don_kessinger_was_good

Come on, luck has nothing to do with what the White Sox have done. In fact, the Sox are very very similar to our own Cubs of 2003. What both teams showed/are showing is that great pitching carries the day every time. The Cubs offense in 2003 stank, it took a great last 2 months of Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez, and an occasional contribution from Randall Simon, to get them any kind of marginally acceptable team offense. Instead, it was Mark Prior posting one of the 100 best single-season ERA+ of all-time, along with huge pitching down the stretch from Wood and Zambrano, that carried the day. Along with some effective relief pitching from Remlinger and Farnsworth, and of course, Sweaty Joe's one big year. Flash forward to the 2005 Sox. The offense is marginally acceptable at best. They can knock around some home runs, but the team OBP stinks and the only truly dangerous hitter in that lineup is Konerko--and you can strike him out. But the starting pitching is decent and the bullpen is deep and effective. Sounds like a familiar formula to me. Not lucky at all.

Aardsma is quickly pitching his way into non-prospect land a-la Jon Leicester. Maybe Shipman should have gone to the AFL instead.

Ick.

Pepitone wore a toupee, yep. Here's one: what is the only position out of the 9 spots on the field plus manager, that does NOT feature at least one Cub in the Hall of Fame?

Julio Lugo, 2003-2005: Year G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS 2003 117 433 58 119 13 4 15 53 35 88 10 3 .275 .333 .427 .760 2004 157 581 83 160 41 4 7 75 54 106 21 5 .275 .338 .396 .734 2005 158 616 89 182 36 6 6 57 61 72 39 11 .295 .362 .403 .765 Rafael Furcal, 2003-2005: Year G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS 2003 156 664 130 194 35 10 15 61 60 76 25 2 .292 .352 .443 .794 2004 143 563 103 157 24 5 14 59 58 71 29 6 .279 .345 .414 .758 2005 154 616 100 175 31 11 12 58 62 78 46 10 .284 .348 .429 .777 You look at these numbers, I'd have to say Lugo would be just as good as Furcal--and significantly cheaper. With BJ Upton on the way in Tampa, and Lugo's salary rising, maybe Hendry should make a push for a Lugo deal. His only real negative--besides a history as a wife-beater--is that Lugo will turn 30 yo next month, while Furcal is just 28. Still, I think this could be a sage move, with the caveat that our leadoff man come from CF (I'm looking at you, Milton Bradley, Juan Pierre and Kenny Lofton).

The guy in blue in the picture looks an awful lot like the late Vince Lloyd, former Cubs radio partner of Lou Boudreau.

Hehehe....if the Pale Hose knock out Boston, Manny could be gone. With three years left on his deal, would YOU hesitate to bring in a guy who in an off-year for him, hit just under 300 with 45 HR and 140+ RBI? Put Manny in LF, move Murton to RF, trade for Bradley in CF and in that scenario, you can leave Cedeno at SS and keep Walker at 2B if need be. Just consider for a moment, this as your 1-5: Bradley, Walker, Manny, Lee, Aramis. Wow.

A decent enough recap. Boy, everyone sure loves Pawelek. :-)

Right, but they don't have to stay there. I guess I'm lumping all the minor league guys together in my mind, vs. the major leaguers. Should have mentioned: Chad Fox can be dumped too, he's on the 60-day DL, but counts against the 40-man once the Rule 5 draft is upon us. Tough deal for him, but he's gone.

I've made the point before that recent history suggests the best strategy for Rule 5 drafts is to take a chance on a high-ceiling pitcher, but take a pass on a possibly high ceiling positional player (unless VERY close to the bigs). Rule 5 claims that have stuck seem to bear that strategy out. So if I'm Jim Hendry/Oneri Fleita, my strategy is to protect my pitchers that might be able to stick, and take a chance with the positional guys, leaving them unprotected. Pie and Sing would be my only two exceptions. So in updating the list, I would protect: Guzman, Nolasco, Ryu, Pinto, Marshall, Marmol, Aardsma and, Pie and Sing. I leave off pitchers coming off serious injuries like Blasko, Hagerty (who might be finished) and Petrick. I leave off pitchers that show no sign of making serious progress to the bigs, like Brownlie, Mitre, Wellemeyer and Koronka. Dopirak and Lewis played themselves off the list; none of the utility players need be on the list (Theriot, Fontenot, Greenberg, Soto, McClain). Guys like Craig and Scott Moore and Jon Connolly are interesting, but just too marginal of a prospect to merit protection. Of my list, Hendry would be insane not to protect Guzman, Nolasco, Pinto, Marmol or Pie, and I don't think he's insane. :-) So the interesting thing to observe will be what he and the organization think about Ryu, Marshall, Aardsma and Sing. I hope the brass thinks they're valuable, because all of them look like they have a major league future to me. Having said that, if push came to shove, Aardsma and Sing would be the first two I threw overboard.

