Jehrico

They could have gotten Encarnacion for one year. Now, they'll pass in the next two offseasons at the opportunity to get a big corner OF bat, because they have Jones. That's why this is so bad. Encarnacion is a wash with Jones, and wouldn't have hamstrung us for future years.

I'm just in complete agreement with this. If there was a worse option than signing Jones to a 3 year deal, I can't think of it. Just...wow. Wow. We could have called Keith Moreland out of retirement... As disgusted as I am by this contract, the sad thing is, if you go back over the last 20 years, we haven't had too many better OFers. To name some off of the top of my head...Moreland, Dave Martinez, Darrin Jackson, Chico Walker, Doug Dacsenzo, Marvelle Wynne, Willie Wilson, Brian McRae, Doug Glanville, Lance Johnson, Brant Brown, Damon Buford, etc... Jones is about par for the course for our average outfielder over the last 20 years, and better than average if you take out the Hawk and Sammy.

Indians get Cubs' 2nd round pick for Howry Giants get Cubs' 3rd round pick for Eyre Twins get Cubs' 4th round pick for Jones So Jones was offered arbitration by Minnesota? Yep Pardon me while I go remove my gall bladder with an ice cream scoop.

Premium regular Could they be grooming Hendry's replacement?

Indians get Cubs' 2nd round pick for Howry Giants get Cubs' 3rd round pick for Eyre Twins get Cubs' 4th round pick for Jones So Jones was offered arbitration by Minnesota?

Have you're fun but don't forget you guys will have "JRod" and So running around the OF. :D Do you think the cubs have any chance of finishing ahead of the cards? Maybe if the Cards plane crashes and the entire team tragically perishes. That's the only way. Or they amend the rules and allow the Cubs, and only the Cubs, to use "the cream and the clear."

anyone else wanna bet Dusty hits JJ second behind Pierre?

KC, and thanks to Dusty's wonderful skills, he only had to pay $1m more than the Royals offered. So have we officially overpaid everyone we've signed? Exactly what good is Dusty Baker at this point? Because anyone could fill out a lineup card and rattle off cliches. Haha. We had to outbid the freakin Royals. How sad is that? I hate this organization. According to WGN radio, the Cardinals were also offering 3 years. No, they weren't offering three years. They were bidding us up. Jocketty is probably at home laughing his rear end off right now.

Fun fact: Jones daytime splits for OBP since '03 are, in order, .274, .308, and .293. I would expect his home splits to be comparable for us. His road splits over the last three years: .312, .322, .318. Yeah, he's a great pick for us. Early fearless prediction: Jones puts up a .310 OBP next year.

Did they? I thought that pick was already gone since they signed Howry and Eyre, who were both Type A FAs. This should have lost them their 3rd rounder. Not that that makes this much better... edit: I thought MN didn't offer him arbitration, although I could be mistaken. If they didn't, then they haven't lost any more picks.

OMG, I'm eating crow on this as I said I didn't think he would sign today. The radio report said he's pending a physical. OMG! There's still hope. Anyone have Tonya Harding's number? I've been a staunch supporter of Hendry. No more. This is absolutely pathetic. I would have rather resigned Burnitz for one more year. We could have traded for Mackowiack or Wilson from Pitt for peanuts and just kept them for one year. 3 years for Jacque Jones? Who the heck was he bidding against, himself? We won't pursue the next Vlad to hit the FA market the next two years because we have RF filled already. Someone used to have a signature that said "Optimists see the glass as half-full, pessimists see it as half-empty. Cubs fans are asking when it's going to overflow." That was me before. Now, I'm wondering when the liquid in the glass is going to turn to acid and burn a hole in the bottom. Hendry must go. :club: :club: :club: :club: :club: :club: :club: :club: :club: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall:

What class of FA is he?

Hmm, you bring up an interesting point. What players would you take Neifi! over? Not many. I think Soriano is one of the most overrated players in the game. He had a .309 OBP last year, and HORRIFIC road splits. He's declining for a few years now despite still being in his 20s (he'll be 30 next month). Who would I take Neifi over? If I were looking at starting Neifi at 2nd, I'd take him over Buntless...err....Bruntlett (HOU), Damon Easley (AZ), Bo Hart (StL)...not many every day players. I don't know what I'd do if the offer was Kaz Matsui. I can't think off hand of any other regular 2Bman that I would prefer him over. I can't think of any other 2Bman making 7 mil plus that have a bad attitude, are butchers at the position, are unwilling to move, and are grossly overpaid like Soriano is. The fact I'd take Neifi over him, who I can't stand to see playing on our team, says alot.

Very stupid move by Soriano to make that statement. Washington would have to be stupid to not offer him arbitration in the offseason. He's going to be a Class A FA next year, so whoever in the AL signs him, is going to lose a 1st round draft pick (provided it's not protected, then it'll be the 2nd). That lowers his value and might keep certain teams out of the hunt. I hope washington fans boo him relentlessly this year. He is the type of player I love to hate.

