Lefty

Yeah, but he's halfway through that.

Apparently only those on this board feel that way. If Blanco can hit .191 in this league Cedeno's numbers appear to be projectable as well.

Well Furcal is a Free Agent next year.

If they could something good for Pie I wouldn't mind if that young cheap player was Murton. Having another guy with some idea of the strike zone would be awesome.

Is this a bad strategy?

I'm curious. Roughly how long have you been out of college?

It is true that your college and post-college years are the best years of your life. Don't screw it up. But, as someone who is old enough to be your father, been there done that. I wouldn't want to do it again. There's plenty of good stuff later on, too. I wouldn't mind going through college again. Most of the women there are...well, college age. The wife would probably frown on that though. Would you want your wife going through college again?

It is true that your college and post-college years are the best years of your life. Don't screw it up. But, as someone who is old enough to be your father, been there done that. I wouldn't want to do it again. There's plenty of good stuff later on, too.

Wasn't Derek Lee's dad a legend in Japan? Leon Lee? Scouted for sure. But did he play there as well? And Derek's uncle Leron definitely played there. Haven't heard this at all.

Why assume that Hendry will be gone? What if the new owners actually like him? Well, I said "is likely", and didn't just assume he will definitely be gone. However, very few GMs last 8-10 years on the job, going through 3-4 team presidents and an ownership change. For Hendry to be around in a theoretical 4th year of Fukudome's contract, he would be going into his 9th year on the job. I guess I can't imagine his reign of error ever ending. Of course unless he is succeeded by DePo or Beane the frustration of us analytical types will continue.

Why assume that Hendry will be gone? What if the new owners actually like him?

Matsuzaka and that lefty reliever sign with Red Sox. Red Sox win World Series. Hendry determines that he must sign two Japanese players. Fukudome might be teriffic, and exactly what the Cubs need. But Hendry is the same guy who wanted to downgrade with Kaz Matsui. My explanantion is much more logical than Hendry actually appreciating all of Fukudome's virtues because how else would you explain his desire of KazMat? Oh, Matzusaka is terrific. Are you really comparing him to Marquis in any way? I had to edit because this belongs here. Matsuzaka pitched 204 innings and gave up no unearned runs. That is partially a function of the kind of pitcher he is. Flyball strikeout pitchers give up fewer unearned runs. Marquis gave up 13 unearned runs in 191.67 innings. He wasn't unlucky. Groundball pitchers who don't strike out a lot of people give up more unearned runs because that is their game. Less able to pitch around mistakes. Pitching to contact which results in a predictable amount of errors over a season. Marquis' RA was 5.21 compared to Matsuzaka's 4.4. Add in the fact that Matsuzaka pitches in a DH league, I figure Matsuzaka was about 27 runs better than Marquis assuming ballpark effects and team defense were equal. That's three wins or about $7.5 million extra worth of performance. So it seems you get what you pay for.

http://orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55989 I'll take it with a grain of salt, still :D It's known that a couple of insiders post at that site.

Hendry doesn't see Fukudome's OBP. All he sees is his left handedness. Untrue. He also sees that he has speed and is Japanese. He can also catch the ball. No, no. "Catch the ball" was two years ago. This year Japanese is in. If Hendry's Cubs ever won the World Series how would he copy himself? It would be like trying to make sense of time-travel movies.

Is there any defensive metric that doesn't? They all seem relatively unreliable to me. If there is, which? If there isn't, which is the best? John Dewan's Plus/Minus system?

I may be showing my age, but I clicked on the link, saw some video and came back. OK it was a joke. But what else am I missing?

Keep moving. Nothing to see here.

If MacPhail says "VORP" Hendry will give him a tissue.

Does the Herald have an online edition?

I heard that as well. Pretty comical conversations taking place with WS fans. Someone from the Sun Times FINALLY came on and said the WS had 0 chance to come close to the offer from Detriot and even went on to say that they couldn't match the next best offer from the Angels. And they should be thanking their lucky stars that KW didn't get Hunter for the 15 million/per that was reportedly offered by the White Sox. Talk about Soriano's contract looking bad the last few years, Hunter's would have looked worse! Instead, they're all upset that Hunter was suppose to be delivered w/ Christmas wrapping! Classic! They did win the World Series in our lifetimes.

Just wait if the Cubs don't get Fuku! Does that mean that we will be fukued?

Top of my head, not sure I can name 5 worse. Ed Wade, Ned Coletti, Wayne Krivsky...there's some incompletes out there. I think Sabean edges him out. Bavasi.

Tejada's contract looking better and better.

You know, we drafted this guy the year before the D'Backs did.

The Red Sox had two Japanese players. Perhaps the quest for Matsui and the pursuit of Fukudome can be explained by that.