Tim

I'm willing to just cheer for the Cubs to win, then see what happens with everyone else.

I hate to break this to you, but after yesterday's games they have the exact same OPS... I think his point includes durability. I know, I was just pointing out that Nomar has been just as productive as Furcal this season when he's been in the lineup. (Despite his slow start and horrific injury.) Looking forward I'm not too concerned with Nomar's health. He's had a rough last couple of years, but more often than not in his career he's been able to put together a full season's worth of AB. Given that he's almost certain to take a cheap/heavily incentived contract this offseason I think he makes a lot more sense than Furcal does. If he's healthy that's great; we should have a very productive shortstop at realtively low cost. If not, Cedeno looks like he'll be at least a serviceable starter in the majors. Either way I like it better than making a huge committment to average production by inking Furcal. Oh, I agree completely. My preference is to go with a MIF of Nomar/Walker with Cedeno as the primary backup in place of Neifi.

The last place team in the East did beat the 6th place team in the West by almost 80 points, though. :D I noticed these non-games are actually reflected in the league standings. NSBB is now shown with a 22-1 record. :(

Average?? He's 7th in ops and obp amongst shortshops. 2nd in stolen bases and one of the top defenders. Stupid = pinching pennies when the team has $50 million to blow. I think a proper response to that is that I don't want the Cubs to "blow" the money at all. I'd rather have them invest that money in the pieces that are most likely to lead the team to a championship. While Cedeno isn't likely going to give you what Furcal would next season, his production would come closer to Furcal's than any other available option in RF would be to Giles. The $50M is a chimera, btw. It's not nearly that much after pay raises to Prior, Z, ARam & Lee. It also has to pay for the closer, another arm, three OF's, 2B, SS and possibly an SP. Being able to fill a couple of those positions with cheaper players is the key to being able to ink impact players where possible. Furcal's .340-.350 OBP would be nice out of short, but it isn't a difference maker. I'd rather make Giles my top priority, attempt to trade for another impact OF bat, have Ryan & Ryan in the pen and hope that AJB's recent stretch is lowering his price a bit. You've lived in Socal Tim. Do you really think Giles will leave?? What the Cubs SHOULD do is get Burnett and Giles, but knowing the Cubs they won't. The last top 3 Free agent I recall the Cubs signing is Andre Dawson and he practically begged the Cubs to sign him. The Cubs typically go for guys in the 6-10 range. Milwood and Furcal would be nice. You're asking a person who just left SoCal for a better job opportunity if someone would leave if offered several million extra? Yeah, I'd say he would. Of course, I'm not Giles and he may not. But I'd make it my #1-3 priorities to find out. BTW - Alou was actually a top 3 FA the year they signed him.

I hate to break this to you, but after yesterday's games they have the exact same OPS... I think his point includes durability.

Average?? He's 7th in ops and obp amongst shortshops. 2nd in stolen bases and one of the top defenders. Stupid = pinching pennies when the team has $50 million to blow. I think a proper response to that is that I don't want the Cubs to "blow" the money at all. I'd rather have them invest that money in the pieces that are most likely to lead the team to a championship. While Cedeno isn't likely going to give you what Furcal would next season, his production would come closer to Furcal's than any other available option in RF would be to Giles. The $50M is a chimera, btw. It's not nearly that much after pay raises to Prior, Z, ARam & Lee. It also has to pay for the closer, another arm, three OF's, 2B, SS and possibly an SP. Being able to fill a couple of those positions with cheaper players is the key to being able to ink impact players where possible. Furcal's .340-.350 OBP would be nice out of short, but it isn't a difference maker. I'd rather make Giles my top priority, attempt to trade for another impact OF bat, have Ryan & Ryan in the pen and hope that AJB's recent stretch is lowering his price a bit.

It's the booing.

I'll be around 20 points up heading into the final day, but you'll have a 3-0 starter advantage on me. It will all come down to how well those guys pitch for you. does it matter? Not really.

CIE, It seems to me that I remember some strong critiques on your part of Hendry's job putting this team together. Here, you seem to be implying that the team should have won far more than 82-83 games if it had been managed properly. Is my memory off or am I missing something in the logic?