I don't know...similar OBPs, Soriano has much better power of course, Neifi has much better defense. Soriano is faster, Neifi has a better attitude. Soriano's numbers have been in an overall downward trend for 4 years. Neifi's consistantly sucked. Soriano is frighteningly bad away from the hitters park that is in Arlington (.225/.265/.374). Neifi's home/road splits are pretty close. I'll take Neifi at 2.5 over Soriano at 10 any day of the week, and twice on Sundays.

I'll be happy (that is happy, not thrilled or overecstatic) if our outfield going into next year is BWilk, JuanP, and Murton. Todd Walker is still on the team. I'm hoping somehow he doesn't get traded and RonnyC starts at SS. That would be a decent lineup going into next year. Definitely good enough to make the postseason if our starting pitching is, for the most part, healthy next year.

:roll: Here we go. Seriously, the post could be about trading for Jose Vidro and it would turn into, "Dusty doesn't play young players, he sucks...." Hilariously, what he actually said was "Dusty would play Rich Hill too much". Wtg. That does raise a peculiarity about Dusty...he overworks young pitchers, yet won't let young position players play much at all. I don't know what his thinking is...

If we're looking at Jacque Jones, yeah, I'd say so. I'd prefer to go the route of another thread I put up there...see if we can help NYM get Manny in exchange for Floyd.

I think he could. The Cubs would be below average defensively at all 3 positions, but at least they could field a competent offensive OF, which is a bigger concern right now. Our staff gets more Ks and grounders than alot of other staffs, and assuming Hendry makes a move for a better defensive 2b (or SS, and RonnyC moves to 2b), we'll be above average defensively in the infield. I could live with being below average defensively in the outfield. edit: And who knows...maybe going to a different organization, maybe one of our coaches will figure out why Pierre doesn't take the best routes or get the best jumps in CF. If someone could solve that mystery, his glove is decent when he's where he needs to be, and with his speed, and the fact he's not in that huge Pro Player Stadium, maybe he'll improve defensively here in Wrig. Yeah, I know I'm reaching...

Floyd has a no-trade clause for Boston. I've got to believe that it is one of the key factors in Minaya's decision making on trying to make a Manny deal work. If Minaya keeps Floyd and still acquires Manny, he has two problems: (1) who plays RF? and (2) who does he get to take Benson and Matsui - salaries that would need to be dumped? I guess I was a little unclear...I'm proposing initiating a 3 way trade, with the highlights being Manny to NYM, Floyd to Chicago, and we help the Mets offer enough to Boston for it to work for them. Considering this is Floyd's hometown, I doubt he'd exercise his NTC. The money issue is a good point, because that's something we still have quite a bit of this year, and both of those guys are off the books after this year so we're not hamstringing ourselves for next year.

Two questions with regards to RF: 1) If we can get a .350 OBP out of the position or more, how much power and defense can we sacrifice? 2) How about a platoon starting with Jerry Hairston? From '03 to "05, his OBP against RHers has been .367, .379, and .351. Over three years, that's better than a .360 split against RHers. Is there anyone out there who otherwise sucks but has had good success against LHers that could be had cheaply that can play RF? Something else that is a little intriguing to me about JHJR this year...his OBPs from 2002 in Baltimore have gone .305, .329, .353, .378. That's steady improvement, and some very solid numbers at the end of his time in Baltimore. His numbers took a hit in his first year at Wrigley, as they dropped to .336. DLee went from .346 to .378 to .379 before coming to us, and his numbers dropped abit his first year at Wrigley to .356. Of course, everyone knows he made a huge rebound in his second year at Wrigley. I'm not saying Hairston will do the same thing, but at this point, if the alternatives are PWilson or Jacque Jones, then I'd prefer to put Hairston in a platoon, let him play against RH starters, and see if he can rebound to his '04 levels of production. If we can get a RFer for cheap to just play against LHers, I think Hairston might surprise us. Thoughts? And who might the platoon partner be?

...with our help? I don't know Boston's system very well at all, but do they have someone else they can put out in RF? The Mets reportedly aren't interested in moving Floyd, who we know Hendry likes and has tried to acquire. If we help them land Manny and Floyd doesn't go to Boston, I would think that Minaya would be interested in moving Floyd then. Sure as hell beats all of the Jacque Jones rumors out there...

The As traded for Barrett, then traded him to us before ever signing him. I wonder if we could convince them to do the same again? prolly not...

replace the atlanta.braves with stlouis.cardinals, and you get the same page. I think you could substitute any mlb team and get the same page. How he got the Atlanta link I don't know. 13.5 mil for 3 years of a surgically repaired reliever coming off of a horrible year...I don't know if that's a great move, but Looper's been solid other than last year, where something obviously was wrong with him. If this turns out to be a recurring problem, dumb move for the cards. If the surgery fixed whatever was wrong and his problems are behind him, a solid pickup.

No Depo, thank you very much. We saw in LA how quickly he can wreck a post-season team. If Wood makes 30 starts this year, he'd forget about his past injury record and sign him to a 5+ year deal.