The way things have been going for the Cubs Edmonds will probably get his second wind, pull a Tom Brunasky for six weeks while Pie simultaneously goes crazy with the bat in the minors and when Jimmy gets an owie diving for a ball Felix returns and doesn't miss a beat leaving the Cubs with a veteran lefty bat on the bench come September.

That would be........unpleasant.

Seeing Edmonds in a Cub uniform would be really gross.

Seeing Edmonds in a Cub uniform would be really gross.

I agree.

He would be the first Cub in a long time for whom I'd have a hard time rooting.

And there’s a new face coming, about a mile away
There’s a new face coming, I can hardly wait...(Yeah, riiiight)

I can't forget the time he complained about the shower temperature at Wrigley; the damage was done to his reputation for me at that point. The weakest part of this whole thing is what would happen to Pie. In my little corner of the world, he should get regular playing time in the majors.

This is the first time ever, I think, that Jim Edmonds has been considered more "reliable" than someone else.

"Left-handers are hitting .070 or .060 off [Johnson]," Piniella said.

Isn't it refreshing to have a Cubs' manager say something like this and be right?

First, I agree with retro in #3. Second, as bad as Pie's been offensively, Edmonds has actually been worse this season. I wouldn't really expect either of them to maintain an OPS+ below 50 over a full season, but I'm not sure why I'd expect the 38-year-old whose OPS+ has dropped 20+ points for 4 straight years (counting this year) to be better than the 23-year-old Gold-Glove caliber defender.

This is all an elaborate plan to get Edmonds into a Cub uniform and then have him turn heel at the first opportunity. It'd be more disgusting than Rick Martel turning on Tito Santana during the reunion of Strike Force.

This is all an elaborate plan to get Edmonds into a Cub uniform and then have him turn heel at the first opportunity.

He is going to apparate out of CF?

I love Jimmy enough to want to see him get work.

I love the Cardinals enough to not want to see him play for the Cubs.

And, as they're my second team, I love the Cubs enough that I don't want to see him play for the Cubs, given that he does look like he's pretty much run out of gas.

All signs point to him being signed and batting cleanup.

Jim Edmonds playing for the Cubs is quite possible the worst thing that could happen to me. This is a scary bad scenario for me.

All signs point to him being signed and batting cleanup.

What is the ripple effect in the lineup, do you think? I'm having a hard time envisioning how a lineup with Edmonds 4th works in the Cubs favor compared to what they have now, since it will almost certainly take at bats away from a more productive hitter (Fukudome or Theriot). Unless it means taking Soriano out of the top spot.

What was discussed last night on the radio had Fukudome moving UP in the lineup as opposed to down.

But then this was the same ESPN crew who had Eric Gagne being released by the All-Star break. Which however justified just won't happen with Doug Melvin. If Melvin wouldn't dump Turnbow and his 3 million dollar salary there ain't no way on God's green earth Dougie is kissing 10 million good-bye.

Gagne is on the team until the end of the season or he self-combusts...........

Well if you're looking for a left-hand hitting CF with not much range, occasional power and a good arm who is likely to hit in the low .200s, he's already on the team. He makes plenty of money, and he's only the ace of your staff one out of every five games.

Aside from my personal dislike for Edmonds, he's got zero bat speed and can't play center field at this point. Why in the world would the Cubs do this?

What was discussed last night on the radio had Fukudome moving UP in the lineup as opposed to down.

This makes perfect sense, but I hardly see why signing Edmonds is a precondition for it to happen.

Because they're dumb. Felix Pie is a better baseball player right now than Jim Edmnonds. The Cubs don't realize this because he plays once a month.

This makes perfect sense, but I hardly see why signing Edmonds is a precondition for it to happen.

I think because Lou doesn't want the 3-4-5-6-7 hitters to all be RH, which would be the case if Fukudome moved to the #2 spot right now (Lee - Aramis - Soto - DeRosa - Theriot/Johnson). So for Lou to move Kosuke up in the order, I think he's going to need a lefty he can plug into the 5th spot to do it, and Pie isn't that guy.

