The Chicago Cubs will have a new closer on Tuesday according to a report from the Chicago Tribune. Kevin Gregg blew his sixth game of the year and Lou Piniella finally decided that was enough.
Gregg served up his Major League leading third game ending home run and his fifth longball in August. Gregg was told he was tipping his pitches after blowing back-to-back games in Miami, but he is not fooling anyone right now ... or missing any bats.
Lou Piniella did not indicate who would be closing games beginning on Tuesday.
Gregg stared into his locker for a long time after the game, and blamed himself for failing to do the job."It's just making stupid mistakes," Gregg said. "Seeing something in a hitter and not executing it when you see it. Knowing a game plan you have for a hitter, and not doing it. That's basically it."
"Of course," he said. "Two outs, you're right there. You're one pitch away from getting out of that inning."
Gregg says he hasn't lost his confidence.
"Yeah, I still believe in my stuff," he said
Kevin Gregg's twelve home runs allowed leads the majors in longballs served up by closers. With a team that struggles to score runs, the bullpen cannot blow leads for the remainder of the season.
At six games out, the Cubs have a very tough road ahead ... and there could be more reactionary changes on the way.
Stay Tuned ...
Great....but too little too late! Lou stuck with him wayyyy to long. Definitely should have made a change after the first blown save in Flordia let alone the second one!
Now we are buried with a huge road ahead.
Now what do you do? Marmol who has been inconsistant as a set up man? Or Guzman?
It really doesnt matter...now it's just auditioning for next years closer job to see if we need to hit the market or not.'
Sad. Very Sad.
Lou awoke out of his coma??????
My questions: what took him so long? And what was it that awoke him outta his coma?
The season is over. The team has played all year like they did when Sosa was fighting with Dusty Eugene Baker: lathargic and disinterested. And that was because some "star" (in that case, Sosa) was acting selfishly and not for the team's best interest. The manager did nothing about it, and the whole team quit.
Lou has become Dusty Eugene Baker II. That is very pathetic! He hasn't dealt with disinterested "stars" like Sorry-oh-no, Bradley and Zambrano. Sorry-oh-no has completely lost his bat speed. But you can thank Jim Hendry and his outrageous contracts for helping to handicap Lou.
Oh well. 101 straight years of losing isn't too bad a record. "Wait until next year" is, after all, the Cubs' official slogan, isn't it?
Do you know who is going to be the new closer?? Aaron Heilman, of course! lol
Was Baker (the teams hottest hitter) hurt or ill? If not, then batting Fontenot 5th (7 LOB), was as equally of a bone-headed move, as sticking with Gregg. I think Lou is begging for someone to put him out of his misery.
Gregg leads ALL MLB relievers with 12 HR allowed. Sounds like a great stat for a closer, or any reliever! Lou is as bad as Gregg for leaving him in there.
Baker? You ought to know by now that Lou benches anyone who is hitting. Hoffpauir, Fox, and now Baker. Shame on you!
Gregg s/b be dfa'd. Period.
"Yeah, I still believe in my stuff".
Pretty sure the other batters in the NL believe in his stuff too.
Finally no more Greg in the ninth, that only took 4 1/2 months. Now as long as we just don't see him in the 6th, 7th, or 8th either.
Gary, I completely agree, Baker is the hottest hitter on the team he doesn't play! Makes absolutely no sense at all.
I hate to dwell on the past, but thank you Jim Hendry for getting rid of DeRo and Wood for the likes of Miles and Gregg, got rid of two team leaders for two bums. Ricketts first plan of action better be to Fire Hendry. I can't beleive I actually liked Hendry and supported him.
It's been weeks ago when many of us were asking, pleading, begging that Gregg be removed from the closer's role. The big question was just how many disasters would it take for that to happen. I suggested, as did Aaron and many others of you, it might take enough blown saves that the Cubs would almost surely be taken out of contention. Well, folks, very sadly that has now happened. The evidence that Gregg is no big time closer has been steadily mounting for quite some time. Piniella has remained stubborn (for whatever reasons) and has now suffered the consequences. This situation should have never, never been allowed to go this far!
Thank God he is out of the closer role. Is his comment about straying from the gameplan against a hitter a knock against Koyie Hill's game calling in the late innings?
btw - if Lou listened to all the know-it-alls here, DLee would have been on the bench too
Let's see,
Gregg's impacted this team more than
just six blown saves....and Lou should have made a move month's ago.
More important than the end of the Gregg
era...is who they select to replace him.
Given that a lot of Lou's decisions are headscratchers these days...(Baker
sitting when Theriot's bat is out etc)
Nothing is guaranteed...I still like Guzman...
Most important now...is the rest of the
season is an audition for next year.
I can't see teams being willing to pay
$ 5 million a season for Soriano right
now...let alone $18 mil....He's no good to anyone as is.
I predict we'll hear Soriano played on a bum knee all season...or some such excuse.
I just can't wait until Rickett's gets control...and then it will be addition by subtraction for awhile...and not fun.
If management WERE in place...there would be salary dumps all over the
place...right now.
A flurry of draft signings yeaterday...
and not one from the Cubs...Yep...we are about to go into a huge winter of discontent.
Suzy I would also like to see Guzman take the ninth inning.
Also, anyone know how much longer Blanco has before he can be called up? I am so so so tired of seeing Miles!
As far as the division goes, I don't think there is a chance, not unless the Cards go on a colosal tail spin. The Wild Card we still have a shot at, the Giants, Rockies and Braves, Marlins both play each other alot, with all of them playing the division leaders too. But that also doesn't matter if we don't start winning games on a Consistant basis.
Blanco went on the 15 day DL Aug,4.
...so on the 19th he can come off it.
As of last night when he went 2/4 with a
HR/and double...he's hitting .307 at AAA.
Thanks Suzy. I also just saw Theriot is rejoining the team today, hopefully he is good enough to go tonight.
http://www.chicagonow/blogs/david-kaplan-chicago-sports/
"This one's on Lou."
Sorry guys...I'll try to gey it right this time:
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/david-kaplan-chicago-sports/
Yep, for all the boneheaded moves Hendry made (including actually trading for Gregg), Lou definitely made matters worse by sticking with him at closer. It's over now. Now it'll be the old closer by committee deal until someone like Jeff Stevens or Guzman or even Marmol (believe me when I say Marmol being put as closer could wake him up and give him new meaning) grabs the job. In the meantime, we now have Bob Howry v2 in our pen and that is not a good thing.
And we get to witness all this with the 3rd highest payroll in all of baseball. Nice!
That game last night was horrible. But at least we got rid of Gregg from the 9th and we're only 4 out in the WC. don't give up just yet.
Gregg has six blown saves, and we are 6 back in the division, nice.
