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Post by BDS on Oct 14, 2006 12:20:58 GMT -5
The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that Lou Piniella is indeed the choice. They expect Jim Hendry and his agent to start exchanging figures next week and for the announcement to be made before the World Series starts. I don't know what to think of this ... Sweet Lou's been good before, and he's led some horrible teams. Meh. If they get the right players, maybe the manager won't matter anyway. And maybe this is wrong. Yeah, I'm trying to talk myself down from the ledge.  |
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Post by sickman on Oct 14, 2006 18:51:51 GMT -5
I kind of had a feeling that they would look at Pinella when the Yanks brought Torre back. Like BDS; not quite sure what to think of this.
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Post by BDS on Oct 15, 2006 7:03:34 GMT -5
On the birghter side of things, the Sun Times is also reporting that the Trib is going to up the payroll by $20 million to $115 million. If that's the case, I can probably live with Piniella. |
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Post by sickman on Oct 15, 2006 7:58:34 GMT -5
Well it depends on what they do with that money. Not everyone can buy a championship.......right Mr. Steinbrenner?!
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Post by BDS on Oct 15, 2006 13:33:56 GMT -5
Well it depends on what they do with that money. Not everyone can buy a championship.......right Mr. Steinbrenner?! True. However, I'm hoping that most of Hendry's boneheaded moves of the last few years (two-year deals for Neifi and Rusch being prime examples) were at Dusty's urging and won't be duplicated with this new money. In any event, though, it would make for an exciting offseason, and after a lifetime as a card-carrying member of Cubs Nation, I'll happily accept that if it's all I get. |
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Post by gwffantrav on Oct 16, 2006 18:07:19 GMT -5
Sigh, it looks like they went with Pinella. I can't understand why...
I would have brought Girardi in a heartbeat. The guy is young and has fire.
Pinella has to be in his 60s by now.
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Post by BDS on Oct 16, 2006 18:29:18 GMT -5
They've also targeted Soriano for center field and one (if not both) of Jason Schmidt and Barry Zito to bolster the rotation. The possibility of them picking up both of those pitchers with all of the extra money they're rumored to be getting is Crazy-Go-Nuts. Look at this rotation: 1. "Cy" Zambrano 2. Barry Zito 3. Jason Schmidt 4. Rich Hill 5. Mark Prior (or Sean Marshall when Prior's starting for our DL team) Either that or you pick up one of them, Soriano, and then one more big bat for the outfield (Carlos Lee or maybe trade for Adam Dunn, who Cincy is supposedly looking to move). That gives you a lineup looking something like this: 1. Ryan Theriot 2. Alfonso Soriano 3. Derrek Lee 4. Adam Dunn/Carlos Lee 5. Aramis Ramirez 7. Michael Barrett 8. Cesar Izturis 9. <pitcher> C'mon, that's just dumb. That's almost Yankees dumb. If you think about it, Lou's got no reason to come to the Cubs other than to win. He's got all the money he needs, and if he was really just in it for the money he'd have waited one more year until Torre's contract expired and made $5 mil per with the Yanks instead of $3 mil per with the Cubs. If he went into that interview and was just blown away by what Jim Hendry told him was in the works for the offseason, hopefully that bodes well. I know, ever the optimist. It's all a Cubs fan can do to get by. |
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Post by stephenvegas on Oct 16, 2006 19:25:16 GMT -5
I am a Lou Pinella fan and it would be great to see him win a World Series with the Chicago Cubs. Because Pinella agreed to a 3 year deal, he should be the manager of the Cubs in 2008- the 100th anniversary of the last Chicago Cubs team to win the World Series.
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Post by Pete on Oct 16, 2006 21:33:10 GMT -5
I think the odds of Zito signing with a team outside New York or LA are about the same as that of Kerry Wood making 40 starts next year.
And if he does sign with someone else, it will be for far more money and far more years than he deserves. And I'm not sure I like a guy like Zito who relies on fly balls and good outfield D to be a success in Chicago.
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Post by Mad Dog on Oct 16, 2006 21:40:50 GMT -5
I think this is a bad move on their part. I think he's about 3 years past his prime as a manager.
And they should stay far away from Soriano. He's an awful fielder and for being a slugger he doesn't walk at all. This year was a career year for him as far as OBP and he was still just league average. Matt Murton had a better OBP for the Cubs during the previous year. Dunn would be a better move because while he strikes out a lot he also walks a lot and wears pitchers down with 5+ pitch plate appearances.
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Post by gwffantrav on Oct 16, 2006 23:01:47 GMT -5
Yeah, all I've heard about Zito is NY teams.
Was Dunn a free agent or are they working on a trade to get him? The Reds are slowly losing many of their fan favs (Kearns, Dunn, etc)
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Post by BDS on Oct 16, 2006 23:07:44 GMT -5
Dunn belongs to the Reds this year, but the front office is looking to move him. They don't really like him, and with the way his contract is structured they either have to trade him this year, let him go as a free agent for nothing next year, or pick up his option next year and be stuck with him (he has a no-trade that kicks in if the option is picked up). If he starts the season with Cincy, I'd be surprised.
