Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Matt Murton

I'm telling u guys, teh cubs should package murton and other players, ship them to the rays for akinori iwumura. hes a really good leadoff hitter and could help the transition of fukudome. he strikes out a lot but still if b-rob isn't coming then bring someone that could help us out.

This is America and folks can think what they want, but to think Hendry has sat around inactively and not tried to trade Murton all spring is foolish. He'll get something decent for him--you watch. Sometimes you have to wait for the market to come to you-an injury happens and someone gets desperate--you never know.

i wouldnt mind seeing in a braves uniform. he would be the pop off the bench that were looking for and could play left to give diaz a few days off through out the year ( i think diaz is going to have a really solid year).

I actually really like the Iwamura idea. I find it hard to believe that the Rays would move him, but I think we could overwhelm the Rays with a good offer. He would help Fukudome feel more comfortable and give us a high-OBP second baseman with some power potential. The Rays would obviously want a second baseman in return, on top of Murton, but isn't that funny that the Cubs have MLB-ready Eric Patterson as well?

Matt Murton, Eric Patterson and Josh Donaldson for Akinori Iwamura and Eduardo Morlan.

Or, if Hendry sticks to his no trading away 2007 picks thing:

Murton, Patterson and Hart for Iwamura.

I gotta agree that the best way for the Cubs to get good value out of Murton is to package him with other players and get an impact player, and I think Iwamura is a great example.

Bernie Williams could be a option for the rays if they are looking for a switch hitting centerfielder.

Reading the the blog excerpts from the original post & some of the comments above, only tends to reinforce my opinion of the level of lunacy inherit in the Baseball "blogoshere"!

For ANYone to try and say that Hendry is at fault in Murton's situation, only shows that people are shooting off their mouths about stuff they don't have a clue about!

Hendry's main trading goal, for those who seem to have forgotten already, this off season was to acquire Roberts from the Orioles. Murton was part of that package for quite a while, and when the Padres came calling about him, they couldn't trade him because he was being held for part of that package.

Later, when it became clear enough that MacPhail wanted others more than he wanted Murton, he was offered to the Rangers for Byrd. A trade that would have been a steal for the Rangers, but the juvenile GM of the Rangers, thought he would hold up Hendry for a top pitching prospect in addition to Murton. I not only would have told Daniels "NO" but not to call me about any deals until he grew up!

The long and the short of it is that if any GM is to be blamed for Murton, it would be the same one, that has tied up the trade market all winter, not just for the Cubs, but for several other teams, and that would be Andy MacPhail of the Orioles.

Of course our glorious commissioner, was too busy polishing his image & counting his $$$$s to use his influence to tell the Orioles and the Mariners and the Orioles and the Cubs, that the proposed trades were too much in the public domain and that they had 48 hours to conclude them or forget moving the key players before July. If that had been done several teams would be stronger today, and Murton would have a major league job as a regular left fielder.

Some if "blame" is your game, get off Hendry's back and learn the facts before you shoot off your mouth!

i too like the idea of the iwamura deal but that trade cant happen for a while. cheap rays owner wants to keep longoria in the minors to postpone arb and free agency. that sounds like a very good idea though. it would fill needs for both teams and neither would give up much that they need. and u cubfever, to say hendry has handled anything well is quite far fetched. they have young guys that arent getting opportunities and guys like murton they r trying to trade when the value is low. the cubs dont have an idea of what they r trying to do. right or wrong u have to choose a path and go down it. the cubs flip flop too much.

ok brolight. your cubs bias reeks. to say that its all mcphails fault and not hendrys is absurd. everyone in baseball knows how the orioles operate. look at that package they got for tejada. hendry gambled that he could work something out for roberts but the orioles r insistent on winning every trade they r a part of. hendry knew that going into the situation and chose to deal with them anyways. thats his fault. many teams dont deal with the orioles for this reason. i said right when all this roberts crap started months ago that they would expect the farm for him. after all thats what they got for tejada. he wanted roberts anyways and gambled. his fault, no one elses.

