CubfaninCA

I'm rooting for Anaheim and rooting against the Cardinals, White Sox, NY and Red Sox. I'm tired of hearing about how great Theo Epstein is, and watching NY buy their way to the World Series.

Hernandez alone would be a nice pickup for Patterson and fillers. He can eat some innings. How much will Wilkerson probably get next year?? He's arbitration eligible correct??

I'm confused. I haven't heard anything about Carpenter going anywhere, and I'm not convinced that Abreu will go anywhere either, but... how are Giles and Burnett NOT realistic? 1) The Cubs are owned by the Tribune Company. 2) I don't think Hendry will give any huge deals out. Thus no Giles or Burnett. My bet is that the highest he goes is 4 and 40 for Millwood. Jmo but the Cubs are probably sockin away money for Prior, Zambrano and Lee.

If the Cubs had a better minor league system, perhaps they'd have a real good shot w/ Abreu, but I think they'll have to target players who are a tier below Abreu.

Something doesn't add up. Well, he has a low WHIP and lots of potential, but he probably ends up like Clement. Just never gets over the hump. Get another adequate starter though, and it gives the Cubs the ability to package Jerome Williams and a few other players for a bat. Am guessing Williams has good trade value.

My wish list is realistic, so there's no Giles, Abreu, Burnett or Chris Carpenter on it. 1) Don't resign Nomar. He's fool's gold. Don't be fooled again. His body's wrecked. 2) Get a top notch starter. However, Millwood may not be realistic since his agent is Boras. :( Maybe take a shot w/ another Boras guy, Weaver, who should come a little cheaper. 3) Since they need to upgrade defence and speed, sign Furcal. 4) Get another middle of the order hitter. My guess is that they'll target Floyd, Soriano or Kent in a trade. Would not be surprised @ all to see Soriano on the team next year.

What should have been done last offseason: Sign Kent and Eckstein instead of Walker & Nomar. Trade Sosa and Patterson for Andruw Jones. Keep Matt Clement. Trade Hawkins for a RF.

And every year since 2003 the team has gotten worse. Hendry is very savvy. EDIT: In terms of post season and record. Prior & Wood were healthy in 2003. Most teams couldn't withstand their #1 and #2 going down two years in a row. Oh for the love of all things good and decent. Injuries are not the reason the Cubs have not gotten better. Nomar and Walker missing 150 games didn't help matters. If the Cubs bring both back, they're in BIG trouble again. If you foresaw Patterson having a .600 ops year, you should get some type of NSBB prize. A t-shirt or something. :o I thought it was Prior and Wood's injuries that ruinded 04 and 05. Now it's Nomar and Walker. I see, triangulation is ever so important when making a point. Triangulation?? Prior & Wood are the biggies. JoBo going down in 04 hurt some. Walker and Nomar in 05 hurt a lot too.

And every year since 2003 the team has gotten worse. Hendry is very savvy. EDIT: In terms of post season and record. Prior & Wood were healthy in 2003. Most teams couldn't withstand their #1 and #2 going down two years in a row. Oh for the love of all things good and decent. Injuries are not the reason the Cubs have not gotten better. Nomar and Walker missing 150 games didn't help matters. If the Cubs bring both back, they're in BIG trouble again. If you foresaw Patterson having a .600 ops year, you should get some type of NSBB prize. A t-shirt or something. :o

And every year since 2003 the team has gotten worse. Hendry is very savvy. EDIT: In terms of post season and record. Prior & Wood were healthy in 2003. Most teams couldn't withstand their #1 and #2 going down two years in a row.

And what in Hendry's track record leads you to that conclusion? Letting Alou walk and trading Sammy for peanuts with Dubios and Hollandsworth waiting in the wings? He had to way overbid Pittsburg for the stellar services of Jeromy Burnitz a few weeks before ST. Or was it his masterful job of trading Farnsworth for nothing and Juan Cruz for Andy Pratt? Or perhaps it was his leaving a young enigmatic left handed reliver open to be a rule 5 draft pick. The Sosa trade was a wash. I didn't like the Burnitz signing like most, but it seems most were content w/ the DuBois/Holla platoon in LF. As I recall, most were content w/ the opening day lineup w/ the exception of RF. If Patterson & DuBois come through, the OF would have been alright. When Hendry took over in mid-2002, the offense consisted of 2 aging outfielders, some overhyped prospects, and nothing else. He's added 2 all stars. Signed Walker. Traded for Barrett and got Nomar. Things could be a lot worse, if not for Hendry's savvy moves.

