WrigleyField 22

Looking at Drew's career he has alternated betwee seasons of 140sh games to 100ish games. Hes due up for another 140ish season. I'll take it!

Anyone think taking a chance on trading for Cruz would be alright? There's probably still better options left, but if they all go away and we are left between Cruz and Jones he might be the better option. On second thught if we are helping LA take a OF off their hands JD Drew might look nice in RF...

Why has Hendry neglected to target more guys with a high OBP? Giles was a free agent and adds high OBP with high SLG. Other cheaper trade options such as WIkerson and Bradley were present as well. Why has this not been addressed? - Edward K., Indianapolis, Ind. I feel bad for the poor guy. Its pobably not his fault he's stupid.

Poor Edward K not the only like this. This kid I go to school with is a Cubs fan so we are always talking about it. Hes a baseball player, so you figure he would be knowledgeable right? NO. Earlier in the offseason he thought that Niefi would be great at 2B. He brought up that he did so well early in the year. I don't remember exactly what he said, but here are several of the possibilities. "He's a Gamer" "He saved us last year" "OBP doesn't mean anything, he hits for a pretty good average" "Hes good at defense" "5mil is a steal!" He also thought (and I've talke to many people like this) who thought the Pierre trade was AMAZING. Now I like the Pierre trade. We overspent a little, and he alone won't save us. But the casual friend thinks we got the "best leadoff hitter in the game" for "nothing"

what will you do if that season actually comes to pass? I'd laugh at Maddux bringing Pina Colada's to the pitcher's mound. Then I'd cry watching drunk Maddux looks over his shoulder at a Pujols HR.

Choi wouldn't be a bad Lefty off the bench if we thought we could make him a LF. Otherwise he is strictly a PH and only plays 1B in blowouts or the 2 games Lee might miss throughout th season If he is non-tendered, I would like the Cubs to at least lok into it.

It would be prety stupid if we decided to look towards 2007 after trading a few good pichers for Pierre. Hendry is stuck now. Even if he wanted to aim for 2007, he can't- he's made the commitment to winning. He just needs to make a move for a good RF. Chances are he'll still have loads of money, so the smart thing would be to make a move for Millwood. Let's just say Wilkerson is available still, and we trade Williams, Novoa, and a lower prospecty You could still wait around for Tejada for a while before you lose out on Millwood. I won't even pretend like Walker is back so he gets traded for bench/bullpen. CF- Pierre LF- Murton 1B- Lee 3B- Ramirez RF- Wilkerson C- Barrett 2B- Perez/Hairston SS- Cedeno (Just trying to be realistic with that lineup- smart thing would be to keep Walker and then swap him to the 2 hole w/ Murton 6 or 7) SP- Prior Zambrano Millwood Maddux Wood(Rusch for when he's inured) Not as good as it could have been, but not throwing away the season. RF could be a variety of guys as well (Huff) I just happen to like Wilkerson the most. Even with Millwood's contract you should still have some money patch up the offense and cover raises next offseason. You have Hill and Guzman(or Williams if Guzman/Hill went in a Huff deal) with shots at the rotation, with guys like Mashall with an outside chance.

What did Barrett do to your family? Lowest BA, Lowest OBP, second lowest SLG only to Pierre In reality with the way the offseason is looking, hes more likely to be about 4th or 5th in all those categories.

Green would be nice in RF. But if we are going to trade with Arinona, I'd like to see the Cubs make a big splash and get Green and Quentin/Jackson/Tracy. One of them is bound not to fit and if we take on Green's whole salary plus throw in Patterso for their CF hole, along with some other payers, it might just work. Has to be worth a try, at least, and if you fail, you settle for only Green. Patterson Dopriak Novoa Marmol Sing (You could shift prospets around depending on who they like, thats just o I'd offer) FOR Green-paying full salary Quentin(would seem likely) Then Murton/Green/Quentin become basically a 3-way rotation between LF and RF. Yea, I know, I'm dreaming.

Jerry Hairston in RIGHT FIELD? Is this really how bad our offseason has gotten?

Pie's Age-Relative Chart http://firstinning.com/i/profile/2005-pie1985-02-08.gif

Or we could bring back Dubious! Even though his name doesn't sound French the way he prononces it. Should be DuBWAH right?