In 2006, I was opening day at GABP. Murton had shown signs of being a good everyday player the season before. When I watched him drill the ball out to right field that day, I was sure he was going to be the next great Cub . . . I was also sure the Cubs would win the division that year, so that shows what I know. But I still think Murton has a lot of potential. It's been very frustrating to watch Baker and Pinella ignore him all this time. I hope he gets moved because the Cubs won't give him a chance.

Texas has a glut of OFers. Hamilton, Bradley, Cat, Cruz, Murphy & Botts, and you wonder why Texas wanted something other than the Big Murt? He would be redundant in Texas.

I didn't realize the commissioner had the power to tell teams to hurry up and make a trade? He can set negotiation deadlines?

I know the Angels and Orioles were in trade talks for Tejada for about 3 years. I wish he would have said something then.

Also, was it really that public? If you took all the statements made by McPhail and Hendry it would probably amount to a little more than a paragraph or two over the entire on again/off again rumoring. We just happened to hear a lot about it here because this site is Cub centric.

Seriously, there were several posts about how there was NO news on the Roberts front. Even those posts would get over 100 replies. That's not a knock on this site (Tim and Co. do a fantastic job) but that is a reality that cannot be ignored. You only heard about it every day because it was a huge deal ON THIS site.

Anybody think Hendry got a little lucky signing Reed Johnson off of the scrapheap? He devoted a fair share of energy towards trying to acquire a right handed CFer and I'm definately happy we didn't trade away Murt or anybody else for that matter for it. So...good job, I guess? Anyway, I love Murt but he's not Alfonso Soriano and he's not left handed and he can't play center. He's a victim of circumstance. I hope he gets a shot somewhere and proves what he can do. Although, being greedy as I am, I would love the luxury of having him available in AAA if somebody goes down. I'm glad Hendry didn't completely overpay for Brian Roberts but c'mon. His impact would be huge. It would be worth overpaying, to an extent, when we've probably got our best 2-3 year WS window opening infront of us.

To Jcard...

Facts are facts! But then people like you don't want to face them.

The fact is that Hendry, for all intents and purposes, after the initial phases of this deal, finally, let Andy just pick the prospects he wanted. Those prospects were Cedeno, Gallagher, Veal & Ceda. When Hendry finally agreed, MacPhail "upped the anti" by adding Colvin to his list of wants... An Absurd asking price! As much as I think Roberts and the Cubs would be good for each other, I wouldn't do THAT either.

It also points up the vast difference between Hendry, who tries to look out for his players, and what MacPhail is doing to Roberts!

This is looking more and more like a vendetta by MacPhail against the Cubs, and it is already having a backlash against the O's as other GMs are not wanting to deal with him.

To PineTar...

I live in the Dallas area. I know what the Rangers have and don't have. As far as OFers are concerned, they have ONE good OF, ONE, plus injuries, unproven, age, etc...

When Daniels FINALLY woke up and offered to take Murton straight across for Byrd, the Cubs no longer wanted him, and got a better OF for NOTHING!

To BizG...

The commissioner has the power to do pretty much what he WANTS to do with ownership. He has his "in the best interests of the game" powers that he can invoke when he has the guts to do it, and he should have, in both the Mariners deal AND the Cubs deal. Of course had he done so in the Mariners deal, it wouldn't have been necessary in the latter. MacPhail's MIShandling of his responsibilities not only held up the Mariners and Cubs but interfered with the Twins, Red Sox, Rangers, Padres, Reds, Dodgers, and perhaps a couple others on the fringe of deals held up while Andy puttered. But Andy is Bud's "fair-haired" boy (hand picked commish in waiting) so he hurt the game by sitting on his hands!

