cubsfan26

There's alot of "if's", if we kept Jason Kendall last year, he would have been better then Blanco. If something happen to Soto, or he wasn't as productive. The point is the Cubs wanted Fontenot to get regular playing time right now, the only way to do it that was trade DeRosa. They felt Miles, Hoffpauir and whoever else can fill in just fine short term. Or they can pick up guys off the scrap heap, to fill in those spots "if" we have a injury. Last year some people were also upset we traded Jacque Jones for nothing, incase Pie sucked again. Well the Cubs went with unproven guy, and he didn't do well. But they were still able to find a guy during the season. The opening day roster isn't the final team, and "if" these things happen we can make moves to fix these issues. Well the Cubs still didn't sign anyone, and if they do it could very possibly be for a minor league deal. Hoffpauir could battle that guy for a roster spot this spring. Personally I don't see Aurilia/Millar or anybody else really jumping at the chance to sign with the Cubs. Since neither would get much money per year, and probably won't get alot of AB's. He's likely to have a injury at some point, but long term is still very debateable. Plenty of major league hitters have had three poor seasons of health, and been ok after that. Personally I feel Bradley playing in a small ballpark like Wrigley, and playing RF full-time will keep him healthier then years past. In years past he played alot of CF and had to play in much bigger ballparks. Also keep in mind Bradley DH last year finally let him rest his body, and fully recover from a bunch of those injuries. The guy is probably 100 percent healthy for the first time in years. I don't think Hendry is stupid, he wouldn't give Bradley the contract he did, unless the doctors truely felt he can stay healthy.

Thats why people should think back and remember stuff like that, and give Hendry more of the benefit of the doubt on some of this seasons offseason moves.

I understand that but he hires people to run it he doesn't run it for him. Yes a GM overseas it, and makes most of the final decisions. But most of the time you listen to the minor league scouts, experts that you hired and what they want to do. It's not humanily possible for one person to run a major league team, and everything that goes on with that and put together a great farm. Alot of the time you're only as good as the people you have working under you. So far Hendry has done a poor job hiring people to run the farm for him. He brought in Tim Wilkins, and things appear a little better, but not as good as it should be yet.

Who said they gave him away for nothing? We don't know what type of prospect we got yet. Player to be named later doesn't always equal crap. But be realistic, Hill wasn't going to find it with us. If the guy can't throw strikes in the majors and minors last year, and even this winter walked more then innings pitched. Whats going to change in spring training, he wasn't all of the sudden gonna find it. Rich Hill is just bad now, who knows maybe Krantiz can get in his head and help him figure it out. But he wasn't gonna do that with us. Getting a better prospect if Hill does make the Orioles rotation, is probably the best outcome there could be. It's a sad situation, but the blame needs to go on Hill, and not the Cubs.

False, most of those prospects never had the value fans wanted to believe they had. Partly true, but it's more the people Hendry hired under him that have screwed up the farm. A GM can only do so much, and is often busy working on improving the big league team. He personally isn't gonna go scout young highschool or college players very often. So personally I never praise or bash a GM based on the farm, as his performance. That would be like calling Hendry a idiot because Dusty Baker was our manager. But you could say he's done a bad job in hiring people(like he did with Dusty), when it came to the minor leagues. When Hendry was incharge of the farm, our system was ranked towards the top in baseball, and when he first became GM. He used this minor league resources to get players like Ramirez/Lofton, Lee and Nomar. Over the last few years he's had some bad luck with top prospects, and good luck with average prospects. Overall he hasn't had all that much too work with in trades, and giving young players full-time roles. A Gm job is a 100 times easier when you have a good farm. Like I mentioned in the past compare good/bad contracts between Hendry/Theo Epstein, and it's very simliar. The difference is the Red Sox have gotten great production from the farm, and the Cubs haven't.

It depends on how you look at it, but our LH power hitter off the bench currently is Hoffpauir, replacing Fontenot. Yes if Fontenot gets hurt then we have Miles at 2b. But if DeRosa was used in RF, Cedeno would have been used in that spot anyways. You name DeRosa for all these postions, but there's still just one DeRosa. When Fontenot played, DeRosa often filled in the outfield. Instead this year Fontenot will be at 2b, and Hoffpauir playing the corners when needed. Yes the Cubs might add another veteran bench player, but I still find it hard to believe that Hoffpauir won't make the team if he has a big spring, after what he did last year. I agree that trading DeRosa was risky, and If I was the GM I wouldn't have made the move. But I understand why they did it, and I'm willing to give the move a chance. Plus Miles wasn't bad last year, yes it could be a fluke good year, but many thought DeRosa had a fluke good year when we signed him to. I also don't think having good power or not makes a hitter good or bad, but thats just my opinion.

