don_kessinger_was_good

I just don't get it. We're the Chicago Cubs for crying out loud, one of the most storied franchises in baseball. We run in the 3rd largest market in baseball, we have fans scattered across the US to a greater degree than any other team in baseball. The Cubs had the 5th highest payroll in 2005 of all big league teams, and will have over $40MM in available funds to bring in new players for 2006 (though $7MM is already spent now on raises to Dempster, Rusch and Williamson). So why the heck can't we shoot big, instead of settling for marginal improvements and stopgap players, and take this team to the next level? If Abreu really is available from the Phillies for the right package, then let's make that package available to them. How about Felix Pie, Jerome Williams and Roberto Novoa? They get our best minor league prospect, a back of the rotation starter (which they need), and middle relief depth (which they also need). And of course, payroll relief. Take on Abreu's contract, plus sign Giles, and you've STILL got well over $10MM in new money left over to bring in a starting pitcher, or acquire middle relief and setup help, or acquire a new middle infielder. If Jim Edmonds can handle CF just fine at 36 years old, you cannot convince me that either of Giles and Abreu couldn't handle CF too--each of whom is younger, faster and more athletic than Lassie. We don't NEED to have a speedy, slap hitter leadoff guy for CF you know. Myself, in this scenario I'd go ahead and keep Walker for 2B, give SS to Cedeno at the major league minimum, and that's quite a lineup. It would also give Dusty the three LH bats for lefty-righty balance that he so craves. We know Walker can bat leadoff, but if you insist on some speed in that slot, Murton or Cedeno might be able to fill the bill. Or if that scares you, then spend your remaining 10MM on Furcal for SS and leadoff, and use Cedeno (while his value is high) to get some pitching help in trade. Giles, Lee, Abreu and Ramirez 2-3-4-5 in your lineup, just think about that for a moment. C'mon, let's aim high for once.

.325/.390/.515, 18 HR, 82 RBI, 14 SBs. Dude can hit, give him a chance.

The thing is, if you give any credence to Win Shares, Lee was a pretty valuable player even before he became a Cub. He led the '03 Marlins in Win Shares, for example. This is why I was much more pleased about the Choi/Lee trade than many. (And yes, I should probably change my avatar when talking about him.) Exactly. When we traded for Lee, everyone looked at his Marlins numbers and was rightly excited. A typical Lee year was .280/.370/.500+ with 30-35 HR and 90 RBI, 20 SBs and Gold Glove defense. If he "regresses" to that level of production, we have no reason not to be very very pleased. 2005-ish production is just a bonus. I would like Hee Seop back for my bench though. No one has talked about our pathetic, putrid bench all off-season, and it needs some serious work. Other than (maybe) JHJ, I don't see who will be filling our bench for 2006. It sure would be nice late in ballgames to have an option like Hee Seop for PH, instead of a deadbeat like Gremlin.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Three years ago, everyone would say Nomar and Sammy were sure-fire first-ballot HOF-ers. Now they can't even get a mention.

Right here in Kansas City, $4MM, that's my guess. KC is desperate for some kind of excitement, ANY kind of excitement. Ownership has said they'll increase payroll about 10MM this coming year. They could DH Sammy, and hit him between Sweeney and Emil Brown. Add in Matt Stairs, and at least their offense would have a pulse.

LA gets: Aramis Ramirez, Jerome Williams and Corey Patterson Cubs get: JD Drew, Milton Bradley and Hee Seop Choi Money is a wash. Cubs re-sign Nomar to play 3B. Hee Seop becomes our main LH hitter off the bench, and backup for Lee at 1B and Murton in LF. 1. Bradley, CF; 2. Murton, LF; 3. Drew, RF; 4. Lee, 1B; 5. Nomar, 3B; 6. Walker, 2B; 7. Barrett, C; 8. Cedeno, 2B Outfield is finally solved, and the Cubs have barely dented the payroll, allowing them to sign a big-name starter AND a high-quality setup man (or two) for the bullpen. I'd hate to see Aramis go, but with Nomar here, Drew fills a bigger need than Aramis. And while Drew is a huge injury risk, anymore, Aramis is nearly as big a one, too. And they make almost identical money. Worth your consideration....

