Transmogrified Tiger

Maybe he's afraid to take on a reclamation project. Say what you will about Pierre but he plays most everyday and if Hendry has his way, he's our new CF. On the other hand, Bradley played in 75 games last year. In fact, I was shocked to see that he's never played 150 games in a season (not more that 140 actually with his second highest being 101games). Wilkerson would be nice but I think it's a pipe dream. Is it a pipe dream because he is unavailable, or because you expect Hendry to continue his off season, uh, strategy (of doing nothing). I know he's available but I haven't seen or heard anything about the Cubs having interest in him. We all know Hendry has spoken publically about his desire to get Pierre. Really? There's been several reports from different outlets about the Cubs being interested in Wilkerson.

I'll say it. Nolasco > Hill

So did many other coaches. Why is that important exactly? Cause it seems most coaches place their teams higher than the average? Not if the average is 2. I still can't believe Bellotti and Willingham both ranked the Ducks 4th and ND 9th. In comparison, Weis had the Irish 4th, but ranked Oregon sixth. It seems almost as if Bellotti and Willingham were trying to push Oregon into a BCS bowl somehow. Is putting Oregon 4th really outrageous? They're schedule wasn't garbage, and their only loss was against USC. You're the one that's been saying that you could make a case for all the two loss teams to make a BCS bowl, why not the same here?

Exactly, K's are bad in that they make performing well and repeating that performance more difficult. If you show you can do that, they aren't a huge deal.

Pay no attention to the marlins behind the curtain Pay no attention to their 2 World Series trophies!!! What? So it's okay to give up if you've won a World Series recently?

Didn't they sign him to an extension in the middle of the season? I remember reading something about that and wondering why they did it. I think they picked up his '06 option mid-season. EDIT: yep

He's not on the block. EDIT: Crawford one of the top 10 LF's in the game? Not quite.

Poor FA class this year. Will that be different next year? Early indications are no. Cubs management makes stupid decisions in this market. Will the market or the management be different next year? Doubt it. Less money due to studs. It's a plus, but it also wastes a prime year for all of them. It's an interesting idea, but I don't see a whole lot of benefit in it.

At this point in his career, he's average at best.

Zito's a FA after '06.

That's not exactly true. You can trade the right for another team to put him in the minors. That's a luxury they don't get if they take him in the Rule 5 draft. I think his point was that at some juncture this offseason, anyone could have had Sing for free, and they all passed. Might've been because he's a 6 year minor league FA.

I agree, but everything I have heard is that the Phillies want a front end SP, the Cubs aren't going to give them Prior or Z. I would trade Patterson to the Nats for Wilkerson, and throw Williams, Hill, Pinto and spare parts at the Reds for Dunn. This is where a three way deal with the A's comes in. Barry Zito I think would be roughly what the Phillies are looking for. What are the A's looking for? A first baseman/designated hitter type? Brandon Sing would be helpful, perhaps. I'm sure they wouldn't say no to some young pitching like Jerome Williams. Throw in maybe Pinto. What are we thinking? does: Cubs get: Abreu Phillies get: Zito A's get: Sing, Michaels, and Williams sound right? It does, I think. Maybe the Phillies would want a marginal prospect from the Cubs for throwing in Michaels too. Sergio Mitre perhaps. Then we trade Patterson and Grant Johnson for Wilkerson, say? IMO, either Philly would want more, or an extension for Zito in Philly would have to be worked out beforehand. As a follow up, I'd prefer Lowe + Bradley to fix the hole in the rotation, but I'm not going to complain in the slightest if we get Wilkerson.

Repost: I'd do that deal for Kearns, but why would we target him at this juncture? He's not a great corner OF, and his best year in the majors was very flukish. I'd do that deal late in the offseason if better options are off the market.

I'd do that deal for Kearns, but why are we targeting him at this juncture? He's not a great corner OF, and his best year in the majors was very flukish. I'd do that deal late in the offseason if better options are off the market.

