XZero771679666304

Power challenged? If the Cubs keep Jones, they will have above average power at at least 5 positions. Here are my personal HR predictions: Soriano - 40 DeRosa - 10-15 Lee - 35-40 Ramirez - 35-40 Jones - 25 Barrett - 15-20 Murton - 20 Izturis - 2 That's 182-202 home runs from the starting lineup alone. I actually believe Lee and Sori will hit over 40. And the bench: Ward - 7-10 Pagan - 5-7 Blanco - 3-5 Theriot - 2-3 Cedeno - 1-2 That's 220-229. Figure at least 5-6 from the pitching staff, and you have around 225-235 homers, either number squarely in the top 5 of all MLB teams. Add Floyd and that number will only go up. OBP challenged maybe, but not power challenged, barring injury.

Indeed. Particularly for those who don't regularly play a guitar.

He wasn't horrible his first 2 years with the Cardinals. How do you explain 2006? He must have won every time he was even decent, because his RS was decidedly average. It's just kind of weird.

That's really not that high, actually. Not when you think about the 6 and 7 runs of support per game Yankees and Red Sox pitchers get. In fact, Marquis wasn't even in the top 50 or run support received in 2006, and was #50 in 2005. In 2005, He was 4th on his own team in RS. Over the past couple years, his RS is about the same as Z's. Makes me wonder just how he won so many games.

He was signed to start a month ago. If we pick up a better option, what can he really do? And Theriot could then pursue that CF job they want him to, or be packaged with several others for a quality starter. In any case, DeRosa doesn't have a whole lot of say at this point b/c he already signed; therefore not much bargaining power. he would just have to win the job outright in ST. You know Hendry. If he told DeRosa he will start, he will start.

Agreed. The bullpen guys need regular work. Not overworked or underworked. Regular work. Yeah, the biggest problem with the bullpen last year was the rotation.

Signing him to be a full-time player would clearly be a bad idea. Signing him to be a part-time contributor and potential RHP killer could be a very smart gamble. Agreed. Having on the team could be very good, provided he doesn't steal too many AB's from Matt.

He was pretty well gimped out last year. Let's try his 3 year splits vs. RHP: .277 .369 .498 .867 Naturally, Floyd has been much better in the past against RHP. Thing is, Floyd's 34 this year so his injuries aren't something to be brushed aside as no longer an issue. More importantly, the whole idea of platooning Murton is to guarantee good/better than Murton production against RHP. If we're going to gamble on Floyd staying healthy and returning to form, then why not take a similar(better?) gamble on Murton, who hit .338/.398/.530 against RHP after the ASG this year? I'm not advocating Floyd, and I personally agree with your point about Murton. But since they requested his medial record, I'm assuming the Cubs aren't going to sign him if he's in the same condition he was last year. If he's any measure healthier than he was last year, expecting Floyd to surpass Murton's overall production vs. RHP is pretty reasonable.

Because my head is buried in the sand so I don't have to think about it. I think the answer to the question is, it's necessary to get more out of the offense. Just like last year, I'd be fine with Murton starting 162 games and getting 750 PA, but the lineup around him has to be good enough to absorb less than ideal production from him. I don't see him putting up a .300/.400/.550 line, so we aren't talking about taking away at bats from a star. If Murton puts up a respectable 800 OPS against RHP, I would not be the least bit upset. But if you can get a hitter capable of putting up a 900 OPS in 200-300 of those PA, then you are making your team better. That would artificially inflate Murton's total line (because it would be more "against LHP" heavy), while at the same time providing a great line by the replacement player. I'm not concerned with Murton suffering to a lack of playing time, he'd still get a lot of at bats, and he doesn't seem to me to be the type of player that would sulk, or get lost with less playing time. Ideally, they'd have better production elsewhere, so there would be no thought of sitting Murton from time-to-time. However, this team is still in need of more offense, and if they can't get it by acquiring ARod, Cabrera or Tejada, they have to get it somewhere. Problem is, Murton was better against RHP than Floyd was last year. He was pretty well gimped out last year. Let's try his 3 year splits vs. RHP: .277 .369 .498 .867