Cleveland is no New York or Boston, but they're not Kansas City or Tampa, either. They have money to spend, and with the team on the rise, they have an interest in maintaining a sprinkling of veterans to go with their young talent--especially when it comes to the pitching staff. I would like BOTH free agents Kevin Millwood and Bobby Howry, but I think their is better than a 50% chance that BOTH are re-signed by the Indians. And I agree with an earlier poster that the Yankees, Red Sox and maybe Angels will bid against themselves for Burnett, he'll get too expensive. Like everything else this year, the only way to effectively get things done is going to be via the trade. Were I the GM, I'd think of creative trade packages that could interest a team in sending us a starting pitcher.

I think I'm with the consensus on this one. I like Furcal, quite a bit actually, but I know he's not worth 8 to 10MM/year. For a slight premium to that amount of money, you can bring in a real difference maker like Giles, or trade for someone like Abreu. I can understand the hesitation regarding Cedeno, he showed signs of being a nice ballplayer, but the uncertainty is so high. Just like it is with Nomar, where the uncertainty comes from his fragility and likely high pay. It's all very frustrating to be honest. I just don't see an obvious, slam dunk solution here. So if nothing looks like The Answer, maybe we shouldn't be forking over 10MM in that area. Bottomline is that I'm really warming to the idea of trading for Lugo--he's more proven than Cedeno, he's almost as good as Furcal (not quite though), and costs half as much money. That might be the best compromise solution. Then retain Cedeno's option value by keeping him and JHJ for the bench, allowing us to wave good riddance once and for all to Niefury and Gremlin. Wouldn't that be a decent outcome, overall??

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=citadel-2_458676_260&prov=citadel&type=story Nolen's numbers at Peoria were pretty good, I wonder why they didn't try to re-sign him, at least as organizational filler? It looks to me like both Daytona and West Tenn will be needing bullpen guys for 2006.

Looks like E-Patt is a bit overmatched in the AFL; or conversely, he was just too polished for A-ball given his college experience (the more sensible interpretation). He can be a big leaguer, but I think some with the excessive E-Patt love need to re-adjust their expectations. He won't be in Chicago anytime soon. On other fronts: why the heck is Murton playing in the AFL? What does he have to prove? He's hitting the league at nearly 400, he's already shown he can hit big league pitching at a 300 clip. They're not even trying him out in RF in Arizona to see if he can be an option there for us? This will look COLOSSALLY, STUPENDOUSLY DUMB if Murton gets hurt in the AFL, you know this, right? Also, I am so disappointed in David Aardsma, what the heck has happened to him? I saw him pitch with Rice, he was lights-out. A college version of Brad Lidge. Now, he is just falling apart. Frankly, I don't think the Cubs can waste the protection spot on him on the 40-man prior to the Rule 5 draft, when there are more promising names like JK Ryu, Brandon Sing, and Sean Marshall on the bubble.

Sheez, would people get off Dempster's case? He did an excellent job as closer, $5MM/year is cheap for the closer nowadays. Ryan is not the best closer in the game, but he's not paid top-dollar either. I like him and I like the contract. We have lots bigger problems than the money paid to Ryan Dempster, folks. Much MUCH bigger problems. $3MM to Glendon Rusch, but $5MM to Ryan Dempster, haha....point #1.

YES - I would vote for Estrada any day of the week. I don't think it is coincidental that our pitching staff has decreased in effectiveness since 2003 (granted, some of that is due to injury). While I love Barrett's offense, I miss the defense of Damian Miller. Estrada would surely equal Barrett on the offensive side, and my understanding is that he is also better defensively. Anyone have the numbers to back up this belief? The problem with Estrada is that he will be 30 years old next year--so he's unlikely to get better--and he was just plain awful in 2005. A .300 OBP and sub-700 OPS is miserably bad. It looks like he just put up a flukishly good 2004. Shoot, Rick Wilkins had one good year, too. Just say no to Estrada. Now, Victor Martinez? Then we can talk. :-) Also, someone mentioned Ramon Hernandez--if you look, he's very similar to Barrett, so it's hard to see how that improves our team any. They are similar hitters, similar defense, and similar age. Blah.