Also, Lou sat Jeff Baker, who is the hottest hitter on the team, basically won us the game on Saturday, for Mike Fontenot who left SEVEN freakin men on base, SEVEN!!!
wow...we are officially done...leave font on the bench...
gregg has blown this division...
god i miss about a week and a half ago when we had a half game lead
remember when we were up .5 games and the cards lost like 9-0 and instead of bein a champion and making sure to seperate...we go out and got shutout too...that is why we suck its pathetic.
the cards come backin the 7th, 8th, 9th everyday and we cant seem to keep a lead.
at least hendry went out and made a move to combat the Holliday deal (like the sox/yanks, or like when we got Nomar and the cards got Larry Walker, or brewers got CC and we got Harden)
I HATE THE CUBS! ps i still love them.
problem is, season's already over, and it's mostly due to Gregg. Yes, I know that Hendry had a lot to do with all of the moves in the first place...and our offense is disgusting...but, still...6 blown saves, others he's lost where we come in tied, and he gives up the lead...I can count at least 9 games he's given up (counting the blown saves). He's been a one man wrecking crew basically. The worst part about all of his blown saves if you'll recall, is that they came at the most inopportune times, where we were starting to put together a good stretch of games, etc., and he just demoralized the team thereafter.
I said in April that this douchebag would cost us the season, because Piniella wouldn't make a change early on, and he'd wait until he blew enough games down the stretch where it really counted....sure enough, with 3 blown saves out of 5 chances in August, he's ruined all of our hopes (if there were any to begin with).
The Cardinals are running away with the division while Lou and Hendry sat on their asses and didn't make the decisions necessary to put a winning product on the field:
demote/DFA Gregg from closer
DFA Miles
bench Soriano
bench Fontenot
Really, you take 2 VERY ineffective hitters out of your everyday lineup in Soriano and Fontenot. They're both hovering around the .230-.240 avg mark, and around the .300 OBP mark, which isn't anywhere close to what it needs to be for us to win ballgames.
The decision to start Fox in favor of Soriano was LONG overdue, and Fuld should also get some starts out there as well. Also, when your right fielder is batting in the .260's with around 30 RBI and we have less than 50 games to go.....I think that's a colossal failure as well.
Did I mention how much I hate Hendry?!? I just don't understand how an MLB GM that is that close in the divisional race can sit back and watch our chief competition go out and get DeRosa, Holliday, and Lugo, and instead of getting offense, which is what we really needed, he goes out and gets 2 pitchers...I mean, it's absolutely laughable.
Will Bill Hall or Josh Fields solve our offensive issues? Probably not, but you have to look at it from the perspective that they're certainly better than Aaron Miles and Mike Fontenot, which is who they'd replace. This is PRECISELY why the Cardinals made those deals. They said Lugo would be a better option than Duncan, and DeRosa would be a better option than Thurston and Barden. Holliday was just icing on the cake. When you have an OF all around with 20+ hr, 80+ RBI potential in Ludwick, Rasmus, and Ankiel, then you add Holliday............AND you have the game's best hitter in Pujols....and perhaps the best 1-2 punch in the rotation in all of baseball with Carpenter and Wainwright...then, it's season over for everyone else in your division. I don't buy for a second that Hendry's hands were tied financially, because of the money he's already eaten already, and the fact he claimed we had room for a significant addition around the deadline, AND the fact that contracts right now are pro-rated, so you wouldn't be paying much anyhow. Did Riccardi's hands being tied stop him from offloading around $80 million of salary between Rolen and Rios?!? Did it stop the BoSox from releasing Lugo and Smoltz, and dealing for LaRoche, then flipping him for Kotchman?
I just don't get it. It's just an excuse for not being able to make trades to improve the team, because he simply is not smart enough to do so.
Actually, I do buy that Hendry was unable to make the moves necessary to
fix this team....AT THIS TIME.
I'm not defending him...because he screwed us up so badly that any one or 2 moves wasn't going to get it donw.
Gregg's an easy target...in terms of failure...because his failure is
quantifiable in terms of blown saves/ties broken etc.
How many games did Soriano cost us KOing
with men on base...bad defense?...Lou
sow to move him ouy of leadoff.
Ditto for Bradley early on.
ARAM's 2 months on the DL without an adequate replacement...or Lou dragging
his feet to insert Fox when he was hot...
letting Hoffpauir rot on the bench.
Always seeming to sit the hot bat...Fuld/Fox/Hoffy/Baker?
Marmol's walks/Miles playing at all/
error after error/overplaying Theriot?
The whole bullpen the first 2 months?
Starting with JH's offseason moves...this whole season was a fiasco.
But it was a team and organization thing
...not just one player.
NOW...Now that we are playing to set up next season...we might want to look at Harden as a closer...is he interested
to prolong his career and arm or not.
Since it's obvious neither Soriano nor Bradley are going to give us the power
threats we need...how to we get that...given their contracts?
Do we go after a ss or 2nd baseman?
Soto gets no pass here either...do we keep him or trade him?
Who stays in the bullpen and who do we bring in?...The Rotation as well...
since the outfield appears untradeable...
We may have to put any and all of the rotation on the trading block...for salary relief and flexibility...The fact is...we have a lot of pieces...but no
apparent building blocks for the next
transformation of the team yet.
I pray Ricketts has somebody good in mind
to start the process.
I just have to share this with you all...look at the title:
"Sox win, but GM Ken Williams not happy with underachieving team"
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/chi-18-sox-royals-chicago-aug18,0,1237397.story
Anyhow, I got a kick out of it, because it seems while other GM's demand excellence on the field, guys like Hendry just hang on stuff like, "well, we haven't been healthy all year," or "we have yet to play our best baseball", etc. as justification to not improve the team
Aaron...I too like Kenny Williams...BUT...He is in the middle of his run...secure in his owner and the direction his owner wants.
Hendry is on a limb by himself with no one covering his back or giving guidance in a general direction...that by itself is a huge difference in working conditions....Hendry must go...no doubt...But tell me another executive that;s gone through a sale process like this...not knowing if he would have a job when it was done.
I tip my cap(bonnet) to Hendry bearing up under difficult conditions.....
and stomp on it...for what he's done.
Aaron, except for the season being over (I still think there is a shot at the wild card) I agree 100%.
You also forgot, going into the season Hendry had no backup for Ramirez.
As I read all the posts on here, one thing that srikes me that is very interesting.
Why do you all give Zambrano a pass ? Everyday I read the vitriol spewed towards Hendry, Lou, Sori, Miles, Gregg, Bradley, etc, and rightfully so, but I never see a word about Zambrano ?? Why ?
I wrote a post criticizing him yesterday and not one person commented. This piece of crap is making $18M per year and has 7 wins. He had 14 last year !!! (Jason Marquis has 13 already this year) That's awful for $18M. TERRIBLE !!!