Actually, they said he'd get a chance to compete for a starter's job in spring training as long ago as last fall. It's conceivable that they're hoping he wins that role and pushes Heilman to the pen. I still think the 5th spot is pretty wide open. I don't think Heilman or anybody is really a lock yet. Of course they probably rather not start Marshall, but if he goes out and pitches much better then the other three. Then I think the Cubs will go with Marshall in the rotation. But it's also possible Gaudin can win that spot, if he pitches as good as Marshall, and Heilman struggles after not starting since 05. Samardzija is the long shot, since he doesn't have the experience the others have, but him winning the spot is possible. Chad Gaudin has a 4.71 era in 50 career starts, Marshall has a 4.79 era in 50 career starts, and Heilman has a career 5.93 era in 25 starts. Gaudin has had a 4.34 era in 40 starts over the last two years, and Marshall has had a 4.08 era in 26 starts over the last two years.

How about Heilman in the pen with Samardzija in AAA, and Gaithright for Pie? Well Pie was really only on the big league roster for two and half months of last season, and Samardzija could still be on the roster at some point. These are a few of the roster moves, and how old they will be during next year baseball season. Miles(32), Cedeno(26)- older Bradley(31) Edmonds(39)- Younger Gregg(31), Wood(32)- Younger Heilman(30), Wuertz(30)- same Gathright(28), Ward(34)- Younger Vizcaino(35), Howry(36)- Younger But what I meant was we were going with younger guys like Fontenot and Gaudin/Marshall in replacing DeRosa and Marquis. Even though the guys were on the roster at some point last year, those guys are just getting moved into bigger roles, and replacing older players.

If the Cubs didn't like Robnett then why would they trade for this guy? He's been a bust of a prospect so far, but still has talent. While Josh Kroeger has played with a bunch of different teams in his career for a reason. Probably because Robnett has the talent to be a major leaguer, if he never figures it out. While Kroeger probably doesn't have the talent to hit major league pitching. Thats why scouts are still very important. Or Cubs fans have really overrated our prospects, and felt they were worth alot more then they actually were, and felt they could get alot more value for them then they actually could. I'm willing to bet thats the case, and this is just more worthless complaining.

Because the Cubs feel Fontenot is ready now, why keep a guy on the bench if you feel he can improve your line-up now? The fact that Fontenot has never had more then 250 AB's in a major league season, is the reason why he deserves more. Fontenot being a question mark is only a matter of opinion. All Fontenot stats in the majors, minors, and predictions for 09, would show that Fontenot shouldn't really be that big of a question mark. Significantly downgrade the bench is also something I don't understand. But I guess people would feel that way if, they thought Miles can't out hit Cedeno, and Hoffpauir can't hit like did last year for another 100-150 AB's. Otherwise the bench really isn't that much different from last year. The Cubs like there younger players(as MLB experience wise), and feel they will be better then the guys they have next year. This isn't the first time they have done this though. They have replaced Izturis with Theriot, Soto with Kendall, and Pie with Jones over the last two years. Just in the past the young players weren't replacing players as good as DeRosa, so it appears more risky. Not really, they got more expensive due to increase contracts. But really the payroll is only 7m more then the final payroll(130-137m) from last year. But going with Fontenot at 2b over DeRosa, Gaudin/Marshall over Marquis, Bradley over Edmonds. Of course Miles is older then Cedeno. But for the most part we probably did get a little younger then last year.

But the Cubs wanted to get Fontenot regular AB's at 2b. There wasn't any other way for the Cubs to do that without trading DeRosa. How could the Cubs justify, making Fontenot the starter, and DeRosa the supersub next year? What happens if everybody gets hurt this year? Then things will go bad, but thats unlikely to happen. If for whatever reason Fontenot struggles or gets hurt, then we add a 2b midseason. It's not that hard to get a 760-780 plus OPS 2b without giving much. Because we couldn't start Fontenot and keep DeRosa around on the bench. Yeah it's not gonna excite the fanbase right now, but these younger,cheaper players, do well people will be happy. Hendry is counting on some young players coming through in full-time roles. So that scares people a bit, but the Cubs believe they can fill those roles. They feel Fontenot will come close to DeRosa production if not better.They feel Hoffpauir can give them a good power bat off the bench. They think Aaron Miles will be a better bat off the bench then Cedeno.They think Gaudin/Marshall/Heilman can replace Marquis and still be insurance for Harden just fine. They also feel, Bradley will have better health. I can understand some people being worried about counting on these younger guys, and Bradleys health. But lets see what happens, if most of those things work out the team could easily be better in 09.