Cubs have anywhere from $42MM to $45MM to spend. We have excess minor league pitching. We can trade one of Rich Hill or Jerome Williams, if not both. Roberto Novoa is trade bait. You pick up Walker's option then trade him. Wave goodbye to Rusch, Nomar, Neifi, Macias and Burnitz, and send them off with a year's supply of Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco treat. Add all those things together, and you can accomplish a LOT if you're a smart GM. Let's shoot higher than Rafael Furcal, who is OK, but not worth $9MM+ per year. No way. Instead... 1. Pay whatever is necessary for Brian Giles, outbid everyone. He is such a crucial need for us. 2. Sign Kevin Millwood. 1 + 2 should be roughly $20MM/year. 3. Sign Bobby Howry or Scott Eyre. Estimated cost $2.5MM/year. 4. Use Walker plus perhaps a mid-level prospect to get a QUALITY 8th inning man. Possible candidates: Rafael Betancourt (Cleveland), Jesse Crain (Minnesota), Octavio Dotel or Justin Duscherer (Oakland). 5. Use Hill or Williams, plus Patterson, to get a CF leadoff man in trade: Bradley or Pierre. 6. Put Murton in LF and Cedeno at SS from day one--combined cost $650K. 7. Put together a trade package of young pitching to Atlanta for Marcus Giles at 2B. Whichever of Hill or Williams is still left, plus Renyel Pinto or Ricky Nolasco? 8. Sign a couple veterans with home run pop for the bench--estimated cost $2-3MM. 9. Pick up Scott Williamson's option. You've got a playoff team right there, with money left over.

The Cubs need-- 1. New CF 2. New RF 3. One new middle infielder (SS or 2B) 4. One veteran starting pitcher 5. 8th inning setup man 6. One (or two) quality middle relievers 7. Other than Blanco and Hairston, an entirely new bench Plus, one of the new position players must be a leadoff man, and one of them must be a high OBP #3 hitter in the lineup. That is an AWFUL lot of holes to fill in one off-season. Nice job, JH.

The question is, will Eric's play be negatively impacted by the Cubs' decision to jettison Corey this winter? Because I think Corey is a goner. It's unfortunate, because Eric is showing almost NONE of the bad habits Corey did, even when Corey had his early minor league success. I think it shows that Corey made an understandable, but bad decision not to go to college. It sure seems to have helped Eric.

Aardsma is really looking like a bust. Originally, I had him tagged as Iowa's closer for 2006, but not now. If we even keep him, he pretty much MUST repeat West Tennessee to see if he can get his act together. Shipman will get the promotion instead. Frankly, I think Aardsma has become trade bait, some team will try and see if they can get him back on the right track. A team like Minnesota or Oakland would make a lot of sense.

Wow. 91 K's to just 15 BBs in 73 IP, and a WHIP below 1, that's impressive. He's Shingo with a real fastball. Let's hope this guy posts.

Not good enough. Need one more quality late inning reliever here, IMO, even with Dotel on board. With all our money this year, no reason not to add Howry or Eyre to your list, and subtract Novoa (who I think is trade bait anyways).

Well, I stand corrected. Makes me go hmm....I do feel better about taking a chance on him at 2MM than 3MM. Still leery, but that I might do if better options don't present themselves.

Stone sucks, I was never on his bandwagon in the first place. As a player, he had one aberrantly good year, the rest of the time he was average at best. In fact, even his good year wasn't all that good--a 1.30 WHIP and 101 BBs is NOT impressive, but Cy voters are always swayed by W-L record above all else. (Trivia time: name every Cy Young winner of the past 30 years who won 20 or more games in a season just once in his career). As a color announcer, Stone was and is cloying, condescending and crass. It was Harry alone that we cared about listening to Stoney, not you. Any of a dozen other color guys could have shared the booth with Harry and been just as long-tenured in the booth as you were. So, Stone as GM? Sure! As long as it's not GM of the Cubs.

