WrigleyField 22

Yea, he may say he wants Beltran numbers, but didnt Boras throw out some ridiculous numbers for Beltran at first, like 10/200? After that, he settled to 7/119. So by that logic, Soriano would end up around 5/75, high, but doable.

We have too much money invested in the bullpen anyways. Let him go and watch him win numerous Cy Youngs I suggest we play the role of obsessive ex-girlfriend on this one. I don't want him, but no one else can have him either.

Ron Jackson was never any good either, scratch him off the list: http://thebaseballcube.com/players/J/Ron-Jackson-1.shtml Von Jousha? SUCKED http://thebaseballcube.com/players/J/Von-Joshua.shtml Chambliss... just okay http://thebaseballcube.com/players/C/Chris-Chambliss.shtml That Gary Matthews... Dude could get on base http://thebaseballcube.com/players/M/Gary-Matthews-1.shtml

Ron Jackson huh? Well I'm pretty sure theres a God now, but he may just be toying with us.

All you can do is put together a team that is good enough to make it to the playoffs. That means you need hitters and pitchers. Once you are there, whoever is hottest is going to win. Put yourself in a position to make the playoffs year in and year out and your chances of winning a World Series increases. Putting the the best players out there also increases your chances of winning as the good players are likely to get hot.

I'm in: LooksLikeHinrich

its not like he will anwser and i dont want it to get deleted the cards winning it all is nowhere near as bad as the sox. :shock: I, among some others, would disagree. I think it matters where you grew up or where you live. I still think Cardinal fans are some of the most arrogant fans in all of sports. Nope it doesn't for most of us. I live in the heart of Chicago and I can tell you the Cards winning is worse. about 100000 times worse for those of us down here. QFT I experienced both the Sox winning while in Chicago and the Cardinals winning while in St. Louis. This is much worse.

Life hates me. You're at least safe from the Cardinal fans. Do I attend the parade Sunday in cubs gear?

I hate life

I'd like to see any other 100M teams lose two aces from their staff and an all-star 1B and still compete. Should we have counted on Wood? No. DLee? Yes. Prior? Yes. Up till this last season, darn near everyone thought he had just suffered some fluke injuries (Giles, Hawpe, etc). It shocked everyone (ok, maybe not the pessimists) when he pulled up lame in ST. We won more games in '04 than we did in '03. It just took more wins to get in the playoffs that year. That's improvement. In '04 with Z, Wood, and Prior we were looking at a dynasty. Hendry doesn't prevent Wood from throwing back to back starts in high school, Prior from Giles, Prior from Hawpe, or DLee from Furcal. Lets pull up some old threads to analyze the claims about people still wanting Wood/Prior. viewtopic.php?t=26396 -The rotation was mainly a concern of who the last starter (Z,Maddux,Wood,Prior) was going to be. Everything else was about the lineup. viewtopic.php?t=26264 -Looks like one post that directly questions the health of the whole staff viewtopic.php?t=26690 -More of the same viewtopic.php?t=27088 -A little more split This list is not at all a complete sampling of views, but by pulling up 4 threads regarding pitching 3 of them seemed to have a general consensus that we could count on Prior AND Wood. I'd be interested to do a much more thorough reading of posts from last offseason, and I have a feeling that as the offseason progressed there was more and more questioning about the health of Wood or Prior, but it looks like thats pretty much true that the fans still counted on their health. Hard to point fingers. After this year, though we won't see any of that. Thanks for the research, WF22. Incomplete though it may be, it is more than anyone else, including myself, has taken the time to put forth thus far. Ultimately, if fans want to hold Hendry solely accountable for the won-loss records of the Cubs since he has taken over, they are more than allowed. He has failed at providing a consistent winner and succeeded at improving the talent and results in some seasons since he has taken over. But because the last few seasons have been worse than the ones immediately following his take over, the more recent seasons will outweigh the previous ones in many people's minds. So be it, I say. He needs to get it back or get out. The proof will lie in the pudding the coming two seasons. I agree we should hold him accountable, but it is possible, there is a little more "I told you so" going on than should, at least as it relates to the starting pitching.

I'd like to see any other 100M teams lose two aces from their staff and an all-star 1B and still compete. Should we have counted on Wood? No. DLee? Yes. Prior? Yes. Up till this last season, darn near everyone thought he had just suffered some fluke injuries (Giles, Hawpe, etc). It shocked everyone (ok, maybe not the pessimists) when he pulled up lame in ST. We won more games in '04 than we did in '03. It just took more wins to get in the playoffs that year. That's improvement. In '04 with Z, Wood, and Prior we were looking at a dynasty. Hendry doesn't prevent Wood from throwing back to back starts in high school, Prior from Giles, Prior from Hawpe, or DLee from Furcal. Lets pull up some old threads to analyze the claims about people still wanting Wood/Prior. viewtopic.php?t=26396 -The rotation was mainly a concern of who the last starter (Z,Maddux,Wood,Prior) was going to be. Everything else was about the lineup. viewtopic.php?t=26264 -Looks like one post that directly questions the health of the whole staff viewtopic.php?t=26690 -More of the same viewtopic.php?t=27088 -A little more split This list is not at all a complete sampling of views, but by pulling up 4 threads regarding pitching 3 of them seemed to have a general consensus that we could count on Prior AND Wood. I'd be interested to do a much more thorough reading of posts from last offseason, and I have a feeling that as the offseason progressed there was more and more questioning about the health of Wood or Prior, but it looks like thats pretty much true that the fans still counted on their health. Hard to point fingers. After this year, though we won't see any of that.