Dustin Nippert traded to Rangers

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AldGfl6kqNArC8lAJGorJOapu7YF?slug=ap-rangers-diamondbackstrade&prov=ap&type=lgns

brolight u made my point. mcphail is a piece of garbage. thats why hendry shouldnt have even thought about dealing with him. once again many teams dont deal with the orioles because of mcphail and that crappy owner. they have a track record of doing exactly what they did, playing games and trying to squeeze extras out of other teams. my point is hendry knew this going in. u cant jump in a pool and get mad when u r all wet. sometimes when u dance with the devil u get burned. hendry should have known better.

Hendry had an excellent offseason with or without Roberts, plain and simple. Not overpaying for Kaz and walking away, not overpaying for Fukudome and still getting him, and getting the prototype outfielder that they were looking for to back up. I admit, he did get a little lucky there, but its still a terrific off season for a team that should win the division.

"The commissioner has the power to do pretty much what he WANTS to do with ownership"

Prove it.

Teams that should go for Murton.
Padres
Rays
Mets
Braves
Indians
A's
Cardinals

cmon adunc, u cant say signing fukudome was a good signing. it might be. it might also be terrible. he is completely unproven. its a gamble that may or may not work out. kei igawa was supposed to be a good signing last year as well. thats 46 million down the drain. as ive argued in the other post, i just dont think fukudome will be much better than murton. the cubs should win the division this year but those bad contracts will catch up with them quick. when the cards signed guys to huge contracts they got all star players who played offense and defense. gold glovers like pujols, rolen, and edmonds. those were good contracts. rolen got hurt which nobody could predict and edmonds got old. we need to start spending money again, just not stupidly like some other teams.

The Rolen and Edmonds contracts were not good. The exact reason the Edmonds contract was bad was because he was old. They knew that. Rolen its true that the injuries costed him a lot of playing time and hitting ability, but the fact is that contract didnt exactly go brilliantly for the Cardinals. But moving it for Troy Glaus was a move I do consider to be rather brilliant on the other hand.

At least Fukudome's contract is for only four years. As far as scouts know, they think that he'll fill the Cubs' need for a good OBP lefty very well. Although I'll agree that the Soriano contract should look pretty bad in 3-4 years when his speed and power begin to diminish and he becomes far less valuable, but I think that the Ramirez, Lee and Zambrano contracts were all solid, even if the Big Z contract was a little high. You can't really complain about those deals. Look at how the Carpenter deal has gone so far for St. Louis. To say that the Cubs have spent their money stupidly isn't really fair, considering that I wouldn't say they've made any truly bad signings. We don't quite know what Fukudome is yet, but the Lilly contract appears to be a success and as I said before the other big contracts don't really appear to be terrible. Its not like we resigned Pierre for 5/45. Considering that the Cubs got Fukudome for less than other teams were offering, and Aramis Ramirez would've/should've gotten more money in free agency, but decided to sign cheaper for the Cubs, I would argue that Hendry has done a pretty damn good job.

And the track record for Japanese position players has been far better than that of Japanese pitchers. There have been multiple pitching busts, Igawa and Irabu being examples of that. But the great Japanese hitters have come over to the U.S. and all of them have proven to at least be solid major leaguers (Ichiro, Hideki and Kaz Matsui, Iwamura, Johjima) so I have a pretty good amount of confidence that Fukudome will be a pretty good player. We don't know how much better he'll be than Murton, but I feel like I must emphasize that the fact that Murton was a righty and Fukudome was a lefty had a great deal of importance in the front offices decision making.

I dont think Hendry has mishandled Murton. Murton doesnt have the power for a corner OFer or the speed or ability of a CF. He played 144 in 06 as the starting LF. His stats 13/62/.297 those are average stats, he is nothing great. He can be a good starter for a lower echelon team or a 4th of for a contender.

god i wish these these ncaa games didnt suck tonight. anyways i dnt disagree with everything u said. when referring to the rolen and edmmonds deals, i didnt mean that two year extensino for edmonds. that was stupid. the contract before that was terrific. rolens contract was also great. hes the best defensive third baseman ever besides brooks robinson. he also used to hit well. hes still young, the injuries just got him.