I'd hang up after hearing Pie-rre, but that's just me.

Williams is probably a tier below all of those guys right now, except Wang. And none of them is a 1-2 starter in the MLB right now, though Bedard and Backe have the best chances eventually IMO. I don't know that I would value Willams lower than them right now. I like using ERA+ to evaluate pitchers (quick, easy to get, relatively levels playing field, etc.). Here are their numbers: Williams: 100 (league average) Wang: 111 Backe: 87 Bedard: 104 Marquis: 103 I personally think that HOU ERA+ was somewhat artificially low because of having a very good pitching staff and a rather poor offense. If I look at the list I would be inclined to agree with you, but then let's throw their AGES in there (in 2005): Williams (23), Marquis (26), Bedard (26), Backe (27), Wang (25). I am not saying that Williams is particularly "better" than those players listed, but that given that Williams is as likely to improve as any of them I would not put him "a tier below" them right now. While K/BB ratio does bode decently for Bedard in particular, those are the kind of numbers that I think improve with age. If I am Philly right now I am saying, "Look, JH, you have plenty of starting pitching. I would be willing to deal you Abreu straight up for Zambrano" and hope JH bites. It's worth pointing out that Williams was significantly better as a Cub. As a Giant: 64 ERA+ As a Cub: 109 ERA+ Total: 100 ERA+ As a Cub he was better than everyone except Wang, with not much difference between them.

Given what we know, I think it's a greater assumption that Hendry pursued Giles as much as Goony(and many others) felt was appropriate, than to assume that Hendry didn't really have much interest at all.

Gathright's not going to put up a solid OBP unless he hits for a very high average, which is very difficult and he hasn't proved able to do at the big league level. Also, his lack of power is beyond slap hitting. Juan Pierre, slap hitter extraordinaire, had a minor league IsoP of .062, and a major league IsoP of .070. Gathright's minor league IsoP is .045, and .051 in limited major league time.

Interesting. I wonder who they are leaving off of the list. From the firesale, it looks like only Grant Psomas from the Delgado deal isn't on the 40 man.

SCORE! Pierre- Ack Lugo- Leadoff? I guess. Wilkerson- YES Gathright- Ack No Damon- yay Why are people so down on Gathright? I admit that about the only thing I've heard about him is how fast he is and that he has no power. But looking at his minor league numbers, he gets on base at a decent rate. 2003- At age 21 he put up a .324/.406/.359 line in A ball. In 85 AB's in AA he put up a .376/.419/.388 line. 2004- In 32 games in AA he hit .341/.399/.397. In 236 AB's in AAA (age 22) he hit .326/.384/.373. He hit .250/.316/.250 in the bigs. 2005 (age 23)- In 226 AAA AB's he hit .305/.388/.407. In 203 ML AB's he hit .276/.316/.340. Obviously he hasn't done real well at the major league level, but he's had some pretty good success as a leadoff man in the minors. He's 191/247 in career stolen bases, good for a 77% success rate. If he had produced those numbers in the minors in our organization I think people would be a little more excited about him. Gathright hits nothing but singles. Literally, he hits a historically small number of 2B, 3B, and HR. That alone depreciates his value. Therefore, his entire limited value is based on him getting lots and lots and lots of hits, since he doesn't walk at an exceptionally high rate. He's not going to be able to hit .330 at the major league level, as he's proven thus far. Since he's worthless without the very high AVG, and not very valuable with it, he's not worth going after.

Lugo and Gomes plz

Gathright wishes he could be as good/bad as Juan Pierre. Which is a terrible thing if the Cubs are targeting him.

SCORE! Pierre- Ack Lugo- Leadoff? I guess. Wilkerson- YES Gathright- Ack No Damon- yay

Worse, actually.

According to the team's website, their 40 man roster stands at 36 right now. It includes both players from the Castillo trade, so it's up to date.