Some could get traded, that's true. Some could get claimed in the Rule 5 draft if unprotected, that's true too. Hendry has some tough decisions to make. If he can't protect everyone, and they are a Rule 5 risk, he needs to trade them to get value back, rather than re-live the Andy Sisco debacle. But as for is there room for all these guys in Iowa, the answer there is of course, yes. There's no one blocking any true prospects at Iowa, that team in 2005 was about as devoid of prospect talent as any I can remember in a long time. Once Cedeno and Murton made the leap to Chicago, the best "prospects" in Iowa were I guess, Soto, Mitre, Wellemeyer, and Van Buren? That's a pretty sad list. Back to your main concern. I think you must protect Pie, Sing, Guzman, Nolasco, Ryu, Pinto, Aardsma, Marshall and Marmol at all costs. There will be openings for them: besides the players the big league Cubs let go, there is no reason for the likes of Koronka, Mitre, Wellemeyer and Soto on the 40-man. Leave them unprotected, if someone wants them and/or Hendry fails to move them in a trade, then so be it. I would gladly move guys off the 40 man like Theriot, or Greenberg, or Fontenot, if it means protecting a high-upside player like the pitchers named above. I mean seriously--what big league club is going to claim Ryan Theriot in the Rule 5? Or Mike Fontenot? Not going to happen. If we've learned anything in recent years, it's that teams will take a shot in the Rule 5 draft on pitching prospects, but with position players, forget about it. Unless they are ready for the bigs RIGHT NOW, they won't get claimed. So the strategy should be, protect your pitchers and take your chances with the positional guys (other than Pie and Sing, IMO).

Is the name calling really necessary? What has the man done to you? Wow. Lighten up. Since I know he's reading this, I apologize to Dick Pole. :roll:

Ricky Nolasco's upside = Jeff Suppan, or Paul Byrd. That's a not bad upside to have at all. He'll pitch for years, give his team 200 IP, and make millions. Nolasco also strikes me as a very durable guy, unlikely to have recurring injury problems. Smooth, non-descript delivery. Nice. As good as the DJaxx were this year, half the team will get promoted to Iowa for 2006, for once the I-Cubs will be the minor league affiliate worth watching. Pie, Greenberg, Sing, Theriot and Craig should all see AAA time, but the pitching staff is what should be exciting. Guzman, Nolasco, Pinto, Ryu, and either Sean Marshall or Rich Hill. With Aardsma, Shipman, Brownlie, probably Van Buren, and probably Wellemeyer in the pen. I'm making the I-Cubs my runaway pre-season PCL favorite for 2006.

Aaah.....so that explains the username for occasional poster here "Carmen Fanzone's Trumpet", haha!! I always wondered what he/she meant by that. Actually, I have Fanzone's Topps card, I remember seeing him play. He's an answer to one of your earlier trivia questions, too--Fanzone wore Ryno's #23.

