CubfaninCA

You think it's drivel, I think it drives home a point. It was a sarcastic response to some pretty insincere words coming out of Hendry's mouth. Why do you pretend like there isn't a problem with the Cubs right now? Do you really think everything is fine? Many teams have spots to fill. I'm a laid back guy w/ patience. A laid back guy whom with every opportunity you get defend Hendry and the organization and keep waiting for the big trade or signing to happen. Time is ticking as far as I'm concerned. How is giving Hendry a B- a defence @ every opportunity?? Also, I've said he's done enough to get canned by the end of this upcoming season, if they don't contend. Sounds good to me. Although considering the holes we still have a B- is generous. :P I take the last 3 1/2 years into consideration. The team far exceded expectations in 2003. They underachieved a little in 2004, but had major injuries to Prior & Wood and still won 88 games. Last year was a major disappointment and Baker's infatuation w/ Perez reached epic proportions. Hitching his wagon to Baker for a 4th season makes me questions whether Hendry's fit for the job, as he's a pretty stubborn man. I'll give him one more year.

Besides Luis Castillo who have they missed out on?? You want to pay Furcal $13/yr? You want to move the franchise to Carlsbad, CA, so we could have gotten Giles? :wink:

You think it's drivel, I think it drives home a point. It was a sarcastic response to some pretty insincere words coming out of Hendry's mouth. Why do you pretend like there isn't a problem with the Cubs right now? Do you really think everything is fine? Many teams have spots to fill. I'm a laid back guy w/ patience. A laid back guy whom with every opportunity you get defend Hendry and the organization and keep waiting for the big trade or signing to happen. Time is ticking as far as I'm concerned. How is giving Hendry a B- a defence @ every opportunity?? Also, I've said he's done enough to get canned by the end of this upcoming season, if they don't contend.

I attacked your annoying habit of insulting everybody on this board who happens to think the Cubs situation isn't all peachy right now. If you took personal offense then maybe you should think about it. If you think everything is just fine and dandy, good for you. But other people think there are bad clouds hanging over the 2006 Cubs right now, and not enough is being done to clear them. Your continued insistence to rag on the discussions people have about those problems is quite unfair, and unnecessary, and completely against the point of having a message board. This is here for people to discuss the Cubs. And they have the right to discuss them in whichever way they want without somebody pretending they are all a bunch of whiny complainers with no reasonable opinions. I took no offence. I like your fire. Sorry, but I think some of the potshots @ the organization are absurd. Hendry's not [expletive]. He's knows there's holes. He sure does know that there are holes. The problem is can he patch them up? Fair enough.

You think it's drivel, I think it drives home a point. It was a sarcastic response to some pretty insincere words coming out of Hendry's mouth. Why do you pretend like there isn't a problem with the Cubs right now? Do you really think everything is fine? Many teams have spots to fill. I'm a laid back guy w/ patience.

I attacked your annoying habit of insulting everybody on this board who happens to think the Cubs situation isn't all peachy right now. If you took personal offense then maybe you should think about it. If you think everything is just fine and dandy, good for you. But other people think there are bad clouds hanging over the 2006 Cubs right now, and not enough is being done to clear them. Your continued insistence to rag on the discussions people have about those problems is quite unfair, and unnecessary, and completely against the point of having a message board. This is here for people to discuss the Cubs. And they have the right to discuss them in whichever way they want without somebody pretending they are all a bunch of whiny complainers with no reasonable opinions. I took no offence. I like your fire. Sorry, but I think some of the potshots @ the organization are absurd. Hendry's not [expletive]. He's knows there's holes.

Ummmmm....He does realize we don't currently have a RF, right? Unless he considers Patterson or Mabry to be it. Here... we.... go... again.... Where we going? Down hyperbole lane listening to the same ol broken record. So now it's hyperbole to say that the Cubs currently don't have any options for RF other than Mabry and Patterson? That's not what was said. "He does realize we don't currently have a RF, right???" = drivel. There's been rumors of Wilkerson, Bradley, Jones & Abreu.

Uh oh. Some objectivity. Can you seriously stop with this stuff? You act as if nobody here speaks with any sort of objectivity, and everybody is making a big deal out of nothing, speaking only from passion and with hyperbole. Do you honestly think the Cubs aren't in a bit of a sticky wicket? Do you really think everything is perfectly fine with this team right now? Attack the argument, not me. Voice made a very reasonable series of posts, which are far superior than "does hendry know that we have no rf?"

Uh oh. Some objectivity.

Ummmmm....He does realize we don't currently have a RF, right? Unless he considers Patterson or Mabry to be it. Here... we.... go... again.... Where we going? Down hyperbole lane listening to the same ol broken record.

Ummmmm....He does realize we don't currently have a RF, right? Unless he considers Patterson or Mabry to be it. Here... we.... go... again....