And NOW he comes out and says he keeps having back issues becuase he doesn't do his strengthening exercises. I myself have back problems, and I do the exercises everyday. BELIEVE ME, it works. My back pain is nothing like it used to be. So basically, we're paying $18M for him to be a lazy ass !!! How do you not be outraged over that ? I am incensed by this guy.
and oh, did I mention how he acts like a spoiled brat on the mound by showing up his teammates, beats the crap out of gatorade coolers, has missed team buses, not been at games he should be at, fought with teammates, and basically been able to do what he wants, becuase Hendry and Lou have enabled him.
And again, I have no proof, but I will go on record to say he is older than what he has said he is (just look at him) and that he has been on juice in the past. All I have to do is look at the character of this guy to draw those conclusions.
I know all you kool-aid drinkers out there will disagree, but, I think you all have your head in the sand if you disagree.
This guy is all about himself, not the team. Don't believe everything you see in interviews.
Sorry, but this guy is a cancer and needs to be traded if they can find someone dumb enough to pick up that salary.
Uh!
CC.. Just ask yourself one question,
Consider the Yanks, Red Sox, Angels -- the top 3 teams in baseball -- If they ever wanted to trade FOR one of our players: Outside Ted Lilly, I guarantee there is no other player on the roster they would rather have (Aramis Ramirez 3rd, Maybe D.Lee/Randy Wells/Theriot 4th) possibly. Aside from that, its pretty lean offerings.
Can you provide 1 piece of statistical evidence that shows he was Juicing? I'm a stats guy and I sure as hell cannot find a statistically significant drop-off that conclusively proves anything.
Z has thrown more innings as a starter the last 7 years then any of the others, Ted Lilly included ..... Infact he threw just as many innings as Kerry Wood and Mark Prior and has been on the DL about 1% of the time they have.
As the 3rd highest paid pitcher in baseball, it is fair to call him overpaid, but to clump this guy in with the likes of Soriano, Gregg and Miles is just absurd beyond reason
The Cards are arguably top 3 too.. my bad!
Baron,
Well, ok. Let me ask you this.
Is there any statistical evidence of a dropoff in AROD's numbers ?? Or Manny ? Or Palmerio ? The answer is no, and yet all have been proven to have juiced. So you really can't automatically absolve someone like Z of any guilt based on that.
I don't have any cold hard facts that Zambrano has juiced, I am only going on speculation and my gut. I am connecting the dots. First off, the evidence will show that proportionally speaking Latin players are juicing the most. It is a known fact that PEDS are given out like candy in many of the latin countries without any regulation or laws against it.
Secondly, just think about the circumstances for a second. If you are a 18 year old latin ball player that is living in a 3rd world country, very very poor, sometimes living in squalor, and you have a opportunuity to make it big in MLB by making millions and millions in the US, and PEDS were not banned or tested for in MLB before 2003, why wouldn't use PEDS, if you knew your chances would be greatly enhanced ? You have absolutely NOTHING to lose, and everything to gain. So if you think that guys like Zambrano resisted the tempation to use PEDS for some moral or ethical reason, all I can say is "wow". Sorry, but you really have your head in the sand. Just watch. Mark my words, some day it will come out.
Lastly, I look down upon him becuase he has no character. He is NOT a quality person, which makes me NOT trust him.
Just look at the names of the greatest Latin players of the last 15 years. They have all juiced - Manny, AROD, PApi, Sosa, Palmerio, etc. And if you think Pujols is clean, well, ok, good for you. Because I don't believe it for 1 second. You will see.
Also, the other point I'm making about Zambrano vs. Sori, Gregg, Miles, Bradley, Etc is that I am flabbergasted at how nobody on this post calls him out. He gets a pass.
Sorry, but he's one of the most highly paid players in MLB and yet nobody seemn to care that he is too lazy to do friggin exercises !!
Are you kiddng me ?? And this is not the first incident with this guy. His act has really grown tiresome.
Everyone spews so much hatred about the other guys, (and I agree with that), but at least they are giving an honest effort w/o the results. Zambano is coasting and everyone seems to be ok with that.
Sorry, but I don't get it.
Interesting. After I wrote the post above Zambrano, I read this in Sun-Times from Carol Slezak.
She took the words right out of my mouth. She is 1000% correct. I could NOT agree more.
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/slezak/1721079,CST-SPT-carol18.article
"Z" has been overshadowed by the bullpen problems...remember him leaving with a one or 2 run lead...and the bullpen pissing it away?
The Cubs will need to shed salary going forward...and if you look...JimK has consistantly advocating trading him...I also hope he is traded in the offseason...Had Dempster/Harden and "Z"
not gone on the DL..."Z"/Lilly/Harden...
any one of the 3 would probably already be moved.
He is definitely overpaid...but one of the few contracts that might bring a return...If he can pitch well and stay healthy the rest of the season...
This team has many targets to hate/dislike...take your pick.
to add more fuel to the fire...just had to post this offseason analysis of the Ceda-Gregg swap from Bleacher Report:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/83541-florida-marlins-steal-jose-ceda-from-cubs
*****************************************
In what appears to be a strategy of business 101, the Marlins picked up a reliever off of the scrap heap, inflated his value, and flipped him for a very promising return.
This is how you run a sports franchise. This is why in the 16 seasons the Marlins have been in existence, they have managed to win two Major League Baseball World Series championships, all the while having a penny-pinching low payroll.
The club hasn't wasted its time building a brand new ballpark or impressing fans. Instead, the club has put together a cast of players to win a championship, then sold those players off for new players that could be used for the next championship run.
The latest deal appears in the form of a closer who was acquired in an under-the-radar-type of deal. The Florida Marlins traded Kevin Gregg to the Chicago Cubs for an explosively talented relief prospect in Jose Ceda. Without even getting into the analysis, the Marlins won this deal hands down
But let's look a little further, to see exactly how foolish the Cubs were in this move.
Kevin Gregg is nothing special. When news broke that the Marlins were looking to unload Gregg, as a fan of the Indians, a team in need of relief hope, I simply shuddered at the idea of giving away anything of value for the still-powerful 30-year-old reliever.
Gregg owns a nice, but unspectacular strikeout rate. Couple that with a poor walk rate, and you have the makings of an okay reliever.
Gregg's move from a ballpark that greatly deflates home runs (as noted by Gregg's home run per fly ball rate of 5.15 percent as a Florida Marlin) to a ballpark that inflates them, will give him a considerable step back in value.
It is a positive that Gregg has improved his fly ball statistics, but we're still talking about a guy who was extremely fortunate to be playing in Dolphin Stadium.
We are also talking about a reliever that is coming off of an injury and is entering the back end of his career.
Jim Hendry and the Chicago Cubs must have decided that it was wise to acquire a cheap plan-B closer, then go into the season with Carlos Marmol, Jeff Samardzija, and company—not a terrible idea, however a poorly executed one.
After coming off of a season in which Gregg made $2.5 million in his second season as a closer, there is no reason to believe that Gregg's arbitration figure will not head north of $4 million and stick to at least that number for 2009.