I think it was quite possible to go from worst to first. But in my mind we just didn't go about spending a fortune correctly. In fact, the four exact moves I called for in Sept were Soriano (for 2B), Drew, Daisuke and Schmidt. Admittedly, I don't know if was ever possible for us to get Schmidt, but we could have done the other three plus Lilly and not spent a whole lot more money (assuming you account for the posting fee in a different budget, that is). I think that would have put us pretty comfortably #1 in the division and serious WS contenders. Soriano Drew Lee Ramirez Jones Murton Barrett Izzy Z Daisuke Lilly Hill Prior/Miller/et al. 51 million just to negotiate with Matsuzaka and five guaranteed years for Drew are as ridiculous as anything I have seen this offseason. Speculation is that Nippon Ham will refund some of that fee to pay for the contract. And while most revenues are shared, I've heard that there are creative ways for Boston to get additional revenue out of Japan without going through the general revenue sharing pool. Five guaranteed years is tough, but that OBP and power from a lefty stick would look awfully good replacing Derosa in our lineup for this season. The numbers would, but the fact remains the man has never had consecutive seasons of 140 GP in his career. You could count out his broken hand season, but for a guy with such an illustrious history of being fragile, you just can't. It's not like Derrek Lee who had 6 consecutive seasons of 155+ games played. 140 games is pushing it for a full time player as it is. Boston will rue the day they gave J.D. that contract.

I think it was quite possible to go from worst to first. But in my mind we just didn't go about spending a fortune correctly. In fact, the four exact moves I called for in Sept were Soriano (for 2B), Drew, Daisuke and Schmidt. Admittedly, I don't know if was ever possible for us to get Schmidt, but we could have done the other three plus Lilly and not spent a whole lot more money (assuming you account for the posting fee in a different budget, that is). I think that would have put us pretty comfortably #1 in the division and serious WS contenders. Soriano Drew Lee Ramirez Jones Murton Barrett Izzy Z Daisuke Lilly Hill Prior/Miller/et al. 51 million just to negotiate with Matsuzaka and five guaranteed years for Drew are as ridiculous as anything I have seen this offseason.

Hell, I know. Our team starts spending money, and they can't even do that right. Still, a small part of me is just happy they're spending. On the other hand, you wonder if it's just part of the Cubs experience that the offseason that the bank vault opens happens to be the offseason where the least is available. I can only hope that it carries over to next offseason. It's a mess, there's no arguing that. But it's not a catastrophe, and certainly not worth coming unglued over.

Actually, most of it has been fans fed up with garbage baseball. Speaking of melodramatic posts. It is what is is. The past two seasons have been nothing but bad baseball on the northside. I try to be positive. I loved the Soriono signing. Didn't mind the Lily aquistion, then Hendry pulls this off. 7(maybe 9) million for Jason Marquis. Cubs fans have been putting up with this type of thing for a long, long time. I have been for 20+ years, and I love the Cubs as much or more than anyone. I kills me (not necessarily referring to you, since I don't know how old you are) when 18-20 year old kids start crying about how "sick of it" they are. I am as frustrated and angry as anyone over the events of the past few seasons (in which we actually HAD talent and largely squandered it). Having said that, after being tempered by abject failure for so long, you'd think Cubs fans would be able to respond to incompetence like this with a bit more equanimity. Hand wringing and hyperbole isn't going to accomplish anything, except maybe exacerbate the negative emotion.