It's funny; as soon as I heard about the Padres releasing Edmonds, the first thing that crossed my mind was, "I bet Hendry wants to sign him."

For some reason I ws under the impression that Edmonds had some kind of insane hitting stats at Wrigley, but his career OPS there is just .918---not much higher than his career line of .903. In fact, of the 32 parks in which Edmonds has at leat 50 plate appearances, his Wrigley OPS is just 13th...

So for Lou to move Kosuke up in the order, I think he's going to need a lefty he can plug into the 5th spot to do it, and Pie isn't that guy.

If Jim Edmonds ever bats 5th in the middle of a Cub offense this good, I swear to god I'm buying a flamethrower.

For some reason I ws under the impression that Edmonds had some kind of insane hitting stats at Wrigley

Always seemed that way to me too; without having looked at the breakdown of his Wrigley stats, I'd bet a lot of that OPS is from homers. Thought he was sort of Adam Dunn-lite in terms of Wrigley stats.

....I'd bet a lot of that OPS is from homers.

1 homer every 12.5 at-bats in Wrigley, vs. 1 homer every 17 at-bats overall as a Cardinal

1 homer every 12.5 at-bats in Wrigley, vs. 1 homer every 17 at-bats overall as a Cardinal

Ah. So I was more or less right.

This is stupid. But until it actually happens, I won't waste my breath on it. I'll instead focus on everything that is currently going right (still the most runs in MLB, a great weekend sweep, etc), and won't resort to hypothetical problems or ridiculous exaggerations in an attempt to fulfill some sort of self-loathing need to habitually complain.

I don't feel like registering just to read the article, but are the Cubs looking for a left-handed bat to play everyday, or just in certain situations?

excel just use the good ol bselig it still works there

As a Brewers fan, I wholeheartedly endorse any signing of Jim Edmonds' shattered carcass by the Chicago Cubs.

The entire relevant portion is excerpted above. Pure speculation, IMO.

Yeah, I did not realize that I did not even need to click on the link. My apologies.

Pure speculation, IMO.

Yeah, the Trib sports section loves to scare Cubs fans. Like last year when they speculated the Cubs would try to pick up Trachsel. Good thing nothing came of that. Oh, wait.

Because they're dumb. Felix Pie is a better baseball player right now than Jim Edmnonds. The Cubs don't realize this because he plays once a month.

This is one way teams tend to screw up on young players,

Pie is regarded as many as being a similar type player to Corey Patterson, a player the Cubs regard as having been ultimately a failure, the Cubs believe din Corey o much that even after 700+ PAs of .243/.278/.379 "performance" they still had him playing virtually everyday in CF (and were rewarded with a half season of .298/.329/.511 that stands out on his stat line like the empire State Building now stands out in Manhattan again.

Pie has had a brutal 240 AB introduction to the MLB, I don't think they are going top given him 500+ more PAs to find himself the way they did with Corey P. If you buy that Pie = Patterson (or at least is close enough), Pe's start is the clincher- he's not good enough, don't make the same mistake twice, find a new CF of the future, in the meantime we need to play some stopgap now who's better than PIe because we can win the division NOW.

The problem is that no two players are identical, PIE, judging by his 1000 PAs in AA/AAA is quite a bit better than Corey, and Corey (horrible start to 2008 aside) is not actually terrible (I think he's below average, but not horrificly so), teams start worse CFs everyday.

I think the organization may be focusing more on the similarities (which, granted, do exist) between Pie and Patterson, and disregarding that Pie performed better at the same minor league levels than Patterson did, and at younger ages. I think Pie's a significantly better prospect than Patterson was (though not a "sure thing," of course).

retro:

Pie is a player. Not every player is a Braun or Soto who hits the ground running. With the Cubs offense at warp nine I am legitimately puzzled as to why Lou doesn't pen, not pencil, him in every day at the bottom of the order with a leadoff stint every so often against righties with blah stuff. Like the Cards staff. Ha!