If they sign Lofton to lead off, doesn't it make sense to just re-sign Nomar? He certainly will come much cheaper than Furcal (at least in base salary). If you sign Nomar instead of Furcal, that may give us the extra flexibility to sign Giles. Nomar- $5,000,000 Lofton- $2,000,000 Giles- $12,000,000 (up to $14,000,000 over three years) If they insist on not picking up Walker's option (terrible idea), its imperative that they move Cedeno to 2nd. Better production than Neifi, higher upside, less money. CF Lofton (2 million) LF Murton (300k) 1B Lee (8.7 million) RF Giles (12.5 million) 3B Ramirez (10.5 million) SS Garciapara (5 millon) C Barrett (4.3 million) 2B Cedeno (300k) SP Prior (3.0 million) SP Wood (12.0 million) SP Zambrano (5.0 million?) SP Maddux (9.0 million) SP Burnett (10.0 million) RP Dempster (5.0 million) RP Howry (2.0 million?) RP Novoa (1.0 million) RP Ohman (500k) RP Hill (300k) RP Williams (2.0 million?) BN Blanco (1.5 million) BN Patterson (2.8 million?) BN Hairston (2.0 million) BN Fontenot (300k) BN Cruz Jr. (1.5 million) BN Hollandsworth (1.0 million) TOTAL: 102,500,000 I know some of those figures might be a bit off, but I think its close enough that this team is realistic. What do you think? Jmo, but I doubt the Cubs give any free agent more than $10 million per year. If they do, Millwood's more likely than Giles, as it seems that Hendry prefers pitching over hitting.

If the Cubs get a 1-2 that averages out to .350, they should be fine, especially if they have great speed like Furcal & Lofton. The Cub pitching is due to bounce back, but they still need to sign Milwood. But, getting Furcal, Lofton and Millwood hinges entirely upon their desire to come to Chicago and play. Furcal could accept less to stay in Atlanta, where he's a shoe in to compete in the post season every year. Or, he could sign a bigger contract to play for a team that makes the postseason once every decade. Millwood is already being offered a contract to stay in Cleveland. Cleveland has a lot of young talent. Lofton is probably the easiest sign of this group. But, he'll be another year older and he was basically a platoon this year. Nomar and Walker are inhouse and easier signings than any of the above listed guys. Walker can be signed and traded if Nomar is signed and you do lure Furcal. The moment Hendry gives his undivided attention to Furcal, Nomar will look elsewhere. When that happens, Hendry had better get Furcal, otherwise it could be a long offseason and an even longer 2006 baseball season. I don't think the pitching staff wants either back. Nomar has become a butcher in the field. Bruce Miles made it sound as if the pitcher's would much prefer Grudzielanek over Walker.

Then if they land Lofton too, they will have two very mediocre number #1 hitters. See, that's what I mean. I want to see some vision from the Cubs front office and all I ever see is a bad case of myopia. So besides Damon, who's a good leadoff man. Jmo but Furcal >> Walker, who some think is fabulous. Altogether, the pickins is pretty thin, and Anaheim, St. Louis, Houston and the White Sox have done alright w/out major obper's in the 1 & 2 spots. And if you have stellar pitching (which each of the teams you mentioned had this year), you can get away with a not so good OBP at the top of the order. The Cubs were supposed to have a good pitching staff. Until Wood can go a full season healthy, Prior can go a full season without getting injured, Maddux learns to keep the ball in the ball park and the bullpen controls leads they inherit, we will need better OBP guys at the top of the order. Imagine how good some of those teams would have been with great pitching and better OBP at the top of the order. But who's out there?? Furcal's .348 obp and great speed makes him above average. Of course, I probably put more value into speed than some. I like Furcal, don't get me wrong. He would be a decent OBP at the top of the order, as well as speed. I'm not saying the Cubs shouldn't entertain bringing him here. My issue is if you let Nomar and Walker take a hike and Furcal elects to stay in Atlanta, you have nothing. Now you have a hole in CF, RF, SS, SP and 2nd with nothing but minor leaguers as trade chips and not much else on the free agent market if Furcal and Giles stay home. I highly doubt Hendry will let both go w/out one major replacement in place. He seems like a pretty conservative guy, so I doubt he makes a big gamble.

If the Cubs get a 1-2 that averages out to .350, they should be fine, especially if they have great speed like Furcal & Lofton. The Cub pitching is due to bounce back, but they still need to sign Milwood.

