly against LH pitchers. With Miles then backing up at SS and 3rd. Fontenot will get 400 plus AB's this year, and most likely Miles will get at least 350. When you factor in him taking Cedeno spot, and getting alot of starting AB's against LH pitching at 2b.

No way to know fur sure, but yeah... probably. I'd think getting to stay with a good team and one that you've been with the last 4 seasons over going to an awful team and a brand new clubhouse would be more be much more important than getting some extra PT. Again, I don't know why you're assuming that a 37 year old backup catcher wants more playing time.... let alone wanting it bad enough to leave a great team/city (not to mention the friends he's made) for a crappy team that nobody cares about. Is being a catcher on 37 year old legs really that fun? This just what I heard from a pretty good source. But only Blanco and Hendry know what happen for sure.

Miles won't be playing everyday, and if he's leading off against LH pitching it won't be that horrible. Still it's not a good idea, and I doubt it will end up that way. I think Lou will try it out this spring, but when it's all said and done he will be leading off. Lou even said if the season started tomorrow, that Soriano is the leadoff hitter. Lou probably is just gonna try to see if he likes the line-up better with Soriano in the middle and someone else leading off.

We signed Luis Rivas to a minor league contract, I assume he would be the back up infielder we could call up, if Miles is playing third. But if Ramirez misses any long period of time, I'm pretty sure the Cubs will pick up some veteran. But when Ramirez has his little day to day injuries, Miles will be at third. As long as Ramirez plays 140 plus games we should be fine. I figured Hoffpauir would make the team, Lou wasn't gonna go with a bench with no power. The way I look at is, Hoffpauir replaces Fontenot, Gathright replaces Ward, and Miles replaces Cedeno off the bench.