Outshined_One

Pie is indeed going to be a special player some day. However, there are some misconceptions about him that I see going on in this thread... 1) While Pie has the tools and the potential to be a hitter anywhere in the order, his current ceiling is that of a middle of the order hitter. His ideal ceiling profiles him as being a 25-30 HR hitter with plenty of power to go around. You could potentially make him into a Pierre-like slappy leadoff hitter, but my concern for that is that it would be incorrectly using him because of his power potential, which was coming into play this season in AA. Heck, Pie had one of the longest HRs in Pringle Park (The DJaxx's home field) history. Keep in mind they've have their share of power hitters down there over the years. 2) Pie's bone bruise is something that is a bit of a concern, but it's not something as serious as, say, tearing a muscle. The Cubs were incredibly cautious with him following the injury since they didn't want to rush him back too soon. I think part of the reason why he's been having some trouble in winter ball is because there's rust he has to shake off from missing that amount of playing time. 3) Pie was not ready for CF this season and everyone knew it. Problem is, Jim Hendry was trying to pull rabbits out of his hat (it worked with Murton) because the team was struggling and stagnant. While I think Pie could have made a good impression on the team and might have had some success, I don't want Dusty Baker and his band of merry men anywhere near him. 4) The Southern League (AA) is one of the best pitcher's leagues out there. The Pacific Coat League (AAA), on the other hand, is renowned for its band boxes and hitters' parks. Players do have to adjust to the more advanced pitching, but making that leap is not as hard as, say, from the Midwest League to the Florida State League. In other words, I'm not overly concerned with Pie going to AAA. Now, in my honest opinion, it would behoove the Cubs to have Pie repeat AA to shake off any remaining rust he might have and also to work on him work more specifically on things such as his strike zone discipline and baserunning. Von Joshua is one of the better hitting coaches in the Cubs' system. Pie would benefit from another go-round with him, especially considering he'd still be young for his league. I wouldn't say have Pie repeat AA all season, though. Something more along the lines of having him show he can torment opposing pitchers, then moving him up to AAA shortly thereafter would work well. As for who I would trade Pie for, that list is not that long. Yeah, I know people want to WIN NOW NOW NOW NOW DANGIT, but the fact of the matter is that I think Pie could be a truly special player down the line for the Cubs. I don't want to ship him off to the Marlins for Juan Pierre, only to watch Pie come up with them and have him achieve huge success. How do you feel about the Matt Clement/Alf trade involving Dontrelle Willis? Yeah, Willis was the only guy in that package who panned out for the Marlins (and was considered a throw-in at the time). Clement and Alfonseca were positive guys on the team. But in retrospect, would you have done that trade? Most likely not. That's what a Pie for Pierre swap would be like, imo.

It's not necessarily that he was undeserving; he had quite a good year in all honesty. But the only reason Clemens didn't win it was because he had to deal with some putrid offenses. There were five games the Astros lost 1-0 in which Clemens pitched and got the No Decision. He pitched 7 innings in three of them, 8 in one, and 6 in another. In each start he did not give up a single run. Some other notable stats in the NL: First in ERA (1.87) Third in QS (26) behind Carpenter and Pettitte (tied at 27) Tied for tenth in Ks (185) Second in WHIP (1.01) behind Pedro First in BAA (.198) Although, I think this is comparable to the Oscars when in one year an actor or actress puts up a great performance in a movie, gets nominatd, then gets robbed, and then does another movie that's not quite as good but clearly is made to get that actor/actress an Oscar, and said actor/actress wins the Oscar. Only in reverse. Clemens didn't deserve the Cy Young last season over Johnson and everyone knew it. There wasn't much of a chance of him winning this one from the get-go. Although, as some consolation, at least this isn't as bad as Colon winning it over Santana...