As a "reliable" closer, that is a fair price tag. However, there is little reason to believe that he will be closing in 2009 and there is even less of a change that he will be doing so in 2010.
Wouldn't it then have been equally as efficient to bring aboard a pitcher like Kyle Farnsworth? Farnsworth has some experience as a closer and wouldn't cost a top pitching prospect—arguably baseball's best relief prospect. If the Cubs wanted to, they could have upped the ante slightly and gone hard after Brandon Lyon.
Both angles would have brought aboard a reliever with similar talents, as well as landing one with closing experience if Marmol didn't work out. The dollar and year commitments might have been slightly higher, but not by enough to dissuade one from making such moves.
We aren't talking about some run of the mill prospect. We aren't talking about a failed starter who happened to catch on as a reliever. We're talking about a legitimate relief prospect. If one were to make odds about what current minor league player would become a closer, and a great one at that, Jose Ceda would be at the top of the list.
The soon to be 22-year-old right-handed fireball reliever has been absolutely dominant in the minors. Three years as a starter (to get in work) and the reliever has come a long way in building Ceda's stock, to the point where he was considered as the likely closer-of-the-future in a Chicago organization that consists of Carlos Marmol.
According to MLB.com,
He throws plenty hard, with a fastball that sits comfortably in the upper 90s and has hit triple digits in the past. His slider has sharpened considerably since he began working in relief in 2007.
The only real blip on Ceda's radar came in '07, when he missed some time with a sore shoulder. When he returned, he finished off the season with 23-and-one-third consecutive hitless innings.
Really, 23-and-one-third consecutive HITLESS innings?! If that doesn't sell you, I'm not sure what will. Although, I'll keep trying.
Entering the 2008 season, here are a list of highlights from around the web:
* Baseball America rated Ceda's fastball as the best in the Cubs system.
* John Sickels rated Ceda as a B- prospect, one of the best relievers in the game.
* Kevin Goldstein rated Ceda as a three-star prospect, stating, "fastballs that sit in the 94-97 mph range, and he has hit triple-digits on occasion. His slider is also a plus offering that features heavy two-plane break."
Goldstein even increased his praise of Ceda after the 2008 season, bumping him up to a four-star prospect. Further, Goldstein asserts that there is little doubt Ceda will be pitching late in games sooner rather than later. He cites members of the Cubs organization who believe Ceda is very close to being ready for Major League action right now.
This is a substantial gain from where Ceda was to start the 2007 season, when Sickels suggested Ceda was a long ways away.
While nobody will suggest that the Cubs shot themselves in the foot here, there is very little reason to believe they improved their club from an angle they couldn't have attacked via free agency.
Ceda's value, while an understandable luxury for a club with Marmol, Samardjiza, and Donald Veal, has got to be substantially higher than what the Cubs received for him.
That is, as I mentioned, would the Cubs be worse off with Farnsworth or Lyon for the next two or three years instead of Gregg? If so, by how much? I think it is reasonable to suggest that Ceda would more than make up for any possible deviation noted there.
*****************************************
Fact is, NOBODY was high on Gregg, and yet the Cubs got a horrible return on talent in the deal.
In fact, you know how Hendry screwed over the team even more? The Cubs, at the time, I believe had about 4 or 5 slots available on the 40-man roster. He DFA'd Casey McGehee without having a proper replacement. He didn't protect Donald Veal from the Rule 5, AND he traded away Jose Ceda.
The Pirates had been known to be after Donald Veal for quite some time, and they got him for free (minus the claiming fee). Here's why I had a HUGE problem with the Gregg deal AND the Veal situation. It took away arguably our 2 best trade chips in the offseason. Also, giving up on Pie screwed us over too.
Here's why:
Ceda-22 yrs old, at one time had 23 1/3 IP of HITLESS!!!!!!! pitching, threw consistently in the high 90's with a wicked slider
Veal-24 yrs old, threw in low to mid 90's with great strikeout stuff, and often compared to a young Dontrelle Willis. Once rated in top 5 of our prospects. Fell on hard times with control, but strikeout rates were still there. Also, fact he was a lefty increased his value
Pie-24 yrs old...I don't need to say much more, other than he was NOT Corey Patterson part II. I can't stress that enough. Patterson didn't hit for high average at the lower levels coming up like Pie did. Shuttling him back and forth hurt his development significantly.
We were known to have interest in the very promising Nate McLouth in the past. The Braves got him for Gorkys Hernandez, who, if you you look at his stats thus far in the minors, looks eerily similar to Patterson...NOT even Pie...and with less power. They got Charlie Morton, who was never really highly regarded, and Jeff Locke, who wasn't even close to being on the same level as Donald Veal.
So, while Locke and Hernandez were younger than Veal and Pie...Ceda would've trumped them all.
I mean, that's the type of non-deal that screws over your organization. McLouth, at 27 years old, could've been the cornerstone in CF we'd been searching for quite some time. It's like the deal we didn't make for Brian Roberts....I mean, Hendry spends all this time trying to get his man, when other GM's target someone, determine if it's worth their time...if not, then they move on. Hendry didn't....and it cost us dearly.
How is it that a guy like Kenny Williams can go after Jake Peavy once, get turned down by the player himself, then strike a deal a few months later, giving up the same damn players in return? How is it that the Cardinals can make a straight up swap with the A's for a prospect for one of the game's best hitters? I mean, I could go on and on. If you're not going to use your prospects on your team, then you best be trading them while they have value. That's why I applauded Hendry for trading Hee Seop Choi and Bobby Hill, among others for good value. You NEVER trade your top prospects for players like Kevin Gregg or Steve Trachsel (okay, we didn't trade top prospects...but Scott Moore was ranked at least), Heilman, etc.
The question is...would you rather have Cedeno than Heilman...and in turn, Cedeno instead of Miles. I think the answer would be a resounding 'YES'. Would you rather have Ceda than Gregg? I think the answer would be yes as well. Would you rather have Pie than Gathright? I think that'd be a yes too.
How is it that the Cardinals had to send some top prospects in order to get Mark DeRosa, but the Indians didn't send a single damn top prospect to us to get him in the first place?!?
So, while Hendry can cry foul on the economic climate, and the sale of the team, etc....he simply CANNOT cry foul about the horrible moves and non-moves that he's made. Even without a true boss, you should have the necessary brain power to make good moves with close to $140 million payroll.
Hendry HAS to be the first firing we see this offseason. Additionally, here would be my offseason moves:
-trade for Josh Fields or Kouzmanoff(won't have to give up much for either player)--need LEGITIMATE back-up 3B for ARAM
-trade for Mitchell Moreland or Chris Davis of the Rangers (need to have suitable replacement for Lee)
-sign Hank Blalock if above doesn't work
-trade for Billy Wagner or if the Mets don't tender him, then sign him straight up (insurance for Marmol/Guzman/etc.)
