The Cubs are doing it wrong
More rumors coming at you, followed by my extremely non-bias, fair, reasonable opinions. Well, at least the rumors portion of that sentence is true.
First up, Julio Lugo is officially off the market as the Red Sox have signed him to a fairly decent deal. Is it such a stretch that Lugo is making about $4 million a year less than Rafael Furcal, whom the Cubs refused to pay last year? Just think if we had signed him, and we hadn't lost DLee, and the only problem with the Cubs was their terrible, terrible pitching staff. I actually still don't think we're that good. But anyways...
Rumor has it the Cubs are extremely close to signing Ted Lilly, and basically they're willing to do whatever it takes to get the deal done. Some sources are saying that the deal is actually done, while others say they're still hammering out the details, and yet others say Lilly's agent is waiting to talk to the Yankees. I'm not sure what the case is, but I'm probably not going to like it that much. Lilly is basically going to get a deal near what Lugo got from the Red Sox I think, which kind of makes me sad. His ERA isn't anything extremely great, he's a fly ball pitcher, and he's had a tendency to be hurt. And he's also clashed with his manager. I'll wait to make a final judgment until I see an extended period of his pitching, but I'm not too optimistic. Plus, I believe one of the writers at Goatriders compares him to Shawn Estes. That can't be good for anybody.
In other pitching news, the Cubs appear to be the team that Gil Meche wants to pitch for. I think this would be good enough, since he's stil only 28, and I've heard good things about him when he's healthy. Again, I hope that if we do sign him, it doesn't bite us in the ass. We're also reported to still be involved in talks with Jason Schmidt.
If there's one thing I can take solace in with the pitching news is that I've heard absolutely nothing about Jason Marquis. It would be a terrible idea to bring him in, and I'd much rather work a trade for a pitcher than sign him to be in the rotation. I'm assuming we can get at least Meche or Schmidt, although getting both seems pretty unlikely.
My problem is that there are a few teams that are willing to give up pitching. Look at the White Sox. They've got one, possibly two starters they're willing to give up. I would love to have Freddy Garcia. Sure he can be kind of an enigma some time, but he eats innings and he's won on a huge level. Plus, with the Sox looking to get rid of him, they would probably counter with a decent deal, and we've already completed one cross-town deal (hopefully a good one) so why not at least explore it.
Anyways, moving on, it appears that Jacque Jones now wants out of Chicago. Rumors involving sending him to Colorado appear to be false, as the Rockies apparently don't have any interest in him. That's gotta hurt. There are however, teams with interest. I've heard rumors that the Giants may be shopping Noah Lowry, so if we could work a deal to send Jones out there, then we get back a young, slightly damaged but still promising pitcher, who will probably help in the rotation and be solid there for a while. Should that not work out, I think the Rangers are interested, although I'm not really sure what they have to offer. Brad Wilkerson? Is he still there? We've had interest before, and we get our center fielder then. Not sure.
Speaking of center fielders, Kenny Lofton apparently is nearing a final decision, and it appears that the Cubs and the Rangers (not in the order perhaps) are the final two teams it's come down to. Again, I think this is solid, and I discovered that Lofton was 32 of 37 in stolen bases last year. I like it.
Two more outfield rumors. First is that the Cubs are negotiating with Cliff Floyd to bring him in. Now it sounds like the Cubs would bring him in and platoon him with Murton. Of course, Murton doesn't need a platoon. Also, if you platoon, Floyd sees most of the action since he's the lefty and he'll see mostly right handed pitchers. And it's not like he's going to be a defensive replacement because he's no better than Murton, and he may be worse. I'm not saying I don't want Floyd, I'd rather just have him come off the bench, and I don't think he'd be happy with that role.
The final rumor I've heard is that the Cubs have interest in Ryan Church from the Nationals. He's youngish, and he had a fairly solid year last year, .276, .366 OBP, in only 71 games. He apparently fell out of favor there. If we had to get a fourth outfielder, I think I'd rather it be him than Floyd. Cheaper, on the right side of 30, and I assume he's at least mobile enough to be a defensive replacement, however I could be wrong.
So some of the rumors are good to hear, some are bad, but you can't really believe a whole lot until it actually gets done. I'm hoping that the Cubs come away from these meetings with at least one more starter and hopefully one less Jacque Jones, and then we should have the foundation of a solid team that is almost completely built. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how 2007 turns out.
