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Transaction Oracle — A Timely Look at Transactions as They Happen Wednesday, December 21, 2005Cubs - Signed JonesChicago Cubs - Signed OF Jacque Jones to a 3-year contract worth $16 million. Cub fans are rightly worried about the future of their team. With the new ads, BTF finally had the revenue to buy what we needed - a time machine. So, here’s a sneak peek as to what Cubs fans face, come April.
Dan Szymborski
Posted: December 21, 2005 at 03:37 AM | 86 comment(s)
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1. SouthSideRyan Posted: December 21, 2005 at 03:44 AM (#1787568)By the way who are the cubs playing? Got to love thier Pink uni's whoever they are.
Best. Game. Ever.
I don't even want to begin to think about how much time I spent on that game. Thanks for the laughs, Dan.
Is murton still likely to get playing time?
And could the Cubs be trying to ape the White Sox in getting two "CFers"?
The code to get the team of all superstars is seated at the right hand of Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A-Start in my personal Mount Olympia of video game cheats.
This beats "Toast" and "Letter to Chuck Lamar" easily.
Alex Rodriguez is alright, I guess.
Can anyone hook me up with where to find the Chuck LaMar letter? It's Christmas...
Because they hates the Yellow man.
J/k. I know I nkow, cease and desist... c'mon it's a video game
"Josh Phelps > Rubson Giamierra"
36-24-36
The TV networks are gonna love this, the games won't even run over into CSI.
I have a strong feeling that Hendry --
(a) decided he didn't want to give up any farm talent in a trade for an OF (either because he didn't want to deal any farm talent or because there wasn't anyone worth giving them up for);
(b) looked at the FAs and saw Jones as the *only* choice (despite Sanders and White being on the board);
(c) knew that the Royals were offering Jones 3 years; and therefore
(d) gave Jones a 3 year deal of his own.
IOW, I strongly suspect that Hendry didn't *want* to sign Jones for 3 years, but rather felt forced to because he didn't think he had any other alternatives.
That's a hell of a way to run a ballclub and the vision I want to see in a leader.
So Hendry is just changing names to fool the public into thinking that he has noticeably upgraded the team. His real plan to win is just to hope that Prior, Wood, and Zambrano stay healthy and play up to their potential.
dJf - I think you're spot on a through d, and there may have been other teams bidding (Cards? Dodgers?). I think we all would have liked to see a more creative solution to RF, such as Church, Wilkerson or Michaels, but that isn't how this organization thinks. Given that Giles really wasn't for sale this winter and that they weren't going to experiment with a lesser known or unconventionally productive player, this is about all Hendry could do. It's better than paying Burnitz 7 mil for the same production, I guess.
For me, if they let Cedeno and Murton play, it will be enough to mitigate some of the disappointment of their upcoming fourth place season. That, and the prospect of Hendry and Baker losing their jobs over it.
If this is true, it merely demonstrates what a failure the last couple of years have been. And who's to blame for that?
Actually, Jones isn't a bad player with a platoon partner. But what are the chances of that happening?
Poor - but as much because of Dusty's inadequacies as the fact that I don't see anyone in-house or readily available to take the other half (Mabry? But then, who will screw Murton out of at-bats?)
If DLee returns to pre-2005 levels, this offense has a chance to be.... not good. For nearly a decade, the Cubs offense was Sosa, Grace, a randomly sometimes valuable LF (H-Rod, White, Alou) -- and five guys named Willie Greene - and they routinely lost more than they won.
I'm not so sure this offense is much better than that -- with bunches more in the risk department. A-Ram - as much as I've been a staunch defender - has injury concerns. As wonderful as Lee's 05 campaign was, I'm not ready to accept a new level of performance from him.
Beyond that - Barrett may be the best offensive catcher in the NL, but that's more a factor of league suckitude behind the dish than Barrett being the best thing since sliced bread. I know everyone's booking on a Pierre 'comeback' - but like I and others have mentioned, Wrigley Field isn't the most condusive park for Pierre's style of offensive play. I like Murton - but if Lee's 2005 doesn't earn him the benefit of the doubt, then Murton's 150 major league at-bats and a monster year in AA certainly don't earn him any MORE slack than Lee. Neifi will be terrible. Whatever plays second will be lucky to be league average.
The Cubs will need at least 90 starts from Z-Prior-Wood -- and 90 Z-Prior-vintage Wood quality starts, at that -- to have a shot.
In retrospect - the bullpen money looks well-spent, considering the bucks thrown at Joe Table, BJ Ryan, and others.... though I still think the bullpen is a poor place to invest.
This beats "Toast" and "Letter to Chuck Lamar" easily.
Even that Tigers Baseball letter by Mike Ilitch, although I think that was some other website.
And they said it couldn't be done!
Neifi K'ed on 77 mph gas (from a pitcher who throws like a girl. Literally.). Fitting.
We'll see.... but in the interest of TO harmony, I will refrain from further claims of such...... until it inevitably starts happening sometime in late May, then, my friends, the trumpets shall signal the return of the Snark
And I'll be cowering in the corner from crow and the multiple seizures I'm having.
The answer is in post #7:
Actually it looks like Pierre lined out to the pitcher to me.
He did, and Lian jammed a finger making the out, so they brought in Amy. And Lee's hit was a line shot at the left fielder, who tipped it off her glove and had to chase it to the wall. The scoreboard operator was still waiting for the Hit versus Error ruling from the press box when the inning ended.
