Cubs Fan Dan

Done! I will take that bet, Fuld sucks.

Boosting trade value??? I really liked what I saw of Maine last year and would rather see him on the team than Russel, let James start at AAA to stretch him out, put Maine in the pen.

I know that the Cubs win percentage is good with Hill but any idea why the hell this is? Is this just an example of a freakish coincidence? It is obviously not Koyie Hill helping.

He's on fumes. I wouldn't be shocked if he didn't make it out of ST. I think last year was his swan song. A personal service contract? Sounds very whorish to me. I like it. ? to everything hahahaha I, too, found this post so weird I couldn't single out things to comment on haha Yeaa................. being completely dominate in almost 30 innings to end the season means he is washed up and can provide nothing...

RJ if healthy (big if) is a solid back up. I will never forget the catch in Washington, to me it is the best catch I have ever seen. Anyone have video of that?

Byrd is a pretty solid defender, i would say slightly underrated if anything.

The biggest question is if Colvin's power is for real and if he can make enough contact to put up staring OF numbers.

Rudy's influence?

I do not think this is worthy of its own thread, however what would be the consensus if the Cubs let Cashner start the season @ AAA as a starter?

You've got to weight it for when his arm blows up in May. I will give Garcia the benefit of the doubt if he comes even close to repeating his 2010 success. I also agree about the risk of injury, his workload has increased significantly this past season.

It's not hate to value him lower than better players. Correct. It's hate to be absolutely convinced that he sucks now and will suck in the future when he's still pretty young and has shown some potential. I agree with those that value him lower than Brett Jackson and I am concerned about his ability to be selective at the plate and have a good OBP. But sometimes, they way he's talked about is rather absurd. Colvin has his issues but he seems to rarely make weak contact, he may never be a high OBP or even a .300 hitter but with some improvement he could potentially hit 30 homers and put up a .260/.320/.500. Defintely a serviceable player if he is a #6 or #7 hitter in the lineup. Plus he is cheap.

Baker Fukucolvin Ramirez Hill Barney Am i missing anyone? I would rather round out the bench with Perez and Ramirez and say bye bye Hill, if there is going to be a weak hitter atleast have him be a good late defensive replacement for Soriano / pinch runner.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110110&content_id=16413658&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb FWIW

Please do not bring up Paul Bako.

There is a lot of people out there saying the Cubs are going to battle to finish 4th place, these are my postion by position rankings for the NL Central both offensively and defensively considered. I am possibly over analyzing but I still struggle to see why the other NL Central teams are lock to be better than the Cubs. 1B: 1. Pujols, 2. Votto, 3. Fielder, 4. Pena 2B. 1. Weeks 2. Phillips 3. DeWitt/Baker 4. Schumaker SS. 1. Castro 2. Renteria 3. Theriot 4. Betancourt 3B. 1. Ramirez 2. Rolen 3. McGeehee 4. Friese LF. 1. Holliday 2. Braun 3. Soriano 4. Heisey/Gomes CF. 1. Rasmus 2. Stubbs 3. Byrd 4. Gomez/Dickerson RF. 1. Bruce 2. Hart 3. Fuku/Colvin 4. Berkman/Jay C. 1. Soto 2. Molina 3. Hernandez/Hanigan 4. Lucroy Offensive Ranks: Total ranking points, lower being best overall lineup. Stl: 20 Cubs: 19 Reds: 18 - Should be the most productive lineup once again. Brewers: 23 Health Age and Experience considered. 1. Wainwright 2. Greinke 3. Carpenter 4. Gallardo 5. Garza 6. Dempster 7. Cueto 8. Zambrano 9. Arroyo 10. Marcum 11. Garcia 12. Volquez 13. Wells 14. Westbrook 15. Wolf Overall Rotation: 1. Cards 2. Brewers. 3. Cubs 4. Reds. Bench: 1. Cardinals 2. Cubs 3. Reds 4. Brewers (Cubs and Cards possibly could be flipped) Bullpen: 1. Cubs 2. Reds 3. Cardinals 4. Brewers As it stands the Cards due to their staff and having similar position by position rankings come in as a slight favorite. However to me offensive, and pitching DEPTH puts the Cubs right into the bunch with the heavy offensive Reds and the Brewers who have a stacked rotation. Best bet to improve / decline: Cardinals: Friese / Garcia Cubs: Ramirez / Colvin Reds: Volquez / Leak Brewers: Greinke / Hart 2010 RS / RA Brewers: 750 / 804 - Offensively could see a slight decline due to McGeehee and Hart coming back down to reality / Pitching improving vastly. Cincinatti: 790 / 685 - Offensively should be similar output / Bullpen should be slightly worse, Cueto/ Arroyo slight decline, Volquez improves. St. Lous: 736 / 641 - Offensively should see similar output / Defensively this team is going to give up more runs and some aging could effect pitching Cubs: 685 / 767 - Offensively should see improvement due to better production @ 3B and likely 1B. / Starting pitching should improve drastically with Z back in rotation, bullpen should improve slightly with slight decline from Marmol and Marshall but stronger middle relief. Overall Prediction: 1. Cards - Season success hinges on SP health and back end of bullpen. 2. Reds - Season hinges on similar offensive production and pitching, neither of which is a lock to repeat. 3. Cubs - Several bounce back years needed to come back to relevance. A few NL central injuries or key players struggling could keep Cubs in thick of things. 4. Brewers - SP will improve drastically, again health of SP could be key specifically with Marcum and Gallardo. Could see pretty big decline offensively. 5. Astros - Will still be one of those teams that gives opponents fits but a safe bet to finish 5th. 6. Pirates - This team is going to be very bad. I need some sleep..