It's a mystery. To me anyway...

Agreed, Harv.

Well, I'd hit him 7th and forget about putting him leadoff unless and until his OBP warrants it, but I agree with the rest.

A Coco trade makes way too much sense now. He's up over .800 in OPS at a time of the year where he's usually down in the crapper. He has to be turning the heads of the Cubs now. The Sox recently DFA'ed Lopez, so they can throw him in too. We'll take Mr. "Can't Get out of the 1st inning" Rich Hill and some other losers in return.

I withdraw my comment for being too stupid to pick up on sarcasm.

Since when did the Sox DFA Lopez, Darren?

Bruce Levine seems to think this is a foregone conclusion. Bruce Miles implies the only reason the Cubs wouldn't is because they're worried about team chemistry. Not because he's terrible.

Chicago Tribune: Cubs interested in Edmonds

The Cubs have interest in recently released center fielder Jim Edmonds, who is likely to clear waivers Wednesday.
...
General manager Jim Hendry could not comment, but sources in the Cubs organization insist he will jump at the chance to sign Edmonds if he's available.

If the Cubs sign him and it doesn't work out, they can always pull the plug quickly and move on.
...
The Cubs desperately need another left-handed hitter, and Edmonds would fill the bill if he can still hit and stay off the disabled list. Felix Pie doesn't look like he's going to be the kind of hitter the Cubs envisioned and appears to be headed back to Triple-A Iowa soon to work on his stroke.

The Cubs offense isn't "desperate" for anything.

The Cubs offense isn't "desperate" for anything.

Yeah, I don't want to harp on this because it's probably not going to happen, but the team with the fewest runs scored in the National League just cut Edmonds and now the team that leads the NL in runs scored thinks he could improve their offense?

I think if it wasn't Edmonds, most Cubs fans wouldn't mind taking a flyer for a couple of weeks on a guy while Felix plays every day in Iowa. Felix clearly needs some consistent at bats and it actually looks like the change they made in his swing in late April has helped him. It's just the thought of one of the most hated Cardinals of all time prancing around center in a Cubs uniform has many people sickened.

Greg Maddux pointed out that Edmonds seemed to finally be putting it together the week before the Padres waived him. .278 (5-18) 3 BBs, 3 K's (but no extra base hits).

And no one should compare this to the Gary Gaetti signing. When the Cardinals waived Gaetti in August of 1998 he was hitting .265 with a .339 on base and .454 slugging. Not great, but better than what the Cubs had been using at third, and not necessarily the numbers of a guy who was completely washed up. The Cardinals had cut Gaetti to make room for Fernando Tatis--who had a good rest of the year, a great 1999 and then slowly faded into obscurity.

Gaetti of course hit .320 for the Cubs, and the only downside to his performance was that Ed Lynch was dumb enough to think it would happen again and signed him for 1999.

It's just the thought of one of the most hated Cardinals of all time prancing around center in a Cubs uniform has many people sickened.

And, well, the fact that he can't play center anymore, and that the guy they should be putting out there instead plays a hellacious center field.

I'd say it's an almost certainty. Trying to catch "lightening in a bottle" with the carcass of veterans is very Jim Hendry, and Pinella doesn't want to develop Pie while trying to win a World Series.

Plus listening to the radio talking-heads it seems to be a foregone conclusion. Naturally I hate this idea.

Trying to catch "lightening in a bottle" with the carcass of veterans is very Jim Hendry, and Pinella doesn't want to develop Pie while trying to win a World Series.

I might even understand this (if not agree with it) if the Cub offense wasn't kicking ass and taking names already.

Calvin (#42), I think your last sentence is more the reason that Cubs fans don't want to take a flier on Edmonds than his "most hated Cardinal" status. Sure, we hate him, but we could get over that, but blocking a prospect for a guy who is worse than the prospect in every aspect of the game except veteran-ness is unfathomable.

That, and even if he only stays with the Cubs for a month, they would still probably vote that ######### a partial World Series share. That would truly make my skin crawl.