Cubs - Sentenced their Fans to 24 months of The Neifinator.
Chicago Cubs - For some baffling reason, signed SS Neifi Perez to a 2-year contract for no particular reason.
Mr. Oracle, say it’s not true!
It is. In my role as the chief transactional faith healer, I’ve tried preparing Cubs fans emotionally for this day. As baseball writers don’t get to prescribe anti-depressants, I can only provide palliative benefits to your fragile emotions.
But, it can’t be all bad!
Sure it can.
But, Neifi only got into the lineup because of Nomar’s injury! With Rafael Furcal totally coming onto the team, Neifi will just be a backup!
When I was 4, I also thought people on the television could see me.
But surely, after his 2005 season, Dusty will have to give Ronny Cedeno a chance to get as much playing time as possible
Dusty doesn’t have to do a ####### thing.
What about team management? Surely, if they kept him on, there had to have been some limitations set on Dusty?
The Cubs have never cared about his lack of competence before - why would they start now?
Will Ronny Cedeno get playing time at 2nd?
Sure - he’ll get 2 starts against lefties, go 0-for-3 and enjoy his summer in Iowa.
There has to be something I can do, right?
Well, short of lobbying your senator to have all legal immigrants expelled from the country or to have Dusty’s toothpick declared a weapon of mass destruction, there’s not much you can do.
Well, can you make me feel better?
Sure. There are 29 other sets of clothing to root for. If I went to Wendy’s and got a dead rat in my spicy chicken sandwich, I wouldn’t go to Wendy’s anymore. Just because Jim Hendry wants you take a bit of his big #### sandwich doesn’t mean you have to chomp down and enjoy the defecatory goodness.
Thanks, Dan Szumybowhatever, I appreciated it.
That’ll be $65.
2006 ZiPS Projection - The Neifinator
————————————————————————————-
AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG
————————————————————————————-
462 46 125 25 1 6 47 19 43 5 .259 .288 .353
Dan Szymborski
Posted: November 08, 2005 at 06:21 PM |
84 comment(s)
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1. greenback--When I was 4, I also thought people on the television could see me.
RDF.
That would get Furcal expelled too. Cubs fans, would that be worth it?
We'd lose Carlos too, so it's probably about even.
I know there've been some bad ones before, but a talentless aging shortstop with a coddling, enabling manager has a real shot at the gold. I'm cheering for him to make it. I hope those ZIPS projections are wildly optimistic. If he hits .203/.215/.250, I'll cheer every last double play, ill-timed strikeout, and first pitch popup. It was like rooting for Jose Hernandez to break the strikeout record, or Anthony Young never to win a game. If you're going to suck, go for the gusto.
I do feel bad for Derrek Lee though. 41 HRs and 72 RBIs will be kind of an embarassing stat line at the end of the year. Not a team player like NeifVP.
carrying on the fine tradition of Ozzie Guillen
#### you #######
Batting leadoff.
Considering that Guillen's career OBP was .287 in 6,686 at battles and Dan has the Neifinator at .288...pretty, pretty close.
Yes, that was speculated on happenning the papers before the Cubs even picked up Walker's option.
They could get a decent return on Walker, and they'll free up at bats for Macias at 2B...
Neifi sits for no one.
Guillen at least had the excuse of playing a lot of his career in a lower-offense era, in a pitchers' park.
Ozzie was also much better defensively than Neifi, at least before his ACL injury slowed him down.
Let's agree that aging, injury-slowed Ozzie = Neifi.
He's as good as Perez is right now, and has significantly higher upside. He hit well in AA in '04, extremely well in AAA in '05, and has been young for his leagues. Unless, of course, you were just trolling.
Neifi sits for no one.
That's when Neifi gets a spot start at SS, so Furcal can rest up...
-- He's as good as Perez is right now . . .
I'll agree that Cedeno has the upside, but I don't think we know enough yet to say that he's better than Neifi now. More importantly, though, with Neifi on the team, we won't be able to find out either.
Maybe we can hope that Neifi will manage the Cubs to a World Series in 2014.
In about 10 years, manager Neifi Perez, third base coach Jose Macias, first base coach Corey Patterson and bench coach Sammy Sosa will sweep the Rangers in the World Series.
for trying to change the cubbies from within
i'm coming now, i'm coming to reward them
first we take chicago, then we get our rings
A .403 OBP in AAA at 22, with good defense? I'll take my chances.
Defecatory Goodness. That would be a good name for a band. Or this team.
In only 265 PAs. This followed 408 PAs in AA ball where his OBP was .328, 401 PAs in A+ ball where his OBP was .257.
Still, I'd like to take a chance -- that's the point.
here and i was afraid my stros would be fighting with the pirates for the cellar.
i just LLUUUUVVVVVVV the way neifi looks in a cubbie uni!!!
you can't POSSIBLY expect dusty to play a ROOKIE now can you? i mean, with Proven Veterans out there?
tell yall what - ronnie belliard will just be rotting down there in AAA so we'll take him offn your hands for a much needed grade A reliever - zeke astacio. and we'll throw in Proven Veteran Brandon Duckworthless too.