as far as the cubs contracts, soriano was bad. lee got paid after a career year, never a good idea. the cubs got lucky with lilly, as he put up a career year last year. blanco contract bad. marquis terrible. ramirez' contract is ok. hes great offensively but i dont liek his defense. i thought zamrano was a really good signing eventhough i hate him. yes carps contract doesnt look good but he has a cy young and a second place cy young finish to his credit. once again u cant predict injuries. also with carp we underpaid him for three years so i think they felt we owed him. now even if fukudome produces like scouts think he will he wont be a good deal. the problem for the cubs that if he doesnt, the contract looks terrible. if he does then they got what they paid for. there is no upside to that contract, thats why it is bad. the cardinals have become cheapskates over the last couple of years and partly why i rip on teams that throw money around is because im mad that the cards wont spend theirs. that still doesnt mean that a lot of those signing were any good. only time will tell on some of them.

I just wish Hendry could have landed Roberts. Without getting ROYALLY screwed. I would have been willing to overpay to an extent. I'm willing to gamble here. It's been 100 years. No more #!&%$ing around. Let's arm ourselves to the teeth.

And PART of the reason they wanted Fukudome so bad is so they can sell lots of little Cubbies hats in Japan. If you're trying to sell your baseball team, having marketing exposure to another country can't hurt your value too bad. So...credit to Hendry??? Hmmm.

"now even if fukudome produces like scouts think he will he wont be a good deal."

If Fukudome posts a near .400 OBP with 20 homer power, while playing a very good right field with a fantastic arm, thats not worth $12M a year? I gotta say thats most definately worth $12M in this market.

How can you say the Soriano contract was bad at this point, it'll probably be like the Rolen contract: really great initially, but worse as time goes on. Whether it be for injuries or aging, the Soriano and Rolen deals were both eight years, and they both won't look too hot in the final four. Soriano should continue to be an elite offensive player for at least the next 3-4 years. Aramis Ramirez is a top 5 third baseman in the NL, with Wright, Chipper and Zimmerman as the only guys I see being better than him. He signed a below market deal, if Carlos Lee got $100M, then Ramirez definately could've gotten at least the same amount. A-Ram isnt exactly Rolen with the glove, but he's far from bad.

And I agree, the Sweet 16 games tonight have been awful. Not a single game has been even close.

ok scribble, with fukudome im not saying he will be a bad deal if he produces like scouts think he will. the cubs will get what they paid for. if he doesnt, then they got a bad deal. there isnt any upside, thats my problem with the deal. ill give u that ramirez signed below market and he can really hit. i have been spoiled by some of the cards great contracts. overall its a good contract. no need to compare carlos lees contract because that was bonehead. hes all bat and no glove. and as for soriano vs rolen, they have some similarities but rolen signed well below market value. i believe his contract ends when hes 35 or 36. sorianos goes to 38 i think. the cubs had to compete for sorianos services and thats always costly. rolen wanted to play here(keyword wanted).

Its true that Rolen's contract was pretty team friendly, and Soriano's, well, is not. But thats just the way free agency kinda is, its how guys like Carlos Lee manage to get $100M. Which is as you said, a bonehead move, considering he'll be one of the worst defensive players in the NL by the end of that contract.

And while Fukudome doesn't exactly have a lot of upside, I'm not quite sure there were any options out there that would've given you any more upside. Just as a question, who could the Cubs have gotten instead that would've given them a higher upside option? (it can't be Matt Murton, because his upside is essentially the same power production as Fukudome, but with worse defense and a lower OBP)

I wanted Roberts badly for weeks now. But now, I'm so fed up with MasPhail's tactics that he can take all his trade ideas. leverage and experience and stick them. The O's will suck this year and next year and Andy screwed up a trade that would have made his club better in the long term. Roberts himself is infuriated at not being moved and The O's have a VERY unhappy player who now all of a sudden has "back tightness" the day after the deal is off the table announcement. Nice work Andy--you sure showed 'em!

