jtownie

In regards to Ichiro, is it possible he could become expendable if the Mariners sign Jojima? i would imagine that Hendry would be all over trading for Ichiro if he did. An OF of Murton, Ichiro, and Giles could be very productive.

A lot, if not most, articles I have read always quote him as the "28 year old free-agent" I believe. So I am going with MLB...plus I think they would be more official than ESPN.

I wouldn't mind the 2003 or 2004 Pierre, I'd hate the 2002 or 2005 Pierre. Personally I have no faith that he'll produce. well maybe he has Farnsworth type of pattern but instead of being good in Odd years he has a bad year and then 2 good years. :P

There's a new rumor of Walker going to the Mets for Aaron Heilman. I think I'd take that. Not only does it give us a valuable starter/bp guy it also take the Mets out of the running for Furcal.

My guess is that Hendry has a figure in mind and doesn't want to go beyond that due to age issues. Alou is a decent example as he ended up hurt through some of his contract. However Giles doesn't have the injury history that Alou did so they may look at his decrease in power numbers as a deterrant. Either way Hendry isn't going to let his interest be known and may try to resolve the issue through a trade. I pray that Bruce is correct and that Hendry will make a push for either Dunn or Abreu.

He said no one saw Hollandsworth struggles coming. :x See man. I will say this though. Hendry pretty much said that he has failed the past two years. At least he can recognize that. Yeah, that was the only part of the interview that irritated me. I don't think the questions were the right ones, though. I would have asked about: -Why not Brian Giles? -Aramis' offseason stretching program -Dotel? -Rule 5 draft guys; why not trade some? -Why not let Neifi go test the market and save money? -OBP in the 1-2 spots. Agreed. Those questions would have been excellent to ask. Well I know Hendry did mention that Stat-wise the lead-off position was not where it should be. Hendry isn't going to come out and say that Dusty's top of the lineup was terrible. It's just not his M.O. He mentioned that RF was something they are going to be looking at as well as more pitching depth. I didn't expect him to come and tell Silvy and Carmen exactly who he is looking at. I wasn't knocking Hendry's answers; I was being critical of the questions that were asked. I didn't think they were the best questions to ask Hendry. He could have answered however he wanted, but if the interviewers at least bother to ask to right questions, that's all I could hope for. I wasn't arguing against you. Didn't mean for it to come off that way. Just pointing out some things he said that I wasn't sure anyone knew they were addressed...in particular the OBP in the 1-2 spots. I totally agree that the questions were fairly soft. I think a lot of times they have GMs on just to say they could get them on and talk to them and then they leave it up to Bruce Levine to ask the hard questions...although I am not sure he does either. The interesting question I heard was about Walker and why we haven't heard about him much. Hendry denied that Walker wasn't in the plans for the future and in a nutshell discredited the rumors that if they sign Furcal 2nd base would come down to just Cedeno and Perez.

He said no one saw Hollandsworth struggles coming. :x See man. I will say this though. Hendry pretty much said that he has failed the past two years. At least he can recognize that. Yeah, that was the only part of the interview that irritated me. I don't think the questions were the right ones, though. I would have asked about: -Why not Brian Giles? -Aramis' offseason stretching program -Dotel? -Rule 5 draft guys; why not trade some? -Why not let Neifi go test the market and save money? -OBP in the 1-2 spots. Agreed. Those questions would have been excellent to ask. Well I know Hendry did mention that Stat-wise the lead-off position was not where it should be. Hendry isn't going to come out and say that Dusty's top of the lineup was terrible. It's just not his M.O. He mentioned that RF was something they are going to be looking at as well as more pitching depth. I didn't expect him to come and tell Silvy and Carmen exactly who he is looking at.

For these 11 guys I have closer to 60M. Barret - 3M Blanco -1.5M Dempster - 5M Lee - 8M Maddux - 9.5 Prior - 3.6 Ramirez - 10.5 Rusch - 2.5 Walker - 2.5 Willamson - 2 Wood - 11