You don't have to be a (s)crappy, short, slap-happy hitter to be an acceptable leadoff hitter. Sure, it'd be nice to have a guy like that who could consistently get on base. But...in all honesty, the main qualities I look for an ideal leadoff hitter are... 1) An OBP around or above .350 2) A concrete idea of the strike zone (i.e. knows when to lay off bad pitches) 3) A willingness to take and/or foul off pitches effectively. 4) Good awareness on the basepaths. Todd Walker exhibits those qualities. Matt Murton does as well. In all honesty, this team already has two guys who could effectively bat 1-2 in the order. They are an incredible step up from the three headed monster that was Corey Patterson, Jose Macias, and Neifi Perez last season. None of those three guys deserved to be in those two slots. I'd be willing to listen to a case for Hairston being in the 2 slot, but leadoff I'm not as much of a fan. Despite these questionable managerial moves, Hendry seems to think the only way to remedy them is to go out and find stereotypical leadoff hitters. I don't think Pierre conforms to all four of those things I laid out above (check out his career pitches per plate appearance and his SB%). Furcal actually fits pretty well into that spectrum, so I wouldn't be too upset with him in a Cubs uniform. The main problem I have with Pierre is I get the feeling Hendry might overpay for Pierre. At a fair price, he'd be a decent addition. However, he's not the ideal addition; not by a longshot.

If things remain equal and trading for Pierre is the only trade Hendry pulls this offseason, I think Hendry won't extend Pierre. Felix Pie does need another year of seasoning down in the minors, but all signs currently indicate that he has tremendous potential. Granted, he could regress or get injured (again) or something along those lines, but at the rate of his current development, I think he would be a tremendous replacement for Pierre when he's ready. Then again, if the Cubs end up trading Pie somewhere, extending Pierre might not be a bad idea...

I'd be fine with Pierre if the Cubs don't overpay for him. He has some value as a leadoff man and a potential speed guy. He's still relatively young. I believe next year is his contract year (could be mistaken on this one) and typically guys tend to put a little bit of extra effort into things in those scenarios. He's not some one I'd be thrilled with, but I'd be okay with the Cubs getting him using a modest package.

I dunno, he was pretty happy to take Barton in the Mulder deal. Barton is arguably going to need another year before coming up to the majors (that remains to be seen). Also, Matt Murton would probably seem like an attractive player to Beane. Whether or not some one would want to trade him is another issue altogether, but there ya go.

If I'm the Athletics, I'm dangling Zito to teams in the NL Central. They have a history with St. Louis via the Mulder deal last offseason. St. Louis' farm system is not very strong, but there are players to be had who could help. Houston might have interest if there's concern for Clemens' health and career. Cincy has new owners who are looking to make a splash. Milwaukee could use a guy like Zito to give them a legit rotation. The Cubs have enough of a history of injury problems that getting some one like Zito would not hurt much. Granted, he won't attract a package like Mulder or Hudson got (Meyer was the #2 LHP prospect in baseball last season, mind you). However, he could still attract a good package that the A's could use.

The Cubs Convention is going to be a madhouse at this rate, especially when they open up the floor to fan questions for Dusty, Hendry, and company. They put themselves willingly through those things, needless to say. Also, if Hendry doesn't have the spine to handle criticism from a large group of people who are not insiders in the baseball world, boohoo. If that were the case, he wouldn't listen to us anyways unless we kissed up to him. Then again, given the fact that Hendry has not won any new Cubs fans with the Rusch and Neifi deals, maybe he wouldn't even listen to us to begin with.

Is that you Lenny Harris?! :shock:

Depends, are you over the age of 30?

Actually...this is starting to make me want no part of Crawford. IsoD Patterson: .041 Crawford: .031 BB/PA Patterson: .048 Crawford: .043 AB/HR Patterson: 31.1 Crawford: 65.4 #P/PA Patterson: 3.41 Crawford: 3.37 Pass on Crawford. While I think Crawford would be a bit of an upgrade over Patterson due to various issues with Patterson and the fans as well as Patteron's strikeouts, I'm not seeing significant evidence here that indicates the Cubs should give up the talent needed to acquire Crawford.

Ah, let's use career stats for some of the more indepth stats... #P/PA Crawford: 3.37 Pierre: 3.42 G/F Crawford: 1.58 Pierre: 2.67 SB% Crawford: 82% Pierre: 74% BB/PA Crawford: .043 Pierre: .061 Um...is it me or would the Cubs be replacing Corey Patterson with a slightly more patient Corey Patterson with less power if they got Crawford?

Crawford vs. Pierre (Per ESPN) over the past three years... ABs Crawford: 1900 Pierre: 2002 AVG Crawford: .293 Pierre: .303 OBP Crawford: .324 Pierre: .354 SLG Crawford: .427 Pierre: .378 OPS Crawford: .751 Pierre: .732 K Crawford: 267 Pierre: 115 BB Crawford: 88 Pierre: 141 HR Crawford: 31 Pierre: 6 SB Crawford: 160 Pierre: 167 CS Crawford: 33 Pierre: 61 This could use some more tweaking...

