CubfaninCA

Sorry to rattle you. It was like the first debate here ever. :o

Maybe the third time will be the charm. ? He didn't do well tonight or the night prior.

He's going to sidearm the ball to the cutoff man? I think Nomar's only value to this team is at SS. It's a position where it's hard to find good offensive players, so I'd be willing to take the risk. At RF, it probably wouldn't be very hard to find a player who can outproduce him and play at his natural position. I think Gammons recently wrote that Nomar may be moving to the outfield. A lot less wear and tear in the OF I guess.

Maybe the third time will be the charm.

How about Nomar in RF?? Doesn't he have a cannon for an arm for a SS?? Not sure how good it would be in the right though. Probably doesn't help that he can't make accuarte throws from SS & 3B to 1B anymore. Just throwing this out there. Possibly the only offensive move they make it Furcal.

Is this you just living up to your name? Or do you really mean that? While I'm not willing to do as far as to say that a player's ability to field is as important as a player's ability to hit, or even more important than a player's ability to hit, what I will say is that fielding definately matters and has at least some importance. So hardly "fielding schmielding" at all. Pitching and fielding together is half the game, hitting being the other half. Actually, because in the long run good pitching/decent hitting wins more ballgames than good hitting/decent pitching, the pitching and fielding is slightly more than half. Why is it better? Well, if your starters allow less baserunners, they should throw less pitches, and if they throw less pitches, they should be able to throw more innings before they reach certain pitch counts. That in turn means less bullpen innings, which means that your relievers, on top of having better defence behind them, ought to be fresher, which gives you more effective pitching options, which can help you prevent further runs. If your starters and fielding is effective enough, you may not be able to find work for everyone in your bullpen, so you may be able to run with less pitchers on your staff, so you can have more bench options, which means more in-game flexibility, which, if exploited by the manager, can mean more runs for the offence, or still even better defence and less runs allowed. Furthermore, a pitcher that trusts his defence can be more effective at doing his job as a pitcher, partially because the confidence of his effective fielders rubs off on him, partially because there's no ineffective fielding to rattle him, partially because effective fielding can inspire him to raise his own game. An effective pitcher is often confident in himself too, and therefore better able to get over poor pitches, innings and outings, because he trusts himself and his own ability. Finally, an effective and efficient pitcher that throws less pitches is theoretically less likely to get injured or wear down as the season goes on, and fielders are less likely to get injured because there are less plays to make in the field and they spend less time in the field, which is less sapping for them too, especially catchers. The less tired your best players are the less off-days they need. And so on and so on and so on. Anyway, the Cubs have a potentially great rotation with Zambrano, homerless Prior and healthy Wood, plus okay Maddux and Mr Who Knows. They need to do their best to make the most of that strength, and that means putting as good a defence behind those pitchers as possible without foresaking the required offence. What the optimal offence is relative to the optimal defence, I don't know, but I suspect that the Cubs right now are too offence orientated. Barrett at C, Walker at 2B, Nomar at SS, Ramirez at 3B, Murton and Hairston in the OF, there are 6 positions currently that at the very best are merely average, if not below. Of course, they all (with the glaring exception of Hairston) provide either excellent offence relative to their position or excellent offence relative to their position relative to what they're being paid, so it does give the Cubs a bit of a dilemna as to how to keep such excellent offence/value for money at the same time as improving their defence. I'm not convinced that it's possible. Pitching and fielding's more than half the game. I'd say at least 60-70%.

Murton's playing every day and looking pretty pretty good. Can they put him in RF next year or can Nomar swing over to RF?? At least Nomar can still hit. As stated in another thread, Williams is looking quite good, especially of late. Pencil him into the rotation. The pen's gotten beat up a little the past two days, but Ohman, Wuertz, Dempster, Novoa and possibly Van Buren look solid going into next season. Of course still plenty of bad. Dusty's still manager. Hill's not looking good. Patterson looks awful. Welly & Mitre are still on the team, and the Cubs can't get healthy. Would have liked to have seen what they could have done w/ Nomar and Ramirez in the lineup. Altogether, get a few of the big names (Wood and Nomar) to stay healthy for a change, and this team can compete for a playoff spot next season.

Yup good job by Williams. He's a keeper. Don't trade him off. The Cubs need pitching.

I wouldn't mind picking up Finley, but don't trade away J. Williams.

Tried telling you guys Murton should be in there every day! ;)

Bring back Walker and Nomar, and the Cubs have one of the worse infield defenses in baseball. Lee really saves them. The pitching isn't that solid anymore fellas.

