don_kessinger_was_good

Some of us were saying a LONG time ago that Walker was doomed in Chicago because of his attitude. Many here dismissed that notion, I'm still not sure why. Walker has pissed off every team he's played for, I think it's his general wise-ass attitude and his propensity to seek a microphone at every opportunity that sinks him. I don't think it's his Christian gung-ho attitude, there are many players with similarly strong religious beliefs in baseball that are most welcome in clubhouses around the game. Mike Sweeney immediately comes to mind. Anyway, Walker's only attribute has always been that he can swing the bat. Well, so can Wilson. Even swap, other than the money. If bringing in Wilson frees up Murton to be included in a trade package with Hill or Guzman, to go get Zito or Tejada, than baby I am WAY for this trade. Even if not, it's an improvement. Now if we could just get Neifi out of here somehow....

I like Crazy Rumor Guy's deal--Patterson and Ohman for Ibanez and Graffanino? Sign me up! I don't even need or want Graffanino, just make it Patterson and Ohman for Ibanez and I'd be happy. Then, you'd have Murton and Walker expendable to be part of a package for....Barry Zito. Give Beane one of Rich Hill or Angel Guzman to go with them, and let's call it an offseason at that point. We'd still likely have to deal with Neifi getting over 100 starts on the season, a three-way split between him, Cedeno and Hairston at 2B/SS could work. So long as they are at the bottom of the order they can't hurt us THAT bad. Top of order could be Pierre, Jones/Grissom pure platoon, Lee, Ibanez, Ramirez and Barrett. Not bad. Rotation would be Z, Prior, Zito, Maddux and Williams, that's pretty darn good. Rusch replaces Ohman in the pen. You still have one of Hill or Guzman in Iowa. The bullpen is loaded. And maybe Wood can give us something before mid-season.

Unless I'm mistaken, Rusch cannot be traded until after June 15th.

Do you have a link where it says that the entirety of the signing bonus is up front? No, but I read it in more than one place at the time. I don't know how to search older Rotoworld posts, but I'm sure it's on there. Maybe cubs.com too??

If you've got Murton, Reed, Felix Pie and Michael Restovich all in your organization, you have four of the top 20 outfield prospects in baseball from the last four years. That's pretty cool. Let's bring in Nick Markakis, Delmon Young and Jeremy Hermida too, please. :-)

Augie is organizational filler. Iowa needs a second SS, and Cedeno isn't going back there. Fontenot can't play short. So Augie becomes Ryan Theriot's backup. OK, no big whoop.

I've said it before, it bears repeating--we aren't REALLY on the hook for Jones for three years. It took that to get him signed, but the contract was structured as 3/4/5 with a $4MM signing bonus THIS YEAR. So in 2006, we're paying Jones $7MM (ugh), or $1MM more than the guy he replaces (Burnitz). For the last two years of his contract though, Jones will make just $9MM, which is more reasonable. Given that cost, if Jones has even a marginally acceptable year, and you don't want him beyond 2006, you can certainly trade him next year with that contract, no problem. Maybe you eat a modest amount of money, but no big deal. We're only TRULY on the hook to Frere Jacques for 2006.

If I can get Jeremy Reed here, I'm sure not moving him along for Matt Clement! Been there, done that. Never a big fan of Clement's game, though I liked him as a "good guy" well enough. I'm as concerned and puzzled as everyone else about Reed's slow initial going in the bigs, but this kid's ceiling is as high or higher than Murton's. I keep him. I'm not wild enough about Raul Ibanez to move Rich Hill for him. So how about just Todd Walker and Corey Patterson for Jeremy Reed and a prospect, is that possible?

