CubsWin

Many FA's have families that live in the cities in which they play, yet players continue to change teams and cities. I completely agree. I'd venture a guess that 90% of the FA's follow the money in the end. Dead on. The Cubs have the money and the need for Giles. If Giles has a desire for money, its a good match.

True, good point, and I don't have an answer for you. All I'm saying is that it is probably meaningless to judge a team's interest in a particular free agent based solely upon the number of articles written about that. For instance, did Hendry purposefully leak that the Cubs have interest in Furcal to give him more leverage in negotiations with Nomar or does he have legitimate interest in making a big push for Furcal? Both are perfectly valid reasons for such an article being written, but which one is the real reason? Who knows?

While it is true that the Cubs have made no public statements about their interest in signing Giles, I don't know if that means anything. In the past, Hendry has liked to work outside of the press. He has made many of his big trades and some of the signings without much build up in the press prior to it actually going down, but they still got done. The person he needs to be telling his intentions to is Giles' agent, not a reporter. I've never been more clear or come out more in favor of signing a guy and spending big money on him than I am with Brian Giles. If the Cubs get him and he sucks, I'm gonna look like an absolute idiot. But I'll happily take that chance. Come on, JH, get 'er done.

While I would be pleased if these trades went through, I find this scenario less than likely, and I share the concern about Castillo's hip condition. I didn't know about that. All that said, even improving the top of the order and adding someone like Odalis Perez or Lowe wouldn't mean a whole lot without signing Giles.

That's what I'm sayin'. The Cubs have the money to spend. They definitely have the need for Brian Giles. He is worth the money. Make the deal. I voted for 4/50. Paying him more or less than someone else already under contract is irrelevant. Players understand their contract is dictated by the market in which they signed it. When their contract is up, they can then demand more if the market will bear it. And I don't understand those who voted for less years. Hoping to get the best offensive free agent in a market thin with talent for only a three year deal won't get the job done. And this job needs to get done. Go to four years and sign Brian Giles, JH.

Please, God, please....

Not many managers are well liked and the reasons are numerous. I don't know how accurate the reasons are, but they sure are numerous.

Wow, what the hell are you even talking about. Seriously. Do me a favor and don't ever talk to me again on this board. Don't quote me and then make wild accusations with no substance, don't put words in my mouth. Don't ever respond to anything I write. Okay. Oops, I guess I wasn't supposed to respond to anything you write ever again. The substance is there, goony. I have made my case very clearly and non-confrontationally. I quoted several direct quotes from the article in question that counter your comment. But apparently you aren't open to seeing that. I put no words in your mouth. I may have misunderstood the words that you wrote, but I never accused you of writing anything you didn't, did I? So maybe you are putting words in my mouth. I apologize. Had I known you would respond this violently, I wouldn't have expressed my thoughts on what you wrote. I thought you could take it. Oh, well. To each their own.

I'm really, really hoping that Murton and Cedeno are in front of him in the line. I'm then hoping that the Cubs decide that three rookies would be more than Johnnie B. could handle at one time in the starting lineup. Imagine if Hendry saw all the rookies playing fro Atlanta and decided that was who he was going to imitate for 2006? But Atlanta didn't set out to go with all those rookies. They had to fallback to a lot of them due to injuries. Pie shouldn't see Wrigley in 2006. There's too much at risk. If there is remarkable improvement, and somebody goes down midseason, then maybe he gets the call. But right now, he's got no business moving up. I agree that Pie should stay down Goony but I'm not so sure Mr. Hendry does. That's what I'm afraid of, too. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I'm having a hard time seeing the likelihood of Pie being ready to help the team win given his stage of development. That should be the deciding factor right there regardless of how many other rookies there are in the line-up. But then again, what do I know? Hendry may be seeing something different. He certainly is seeing a whole lot more than I am and has a lot more data to make his decisions with, thats for sure.

You sound like a member of the broadcasting industry. An insider, if you will. Please tell me what you said about the Score's ratings plummeting is true. Oh, please...please. I've been waiting for Chicagoans to wake up and flush Mike North for years. I mean outside of a 5 square block area in Bridgeport, does anyone really think the Score is a good radio station?