Then if they land Lofton too, they will have two very mediocre number #1 hitters. See, that's what I mean. I want to see some vision from the Cubs front office and all I ever see is a bad case of myopia. So besides Damon, who's a good leadoff man. Jmo but Furcal >> Walker, who some think is fabulous. Altogether, the pickins is pretty thin, and Anaheim, St. Louis, Houston and the White Sox have done alright w/out major obper's in the 1 & 2 spots. And if you have stellar pitching (which each of the teams you mentioned had this year), you can get away with a not so good OBP at the top of the order. The Cubs were supposed to have a good pitching staff. Until Wood can go a full season healthy, Prior can go a full season without getting injured, Maddux learns to keep the ball in the ball park and the bullpen controls leads they inherit, we will need better OBP guys at the top of the order. Imagine how good some of those teams would have been with great pitching and better OBP at the top of the order. But who's out there?? Furcal's .348 obp and great speed makes him above average. Of course, I probably put more value into speed than some.

Then if they land Lofton too, they will have two very mediocre number #1 hitters. See, that's what I mean. I want to see some vision from the Cubs front office and all I ever see is a bad case of myopia. So besides Damon, who's a good leadoff man. Jmo but Furcal >> Walker, who some think is fabulous. Altogether, the pickins is pretty thin, and Anaheim, St. Louis, Houston and the White Sox have done alright w/out major obper's in the 1 & 2 spots.

Seattle worries me the least. These are three top SS prospects in the Mariners system in order of "projectability" :Yuniesky Betancourt, SS, B Matt Tuiasosopo, SS, Asdrubal Cabrera, SS. Don't forget they also have Nomar's brother, Michael, already in the system. If the Mariners are going after a SS, my quess is they would sign Nomar, because of his "offering" price will be lower then Furcal. Failing that, I don't see Seattle going after Furcal all that hard. To be honest, for Furcal's services, I think it will between the Cubs and the Braves. And while the Braves are a "contender", they also have Betemit, Johnson (although he is playing the OF, right now) Pena, Jr all waiting for an opportunity to play SS. So Furcal may not see the $$$ from the Braves, (remember the Hampton contract will be killer on them begining next yr) not to mention he will always be pushed at SS. With the Cubs, there is only one viable option in the system and that is Cedeno--whom the Cubs have talked about moving to 2B, anyways (perhaps and early subtle invitation made by the Cubs, that they are serious), thus Furcal would get the money, and have nobody near ready to play SS for atleast 4 yrs. All-in-all I like the Cubs chances at landing Furcal, but...... Thanks for the info. Maybe the Cubs won't have to shell out $8 million per year like some have suggested. If not, he become A LOT enticing for the Tribsters.

How many pitchers does NY want? They have Mussina, Johnson, Pavano, Wright, Wang and Small already.

BBB, Seattle worries me the most. They could make some outrageous offer. Am guessing Atl will make a decent offer, but won't offer anything too extravagant. What vance posted makes it appear that Houston won't be in the running for any big name FA's. I'm just glad that both NY's, Boston, Baltimore, Anaheim and St. Louis are set @ SS, and that LA has a tight owner. EDIT: Oh and they need to lock up Walker. Can't deal him off until they have a 2b or SS replacement. Nomar can take his injury prone body elsewhere.

I'm not mad @ all. Just throwing out that perhaps some of the pot shots should have been directed elsewhere. Basically, the Cubs got what they paid for.

Doesn't SF have Vizquel signed for another year or two? The White Sox won't make a big offer. I think LA will look to upgrade @ 1b, 3b or the OF, and they need to add a starter, so they'll probably stay w/ Izturis @ SS. They really like his D. Probably have to worry about Houston. Altogether, I'd be skeptical of getting Furcal, but the market's pretty thin w/ him, since most the big market clubs are set @ SS. What the Cubs can't do is let Nomar walk and deal off Walker, as well, w/out having a replacement already in place to go along w/ Cedeno.

Patterson's taken it pretty bad. Wood & Nomar not nearly as much. It's kind of hard to get people into a frenzy of anger at a player for getting hurt. As far as I can tell it's not like either of these guys broke an arm cleaning his truck. What about Maddux then?? Perhaps Neifi just isn't the villian some prefer to paint him as??

Patterson's taken it pretty bad. Wood & Nomar not nearly as much.

I don't think anyone foresaw Patterson being so awful. Baker just showed too much loyalty. Of course, he never gives young guys a shot. *shrug* I knew he'd be an awful leadoff candidate. I didn't think he'd be that bad, but I knew that move to leadoff would lead to disaster. It was a terrible move. And sticking with him when he was obviously failing miserably made it worse. Neifi's inexcusable. Baker should have known for sure what he'd get. Patterson asked to bat leadoff and Dusty gave him the opportunity to prove himself. I wish he would have kept him @ 6 or 7, but w/ Nomar & Walker hurt, it was worth the gamble. Of course, he held his hand WAY too long. I could have lived w/ Hairston and Patterson at the top of the order for a while, but Patterson and Neifi was insane.