-sign Jose Valverde (can't have too much pen depth)
-sign Chone Figgins for 2B
-sign Rick Ankiel for OF depth
-trade for Carl Crawford if his option is picked up
Release/trade/non-tender/don't re-sign:
-Soriano
-Bradley
-Fontenot
-Miles
-Gregg
-Heilman
-Lilly (because he's in last year and we need prospects)
-Dempster (if you can get him to waive no-trade, and if trade partner is willing to take on most of his salary)
-Reed Johnson (we have his lefty equivalent in Fuld...who doesn't get hurt as often)
-Baker (with Figgins, we wouldn't need him)
-Soto (dump his tubby ass on someone, and promote Robinson/Clevenger/W. Castillo to take his place)
-Marshall (valuable trade bait)
Lineup becomes:
Crawford-CF
Figgins-2B
Lee-1B
ARAM-3B
Fox-LF
Fukudome-RF
_______-catcher
Theriot-SS
bench-K. Hill, Rick Ankiel, Kouzmanoff/Blalock/Fields/Moreland/Davis, Sam Fuld, Starlin Castro (yes, I think he'll be ready...at least for back-up duty)
Rotation:
Z, Harden (he's worth re-signing at this point), Wells, Gorzelanny, Caridad/Jackson/Samardzija/etc.
pen: Gaub, Grabow, Mateo, Guzman, Marmol, Wagner, Valverde
*if we make a move for one of the 3B/1B that I suggested, we'd be set, and it wouldn't cost much. Additionally, if we went the route of Ankiel, who, as a 4th/5th OF right now, probably wouldn't cost much, and someone like a Valverde or Wagner for pen depth, I mean, we'd be unstoppable.
But, for my final move...and the one that will surely put us over the top:
-fire Hendry, and convince Gillick to come back to turn around his 5th team (Blue Jays, Orioles, Mariners, Phillies are the others he turned around) as interim GM while he grooms someone to take his place
-fire Piniella and Rothschild, and make LaRussa and Duncan offers they cannot refuse (apparently LaRussa doesn't see eye to eye with the new upper management in place, so that would be the ideal time to get him)
Aaron:
I agree. Hendry deserves to get fired.
He f****d this years team and the next couple of years as well. Unless the Rickett's family decides to swallow Soriano and Bradley's contracts we will be watching a lot of dead weight on the field.
Oh yea...I'm sure Tampa just can't wait to trade Crawford. LOL.
Ridiculous.
actually, if you do any type of research yourself...you'd know that the Rays are indeed considering that option due to lagging attendance, and massive contracts handed out to the likes of Pena, Kazmir, Burrell, and the long-term deal that escalates for Longoria...with their lagging attendance, and several arbitration eligible players, rumor has it that they'll have to cut ties with a big contract. Nobody will take on Burrell, so the two likely candidates being rumored are Kazmir and Crawford. They have several young outfielders in their system like Desmond Jennings that are about ready, so it makes his loss more palatable for them
Aaron,
Hyzunga's essenatially bought the first World Series crown that the Marlins won - very little development of any players. However, they did a quick selloff and turned that around for a second title - your point holds true in this case.
Hasn't Ceda been hurt almost all of 2009 as well? Perhaps he was traded due to health concerns? I still don't understand going after Kevin Gregg though.
Cubs talking to Mets for Billy Wagner.
http://www.fantasysp.com/player/mlb/Billy_Wagner/479904
While Hendry has to go...I actually feel
bad for him...he actually is an above board guy that fell short....
Think about this...imagine YOU were the GM...and did everything within YOUR capabilities to bring a championship to the Cubs...AND...the organization gives
you an open checkbook to do it.
THIS is the result of your labor.
I bet JH is going to be talking to himself for years about this season and the moves he made.
Yes, we need a new GM. But I wouldn't
wish the public humiliation he's going to
face on my best friend...The thing is...
you know he did care...did try...and totally failed...too bad for all of us.
SuzyS,
Are you a sucker for the "nice guys"?
Nice guys finish last....which is why the Cubs have failed every year since 1908 to bring home a championship.
Nice guys don't want to sit underperforming (and overpaid) veterans, because they want to give them the benefit of the doubt. Nice guys also don't want to look bad, and care about what other people think, so they stick to their guns, hoping their decisions pan out. They are reluctant to cut ties with people close to them that have wronged them, because, as mentioned, they want to please everyone.
Problem is, you CANNOT be a nice guy in baseball these days. With the Scott Boras' of this world, the LaRussa's, Piniella's, etc....it just doesn't work out that way. It's why Dusty failed miserably after 2003, and has bombed in Cincinatti too...It's because he's a "player's manager." It's why no non-sense managers like LaRussa, Guillen, and Charlie Manuel have won it all in recent years. They could care less what players think of them. They're going to play the deserving guys, and that's the end of the story. Piniella was that way in 2007 and 2008...but in 2009, it's like he's an entirely different person.
Nice guys don't cut players like Bradley, Miles, Gregg, Heilman, Fontenot, etc. They wait, and wait, and wait, and wait for them to turn it around...and they're still waiting around on their lazy-boys come October, watching other teams chase a trophy.
Think for a minute any of these players would've lasted on the Cardinals, White Sox, Red Sox, or Yankees? Hell no, they'd be cut immediately, or relegated to bench duty.
I don't feel sorry for Hendry, because he just isn't that smart. In fact, I don't feel sorry for anyone in this world that doesn't do their research, and make educated decisions. It's like the whole mortgage crisis. Sure, it sucks that people are losing their homes...and certainly job loss cannot be accounted for, but a vast majority of the people buying the homes in the first place, couldn't afford them. I should know...I have a Real Estate license on the side to make some extra money, and I used to see it all the time.
Fact is, Hendry had a LARGE budget to work with, yet failed miserably in virtually every free agent/contract extension, or trade that he's made. Here's just a few:
Marquis-3 yrs $21 million (for a 3 or 4 starter, that might be okay...but a 5th?...coming off a 6+ERA season?!?)
Bradley-3 yrs $30 million...enough has already been said
Gregg-1 yr $4 million...trading a top pitching prospect to get him was atrocious
Miles-2 yrs $5.5 million...for a midget ballplayer that can only play one position, and doesn't even play good defense, was an absolutely unforgiveable move, considering we dumped DeRosa
Fukudome-4 yrs $48 million...we landed our first Japanese ballplayer. Problem is, Hendry was too in love with the idea of just landing one, that he didn't realize that #1-he never played a day in MLB before and #2-$12 million/yr is more be-fitting of a slugger that hits 40 hr, 100 RBI, than a slap hitter with a little pop in his bat
Dempster-4 yrs, $52 million. This is yet another move, where you're like, "what the hell is Hendry thinking?!?" In theory, any starter coming of a sub 3 ERA season, you have to look into re-signing. But at what cost? Dempster had never put together a stretch of games in his entire career that warranted such a contract...yet, in a "career year", he gets $13 million/yr?!?