If you read his quotes, Lawton claims he did not appeal his suspension. This rumor obviously involves someone in the appeals process. There could still be another one forthcoming. There was a follow-up interview with Carroll in regards to the rumor itself. Looks like the original rumor got blown up a tad. Ill post it below as finding it is a bit time-consuming. From Baseball Musings: Will Carroll Interview Will Carroll offered me a chance to interview him about the steroid rumors, and I was more than happy to oblige. I submitted questions to Will by e-mail, and here are his replies. Baseball Musings: You've helped confirm a rumor about an AL playoff outfielder testing positive for steroids. How did you come to have this information? Will Carroll: This is false. I was involved in an appeals process, very tangentially. I don't know a name but have heard rumors, much as many journalists have. When Jamie asked the question, I confirmed that I had heard this rumor and due to my involvement with an appeal, I couldn't comment further. I didn't mean for this to be any confirmation. As to my involvement, I was asked to comment on the nature of the substance, its use by players, and if I'd heard anything about the use of a certain "cocktail" of substances. There was nothing specific and I had no bearing that I know of on any hearings that may or may not have occurred. I'm certainly not an arbitrator or expert witness as some have speculated. BM: I have heard from two sources that the player is not on the White Sox. Is this true? WC: I don't know. BM: When asked, "Is this a name we're actually going to care about?" by Jamie Monttram, you answered yes. Why do we care about this player? WC: I think as baseball fans, we should care about any athlete. My perspective as someone that's followed this story as closely as anyone might be skewed a bit. If it is true that it's a playoff player, then it calls the integrity of the testing program into question and will be a media firestorm. BM: Are we going to be surprised by the name? In other words, is it someone for whom the allegations are new? WC: I don't know. BM: Do you know if the drug detected is easily found in contaminated supplements? WC: I can't comment on the actual substance, but cross-contamination of the substances that players have tested positive for this year is nearly impossible. Drugs like winstrol and the metabolites that are detected in drug tests are very specific. BM: In your opinion, does the player have a good defense for why he tested positive? WC: I do not know if he has any defense or what it is. BM: When do you expect the decision to be made? WC: I don't know. I still have a poor handle on how the process works. It appears to be much like the suspension appeals for a fight or hit batsmen - takes a while to get everyone together. The steps that the new policy calls for extends that period. It's too bad that this can't be enough of a priority to make everyone - agent, league, union - get together at the first possible opportunity. BM: If the player is suspended, when does the suspension begin? Is it the first day of the 2006 regular season? WC: That's consistent with the Heredia suspension, handed down recently. Thanks, Will.

Thanks! The most interesting part to me was that they found a positive explanation for the increase in the BABIP; that they weren't just bloop singles but that most of the increase in hits were actually XBH; to which the idea that a mechanical flaw was corrected rather than attributing the season to being an anomaly. Granted, DLee will probably never have another season like 2005 but the article does give some stats that point to DLee at least having a good chance at repeating numbers that are somewhat close to 2005 rather than a complete regression back to his career norms.

Not sure how many of you read this blog but the latest discussion on DLee looks at his chances of repeating. I found it very interesting and a way I hadn't looked at the numbers previously. http://cubtown.baseballtoaster.com/archives/283345.html

I'll take that bet. As a Tribune shareholder, it would be very hard for me to see Hendry get anything beyond $102M from the executive management based on a 79-83 season. Agreed. If you ask me, we will be lucky to get 100mil but that's a hunch. I think the PR hit the Trib could take for having a payroll less than last year's would be too much to risk. I say it stays at 100-105M.

Signing Rusch makes it an unfortunate necessity because of the DL we can always add a pitcher after Wood goes on it. Now, with Rusch here you know the 12man staff will be here because we cant stick our 6th SP in the minors. Wasn't Rusch quoted as saying he wanted to be a SP next year regardless of where he went? I'd have to find the article but I am almost certain that quote became the subject of a thread here. I don't think it was direct quote. I think it was more of a gist from one of the sports writers. Ok, so I guess I can't make any assumptions towards him being signed to be a starter then. To this point I'm indifferent towards the signing. I have no idea what direction Hendry is going in regards to the pitching staff with signing Rusch.

Signing Rusch makes it an unfortunate necessity because of the DL we can always add a pitcher after Wood goes on it. Now, with Rusch here you know the 12man staff will be here because we cant stick our 6th SP in the minors. Wasn't Rusch quoted as saying he wanted to be a SP next year regardless of where he went? I'd have to find the article but I am almost certain that quote became the subject of a thread here.

:evil: That's frickin ridiculous with the talent in our farm system and the holes we have left to plug. Not only that, but this also means we go back to a 12 man pitching staff, unless of course we shake up the starting pitching which IMO wont happen. Perhaps I have mis-interpreted some info but aren't most teams going with a 12-man pitching staff these days?

:x :x UGH, do not like the sound of that at all.. (the bolded part) Jacque Jones or Juan Encarnacion, here we come.. bleh Then again, it's Paul Sullivan, so take it for what it's worth. Why not sign Brian Giles instead of making a trade...:evil: I guess Abreu fits this mold. I mean, he stole more bases than he hit HRs. But it is Paul Sullivan so I guess it doesn't really mean anything. Probably an under-the-radar shot at Dusty for putting speed over On-base skills.

