soapy

Jones outperformed my expectations (which were quite low). But as you stated, it's one of the best years of his career. The question now is, can he be expected to repeat them (especially for two years) and will he be put into a proper platoon?

Tickets are not sold based on managerial hires. At the risk of sounding snooty, I'll say the average ticketbuyer is somewhat less sophisticated than the average NSBB poster. I agree. I don't want to sound "snooty" either, but I have a handful of friends who are very excited about Piniella and will expect a contender next year based on that alone (with no player upgrades).

I will go on record and agree with this right now. Way to cover your butt. The comments of some on this great board are starting to diminish the quality it once had. Too many people jumping on the opinions of the outspoken. I think if the Cubs win in '07, it will be 95% due to the players and 5% to the manager, no matter who they hire!! I totally agree. I stated in one post that I doubt that there would be a swing of more than 3 games no matter whether they hired Piniella, Bochy, Girardi, or Brenley. Whether we want to admit it or not, these guys are all competent enough to win with the right players. I agree. The amount of crying on this board has reached a epic-like proportion. Any of the 4 above mentioned managers I'd would be fine with. Piniella is just as proven as Bochy and Brenley so what's the problem here? First of all, I do generally agree that the manager hired is not the biggest issue facing this team. The players are what is going to matter. Having said that, I think the reason you are seeing people react so negatively to the Piniella hiring is that, to many, it symbolizes more of the same. Hendry is making the "safe" pick. He's going to say, "Lou is a proven winner", he's "been there before". Lou is (seemingly) a manager with a strategy style very similar to Baker's. Hendry has been following the same path the last several years and the team continues to get worse. Instead of realizing his strategy is not a succesful one, he just plugs in different names into the same strategy. I think many agree that hiring Lou is not the end of the world, but I think it shows that Hendry is business as usual (strategy wise) and that is disapointing to many (including me).

I will freely admit that not every move of Hendry's is terrible, but there are many that are. Some examples: -You already mentioned Neifi and Glendon -TRADED FOR Macias -Ordonez -Womack -Bynum -Giving Alfonsecca a raise -Maddux for Izturis -Maddux contract before 2004 -Juan Pierre trade -Dusty (both hiring him originally and not firing him before 2005 or 2006) -This is debatable, but I'd say he spent way to much putting together the bullpen as currently constructed. Howry has been good, but he overpaid for Howry, Eyre and Dempster IMO. -Signing J. Jones to three year contract I'm sure there are several more that I'm leaving out. This is just off the top of my head.

Well, thanks for letting us know what we should be doing. For some reason I was under the silly impression that this was a place where one could express varying opinions of his or her favorite team. Now I know. And knowing is half the battle. Lou will not tolerate bad baseball? I'm not sure what you even mean by that. Are tantrums going to make Jones and Izturis better baseball players? Are tantrums going to make Mark Prior healthy? As you stated subsequently, it's the players brought in that will matter most. Not whether or not Lou will throw fits in the dugout/clubhouse. Also, the Tigers are where they are because of their pitching. See the 2003 Chicago Cubs (and the large majority off teams that have made it to the World Series).

What? When have the Cubs tried to build from within? They're going to try & win now coming off a 90+ loss season and a declining farm system. It's ironic that it's the exact scheme that they've tried forever, including hiring a "proven" manager. Agreed. I don't see how this siginfies that the Cubs are "ready to win". They've been down this road before. I'm not happy about the move. I think it's pretty much lateral but...whatever. I'm more interested in what players are going to be brought in. I'm not as excited as many of you though. The Cubs have been spending money. Hendry had $100 million at his disposal this year and put together the worst team in the NL. I have little faith that he can put together a championship team with an extra $15 million. Dusty had the Cubs within 1 game of the World Series for the first time in almost 60 years. So bringing him in wasn't the worst move in the history of the Cubs franchise. I would rather have a manager that is a proven winner than hire an unproven and pray it works out. I am glad that Hendry is not trying to hire a sub .500 manager with the hope that the guy will all of the sudden become a winning manager once he comes to the Cubs. Also, a team with a $115M payroll should never have to rebuild and foreit their whole season. I don't think anyone is saying that hiring Dusty was the "worst move in the history of the franchise". The Cubs got close to the WS because a) their phenomenal young pitching (which some would say Dusty has helped destroy); and b) the Astros choked the last week of the season. I don't understand what the "proven winner" thing has to do with this. Dusty was a "proven winner". The problem is, the Cubs simply don't have the players to compete and a fiery manager isn't going to change that. They need to use the extra payroll wisely, and I have little faith they will.

What? When have the Cubs tried to build from within? They're going to try & win now coming off a 90+ loss season and a declining farm system. It's ironic that it's the exact scheme that they've tried forever, including hiring a "proven" manager. Agreed. I don't see how this siginfies that the Cubs are "ready to win". They've been down this road before. I'm not happy about the move. I think it's pretty much lateral but...whatever. I'm more interested in what players are going to be brought in. I'm not as excited as many of you though. The Cubs have been spending money. Hendry had $100 million at his disposal this year and put together the worst team in the NL. I have little faith that he can put together a championship team with an extra $15 million.

I've been clamoring for Bradley the last two seasons. I was hoping the Cubs would "take a chance" on him after his fallout in LA, but they didn't. I have to think the A's are probably happy with him at this point and he's still quite cheap for the production he provides. I'd love to see Hendry make a run at him, I just don't think the A's will be very receptive. On a side note, I'm surprised that people are still buying into the Dusty is a calming influence and runs a happy clubhouse stuff.