Why don't we ask the Mets to give us Cameron ($6M), Floyd ($6.5M) and Glavine ($9.5M) in a pure salary dump move for some prospects? With the $22M they save here, and the $15M freed up with Piazza as free agent, the Mets can trade for Mannys' $20M and Delgado's $16M. We fill the needs for CF, RF and a >200IP/<4.00ERA SP. And, all 3 guys we get are free agents after 2006. If I'm taking on salary dumps, I'd like at least one of the guys to be moveable to another team in a later deal. No one would want Glavine at 9.5MM, just like no one wants Maddux at 9MM. We have one aging pitcher, we don't need a second in our rotation. Let's just concentrate on Cameron, that is a viable option if Bradley, Lofton or Pierre doesn't work out. 6MM is high, but it IS for just one year. Shoot, didn't we pay Short Bus 7MM in 2005? NY needs bullpen help, we'll send them Novoa and David Aardsma for Cameron, and take on all of Cameron's contract. Good deal for both teams.

Why don't we ask the Mets to give us Cameron ($6M), Floyd ($6.5M) and Glavine ($9.5M) in a pure salary dump move for some prospects? With the $22M they save here, and the $15M freed up with Piazza as free agent, the Mets can trade for Mannys' $20M and Delgado's $16M. We fill the needs for CF, RF and a >200IP/<4.00ERA SP. And, all 3 guys we get are free agents after 2006. That's a good thought. Only trouble is that, unless CPatt were out of the picture, would it give Dusty an excuse to bench Murton? I feel very comfortable in saying that Corey Patterson will not/would not block Matt Murton in 2006. It is safe to say that Murton has passed Patterson on the prospect tree, and by a comfortable margin.

Williamson should be a lot more effective in 2006, and he is filthy when healthy. It's unfair to judge Williamson so quick after his TJS, just as it was unfair to judge Dempster in late 2004. BUT, I have to say what I saw of Williamson this fall didn't impress me nearly as much as Dempster did the year before. I just don't know that Williamson can be relied on, and more important, I really don't think I'm prepared to spend $3MM to find out, which is what his option is. I'd rather spend the $3MM on a proven (and healthy) commodity like Eyre or Linebrink or Howry, wouldn't you?

I only trade Pie if it brings a big-time impact player to Chicago (A-Rod, Miguel Cabrera), or if it involves a swap of top prospects. For example, something like this: Jerome Williams, Roberto Novoa, JK Ryu and Felix Pie to Boston for Manny Ramirez and Hanley Ramirez. The Pie/Ramirez part of the equation is basically a swap of top prospects at positions the other team needs filled. Ramirez is blocked by Renteria in Boston, but he's ready to play; we need a SS to go with Ronny Cedeno at 2B. Pie would allow Boston to play him in CF, and with Manny's money gone, re-sign Damon and move him to LF. Plus, I'm pretty sure we'd be the first team in ML history to have three Ramirez' in the same starting lineup at the same time: Manny in LF, Aramis at 3B, and Hanley at SS. So that would be kind of cool. :-)

Must build up the bullpen. Our starters don't go deep in games, so it is a necessity. Dempster is fine as the closer, Wuertz is a serviceable middle reliever, Ohman is a serviceable lefty specialist. We need three relievers to join them: a quality setup man, a quality 7th inning man, and a long reliever. You could fill all three spots with the money a single Billy Wagner or BJ Ryan will command. 1. Sign either Bobby Howry, Scott Eyre or Scott Linebrink. 2. Trade for either Rafael Betancourt or Jesse Crain or Juan Rincon. 3. Make Jerome Williams your long reliever (if he's not traded in a different deal), when he is replaced by free agent signee Kevin Millwood for the rotation. Let's say: Dempster, Betancourt, Howry, Wuertz, Ohman, Williams. I'd go to war with that bullpen.