don_kessinger_was_good

Rotoworld reporting via LA Times that Atlanta is now offering Furcal 3/40. Forget him, Hendry's lost his man. On to the Julio Lugo sweepstakes? Ugh.

When you've gone a century w/o winning the Series, no scenario should be dismissed out of hand. I love Lee, he solves a need and has his head screwed on right. But who knows what kind of deal could surface at some point? What if Seattle decided they wanted him, and offered Felix Hernandez and Ichiro? Or Pittsburgh offers Jason Bay and Zach Duke? Or Minnesota offers Johan Santana? Possibilities should always be considered at least. No one player is untouchable.

Biggest fan, no; liked him, yes. I'm most angry about moving him for nothing to clear out a 40-man slot, while simultaneously protecting two low-ceiling catchers (Reyes and Soto) and a worthless slug of a player like Macias. JVB showed enough the last two years to keep him as the "shuttle reliever" between Iowa and Chicago should any injuries develop in the Cubs pen, as he has options left. Yet another bad roster management decision by Hendry, just like Sisco last year. He'll likely justify this one by "well, I got a PTBNL this time for JVB, instead of just losing him to Rule 5", which is of course, ridiculous.

Not many. Exhibits A, B and C: Juan Cruz, Jason Dubois, Sergio Mitre. Classic "4A" players.

As would his average, SB %, defense, etc. That's all a given. :wink: The more I look at Gathright, the more I like him. Look at his OBP in his minor league stints (360, 406, 419, 399, 384, 388). Not too shabby, plus he's only 23... If Dusty wouldn't play Dubois, and won't play Murton or Cedeno, what makes you think he'd play Gathright? "Need to ease him in, dude, it takes experience to play CF, Patterson/Macias/Hairston (insert veteran lame guy here) know how to win, and they can handle that heat, dude."

Sorry BBB, but given the Cubs' miserable track record in terms of developing their minor league talent into useable major league talent, I would fully support the Yankee's model at this point and drain the minors as trade currency to get major league-capable help right NOW. All of our highly touted prospects, which many here (yes, including me) love to follow their progress, and almost to a player they've never panned out. I count a grand total of five that made it, and two of those we traded away (Willis and Garland). On the other hand, there have been so many Brooks Kieshnicks, and Ryan Gripps, and David Keltons, and Juan Cruz', and Ruben Quevedos, and Corey Pattersons, etc.... Get what you can for the young guys while they still have some perceived value, and shrug your shoulders when occasionally (like with Willis) the guy you move ends up being good. I mean, look at the two zeroes the Yankees are moving to apparently get Juan Pierre. Or Boston's willingness to move supposed uber-prospect Hanley Ramirez to get Beckett and Lowell (though admittedly, Boston sold off Ramirez a year too late to maximize his value). I'll keep Guzman because you'd be selling him low given his injuries and durability issues vis-a-vis his ceiling. And Pawelek is completely off-limits, of course. But there is NO ONE else in the Cubs system I wouldn't trade right NOW to get the big league we need, and yes, I include Hendry pets Rich Hill and Felix Pie among them.

For what it's worth, the Cubs aren't even mentioned as a possible destination. The article also states the Cubs won't be going after Soriano since arbitration is liable to pay him 10M next season. I put no stock in that. Jayson Stark is the most anti-Cubs guy around. He always belittles the team, and downplays their efforts in the Hot Stove, year in and year out. Screw him. We can match any team in baseball to trade for Abreu if Jim Hendry gets proactive about it. Jason Marquis? Chad Qualls and Brandon Backe? Erik Bedard? Are you kidding me?? Jerome Williams, Rich Hill and Roberto Novoa gets the job done if Hendry will simply pick up the phone and put in the call. I salivate over the idea of having a 3-4-5 of Lee, Abreu and Ramirez, my goodness. Move Walker for Bradley and sign Furcal, and Hendry is done--he has himself a World Series contender.

So Pie + relatively cheap cost of acquiring Bradley/Lowe nets us Bradley and Abreu? I'd do it. And about $40m in salary commitments over the next two years. Look, it boils down to this. If Derek Lowe, a good prospect and a chunk of cash is worth Abreu, why would the Dodgers bother dealing with the Cubs? Exactly. That's why Hendry should just focus on getting something done with Bradley directly, and skip the more complicated scenarios.

