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jtownie

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  1. jtownie
    I think from a PR and ticket selling standpoint, it could be somewhat risky. If Jones is your bigtime acquisition for 2007, but you get him in August, and still finish with a terrible record in 2006, fans might have a tough time embracing him as the new help for 2007. The enthusiasm might wear thin by February. I'm not sure if that's true or not, just a theory. That's a valid point. fans could become de-sensitized to the fact that A Jones wasn't here all season and wasn't acquired in the off-season.
  2. jtownie
    being so PR sensitve I would think the Cubs would also view this as a huge marketing opportunity to get fans to look forward to 2007. Granted he makes a lot next year but he's worth 14M for one season than giving Lee or Soriano a big, long-term contract. But obtaining Jones just makes too much sense for this team to actually get it done.
  3. jtownie
    Yes indeed! He'd fall into the Cubs wants as far as having a HR bat along with playing good defense.
  4. jtownie
    my guess is that Pierre would be playing LF for the Cubs next year. They fairly intent on signing him. It is interesting that Fontenot isn't on the 40-man roster yet and that the Cubs haven't replaced the open spot(s) on that roster.
  5. jtownie
    I guess this answers your question. Yes, it could be a PTBNL. I think the reason they wait for the PTBNL is that those same players have to go through waivers so I am sure the Braves would pick a few players and whomever gets through waivers would head to the Braves.
  6. jtownie
    Yeah but like every one says will he be able to pitch 3 maybe 4 nights in a row and will he be able to warm up in the bullpen quick enough. I've heard it takes him a long time to warm up. If he can do those to things he would be an awesome set-up man for Demp. Or Demp would be an awesome set-up man for him. Depending on the cost I see no reason not to take a chance. Hendry's MO has always been that you can never have enough pitching and this is a high-risk/high-reward scenario. In fact it might not be high-risk if he signs a very heavily incentive-laden contract. I think the reason it took him so long to get warm this year was that he was recovering from surgery and this winter he can condition himself into more of a reliever role than starter.
  7. jtownie
    There you go; I think you answered your own question. It's the same stat he brought up when they signed Jeromy Burnitz. As you say, the stat is entirely random and varies from year to year with each player. All I can do is keep beating the OBP drum and maybe talking with some of their inside people about this silly notion. I did hear the interview today on the way to the park. In my opinion, Bruce, the SLG drum is just as important. Hendry also touched on this today(you probably heard), saying that they used to have a team that led the league in HR, but that didn't get them anywhere in terms of winning a championship. Well, that's true, but that offense('03-'04) sure did score a lot more runs than this one does. He was in rare form today. It's absolutely shocking that a GM could be so clueless as to what attributes lead to a good offensive team. it just amazes me that he doesn't realize with a team that has a high-OBP the "clutch" hits and RISP will happen more often. It's as if they forget that you need runners on and in scoring position before you can have clutch hit. One begets the other but it doesn't work vice versa. That's a point I'd like someone to bring up. You can beat the OBP drum as much as you want but you have to prove why it's the right drum to beat.
  8. jtownie
    I believe he's sincere in what he said last night and for the last year or so _ that he wants to remain a Cub. What I think will happen is that the Cubs will attempt to restructure the deal to sweeten it and keep him off the open market. Aramis and Jim Hendry have a good relationshp, and the agent, Paul Kinzer, appears to be a very reasonable guy. My gut feeling is that he stays. This makes sense to me. The Cubs will have money to spend in the offseason, and the fallout from letting him walk would be very ugly, considering that the offense is already the worst in baseball. I really hope that they don't think people will consider keeping ARam as a successful offseason, but who knows. They've shown very little interest in making their constituents happy. You mention the Cubs having some money to spend in the off-season. There's another cub-site that does an article on this topic. Not sure how many read it but I thought it was good fodder for discussion. http://www.thechicagonationalleagueballclub.com/article/archives/2006/08/01/707
  9. jtownie
    didn't hendry say on the air last night that he refused a prospect deal? Actually I've read in a place or two how Colletti was on the radio and TV in LA and talked about how he wouldn't go the prospect route that Hendry initiated. But was finally able to convince him to take Izturis. This is the perfect time to take advantage of a weak NL and Hendry is really squandering this opportunity.
  10. jtownie