- wicked chuckle
guess this means no furcal and no nomar
- evil chuckle
It'll probably be the name of my Hacking Mass team, unless I decide to keep Neifi Perez's monster 2 weeks.
I think every at this site must feel this way. I'm out of here for the day.
The Oracle failed to mention it, but the money part of the deal is $5 million over 2 years. That's richer than what he got from the Giants back in the day.
No wonder Royce Clayton thinks he should be getting multi-year offers...
It's funny enough that the Cubs have idiot Dusty in the dugout, it's becoming increasingly apparent that Hendry is equally to blame for the Cubs' continued suckitude.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-cubs-perez&prov=ap&type=lgns
Yet you're still an O's fan?
Wow...it took an event of this magnitude to spring you from usenet?
The Cubs should be so lucky. Belliard just had his option picked up by the Tribe.
Well, let's get some context on their career numbers. Guillen had a .287 OBP in the context of .333, and Neifi has a .301 in the context of .364.
Slight advantage for Ozzie, and Neifi ain't getting better.
Yes it is. Prepare for a serious broom job in 12 months. MacPhail on down will be cleaned out after the 78 win season.
Epstein in '07!
From that AP article I was impressed that his base was $1M for 2005, but that he more than doubled it simply by making all those plate appearances. $1.5M for showing up, $1M for bonuses.... the Cubs must be rich! Rich!!
"I played bad in Kansas City because my heart wasn't there," Perez said. "It was tough to play in San Francisco. If you go 1-for-4, you have to go 2-for-2 every day to play in San Francisco. When I was struggling [with the Cubs], I was hitting the ball hard and [Baker] didn't sit me. I think I was 1-for-27 and [Baker] gave me the confidence to get out of that slump."
I can't even speak right now.
tell yall what - ronnie belliard will just be rotting down there in AAA
The Cubs should be so lucky. Belliard just had his option picked up by the Tribe.
- oh yeah
giggle
oops
i meant cedeno
OK. So what explains your continued suckitude in Chicago, Neifi? Or did you just need to be united with Capt. 8-ball to reach your glorious potential of a .300 OBP?
You mean like Neifi's 2002 season? A 40 OPS+ in 585 PAs? That'll be tough to top, but I'll be rooting for him.
Nah, just a slow day perhaps. But Usenet's a far better forum for actually having a discussion IMO.
That "Rob Petrie" is quite the intellectual, eh?
Yes, but he's no Fred Deaton.
Of course:
a) I'm not sure Neifi was ever as good a glove man as Belanger.
b) Weaver used Belanger precisely because he knew how to generate offense out of the other 7 spots in the lineup.
c) This assumes Neifi plays shortstop, which it looks like he might not do.
I'm not arguing that this is a good signing. It's a bad one for short money, it's mysteriously bad for millions. But you can still win with a bad player or two.
The offseason has just begun.
b) Weaver used Belanger precisely because he knew how to generate offense out of the other 7 spots in the lineup.
c) This assumes Neifi plays shortstop, which it looks like he might not do.
Also, the Orioles in those years had 10 different 20 win seasons from their starting pitchers (with 8 more in double figures in wins), along with a Hall of Famer in the outfield. If the Cubs had either one of these things going for them they might be better prepared to endure Neifi's lack of offense. I think it safe to say that Dusty Baker is no Earl Weaver when it comes to getting the most out of a roster as well.
check out Bobby Richardson from 60-64
(plus he was their leadoff man)
oh, and Hal Lanier in 68 was worse than Ordonez in 97
But that really had a lot to do with the team put around them. They had one superstar pitcher (Palmer) and the rest of the starters were average to a little above average guys benefitting from the rare combo of a team with great offense and great defense at the same time. Don't get me wrong, Cuellar and McNally were good pitchers and all, but I don't see how they were superior to guys like Zambrano, Prior and a (healthy) Kerry Wood.
I mean theoretically if the Cubs could fix their outfield (Matt Murton plus ? and ?) and some of their young pitchers improve their command, and the big three stay healthy...
I mean, yeah, things have to go right, but who knows...
(plus he was their leadoff man)
I can't stand Bobby Richardson as much as the next kid stuck behind a Yankee Stadium rusted girder...but
I've always hated this line of thinking. A bad move is a bad move, regardless of whether the rest of the team is strong enough to win in spite of it....
I agree, but the point I'm making is that sometimes people overreact to a bad move being made and then completely lose sight of realistic expectations for the whole club ought to be, simply because management did something poorly.
Well I think that what drives some Chicken Little commenting is the idea that the same decision-making process that decided that Perez was a neifty idea (sorry, couldn't resist) will lead to equally bad personnel decisions in the coming months. While you're right that the Cubs can survive 600+ PA from Perez, that's pretty much only if they get above-average offense from the other seven spots. And most (justifiably) are far from convinced that Baker can do that.