that is an interesting outlook by bigmac and the marketing of a japanese player, especially since the cbs r for sale. it makes sense to a point. the thing i can say scribble in defense of the cubs is that, like u said, the market is what it is. if u dont want to overpay u end up with a team like the 08 cardinals. our bad contracts r due to injury more than anything but we need some more talent(id take brian roberts in a baltimore second). we got lucky with lohse(maybe) but this cheapskate crap gets on my nerves. i like that we r saving money but what r we saving it for? good luck to u guys in 08. the cards have a lot more payroll flexibility in 09. plus carp will be back. im worried about the brewers in 09 as well but for 08 the cubs should win the division. and as everyone knows once u get in the playoffs u never know what can happen.

"our bad contracts r due to injury more than anything"

Honestly you could probably argue this with most bad contracts. Generally bad contracts are caused by injuries, aging and career years, a la Adrian Beltre. But when it comes down to it, a bad contract is a bad contract, regardless of how or why it became one.

"we need some more talent"

Couldn't agree more. That Izturis-Kennedy combo up the middle would make me sick. If Colby Rasmus doesn't pan out then there could be some Cardinals fans breaking down into tears, because he's really their only hope for a big time star inside the organization. But he's gonna be fun as hell to watch.

"and as everyone knows once u get in the playoffs u never know what can happen."

As a Cardinals fan you should know that better than anyone else. Ahem, 2006, ahem.

cubfever7- The season doesn't start until Monday. Maybe McPhail and Mr. Hendry are playing a last minute game of poker.

Oh ye tiny glimmers of hope...

please dont compare the cards contract to beltres. he was coming off a career year. thats always bad to sign a guy coming off a career year. examples would be your own derek lee(eventhough he got hurt as well), gary matthews, jeff suppan, rafael furcal, kevin millwood and those r without much thought. many more like that.
as far as our talent goes i cant defend izturis and kennedy so i wont. that has to be the worst middle infield in all of baseball. as far as rasmus he will pan out. ive seen him firsthand and thats a promise. ok average, good power, obp, steals, and good defense. he has the five tools. when he gets called up hes going to my fantasy teams immediately.

and of course i made that last comment to point out our 06 championship. i cant help it, its all ive got.

"lee got paid after a career year, never a good idea. the cubs got lucky with lilly, as he put up a career year last year. blanco contract bad. marquis terrible. ramirez' contract is ok. hes great offensively but i dont liek his defense."

Lee got paid after a career year and has earned his money. He did miss a little over half of a bad year where the Cubs weren't going to do anything anyway, but I don't know of anyone, anywhere that would say that contract was a bad idea then, or is a bad idea now. You describe great with the bat and glove? That is Derrek Lee!

Aram has gone from horrible defensively to I believe 3rd best in the NL last year behind only Rolen and Feliz. Rami hits better than both of them, and is younger as well. That is another contract that I'm not sure ANYONE would say was bad then, or is bad now. You may not like his defense, but that doesn't change the fact that he was well above average last year, and the UZR and RZR ratings back that up. I'm not sure what there is not to like. Maybe 3 years ago, but he has improved every year to the point where he was near gold glove calibur last year.

Marquis, yes...I have no argument for that.

Lilly, looks pretty solid to me. You had to know a pitcher coming out of the AL east with a 4.4ish era was going to have a 4ish era in the NL central...I don't think thats that tough to figure out.

Blanco...really? I don't even know what his contract is...but who cares? He is a backup catcher, and probably one of the better backup catchers in the game, who will be the perfect mentor for Soto.

As far as Fukudome...the Cubs needed a left handed hitting outfielder with some pop that was going to bring good defense and high on base percentage. It looks to me like they got exactly that, and for as much or less than many other teams were lining up to pay the man.

hey adunc, derek lee is the best defensive first baseman in all of baseball but the bat hasnt been there except that one year. great average and solid rbi numbers but wheres the power? that contract isnt terrible, i just think its a bad idea to sign a guy after a career year. the defense is worth something though. i conceded that aram was a good contract. i still think they got lucky with lilly but u have a point about the league switch. blancos making like 3 million this year. thats horrible for a backup catcher. and im done talking about fuku. we dont know what hes going to do so we can talk more maybe midseason.