What team will make a big bid for Furcal?? Neither NY team will. Boston, Philly, Baltimore and Anaheim won't. The Dodgers probably doesn't. Perhaps St. Louis, Seattle or Houston do. Maybe Furcal's price tag won't be too high given that most of the big market teams have good shortstops. Of course, this could be like the Cubs trying to outbid Detroit for Ordonez too. :(

Yep, lots of wishful thinking indeed given this organization's history. How's this lineup look for a possibility.... Furcal, Nomar, Lee, Floyd, ARam, Jacque Jones, Patterson & Barrett Trade Walker & a filler for Floyd when the Mets and Boston finally pull off the Manny trade. Resign Nomah to an incentive laden deal and put him @ 2b. Signing Furcal will be difficult. Can imagine Seattle offering some big money. Sign J. Jones to a 2 year deal.

He doesn't suck, and quite a few managers would probably give Neifi the nod over Cedeno. A lot of manager's just don't give up on reaching the playoffs. They're managing for another contract. Face it. Neifi's a middle of the pack hitter for SS, and has one of the best gloves amongst shortstops. I just don't get why defense means so little to some. You know, Ronny isn't chopped liver when it comes to defense. Wasn't even trying to compare Nef and Cedeno's d. Heck it's irrelevant now. Just don't get why Neifi's such a favorite whipping boy. Neifi doesn't fill out the lineup card, and Baker knows what type of hitter Neifi is. I am so sick of this excuse. He still isn't any good. That is Neifi's fault. I guess that's why you're burnt out cubbie fan. :o

He doesn't suck, and quite a few managers would probably give Neifi the nod over Cedeno. A lot of manager's just don't give up on reaching the playoffs. They're managing for another contract. Face it. Neifi's a middle of the pack hitter for SS, and has one of the best gloves amongst shortstops. I just don't get why defense means so little to some. You know, Ronny isn't chopped liver when it comes to defense. Wasn't even trying to compare Nef and Cedeno's d. Heck it's irrelevant now. Just don't get why Neifi's such a favorite whipping boy. Neifi doesn't fill out the lineup card, and Baker knows what type of hitter Neifi is.

Take a look @ Philly and Florida's schedule. They're brutal. The Cubs have to play some great baseball, which is highly unlikely. But if they do, and beat up on Houston, they have a shot given what Philly and Florida face down the stretch. Hey at least the Cubs have caught Milwaukee and NY, and Washington's only a couple of games away. :o

I would rather have Cedeno out there defensively. Even though he's on the DL?? Wow! :wink:

He doesn't suck, and quite a few managers would probably give Neifi the nod over Cedeno. A lot of manager's just don't give up on reaching the playoffs. They're managing for another contract. Face it. Neifi's a middle of the pack hitter for SS, and has one of the best gloves amongst shortstops. I just don't get why defense means so little to some.

why do you have to 'blow' money? that's insane...especially if the objective is to keep neifi off the field. how about you just don't sign neifi? there, you just saved $2.5 mil to keep perez off the field instead of spending $30 mil. fine, he's above average (compared to other ss)...but when you compare him to guys that will get 4-5 year contracts, i'd say he's average. in other words, he's not worth what he'll get. why invest 30 mil+ and 4-5 years in a guy who can be outproduced by a cheaper nomar, who can then possibly replaced by cedeno at less than a million in 2006? you'd be wasting the cubs' top position prospect and spending $30 mil to get furcal. if you'd be wasting cedeno and spending tons of cash while getting arod or tejada for ss, fine...but furcal isn't that good. Furcal >>>> Nomar this year. At least Furcal's durable. I'm just dealing w/ reality here. First, what's the odds of Baker giving Cedeno much of a shot?? Cmon this is Dusty Baker we're talking about. Murton will be lucky to play next year. Also, Baker loves Neifi, and they'll have to get someone who's established and pretty good and durable to keep Neifi off the roster. I think Neifi's alright if used properly, but Baker misuses him and I hate the idea of having Nomar and Neifi back and Neifi batting 2nd for 80 games next year, after Nomar goes down. Neifi batting 2nd has killed this team. I'd much rather take Furcal @ SS and Nomar @ 2b and bring back Hairston, if Nomar goes down, which is pretty likely, but what the heck, roll the dice. If E. Patterson's as good as advertised, he'll take over 2nd in a few year, and the Cubs can save some money that way. See, this is what's wrong. This is Hendry's team, not Dusty's, and Hendry should have the final say on what 25 players Dusty has on Opening Day next year, not Dusty. Agree. If Nef, Macias and Dusty are back for another year, and the Cubs struggle again, Hendry should get the ax along w/ Dusty.