I would trade Zambrano for Miguel Cabrera. But not Abreu.

If Donut Boy seals the Furcal deal and trades for Bradley, all is still right with the world. Also, I have heard nary a peep regarding Kenny Lofton so far this offseason, so you would have to think Hendry still has that as a viable backup option in case other initiatives fail. I will admit to being very concerned about the RF situation though, and Hendry's apparent disinterest in addressing it sooner rather than later. I think THAT'S the hole on our team we're going to end up being most disappointed with. Again. Juan Encarnacion, come on down!!

When was the last time you where in Pittsburg? I was there last year for a few Cub games over the couse of a weekend. The city is alive and well. The downtown is thriving and they have new shopping and tourism attractions. IMO, the problem is that they haven't been good in a long time. If the Steelers can sell out Heinz field, the Pirates can sell out PNC. Why would I want to go to Pittsburgh? Yikes! So what, they threw a bunch of government money to bring alive downtown. So did Cincy. It still doesn't change the fact that they're both old economy cities. Both places should be one sport towns. Send the baseball franchises to the East or West Coast or to Chicago. Man, are you parochial, or what? The Reds and Pirates are original NL teams, they're just as proud as our Cubs. And they're not the "poor sisters" many make them out to be, it's lousy baseball teams that are the problem, not fan support or lack of underlying passion. There are nearly 7 million people in the effective Reds dominance area, including Louisville, Dayton, Columbus and Indianapolis. Pittsburgh is in a little tougher spot, but they are in better shape than KC, Milwaukee, Tampa and frankly, San Diego in terms of total fan base size. Honus Wagner. Ernie Lombardi. Ted Kluszewski. Ralph Kiner. Roberto Clemente. Pops Stargell. The Big Red Machine.

St Louis and Arkansas also feature the lowest ratio of dentists per capita in the US. I point this out because I care about the poor little meth-addled hillbilly Cardinal fans, I really do. We shouldn't disparage them because they all have 8th grade educations and like to wear mullets. They're Americans too, dammit!

Farnsworth $6MM/year Gordon $6MM/year vs. Howry $4MM/year Eyre $3.5MM/year ---------------------------------- Wagner $10MM/year Ryan $9.5MM/year vs. Dempster $5MM/year Looks good to me. Now get Furcal signed and trade for Bradley, fer crying out loud!

I understand the unhappiness, but I got it on good authority that there were 3 NL teams and 2 AL teams involved: Mets, Dodgers, Cardinals, Red Sox, and Twins. I was told that what Florida asked in return from the NL teams was very different than what they asked from AL teams. Let's just say that had the Cubs been involved, they would have been asked to give up triple what the Twins actually gave up to get Castillo. The Mets were asked to give up Milledge, the Dodgers were asked to give up Joel Guzman and the Cards were asked to give up Reyes. I think Florida's strategy was to trade him to the AL. Same strategy used on Beckett/Lowell. Same strategy they'll use with Pierre - I now believe the Rangers and Yankees will have the upper hand on getting him than the Cubs. Delgado was the exception only because his cash was so much, it came down to who'd pick up the most, and the Mets outbid the Red Sox and Angels. So this makes even more reason to loathe the stinking Florida Marlins with full-bore, teeth-baring hatred. We don't want your lousy CF anyway. Here's to your 60 win 2006 season, jerkweeds!

Rotoworld says Hendry's Plan B is to trade Jerome Williams, Todd Walker, c-patt and a prospect (Pinto?) to Texas for Kevin Mench and Alfonso Soriano. Ugh. Won't it be fun to watch Soriano match Patterson's sub-300 OBP and 150+ K's out of the leadoff spot?? Derrek Lee is slitting his wrists as we speak. Or calling his agent telling him not to return Jim Hendry's calls. One or the other.

Julio sucks. Benson is no great shakes either, but starting pitchers are more valuable than relievers, and Baltimore desperately needs starting pitchers. This would be a good trade for the Orioles.

Funny how these things play out. Right out of the gate, the Cubs looked like geniuses in taking Prior. Now, two years removed from 2003 and going on a third, it's looking more and more like Tex was the better pick. The guy is an absolute monster bat, and will be a star for a long long time. Prior OTOH, I hope his regression in 2005 was the result of lingering injuries he wouldn't disclose, and not indicative of where his career is heading. Because when you look at his soaring pitch counts, more than double his "prior" (hehe) BB rate, the declining K rate, the increasing ERA and WHIP--it's a very alarming situation. If he doesn't get back on track in 2006....I'm just sayin'

Isn't it true that 40-man rosters don't have to be finalized until the day before the Rule 5 draft? Maybe there is some flex in the interim that ML baseball doesn't strictly enforce.