I know, Fukudome could be a huge bust. His OBP and defense should transfer though, which are the two most important aspects of his game for the Cubs. We'll see. I'm not saying you couldn't be right, because you could. And I do understand the upside thing, thats good insight.

On Lee...he had a 900+ OPS last year. He might have only hit 22 HR (16 were in the 2nd half by the way), but he was hitting a ton of doubles and getting on base at a .400 clip. I think many of those doubles are HR this year, and he has been a 30 HR guy for a long time now, well before his career year. I'm not too worried about D-Lee.

Definitely a lot for a backup catcher, I'll admit that. I'm not sure I'm really mad about it though, I'd rather have him than most other types, especially when we are starting a rookie, even though I like Soto a lot.

i said derek lees contract was bad but please take inot consideration the cards are cheap and when we sign guys to big contracts we almost always get great value(not counting ron gant) so i am a bit biased. i like derek lee, as a person and a player. if we didnt have pujols i would like to have him on the cards.

i think u guys also got a good one in soto.i cant speak for his defense because ive only seen him play a few times but he can definitely hit. his minor league track record is quite impressive and he produced last year as well. nice to see them letting him start because he has earned it.

one more thing adunc. didnt u say u live in st louis? if u live in st louis why r u a cubs fan? thats illegal i think. i could understand if u lived in chicago and u were a cards fan. its tough to root for a team that doesnt win. i would like an answer to this question. i am baffled.

In Regards to Blanco, there's a story on the Tribune's Cubs site that says something to the effect of the Cubs organization grooming him towards a managerial role. He's 37, I believe, and he missed significant time last year with a neck injury. If he gets hurt (or gets old and farts out) and is placed on the DL, he'd still be able to mentor Soto. But then who's next in line? Koyie Hill?

Agreed. It is refreshing to see a team in contention actually starting guys like Pie (although they have been tempted, and will probably continue to be...) and Soto, along with giving Hart, Hill, Theriot, Fontenot (although I prefer patterson) a shot. Dusty would have had a heart attack!

Anyway, I got a lotta respect for the Cards org and how they run stuff...but I agree with you. Its time they spend some money. I understand this offseason I guess, bc there wasn't a lot. However, I have a lot of friends that are going to be pretty pissed this time next year if they haven't made at least one major signing. A lot of people here are saying they have always liked Burnett, and think they will pursue him for real this time. We'll see...

Joel...

I can see the Cards going after Furcal and Burnett next offseason. Thoughts?

BroLight ... can you please provide us some examples of the Commissioner squashing trades because rumors dragged on too long?

Also, you stated that he can do anything that is in the best interest of the game. How has the Oriole trade rumors fallen into that category?

As best as I can make out, Hendry could walk away from the Orioles at any time. He wasn't forced to work out a deal with McPhail.

It takes two to tango. If Angelos and McPhail are so awful why deal with them in the first place? It appears from your post that everyone in baseball knows that these guys are jokers. Certainly Hendry was aware of it?

bj,

I agree to a point, but even if he knew he\they were jokers, isn't it still worth seeing is something can be worked out if you believe a guy could have a very big impact on your team? I think it was...and in the end, Hendry finally grew tired. Its no one's fault..or if it is, the fault lies on both sides.