    I'm not getting that hunch, but I could see it. Assuming Ramirez and Pierre get raises, and they sign some expensive, yet ineffective innings eater for the rotation, I'm guessing they spread the remaining cash around to a mediocre left fielder or a mediocre second baseman, plus a very bad veteran for the bench. Maybe Blanco gets a raise as well. I could see hendry going after a guy like Marcus Giles, or maybe I am hopeful he does. The OF situation I have no idea. It wouldn't surprise me if he goes after Carlos Lee but for some reason i get the feeling he would rather overpay for pitching. Boras and Hendry do have a good relationship. No matter what, I'm going to be very nervous over the next 9 months in regards to what moves he makes. I'm trying to prepare myself for endless frustration.
  11. jtownie
    Not to rain on the parade but I think Hendry said yesterday, while talking to Len and Bob, that the Cubs would not be making any big player trades for the remainder of the season. of course, that doesn't hold a lot of water since Hendry doesn't openly discuss such things but thought it was worth mentioning. I still have a feeling that Hendry is going to go after a guy like zito or schmidt or perhaps both. I think he wants all pitching and defense. although I think he does recognize he needs a Power bat in LF next year. Unfortunately that probably means Lee. the one thing I did like that Hendry said today on Sean and Steve was that he wants to let the kids pitch to see what he has. He compared the situation to the Tigers of a few years ago.
  12. jtownie
    I'd really like to know who the prospects were that the Cubs were going to get until Izturis suddenly became available. Hendry said a few times that they were High-Level. to me that means they were AAA players but not necessarily high-quality. I guess I just hope that Izturis can still be better offensively given the fact that age is on his side. During the game Hendry mentioned that getting Izturis gave him a head start on putting the team together for 2007 in order to avoid the situation they are currently in with this craptacular 2006 team.
  13. jtownie
    I thought Veal was a lefty.
  14. jtownie
    In the past, I think Maddux has stated his preference for NL teams. I don't see how the Cubs would get cash relief in this deal. Jones + Aramis is about $16M per season, which equals the $16M New York is on the hook for ARod (recall Texas agreed to pick up significant dollars in the ARod trade). I don't know that the salary wash per year is the issue for salary relief as much as it is the length of ARods contract. He has more years and money left on the contrac than Jones/ARam. Plus Jones/ARam take two positions of need for the Yanks where ARod equals one, so NY would have more money to spend on other positions where the Cubs would have less. The Cubs would need some salary relief so that they could afford to spend money on the OF.
  15. jtownie
    He does have 16 errors this year, 8 of which are throwing errors (3 last night) which leads me to believe that he just needs to work on his arm angle a little bit. Probably similar to the problem Cedeno has had. Or he just needs a better 1B to throw to...someone like DLee would help! :D
  16. jtownie
    Saw this on rotoworld: The White Sox have been calling around to clubs letting it be known that Javier Vazquez or Freddy Garcia would be available in a trade. The White Sox expect Brandon McCarthy to join the rotation soon and want a top notch middle reliever back in exchange. According to a source, the Phillies are willing to give up Tom Gordon in a deal with the Sox. The Mets could also be interested, but Duaner Sanchez or Aaron Heilman would be part of the price tag. Just wondering if either would be worth taking on for next year. Looking at the stats real quick Vazquez is giving up less HRs and has a better K/BB ratio. Although I think he makes quite a bit more.
  17. jtownie
    The Cubs need to be involved in the trade-market this year if they want to have a chance at being good next year. Hendry seems to like to go after talented players that can make a difference that are being dumped for salary reasons. A guy like Abreu or Burrell could upgrade our OF quite a bit and the Cubs can afford their entire salaries, something a lot of other teams are not willing/able to do.
  18. jtownie
    http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5778412?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49 At least according to Rosenthal. Not much in the way of details on the deal but it could happen today.
  19. jtownie

    jtownie replied to DivineBovine's topic in Other Sports

    Is Stern drunk?
  20. jtownie
    I'm wondering if a lot of team will be in the market for CF next year. I'm just wondering if Pierre would want to see what the FA market offers for his services and if it isn't what he expected he would sign a 1-year deal with the Cubs to try to have a better year and drive up his value.
  21. jtownie
    Hendry should definitely let Prior finish pitching out the year in hopes of maxing his trade value. While I am a proponent of keeping ARam he can definitely go in the right trade.
  22. jtownie
    You mean the fact that they call him Chris Marmol?
  23. jtownie
    Yeah I guess it's always better to overpay for top-tier talent than it is to overpay for mediocre and less-then-mediocre talent.
  24. jtownie
    That would be great but just wondering who replaces ARam. I would think a lineup of ARam and C. Lee would be better than Burrell and whomever else would be signed as FA. Unless, of course, we were to trade for a talented rookie or some other high-caliber 3B.
  25. jtownie
    The AL used to do that, they changed and went to tickets sold some time ago. Ah, I did not know that! Thanks!
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