Murton & Pierre could actually have quite productive seasons.

Did the air get thicker in Coors this year? Wilson played for Washington in 2005 too.

LA, NY and Boston are bidding for him. Do I need to say more... The Cubs rarely beat out these teams for anyone, and tend to settle for second tier free agents. Damon's .805 ops doesn't get me all that fired up. Wilson did almost as good and didn't play in a hitter park all year. Put every eggs into the Tejada basket. Wth go for broke.

And which team was better? The Sox had the second best record in baseball (only one game behind the Cards). They were four games better than the next three teams in the AL during the regular season (Yankees, Angles, and Red Sox). Two of the three teams they easily beat in the playoffs losing one of eight games. They then swept the World Series. To me that's a pretty convincing argument that they were the best team. The White Sox had a much softer schedule than some of those teams. If you don't see that, we'll have to agree to disagree. What teams were better? The Yankees, Boston and the Cardinals were all better teams than the White Sox as much as I hate to admit it. Of course, I don't really take any joy in saying the White Sox were good either. :D Perhaps the Cardinals were better, but the White Sox swept Boston, and New York's 10 man or whatever rotation wasn't worth much in the playoffs when depth isn't nearly as important.

Good to see they'll bring him back, but still think he's gone. Wilson for a year in RF wouldn't be horrible. He could put up an .800 ops, which is alright for a 6 hitter. They need to zero in on Tejada.

Haven't heard anything about Drew being on the block. Have heard that LA would like to move Lowe & Odalis Perez tho. If Drew is dealt, it would probably be for someone like Abreu.

Sosa's skills were declining. He wasn't a RFer anymore. He would have been fine in LF for his final years (didn't realize the next year would be his last at that time) while Alou either played 1st or more likely got shipped off to San Fran for Durham or Alfonzo, etc... I don't know what Vlad's deal was, but with only 1 year remaining on Alou's deal and Sosa obviously needing a switch to LF, and the long term ramifications of Vlad if they could figure out a way to land him, they should have tried every avenue. Not sure if they'd let him get involved with Manny, but I would hope they would. As crazy as it might sound, I do like Tejada better. The contract is better and he plays a more difficult to fill position. At least I thought it was more difficult to fill. Maybe RF really is the hardest position to fill. :D Have to agree that Tejada's a better pickup than Manny considering the age, attitude, position and money. I guess we should root for Anaheim to get Manny, which most likely takes them out of the Tejada sweepstakes. The Cubs would have the inside track then, with Baltimore not wanting to deal w/ Boston, and with LA, both NY's, Atl and St. Louis set @ SS.

Well, that's plausible, but the Maddux deal is nothing to write home about and I can't fault the Cubs for signing Sosa for 4 years. Altogether, yes he hasn't bogged down the franchise w/ any horrible deals like the AGonz deal. Signing Jacque Jones for 3 years would be AGonz Part Deaux! That being the case, you don't go anywhere near a deal like that. Hendry definitely isn't a "big" gamble man. He could have gotten involved in the Vladmir Guerrero sweepstakes and he could have gotten involved in other big deals as well. There was NO excuse for not attempting to get Guerrero. If Guerrero came to Chicago, one of Alou or Sosa played 1st base or got traded. San Fran would have been happy to take Alou for the last year of his contract. It's called being the big player. The Mets are the one's going after Manny Ramirez, and we are hoping for their spare parts (Floyd) if that deal goes down. We should be the team standing right next to the Mets asking about Manny, not Anaheim. Speaking of Manny, wouldn't Boston just love a package of prospects like the one's we are offering Baltimore for Tejada? Get creative and make something happen. Tons of money, some trade commodity and players that are available in trade. Don't sit there and do nothing. True about Jock. I highly doubt a Hall of Famer and egomaniac like Sosa would have moved anywhere for Vlad. Seems like Vlad wanted to play RF and play in SoCal for either LA or Anaheim. Do you think the Trib would even let Hendry get involved w/ Manny, and does Manny even want to come to Chicago?? As for Tejada, have to agree about getting creative.

True about deals you don't make. By hitching his wagon to Dusty for another year, Hendry's done enough to get canned, if this team falters again. However, he's been far from awful. If my recollection is correct, the team he inherited in the middle of 2002 has no position players, besides Patterson, left. Things could be A LOT worse. Say what you will about luck, but Lee, Ramirez, Barrett and Murton were very nice pickups. Too bad Baker tends to get in the way w/ his bizarre lineup cards.