Even if Soriano settles back in around a .830-.860 OPS (his 3-year average from 03-05 was .848), he'd be one of the top CF or 2B in baseball (he would have ranked 3rd in both in 2006).

There could be several reasons why he didn't take that offer, all of which have been mentioned. My own guess is that he doesn't want to play in Washington. I'd go 5/70 if he said he'd play CF, but not for LF.

They've done a good bit of investigative work on Carlos Lee and Alfonso Soriano, whom they nearly got in 2000 in the Sammy Sosa traded that didn't happen. A lot of this will become more clear once a new manager is on board. What are their thoughts on Murton? They like him a lot, and believe it or not, they're well aware of the comparison of his second-half splits with those of Carlos Lee. What they may do is see if they can get more power in center field. They do believe Murton will hit more homers than he did this season. I believe that as well. He'd be a great option at about $400,000, allowing them to spend the money elsewhere. I'm glad to hear that, but it makes me wonder why they would be doing investigative work on Carlos Lee. Unless, of course, they are willing to move Jones or put him in CF. I'd be shocked to see that (but glad).

regardless of who he hires, i'm not sure Hendry can escape the scrutiny much longer. there are already people saying it's not Dusty's fault b/c the gm didn't bring in the right players. now everyone in this chain of command (manager, gm, pres) is new except hendry. if things continue the way they have, he will certainly been seen as a problem.

The real question is, which team do you want to see Hendry attempt to emulate (although poorly) this offseason? Go Mets.

I've really been trying to temper my enthusiasm thus far, but it's getting tough. I couldn't have imagined they'd be as dominant as they have been so far. This could be a season to remember.

While there may be an argument for him...after watching that STL series I'm not sure I like him. While its a very small sample size his in game decision making seems questionable. Why pitch to the Dominican God of hitting with a base open? Why start an entire lineup of lefties when a good portion of your best hitters are righty? Why send Cameron against the hardest tandem in the league to steal on? There were others...these just pop in my head to begin with. I also didn't understand the decision to start Woody in yesterday's game.

I'd argue that Baker's most egregious and condemnable errors took place in 2003 - running Mark Prior and Kerry Wood into the ground. For all of our ranting about Baker's abuse of Zambrano, Zambrano has never sustained the type of abuse Prior did in 2003. And while all of Baker's moronic in-game decisions may cost the Cubs a few wins over the course of a season, abusing Prior and Wood may have cost the Cubs their entire window of opportunity, to say nothing of potentially ruining two oustandingly promising careers. Not to mention getting out-managed by old man river in the 2003 NLDS. Don't want to have to face Lenny Harris, dude.

I'd wonder if the Reds would take J. Jones and any pitcher not named Zambrano, Hill or Prior for Dunn. Lofton/Roberts (stopgap) CF Murton RF Lee 1B Dunn LF Ramirez 3B Soriano 2B Barrett C Izturis SS Alternatively, play Pie in CF and let him bat 7th, with Barrett (or anybody, I don't care) batting 2nd. Hell, with that lineup, let Soriano lead-off if he insists. The concern then being is there enough money left over to upgrade the SP (especially since one potential starter has likely been dealt to get Dunn).

I'm going to cheat and split it up: Free Agents 1. Zito 2. Schmidt 3. Soriano (2B) 4. Catalanotto 5. C. Wilson Trade Targets: 1. M. Cabrera 2. Arod 3. Crawford 4. Drew 5. A. Jones

Anyone remember when he tried to make Alex Gonzalez a 3B a few years ago? hahahahahahaha.... Something to look forward to.

Hendry has never been a GM that made quick decisions, IMO. It seems every offseason he's played the I want to see how things play out game and ends up with lesser tier players. I don't see why this situation will be any different. It's frustrating, but expected. I'm not a huge Girardi fan, but all this Piniella talk has be leaning toward Girardi in a big way. Piniella would be a huge mistake (and basically a resumption of what's gone on the last four years, IMO).

That's too bad. I was hoping he would come up big in the playoffs. I'm really not interested in bringing him back though.

I'm wondering if the Braves are going to be willing to unload both A. Jones and B. Giles. Putting together a large package of talent might get you both. Jones will be a FA after next year and I'm not sure about Giles (is he coming up on his final year of arb?). That would need to be considered when brokering a deal. If you could lose both to FA a year later, it becomes more difficult to give up good talent. You're probably adding about $17-$18 million in salary too if no significant contracts from the Cubs are involved. If that were done, I think the offense may be strong enough IF the rotation is significantly upgraded. Giles 2B Murton LF Lee 1B Ramirez 3B A. Jones CF Barrett C J.Jones/Restovich RF Izturis or Theriot SS

It will be easier to find a CF that can hit for more power, get on base more than to find a MI to do the same. So it makes more sense to fill one of those holes at 2nd or SS with Theriot than to try and move him to the OF. Theriot historically has shown very little power. It's unlikely he'd hit for enough power to be a significant upgrade over Pierre. His ideal spot would be SS if he could handle it defensively. But if he can play CF (I haven't looked at his minor league game logs to find out), it opens up some more options. One of which would be putting Theriot in CF and signing Soriano to play 2B.

I got it fine yesterday (free of additional charges).

Did Theriot play some outfield in the minors? Is he capable of playing CF? You see where I'm going with this...