Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
BTW, Jason Marquis won his MLB leading 12th game yesterday...
Look I'll give you that Hendry in the past has made some great moves but this year has been nothing short of a disaster for the key decisions he made. Plus he had chances to trade Pie and Rich Hill away while they still had some good value and we had to practically give them away this past summer.
One move I'd like to see him look at is trading for Pudge Rodriquez. He's only making $1.5 mil this year and with Soto's struggles would make a solid backup and a great mentor.
Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
travman23
BTW, Jason Marquis won his MLB leading 12th game yesterday...
Look I'll give you that Hendry in the past has made some great moves but this year has been nothing short of a disaster for the key decisions he made. Plus he had chances to trade Pie and Rich Hill away while they still had some good value and we had to practically give them away this past summer.
One move I'd like to see him look at is trading for Pudge Rodriquez. He's only making $1.5 mil this year and with Soto's struggles would make a solid backup and a great mentor.
It was said earlier and I will now say it again. I am glad you are not the GM.
Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Brentwood
It was said earlier and I will now say it again. I am glad you are not the GM.
You may not like my thinking but at least I am not content with the status quo like the Cubs organization seems to be lately. This hitting funk thing is not something they'll just come out of and all the sudden be the best team in the NL. They have legitimate issues because the players they have on the roster just aren't as good as their salaries that they are being paid. The reason why a lot of recent WS winners have won is because they weren't scared to go out and make some bold moves at the deadline even if it meant taking on some payroll and trading away a few young players. The Cubs have had some guys they could have traded (again Pie, and Hill and even at 1 point Prior too once) for guys that could have been impact players but instead they were scared these guys would be stars elsewhere and held onto them too long and wound up getting next to nothing for them. As much as I like Hoffpauier and Fox I wouldn't flinch at trading either right now, even Smardzija and Marshall for just a 1/2 season rental that could put this team over the top possibly too. The core of this team is in its prime and won't have many more chances before it begins to slow down and show it's age. Lee (33) Ramirez (31) Soriano (33) Lilly (33) Dempster (32) and even Fukudome (32) and Bradley (31) are all at that point where it's win soon or the window will be gone.
The moves Hendry made in the offseason didn't make this team any better, it actually got worse. The DeRosa move alone while he isn't a big star he added consistency, leadership, and versality this team sorely misses right now and the "cost savings" wasn't worth it. We waived the guy we traded Marquis for and are eating his $4 mil contract while DeRosa makes what, about $5.5 mil? Bradley for $10 mil for this year and the next 2?
Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
travman23
BTW, Jason Marquis won his MLB leading 12th game yesterday...
Look I'll give you that Hendry in the past has made some great moves but this year has been nothing short of a disaster for the key decisions he made. Plus he had chances to trade Pie and Rich Hill away while they still had some good value and we had to practically give them away this past summer.
One move I'd like to see him look at is trading for Pudge Rodriquez. He's only making $1.5 mil this year and with Soto's struggles would make a solid backup and a great mentor.
I wasn't aware that pitching has been the Cubs problem this year. Oh wait, it hasn't been, as the starting staff had the best ERA of any team in MLB in June.
Hill was a basketcase, and Pie wouldn't have gotten much more than a case of Levi Garrett with the way he had been playing with the big club. How are those 2 doing now? I don't know either.
Jason Marquis....:confused:
Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TarHeelHawk
I wasn't aware that pitching has been the Cubs problem this year. Oh wait, it hasn't been, as the starting staff had the best ERA of any team in MLB in June.
Hill was a basketcase, and Pie wouldn't have gotten much more than a case of Levi Garrett with the way he had been playing with the big club. How are those 2 doing now? I don't know either.
Jason Marquis....:confused:
+1
Hill was the Cub's #2-3 starter before he forgot how to throw strikes so I'm not sure why they would have traded him.
And I fully expect the offense to come around and for the Cubs to be one of the best teams in the national league come October. The pitching has already been good and the offense has guys with proven track records of success at just about every position now that Aramis is back. One of them might not turn it around and have an off year, but it isn't likely that Soto, Bradley, Soriano all have a bad year. Soriano looks to be heating up by the way.:smile:
Furthermore, if you look at last years WS teams, what big moves did either make at the trade deadline last year? Not only that, what are the Cubs supposed to trade for? It's not just about the money, but also the lack of prospects to trade and not really anyone to trade them for. These big deadline moves don't generally end up with that team winning the WS.
Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
I wonder if after the year if they would look at trying to get a ss and move the riot to 2b?