First up, Julio Lugo is officially off the market as the Red Sox have signed him to a fairly decent deal. Is it such a stretch that Lugo is making about $4 million a year less than Rafael Furcal, whom the Cubs refused to pay last year? Just think if we had signed him, and we hadn't lost DLee, and the only problem with the Cubs was their terrible, terrible pitching staff. I actually still don't think we're that good. But anyways...
Rumor has it the Cubs are extremely close to signing Ted Lilly, and basically they're willing to do whatever it takes to get the deal done. Some sources are saying that the deal is actually done, while others say they're still hammering out the details, and yet others say Lilly's agent is waiting to talk to the Yankees. I'm not sure what the case is, but I'm probably not going to like it that much. Lilly is basically going to get a deal near what Lugo got from the Red Sox I think, which kind of makes me sad. His ERA isn't anything extremely great, he's a fly ball pitcher, and he's had a tendency to be hurt. And he's also clashed with his manager. I'll wait to make a final judgment until I see an extended period of his pitching, but I'm not too optimistic. Plus, I believe one of the writers at Goatriders compares him to Shawn Estes. That can't be good for anybody.
In other pitching news, the Cubs appear to be the team that Gil Meche wants to pitch for. I think this would be good enough, since he's stil only 28, and I've heard good things about him when he's healthy. Again, I hope that if we do sign him, it doesn't bite us in the ass. We're also reported to still be involved in talks with Jason Schmidt.
If there's one thing I can take solace in with the pitching news is that I've heard absolutely nothing about Jason Marquis. It would be a terrible idea to bring him in, and I'd much rather work a trade for a pitcher than sign him to be in the rotation. I'm assuming we can get at least Meche or Schmidt, although getting both seems pretty unlikely.
My problem is that there are a few teams that are willing to give up pitching. Look at the White Sox. They've got one, possibly two starters they're willing to give up. I would love to have Freddy Garcia. Sure he can be kind of an enigma some time, but he eats innings and he's won on a huge level. Plus, with the Sox looking to get rid of him, they would probably counter with a decent deal, and we've already completed one cross-town deal (hopefully a good one) so why not at least explore it.
Anyways, moving on, it appears that Jacque Jones now wants out of Chicago. Rumors involving sending him to Colorado appear to be false, as the Rockies apparently don't have any interest in him. That's gotta hurt. There are however, teams with interest. I've heard rumors that the Giants may be shopping Noah Lowry, so if we could work a deal to send Jones out there, then we get back a young, slightly damaged but still promising pitcher, who will probably help in the rotation and be solid there for a while. Should that not work out, I think the Rangers are interested, although I'm not really sure what they have to offer. Brad Wilkerson? Is he still there? We've had interest before, and we get our center fielder then. Not sure.
Speaking of center fielders, Kenny Lofton apparently is nearing a final decision, and it appears that the Cubs and the Rangers (not in the order perhaps) are the final two teams it's come down to. Again, I think this is solid, and I discovered that Lofton was 32 of 37 in stolen bases last year. I like it.
Two more outfield rumors. First is that the Cubs are negotiating with Cliff Floyd to bring him in. Now it sounds like the Cubs would bring him in and platoon him with Murton. Of course, Murton doesn't need a platoon. Also, if you platoon, Floyd sees most of the action since he's the lefty and he'll see mostly right handed pitchers. And it's not like he's going to be a defensive replacement because he's no better than Murton, and he may be worse. I'm not saying I don't want Floyd, I'd rather just have him come off the bench, and I don't think he'd be happy with that role.
The final rumor I've heard is that the Cubs have interest in Ryan Church from the Nationals. He's youngish, and he had a fairly solid year last year, .276, .366 OBP, in only 71 games. He apparently fell out of favor there. If we had to get a fourth outfielder, I think I'd rather it be him than Floyd. Cheaper, on the right side of 30, and I assume he's at least mobile enough to be a defensive replacement, however I could be wrong.
So some of the rumors are good to hear, some are bad, but you can't really believe a whole lot until it actually gets done. I'm hoping that the Cubs come away from these meetings with at least one more starter and hopefully one less Jacque Jones, and then we should have the foundation of a solid team that is almost completely built. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how 2007 turns out.
posted by Jtrouble at 7:40 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home