I'll be around 20 points up heading into the final day, but you'll have a 3-0 starter advantage on me. It will all come down to how well those guys pitch for you.

That is the question for week 24. If I didn't have to remove a productive guy, it would be one thing. But I already have more productive OF'rs than I can play at one time. poor me.

Bonderman is missing his start, so I replaced him with a rookie pitcher facing the Cubs. If that's not a quality start in the making, I'm not sure what is...

If Ankiel is put on the 40 man roster again this winter to protect him from the rule 5, then he'll have to stick on the Cards roster next spring or pass through waivers again after spring training.

That's as it should be!

The gen. consensus here has been that Matsui will be Yankee next year unless he curses out Big Stein - may be even then. Unless I'm missing something, Matsui isn't a free agent next year. He only has three years of MLB experience, so the Yankees could simply offer arby and he'd have to re-sign with them or go back to Japan. He has an out clause I believe to become a free agent in his contract, but from what I remember it isn't an issue since he doesn't want to leave. Interesting. It would have to be an agreement for the Yanks to non-tender him if they can't agree to an extension.

The gen. consensus here has been that Matsui will be Yankee next year unless he curses out Big Stein - may be even then. Unless I'm missing something, Matsui isn't a free agent next year. He only has three years of MLB experience, so the Yankees could simply offer arby and he'd have to re-sign with them or go back to Japan.

I think you'd have to go the signing bonus route. I know back-loaded contracts are all the rage, but front loaded? Do you really think he'd want to take a paycut as the contract went on? I'd have his accountant explain the phrase "present value of money" to him several times over, if necessary. :D

Well if there is, can't mods or admins merge the 2? Sure, we have nothing better to do...

I'd purposefully front-load the contract or put more of it in a signing bonus structure to make it easier.

His numbers stand a good chance of improving in year 1 in a move from SD to Chicago just due to park factors. I'd sign him to a 4 year deal with the full intention of trading him after year 2. 4 may be a bit much. I'd go for 3. Offer him 3 and he'll sign with LA, SD or LA. In order to get him away from the coast, you're going to have to give the extra year. The key is to trade him before it bites you too badly. But he'd be huge for us in year 1 and is likely to still be very productive in year 2. Then you ship him out and it doesn't matter how many years he has left.

His numbers stand a good chance of improving in year 1 in a move from SD to Chicago just due to park factors. I'd sign him to a 4 year deal with the full intention of trading him after year 2.

I'm lucky I know how to turn on a computer. For work, I just have to know how to type and hit "send." :D Thanks for stopping by, Bruce. And thank you again for all the insight. I really don't think the Cubs are far from contention in 2006. They will have the resources to get what they need. Which, in my opinion, is primarily a big, lefty bat to put between Lee + Ramirez that provides a very high OBP. Giles would go a long way to curing what's wrong here.

The Cubs will need more OBP than just Giles to fix the offense. Won't Murton, Giles and Cedeno help "fix the offense??" It's not like they're in the bottom tier. The bigger concern should be getting the pitching back to where it was in 2003 and upgrading the defense will help that. Murton I think will help, but I don't expect Cedeño to hit that well in his rookie year. CF might be plugged by Corey, who will have to make major strides to put up a respectable OBP after this year's debacle. CF might also be filled by Felix Pie, who'll probably have a rougher jump to the big leagues than I think Cedeño will have. I don't think those three new faces in the starting lineup is enough to fix the offense. Just as an experiment, I ran some numbers to see what kind of impact Giles alone would have for this team in place of Burnitz. The Cubs with Burnitz have a .329 OBP, which ranks 9th out of the 16 NL teams. Replacing Burnitz with Giles would raise the OBP of the entire team by a shade over 10 points (yep, that much). That would put the Cubs at a .339 OBP -- good enough for 3rd in the NL. Brian Giles alone would make an enormous difference to this offense.

Is a longshot at a division title with a .500 record and getting swept in the divisional series worth risking Bonds' health for next season? Then again, who am I to stop them? The flipside of that is Bonds not seeing live pitching for 1 1/2 years, then trying to come back and perform at his expected levels at age 42.

Sounds like the start of a good team. But you're missing Pujols at 1st, Utley at 2nd, Upton at SS and Franceour or someone in CF. ;)