Well, they are stuck with the decisions they made. Are they going to sit Mike Mussina and his 19m price tag on the bench in favor of someone like Millwood? No. They'll go to war with that group. The difference between them and the Cubs is those teams have depth. Where they are weak, they are strong elsewhere, so they can be weak here and there like Bubba Crosby in CF. With Cedeno and Murton (two virtual unknowns production wise), you can't afford to have a weakness elsewhere. I'm not so sure it's a good idea to even start two rookies until I've seen more of what they can do. That does not mean Neifi F. Perez gets the nod, however. It's not too late. Hendry could pull a miracle out of his butt and save the offseason by landing a combination of Huff, Wilkerson, Floyd, Green, etc... If he can do that, he will have a competitive team. I don't know if it will be playoff caliber, but it will be competitive. At least do that since the opportunity to land impact players was on the bus Hendry missed. Well, if the Cubs spent like the Yankees, they'd have depth too. They can make multiple mistakes, and have multiple injuries, and yet cover it up w/ more spending. Boston's a more valid point, but they spend about $20 million or so more. Their depth does allow them to absorb injuries a lot better than the Cubs. My basic point about Boston is that they have a ton of moves to make too and Cub fans should just be a little more patient, as benchmark organizations still have lots of work to do. Wilkerson, Green, and Floyd are pretty reasonable alternatives for RF. Not so sure about Huff. Tampa's a crazy organization.

Well, that's plausible, but the Maddux deal is nothing to write home about and I can't fault the Cubs for signing Sosa for 4 years. Altogether, yes he hasn't bogged down the franchise w/ any horrible deals like the AGonz deal.

Yankees: Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, Shawn Chacon, Chien-Ming Wang, etc.... Boston: Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Matt Clement, Wade Miller, Tim Wakefield, Bronson Arroyo, David Wells, etc.... Are you sure you meant rotation? They look plenty deep to me. The only thing the Yankees need is a centerfielder, and Hideki Matsui said he'd be happy to play there. Between Matsui, Crosby and Bernie Williams, I think they'll be just fine. Boston only needs a SS. Realistically, they could just stick Alex Cora, Kevin Youkilis or Andy Marte there and they'd probably be just fine. Assuming of course they resign Damon, which I have no doubt will happen. So, each of these two teams not only have in house alternatives, but they could both open the season as is and be playoff caliber. Can we say this about the Cubs? Not a chance. We have Jerry Hairston Jr., Corey Patterson and John Mabry in RF. The Cubs have a lot of work to do to be "playoff caliber". Sure they're deep and good for the regular season when everyone's going 5 man rotation, but when the rotations are narrowed down in the postseason these rotations don't cut it. Boston has a possible #1 in Beckett, if healthy. Schilling may be a bigger question mark than Wood. The rest are #3's & 4's. The Yankees are counting on a couple of guys well past their primes (Johnson & Mussina) and a couple injury prone guys (Pavano & Wright) and some kids. If this is what they're going to war with next year, they're tossing a bunch of money don' the toilet. As they say in Boston, bohk it.

There are 20 teams that are in desperate need of a RFer? :shock: Kinda makes me wish Hendry put a little more priority in filling that spot. Jason Lane was #10 in ops and Encanarcion #12. What say you? Unless you want to give up Z or Prior, the Cubs aren't getting a star for rf, and Giles just wasn't happening. Too bad the Cubs didn't have an opening in RF the year Vlad was a free agent. With a little forsight they could have worked some magic. Then again we did have an opening at SS and that didn't seem to get them Tejada. Who was going to take AGonz off the Cubs hands in 2003? The Cubs aren't the Yankees. They rarely sit $6 million players. AGonz was Ed Lynch's signing correct? Yes, the Cubs have some major holes to fill still, but so do the top 2 franchises in baseball, the Yankees and Red Sox. Those rotations aren't going to take them far in the playoffs. Patience. I dont have to be patient about anything. I call it the way I see it. Add a prospect or two, and give 2mil and AGone would have been out the door. If all these team can add prospects and get rid of some of their worst players a little creativity by Hendry and he could have done it. Even with the holes the RSox and Yankees had they still made the playoffs. You say they don't have enough rotation to go deep into the playoffs well at least they can get here. And considering how we've had injuries the past couple of years I don't think we have a rotation good enough to get us INTO the playoffs especially when you consider the offense we have. At least the RSox and Yanks have the offense to offset the rotation. We sure as heck don't. Moses Hendry needs to start working some miracles as far as I'm conerned. You act as if all Hendry needs to do is wiggle his nose people will take the Cubs garbage and give them a star as well. It takes 2 to tangle. As for the Red Sox, the Sox have a ton of moves they still need to make. As for the Yankees, they should never miss the playoffs when they outspend everyone by a far margin. Not making the World Series should be a major disappoint for that franchise.

Are you talking to me? Hendry obviously doesn't have a clue. He shipped out Sosa and replaced him with Burnitz and the next person might be worse than him now. Rumors are rumors. Actions speak louder than words and until I see somebody good in RF I'm sticking to my beliefs. Just was a general comment about the bar set for RF. Burnitz 05 >> Sosa 05