Sure, Voros, but much of what you're reading here isn't overreaction to one bad move. We've been through all this before, when we saw the Cubs make a similar decision with Neifi and with Todd Hollandsworth just last year. At the time, we all harbored hope that guys like Cedeno and (at that time) Dubois would get realistic chances . . . mainly because we bought into Hendry's insistence that this would be the case. When Nomar got hurt last April, we believed Hendry and Dusty when they said that Neifi would just be a stopgap while they looked for a longer-term replacement. In short, we recognized that guys like Neifi had limitations, but understood that they also had value if used properly, and trusted the Cubs understood this as well.
Coming off of what we saw last season, this signing makes it quite clear that the Cubs do not understand this. Based on what we saw last year, I think it's entirely realistic to expect that if Neifi came back even for one year, that he will take the field over Ronny Cedeno. To the extent that Hendry says that Cedeno will get significant time (or even a legitimate chance), he's either lying or an idiot.
I suppose there is a worthwhile scenario that could happen -- for the Cubs to sign Furcal, keep Walker, and trade Cedeno (for outfield or pitching help). Under those circumstances, keeping Neifi as a true utility infielder would bring value to the team. Still, without knowing who they might get in a Cedeno deal, the thought of pissing away another prospect in favor of an aging, inadequate veteran isn't all that appealing, particularly when the Cubs don't have a viable SS prospect in the system if Furcal were to get hurt and the Cubs were forced yet again to playing Neifi on a regular basis.
Fool us once, shame on the Cubs. Most of us are unwilling to be fooled twice in two years (and this overlooks our various histories prior to 2004).
Those two plus defenders up the middle will help out the Cubs groundball pitchers. That should help out Maddux and Zambrano.
Every silver lining's got a..... touch of grey
.259 /.288/ .353
The only time I remember Neifi being lifted was in game #162.
He and Macias being switch-hitters, you can never keep them out of the game and, worse, you can never get them out of the game once they're in.
Furcal
Murton
Lee
Ramirez
Giles
Walker
Barrett
Patterson
With this bench:
Cedeno
Neifi
Blanco
Sing
Greenberg
They could do this for under $100 million. They won't, of course, meaning that we may well see:
Pierre
Neifi
Lee
Ramirez
Jacque Jones
Walker
Barrett
Murton
Bench:
Cedeno
Hairston
Blanco
Calvin Murray
Scott McClain
At which point I write off the season. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but unless it includes Furcal and a legitimate offensive threat in the outfield (and I'm not holding my breath on the latter), the Neifi signing will have gone a long way from keeping this team out of the playoffs yet again.
It will be a significant negative, but I don't think it's necessarily a death knell. The second lineup you listed is probably league average, and with a little luck maybe better. If the pitching comes through, you have something like this year's White Sox/Angels/Astros -- great pitching and mediocre hitting. Plus, it's probably not a bad defensive team.
I agree that Neifi getting the starting job at either SS or 2B would not conclusively kill the Cubs' playoff chances. But I wouldn't expect the second lineup I listed to be any better offensively or defensively than what we fielded in 2005; in fact, I'd expect it to be slightly worse. Off the cuff:
2005 --> 2006
-------------
Patterson --> Pierre: moderate off. +, minor def. -, minor + overall
Neifi --> Neifi: minor off. and def. -. moderate - overall
Lee --> Lee: moderate off. -, def. flat, moderate - overall
Ramirez --> Ramirez: off. flat, def. flat, flat overall
Burnitz --> Jones: off. flat, def. flat, flat overall
Walker --> Walker: off. flat, def. flat, flat overall
Barrett --> Barrett: off. flat, def. flat, flat overall
Disaster --> Murton: moderate + off., minor + def., major + overall
That looks like flat to slightly worse overall on an offense that was slightly below average (9th of 16 in runs) in 2005. So yes, it could be league average, but it also could be significantly worse.
I think people (not saying you, Andere) might really be underestimating the degree to which Lee propped up the offense last year. He could have an excellent season in 2006 and still cost the team 3-5 wins off its 2005 total. That's likely more than they'll be able to make up at any single position -- even at SS or LF. Also, Barrett and/or Ramirez are more likely to lose ground than gain it.
To be sure, Lieberman is a moron, but my comment was directed to the forum itself rather than the number of morons who might inhabit it at any given time. I like the quoting, the interactivity and the "tree" style of Usenet MUCH better than the blog sites.
Besides, Dan, you're everywhere.
Not exactly. It could be that Hendry made no guarantees or promises about starting, but Neifi was so happy to stay and to get 2-years that he accepted the offer anyway.
Of course, with Dusty managing, he most likely *will* get more than a fair shot at starting, but that's another issue.
No, but it was a fun read. Thanks.
usually that's reserved for the playoffs.
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