It'll take much more than a tweak. The problems that have plagued this team, have plagued them for years and are not being exaggerated. The Cubs were 9th in runs scored this year. They were that low because of low OBP, and the low OBP was because they took few walks. It would take 1 or 2 bats to turn things around if those 1 or 2 were big impacts like Giles. But things will not be fixed with Furcal and a mediocre RF. They need impact out there. No matter what you do with the pitching staff, there's no way to guarantee a top 1 or 2 staff, with the fragile nature of that aspect of the game. You can't put all your emphasis on pitching and just think this offense will get fixed with tweaks. They've been tweaking it for 3 years and it just keeps getting worse. They were 23 runs out of 6th and 36 out of 5th. Replace Neifi/Patterson @ the top of the order w/ Furcal and replace Floyd w/ Burnitz, and they should be able to get into the top 6. Get some hits w/ runners on base for a change and they can be top 5. Weren't they near the bottom in hitting w/ RISP?? Burnitz needs to go!! There is no way to go out and acquire AVG with RISP. It's not something that carries over from year to year. They need to get production, plain and simple. It doesn't matter how far they were from being 5th or 6th, they weren't 5th or 6th. Year after year they fail to rank high in runs and it's always because they fail to recognize the importance of having their hitters work counts and take walks. Lack of OBP has been the problem and it has to be addressed. If Hendry simply "tweaks" this offense, he's committing malpractice. Well, if they move Burnitz out of the 4 or 5 hole, that has to help avg w/ risp, but I mostly agree that you can't go out and acquire avg w/ risp. However, if the law of averages balances out some the Cubs should be able to get some more runs across the plate. Furcal & Floyd would be huge improvements over what they got from the 1 and 4/5 hitters. If the law of averages applied to the Cubs we wouldn't be going into year 98 without a Championship. Plain and simple, we need guys that can get on On Base. Meaning upgrades in CF and RF are definites.

I think injuries were a huge factor in his taking a "crap." While he definitely isn't worth the contract he received I would only do it if NY picked up a good portion of the money.

But if the roof is closed I won't be able to watch because it won't be as aestetically wonderful to view. OH wait, the camera rarely even shows the roof let alone anything else other than the field. Seriously, why does Selig care? Quick sidenote: would the advantage be because the park becomes more pitcher-friendly with the roof closed?

I agree with Lonestar. Having lived in the Dallas area for awhile Cuban seems to be a distraction to the team. To me, he is the best salesman in pro sports as far as owners. He gets people's attention and they come to the games. Whether it's bad mouthing the ref's in the paper or buying a high octane player. He sells tickets. My opinion is the Cubs sell enough tickets, they just need to buy the right mold of players. What that mold is, nobody knows. Hmm, so an owner that would probably increase payroll to buy whatever marquee FA he wants, meddles in the teams business, and seems to be in the news constantly. Can't think of any Baseball Owners that are like that at all....especially ones that have had consistent winners. J/K! :D

Couldn't agree more..He would put a winner on the field... Doesn't Cuban employ a bunch of "stat-geeks" to operate the Mavericks and help make personnel decisions? I could see the Cubs becoming the ultimate "moneyball" team, payroll and all. =P~

Yeah it would have been nice to see the CUbs at least try to get in on this but it would appear it wasn't just about money for Leo as he turned NY down. This is all purely my opinion but in addition I think it was either working with Perlozzo or staying put.

I'm 8 pages behind on this thread, and don't expect there's any substance to this alleged rumor constructred by unknown unreliable sources. But Lowe touches on a favorite subject of mine. Lowe is noted as a sinkerballer, which is normally inferred to be an asset. A low-K low-walk sinkerballer who gives up a lot of hits but gives up few HR's because of his sinker can be a huge asset. But a low-K sinkerballer who's giving up lots of hits and also gives up lots of HR's can be a disaster. Just because a guy is GB-oriented does *not* mean he doesn't give up plenty of HR's. On hanging sinkers, I suppose. Lowe gave up *28* HR's this year, while pitching in pitcher-friendly HR-unfriendly LA. That's a *lot* of HR's. The combo of lots of hits (it's been 4 years since Lowe has allowed fewer hits than innings...) and lots of HR's is a combustible combo. Be careful what you wish for.... All that said, Lowe has often *not* allowed all *that* many HR's. In Boston his HR-allowed were often pretty respectable. Had his HR-allowed been normal this past season, his ERA would have been a lot more impressive. in 110.2 innings at home he gave up 16HRs. In 111.1 innings pitching Away he gave up 12 HRs. Dodger Stadium didn't really help him much. Quick question about Dodger Stadium. I hear a lot of announcers talk about certain times of the day when it's a lot easier to hit a HR at Dodger Stadium. Has anyone else heard this?

I believe he said it was speculation and I would assume that GM's talk about different players before actually making a trade. Perhaps a better question is to ask what rumors have been passed along by the more reliable contacts?

The "problem" stems from an allegation that Lowe (who is married) has been having an affair with a Dodgers beat reporter, which has caused some awkward moments in that clubhouse. That's what I have been told. what? sleeping with the woman that is trashing your teammates in the local newspaper would cause a problem? Shheeesh...over-sensitive! :D