Jump to content
North Side Baseball

jtownie

Verified Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    342

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Profiles

Joomla Posts 1

Chicago Cubs Videos

Chicago Cubs Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

2026 Chicago Cubs Top Prospects Ranking

News

2023 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks

Guides & Resources

2024 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks

The Chicago Cubs Players Project

2025 Chicago Cubs Draft Pick Tracker

Blogs

Events

Forums

Store

Gallery

Everything posted by jtownie

  1. jtownie
    It's the Cubs, need you ask? Of course we'd get the LA version. Wasn't it under Piniella that Lugo's offense started to turn-around?
  2. jtownie
    I don't know how many different threads this argument needs to span before it gets read, but this is a poor observation. Please go and study Sorianos career splits and then reconsider your opinion. His best numbers are continually demonstrated at leadoff, with mediocre to poor numbers in the 3 and 5 hole (respective to what you want out of those slots). The big-time flashy numbers that make Soriano attractive occur at leadoff, and it is easily his best lineup split for his career. Sometimes a spade is a spade - Washington figured that out. Where did he bad in 2002 and 2003? Granted his best numbers occured this season but was that due to him batting leadoff, or just improving as a ballplayer?(or sadly a contract season) I simply can't agree with putting that kind of RBI potential at leadoff. Didn't BP produce a study that indicated your best hitters should be in the 1, 3 and 4 spots of the lineup? I know for sure that 1 and 3 were two of the spots but can't remember if the 4-spot is the 3rd. Having Soriano, Lee, and Ramirez in those 3 spots is exactly what should happen if that study has merit.
  3. jtownie
    What happens if the two highest teams bidding put in the same bid? Doubtful it happens as most teams will probably not hold onto a whole number, like 20M and instead bid like 20.34M.
  4. jtownie
    I don't believe in "too right handed". I think too many managers get caught up in L/R lineups, instead of the best hitters. Besides, the Cubs are actually middle of the pack in the NL for OPS against righties, and at the bottom against lefties. I agree with you that as long as a guy can hit both L/R it doesn't matter whether he is a lefty or righty batter. It seems like Hendry believes that having a mix is important though. I think he would do Jones for Burrell though. So Murton and Burrell manning the corner OF positions. That might be ugly but probably no worse than watching Jones and Murton out there.
  5. jtownie
    I don't believe in "too right handed". I think too many managers get caught up in L/R lineups, instead of the best hitters. Besides, the Cubs are actually middle of the pack in the NL for OPS against righties, and at the bottom against lefties. Isn't Wrigley better for RH hitters anyways? Or is that what you were saying?
  6. jtownie
    Correct me if I am wrong but didn't the Mets sign Beltran and Pedro in the same year as they traded for Wagner? Then added Delgado the following off-season? That's as close to your scenario as I can remember.
  7. jtownie
    I saw him ESPNNEWS briefly a few minutes ago. they were discussing who he thought should be MVP and I was just waiting for Neifi to come up. It didn't happen.
  8. jtownie
    The best route for pitching is probably FA since trading for a high-end pitcher via trade could deplete an almost bare farm-system. I'd have no problem with signing Schmidt but the Cubs have to consider that almost like a Pedro deal where the true window of opportunity of his services is the first 2 years. After that there's real concern his shoulder/body isn't going to hold up and truly start breaking down.
  9. jtownie
    What? He had a 3.59 ERA (126 ERA+), 1.26 WHIP, 7.59 K/9, 2.25 K/BB, and a .238/.310/.379/.687 line against. Last year, meaning 2005, not this year, meaning 2006. 94 ERA+. The knock against Soriano is he's performing in a contract year, and is usually not as good as he was this year. Why doesn't Schmidt get same criticism? He's got a much longer track record of underperforming his career year stats. He's got injury issues, and pitchers, in general, are far bigger risks than hitters. If people want to stay away from Soriano due to the risk involved in overpaying, the exact same issues arise when discussing Schmidt. Who in the FA pitching market would you target? Zito? Padilla? Another? Or would you rather try and trade for some pitching? Schmidt scares me for his injury history and the fact that he is getting old. If he were in his 20s still I might be more inclined to take a chance.
  10. jtownie
    I'm not sure kid in the rotation is all that bad. Some of the best pitchers in this year's playoffs have been very inexperienced. And many had very checkered pasts before this year. I think it's a bad idea to purposefully go into the season with a mediocre offense. It's not necessary to skimp in that area. Your lists don't take into account that the Cubs are in the top 25% in baseball in payroll, whichs means that, unlike other teams, they can afford to pay for pitching and hitting. And if they up payroll another 20-25M as is being speculated they can afford to add offense and pitching.
  11. jtownie
    Think we could get him for 5/60 if we promised him 2nd base? Why in the world would he take less money just to play 2B over OF? He might take a little less if he gets a NTC. I believe that is a big sticking point with him. DC wants nothing to do with it. Hendry doesn't seem to mind givng NTC's. soriano's production would be nice in CF.
  12. jtownie