Soriano-8 yrs $136 million...enough has been said regarding this, but Carlos Lee, who thrives with RISP, just like ARAM, would've been the much better choice
I mean, I could go on and on....and you're left wondering, "Has Hendry ever really hit big on a major free agent acquisition?"
I'd say Ted Lilly was his best "hit" that he's had in free agency. I wouldn't even consider DeRosa in that category, simply because he was like a "low-cost" free agent signing expected to be a utility player, NOT an everyday player...and he happened to pan out. So, kudos to Hendry for getting him, but he doesn't get points for "major" free agent acquisition, because he simply wasn't a "major" acquisition.
I'd argue that our own free agent extensions, he's only hit on Z and ARAM...everyone else has been a failure. Lee isn't even worth close to his $13 million salary. He parlayed a career year, just as Dempster did, and recently, just as Miles and Bradley did, into a HUGE deal. While I agree there would've been riots outside Wrigley had the Cubs not re-signed him, based on his 40+hr, 100+RBI, .300+avg season, I think if they went out and got a Ryan Howard at the time, or someone else coming up through someone else's system, that we would've been just fine. You all know that I'm big into consistency, and arguably, the only consistent performers we have on our entire team right now are Zambrano, ARAM, and Lilly
Z, you know you'll get about 15 wins and a sub 4 ERA in any given year
ARAM, you know you'll get about 30 hr, 100 RBI any given year
Lilly, you know you're getting about 15 wins and right around the 4 ERA mark any given year
Everyone else is just too inconsistent or injured to know what you're ever going to get out of them.
But the point is, as a MLB General Manager, you HAVE to know these things when evaluating your roster. You HAVE to anticipate changes that need to be made, and know when and how to use your own system to fill holes on your team, and still keep it within budget.
If we'd done things my way originally, we'd have a lineup like this:
McLouth-CF
Roberts-2B
Lee-1B
ARAM-3B
Dunn-RF
Carlos Lee-LF
Pudge Rodriguez-C (yes, he's about average now, but when I wanted him 2 years ago, he was above average, and handles a staff really well)
Theriot-SS
That lineup would've matched up well with any top team in the league, but as it stands now, the only player that we have right now that's really a threat to hit .300 (besides ARAM in limited playing time) is Theriot. A majority of everyone else is hovering around .250 and below, including Soto, Fontenot, Soriano, Miles, Koyie Hill, Reed Johnson.
In fact, the only players above .252 avg are:
Bradley: .263
Fukudome: .274
Baker-.281
Lee-.292
Fox-.292
Theriot-.301
Fuld-.326
ARAM-.327
Sadly, only ARAM, Theriot, Lee, Fukudome, and Bradley are in the everyday lineup. That means that typically, 4 (including pitcher) of our other batters are hitting under .252...which is downright pathetic for this conjuncture in the season.
If you were to make a winning lineup out of just the players currently on our roster, I think you'd have to do this:
Fuld-CF
Theriot-SS
Lee-1B
ARAM-3B
Fox-LF
Fukudome/Bradley-RF
Baker-2B
Soto-C
In fact, this is precisely the same lineup we should see the rest of the year if we hope to even have a chance this year. Bradley hits against lefties, while Fukudome hits righties. The only change we should see is if Bradley is in the lineup, he goes to the 2 hole, and Theriot moves to the 8 hole.
Think we'll ever see that? I think we've only seen it once this year. But it's something that needs to happen.
I'm just at a loss though....Hendry caused all this mess, and yet he won't fix it, because he wants to save face....saving face be damned!!!!!!!!!! If he just admitted his mistakes, and gotten rid of Bradley, Miles, and Gregg, not only would we have 3 roster spots to fill with more deserving players, but we'd be rid of Bradley's 3rd year option which kicked in, after he proved to not be the answer, and we wouldn't have these 3 critical blown saves in August by Gregg. In the end, it would've saved the Cubs at least $10 million...if not more, provided someone took on some of Miles' contract, and possibly part of Gregg's. If I'm the new owner, that's what I'm looking at...I'm looking at Hendry's inability to adapt, and recognize changes that were necessary, and I'm looking at all the money he wasted, and I'm firing him immediately
Aaron, I did not endorse JH to come back...I want him gone yesterday...but I can feel sorry for the guy I don't want also.
Now...couple points on the line-up
"your way".
1) The Orioles owner would never part with Roberts...it would be like you giving up on Dunn...we were never going to get him...no matter what...so take Roberts off your proposed team.
2) I'll give you either Carlos Lee or Dunn on the same team...not both....somebody has to catch the ball.
Dunn really has no place in an NL park
(like Soriano)...but has awesome numbers.
Wouldn't he be perfect as Thomes' replacement next year on the White Sox?
3)Carlos Lee...although I wasn't a poster on here at the time...I would
have preferred Lee over Soriano...but
the White Sox did dump him because of attitude(If you recall he was in Ozzie's
doghouse for not running the bases/crappy defense/ and sloppy workhabits.
That being said...I thought he would have been far superior to Soriano's signing...though Houston would love to get out from under his contract right now.
But that is all in the past...and I'm more interested in the future...bleak as it may seem...I want the Cubs to do it right this time...for once in my life.
Bruce Levine just reported the Cubs spoke with Smoltz's agent but he wants to be a starter and not a reliever. Cubs interested in him for the pen.
Levine said the Cardinals are interested in Smoltz for their rotation.
Hendry has buried this team for the next 3-5yrs...they have huge long-term contracts with players that aren't worth a damn... Piniella also is to blame for not laying down the law and doing it his way..he's let these guys rule the roost..Soriano should have been on the bench or sent down for awhile, zambrano should have been fined and made an example of for not working out, this whole season has been nothing short of a zoo!!!
i am apointing aaron as the cubs next GM
(until i graduate from college, im in high school.)lol
cubs interested in Smoltz, Wagner.
If true, please shoot me now....
That is soooooooooo cub.
Let's go after pitchers at the end of their careers or coming off major arm surgery.....!!! Yippee !!!
Remember how back in the winter every one wanted the cubs to sign Randy Johnson ??? How's that one looking for Giants ? He has a 4.81 ERA pitching in one of the best pitcher's parks in baseball and now is hurt.
Please. come on.
Let's develop some younger guys for once, huh ? Ones that have a future and can help in 2010 or 2011.
There's a reason this team hasn't won in 100 years....
Making stupid decisions like getting pitchers at the end of their careers tops the list. We have been doing it forever. UGH.
Jim Hendry is an awful GM. Cubs will be awful for the next 10 years, thanks to his woeful management. Looks like 200 losing years in a row is very possible.
STUPIDITY REIGNS ON THE NORTHSIDE!
Rip...5 year increments please...
