CUBZ99

It sounded like Brownlie's velocity was up to 91-93 range before the end of the year. I'm hoping that he is finally over his problems and has a great comeback year. Wouldn't mind seeing him in the rotation. Glad to see that he was not selected in the rule 5 draft.

So what exactly is Hendry doing during the GM meetings? Is he ordering pizza and renting movies in his hotel room? Somebody said they have good doughnuts nearby.

Is there a limit as to the number of players you can lose from your system in the Rule 5 draft per year???

Reportedly all the Cubs were offering was Walker.

IF the Cubs trade Mitre, who would fill in if Wood, Rusch, Williams, Guzman, Koronka and Hill get hurt? Seems like Hendry would be leaving the rotation a little thin.

I think Hendry might be on to something. Maybe he should follow the mold of the Bears and load up on guys that "can catch the ball," a dominant starting staff and a much improved bullpen. Who cares about the offense, Neifi has experience leading off and a Jacque Jones pickup would improve the defense in the OF.

This is starting to feel like last offseason all over again. I just hope that Hendry learned his lesson last year.

Was that Rogers story in the paper today? Online he has some article about the Mets and Phills.

It does give me a warm fuzzy feeling to know that Hendry had the wherewithall to sign Neifi as insurance. It will be a joy to see him hitting near the top of the order all year again.

http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051204&content_id=1275704&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la This guy is reporting the same thing.

http://www.rotoworld.com/includes/topblurbs.asp?sport=MLB Rotoworld is saying that Rosenthal has confirmed the signing. :?

This is Madness !! :?

And the plot thickens... HAHA. This is awesome. I'm loving every minute of this crap. Some one PM Len. :lol:

And the plot thickens... I just read it 2 minutes ago.

He's not. We are going to have a real fiasco on our hands. I just hope he gets really creative in Dallas. No choice now. The FA mkt is drying up quickly. This could mean saying goodbye to prospects we like... Really there is no sense in keeping them anyway. Cedeno may be a far superior SS to Neifi but under Dusty he will never get a chance on the Cubs. Same goes with Murton, Hill, etc.

He's not, the Cubs will have AGONE part 2 and Neifi starting next year.

You're right, and that makes me sad. Has anybody told him that you can get quality offensive players that play good defense? (Bradley) It doesn't have to be a one or the other type of thing, right? So let's set the over/under on ABs for Neifi this year at 550? Neifi was going to start anyways. He got starters money. If we snagged Furcal, Neifi would get his PA at 2B. All we did today is limit the damage JH tries to do to this team. Neifi was a blow to the 2006 and 2007 Cubs already inflicted upon us by our GM. Theo in '07!! Please don't make me think about Neifi in 2007. I've already convinced myself that we'll have a different manager then. If used correctly, he 'could' be a useful player (worth about .5 mill, not 2.5). Maybe Dusty will realize how bad of a GM Hendry is and jump ship to LA before the season. The organization really seems to be clueless.

Has Hendry ever landed a top notch free agent? Sure there was Maddux on the downside of his career and a few bullpen guys, but Hendry's record with FA signings doesn't seem to be the best.

Here comes AGONE part 2 :x

you mean Patterson, Pierre and Mabry.. you have to break the young guys in slow.

That would be me. Len told me earlier tonight that he's "100%" sure that Furcal is coming to the Cubs and it may not be announced until Monday. He is expected to sign mid-day Sunday. He also said Pierre is more than likely on the way. Does anyone else find Sunday an odd day to be negotiationg multi-million dollar contracts? According to the source there is no negotiation, just signature. I hope he isn't pulling our leg.

Where is Bruce, when you need him?

Would be nice to see some verification of the signing. I'm sure if Len knows that other outlets will find out or report it soon.

I don't know if Furcal is a typical example, or how much of that had to do with the Braves' lineup and its construction. A few other example. Juan Pierre had 719 plate appearances last year. 292 saw him lead-off an inning. Leading off an inning he had a .336 on-base percentage. That meant just 13.630% of his plate appearances saw him lead off the inning in front of the heart of the order. I think you would have to look at it from more than just leading off the inning. Sure the leadoff hitter may only leadoff the inning 13.63%, but it is also true that he comes up often needing to extend the inning, in order to bring up the middle of the order. Only 4 other leadoff hitters in the NL got on base more than Furcal last year and if you look at the second half when he wasn't injured, he was getting on base at a .397 clip (according to O'Brien from AJC).

He most certianly does not fill any need. Walker can lead off just fine Cedeno can cover SS just fine The Cubs current needs: 1. OBP 2. OBP 3. RF 4. OBP 5. Left handed bat 6. Someone to tell Hendry to release Macias 7. CF There is no way anyone can convicne me that Furcal is a 10 million dollars worth of upgrade over Cedeno (who BTW, is having a fantastic season in Winter ball) or a 7.5 million dollar upgrade over Neifi. Help me to understand, how is Furcal that good? 1. Walker is never going to hit leadoff with Dusty Baker managing the Cubs, so why keep complaining about it over and over? 2. Furcal has been one of the top leadoff hitters in the NL for the last two years and is in the prime of his career. 3. Name 1 available FA SS with a better OBP than Furcal? It is true that we could argue about the importance of having a bonifide leadoff hitter all night on the board, but Hendry seems to think, and imo rightly so, that a leadoff hitter is a current need on the team. The Cubs need to do something to upgrade the offense and like it or not Furcal is one of the few offensive FA upgrades available who may want to come to Chicago. I reject your assumption. Furcal's OBP is not that good and his defense is over-rated. He doesn't steal bases so who give a frog's but about his speed. Miguel Tejada only made 10 million last year and he is actually worth the money. Based on what? You make broad statements and have nothing to back them up. Are you sure that you even know who Furcal is? To say he doesn't steal bases is like saying Derrek Lee didnt' hit HR's last year. The reason you didn't answer my question is because you can't without admitting that Furcal has a better OBP than any FA SS avail and to say his OBP is not that good is an equally ignorant statement. Furcal's OBP was in the top 5 of NL leadoff hitters. Maybe you should do some research before you post.