Based on going through our current 40 man, I see 30 players that should be returning. This doesn't count trades that could occur that could be 2-1 or 3-1, but Hendry might not be smart enough to rid himself of guys who should be gotten rid of (ie-Bynum,Novoa), so we'll say it evens out at 30. That leaves 10 open spots. If we need 2-3 SP, a new 2B and CF at the least(SS,RF?), plus maybe 2 new FA bench players, that would put us at 7 new additions leaving 3 spots for new additions to the 40man among the minor leaguers. We'll say it could be as little as 2 and as many as 5-6. So lets see your list of 5-6(or more) to protect, ranked in order: 1-Jake Fox 2-Randy Wells 3-Lincoln Holdzkom 4-Mike Fontenot 5-Billy Petrick 6-Rocky Cherry 7-Clay Rapada 8-Carmen Pignatiello

I think I would rank the scoutingwiki as a major need. Out of all the things that people could already have a lot of access to the boards, scouting is probably the hardest to come by. Stats, Contracts, and Transactions are constantly being presented through the message board already by posters. At some point I guess it would be cool to have a collabrative effort to put all these things together in a database, but at this point there is a lot of info on those things everyday. I'd rank it as 1-scouting 2-blogs 3/4-stats/contracts (can't decide) 5-players 6-transactions All these ideas sound pretty exciting.

Peter must be pretty sure to just mention this so non-chalantly. Baseball will be gone in 10 years if this happens I think you are confusing MacPhails ability to put together a championship team with his adminisrative and business capabilities. By all accounts he has actually done well with that, no?

Make a new one. Keep posting it. Colored ink aint cheap :( Even if the Cards were swept in 4, I'd spend a few hundred bucks on colored ink.

I don't think Patterson ever showed the kind of progression Pie has shown in the minors (from what I can remember). Another key is to make sure the Cubs don't try to turn him into something he's not, like they did with Patterson. I agree that there should be some caution used to avoid "rushing" him, but I think there are some differences between he and Corey. Patterson's minor league career: .320 .358 .592 20 yrs old in A 475 ABs .261 .338 .491 21 yrs old in AA 444 ABs .253 .308 .387 22 yrs old in AAA 367 ABs Felix Pie .321 .385 .569 17 yrs old in Rk 218 ABs, also 8ABs in A- .285 .346 .388 18 yrs old in A 505 ABs .301 .364 .448 19 yrs old in A+ 415 ABs .304 .349 .554 20 yrs old in AA 240 ABs .283 .341 .451 21 yrs old in AAA 559 ABs So Pie has put up better numbers at a younger age, but they have also been much more conservative, never skipping a level and never getting called up to the bigs. Maybe Patterson would have shown the second half ressurgance Pie showed if the Cubs hadn't pulled him up so soon during his year in AAA. I'd be curious to see Pie's numbers after 367 ABs this year. My opinion: Pie would be fine as the number 8 hitter in a good lineup. That means Isturiz isn't back, top of the order guys are .350+ OBP guys, and number 6 and 7 are Barrett and Jones, with Lee and Aramis 3,4 and Murton 1 or 2. So that means finding a 2B and SS, one middle of the order, one top of the order. Keep in mind even if he can't get on base to save his life, and gets caught stealing like its his job, he should provide great defense in CF.

As expected my Tigers sign got torn down in less than 24 hours. I am stuck in Cubs fan hell. They(cardinals) are everywhere.

aaaah i have to listen to a whole school celebrate this victory... I've been yelling go Tigers on my floor.

Then he will throw a side-session the week after. Followed by a simulated game. You forgot the towel drill

Maybe $25 if they REALLY want him. $18 if they maybe want him. . For 25 bucks i'll pay the bid myself. Heck I'll throw in another $10

A-rod. I'm pretty sure it's all been speculation at this point (particularly, the inclusion of Hill), but it does make some sense, so it's worth considering. Wouldn't the Yankees likely be able to get a better package for ARod from another team? I'm going to go out on a limb and state that Hill and spare parts wont' do it. Hill simply is not a proven top of the rotation SP, and that is what the Yankees will likely demand, IMO. To address the topic presented in this thread, the Cubs would probably pull the trigger on a Hill centered trade for Arod if this were offerred....and then sign 2 FA SPs There aren't really that many teams that can absorb A-Rod's $23 million salary this year. I guarantee that other teams could offer more in terms of players, but their payroll just won't support it. Texas is picking up a sizable chunk of that contract. New York is paying 16 per year, I believe. Add to the fact that the Yankees might be willing to pick up some of the tab, many teams could afford him (money wise at least)

Interestingly enough, when he had his terrible 2003, the deal was so backloaded he wasn't even costing them much. He made $2.5M. (base $1M plus signing bonus) Also I'm sure a lot of casual fans are looking at his 2006 and thinking: he cant even hit .260 with 30HR and 100RBI (.258 29 95). He's also top 20 in strikeouts (ignore the fact he's top 15 in BB)

He is set to make $13M and $14M the next two years. I would want the Phillies to eat at least $7M on the deal (3,4) so we pay him $10M a year. If we are trading Jacque for him, it comes out to be only $6M/$5M more each year. Defense is my only concern. Murton or Burrel would have to handle RF.

Even if we don't end up with any of these guys, I'm glad we are at least showing an intrest in Asia.

I would take either one of Mark Prior's 2004 or 2005 seasons, including the IP, for $4 considering what pitchers get paid. If he can get to 2003 levels he obviously is a Cy Young type pitcher. 2004- 4.02 ERA 21GS 118.2 IP 48BB 139K 2005- 3.67 ERA 27GS 166.2 IP 59BB 188K And you never know theres still the potential to reach that 2003 level: 2003- 2.43 ERA 30GS 211.1 IP 50BB 245K Now if we could use him in a trade for ARod I would definately consider it, but you make it sound as if we should just cut him or trade for whatever we can get.