1)I can't handle more than 5
2)Any team can go from worst to first in five
Let's see, we make all moves below that Aaron suggests and we'll be at 180M payroll.
Becuase don't think for second that if you dump Sori, bradley, Dempster, etc you aren't going to have to pickup most of their salary.
I'm sure Ricketts would love that !!!
LOL
DREAM ON, DUDE.
-sign Hank Blalock if above doesn't work
-trade for Billy Wagner or if the Mets don't tender him, then sign him straight up (insurance for Marmol/Guzman/etc.)
-sign Jose Valverde (can't have too much pen depth)
-sign Chone Figgins for 2B
-sign Rick Ankiel for OF depth
-trade for Carl Crawford if his option is picked up
just in case there were a few fans out there thinking we'd make the playoffs...here's a stat for you to consider (I'm taking it cc002600 is probably one of those):
***************************************
The tough loss put the Cubs further out of first place than they have been since they were 6½ games behind Milwaukee on July 2, 2007.
****************************************
we are 4 games out in the Wild Card (5 out in win column, 3 out in loss column), and 6 games out in the division to a VERY hot Cardinals team (8 games out in win column, 4 games out in loss column)...there's absolutely no reason to be optimistic with this season. We're finished, and I will eat an entire plate full of crow if we even make the playoffs as a Wild Card, because I just don't see it happening.
And cc002600, as far as the moves are concerned, you'd have the following off your books:
Lilly-$10 million
Soriano-$9 million (because we'd have to pick up at least half)
Bradley-$10 million (split difference with other team)
Dempster-$13 million (doubtful you'd have to pay much, considering starting pitching is at a premium)
Gregg-$4 million off the books
Heilman-$2 million off the books
So, yeah, I think those moves can be done with creativity. Blalock would almost be like a DeRosa signing (about $5 million/yr). Figgins and Crawford with be the most expensive with Figgins probably landing in the $10 million range and Crawford has his $12 million option for next season. But that's what good GM's do, buddy....they find ways to get it done.
The best option that's with the team to replace Gregg is Guzman. What do you think? Marmol puts too many men on base via base on balls and hit bats men to be the closer in my opinion. Angel's done a great job lately, but we'll see how he handles the 9th inning if Lou gives him the chance.
Or there's always Antonio Alfonseca, who has an 8.49 ERA with with the Lancaster Barnstomers this season.... oh never mind...
I'm not sold on Guzman's breaking pitches yet and, as we've seen, a closer cannot simply "overpower" batters. There's an art to closing a game: fool guys on some pitches, throw it right by them on others, and walk people you might consider game-winners. Gregg could not do that. Marmol might be able to do that if his slider comes alive after becoming closer. Guzman...it just really depends on how well he can do getting those last three outs rather than outs 19, 20, and 21.
Boseph, pure stuff-wise it's Marmol...but how many walks do you want to see in the ninth...right now?
Guzman's overcome a lot of adversity just to be where he is...being that we are really in "audition" period for next season...Let Guzman be the man to start with...until Marmol exhibits better control...I also wouldn't put it past Lou to put the new lefty in.
Aaron,
I always love how you assume that someone is out there willing to just take our expensive garbage off our hands.
Let me ask you a question: If you were a GM of another team, please tell me WHY, WHY, WHY you would want to add expensive, unproductive, injury-prone, players for your team, like Soriano, Bradley, etc ??
IT MAKES ZERO SENSE.
Even if the cubs paid half of Soriano's contract, you're telling me that someone would be willing to pay this guy $9M / year for the next 5 years as he continues to get older ??? LOL. WHY would anyone do that ?
Too funny.
IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
Aaron,
In fact do this for me, please.
Name 1 player, just 1, that has been traded to another team, (without having to take garbage back in return)over the last couple years that had a HUGE salary that was unproductive, injury-prone, and aging...
If you can do that, I will shutup.
Let me paint the picture for you more clearly on Soriano and Bradley.
Right now, they have absolutely ZERO value. Unless they somehow turn it around, that won't change.
Here's what you get with those 2 guys:
Extremely Overpaid
Unproductive
Aging - this is more for Soriano
Injury - prone
Bad attitude
Dumb
Other than that, they are Albert Pujols. LOL.
So tell me again why someone would want these clowns ?
I'm thinking that if people think they can picture/design moves affecting many, many (?10) players coming and/or going, they are not dealing with reality. I do understand that, after last night in particular and this season in general, we are all entitled to some venting and theorizing.
I do think that JH will be relieved of his GM role--because management is accountable when all is said and done. His moves involving moving DeRo and getting Bradley and Gregg were critical and did not work. Even with money being the prime motivator for these deals that didn't work, JH is the place where accountability ends. Miles and Heilman didn't work, but that's more annoying than critical.
The underperformance of key players like Soriano, Soto, and Zambrano were key factors in our demise. JH gave Soriano and Z their deals, and JH's greatest shortcoming is likely not seeing the detracting/disabling psychological baggage that these guys and Bradley carry with them.
The loss of ARAM in particular and others like Lilly and Dempster also worked to minimize our post season chances--and may have been enough by themselves to keep us out of the post season. And Lou's "style" to err on the side of veterans and/or wait for them to get on track was a factor--but not critical to the final disappointing outcome. I'm not saying that the "little things" didn't matter, but that they were secondary.
Soriano, Bradley and Z have played themselves into greatly reduced value--compounding our problems. If Z has, in fact, shed his juvenile stupidity and now sees a rigorous exercise and conditioning program as part of being a top level pitcher, he could redeem himself. I suppose that if we have to DFA or trade (for very little in return) one of Soriano or Bradley it would be Bradley because Soriano may still have a year where he hits 30 HR's in him--and power rules. We do need to free one of their OF positions to get better (like giving Fox a job).
If both B and S stay, I would consider the most expensive and unusual platoon in memory. Since neither does well against right handers, one would play 4 games and then the other 4 games. If in his 4th game one gets a hit, he would continue to start until he doesn't get a hit. Then the other guy would start another 4 game cycle. If neither helped much, they would go to the bench. One would eventuall go home or elsewhere.
We have been fortunate to find some "keepers" in this year's experience. Fox, Wells, Hill, Grabow, Baker, Fuld, Gorzelanny and Blanco come to mind. JH gets some credit in this regard.
We can also expect most of the following to be gone via trade of non-tender: Johnson, Hoffpauir, Fontenot, Gregg, Miles, Heilman and Cotts. Harden is a special case and a special talent. I think he made $7 mil this year, and it may take three years of that or a little more to keep him. I was hoping to see a pre-trade deadline deal for him (or Z) where a team like the Red Sox, Angels or Yanks overpaid us with talent.
