mhuber92211

Err...if this was an option I think its a no brainer

Hendry is totally and deeply in love with Cesar Izturis. Why again must we wait to crucify him? I'm pretty much ready now. What would happen if Izturis plays well next season?

Your post make some sense right here to me BBB. Thanks for the nice thoughts earlier too. Baseball almost parallels politics in this way i guess. We have little to do with who runs the team but we can have an impact of change when the general majority wants the same thing. For example, the majority of people were excited with Dusty first came and 4 years later they tired of him. I would venture to guess that the majority of Cub Fans are extremely excited about this offseason. Never before have the Cubs signed 1 (if not 2 or 3) of the most popular and highly sought after players. To the average fan that sees that the Cubs have signed several "headline" players makes a big difference to them. But i suspect that in a few years the majority of the fans will support a rebuilding process through the farm after they are "turned off" by the recent crop of players. I think also above, the note about Free Agency combined with the number of players that change teams is a good point. We are always fans of a team first. But normally, if a favorite player went elsewhere I would follow that team from afar or at least be able to watch a game. Now not so much. Thanks for the thoughts everyone

Sometimes I hate living in So Cal

I wonder if we, the fans, make too many decisions about a player based on how much money they earn. If we didn't know how much a player got paid would we be happier with a player or more supportive or excited that he is on our team. I guess this question has resulted in a realization I made the other day. I can't remember the last time I had a "favorite" player. I would have to probably say it was Ryne Sandberg back when I was playing little league but even then, his "retirement" left me rethinking that. I don't know, I guess I feel that I get disallusioned with players once I know how much they make or factor that in when I look at his performance. In reality, I should love to watch Pierre play because he is geniunily working hard, playing hard, trying hard and seemingly enjoying playing the game. What do you all think? Would it make a difference towards our opinions on a player if money was not known?

A lot of the posters here have a certain mindset on how they want a team built because they think its the best way to build a successful winning team. Needless to say, our GM has pretty much gameplanned completely opposite from this mindset, and as such as pretty critical. I think that the key here is that many posters have a strong opinion on what is best. Therefore when someone else doesn't do it the same way, emotion takes over. We saw it last offseason with Jones. At the beginning there was outrage but slowly the better and more moderate commetns take over. Best thing is to not judge based on initial impressions

Could be talk to raise the value of Dempster. Many teams are looking for closers and if they are considering Turnbow, Dempster is a better option

Thats just a silly comment. It appears that the Cubs could care less about contract size this offseason. I Vote Hudson (likely Cheaper then some of the younger pitchers due to contract size). I would give up Jones/Marshall/Rule V pticher for Hudson & prospect.

I MUST say that I have a HUGE Man Love for Josh Brown Also, the Defenses in the NFL (especially my beloved Seahawks) need to learn to tackle. That is all...

The Cubs are looking for a "Second Tier" starter. Maddux falls into this category. He is capable of putting up numbers similar to other pitchers about to get long term, expensive deals. Maddux would likely accept a 1 year deal but isn't going to take any deal right away which would drive his price up in a pitching starved market. Maddux is always a good fit in Chicago and is a fan favorite no matter if he is classified as being bad. I would specualte that the majority of Cub fans would like to see Maddux put up a 5 ERA in the 5th starter spot then a young pitcher like Marshall. And who among us would not want to see Maddux get a ring with the Cubs? I agree with the others who say that they would rather pay Maddux for a year then sign Meche/Padilla to a long term deal.

Well, so would I. But the difference in player cost between the two would be huge. In fact, I'm not sure we could put together a package for Baldelli but we likely could get Dukes. I lean the other way on this. I think Baldelli is more easily attainable. He has the "injury prone" tag firmly on him and other GMs will shy away. I would think that a 3 pitcher deal ala Pierre last offseason would do it. I would offer Marmol/Marshall/C AA Prospect and get it done.

meh. I'd rather have Baldelli

its amazing how Hendry can be looked at now as opposed to last week. First there was a 100 page thread on a false report of AR leaving, then Hendry signs him. Then through the week Hendry signs DeRosa for what is now below market (or right at) market value and add on the solid trade for Cotts and now Soriano. Hendry is on a roll and the posters here are somewhat out of gas for the Fire Hendry bandwagon. This is a good thing. Hendry needs the support of the fans to get more players. The whole "best fans in world" has gone to our rivals and its time to get it back. Signings like these will go a LONG way towards that.