Why are they at least a .500 team. So far no one has been able to really prove that the Cubs have improved their 2 biggest problems last year much at all. No Dusty. Most of their OBP villains are gone. Sure Izzy is here, but he has far less company than before. A full year of Lee. Soriano may not repeat his .351 OBP, but he will probably be above his career average. Even if he isn't, he will still be Pierre +.300 OPS. Another huge bat in the lineup. DeRosa >> Perez Izturis (as sad as this is) >> Cedeno Better bench (Ward and probably Floyd) SP who will at least be able to eat innings, taking the load off the pen (which was enormous). You don't like Lilly and Marquis? Look at the combined numbers of Marshall and Co. last season. UGLY. Any kids brought up will be under less pressure. A better pen. No Dusty, plus a hitting coach that actually preaches patience. A good coaching staff. More Barrett, less Blanco (unless Michael takes it in the sack again). No Perez, Bynum, Mabry. Murton has seasoning last year, probably not likely to repeat his huge slump (partially due to Dusty's tampering). Ramirez not likely to repeat his slump. Miller will be recovered, Prior might be. Is this a recipe for a sure fire winner? No. Is it enough to contend in the worst division in the game, where the competition (save maybe the Cards) has gotten even weaker? In all likelihood. And if people are going to dismiss last year's stats for guys like Soriano and Ward, they need to do it for guys like Marquis. EDIT: Did I mention no Dusty?

Totally agree. People on this board hate everything. They hate the sun. They hate air. If you ask 4000 people for their opinions on anything, there will be people that don't like it. So any subject that gets discussed on the boards will have people in violent objection to it. I could just as easily say that this board likes everything, too. That was a valiant attempt at spin. :P There has been a predominantly negative tone here lately. is that surprising? a team with a $95 mil payroll nearly lost 100 games last year. now they've thrown $20-28 mil at a guy who had a 6+ era. what else would you expect? It's been bad for a while. Yes, there is good reason, but most of it has been hyperbolic melodrama.

Houston is in a bad way right now. Pettitte is gone, and I doubt Clemens will be back. Their offense is worse than either the Cubs or Cards, and their pen is regressing. Not only that, but either Jennings or Garland would cost them all their big trade chips (Hirsh and Bucholz), so they could only replace one of the starters that helped them to a .500 record last year, and neither of those replacements would be as good as the original. I can agree with the Cards being good (decent) again, though. But you're right, there isn't enough info yet. None of these teams are done yet, including the Cubs.

Totally agree. People on this board hate everything. They hate the sun. They hate air. If you ask 4000 people for their opinions on anything, there will be people that don't like it. So any subject that gets discussed on the boards will have people in violent objection to it. I could just as easily say that this board likes everything, too. That was a valiant attempt at spin. :P There has been a predominantly negative tone here lately.

This is a piss poor division, and as it stands, the Cubs have as much, if not more talent than any other team in it. That is not an endorsement of the Cubs as favorites, or of Jim Hendry's job. That is just how it is. The Central sucks. As of right now, the Cubs have as good a shot as any to win the Central Division. Anyone who says the Cubs are "not even a .500 team" or "have no chance" is not being rational. Nor is anyone who would say the Cubs are run away favorites.

In this division, with the Astros regressing and the Cards not improving? No, the Cubs have as good a shot as anyone. In any other division you're right.

I think most of us are wondering why sign a #4 or #5 type when we needed a #2 type. Maybe because there don't seem to be any #2's available? The only potential #2's that were on the market were Schmidt (who seemed set on the WC) and Pettitte, who wasn't going anywhere but NY or Houston. Jennings' availability has been in question, as well as Westbrook's. Zito would be an overpaid disaster in the NL central. Penny may or may not be available. I wouldn't have signed Marquis regardless, but I am just not seeing where these #2's that everybody want are.

-5

Huff is indeed a butcher in the OF.

i'm pretty much with you. i guess it's an okay signing, as long as we're willing to cut bait quickly if he shows up and sucks, but since i doubt that's the case, it's hard to get excited. At $1m in this market they'll dump him in ST if he can't cut it. I'm actually dumbfounded how anyone could think this isn't a solid, low-risk high reward, signing. I'm with you. Hard to imagine why anyone would be down on this deal.

That SLG isn't right is it? I'm afraid so. 406 AB, 103 H, 17 2B, 0 3B, 12 HR (last 3 seasons vs. RHP) He's always had good power potential though. I remember him hitting one in the river at PNC. edit: got my numbers from foxsports. wth. Apparently foxsports is as fair and balanced as foxnews.