Neifi's 14th in ops amongst shortstops and one of the best defenders @ one of the most important positions on the field. Basically, he's an alright starter for his production and salary. However, he should never bat 2nd. If he batted 7th or 8th, that would be fine. Unless you're NY or Boston, you aren't going to have obp monsters throughout your lineup.

why do you have to 'blow' money? that's insane...especially if the objective is to keep neifi off the field. how about you just don't sign neifi? there, you just saved $2.5 mil to keep perez off the field instead of spending $30 mil. fine, he's above average (compared to other ss)...but when you compare him to guys that will get 4-5 year contracts, i'd say he's average. in other words, he's not worth what he'll get. why invest 30 mil+ and 4-5 years in a guy who can be outproduced by a cheaper nomar, who can then possibly replaced by cedeno at less than a million in 2006? you'd be wasting the cubs' top position prospect and spending $30 mil to get furcal. if you'd be wasting cedeno and spending tons of cash while getting arod or tejada for ss, fine...but furcal isn't that good. Furcal >>>> Nomar this year. At least Furcal's durable. I'm just dealing w/ reality here. First, what's the odds of Baker giving Cedeno much of a shot?? Cmon this is Dusty Baker we're talking about. Murton will be lucky to play next year. Also, Baker loves Neifi, and they'll have to get someone who's established and pretty good and durable to keep Neifi off the roster. I think Neifi's alright if used properly, but Baker misuses him and I hate the idea of having Nomar and Neifi back and Neifi batting 2nd for 80 games next year, after Nomar goes down. Neifi batting 2nd has killed this team. I'd much rather take Furcal @ SS and Nomar @ 2b and bring back Hairston, if Nomar goes down, which is pretty likely, but what the heck, roll the dice. If E. Patterson's as good as advertised, he'll take over 2nd in a few year, and the Cubs can save some money that way.

Average?? He's 7th in ops and obp amongst shortshops. 2nd in stolen bases and one of the top defenders. Stupid = pinching pennies when the team has $50 million to blow. I think a proper response to that is that I don't want the Cubs to "blow" the money at all. I'd rather have them invest that money in the pieces that are most likely to lead the team to a championship. While Cedeno isn't likely going to give you what Furcal would next season, his production would come closer to Furcal's than any other available option in RF would be to Giles. The $50M is a chimera, btw. It's not nearly that much after pay raises to Prior, Z, ARam & Lee. It also has to pay for the closer, another arm, three OF's, 2B, SS and possibly an SP. Being able to fill a couple of those positions with cheaper players is the key to being able to ink impact players where possible. Furcal's .340-.350 OBP would be nice out of short, but it isn't a difference maker. I'd rather make Giles my top priority, attempt to trade for another impact OF bat, have Ryan & Ryan in the pen and hope that AJB's recent stretch is lowering his price a bit. You've lived in Socal Tim. Do you really think Giles will leave?? What the Cubs SHOULD do is get Burnett and Giles, but knowing the Cubs they won't. The last top 3 Free agent I recall the Cubs signing is Andre Dawson and he practically begged the Cubs to sign him. The Cubs typically go for guys in the 6-10 range. Milwood and Furcal would be nice.

In 12 seasons in the majors, Floyd has played 3 full seasons. This could be his 4th. That doesn't seem very safe to me. If they're going to stick Floyd in one of the corner OF spots, they better get another impact bat for the other spot. He has one year left on his contract, and iirc he'll get $6 million. This would be a classic Cub move, ala the resigning of Nomar. And yes they should get an impact bat, but watch them get someone like Jacques Jones. At least his d's real solid.

Looks like Baker might actually have a clue for once. I was shocked to see Murton in the lineup versus a righty today. Dusty must have finally seen enough of Patterson.. I'm a huge J.R. fan btw. :)

The more I "think" about it.... The more I'm convinced that the Mets & Boston will restart the Manny trade talks and the Cubs will end up w/ Cliff Floyd. Manny's too expensive of a risk for this organization. Floyd's a safe risk, who fills a need, lefthanded corner outfielder who Baker can put between Lee and Ramirez. Am not sure what happens w/ Murton though.