Jehrico

The Phils want a top of the line rotation guy (or two) back for Abreu. They're in win now mode, and I don't think are primarily concerned with prospects. I wouldn't be surprised if they're looking to dump Bell in the same move.. this doesn't feel like a fit for the Cubs. Could we convince you to choose a smaller avatar (or resize your current one)? It throws the geometry of the page off by quite a bit because it's too big.

#4 only has value if you get another good hitting corner OF to take Huff's place on those days. An OF of Murton, Pierre and Huff is a very large risk for bad production. There is a risk, but I'm of the thought that he'll break out once he's away from TB. However, I think it also says something about a guys character if he can't play as well as he is capable while he's on a bad team though...

I've got the feeling, nothing to back it up mind you, that Murton would make a pretty good #2 hitter. I think Murton could grow into a player and have a career that resembles Kirby Puckett's.

Depends how they're used. Walker's the better 1-2 hitter. Sori the better 4-5-6 hitter. I don't know...considering his road splits and his historic day time splits, I would put him around 7 or 8 in the lineup.

Me too. Depends on how much it took to get him, and how much salary LA would pick up (since they're throwing money around right now). But I would be open to the possibility.

Where'd I say that? Or am I missing the sarcasm, since I just trashed Soriano in my last post.

OBP is good no matter where in the lineup you hit. I'd take a lineup full of .370 OBP guys with .400 slugging anyday over any offense I can ever recall seeing the Cubs trot out there.

No thanks on Soriano. He's playing in a hitters park, yet his numbers have been in decline for the last three years (yrs 1 to 2 went from Yankee Stadium, a pitchers park, to TX, a hitters park, 2 to 3 was in TX). His OBP last year was a very neifi-esque .309 (.324 in '04, and .338 in '03). His defense is atrocious, he had an OBP of .265 away from Arlington last year. Although last year his Day splits were close to his night splits, historically, his numbers have been considerably better at night, and poor during the day. I've seen predictions that he'll make up to $10 mil in arbitration this year, provided he does go to arbitration. He won't willingly make a move to the OF. IMHO, he is the absolute worst possible candidate that we should be pursuing this offseason. He'll be way overpaid, he's in decline, he isn't good at getting on base even in a hitters park, he historically stinks during the day, his road splits are terrible, his defense is terrible, he won't change positions for the good of the team, and I believe he'll be FA eligible next year, so he'd probably be a rental. Not only no, but hell no, to Alphonso Soriano.

I really don't think FL is interested in Prior. A) he makes more than the league minimum, and b) by the time these young guys grow up and make an impact, they might have lost him to FA by that time. Actually I agree - I wouldn't trade Miggy for Prior, Hill and Pie. I know that fans have a way of overvaluing thier own players, but if you're in contention AND building for the future, I think you'd be foolish to pass on that deal.

I really don't think FL is interested in Prior. A) he makes more than the league minimum, and b) by the time these young guys grow up and make an impact, they might have lost him to FA by that time.

This whole Soriano thing doesn't make sense to me. If they view the need to get rid of walker due to his defense how do they think Soriano is going to improve it? I know it's been gone over time and time again but hearing that Soriano has come up again just scares me that it might come true!! Would Bradley be acceptable as a RF? The Cubs rarely make sense. I'm sure it has more to do with speed and tools than defense. Pierre isn't a good defender, but they apparantly had him #2 on their wish list. Either Hendry's "catch the ball" comment was a lie or he thinks speed is the most important factor when catching a ball. Soriano makes walker look like a gold glover (wihout the requisite power needed to get the gold glove, that is).

If we can get Cabrera (or Willis back) for Pie and Hill, plus however many B level prospects as it takes, I would do it in a heartbeat. We know how FL feels about Pie (they like him), I don't know how high they are on Hill though.