So does this mean that one of the Dodgers young OF is available? If so, a Murton for Westbrook deal and then a deal for Kemp wouldn't be too bad.

and if Lugo still signs with the Cubs?

I like Heilman/Westbrook/Hudson. I think that signing a FA starter is going to look like a Pavano contract.

its on ESPN news with Bruce Levine right now. Gotta love that this news is bigger then the NFL

I would give up Hill for Baldelli

Since very few posters gave him props for signing his own free agents (ARam, Wood, and Miller), I would think he should be ahead of the GMs that couldn't even sign their own free agents (Soriano, Drew, Schmidt, Zito, CLee, etc.). What? You want to rank him ahead of Beane because he managed to resign Ramirez but Beane didn't resign Zito? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Sure it does. I realize that the A's made the playoffs with Zito but Beane should have cashed that chip at the deadline. Zito's loss would have been overcome with the depth the A's had. Hendry's big negative is that he overpays for medocrity. Again I say whoopeedo. Medocrity is what exists in baseball. There are only so many "superstars" available. Last offseason most here were clamoring for Brian Giles. That would have equaled roughly the same as what Jones put together. The difference is that Jones has a more manageable contract and that leaves the right doors open for Hendry - Trades. There hasn't been one trade that Hendry has made that has been a poor move. If Hendry has a club of mangeable and tradeable contracts then we can be active on the trade front.

I think that JJ & Dempster would be a logical trade option with Boston. They need a RF now that Nixon has left. I doubt that Lugo figures into this at all. Afterall why wouldn't Boston just sign Lugo themselves? I would imagine that if the Cubs get Drew or a different corner OF (Heck even Nixon). I like Boston as a trading a trading partner as we can fill some of their needs and likewise right back to us.

So this is often a point of discussion in evaluating a previous season for a player but i don't think I understand its value as a metric and hopefully I am not the only one. To me it would be logical that someone with a high batting average would have to have a high BABIP as well as a high OBP. I understand that it is a way to look to see if the player was somewhat more "lucky" but I don't get how an assumption of a high BABIP means that the player's numbers would be more of a fluke then any other form of measurement. Thanks for the explanation in advance!

Not to Thread steal but I am impressed B. To own a home right now in San Diego is a major accomplishment. Congrats and I am tremedously jealous. My wife and I can't afford one here in the San Jacinto valley much less SD. My biggest desire in life right now is to own a home. Congrats on being an uncle too!

OK so mostly from this thread is not the fact that DeRosa is on the team its the fact that he is here for 3 years and he is being paid 4 million dollars. No offense but whoopeedoo. Who cares how much he is paid? What is it to us fans? Once again the logic states that if you make a bad choice on a contract, its better to miss small then miss big. This is considered small. 4 million dollars is swallowable, especially for a club that swallowed 16 million. DeRosa is also a tradable commodity. He is a guy that a contender would look to add for the stretch run if he doesn't work out. This contract or signing puts the team in a better position then yesterday. It fills a hole on the team and the price does not preclude ANY other potential move. Whereas if the team signed Soriano to a long term high dollar contract it would preclude a high dollar pitcher. At least this way the player playing 2B is not stopping the team from making decision about obtaining another impact player. No one can say what DeRosa will hit this coming season. We have no idea. He is as likely to repeat a performance from 2 years ago as he is his performance from last season. As with any signing thelogical thing to do is look at the opportunity cost. In other words examine what the alternatives to signing this player would be. By signing DeRosa does it impact any other decision available to the team? Not really. With DeRosa's felxability, Soriano could still be signed to play 2B if that was s ticking point in negotations. It would also make a platoon partner still available for Jones should DeRosa start at 2B. In other words adding DeRosa is better then not adding him. For those who wonder about his value. DeRosa was an option for starting at 3B if ARam left. If he was an option for the Cubs then he was certainly a starting 3B option for the many teams looking for help at that position (Anaheim, LA, Philly all come immediately to mind). With the other options available to those teams I am sure that one of them would have paid $4 million for DeRosa. Hendry should be praised for getting an option that was sought after by other teams immediately and not being afraid to take the pay up a notch in order to get it.

Now is the time to buy that Kerry Wood Jersey. All the Wrigleyville area souviner shops had them 50% off

I love overreactions!