Maybe I'm crazy, but when they said they were expanding the bleachers I didn't expet them to just add a new structure to the previous one. I'm sure beause of building codes they had to ust completely gut it in order to meet new standards. Its not like they are changing the inside walls(except for that hole thing) and it doesn't appear like they are doing something radical on the outside. It is still Wrigley. Now at some point, it won't be Wrigley(say they completely gut and redo the upper deck), but it not at that point yet. And even if they want to take Wrigley away, so be it. I love it and all, but it will have to come down someday, and when that happens it won't take anything away from what was. And bottom line is, I'm a Cub's fan first. Wrigley is just a nice compliment.

Where's that pastor who posts on here? Maybe he can offer some insight into this trade from God.

Fixed

Tried to say they're basically tearing down the outer-half of Wrigley, but nobody wanted to listen. And they've already re-done the infield seats, so that's nothing like it used to be either. The point? It isn't Wrigley anymore, folks. Why not build an actual new ballpark then? Wrigley field, as we all grew up with, is now gone. So why the charade? Come on. Its not like they are putting a UFO looking structure on top of Wrigley Field. Wrigley will still be Wrigley. Its not like the Wrigley we have is exactly like the Wrigley that was originally built. Besides looking at pictures it seems as though it will ook pretty similar.

Thats as ridiculous as rotating between 10 different managers!

At one point in his career he had a perfect 5.000 OPS with 1 GS in 1 career AB...who wouldn't love him? :D And I thought Greenberg's 1.000 OBP in one pitch was good. No seriously though, looking at his stats and everything, he looks awesome. Don't see any reson why Florida would trade him.

I don't know anything about a lot of these guys but after searching for them here's what I'd have to say... Hermida- Looks like he could put up some good numbers in limited time and is real young. Also a lefty. Oh wait, he's a top ten prospect.Why would Florida give him up? Victorino- Not too young anymore and hasn't yet had the chance it looks like to prove anything at the major league level. Switch hitter though, and could play CF if needed. Church- Doesn't seem like a prospect really, but does look like a good ballplayer regardless. He's also a lefty. Do the Nationals have any motivation to trade him (and if we do get him we could probably get another decent prospect o give up someone not that great) Sledge- ditto to Church, but doesn't look as good. Was he traded to the Rangers? J. Guzman- Looks like hes a SS, and probably a year away. Can he play RF as well? F. Guzman- Doesn't look to have the power we need out of RF. Was he hurt last year? I see no stats for 2005 for minor or major leagues. Granderson- Local Kid. Hasn't seen much major league action but looks promising. Along with some other guys may be too big of a risk. Gutierrez- His stats as of late leave a lot to be desired. Likely too big a risk. Jackson- Is he 1B or RF? Looks like he'd be good though if he can indeed play right. Another Righty though. As for the guys I knew a little bit abut already. I like Reed. His power is weak though. Don't know if Seattle would trade him. Kinda the same feeling for Anderson Quentin would be great only downside is that hes another righty, but that isn't a big deal, he can hit thats the important thing. Young, Franceur,Milldege we won't get, but yea they'd be pretty nice. I'd say if younger is what we look at Austin Kearns is more likely. And maybe he could return to his earlier numbers. If he did, he would be great for RF. All that being said, we might not have enough talent to aquire the guys who would look good and the others are way too big of a question mark. Unlikely we go this route, but not a bad "out of the box" idea.

Throw Milldege into that too probably. If we were going to get him from the Mets it be for Major League Ready Guys like Prior or Z.

To me, a .780 OPS for a corner OF falls short of awesome. Realistic, but nothing special. Eh, maybe my lowered standards are a mixture of the feeling I get when I think about the production we got from the spot last year, the fact that hes a rookie, the fact that he would only be hitting 7 or 8, and the feeling of not wanting to be dissappointed. I guess I was saying mopresore that the .280 .350 line would be great. Some more power would be nice since hes a corner OF I suppose.

I stopped playing baseball early in little league so correct me if I'm way off base here. But regarding his percentage of GB, LD, and FB to fall for hits above league average, doesn't a smart hitter try to place his hit? I realize that may not be an easy thing, but if he was the best in our system at strike zone judgement and contact hitter(or whatever the other was) then would it not be that unrealstic to believe that he just has the ability to place the ball where defenders are not? So that those high numbers are a result of skill rather than luck, as it seemed to be implied. And for the record, a .280 .350 .430 line would be awesome, anything more is icing on the cake.

He missed April Fools by 8 months I guess... "I wanna be traded!" "Hahaha Happy April Fools Day!"

Murtster Murtoroni Murtman Murtinator Pierster Pieroroni Pierman Pierinator

I'm not sure if he'll be at Furcals level or an All-Star, mostly because he won't have much power, but we have him cheap for a while, so he will be very cost-valuable.