Last year he was hurt and playing in a pitchers park. It was a down year for him, and he still had a pretty good OBP. His numbers would likely spike a little with a move to Wrig. He's guaranteed to get on base at a very good clip (I wouldn't be surprised by a .370 obp out of him if we got him), and he wouldn't cost too much to obtain. I think it's been through the ringer several times on this board that our offensive problems lie with OBP, not our strike out numbers or slugging.

With Pierre, you know most of his attempts are actualy SB attempts. Frank Robinson is an old school manager who loves the hit and run. I wonder how many of his CS were actually failed hit and runs and not SBs. Probably a considerably higher percentage than Pierre's.

If he went to the Dodgers, I'd assume it would be for Bradley. So does Hendry then turn around and make another trade for Soriano and Mench? Interesting. I assume that Mench or Murton would then be a fourth OF? If Walker goes to LA it will probably be for Bradley. Then I can see Hendry go after Soriano and Mench which probably means Murton will be on the bench or at the very most platoon with Mench. The scary thing about all that is going down and the fact that Neifi signed a 2 year deal is that in my opinion Baker and Hendry have made up their minds that at the very least Perez will be platooning with Cedeno but most likely starting at 2B over Hairston. If Perez starts this organization has no clue. So you're basically looking at: Pierre CF Bradley RF Lee 1B Ramirez 3B Soriano 2B Murton/Mench LF Barrett C Perez/Cedeno SS I've heard Hendry isn't interested in Soriano at 2nd. He's interested in him to play OF, which Soriano has stated he won't do, so Hendry's not interested anymore. That would move Ronny to 2B, which would increase Neifi's time at SS (bad), but would give RonnyC more time as well (good).

Since most have learned the identity of these guys (I did it this way to try to remove some of the emotional feelings for or against players based on preconceived notions about them), I guess I'll identify them. A- Raul Ibanez B- Milton Bradley C- Shawn Green D- Kevin Mench E- Austin Kearns F- Brad Wilkerson G- Juan Encarnacion I wouldn't mind BWilk, AK, or Bradley. Not interested in anyone else in the group. I surprised (and thankful) that Hendry hasn't displayed at least a moderate interest in Encarnacion.

If Walker is going to be traded, I take Soriano in a heartbeat if it means Neifi gets more time on the pine. I've heard reports that Hendry is absolutely NOT interested in Soriano. If they get him, I wonder if he's already got another team interested to flip him too. Soriano would be attractive to several other teams if it weren't for his contract. We could pick up a chunk, and flip him and possibly get a pretty good return. That's one way to put the extra cash we have this offseason to a pretty good use, possibly.

But Jim wants guys who can catch the ball. His idea of an upgrade is different from mine. I see him trading Walker for a mediocre corner OF, and then settling for subpar production from 2B. I don't disagree, but what 2Bs out there fit that mold? The first answer that pops into my mind is a scary one....Neifi...or Neifi at SS which will push RonnyC to 2B. Any scenario involving Neifi is a bad one. On the note of Grudz possibly going to the NYM...who are the Cards targeting to fill their hole at 2B? I haven't heard much on that front. At the beginning of the offseason, I thought it was a foregone conclusion that they'd resign Grudz to an extension. I guess I was wrong.

I like that too....however, I feel better about Baker using Neifi as a backup like he should be if we had another SS and Ronny was penned in for 2B. Don't ask me why, but just call it a gut feeling that Baker will give Neifi more starts over RonnyC at SS than he would at 2b. That was the only real reason I was disappointed when Furcal went to the idiots out west.

I'm beginning to think that maybe JH isn't as bent on trading Walker as we thought. He will for the right deal, but he's not going to dump him. He won't dump him for the likes of Soriano, Bret Boone, or someone like that. It'll have to be a definite upgrade, no doubt about it.