I don't think it's that complicated. Sign Furcal. Move Cedeno to 2B. Trade Walker for a relief pitcher. Waive goodbye to Nomar. As for the other moves: Sign Lofton. Sign Giles or trade for a corner OF - Floyd, Abreu, Burrell. Sign (Millwood, Byrd, Weaver) or trade (Zito, Hernandez, Schmidt, Vazquez) for a starting pitcher. All those moves should easily fit into Hendry's budget. I really do NOT like the idea of Cedeno as next year's 2B. His primary value is at SS, which is the hardest position to fill and has the lowest offensive expectations. If you put him at 2B his value is greatly diminished. I'd much rather trade him. If you don't like Cedeno at 2B with Furcal at SS, then put Cedeno at SS and go get a 2B instead. Like little brother Giles :-) I like Furcal, he makes sense, but here's another option no one is talking about--what about Julio Lugo? Many here (self included) liked him as an option last winter. Now, Tampa is ready to move him with his salary growing and BJ Upton on the way. Lugo is no all-star, but he is steady, decent OBP, can steal some bases, good defense, and will be much cheaper than Furcal. Yes, Tampa is notoriously difficult to trade with, but Lugo can be had. Furcal/Cedeno is still my first choice, though...

But I don't know an ex-Cub who played trumpet on the Tonight Show, so I get an A-, not an A. :-( Here's one though: who is the only left-handed catching catcher in Cubs history? And what is his trivia claim to fame other than his left-handedness?

Me want Jason Michaels.

I don't think it's that complicated. Sign Furcal. Move Cedeno to 2B. Trade Walker for a relief pitcher. Waive goodbye to Nomar. As for the other moves: Sign Lofton. Sign Giles or trade for a corner OF - Floyd, Abreu, Burrell. Sign (Millwood, Byrd, Weaver) or trade (Zito, Hernandez, Schmidt, Vazquez) for a starting pitcher. All those moves should easily fit into Hendry's budget. Nice to see you've adopted my modus operandi for the offseason to a tee. The only difference I have is that I'd prefer trading for Milton Bradley or Juan Pierre for CF, as superior options to Lofton, only because of Kenny's age. But if not Bradley or Pierre, then Lofton is an acceptable later choice. As for how to do it? I prefer using Walker to get my setup reliever (I'm looking at you, Jesse Crain), so my offer to Florida for Pierre is Patterson, Rich Hill and Jon Leicester/Jon Koronka (pick 'em). To Los Angeles, Walker for Bradley straight up is the trade that makes sense, as LA can use Walker at 2B, allowing Kent to move to 1B. If we've used Walker in a trade elsewhere though, I would think a Jerome Williams/minor league pitcher offer could do the trick for the unwanted Bradley.

The promotion the Cubs desperately need to make is to bring up Von Joshua and make him the Cubs hitting coach, and unceremoniously show Sarge and Gene Clines the door. Joshua has done a brilliant job with kids like Pie, Murton, Sing, Theriot et al, and the players love him. Dick Pole is a worthless cesspool of human waste, of what purpose is a "bench coach" anyway? Isn't he basically just a paper chaser for the manager? If you do get rid of Sarge, the 1B coach is the easiest job around. Shawon Dunston seems to hang around big league clubhouses a lot, he must need the work. I'd bring him in.

The currently-unemployed Jim Tracy ignominously wore #23 in his stellar Cubs career. Dirt. As noted, six. Harry Steinfeldt. Baseball's original 3,000 hit man was named Adrian. Of course, Charlie "Chinski" Root, a very good pitcher for the Cubs for many years.

I think Todd Walker is the trading chip for a setup man in the bullpen. I continue to hope the trade is to Minnesota for one of JC Romero, Juan Rincon or Jesse Crain, as it would be a good trade that helps both teams. But Minny isn't the only possibility.

The marquee should say: "We apologize for stealing your money the last 96 years. We'll try to put a better product on the field next year."

Right. I don't want Tracy, I just want to get rid of Baker. I'd think my signature, which I've had for a long time now, would pretty much signal that..... :wink:

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE..........

No chance that happens. One side will point out the fact that Prior gets hurt too much, and the other will busily try and point out that Miggy has character issues. And I would never trade Prior for Miggy. You can find a Miggy. It's harder to find #1 starters. This argument is as old as baseball, but I take the other side. A pitcher at his best can only help you win 20% of the team's games. A position player can help you win 100% of your team's games. Further, in this case, I'm not so sure Prior is a #1 pitcher anymore. And even if he recovers to his 2003 form, Cabrera is already, at age 23, one of the five best hitters in the game. I'd do Prior for Cabrera in a heartbeat, but I don't think the Fish would, and I KNOW Jim Hendry doesn't have the cajones for it. But it would improve the team.