Joel,

I do feel the need to point out franklin's extension after a career year...we'll see how that works out, but I don't think its going to be pretty. Still a BP guy though, so not a huge deal either way, kind of like a backup catcher.

bj thats what im saying, why deal with them. they r crappy.

bigbats u must be from chicago as well because thats some serious inside info. i think blanco would make a good mentor to soto but hes still overpaid.

adunc, as far as burnett goes i like it. im not much for overpaying pitchers but i think he could still get even better, and hes good right now. we got money in the rotation coming off the books from pitching so i like it. hes straight filthy. as far as furcal, i really like him too and i think hes exactly what the cards need. nice average, leadoff hitter and great speed. im worried he too will get expensive but those r both really great ideas. as far as talent and need goes u r right on target, just worried cheap ownership wont spend. id take one or the other and be happy.

one more thing. where r the god damn cards fans. i like talking to cubs fans because i know the cubs and hate the cubs but seriously. im always having to defend my cards alone. i need backup.

its true about blanco being groomed for a managerial position when he is done...I read it in a newspaper article. I'm not sure anyone not in the organization knew that until literally today, when that article came out. Not breaking news or anything, but it is what it said...

Just a quick note, Blanco is making 1,775,000.00 for 2008.

Joel, yes im a cubs fan, and yes I live in st. Louis, and yes, its rough. All my friends are cards fans, so it makes for great discussions that usually turn immature for both sides pretty quick, which is always entertaining. I grew up in illinois, born in the quad cities and moved to chi town, and wrigley was where my first 30 or so games were...aftwer that, it was all over. I was hooked

ok i guess if u used to live there thats acceptable. u could claim cardinals now though. why not root for a winner!!!

"ok i guess if u used to live there thats acceptable."

Luke...I am your father...

"u could claim cardinals now though. why not root for a winner!!!"

...join us on the dark side...

Wow. You in sales, Joel?

haha that is funny. i thought chicago was the dark side but i guess its all perspective. and yes i have always done sales but for the last year i have played poker for a living. there are a lot of people just waiting to give their money away, u just have to catch it.

The Rangers are known to like Murton. The Rangers are also in need of pitching. In my opinion SS is the weakest position the Cubs have. What if the Cubs made a similar offer for Michael Young as they did Brian Roberts? Murton, Cedeno, Marshall & Gallager.... The Cubs would gain a all star caliber SS while the Rangers would fill numerous holes and set their sights on 2009. Theriot would then move to the swing man. I realize Young is not a "lead off" man but with talent like that it would work

If you play poker for a living, you must be d@$n good. I have never played the game, so I would be toast.

Why do the Cubs have to trade Murton? What is the Cubs glaring weakness that needs to be filled? I can't think of one. Injuries happen in baseball...maybe the Cubs should hold onto Murton or wait until an injury hits them or another team and they get desperate. This is a business, sure Murton is good and a nice guy, but he is a reserve, a good reserve to have on a playoff team like the Cubs.

"i think blanco would make a good mentor to soto but hes still overpaid."

See the lucky thing about the Cubs is that we can take in a $2M salary for a backup catcher and it doesnt matter at all whatsoever. $2M to the Cubs really isn't all that much, less than 1/60 of their payroll, so really I think Blanco's salary is a nonissue until its over $6M. Never gonna happen.

And as far as free agents the Cardinals should go after, I definately agree that they need a high impact starter, but the problem with Burnett is do the Cards really need another injury plagued guy in their rotation? At this point I feel like it would make equally as much sense to go after a innings eater like Garland, and hope Carpenter can bounce back. Other guys I could see the Cards going after are Oliver Perez, Ben Sheets, Derek Lowe, and maybe Livan Hernandez.

And as far as the Cardinals going after Rafael Furcal, I think it'd be a great idea, but with one issue: I think the Cubs really should go after him as well. Theriot doesn't belong in a starting role, and Hendry already tried to get Furcal once. Hopefully this time Hendry can get his man. I could see the Cards going after O-Cab if he doesnt get an extension with the Sox as well. And as for second baseman, I think Hudson, Ellis or even Iguchi would fit in pretty well in St. Louis as well.

And honestly, there are Cubs fans all over the country. I know that it seems odd that they would be in St. Louis, but then again there are tons of Packers fans in Chicago, and I dislike nearly every one of them. Generally fans like the team from their original hometown, because its the team they grew up rooting for. Sometimes its tough to change your "fanship", especially when it comes to being a Cubs fan. There is just so much to like about being a fan of the Cubs, even if their front office can be shortsighted, and its been well.. 99 years..

