YearofDaCubs

Great. Watch us end up having Neifi as the starter. :roll:

wouldn't that be illegal? that's collusion (not saying it fits the legal def since I don't know it, but that's what it is) if furcal knows, and if furcal doesn't know, hendry should have a chat with furcal directly... The only people that believe that story are the ones trying to justify the atrocious move Hendry just made. Yes, folks the move is that bad. There is no story behind it.

If Hendry truly sees this as a business then why sign Neifi to a ridiculous contract? Giving Neifi 2/5 and 1mil in bonus money would be considered a bad business decision.

If you have a problem with it stop reading the posts then. It is blatantly obvious that Hendry indeed is a moron after he signs Neifi to a 2 year 5 mil contract. What do you want us to do hold hands and jump for joy? Always look the other way when a GM single-handely is imploding the organization? Maybe Hendry can read these posts and finally realize the idiotic moves he has been making.

Mr. Miles: You are our only link; the only bridge from knowledge to ignorance. Please drive carefully. Sincerely, Lefty :lol:

We thought the same thing last year after we traded for Sosa and that thing was Burnitz. I'm def not being optimistic about anything this offseason.

I have no problems with Colon winning it.

Maybe he should have taken the blue pill instead of the red one.

Check the current poll on cubs.com. Giles is 4th place in "most wanted FA" with 8% of the vote after Damon with 47%. That right there shows you the aptitude of your average fan. Let's hope that if the team wants to solicit advice from the internet, they look here rather than there. Agreed.

the amusing thing is that hendry said rusch offered things that not a lot of other guys could offer. pretty sure you don't have to look very hard to find a guy capable of a baa under .302 or a whip under 1.57. :lol: :lol: :lol: He offers a 1.57 WHIP and a .302 BAA for more than most pitchers in baseball. The only good that can come from this signing is my new avatar.

So your entire argument is that, because Hendry hasn't signed the premeire FA of each off-season the last few years, he has no plan whatsoever? That's an extremely narrow view. How many rings do Vlad and Tejada have? Or how about the best player in baseball, A-Rod, how many does he have? No, it is not my entire arguement. He does not go after the top tier free agents and leaves glaring holes at positions year in year out. What game plan has Hendry had? Sign or trade for a closer last year? Good thing Dempster worked out or else we might have been last in the division. What kind fo job did Hendry do to improve the OF after trading Sosa when other OF help was available? Our bench looked might good last year with Macias and his .160 avg in pinch hitting situations. Then again you probably though Hollandsworth was the answer in left. What kind of game plan has he had? So do you think Hendry should get major props for getting Dempster or is he another guy who fell in the Cubs lap just like Murton? First let me say that Dempster started the year as a starting pitcher which was the opposite of what Hendry wanted. He wasn't a very good starting pitcher and was moved to the bullpen. I do give props to Hendry for acquiring Dempster but one pitcher doesn't make the bullpen. He also passed on a lot of closers the past two years. Hendry isn't all bad but he's bad enough where we haven't made the playoffs the past 2 years with a 100 mil payroll? What exactly do expect from this year? You like to criticize my views what exactly are yours? You think these moves are good enough to compete with Milwauke, Cards, Astros to get us into the playoffs? If so, you've got another thing coming. Hendry's past history proves to me he is going to have a very hard time improving this team enough for us to be contenders in 2006. I hope I'm wrong but I have a feeling I won't be.

Example of a glaring hole for years?? He filled 1b, 3b and catcher w/ long-term solutions. All 3 pickups were steals btw. 2b and SS were filled by spot-gaps, who are beloved by many on this board. LF looks to be filled by a great pickup. CF was set aside for Patterson. Can't blame Hendry. As for RF, Sammy's only been gone for a year. We had galring holes in RF last year. We had glaring holes at SS before we traded for Nomar. We have had significant glaring holes in our bullpen. We also had glaring holes on our bench last year too unless you think Macias was a viable option. Yes, I have to say that every year we have galring holes somewhere. A little planning on Hendry's end and it wouldn;t be too bad. Bottom line we haven't done anything since 2003. So for two year with a 100mil payroll we did not make the playoffs. That is a problem, a huge one. This offseason is looking more like last year's offseason and that isn't a good thing. At this rate we might even regress from 2004 which has been a trend that started at the beginning of last year.

God, this move is frustrating. I can't even work because it's bothering me so much.

