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This isn't intended to be a "should we have signed Alf?" or a "there was no way to be rid of Alf" thread.
Just think about his contract and speculate...if he weren't a budget item, would we have been more competitive this season? Think about how the Cards helped themselves personnel-wise this season and how we were unable to.
If we didn't have that contract, would things be very different?
Obviously I'm thinking maybe so or I wouldn't open such a thread.
Was this the inevitable outcome of Hendry's deal...we just expected it to happen further into his contract?
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It depends on who we would have replaced him with. I'm not convinced that we wouldn't have signed some other bum to be our regular LF instead in '07 and we'd be complaining about him right now instead.
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I can't fault Hendry for making a run at Soriano coming off Jason Dubois/Todd Hollandsworth and Matt Murton in LF.
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ah, butcher beat me to it. i'm not going to lie and say i never wanted soriano. i did. i was ecstatic when we signed him. but lee was my guy. lee was the one i really wanted and for half the money.
Wang.
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<!--quoteo(post=62690:date=Sep 11 2009, 02:48 PM:name=Butcher)-->QUOTE (Butcher @ Sep 11 2009, 02:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--> What could have been...<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I dont think we ever really stood a chance at Carlos Lee (I would have preferred him too). Wasn't Houston his offseason home?
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<!--quoteo(post=62690:date=Sep 11 2009, 02:48 PM:name=Butcher)-->QUOTE (Butcher @ Sep 11 2009, 02:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--> What could have been...<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, if we weren't so hung up on finding a speedy leadoff hitter, Lee would have been ideal. I also find it hilarious that at the time, people were predicting that Lee would have been a worse fielder than Soriano a few years into his contract.
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Why the hell don't the Cubs <i>let</i> him?!!
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Soriano Wants to get Surgery
ESPNChicago.com
Chicago Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano said he wants to get an operation on his left knee "sooner than later," which likely means he's done for the season.
"I'm very disappointed, but I have to do what I have to do," Soriano told ESPN 1000's Bryan Dolgin on Friday. "I'm battling. Now I think I want to get an operation sooner than later ... to get ready for next year. I have to play with one leg now."
Soriano has played in just two games since Aug. 29.
"He's going to see his own doctor, I think to get a second opinion, and we'll probably know something the next few days," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "I would categorize it as doubtful that he'll return.
"I would think if he has a procedure before the end of the year, it would be to clean it out."
Soriano struggled this season, batting just .241 with 20 home runs and 55 RBIs in 117 games.
The Cubs started Friday 11.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central division.
"[The injury is] not of a serious nature," Piniella said. "So he should be ready to go for sure by spring training.
"But possibly, he might play some here the rest of the year. But I would say that's doubtful."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
There's nothing better than to realize that the good things about youth don't end with youth itself. It's a matter of realizing that life can be renewed every day you get out of bed without baggage. It's tough to get there, but it's better than the dark thoughts. -Lance
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<!--quoteo(post=62694:date=Sep 11 2009, 02:52 PM:name=twitterwoods)-->QUOTE (twitterwoods @ Sep 11 2009, 02:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=62690:date=Sep 11 2009, 02:48 PM:name=Butcher)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Butcher @ Sep 11 2009, 02:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--> What could have been...<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I dont think we ever really stood a chance at Carlos Lee (I would have preferred him too). Wasn't Houston his offseason home?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Didn't he sign for 4/48? What if we threw 5/60 his way? I think he'd be a Cub right now. Hendry likes his 5-tool guys, though...
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The Cubs should have spent the money in 2005, when a much better player, Carlos Beltran, was available. I know he has probably been injured about as much as Soriano, but if I am going to imagine him a Cub, I am going to imagine him healthy.
If the Cubs would have kept Alou (and especially if Nomar stayed healthy), that is quite a lineup.
I like you guys a lot.
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<!--quoteo(post=62695:date=Sep 11 2009, 02:53 PM:name=rok)-->QUOTE (rok @ Sep 11 2009, 02:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=62690:date=Sep 11 2009, 02:48 PM:name=Butcher)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Butcher @ Sep 11 2009, 02:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--> What could have been...<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, if we weren't so hung up on finding a speedy leadoff hitter, Lee would have been ideal. I also find it hilarious that at the time, people were predicting that Lee would have been a worse fielder than Soriano a few years into his contract.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
A lot of people were blinded by his awesome outfield assist numbers. Even after his first year in Chicago there were people saying he should have won a Gold Glove.
The thing you need to remember is that all Cardinals fans and all White Sox fans are very bad people. It's a fact that has been scientifically proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Being a Cubs fan is the only path to rightousness and piousness. Cardinal and White Sox fans exist to be the dark, diabolical forces that oppose us. They are the yin to our yang, the Joker to our Batman, the demon to our angel, the insurgence to our freedom, the oil to our water, the club to our baby seal. Their happiness occurs only in direct conflict with everything that is pure and good in this world.
-Dirk
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I'll try this again.
This thread isn't meant to be about Soriano at <i>all</i>. It's about a parallel universe where Soriano or at least his Cubs contract doesn't even exist. It's last winter and we don't have any gazillion dollar/100-year contract for any LF. From that point forward, how much difference would this season have been without that budget item?
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<!--quoteo(post=62702:date=Sep 11 2009, 03:01 PM:name=jstraw)-->QUOTE (jstraw @ Sep 11 2009, 03:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I'll try this again.
This thread isn't meant to be about Soriano at <i>all</i>. It's about a parallel universe where Soriano or at least his Cubs contract doesn't even exist. It's last winter and we don't have any gazillion dollar/100-year contract for any LF. From that point forward, how much difference would this season have been without that budget item?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think I'm missing a piece of the puzzle. Who is our LFer? Or do we have to pick up a LFer in the 2008 offseason? Or is it Jake Fox?
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That's the thing. We were going to spend money on SOME other LF in the '07 offseason. If not Alf, then somebody else, or would have upgraded another postion instead.
If you're asking what we could have done with more payroll flexibility and no LF, then it's hard to say. We probably would have signed some other underperforming corner OF and ended up hating him too.
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<!--quoteo(post=62698:date=Sep 11 2009, 02:58 PM:name=Butcher)-->QUOTE (Butcher @ Sep 11 2009, 02:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=62694:date=Sep 11 2009, 02:52 PM:name=twitterwoods)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (twitterwoods @ Sep 11 2009, 02:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=62690:date=Sep 11 2009, 02:48 PM:name=Butcher)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Butcher @ Sep 11 2009, 02:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--> What could have been...<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I dont think we ever really stood a chance at Carlos Lee (I would have preferred him too). Wasn't Houston his offseason home?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Didn't he sign for 4/48? What if we threw 5/60 his way? I think he'd be a Cub right now. Hendry likes his 5-tool guys, though...
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
6/100, 5/60 would have been laughed at.
Edit: So he is getting essentially the same $/year that Soriano is.
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