    Stats wise, Rodriguez is far superior to Derrek Lee. I'd be willing to bet that a majority of teams would rather have Lee over Alex because of maturity issues. I have a hard time believing DLee is going to draw attention to himself the way ARod does - and that could be pretty much an intangible asset to a clubhouse. ARod draws attention to himself? You think he does that more than a guy like Jeter? ARod draws a lot less attention to himself than many big name players. If anything, he's more of a recluse than most. It's not like he's Barry Bonds with his own reality show. Agreed! How much did we really hear about ARod when he wasn't with the Yankees? Judging on memory alone all I ever heard was how great he was and his contract but that's it. The NY media is a completely different animal than any other city and since he doesn't fit the "true Yankee" label they appear to be making a lot of assumptions about ARod and his personality.
  13. jtownie
    Not to brush this praise aside, but the pitching staff said the same thing about Oscar Acosta when he was canned, and the pitchers from those teams didn't suddenly forget how to throw. Interesting that Hill is quoted as a supporter. If I recall, he was one of the pitchers that was rumored to constantly ignoring Rothschild and that it wasn't until he quit listening to him that he started to perform at the ML as he did in the lower levels.
  14. jtownie
    To me, if this is all true, is that it's probably a negiotiating ploy. Regardless, I think ARam would be more worried about what direction the Cubs are going to go in terms of player personnel than who is going to manage this team. Either way, I'm skeptical of any source that is close to or says is a friend of said player.
  15. jtownie
    A couple of things. First, there's speculation that Hendry might be going as well as the coaching staff? Either I have missed a lot of news or that is completely new. Second, I really enjoy that quote from Pole. "He accepts full responsibility even though it isn't his fault..." No wonder Baker loves that guy! I'm not saying it's all Baker's fault but seriously talk about in no way wanting to be accountable for this team. Then again, I'd probably try to deflect all the blame too if I had to manage this crap roster.
  16. jtownie
    It scares me to think of how little activity we might see in the off-season as Hendry will probably think that he only needs to build an 85-win team to take the division.
  17. jtownie
    I'm not saying he should have done anything in particular. I was questioning the "pitchers didn't perform" line. And I do question adding another innings eating mediocre pitcher to a staff full of them, but if I was a WS fan, I wouldn't have much to complain about. Maybe he should have tried trading off 2 pitchers for 1 great one, and filling in with another mediocre guy elsewhere. But it worked last year, I see why he'd want to stick with them this year, it wasn't bad. He should have expected a decline though. And the team was very close to the playoffs even with that decline (and an overly dramatic decline from Buerhle that wasn't expected - although I've been thinking that guy would have troubles for years now, don't know why, just never liked him). In reality, they probably win a couple more games if Buerhle didn't absolutely suck, though that might not have been enough. Just my opinion but I always thought that KW made a point to upgrade the offense with the idea that the pitchers would probably decline somewhat. The idea being that an improved offense would make up the difference.
  18. jtownie
    Good very good. As for this thread, wouldnt it be better to look at the race this way? Team W-L Pct GA Streak L10 --------------------------------------------------- Kansas City 47-85 .356 -- Lost 1 4-6 Pittsburgh 50-81 .382 3.5 Lost 3 4-6 Tampa Bay 52-79 .397 5.5 Lost 4 4-6 Chicago Cubs 54-76 .415 8 Lost 3 2-8 Washington 55-75 .423 9 Lost 2 2-8 Is it pitching or offensively rich or both? I basically have no idea what type of players are going to be in the draft. If it's going to be really good i hope the plan with Pierre all along was to let him walk for the draft picks with the idea that the talent pool was better than what he could have gotten in return at the deadline.
  19. jtownie
    how does the talent for next years draft look?
  20. jtownie
    What about Randy Wolf?
  21. jtownie
    The obscene year not likely to repeat theory is the same with Soriano, no? Yep, although at least in that case you don't have to pay in players to get him. Although it's unlikely Wells would repeat his year it would be more likely he does than soriano due to age. Wells is what 26?
  22. jtownie
    so which injury does Prior have? The one that caused Wood to have labrum surgery or the one that Kremcheck didn't even check? Just curious.
  23. jtownie
    We're 10 games out dude. Gotta keep pushing for that Wild Card. I don't see those mathematics kicking in yet. We're only 10 games out?! Somehow, entering play today, yes. 10 games out of the wildcard-13 1/2 out of the division-shows you how bad the NL has been this season, doesn't it? the NL is sad this year. Which just makes even more angry that Hendry wasted this off-season. We coulda been a contenda.... The other problem I have with the NL being so bad is that Hendry will see this and just try to make the team good enough to compete instead of builing a team that could absolutely dominate.
  24. jtownie
    Is it reasonable to think that Brenly may end up being another dierker? in that with having two years in the booth he is seeing more statistical analysis and starting to blend the old-school with the SABR? this year, in general, I think he has talked a lot more about plate discipline and OBP than I remenber last year. Not sure if that's completely true but whenever I am listening he seems to be pointing out that the Cubs offensive failures lie in their inability to be patient and willing to take a walk. great article by the way. that was a well-thought out article, granted they don't give you many words, that voiced a manager that would focus on what the team needs to succeed rather than just ragging on Dusty and wanting change for the sake of change.
  25. jtownie
    http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5850326?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49 a little nugget from Rosenthal about half-way down. Basically he believes if the Rangers sign Lee to an extension they could potentially deal Teixeira for pitching. Can he still play LF? He'd be a welcome addition to the ballclub for '07 with a reasonable salary allowing for further upgrades.
×
×
  • Create New...