So your entire argument is that, because Hendry hasn't signed the premeire FA of each off-season the last few years, he has no plan whatsoever? That's an extremely narrow view. How many rings do Vlad and Tejada have? Or how about the best player in baseball, A-Rod, how many does he have? No, it is not my entire arguement. He does not go after the top tier free agents and leaves glaring holes at positions year in year out. What game plan has Hendry had? Sign or trade for a closer last year? Good thing Dempster worked out or else we might have been last in the division. What kind fo job did Hendry do to improve the OF after trading Sosa when other OF help was available? Our bench looked might good last year with Macias and his .160 avg in pinch hitting situations. Then again you probably though Hollandsworth was the answer in left. What kind of game plan has he had?

B2B, I would much rather have Mench over Floyd. The move to me isn't really hard to understand. We have seen this type of move with Hendry before. I saw this one coming a mile away but was hoping that Hendry finally has learned from his mistakes and would try somethign different.

I personally think Hendry has no game plan. He tries to put things together without thinking them out. It's the same reason why we have glaring holes at the same positions for years now. He always tries to sign guys for a discount. He never seems willing to spend the big money to acquire the big time free agents that would have put us over the top. In the past 3 years there have been many free agents whom would have made a huge difference on this team but Hendry didn't have the balls to pull the trigger on them. When we needed an SS and paying AGon 6mil to play here we didnt even bother looking at Tejada. Not even give looks to Vlad when he was available. Hendry lacks foresight and that's one reason why he will never put us over the top. I didn't like the Baker signing form the get-go but I didn't think it was a terrible move. After dealing with Baker in 2004 and 2005 I can see why the Giants dropped him like a bad habit after he took them to the World Series. The bigger problem with Baker is that Hendry doesn't put him in his place. There should have been no reason why our 1-2 hitters were so bad last year. When you add Hendry and Baker together you get a combination no better than dog food. I am convinced that the Cubs will not amount to anything as long as the dynamic duo clowns are here as GM and Manager.

Yup, and then some optimists are going to wonder what went wrong again.

4th place in the division for a consecutive year.

MacDougal would be a solid acquisition but he mentioned that last year too. Dunn obviously would be a great pickup but I have no faith in Hendry to pull those off.

Seems to me that Hendry has made it abundantly clear in the past that he does *not* consider it is appropriate to be telling the manager how to use his roster. That he does not interfere with his manager's usage of players. That he hired Dusty and approves greatly of the way he has handled his players and the team throughout the actual circumstances that have existed. On the face of it, I don't see *any* indications that Hendry would ever consider trying to "make it clear to the manager that Neifi is a backup". Am I reading the situation too simplistically, Bruce? That behind the scenes Hendry might be trying to drive the manager's decision-making on how to use the roster Hendry provides him? Or, for that matter, that behind the scenes Hendry might not be quite as enamored with Dusty's managing as his public statements have consistently suggested? I just don't think Hendry is going to tell Dusty how to use Cedeno and Neifi. Dusty is the manager, he runs the team and runs the games and runs the roster. That's his domain of responsibility. I don't think Hendry is likely to butt into that kind of stuff. I'm hoping the entire Chicago media rip Baker and Hendry a new one.

Good plan. The Cubs don't deserve our money.

I personally cannot deal with having Neifi as the starter. I dont care who we sign or trade for having Perez here and starting when last year we had options like Nomar, Walker, and Cedeno is a bad idea. When did Neifi ever start over Nomar and Walker? (Besides when they were injured) The man got 572 ABs what does that tell you? Cedeno was an afterthought. Baker made it clear that he would do everything in his power to get Neifi in the lineup. It tells me Nomar & Walker were hurt a lot. Let bring both back tho. No, it tells me that Baker did everything in his power to start Perez over Cedeno even though Cedeno was the better option. Yeah dude let's go by what you say, let's bring back Neifi and start him. We'll see how fast the season tanks next year.

Haha. Hendry can overpay for crap like Rusch and Neifi, but heaven forbids he overpay for someone who actually produces. Exactly why Hendry is a clown.

I personally cannot deal with having Neifi as the starter. I dont care who we sign or trade for having Perez here and starting when last year we had options like Nomar, Walker, and Cedeno is a bad idea. When did Neifi ever start over Nomar and Walker? (Besides when they were injured) The man got 572 ABs what does that tell you? Cedeno was an afterthought. Baker made it clear that he would do everything in his power to get Neifi in the lineup.

After last year's debacle fat chance it is Hendry who says it.