Nope, it wasn't a bad dream I had last night when I first read about the signing. :(

What irks me the most is that we all know what's going to happen next. The Cubs will set up a situation where Neifi and Cedeno will compete for a position (either SS or 2B, depending on Furcal and Walker). Cedeno will look a bit shaky in Spring Training, causing Dusty to "platoon" him, saying that he and Neifi will split SS duties, with Cedeno facing lefties and Neifi facing righties. Of course, early in the season, Neifi will go on a tear, causing Baker to play the hot hand and using Cedeno sparingly off the bench. However, when Neifi regresses to the norm (again), Baker will either (A) state that Neifi needs to ride out his slump with more reps or (B) start Cedeno regularly for about two weeks, but since Cedeno will have had few ABs and is still a rookie that needs to get into a groove, he will be inconsistent at the plate or on the field and will promptly be benched for most of the rest of the season, then traded for some useless bench player for pennies on the dollar. Seriously Hendry might as well ship Cedeno out while he has value now. With Baker and Neifi prominently involved, I do not see any realistic way he can win the starting SS or 2B job unless he comes in like Murton and hits the holy crap out of the ball. Cedeno's confidence will be shot, he won't get regular playing time, and will basically regress. Then everyone can point at his failure as another example of the Cubs' inability to develop a position player. Most of the people in this group will then advocate trading the minor league hitting sensation du jour (I'm going to guess Felix Pie) since he will never, ever, ever, ever amount to anything since he's a Cubs positional prospect. The more I think about it, the angrier I get.

My avatar is what I wish would happen to Neifi. Pikachu needs to lay the smackdown on him, imo. As for my sig, its hilarity will cheer me up somewhat in this dark time. :(

Only one image can adequately sum up everyone's feelings. http://img466.imageshack.us/img466/3020/spideyscreamnoooooo2ba6bk9bv.gif

Welcome aboard!

He's had well-documented problems with Jeff Kent in LA. Now, whether you think that falls on Bradley or Kent is another matter altogether...

In the hands of a competent manager, Neifi is a decent bench guy to have around. He's always had solid defense. When he has been used in a limited capacity, his bat is also decent (I read that on Desipio, but I can't remember which article). However, we know what Dusty likes to do with Neifi. I want Hendry to Dusty-proof this team, so that means I don't want Neifi anywhere near this team next season.

Thome would come cheaper than Overbay in terms of what the White Sox would have to give up. The Sox have managed to get a good amount of playoff revenue to play around with in this offseason, so they potentially could afford to add Thome's salary. Thome is problematic. He turns 36 some time next season and is well past his prime. He's had some injury problems that are troubling. When he's healthy, he's one of the best sluggers in baseball. I don't see the White Sox trading Chris Young, as much as the Philles would likely covet him. The Phillies need young pitching with some experience, so McCarthy fits the bill pretty well. The White Sox also have some intriguing pitching prospects (Liotta, Gonzalez, Tracey) who could make an attractive package. Interestingly, while looking up Thome, I found a news story from the Minneapolis Star Tribune that had a Thome to the Twins rumor floating around. Hmmmmmmmmmmm...

This Felix Hernandez kid must be the second coming. I knew he was highly touted, but I recall Baseball American saying they would take Felix or Prior for the career, this is the same site that said Prior would definitely win a Cy Young or two this decade. Based on what I've seen of him, the Doc Gooden comparisons are legit. If he can stay healthy throughout his career...wow.

If this is true... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Yet somehow they managed to be one of the hottest teams in baseball in the second half and managed to knock the Yankees around on a regular basis. What an odd team. Other than Huff, who do they end up trading?

The Rays boy wonder Andrew Freidman was discussing a 6-year deal with Baldelli before it was put on the back-burner until the GM/Manager searches were complete. I wouldn't be surprised if he signs a long-term deal in Tampa this winter. Let's see. In TB's outfield, the potential guys who could be seeing action there next season includes: Delmon Young (depending on what ownership decides) Jonny Gomes Joey Gathright Rocco Baldelli Aubrey Huff Carl Crawford Interesting. Combine that with the talk that they might move BJ Upton into the OF and the fact that Elijah Dukes could do well enough in AAA to merit a callup at some point next season, they have a decidedly bizarre (yet enviable) OF situation.