Hill was the only one to blame for him sucking so bad last year. I can't believe people are blaming Lou for not letting Hill suck more, after a bad spring and walking 18 in 19 IP. Or upset with Hendry for selling low, when Hill was so bad. If Hill even showed any signs of life in the minors, or in the winter league. He either wouldn't have traded him or gotten more for him. People just need to blame someone to blame someone. Nobody ever likes blaming the players for going bad, for whatever reason.

You, sir, have won an entire bag of internets. A big budget has covered up a lot of Hendry's shortcomings. If he was in a mid-market he'd have been canned long ago. Yes, I know the whole Aram, Nomar, Lee, Harden thing was possible BECAUSE of a big payroll, but if we had someone competent in there, I bet we could have gotten those guys and a few other complimentary pieces that would be looking mighty good right now. Oh, and maybe our farm system wouldn't be the equivalent of a bunch of kindergarteners playing whiffle ball. This is a very good point. Hendry has made some big mistakes that would have crippled a team with a smaller payroll, although one could argue if that was the case he wouldn't have had the money to make the mistake in the first place. I still think Hendry has done a decent job, but the worst is yet to come with some of his backloaded contracts. Either the team will get worse or the fans will have to shoulder the load of bad contracts. Teams with bigger payrolls can take more chances, on long term contracts. If Hendry had a smaller payroll, he would have to go about his business in a whole different way. So you can't say how good or bad he would be in that role. You could have said bad contracts on the Yankees and Red Sox would have crippled them over the last few years to. Plus I don't see how the worse is yet to come with the backloaded contracts. After 2010(depending on Bradley/Ramirez opt out options), we will just have Soriano, Zambrano, Dempster, and Fukudome on the books for one more year. It's unbelieveable how fans overreact

Expressing your opinion about a move or the offseason is fine. But to go on and on about how much you hate this offseason is a little overboard. We all know you dislike this offseason, and we all know that many feel it was a bad offseason. But fans felt that way about alot of offseasons and were wrong, so right now lets just give Hendry the benefit of the doubt and see what happens. If the Cubs do regress alot, and these moves don't work out. I'll be right with you guys saying he did a really crappy job. I just don't understand why people can't be patient, and see what happens. They already assume these moves all suck, and the Cubs downgraded without giving them a shot. I'm just trying to remind people that they are often wrong, and there's a decent chance they could be wrong about a few things this offseason as well.

1.Offense could be as good or better. Depending on Bradley health, and how good Fontenot is. Yes Soto power could drop off a little bit, and Theriot numbers could drop off a little bit. But Soriano for more then 109 games, and someone like Lee or Fukudome having better seasons could make our line-up better. 2. Bullpen could be better and deeper if Heilman is in it. Heilman had Wood like numbers from 05-07. Kevin Gregg to Wood strike out/ walk wise won't be close. But results will come pretty close, and Gregg is unlikely to give up many more runs then Wood did last year. Angel Guzman also is a big wild card, who could make our bullpen really good with healthy season. 3. Rotation doesn't appear as deep, but with young guys like Gaudin/Marshall we can't judge that yet. Heilman if he wins the job, has the talent to be a solid 3-4 starter as well, but I'm not counting on that. Dempster could regress, but Zambrano could have a better season. Harden for 15-20 starts will also be a big bonus, since he only made 12 starts. Especially with Hill/Lieber/Gallagher having a 4.80s era in 16 starts before we got Harden. This team has the talent to be every bit as good or better next season. Trying to compare move by move, without looking at the team as a whole is a mistake. Young players improving, or guys having better years or better health is very possible. Oh well people can continue to feel this way, we will find out once the season starts.

A year ago people were saying 1.Rich Hill is a good 2-3 starting pitcher 2. Ryan Dempster sucks as a starter, won't make it a month in the rotation. Having him in the rotation instead of Marshall for 19 starts, hurts our rotation 3.Ryan Theriot will regress, and our offense at SS won't be any better. 4. Dumping Jacque Jones for nothing was stupid, and he's decent insurance if Pie struggles. 5. Soto will be a upgrade from our catcher postion in 07. 6. Fukudome won't be a upgrade of Floyd/Murton platoon in RF. 7. DeRosa could regress, we should have gotten Roberts!! Yes some of those things were true, but many of those things were false. Most fans on this board, also thought the Cubs were a 82-88 win team as well, and didn't really improve from 07-08. So sorry If I wanna give Hendry offseason the benefit of the doubt.