Restovich has absolutely brutal splits, which is why he can never stick with a ball club. It's very important for a pinch hitter and role player to have comparable splits, because they come to bat late in the game when either a lefty or righty could easily be replaced with the other. If your PH is an auto out against a RHP, for example, you needlessly burn a bench bat because of the switch. Which the Cubs can NOT afford to do, since they will likely go with a 12-man staff again this year. The bench is one man short to begin with, you can't further hamstring yourself with one of the bench guys unable to hit half the pitchers he'd face.

Shawn Green would not be a terrible option. He's not an impact player, but he's better than many alternatives that have been mentioned. He's a pretty consistent 350-360ish OBP, low to mid 800s OPS guy. And he hits LH for some righty-lefty lineup balance. In other words, he's basically what Jeromy Burnitz was supposed to give us. So Green should not be the 1st option, or even the 2nd or 3rd. But if all else fails, he could be a backup contingency. IF, and only if, Arizona picked up a huge portion of his remaining money.

I think Hendry would offer the 5th year before he'd overpay the annual salary. He seems to be a guy that once the salary hits a magic point to his interpretation, he loses all interest. The fact he's still in there supposedly to the point of now making an offer, makes me think it's progressed from 4/38 or maybe 4/40, with a 5th year option, to now 5/45, 5/48 or so, guaranteed. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't offer to pay Furcal more than Ramirez gets per year. More years yes, but not more money. And I don't think Furcal is going to get better than that 5/45 to 5/48 deal from anyone else, either. His agent should take it.

I sure hope so. He is the leading vote-getter returning to the ballot for next year, he got 66.7% of the vote in 2005. There are likely no newcomers that will get in--Joey Belle and Dwight Gooden are damaged goods, and Orel Hershiser just isn't quite good enough IMO. Those that never saw Sutter when he hit Chicago don't know the meaning of the word dominant. He was flat-out incredible, the first guy to actively throw the splitter. Literally, the first couple years no one could hit it. Sutter would come into the game oftentimes in the 7th inning, and finish it out from there. Incredible. Sutter wasn't the first modern closer to have monster success, he was pre-dated several years by Goose Gossage, Rollie Fingers, Tug McGraw and Dr. Mike Marshall, among others. But I would argue that Sutter was the first DOMINANT closer, and though these things matter little, he was one of the nicest guys to ever put on a Cubs uniform, to boot. Good luck, Bruce! PS--I'd love to see the Cubs retire his uni number.

But goony, he DOES stink. He has no plate discipline. Zero. His OBP is embarassingly bad. He is an awful defender. He is Corey Patterson with more power. And he's paid an awful lot of money. We can do better than that. As for the Mench/Delucci platoon idea, it's not that I don't appreciate the soundness of it, I do. It's that I KNOW, for a fact, that with our manager it would never work. Now, go get Whitey Herzog or Sparky Anderson out of retirement, and you might have a workable solution....

I love Mench if used in a platoon, but Dusty has never been a good platoon manager. And I start disliking Mench a lot when he has to face RHP. Delucci had a fluke season, IMO. Soriano stinks. I applaud the effort, but dislike the options, other than the Bradley and Furcal signings, both of which I like. What about Jason Michaels from Philly to go with Murton and Bradley in the OF? Michaels would seem to be the odd man out with Aaron Rowand now in town, and Shane Victorino ready to play. I know you don't like Austin Kearns. Any interest in Jay Gibbons from Baltimore, or Jonny Gomes from Tampa?

I think some are being too hard on Mabry, he had a sub-par 2005, but 2004 he posted an excellent line. He can play 1B, 3B and the OF, hits left-handed, and has some power. He's basically a younger version of what I hoped Dave Hansen could give us a couple years ago. I especially like that he can cover some 3B, because it means there is no way, no how Jose F. Macias makes this roster for a third consecutive year. And that's addition by subtraction, folks. For $1MM too--lest you forget, Gremlin was actually paid $825,000 last year to suck eggs. It's not too often in the modern game you can say you actually improved your team for a $175,000 net investment.