I kind of agree with this. I would maybe try to get a RH and LH OF, and then platoon the two of them with Murton. I like Murton, and I'm happy with him starting, as I am with Cedeno. But when you go with such unguaranteed production as those two, you have to get guaranteed production elsewhere. Now that Pierre is in CF, that position won't make up for any setback from the kids. Knowing that Pierre is a likely fill-in for Cedeno, or even the starting 2B, the Cubs don't have room to screw around in the OF, they need production. I'd go big, or go after platoon guys who can handle either RH or LH pitchers. Floyd's numbers scream platoon (though he's a little expensive for a platoon player). A Floyd/Murton platoon in LF would be cool. I don't know if they have the trade chips to get Floyd and a solid RFer, but that would be nice. I don't want a platoon partner with Murton. With Dusty, that would lead to Murton getting maybe 150-200 ABs this year, and that is a pretty optimistic number. That wouldn't bother me IF the player he was sitting in favor of was productive. The problem with last year, is that Murton sat in favor of Hollandsworth and Hairston. That's different IMO. I would agree, but can you see Hendry going out and getting a top notch LFer after filling the RF gap? If Murton ends up platooning with someone, it'll most likely be another Holla type player. If not, then RF will have a Holla type out there while Murton platoons in left.

You don't think they could have gotten more than a bottom of the rotation pitcher for him? I'm not a Casey fan, but the guy can hit. He's the closest thing in baseball today to Mark Grace Jr. Casey was a highly mediocre 1B. He plays in a hitters park, in a division with mutiple hitters parks, and he hits like a second baseman. I wouldn't think there's much of a market for such a player. Exactly. Mark Grace Jr, especially if you consider they're both decent fielding 1Bman on top of the light hitting part. Not quite Mark Grace II, but Mark Grace Jr. The only place where we differ is I think there is a decent market for a guy who you can be reasonably sure can hit over .300 with an OBP overb .350, likely over .360 or so. If Cincy ate maybe 2 mil of his contract, they could have gotten alot better, which if I were them, I would have.

I kind of agree with this. I would maybe try to get a RH and LH OF, and then platoon the two of them with Murton. I like Murton, and I'm happy with him starting, as I am with Cedeno. But when you go with such unguaranteed production as those two, you have to get guaranteed production elsewhere. Now that Pierre is in CF, that position won't make up for any setback from the kids. Knowing that Pierre is a likely fill-in for Cedeno, or even the starting 2B, the Cubs don't have room to screw around in the OF, they need production. I'd go big, or go after platoon guys who can handle either RH or LH pitchers. Floyd's numbers scream platoon (though he's a little expensive for a platoon player). A Floyd/Murton platoon in LF would be cool. I don't know if they have the trade chips to get Floyd and a solid RFer, but that would be nice. I don't want a platoon partner with Murton. With Dusty, that would lead to Murton getting maybe 150-200 ABs this year, and that is a pretty optimistic number.

Do you work for the IRS? Honda? No "fair tax" is an absurd misleading Republican name for a system that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. It ignores the fact that .25 (a low ball est. on how much this plan would require to keep gov't afloat) on a dollar means nothing to a millionaire and the world to the poor. But then again you don't care about them... Although you should b/c everytime in history that the gap between the rich and poor got too wide one thing always occured... revolution. So I guess you don't care about our country... just yourself, because you are advocating something that will destroy this country. Maybe you waive that flag above your cowboy hat merely to use it to get what you want... something thats very un-patriotic. I dont drive a Honda... a German made car... b/c generally they are made better than these American cars we are subsidizing for their mediocrity. And me having a foreign car isnt bad... but to explain that I'd have to explain this new thing we have in the 21st century called a global market which may be too hard given my audience. I'll stick to doing what is best for my country... real patriotism. And you keep using jingoist satire to promote your selfish desires. P.S. if the mods think this post is inappropriate I am sorry but it illustrates why I thought political sigs were banned. What a load of bunk. Take this conversation to the rants or social forum and keep it out of transactions.

If we do land Bradley, what other vialble alternatives do the Yanks have to fill their CF vacancy? I say we hold Pierre over their heads and fleece them, put Bradley in CF, use Wang or whoever we can get from them in a trade for a RFer. You know they have to be desperate to fill that hole.