CuseCubFan69

Isn't that already the case? Aren't teams like the D-Rays, Royals, Pirates just basically farming up players for other teams to eventually pluck off their rosters? It's too bad they can't do it like the Marlins do.

Didn't Bruce say his defense looked wonderful so far this spring? Let's say Cedeno struggles and Theriot can't handle SS, what options do the Cubs actually have to replace Izturis if he is hitting 220? Tomas Perez!!!!!!!!!!!! Ugh. I hope Perez doesn't make the team. I'd like to be able to have one season without having a Neifi/Macias/Ojeda/Bynum type on the team. I agree! I think the quality at the everyday postions helps Lou not have to keep those types of players to mix and match with.

They do and they will, if they can't trade him. I'll bet he doesn't see opening day on the Padres roster. $4 mil to sit on the bench, I doubt it. Agreed. It was nice that Walker won his hearing, but the only way he actually makes that $3.95M salary this year is if the Padres are able to trade him this spring. IMO it's far more likely that he'll get cut, the Pads will eat around $650K, and Walker will be scrounging around MLB looking for a bench job for 1 or 2 mil come the close of ST. Is that true? I thought it would be a guarenteed contract for the whole thing since he is vested or won the arby? I didn't realize they could cut him for a percentage of his salary. If a team loses and arb hearing, they can cut the player prior to opening day and pay only a small % of the arb award. An earlier poster said it was 1/6, and that sounds right. I didn't know that, thanks!

Reading that makes me wish I could see all those games on TV! As for Cotts, the more quality arms the better.

Didn't Bruce say his defense looked wonderful so far this spring? Let's say Cedeno struggles and Theriot can't handle SS, what options do the Cubs actually have to replace Izturis if he is hitting 220? Tomas Perez!!!!!!!!!!!! His initials aren't TP for no reason!

Didn't Bruce say his defense looked wonderful so far this spring? Let's say Cedeno struggles and Theriot can't handle SS, what options do the Cubs actually have to replace Izturis if he is hitting 220? Baltimore's going to suck, I'd still like to see them throw a bunch of pitching at them for Tejada. I'm living in the same world you are Bob! Especially if Prior is ok.

Didn't Bruce say his defense looked wonderful so far this spring? Let's say Cedeno struggles and Theriot can't handle SS, what options do the Cubs actually have to replace Izturis if he is hitting 220? Yes, Bruce said his defense has been very, very good so far and that the pitchers already like him. In that scenario, I guess that the team could move DeRosa to short and play Theriot at second. That would be an interesting lineup if Theriot proves he can be a 275/350 type guy and DeRosa could handle SS. You made a good point about the pitchers liking Izturis at SS. For anyone that's ever pitched nothing frosts your mug more than getting a hitter to hit an easy grounder to SS and having it booted time and time again. Especailly if you have a Pujols type hitter up and you get him to hit an easy one to short.

Fixed. :D They do seem like a team that prefers guys that enjoy hard candies!

Didn't Bruce say his defense looked wonderful so far this spring? Let's say Cedeno struggles and Theriot can't handle SS, what options do the Cubs actually have to replace Izturis if he is hitting 220?

They do and they will, if they can't trade him. I'll bet he doesn't see opening day on the Padres roster. $4 mil to sit on the bench, I doubt it. Agreed. It was nice that Walker won his hearing, but the only way he actually makes that $3.95M salary this year is if the Padres are able to trade him this spring. IMO it's far more likely that he'll get cut, the Pads will eat around $650K, and Walker will be scrounging around MLB looking for a bench job for 1 or 2 mil come the close of ST. Is that true? I thought it would be a guarenteed contract for the whole thing since he is vested or won the arby? I didn't realize they could cut him for a percentage of his salary.

I don't know if 650 will be enough to replace Izzy with Cedeno very quickly-I mean, Cedeno would have to improve a pretty good amount from last year to be an improvement over those numbers. 650 might be bad enough for them to make a trade at mid-season, but not to be replaced by Cedeno without injuries. It might depend on how well the rest of the team is hitting too. You might be able to carry Izturis if the rest of the team is hitting well but if they are struggling, it's going to hurt having his bat in the lineup at 650. More importantly, it's pretty safe to assume nobody in the Cubs organization is going to think at all about a 650 OPS, what it means, and whether it should be replaced. If Izzy is hitting .275, with a .310 OBP and .315 SLG, they aren't going to be thinking about his 625 OPS. He's probably going to have to do something like hit .220 for 3 months with less than stellar defense before they think about replacing him. Maybe....maybe not. I'm curious on how Lou looks at those numbers. He did say his son was into fantasy baseball and Lou may have some people that know about this particular stat. I agree the percentages of you being right are pretty good though but I'm still dreaming that they they'll be on the ball about these types of things.

