Wheelimus

Well, hopefully at the end of the season when we're up twenty games, we can call Les back up and let him eat a few innings to rest Z's arm. :D **keeps sipping the kool-aid**

Of course, that can be said for plenty of relief pitchers and the like who have put in a lot more innings than Les. I'm sure he'll be in his Cubs uniform and that'll still be pretty special for those being visited.

It's not realistic though, we know that if Z ever does blow up, he's going to REALLY blow up. Like, his arm will come flying at some batter with the ball in hand. Blood spewing from the stump they'll drag him off the field kicking and screaming as he grabs for the ball with his one remaining arm. He'll be screaming "WAIT...I STILL FUNCTION" as the longman watches him pass laughing "WANNA BET?" :D

How about just keep the guy you have, Jacque, and sign Rowand to platoon? Which removes the need for Cliff Floyd and leaves Murton with 500 at bats.

Ryan Dempster Bob Howry Scott Eyre Michael Wuertz Kerry Wood Yeah, um, I think we can find someone to close.

Disagree. Lets look at each pitcher and what he'll likely produce. Z - Obviously, our ace. Likely to produce better than 2006. Lilly - Way overstating him. He's been consistent, with his ERA never hitting more than 4.5, save 2005 when he only threw 126 innings. 3 of the last 4 years he's put up ERA's in the low 4. Benefiting from the league switch and not facing the Red Sox and Yankees so much, I think he posts an ERA in the high 3's next year. Marquis - Potential disaster, which is why it's good that we have a glut of starters because I don't see Uncle Lou putting up with a 6+ ERA for very long. He will either get back to his '04 and '05 form and put up an (at best) high 3 or (middling) a low 4 or (at worst) mid 4 ERA next season. If he doesn't, then he's likely in '06 disaster form and gets yanked from the rotation. Hill - I just don't see him forgetting how to pitch between now and spring. Mark him down for a high 3 ERA, I do believe. And he may do better Prior - Ah, the variable. I refuse to write him off like others. He's had a lot of injuries but if you forget '06, in the previous year he made 30, 21, and 27 starts. Not perfect, but better than some getting big dollars. He may not be ready on opening day, but I sincerely feel he'll contribute big time this year. If he's healthy, ERA in the low 3's Wade Miller - Showed flashes of his old self in that last 5 inning shutout start. There is still a chance he rebuilds a little more velocity and becomes a solid arm again. Low 4 ERA isn't out of the question. The kids - All of the kids from last season should, in theory, perform better with the experience behind them now. Marmol probably needs to stay in AAA this year barring horror. But Marshall should get to compete for the fifth starter spot. It wasn't until he came back from injury and struggled that his ERA creeped above 5. He showed potential. No reason to think that a 2007 with an ERA in the very low 4's is impossible. So, to me, it's more likely that out of a group of Zambrano, Lilly, Hill, Prior, Marquis, Miller, and Marshall, you'll get three rotation spots under 4, one just slightly over, and one closer to 5, but still under. Good enough, most likely, to take the division.

I'm going to give this guy the benefit of the doubt and assume he's kidding. Confirmed, I'm getting a 11.9 out of 10 on my sarcasm meter...

As of now, with this potential roster (if the season started today) 1B - Derrek Lee 2B - Mark DeRosa 3B - Aramis Ramirez SS - Cesar Izturis LF - Matt Murton CF - Jacque Jones RF - Alfonso Soriano C - Michael Barrett 1B/OF - Daryl Ward 2B/SS - Ryan Theriot OF - Angel Pagan Utility - Ronny Cedeno 25th man - ? SP - Carlos Zambrano SP - Rich Hill SP - Ted Lilly SP - Jason Marquis SP - Mark Prior/Wade Miller/young arm Closer - Ryan Dempster Setup - Kerry Wood RP - Bob Howry RP - Scott Eyre RP - Michael Wuertz RP - Will Ohman I think we would easily be the favorites to win the division, with Houston losing Clemens and Pettite, the Cardinals likely to lose most of their rotation, etc.

It's sad, he had such potential. Reduced now to someone who likely wouldn't be claimed if he were took off the 40 man.

Going to guess Roberto Novoa and Glendon Rusch for starters. There's no danger in DFA'ing Glendon, even if they hold back hope that he can play mid 2007 or something. Nobody is going to claim him, so DFA him, let him choose to either stay in the organization or take his money and retire, and lets move on. Novoa would be more likely to be moved for a prospect who doesn't need 40 man roster protection yet. There are also a few positional prospects who it wouldn't be the end of the world to have to cut and lose. Brian Dopirak is an obvious one. Don't even know if he'd warrant a claim. That sub .700 OPS doesn't do much for anyone at this point. Jose Reyes too, unless there's something about him worth caring about that I'm missing.

