Boring offseason

[AlexV]

So, not even rumors about the Cubs?

Boring, boring, boring.

[vegascub]

Agreed. It sucks so far.

[kbwsb]

We signed Joey Gathright! He's exactly like Felix Pie, only not as fast, and nowhere near as good of a fielder. Plus he's much older than Felix. His OPS+ last year, in over 100 games, was 59. That is not a misprint. (think Neifi with considerably less power-one HR in 5 years- and a much worse glove).
So, now we have both Felix Pie AND a guy who plays the same position, with the exact same skill set, only with much less skill!
Fuck yeah, Jim!

[Clapp]

It should be boring, this team shouldn't be messed with. You add a bat, which is going to happen, that's the offseason. We already added a solid bullpen arm, and a guy with great speed, something we're lacking. We have fewer holes than pretty much any team in the league. It's just a matter of our own players coming through in October, and hopefully this bat we sign(which all signs point to being Bradley).

[Clapp]

<!--quoteo(post=5919:date=Dec 19 2008, 12:22 AM:name=KBwsb)-->QUOTE (KBwsb @ Dec 19 2008, 12:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->We signed Joey Gathright! He's exactly like Felix Pie, only not as fast, and nowhere near as good of a fielder. Plus he's much older than Felix. His OPS+ last year, in over 100 games, was 59. That is not a misprint. (think Neifi with considerably less power-one HR in 5 years- and a much worse glove).
So, now we have both Felix Pie AND a guy who plays the same position, with the exact same skill set, only with much less skill!
Fuck yeah, Jim!<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
We'll be trading Felix, and the only value Felix serves for our team at this point is speed, something Gathright can do. So we keep that speed, and we add a player or two to our system by trading Pie. Pie can be used as a part to a Brian Roberts trade for example too. It's smart general managing.

[rok]

The other difference is that Pie isn't willing or able to be a decent bench option, while Gathright is and has been. Plus Pie is out of options, so you either use him or lose him. I'm not going to complain about a 25th man. And aside from the Yanks, Mets and maybe the Phils, it's been a boring offseason for the entire league. Times are tough, and it would be stupid to try to front-run the market right now. Let's try to be a little patient. It sucks, but I don't think anyone expected us to be wheeling and dealing much anyway.

[Clapp]

<!--quoteo(post=5926:date=Dec 19 2008, 12:43 AM:name=rok)-->QUOTE (rok @ Dec 19 2008, 12:43 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->The other difference is that Pie isn't willing or able to be a decent bench option, while Gathright is and has been. Plus Pie is out of options, so you either use him or lose him. I'm not going to complain about a 25th man. And aside from the Yanks, Mets and maybe the Phils, it's been a boring offseason for the entire league. Times are tough, and it would be stupid to try to front-run the market right now. Let's try to be a little patient. It sucks, but I don't think anyone expected us to be wheeling and dealing much anyway.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Exactly. We reportedly would've been at 138 million with the Marquis/Peavy swap. In that, we pay half of Marquis' 9.875, and take on Peavy's 8 million, right? So without that happening, we're at 135 million roughly, add in Gathright's contract and we're at 136. We can only go into the mid 140's. Bobby Abreu for example wants 16 million, we can't afford anything close to that. Who knows what Bradley's asking for? It's very possible he's pushing our limits.

Hendry's probably waiting for the right trade to work out so he has more money to work with. I mean shit, he tried trading Marquis to the Mets twice already and they wouldn't take him for Aaron Heilman or Scott Schoenweis. The trade's not there right now, but it will be soon. Somebody will strike out in the free agent pitching options and suddenly be interested in him, especially if we're willing to pay half his contract. If not, we better hope somebody like Bradley will sign for 10 million or less per, although you know Hendry will backload it where they're only getting 7 or 8 million this year. The point is he's gotta be creative and can't just go out making offers to all these guys out there like the Red Sox for example can. Be patient.

[funkster]

I think for the most part this offseason has been boring for MLB period not just the Cubs.

[Destined]

<!--quoteo(post=5931:date=Dec 18 2008, 10:53 PM:name=funkster)-->QUOTE (funkster @ Dec 18 2008, 10:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I think for the most part this offseason has been boring for MLB period not just the Cubs.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
True. The Holiday trade went unnoticed.

[CFOrfan]

we're winning the series this year. screw this threead.

[Coldneck]

<!--quoteo(post=5919:date=Dec 19 2008, 12:22 AM:name=KBwsb)-->QUOTE (KBwsb @ Dec 19 2008, 12:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->We signed Joey Gathright! He's exactly like Felix Pie, only not as fast, and nowhere near as good of a fielder. Plus he's much older than Felix. His OPS+ last year, in over 100 games, was 59. That is not a misprint. (think Neifi with considerably less power-one HR in 5 years- and a much worse glove).
So, now we have both Felix Pie AND a guy who plays the same position, with the exact same skill set, only with much less skill!
Fuck yeah, Jim!<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Gathright is the fastest player in the league. And speed don't slump, dude.

[Andy]

<!--quoteo(post=5921:date=Dec 18 2008, 11:25 PM:name=Clapp)-->QUOTE (Clapp @ Dec 18 2008, 11:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->It should be boring, this team shouldn't be messed with. You add a bat, which is going to happen, that's the offseason. We already added a solid bullpen arm, and a guy with great speed, something we're lacking. We have fewer holes than pretty much any team in the league. It's just a matter of our own players coming through in October, and hopefully this bat we sign(which all signs point to being Bradley).<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Amen. Add to that the fact we've been spoiled with the huge trades and signings Hendry has made the past few years. Losing 3 games in a row seems to make everyone forget that the Cubs won 97 games last year, had the best offense in the NL and one of the better pitching staffs. Considering the only major loss from that team is Kerry Wood (who was replaced with a lesser, but competent player), I don't know what we're expecting.

Realistically, going into the off season, the only real hole to fill was/is right field. If they can do that, with a left handed bat (kind of a mini-hole), they're golden. It's funny how quickly we get down on a very, very good team.

[HTC]

Rosenthal with a Cubs blurb this morning.

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->The Rockies are debating whether to sign free-agent right-hander Tim Redding or trade for Cubs righty Jason Marquis. Redding, 30, tied for the team lead with 182 innings last season, though he posted a 4.95 ERA. The Nationals non-tendered him because they did not want to pay him $3 million to $3.5 million in arbitration. Marquis, also 30, is owed $9.875 million next season, but the Cubs are willing to assume a significant portion of his salary ...<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Link.

[rok]

I still can't understand why there isn't a single team out there willing to pick up one year of Marquis for $6-7 mil (If we pick up a couple mil). I know he isn't great, but surely some team must be desperate enough. I mean, Carlos Silva got around $10 per, so did Lohse, Suppan, etc. WTF?

[CCwinwssoon]

I think the problem with trading marquis right now is that the market has been so slow that teams still would rather go the free agent bargain route instead of going to the Cubs to trade a player and haggle over money the Cubs will throw into a deal. I still think Marquis will be traded sometime in January.