Edit: On Zito - the info about the Cubs looking at him and Schmidt comes from Bruce Levine, the Cubs beat guy on ESPNRadio 1000 out of Chicago.
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Post by stephenvegas on Oct 16, 2006 23:11:50 GMT -5
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Post by gwffantrav on Oct 16, 2006 23:12:37 GMT -5
I'm sure you won't hear one Yankee fan sheeding any tears!
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Post by Pete on Oct 16, 2006 23:16:34 GMT -5
Edit: On Zito - the info about the Cubs looking at him and Schmidt comes from Bruce Levine, the Cubs beat guy on ESPNRadio 1000 out of Chicago. Well, let's be honest, that probably goes for every team in baseball. The D-Rays are probably "looking at" Zito and/or Schmidt, but it doesn't mean they can come close to signing them. Adam Dunn is a good but not great player--good OBP, great power, awful defense and baserunning. But the Reds, in fashion typical of badly run organizations, have spent the past few seasons harping on the things he doesn't do (i.e., make contact) and have now driven his trade value way down from where it once was. Wouldn't surprise me if they do unload him and get nothing more than a few middle relievers like they did with Kearns. In 2002 or 3 they could have landed a front-of-the-rotation starter for him. While I don't agree on Soriano's fielding, I do agree that another low-OBP slugger is not what the Cubs need. Hopefully with Dusty gone the team will get past this "walks just clog the bases" nonsense and get some guys at the top of the lineup who can get on, and not have a team built around solo homers. It'll be interesting to see what Piniella does with Murton and the other young guys on the team. In Tampa, all Piniella did was whine about how he didn't have any veterans, but the youngsters he had in Seattle seemed to work out rather well. Dusty was one of the worst I've ever seen at handling rookies, so you have to figure Lou will be an improvement on that. |
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Post by BDS on Oct 16, 2006 23:31:19 GMT -5
I'd love to see them run with Murton in left, because he's exactly the type of hitter that this team needs more of. He's not going to be a big power guy at what is traditionally a big power position, though, so if they don't get the pop from him they're going to have to get it from somewhere else. Soriano fits that bill, because he could give us that power from CF or 2B, which aren't traditionally big power spots, and he actually put up a pretty decent OBP last year, too, so maybe he's maturing as a hitter. Or maybe he just played out of his butt in a contract year, though. He's an interesting possibility at the very least. Crap, just saw this ... or maybe we get that power from shortstop. I'm not sure how feasible this is, but if we could do it without having to trade away Aramis Ramirez and thusly have no spot for Cesar "Neifi Jr." Izturis, I'd be real happy about that. I'm just excited to go into an offseason that has so many possibilities for improving the team and a widely-reported huge influx of money with which to make those improvements. Here's hoping Hendry doesn't muck it up. |
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Post by Mad Dog on Oct 16, 2006 23:57:36 GMT -5
My friend harps on Dunn a lot, we're both big Reds fans, and I've been begging him to read Moneyball and some James stuff so he can see Dunn in a different light.
I don't know if he'll get traded though. The new management is committed to winning and spending the money to get there. They might keep him for awhile.
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Post by BDS on Nov 12, 2006 15:31:23 GMT -5
Huzzah! Aramis Ramirez was resigned today and kept out of the clutches of the evil Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim near the Pacific Ocean and south of San Francisco. 5 year deal, 73 million dollars, and a mutual option for a sixth year. I think that's way under market value for someone who swings the kind of stick that Ramirez does, so he gave us a good hometown discount.
In other news, we also resigned my favorite Cub, Kerry Wood. Woody got 1 year, 1.75 million, with up to 6 million more in performance incentives. Woody's also getting a 3 million dollar buyout, so that's not too bad for either side there. Hopefully Woody can get everything back on track with his career and show something out of the pen this year.
A banner day to start the offseason proper for the Cubs! Let the continued success commence!
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Post by BDS on Nov 12, 2006 17:10:13 GMT -5
There's also a radio report out of LA that says that the Cubs put in a 4 year, 60 million dollar offer to J.D. Drew at 12:01 AM this morning. If that's true, then this is The Best Day Ever!
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Post by BDS on Nov 19, 2006 15:49:50 GMT -5
Pending a physical, the Cubs have signed Alfonso Soriano. Speculation on the contract from various media outlets looks like this - 5 years, 90 million (as reported by WGN Radio) with 3 option years bringing it up to a total value of 136 million if they're all exercised. This is all speculation from various media reports for now, though. Final details are supposed to be announced at a press conference tomorrow, though.
Wow.
I've got some bad things to say about the size and length of the contract, but for now I'll be a fan and shelve those things. The Cubs have now signed two of the three biggest free agent bats on the market this offseason (Soriano and their own returning Aramis Ramirez). We haven't made an offseason splash like this since Andre Dawson.
And from all accounts, the team's getting sold soon.
Go Cubs!
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