Probably because they hope (like I do) that Uncle Lou will split the at bats against righties between the two, favoring Floyd against the guys who just straight out mow down right handed batters. I'm picturing 300, maybe 350 at bats for Floyd, probably 400 for Murton. Somewhere close to that. And that's if Floyd is healthy.

I'm just a fat out of shape slob. Guess I'm only worth about a 60K minor league deal then. :lol:

I think, at this point, they should just go into spring training with Jones and see how he handles center. If he can't field it or Pie just blasts him to the bench, then you can trade him. For substance if he's doing good, or for prospects if he isn't do so great.

Ok, well, first, lets look at the postives. Um... Um... Hold on a sec **5 minutes, and a room full of smoke later** Positives! He, uh, throws a lot of innings! He's been decent in the past, and supposadly Larry thinks he can fix him. Time to put up or shut up Rothy... Negatives. Eep, 3 years to a guy with a 6.02 ERA last season? 'Nuff said...

Do you mean a LH 4th OF? Erm, yep, I was thinking help against righties and sort of lost it there! :D

Go get 'em Jim. Offer them Jones and maybe even a prospect to sweeten the pot. Novoa or something. An outfield of Murton/Church/Soriano could be pretty good, with a strong right handed fourth outfielder who could play both corners and take a few starts against righties from Matt. You know, against guys who just mow down righties.

So the Cardinals have found some way to ignore the fact that he isn't a very nice guy, and instead focus on the potential 1.000 OPS? Must be why they aren't closing in on 0 for 100...

Good for Maddux, can't get much better than Safe-co for him to pitch in. He might put up a pretty nice win total next year there.

Well, sure I'll hate the money, but I like having Lilly around. I think he's going to be an Arroyo type of league switch surprise.

Possibly, but I think it all depends on what he wants out of life at this point. Paycheck? Cubs will very likely be able to outspend the A's, and not still be paying a whole lot. At bats? Ah, yes, where we lose. There's probably 250 or so at bats available to Piazza on this team. If he wants to play everyday he's better off in Oakland. If he still has visions of 500 home runs dancing in his head, he's probably better off in Oakland. Or, if he's pretty confident his credentials will easily get him into the Hall Of Fame, maybe a easy schedule with less pain sounds like fun. Or, if he wants a ring (only been to the Series once, and lost), maybe we can build ourselves to the point where we're the better shot. Bombshell Schmidt (3/50) to get him to sign. Get another starting pitcher as well. Then if Piazza is still on the market, think about your bench. Last year should have knocked us silly in the head that you can't have too much depth. God forbid an outfielder goes down, and the best we can pick up is some .700 OPS loser, if we're crazy deep at catcher you have the option of asking Michael Barrett if he'd like to play around in the outfield in practice. Sure would have been nice to be able to give Mike a first baseman's glove this past year and put up the numbers he did. If we're a World Series team, we have to spend like it. If the Tribune really wants us to believe the only goal is a world title, then one dollar below the luxary tax should be our payroll.

And odds are that Jason Schmidt probably won't either, but there's plenty of talk about the option. :D I mean, come on, people actually post here who can give ideas to important people, we should discuss EVERYTHING. :D And really, it isn't even fair to definitively say something will or won't happen, because it's always about the price. Trust me, if Piazza called the Cubs tomorrow and offered to backup catch for league minimum, he'd be signed. Highly unlikely, but there is always a potential way, heh.

Depending on the price it might be a good buy. Last year showed up how valuable a guy who can come in and provide average starting pitching can be. We might have saved a few losses with Batista around last year.

I know, crazy. We already signed Blanco for too much so why would we go pickup Piazza? Well, for starters, he might be cheap. It was repoted by Rosenthal that it was down to the A's and the Phillies, but other reports say that Philly isn't even interested. We know that the A's aren't interested in paying big money. We don't have a lot of options for improving our offense. Shortstop seems set. Center field doesn't really show a lot of good options. Jacque probably. Left field would look nice with Manny in it but I hate to disrupt Murton because I think he will be special. So maybe backup catcher is something we should revisit. How cheaply would he have to come to make you interested in his .800+ OPS? $4 million? He played first in '04, not that well of course. So he could be second on the depth chart at first. I'm assuming he is not capable of playing left field, lol, though I haven't watched much of him in recent years. Last season taught us to never be too deep. Maybe if he doesn't cost a lot, you should go for more depth here. I'd rather see Piazza up to bat in one of every five games than Blanco.

Yes, and good too. Jones in Center Field will put up around an .800 OPS, more if he's platooned, for a very fair wage in this current market. Open the checkbooks and sign some starters Jim, and keep Jacque.

Except that all corner outfielders except Drew, who Bruce has been nice enough to let us know isn't seen as an option, are off the market. Sure, if Cincy calls you up and offers Dunn for Novoa, lol, you take it, and if you then need to put Soriano at second, somehow we'll survive.