Restovich would be a good complement to Mabry on the bench, if Grissom doesn't work out. Restovich KILLS LHP, but is worse than Dubois against RHP. Like Dubois, Restovich has power, and we need that for the bench--a guy that can come up in the 8th inning instead of a freaking Jose F. Macias, and hit the ball out of the park. Assume for a moment the Cubs keep Todd Walker to start at 2B, and go with the sane strategy of an 11-man pitching staff. Then the Cubs bench right now looks like Neifi, Hairston, Blanco, Mabry, Grissom and Restovich? I have to say, that's a much better bench than the Cubs have trotted out there in recent years. Could have been better (Mark Sweeney comes to mind), but an improvement. Bullpen--vastly improved, especially with depth. Bench--improved, especially in terms of righty/lefty balance. So that's something. If Hendry makes no additional moves, this looks like an 80-85 win team. Not enough to make the playoffs, but sadly, probably just enough to get Hendry and Dusty re-upped. Lovely.

:( :( :evil: :evil:

I doubt he's productive at all, but you can't blame him for sticking around. He's due 17 million in 2006 and 18 million in 2007. The Astros can buy out the 07 deal for 7 million. By playing this season and delaying his retirement announcement until the Astros decline the option, Bagwell guarantees himself 24 million. If he retires now, he leaves all that money on the table. Wow. Bags may be "Mr. Astro", but I don't blame him one bit for sticking around, that's just way too much money to throw away. The Astros agreed to the deal, and Bagwell gave that franchise a LOT over the years, he deserves his money.

I don't want Tejada. Enough of that soap opera. If either of the Sox get him, bully for them. They're AL teams anyway, who gives a rat's behind. Let's talk about Jose Vidro. He's available. His OPS numbers every year he's been a regular but last year (injury) are comparable to Tejada's. And he bats LH. I'd like to get him, let Cedeno and Neifi platoon at SS (since that's our best case scenario with Dusty and Neifi), and call it an offseason. Vidro is due $24MM over the next three years; if he's healthy, he's worth $8MM. Since there are questions about his health, maybe Bowden spins him off and eats a bit of cash. What is a fair package in exchange, here? Patterson, Novoa for Vidro and $5MM cash spread over the three years? Maybe a mid-level Cub prospect like Casey McGahee or Adam Greenberg to complete the deal?

Bring back Sammy. Let him platoon with Jock in RF.

Looks like it's Diffusion and Don in the tag team against huber and Vance. I'll take that.... For the last time, the issue isn't JVB's major league upside, per se. He's a marginal prospect with real red flags regarding his screwed up delivery and his two pitch reportoire. That's not the point. The point is, he DOES have value. He succeeded as a closer in two straight years, first at AA, then at AAA. With bullpen help at such a premium right now around the majors, that kind of success for JVB does not go unnoticed. He is worth something tangible to some team, and likely, to quite a few teams. Now, you don't think he fits in with your club, he doesn't out-rate more highly thought-of relievers (Vance's argument) like Wuertz and Novoa--fine. But that doesn't mean you should just discard him and shrug your shoulders that you didn't get anything for him. That's not holding Hendry accountable. That's giving him a pass. No way. He did this with Sisco. It would have happened with Hagerty too, had the kid ever been able to stay healthy. He's done it this year with JVB and to a lesser degree, Leicester. It's called horrible 40-man roster management, and no huber, Hendry does NOT get a pass on this. It's his friggin' JOB to do better than what he has done.

Well that was in 164 AB's of an injury season... Last year he hit .302 (225 AB) at a higher level. A Judy, A-ball hitter is not equal value for the minor league reliever of the year in AAA. Period. Someone like huber can spin that all they want. It's a bad baseball decision yet again from Hendry, who has done this repeatedly during his tenure.

Was it not enough for you to post this puff in one forum, instead of two?? Lock, please.