It may be possible to make a key player trade in the offseason. That could involve Lilly and ARAM. Painful but possible in a rebuild. I'm thinking our best position opportunity will be 2B (or SS if Theriot moves to 2nd. I like Aaron's idea of Figgins--whose ideal position just might be SS.
here's a good question for you buddy....
if you were Ricketts...after the season (assuming sale goes through)....Do you fire Hendry, Piniella, and Rothschild immediately, and approach LaRussa and Duncan essentially with a blank check, and pull Pat Gillick out of semi-retirement to turn this thing around and purge the club of all the bad contracts like he did in Toronto, Baltimore, Seattle, and Philly, and then go out and get free agents that actually fit into the team? Do you make that move in a heartbeat?
I don't know if you're a Chicago guy or no...but I was born and raised there, and love all the teams in Chicago. If the Bears considered Marinelli to be one of their biggest acquisitions....and he's already turned some heads, getting Mark Anderson to finally get the pass rush on....don't you think that LaRussa and Duncan can get the most out of their players?!? I mean, the Cards, outside of McGwire and Pujols, have had a revolving door at nearly every damn position over the past 10 years, and yet they consistently field a competitive team with guys making MLB minimum, or league average contracts. How is this?!? I think getting them on the team makes us 100% better, don't you.
If I were Ricketts, they'd be the first free agents I'd contact. I'd pitch the idea that they'd become idols in Chicago if they could turn the Cubs into a championship contender, and not a pretender.
LaRussa presided over some very good Sox teams, and if not for some unfortunate injuries, would've taken them to the World Series, then he won it all with Oakland, then he won it all with St. Louis. If memory serves me correctly, he took the A's to 3 World Series in a row (winning one...losing to Piniella and the Reds I believe in one). In St. Louis, he's been either 1st or 2nd in the division 8 out of 14 years on the job, including 2 WS appearances with one championship. In Oakland, it was 5 out of 10 years in 1st or 2nd, with 3 WS appearances and one championship.
Piniella has exactly one pennant and one WS title to his name. LaRussa has 5 pennants and 2 WS titles to his name. That should tell you everything. I'd take LaRussa with a blank check anyday, than continue to pay a manager that seems increasingly disinterested with every passing day
Enough with the old guys !!!
let's get some fresh young hungry blood in here.
I'm tired of old retreads....just like the players we always seem to acquire. OLD at the end of their careers. I hate that.
I think Ryno would be good.
We missed out on Girardi.
I've had a busy four hours of so on other things, so maybe more tomorrow on your questions. In brief, I don't consider there to be any possibility that LaRussa and Duncan would leave St. Louis for Chicago--so it's hard for me to consider that hypothetical. I'm not much acquainted with Gillick's record. I don't think there is a possibility that the Ricketts would double LaRussa or Torre's salary for example. The days of no-limits checkbooks are over.
I do think that Lou could last another year--if the Ricketts have their eye on Sandberg. I can see where that would disappoint you--given that Sandberg has won nothing as a major league manager. But the major re-build likely begins after the 2010 season, and doing it with Sandberg could happen.
I lived and worked in Chicago for the First National Bank of Chicago for about about 10 years. I grew up in La Porte, In about 65 miles east of Chicago, and my allegiances were the Cubs and the Bears. As I think you know, I had some Cubs connectiions as the #2 banker for the Wrigley family and their business interests. The one-time head coach of the Bears (and George Hallas favorite), Jim Dooley was my next door neighbor, and our families socialized from time-to-time. I have a Hallas--Dooley and player friend of mine story that would astound you and bring tears to your eyes.
Meanwhile, the Cubs are trying to do something in San Diego--and WGN has it.
Nothing like a bum like Gregg to get the CCO humming today.
While everyone is ready to hang Hendry (perhaps except Suzy Z), I'm just as disgusted with ol man Pinella. Now here's a guy who's folding the tent, just like he has everywhere once the honeymoon ended. So many here heralded this manager years ago v. hiring Girardi when we truly had the chance. And now look.
Pinella has allowed Zambrano's laziness, Soto to show up (and stay) out of shape, Bradley to run the asylum, and Soriano to just embarrass the franchise. With the payroll provided he has been a huge failure. No discipline, no fundamentals, no sense of urgency! How many times is this guy going to be out-managed?
Lou himself is old, lazy (look at his frame), and just tired out. I don't know why this organization continues to hire old retreads like Baker and Pinella. Why don't we just dig up Durocher and prop him in the dugout...it would look (and act) similar to Lou.
Totally agree.
I was ok with hiring Lou, but I wanted Girardi much much more....I thought he could be their manager for the next 10-15 years....he's got fire and passion, ....younger.....he's a local guy, etc.
but noooooooooooooo !!
Who knows, maybe Ryno could be in that
mold as well. I would like to see it....and make Maddux the pitching coach.
Bryan...I've wanted to hang JH all season...but that doesn't mean I can't feel sorry for him...He'll carry this anchor forever.
Think of the seasons the Cubs were coming off of when they hired Dusty/Lou.
They were so bad they needed credibility...just to get ticket sales up...same with the signing of Soriano.
He was the biggest FA that season...I
didn't like the signing then and I hate it now.
Last year's playoff failure killed the fire in this team...from the manager on down...and then the GM compounded it with a horrible offseason.
It's going to take a very, very shrewd
President/GM/and manager to get us on track. I hope Ricketts can make the right choices.
Piniella's best days are behind him, but he may get a transition year in 2110--if he doesn't announce his retirement. Sandberg needs another year, and I think is the likely replacement. That would also spare Ryno some of the rebuild grief.
JimK,
I agree with everything you said, except I think they will bring back Johnson, instead of Harden. I like Harden, but I don't think they will want to pay him when they could just plug in a guy like Gorzalanny or Marshall for cheap instead.....
I think Johnson is a nice piece to have and he's fairly affordable. I think he comes back. I hope he does.
I guess you and I are the only ones sick of Zambrano.
Everyone else seems to drink the kool-aid when it comes to that overpaid turd.
cc002600, I've said it before and I'll say it again ... and I know it doesn't make good baseball sense ... but I would give Soriano away if I had to. You're stuck with 5 more years of his miserable contract, and I would pay every penny of it just to never see him run into the outfield for your Chicago Cubs again. He has zero plate discipline, his bat speed has regressed at an alarming rate and he's atrocious in the field. I think he has killed the Cubs as much or more than Kevin Gregg has this year. He has always been too streaky for his own good and this year he has been cold about 80 percent of the time.
That said, I'm surprised Hendry didn't offer him a player option for 2015.
And again...you miss that I want "Z" to be traded as well.
To send a clear message I would sit (for a very extended stay) Soriano, Bradley, and Soto. Tell them "tough, too bad, but you suck, and when you get your act together, we'll "consider", and only "consider" on our terms whether to allow you back on the field to represent our franchise and fans.
Insert Fox and Fuld FT, and be done already.
But I'm sure we'll see Bradley batting 2 tonite, Soriano sucking in the 6-7 hole, etc. Lou has no guts!