He would have been up in July because he was the best batter to call up. We still wouldn't have seen Greenberg in the bigs if it weren't for Pie's injury. After all how is Pie ever going to become a decent major leaguer if he never plays in the bigs?? Well, he's 20 years old. That would make him young for AA! Why rush him to the big leagues when he's not ready - it's going to be a much bigger detriment to him becoming a decent major leaguer than waiting a year to get to the big leagues. I completely agree with you, but this brings up an interesting topic. What evidence is there that tells us that plate discipline cannot be learned at the major league level? I think there is plenty of evidence to suggest that if a kid strikes out at the rate Pie did at AA that he will strike out even more in his first year at the major league level. And that would hurt his ability to help the Cubs offense score runs which would be the whole reason to bring him up. But is there any evidence to suggest that it would take him any longer to learn plate discipline while at the major league level than it would if he were seeing lesser pitching? I'm not saying that there isn't. I just don't know if there is.

It's actually right there in plain english, CubsWin. Are you looking to start something? I don't think you are, I just can't come up with another reason why you would write what you wrote. Unless maybe you didn't really read my post. I never said it wasn't mentioned. What I did write was pretty clear. Once again, it was old news and not the thrust or even a smaller point of this story. It was an afterthought. It was also something the author chose to include and not a quote from anyone in the Cubs organization. There are so many other pieces of direct evidence that contradict goony's statement that to come away after reading this article with that as your only comment is impossible to justify rationally without completely ignoring much of the rest of the article. That said, making rational and/or justified statements isn't a prerequisite on this or any other message board. So, I'm not saying you shouldn't be allowed to write whatever you want. I'm just calling those comments in this thread baseless.

That is old news and not supported by any quote in the article. But, fine, if that is what goony wants to take from this article...

A "talking head" on the Score said something completely inane and baseless? Wow.

Because just about any time there's an option, there's also a buyout. So then we twist the numbers around to fit the buyout in. What is the difference between a guaranteed 4 years, 50 million with no buyouts and a 5 year, 62 million deal where 46 million of that is paid in the first 4 years with a 4 million dollar buyout on the 5th year mutual option? I don't really think it is going to fool Giles or his agent. They are going to look at the guaranteed money in any contract and go from there, but on the slight chance that Giles' agent suffers from vanity...

I'm really starting to dislike this organization. It just amazes how two people can read the exact same article filled with the exact same quotes but hear two completely different things. I read Pie's quotes like... And... And what I hear is a guy who isn't interested just in getting to the bigs a soon as possible, but someone who knows that he has things to work on and will get there when he gets there. There isn't one single solitary quote from anyone on the instruction level or managerial level that said anything in this article remotely close to that Pie would be up with the big club next year regardless of his k/bb ratio. I can't understand how a rational human being deduces that statement from this article. Come on, goony, that comes perilously close to trolling. And I know you're not a troll. So what are you are doing? And then to have Geech follow up that completely baseless comment with a statement like they are "really starting to dislike this organization" is ridiculous. Based on what?! That they've got a guy like Pie in the organization who is incredibly talented and driven and wants to win? Wow.

Regardless of what Marcus Giles's salary will be next season, he would be the best 2B the Cubs could possibly get. I sure hope this article means what it seems to, that the Braves are doing their best to resign Furcal, because that may mean a trade of Marcus Giles. The question remains, however, what will it take to get him and do the Cubs have what the Braves will want? But leaving reality aside for a moment, a middle infield of Cedeno and Giles for the next 4-5 years looks pretty darn good, doesn't it? And Marcus would make a pretty good lead-off man, too...

