Kingmanarama

If you pay a $51 million posting fee, you'd better sign the guy for five or six years. I can't imagine giving Seibu all that money, then simply signing the dude for three years.

I do. If we're going to try to get a few hundred plate appearances from some old, declining LH hitter, I wouldn't mind Barry.

I don't think it would be that big of a stretch, considering he's 39. ...and he'll be 40 in May. And his range has already slipped. I'll say this for Lofton: he outslugged Trot Nixon last year (.403 to .394).

He'll be 33 in April, he has a history of back/leg injuries, and he slugged .394 in 453 plate appearances last season. His power really seems to have disappeared. If it takes a multi-year deal to get him, I'm definitely not interested.

Funny this didn't come up while they were negotiating a $136 million contract.

Soriano outproduced Hawpe in OPS+ in their age 25, 26, and 27 MLB seasons: Hawpe 2004, age 25 - 72 OPS+, 118 plate appearances, Hawpe 2005, age 26 - 88 OPS+, 351 PA Hawpe 2006, age 27 - 122 OPS+, 575 PA Soriano 2001, age 25 - 92 OPS+, 614 PA Soriano 2002, age 26 - 131 OPS+, 741 PA Soriano 2003, age 27 - 128 OPS+, 734 PA Also, Soriano outperformed Hawpe in OPS+ during each of the past three years: Soriano 2004, age 28 - 98 OPS+, 658 PA Soriano 2005, age 29 - 110 OPS+, 682 PA Soriano 2006, age 30 - 132 OPS+, 728 PA Hawpe sat against LHPs last season, too, which helped his OPS more than a little. He has a severe RHP/LHP split. I don't think it's necessary to look at minor league numbers to settle the debate. I'm not thrilled with A) Soriano's contract, B) the possibility of Soriano playing center field, or C) the fact that he's going to lead-off. But there's no doubt in my mind that he's a significantly more productive hitter than Brad Hawpe.

If Hawpe didn't sit so often against LHPs, that OPS wouldn't be so impressive: Hawpe career vs. RHP - 921 PA, 30 HR, .284/.372/.473 Hawpe career vs. LHP - 123 PA, 4 HR, .227/.309/.400 For comparison's sake: Jones career vs. RHP - 3371 PA, 138 HR, .295/.343/.493 Jones career vs. LHP - 993 PA, 21 HR, .228/.275/.350 I'd certainly rather have Hawpe than Jones. I can't imagine prefering Hawpe to Soriano, though, unless you actively root for a low payroll: Hawpe PA, OPS+ 2004, age 25 - 118, 72 2005, age 26 - 351, 88 2006, age 27 - 575, 122 Soriano PA, OPS+ 2001, age 25 - 614, 92 2002, age 26 - 741, 131 2003, age 27 - 734, 128 2004, age 28 - 658, 98 2005, age 29 - 682, 110 2006, age 30 - 728, 132

8 years is a long time. But it also might be a steal by that time. I like the signing. Everyone says he's a good clubhouse guy so for those who think in line of team chemistry he works. I'm glad the Cubs have him. If the Trib's going to sell the team, they'd be smart to make this a back-loaded deal. Meaning that Soriano could make, say, $14M next season and $20M when he's 38. Stick the next ownership group with the bill, so to speak.

Small point: you're taking a player who is not among the league leaders in OBP (Vizquel) and comparing him to a player who is second in the NL in home runs and fourth in SLG (Howard). How would your eight Ryan Howards do against eight Nick Johnsons? (Or eight Scott Hattebergs, or Freddy Sanchezes, or Brad Hawpes. Man, baseball will be cool when it's played by clones. Less cool when the Cubs spend $80 million on eight Phil Nevins, though). Howard's RC/27 is 7.22. Sanchez, who has 25 fewer home runs, is at 7.58. Shouldn't it be Freddy Sanchi? The Pirates should give away Freddy Sanchia Pets. That'd be awesome.

Small point: you're taking a player who is not among the league leaders in OBP (Vizquel) and comparing him to a player who is second in the NL in home runs and fourth in SLG (Howard). How would your eight Ryan Howards do against eight Nick Johnsons? (Or eight Scott Hattebergs, or Freddy Sanchezes, or Brad Hawpes. Man, baseball will be cool when it's played by clones. Less cool when the Cubs spend $80 million on eight Phil Nevins, though). Howard's RC/27 is 7.22. Sanchez, who has 25 fewer home runs, is at 7.58.

Buckner won the batting title that year, too. And the Cubs were 64-98. Bad chemistry, obviously.

Yeah. It's a very tradeable contract, unless the option year is automatically triggered by a trade.

It'd be worth dealing for Kearns just so he can't destroy our pitchers anymore. Of course, if he couldn't face Cub pitchers anymore, he wouldn't be much of a hitter. A lot of profane gestures have been exchanged between Kearns and the RF bleachers over the years, too. I don't really want that to end.

*Perfect.* I'm not thinking of Michaels as an alternative to Pierre, by the way, but to Jones. He could at least be an effective platoon partner for Jones. Not that it's happening.

Yeah, I find all this very unsettling. Knowing that players like Crisp and Marte are available, and hearing that Michaels might be dealt for so little, has certainly reinforced just how poorly this off-season has gone for the Cubs. So far, in my opinion, we've been both aggressive and unimaginitive. That's a terrible combination.