It all makes perfect sense.
Jones is a much better outfielder than Lawton, but other than that, yeah.
a) Overpay for a name veteran to start or take over when they give up on a young player after 4 minutes.
b) Talk in the media about how he comes from a "winning organization".
c) Ignore the fact that that "winning organization" got that way by letting players like this go to teams like the Cubs.
d) Set up a new player as scapegoat when things go bad by having "clubhouse leader" badmouth him anonymously to Paul Sullivan. This works particularly well when "clubhouse leader" is white (or Brian McRae) and new scapegoat is minority.
e) Be unable to trade scapegoat for anything worth a damn, forcing return to a).
***Poor - but as much because of Dusty's inadequacies as the fact that I don't see anyone in-house or readily available to take the other half
I think the greater reason is the fact that the Cubs don't shell out $5.5mm/yr for a guy they intend to platoon.
Eventually it might happen, but clearly it's not the plan right now.
Puke. I've got an email in my inbox that I haven't opened, with the subject line "Cubs complete outfield makeover with key signing."
I replied to mine with something that was insulting and fairly profane. I have no idea who if anyone would ever see the reply, but I encourage everyone to do the same.
So the bench becomes:
Cedeno
Hairston
Patterson
Mabry
Blanco
With:
CF Pierre
SS Neifi
1B Lee
3B Ramirez
RF Jones
2B Walker
LF Murton
C Barrett
Am I forgetting someone?
Or not. From the Sun-Times:
"The Cubs would seem to need a right-handed-hitting reserve outfielder and perhaps a more versatile infielder than Todd Walker, who is third on the depth chart at second base behind Neifi Perez and Jerry Hairston. "
No idea what the source is for that "third on the depth chart" comment, but Jesus.
That's what I'm wondering. However, the bench will definitely get some tinkering.
Assuming a starting core of Barrett-Lee-Perez-Cedeno-Ramirez-Murton-Pierre-Jones and twelve pitchers, that would leave a current bench of:
R: Blanco, Hairston
L: Patterson, Mabry, Walker
I don't think this is going to stand, and the obvious shortcoming here is a lack of right-handed power. I still think Patterson is going to go, but I also think Walker is going to be seen as expendable. I definitely see Walker as a useful piece of the puzzle, but I'm not sure Hendry will.
Oh. My. God.
Maybe the Indians are interested in Patterson--they could use an outfielder.
What do you mean it lacks a righthanded OF? Why, Jerry Hairston's name is right there.
I can understand the Cubs' desire to improve the IF defense given that you have a below average defender at 3b and a bit of an unknown at SS. However when the Neifinator is the answer you're asking the wrong question. As dJf said:
I held the box so tight on the Subway ride home, the box was creased.
Burned into my memory.
I don't imagine Patterson will still be around. If this is what we go to war with, I think the best line-up is:
Pierre CF
Walker 2B
Lee 1B
Ramirez 3B
Jones RF
Murton LF
Barrett C
Cedeno SS
"We are hackastic, and I am hackastick too"
considering Neyer thinks Damon is going to hit 280/330/440 next year for 13M, I'll take 250/320/440 from Jones for 5.3M (of course JJ isn't a CF). anything is better than Patterson in right.
Platooning is one of the few lineup things that Baker does fairly well. Not always smartly (Murton/whatshisname vs. Hollandsworth), but he's done it in the OF, 2B, 1B (Karros/Choi and with the Giants) before.
I'll agree I don't think they decided to pay Jones $5M to platoon him.
Just wait to see the explosion when Hairston gets a "playing time" start in LF against a leftie while Jones starts in RF.
Does it strike anyone else that Jacque Jones is just an older version of Corey Patterson? Same propensity for strikeouts, doesn't walk much, has some speed and some pop, bats lefty.
I've yet to see evidence of it with the Cubs, and wouldn't consider Karros/Choi a success story. The only uses of the platoon I've seen have been the first steps in nudging a player out.
Just wait to see the explosion when Hairston gets a "playing time" start in LF against a leftie while Jones starts in RF.
If the roster is such that that is the best option, it will deserve an explosive response, in Hendry's direction. Hairston has a career .720 OPS against LHP. Using him in RF against LHP is better than using Jones, but it's not what I would call a great idea. The Cubs need to add another right-handed hitting OF.
I don't know if I agree with this. Baker platoons, but not because he sees a strategic value for doing so, but because he is too insecure to give a kid a fulltime job. This was true with Choi, and was also true with Dubois and Murton as well.
As for 2B, even when he had Walker/Grudzielanek, I don't believe Baker used them in a strict platoon -- he tended to mix and match, trying to find a hot hand. Of course, it also seemed that one of the two was frequently hurt as well.
Kudos.
Thr drag bunt down the 1st base line is very difficult, because by pushing a side-to-side arrow, you almost always pop it up. Luckily, pitchers and 1b usually only have 3 or 4 "defense" attributes and don't run very fast, so sometimes you can get it down anyway.
Unfortunately, I didn't have Baseball Stars until I bought it around 1997. My buddies weren't into NES games by then.
I mean...it's essentially the same game, except you can't edit people's names...how lame is that?
Anybody else here liked Baseball Simulator 1.000?
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