From what I've heard, Izturis is not one of those players that makes it "look flashy", but rather than he's just very smooth and very consistent in what he does. I'll be interested to see people's opinions on this at mid-season, and I guess the extent of the injuries will be much better known by then. I'm pretty excited to see how the whole team fits together and how Izturis looks is something I'm really curious about. Actually the whole middle D except for Barrett is going to be interesting to see develop.

It's actually kind of nice to have some decent hitting pitchers too. It would be kind of funny to see Lou pinch hit Izzy and then let the pitcher hit.

It depends if you add the HBO shows too, like Rome. I'd vote for Thursday for the overall night of TV with Sunday second.

I don't know if 650 will be enough to replace Izzy with Cedeno very quickly-I mean, Cedeno would have to improve a pretty good amount from last year to be an improvement over those numbers. 650 might be bad enough for them to make a trade at mid-season, but not to be replaced by Cedeno without injuries. It might depend on how well the rest of the team is hitting too. You might be able to carry Izturis if the rest of the team is hitting well but if they are struggling, it's going to hurt having his bat in the lineup at 650.

Were you that close because Sammy was that far away from the plate? :D I hope he does well too and more importantly enjoys playing ball again.

:( Hey, if he's scared of the ball and you have to pitch inside to be effective. I wouldn't actually put one in his ear but I'd challenge him inside pretty darn close to his body to get him away from digging in and getting comfortable. If I'm a pitcher and it's my career or his, I'm going to battle and use any advantage I can.

Possible. It reminds me of the stock market and how it effects the buyers and sellers.

You take this as a case by case situation and not a not across the line move. Every player is different.

The supposed high upside is the ERA+'s of 134, 130, 107, and 129 that Miller put up from 2001 to 2004. The guy put up a 101 in his 5 starts last year, so it's not so outrageous to believe that with some additional rehab and strength-building (not to mention the year-2 effect after TJS), he could improve upon that 101, and regain his status as a well above-average, #2 or #3 starter. That's the supposed high upside. A guy with that level of production gets paid something like $12M/yr (or more) on the open market. Say you think Miller's got a 25% chance of meeting that ceiling. You should be willing to pay him $3M (12x0.25). The Cubs are paying half that. That's smart business. It isn't bad business when you look at the cost and you can afford to make a gamble like that but you have to add who's spot is he taking away. IMO when you add it up it isn't worth the cost. I don't consider losing a marginal lefty reliever with no spot on the ML roster like Campusano a meaningful cost. I look at him as a better asset than Miller but again, that's my opinion.

I saw some very good AB's out of Cedeno last year and I hope that was a sign for things to come. I hope Lou+co can continue to build on that. I also like having Tremmal (sp) around as a coach, that'll be good for Ronny IMO.

Welcome to the forum! I've always liked Walker. I think if he could have played 3rd better for the Pads last year it would have helped his value to the team though. He did a decent job at first for the Cubs.

Does anyone know what he's hitting on the gun? Does anyone know why he isn't throwing like he did since it's not suppose to be from an injury?

Absolutely. Although that's really not the right way to look at it. From a basic risk/reward perspective, Miller was a good, sound $1M gamble last offseason, when (at the time) he was projected to be able to pitch in May or June. It didn't work out, oh well. That's why the word risk appears in risk/reward. This offseason, $1.5M is another good, sound gamble on a high-upside guy that's expected to be good to go on (or near) opening day. The point being, the Cubs made two separate and independent decisions that happen to total $2.5M, not a one-time decision to spend $2.5M. People have brought up the Chris Carpenter example. That's the best-case scenario, obviously. But it illustrates perfectly why clubs take these low-cost flyers on guys with lots of upside coming off of injury. I hope the Cubs continue to be very active in this speculative market with guys just like Wade Miller (and Dempster, and Williamson). It's just good business. I disagree. You have to look at each case and determine if it's worth it. Williamson hasn't done anything that a guy from the minors couldn't do with less cost. There are also other guys the Cubs have gone this route with that haven't panned out to do anything other than costing money and taking a roster spot away. Obviously you have to look at each case and determine if it's worth it. That goes without saying. And almost by definition, you're going to have more misses than hits. Which is fine, and everybody should realize this going in. Nonetheless, the general principle is a sound one, and successful teams follow it regularly. As do some horrible ones.

What if 1.5 is the difference between scouting an area like Asia? Is it worth it then? maybe the money is alocated differently but it has to be included in the overall budget.