How on earth can you insinuate that this phrase involves Hendry shifting the blame to someone else? What he says is that, regardless of whether of not they've suffered an undue number of injuries, which I personally find to be true, the job that the Cubs (of which Hendry is part) have done has not been good enough, and that's also true, and pretty honest and frank of Hendry as well. Unless you think that Hendry regards being significantly because the Cardinals by the month of May good enough. Jeez. The guy goes as far as any GM can towards saying "the job that I have done, the job that we have done has not been good enough", and people here criticise him for trying to shift the blame onto others? Your grievance seems to be that he says "whether we had misfortune or not injury wise", that he even brings up the topic of injuries at all. I personally fail to see how any honest assessment of the last two years for the Cubs can neglect to mention the injuries that this ballclub has suffered which go well beyond what could reasonably be expected, even taking into account that Hendry is not afraid to gamble on players with a history of injury (which isn't actually a weakness in itself: rather the weakness is that Hendry doesn't insure himself against possible further injuries sufficiently). And there's nothing that Hendry is that isn't honest. How many other GMs do you see at this stage of the season saying "we haven't lived up to our own expectations, our performances have been unacceptable, and we have to improve", quite clearly including himself in all that? Well put, diffusion. Clearly, I agree with you. If you simply take time to read his quote and understand it, you can't possibly come to the conclusion that he is shifting blame. In cannot be denied that what he is saying is regardless of injuries, I haven't been good enough.

We all know Carrie doesn't follow the Cubs minor leagues like we do. On another note, should this be moved to the minor league forum? Finally, about the article, there are some very encouraging quotes from Pie, or to be more precise, Pie's interpreter... Its good to hear that he sees that he is on a path and not ready yet. And that he knows he needs to improve upon his plate discipline, baserunning and using the bunt more. If he can do that, he can be special. Its going to take a lot of hard work and drive, but apparently he's got that covered as well... Hmmm, a good plan, his feet firmly planted on the ground and a good head on his shoulders, plus the competitive drive to see it through. In this way, he does sound a bit like Michael Jordan. :wink:

So long as the 5th year is a mutual option, what's the harm?

Good point That's what bothers me about this team...it's always something or someone elses fault. Hendry and Baker are a lot more like each other then I originally thought. I think, to a certain extent, Baker has negatively affected the Cubs performance and Hendry's gambles not paying off certainly did as well. But it seems to me that there is a randomness to baseball, a certain amount of the outcome of games just isn't controllable. It helps to have a 200 million dollar payroll, or have a roster of great OBP guys, or have the best scouts in the business, but those are the controllable parts. Is everything somebody's fault in baseball?

I'm all revved up to discuss CF, too. But remember the rules that Goat put forward when he started this thread. One topic at a time. So until we vote on the terms of Giles contract... Lofton. :P

I'd just go 12/12/12/12. Which do you think would be more attractive to Giles? I'm thinking the sooner he gets the big money, the better for him. Also, with players like Zambrano, Prior and maybe others coming into big money in the later years of Giles' contract, structuring it the way USSoccer has suggested might not be a bad idea. It spends big while the Cubs can afford to and while Giles' production is still likely to justify that price. It also makes him easier to trade if that need were to arise in the later years of the contract.

Rich Aurilia "backing up" Ronnie Cedeno. ...after all the good free agents are signed, because once again Hendry sits back and "waits for the dust to settle" before making any mobes That's actually a very inaccurate assessment of Hendry's MO. He always seems to move quickly on players he has targeted and much slower on players that he just has an interest in acquiring. Following the 2002 and 2003 seasons, bullpen was the target area. He moved quickly both times to sign Remlinger in 2002 and Hawkins in 2003. Last season, re-signing Nomar was his target and he did it relatively efficiently. While we may disagree with the targets (and I do again in the case of Furcal and not Giles being the target), Hendry has shown an ability to go hard and rapidly after the players he deems to be the ones needed or desired. I was speaking more to signing Maddux in February and watching all the good OF's go off the board before settling with Burnitz. It would be nearly impossible to know that based on what you wrote. But based on this comment, I'm assuming that there was some other pitcher you were hoping Hendry would have signed that off season and you feel he was left to settle for Mad Dog? That's also inaccurate. If anything, Maddux was left to settle for the Cubs. And can we assume that you would have been happy paying Beltran the more than what the Mets paid him or Ordonez more than what the Tigers paid him? I wouldn't be.

A .269 avg with a .320 OBP at his salary isn't worth trading for. Of course, that's the idea, to acquire a "top tier" player this off season, or any off season for that matter. The only top tier free agent OFer this season is...you guessed it, Brian Giles. There are others to be had via trade, but they would come at a high player cost whereas Giles will just cost dollars, and dollars the Cubs have. So, why bother with Wells as a first choice?