I have a hard time believing the opening day OF for Iowa won't be Bacon, Pie and Greenberg. Craig, Theriot, Fontenot and Sing in the IF. Soto behind the plate. Batting order should be interesting. My lineup would be: Greenberg, Fontenot, Sing, Craig, Pie, Soto, Bacon and Theriot. Lots of speed in that lineup, wow, could be a record for the I-Cubs. Reyes, Lewis, maybe Montanez and Creighton for bench, and then a sprinkling of useless veteran fillers like Cal Murray to round out the position players. Pitching staff will be interesting. Barring additional big league trades, rotation looks like Rich Hill, Angel Guzman, JK Ryu, and then....who?? Depends on what the Cubs want to do long-term with several guys in terms of starting vs. bullpen future. I'm guessing they keep Koronka in the rotation for now, and with JVB gone, they go ahead and let Brownlie and Wellemeyer have a chance to grow into a permanent bullpen role. IMO, it's the only chance either guy has to make it and stick in the bigs. Andy Shipman certainly gets a 2006 AAA bullpen slot. Carmen Pignatiello makes sense as an org filler for the #5 starter. And the minor league teams need useless loogy's too, so I guess Cliff Bartosh draws a paycheck again this year. So that leaves two bullpen slots unfilled on the staff, and the AAA team is complete. I'd imagine you could find plenty of non-roster guys and castoffs come March and April to round out those last two spots--the "Jimmy Anderson Memorial Bullpen Slot" as it were. Now, West Tenn, that's a different story....and a different thread.

Felin Santana = Johan Santana's younger brother? Cousin?

I still say Eduardo Perez would be a nice pickup for the Cubs, a better slugger than Grissom and more flexible in that E. Perez can play all four corner positions. There was a brief blurb that the Cubs might be interested in him about three weeks ago. Bruce Miles was going to check into it. When you get back from New Years, Bruce, I'd be interested in knowing if you found anything out regarding Perez. Because after all, you can't have too many Perez' on one team. Oliver or Odalis next?

It is still TBD. Wow, you're one myopic dude. Let's see if we can help you out here. A pop-gun Judy hitter, with a sub-200 BA at low A ball. Versus the minor league saves leader at AA and AAA, last year's top reliever in the minors overall. The only TBD part is whether Hendry is a raging lunatic, or just mentally unfit for the job. My money is on the latter.

JVB is a significantly better player than this kid. What a rip. Discard someone of value because you're an incompetent at managing a 40-man roster, how nice. Macias gets released anyway, so why didn't Hendry protect JVB? And if he didn't like him, he could then trade him for a REAL player or prospect, or more likely, as part of a package for same. Instead, Hendry gets buttkiss for him. Again. Our GM sucks, plain and simple. Fire the bum.

Cubs still need another OF for the bench since Patterson is as good as gone. And the last OF should be a RH bat (or switch-hitter), since you already have Mabry. Grissom, Mabry, Neifi, Hairston and Blanco would be a decent enough bench (I'm assuming Cedeno and Walker are the starting double play combo). Unless I've missed something, Eduardo Perez is still available, I would definitely prefer him to Grissom (Eduardo can play 1B and 3B), but Grissom would be OK against LHP. Hard to imagine him getting more than 150 ABs over the course of the season, even with Dusty at the helm. Acceptable, but I do prefer E. Perez.

I was about to post the same thing. Tejada sounds like a little girl. Shut up and play, Miggy, you're getting paid $12MM/year to play baseball, act like a man and quit yer moping. Don't really want him based on baseball numbers, but his whining makes me want him even less. Let's move on.

I like Zito. Get him.

Miller got hurt yet again last year. What is the extent of his injury, and what is his prognosis, this is what I'd like to know. If he's in Chad Fox land, then I take a pass. But if it's more of a Ryan Dempster or Scott Williamson type of recovery, absolutely he's worth a similar kind of deal. $500K for 2006 and a $2MM option for 2007, that's the exact deal both Demp and Williamson got. I'm not sure why Hendry didn't follow up on his modus operandi here and make a play for Octavio Dotel this winter, that will be a real bonus IMO for whoever ends up with him. Or has he signed at this point?