Gooz will begin throwing off mound soon, could be ready early regular season but everything I heard says he will not open season with the Cubs, but that could be incorrect.

I agree with this, it is sad how stupid people take spotlight in others mistakes. I think Joyce overall is a pretty damn good umpire, replay needs to be used more in the MLB, maybe not for bang bang plays but definitely for obvious umpire mistakes.

let me give you a spoiler on point #2 - guzman will not stay healthy. grabow is mediocre and caridad is no better. Grabow can be decent. Not worth his salary, but decent. Especially considering he will be in a middle relief role and not late relief.

Maybe its my Cubs biased but I do not see the Cards as better than the Cubs... Cubs have more "if's" but the teams are equally talented. I do not see Garcia pitching like last year and I still believe Carpenter is a health question. Not to mention the defense they will be throwing out there 120 games next year. I love the Cubs pitching staff, as I have stated before, Z and Garza can out pitch any pitcher at any time. This will give the Cubs a better shot versus the Crew and Cards. I still do not really like the Reds pitching and think Leake and Wood will take steps back, as well as Arroyo.

I believe they CAN, they just have more "ifs" than other central division teams. 1. Which Zambrano will show up this year? 2. Will Dempster's numbers fall off from last season as a guy who turns 34 in May? 3. Can Cashner be an effective starter? 4. Can Garza become the ace his stuff portends? 5. Can Wood stay healthy and be an effective 7th or 8th inning guy? 6. Can Ramirez stay healthy and put up his usual excellent numbers? 7. Can Pena rebound and OPS .850+? 8. Will Castro continue his development or have a sophomore slump? 9. Which Marlon Byrd will the Cubs get, the 1st half one or the 2nd half? 10. Will Colvin continue his development or plateau? 11. Can Fukudome finally put together a consistently good season? These are all key performers needed or the Cubs to fulfill their potential. It can happen. But will it? Especially when the talent in the NL Central has improved so much this off season. I guess that's why they play the games. Lots of teams have questions like this perhaps just not as many, and Garza definitely improves their chances. But, for me, this is a trade that is made when you know you are a good #2 starter away from winning it all, and the Cubs don't fit that description. My thoughts.. 1. Z will be fine if he is left in the rotation all year, i see no reason why he cant post his usuall mid to upper 3 ERA pitching 180-200 innings. 2. Demp will be fine, adding Garza takes pressure off of Demp and Z. Demp is also in better shape than most 28 year olds. 3. Good question, I still have a sneaking suspician he will not get a chance(lets hope I am wrong). 4. Garza just needs to continue to be the pitcher he was in the AL and his numbers will improve enough naturally to warrant a #2 starter. 5. Probably my biggest concern going into the season as well. 6. Aram's first half was an absolute fluke, the injuries may be of a concern but heading into FA year I think he is a good bet to return to his averages. 7. Pena is going to see a lot of good pitching but will also see a lot of very bad pitching, I think he will bounce back close to an .850 ops, but potentially even better. 8. Castro to me is an exception to the rule, his bat is as good as anyone when it comes to making contact and driving the ball through the holes, the only thing I believe that could stop him is hitting into bad luck similar to Soto. If the other players in the lineup hit to their career averages Castro will be a bonus. 9. Byrd needs more rest, I really think he is solid for 450 ab's per year but his body wears down over the full season. Getting Colvin in their should help Byrd keep steady production offensively. 10. I do not like Colvins patience but I do think he makes pretty good hard contact, therefore I think if he can hit .250-.270 that repeating his power numbers is not out of the question. The good news is if he struggles Jackson is close behind. 11. Fukudome is a solid contributor over 400 at bats. Not great but he will help the Cubs when he is out there. I would add Soto to your list, there was a lot of AB's that Hill got because Lou was an idiot but also Soto has had a lot of smaller nagging injuries like oblique issues. Soto getting 450+ at bats is a huge key for the Cubs this year, he is arguably the best hitter on the team and could easily account for 20-25HRs 75-80 RBI's similar to his rookie year.

They should start Cash at triple A until Z gets sent to the bullpen, then bring him up and put him in the rotation..........oh wait..

This trade definitely dents the list but several factors could make people soon forget. Vitters having a bounce back year McNutt repeating success Lake taking a step forward Simpson having a good rookie campaign To me those 4 things will be the key to the Cubs minor league system this year.

Looking at the schedule it seems like the Cubs have an extremely favorable start to the season. Also I think getting the dreaded west coast trip out of the way early this year could definitely help this team as the season progresses. Getting out of the gates fast is something that could be the difference maker with this team and everything is set up for the Cubs to do so. I also like seeing the Rockies earlier than later as they are generally a slow starting team. Got to potentially love 12 games versus a combination of the Astro's, Pirates, and D'Backs. Although that could mean the Cubs get shut out by Correia, Brett Meyers, and Ian Kennedy and make people jump ship early. Starting to get Spring fever!!

The outfielder? No he sucks... the other player has yet to be named.

So you do not believe Garza has more potential than Randy Wells?