With Heilman,Gregg and Harden free agents after the year ( I think) I wonder if the cubs try and keep any of them. Gregg and Harden are Type A free agents so if the Cubs offer arbitration and the players decline the Cubs get 2 draft picks for each of them.
Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
The Cubs do not need pitching, heck I don't think they even need any hitters. What they do need is for their own players to start producing like they should. Soriano is starting to come around, we need the same from Fontenot and Bradley. Fox needs to be in the lineup at least 3 days per week. I would not be surprised if Hendry didn't make any moves at the deadline. This is team is more than good enough to win the division they way they are constructed right now.
Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
Starting pitching no but a reliever or 2 in the bullpen would sure help. Who do you really trust down there right now?
Heilman: inconsistent, 4.40 ERA and a terrible 1.65 WHIP Following up a 2.08 ERA June with a 6.48 ERA so far in July.
Marmol: been inconsistent this year as well and his walks are concerning. His WHIP is 1.51 and he has just 5 more K's than Walks this year (43 to 48) and he only had 41 total walks all last year.
Gregg: again, another inconsistent guy that you are biting your nails if he has a 1 run lead because he usually gives up a couple hits and walks before he gets the 3rd out.
Marshall: he's been adequate considering he keeps getting jerked around between a starter and reliever. still would like to see a true lefty specialist here though
Patton: if this was a non-playoff team, he'd be a nice story as a rule 5 pick but on a team trying to contend he's proven that he had no business being on the roster because all he gets is mop up duty anymore
Guzman: probably the 1 guy in the pen I can trust and has not had many bad outings all year but his history with injuries always concern you
Other than that you can toss in Samardzija, Hart, Ascanio, Waddell, Cotts, or whoever the flavor of the month call up they have but the pen really could use at least 1 proven shut down guy for the 7th or 8th right now because Guzman is the only one in the bunch that hasn't had control issues for most of the season.
I would not object to finding a good 2B or SS either with Theriot sliding over to 2B if it were a SS. The best place to improve would be in the OF but the problem is there are 3 impossible contracts out there that no one would take if you made a move there.
Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gocubs2118
This is team is more than good enough to win the division they way they are constructed right now.
The division possibly but it would be 1 and done again in the playoffs which I'm getting tired of...
Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
travman23
The division possibly but it would be 1 and done again in the playoffs which I'm getting tired of...
As opposed to what? Three years the Cubs lost 96 games.
Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
travman23
The division possibly but it would be 1 and done again in the playoffs which I'm getting tired of...
Do we have to go over this again? Once you get into the playoffs anything can happen. Its a crapshoot. The Cardinals won the world series in 2006 with a whopping 83 wins. If you have the starting pitching, which the Cubs have, you can win it all. The hottest team in the playoffs almost always wins it.
Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
I look at the Phillies and can't wait for this series as I think the Cubs match up very well with them much better than they match up with LA
Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TarHeelHawk
As opposed to what? Three years the Cubs lost 96 games.
Again, winning the division is nice but it's been 101 years since they won the world series. It's time to stop settling for lesser accomplishments and finally just get this supposed curse over with. They've had a team now for the past 3 seasons that have been just a few pieces away from possibly getting there but they just seem content to stay with the status quo which is just building a team that is good enough over a 162 game season to win the division but not good enough in a short series to beat a talented team. My point being so they swept the Nationals in a 4 game series over the weekend but in a 4 game series with a win or go home pressue against them against someone like say the Dodgers, Phillies, Red Sox, Yankees and Angels and I don't like their chances because they aren't built to beat teams like that in a short series with the season on the line. While the starting pitching has been great look at just how bad it was with something on the line last year. Zambrano has problems in big games, Dempster sucked, Harden has not been that great this year and Lilly didn't even get a chance to pitch last year. Wells is inexpirienced but possibly been the #2 guy in the rotation behind Lilly so far so who knows how he'd fair either.
All those other teams minus the Angels have guys that are proven aces that can win in the playoffs and most of them also have shut down guys in their bullpens that when they come in they don't give up leads often.
Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
hurdleisu24
I look at the Phillies and can't wait for this series as I think the Cubs match up very well with them much better than they match up with LA
Not having to face Hamels will certainly help. A series win would be nice, but if someone had told me that the Cubs would win 5 out of 7 coming out of the break, I'd take it in a heartbeat.
Re: Cubs looking at Lugo?
If the Cubs make the playoffs they will bo on the road I think you start Lilly in game 1 harden in game 2 and Zambrano in game 3. But they got a long way to go to get there and I wouldn't count on it happening till it does