vance_the_cubs_fan

I'm in! (I don't ever watch the NBA so this should be fun.)

We really need a good troll picture for this kind of nonsense. Will this do? http://www.cordlessrelam.net/dolly-troll.jpg

That is very true. He built the core of the first playoff teams in Texas before Hicks became impatient and fired him.

Such an intelligent addition to this thread, don't ya think? Gee....I wish everyone on this board could offer such enlightening opinions. [/sarcasm]

Sign Nomar instead of Furcal. I have other places to spend that 32 million. (Paging Mr. Giles.)

I think even adding Lofton and Giles in the OF might do the trick. The Cubs have the money to make both of those happen. Lofton CF Walker 2B Lee 1B Giles RF Ramirez 3B Nomar SS Murton LF Barrett C That would not be a bad line-up and shouldn't be too expensive.

Tracy is not a bad option, but I'm not sold on Randy Winn. I think that the Cubs should be able to put together a better outfield than Murton, Winn, and Tracy with the money that is available.

I'd rather trade for Luis Castillo so the Marlins can keep Lowell at 2b.

Ideally that could happen. But I think you have to give him some insurance for a season in between those numbers. I'd like the base to be less, but I could see incentives being justified starting at 250 PA, not big, but still something. The 500 mark is where he starts being valuable though. $2m base (thanks for signing) $500K for 250 PA (thanks for showing up) $500K for 300 PA (thanks for sticking around) now we're at $3m if he plays a little less than half the year. $2m for 400 PA (now you're helping the team and your total is $5m) $3m for 500 PA (hey, maybe Murton wasn't the only good thing from that trade) here Nomar's paid at the going rate for SS signed since 2002 and he's played most of the year. $3m for 650 PA (full year of Nomar, maybe his numbers won't be worth $11m, but they could be, and it's the incentive to sign such a cheap guarantee) $1m for 700 PA (ain't gonna happen, they probably have to rest him to keep him health for even 600 PA, but this brings him to $12m, the reported average salary he turned down in his last offer from Boston). I like the structure you set up there, goony, but I can't see him signing for less than five million guaranteed. It would be nice if he would, but I just think he's going to have to be guaranteed that much in order to get him to sign.

Where's the let Neifi start option? :lmao:

Of course that would be better. But trading Lee for multiple younger and cheaper players is a better option than overpaying overrated players to try and make a run. If you can trade Lee and get a huge upgrade at another position and a slight downgrade at 1B, then spend the extra money for another huge upgrade, then the Cubs will be a better team. In the proposed deal, the Cubs get a pretty substantial upgrade at SP (Webb), a slight downgrade at 1B (Tracy, assuming Lee reverts somewhat to past trends), and a great prospect. If you can use the extra money to get Brian Giles over a player like Jacque Jones, then the team is better for it. Still, I would rather keep Lee and find other ways to add these players or similar. Why would Giles come to Chicago after they traded away a guy coming off an MVP season for a #3 starter, a 1b whose had one good season, and a kid?? Giles probably wants to win now. Not in 2009. Because the Cubs have filled three holes at the cost of one player? Thus having the wearwithall to sign Giles plus some others. And one more thing, exactly how good were the Cubs this year while Lee had his career year? Uh huh. Sure he would. Only way he'd come to Chicago is if the Cubs pulled off a deal to bring his brother in. Without Lee we'd be looking @ a 65 win team, if that. That assumes that we just get rid of Lee for nothing in return, which obviously wouldn't be the case. Yes, but we should never let facts get in the way of a really good point.

I met some guys in the bleachers who would've been happy to trade some sun screen for this one lady's bikini top.

I'm for getting Lofton, but I think the case against him is age (39) and that his BABIP is out of line with his career norms and the trends he's set over the last few years. There's no doubt he's due to decline greatly from this year's numbers. The main question is exactly how much? I'm for getting Lofton, only because he makes a nice stop-gap until Pie is ready and would be easy to push aside if Pie proves ready mid-season. Also, I'd expect to sign him for 1.75 million + incentives or less. While I'm for Lofton, the original post suggested 4 million?!?! That's ludicrous.

I guess there's guaranteed to be one less team in the bidding for his services.

I was trying to pre-rank my players, but I can't find Gretzsky on there anywhere. :scratch:

Goony, Would Chipper really be willing to play LF again? He played LF full time in '02 and '03, but seemed to complain a lot about it if memory serves correct. The Braves moved him back to 3B a third of the way through '04, and he's been there ever since. I'd love to get him and Marcus Giles, but something tells me he won't be happy in the outfield. Hoops Hoops, I believe your recollections are correct. Chipper, if I recall correctly, has said he doesn't want to return to the OF. This has caused the Braves to wonder if they'll need to move Marte from third to left in order to get him into the line-up in the future.

Sammy appears to be the perfect acquisition of the Devil Rays following the paths of Jose Canseco, Robbie Alomar, Fred McGriff and others to obscurity.

If the writer is writing for purposes of fantasy sports, then that assertion certainly is true. Fantasy sports players could care less of why a player they selected didn't perform. However, in the real sports arena, those rules rarely apply.

I usually do better in leagues that have a live draft, but if we're doing autopick then just let us know a bit ahead of time so I can re-order guys. Neither make a difference to me. I wonder if I can set the autopick to select me a players in alphabetical order? :-k

Maybe it's because his throws frin short to first tail into the runner. :roll:

How is Willis an underdog? I think he was referring to the fact that for the most of the summer, Willis hasn't been a part of the conversation.

I really don't see the Cubs spending enough to land both Giles and Furcal. It really isn't too likely at all.

I can't for the life of me think of one reason why I'd trade Barrett for Floyd...not one at all.

Those are my feelings too. What's also interesting is that he indicates the Braves want to bring Furcal back. While I expect the Braves to make him an offer, my feelings were they were prepared to let Furcal walk. I'm really curious as to where he's getting his information.

I hope the Cubs don't replace Barrett with IRod. The 34 year old catcher with a .743 OPS vs. the 29 year old catcher with a .821 OPS. I second this post.