Or you could realize that stats often change year by year. A year ago at this time, everybody was waiting for Rich Hill to have a great season. Everybody thought Dempster would suck in the rotation or be mediocre at best. Who would have thought Derrek Lee OPS would have dropped of 90 points, but Theriot would improve 74 points? Who could have predicted Soriano only playing in 109 games due to mostly a freak HBP injury, but DeRosa OPS would improve 66 points. Who thought Jim Edmonds after being released by a bad Padres team, would hit 19 HR with a 937 OPS in 250 AB's for us? How likely was it for Kerry Wood to not have arm/shoulder trouble for all of 08? Nobody knows how good or bad Fontenot is going to be. Nobody knows if Miles will hit like he did last year or come close to it. Nobody knows if Bradley can better health, after resting his body as a DH, and now playing full-time RF in a small ballpark for the first time. Nobody knows how much better the pen could be with Vizcaino, Gregg, Heilman or Gaudin for a full healthy year. Nobody knows if Heilman, Gaudin and Marshall will be better then Marquis or not, or if we add another SP still. Baseball is too unpredictable for fans to be soo sure we downgraded the team. Numbers just makes things more likely and unlikely. They don't show guys figuring something out and improving as players, or having random good or bad years. Hendry or Hendry scouts have found players over the last few seasons, that there previous career numbers would say they wouldn't be as good as they ended up being for us. So people really need to just sit back relax, and see some of these moves work out. Being negative and saying we downgraded at this point of the year is pointless, because nobody knows that yet. In May if these moves appear as downgrades then complain. Hendry track record over the last two years, would show that he often knows something we don't.

Nothing is written in stone, but it seems to me it's fairly obvious they've down graded from what they had to what they have. Not just in the bullpen, either. We've downgraded with just about every transaction this year, with the exception of Bradley. It's like Hendry is tanking on purpose. Calling these moves downgrades is based off opinion only. Most likely, fans on this board will be wrong about half of these moves anyways. Just think over the years, how many times have you thought a move wasn't good or a downgrade, and were wrong. From reading your posts, I believe that happens here and there.

With Wuertz gone, there's room for guzman now. Assuming Heilman is the 5th starter, the bullpen could be: Marshall, Cotts, Gaudin, Vizcaino, Guzman, Gregg, Marmol Man, that looks like a pretty shaky bullpen. It looks very similar to last years. I don't really think it looks all that shakey, and if you swap Gaudin for Heilman it could look really strong. Marmol will often have 4 or 5 out saves, so him moving to closer won't effect the pen as much as people think. Kevin Gregg will be solid in the 7th and 8th, and if you put Heilman in the 7th and 8th I think it looks good. Especially if Guzman pitches like he can if healthy. Even if Gaudin is in the pen, I'm still fine with him as a 7th inning reliever, since I expect him to pitch like he did in 06 out of the pen, and how he did the first four and half months last season out of the pen. I don't think Vizcaino vs RH and Cotts vs LH in the 6th and 7th is horrible either. The Cubs now opened two spots on their 40 man roster now, so I expect Hendry to add a bench player, and possibly another starter.

It sounds like we could have gotten the potential next Micah Hoffpauir and Nate Spears.

These guys were decent prospects last year, but it looks like both have fallen a bit. Both don't have very good minor league numbers though, especially Robnett.

I'm sick of reading all this negative stuff, but I guess fans act like this almost every year. Last year at this time fans worried about the offense, and the rotation. Many fans were calling the team mediocre, and all kinds of other stuff. Talking about how much we downgraded is only a matter of opinion, and doesn't make it true. Nobody knows that, until we see how these decisions Hendry made work out, and debating about it right now is pointless. So be patient and just wait for the season to unfold, because there's no reason at all to be negative at this time of the year. Especially with how talented this team is. So have a little confidence in the GM who has gotten the Cubs to the playoffs in back to back years since they went in Win-now mode. I know people have opinions, but I think they need to consider that there's a good chance their opinions are wrong, like they were the last two seasons on a bunch of Hendry moves.

I figured Wuertz or Vizcaino would be traded before opening day. With how much money Vizcaino makes, Wuertz was the more likely guy to go. Our bullpen is pretty strong(with adding Heilman), and pretty deep right now, so we could afford to trade Wuertz or Vizcaino. I guess for Wuertz we might get something of decent value in return. While Vizcaino would be a salary dump, with us paying a chunk of his salary.

From watching Toby Hall play with the White Sox, he didn't appear a good defensive catcher, but I don't know his stats. Anyways Toby Hall a minor league signed with the Astros a few weeks ago. So he's no longer on the market anyways, but it's surprising he only got a minor league deal. Maybe he thinks he will get a chance to start, if J.R. Towles flops again.

Blanco had 120 AB's last year, as long as Soto stays off the DL. I doubt Bako will have anymore AB's then that.