"What if the Cubs made a similar offer for Michael Young as they did Brian Roberts? Murton, Cedeno, Marshall & Gallager"

I've thought about the Cubs going after Michael Young before, but I'm just not quite sure it makes sense. He's a righty, and the big thing about Roberts was that he would be a lefty in a very righty-heavy batting order. Young also has a big contract, I'd argue he's slightly overpaid, and while that wouldn't scare away the Cubs, I doubt they would be willing to give up as much. But I do think that if we could get him for something like you said, Murton, Gallagher, Marshall and Cedeno, or maybe Colvin, Murton, Marshall and Cedeno, then I definately wouldn't be opposed to it. He would be a good leadoff hitter, but it would force the Cubs to go out and make a consious effort to get more lefties in the lineup. It'd almost definately be the end of Derosa, we'd need a lefty there. Not quite sure that Jon Daniels would be too interested in that, considering what he got for Teixeira and Gagne, and what he was asking for for the GREAT Marlon Byrd. That was a joke.

I think Furcal is a real possibility for the Cubs. Hendry seems to have an easier time with free agents than he does with trades. I think his "good guy" persona is attractive on the FA market but on the trade market, I think teams feel like they can take advantage of his nice guy image. Furcal would be fit if his skills are still in tact.

I never said I didn't see the Cubs going after him, but I really think the Cards are going to open the pocket book at least for one guy next year, and those are the two guys I see it happening for if it happens. Garland would be pretty good for them too...but not at the same price if they could get Burnett. Maybe they could just have an 8 man rotation and rotate the hurt guys out. But Carpenter, Burnett, Wainwright would be a sick 123 if Carp comes back to his old self. I would love for the Cubs to get Furcal...but he makes just as much sense for the Cards, if not more. This is a HUGE year for Theriot. He will either be our starter for a few years if he improves on last year, or be a sub if not.

Well obviously I agree that Furcal is a great fit for the Cards, as I said before. They don't have a legit shortstop or a legit leadoff hitter, and Furcal is exactly that. But at the same time, the Cubs need that same thing too, and so I could see him going to either team. I see the Cubs coming out ahead simply because they'd be able to offer equally as much money as St. Louis, and the Cubs should be in a better position to win, in my opinion. Plus as a Cubs fan I would obviously prefer him coming to Chicago, rather than going to our main rival.

But obviously what'd be better than getting Furcal, would be Theriot proving to be a solid .350ish OBP leadoff guy with good speed. Then we wouldn't even need Furcal. But Theriot has to do it this year, because really this is his last chance to be a starter. If he fails this year with Lou, then I doubt he gets another starting nod for the rest of his career. Then again I feel obligated to holding out hope that he'll turn out to be what every Cub fan hopes he can be.

And as far as getting Burnett goes, I sometimes feel like they'd be better off going after a healthy innings eater like Garland, rather than adding another injury plagued starter to their rotation. In Chicago, as you know, we tried the whole having two injury plagued aces in the rotation thing, and it failed brutally. I mean obviously my opinion is primarily formed by my experiences as a Cubs fan, but I just shudder at the thought of having such a fragile rotation. They'd be banking their whole season upon it.

I LOVE the Iwamura idea. A poor man's Roberts--but has anyone, anywhere heard at anytime that the Rays are willing to trade him? These are the type of blog based ideas that frequently get blown out of proportion and have zero chance of ever happening. It's an idea, but that is all. This isn't fantasy baseball. We keep hearing that Hendry is talking to the Rays--so MAYBE that's where the rumor spark began? I'd be ok with overpaying a little for Iwamura. Patterson, Murton and another would be ok with me. At this point I think SS may be the bigger need position though. Love Theriot..LOVE him. But I don't see him having the range needed at that position for a team that has Series aspirations. The Cards won with Eckstein--but other than that--I'm hard presed to think of a team that made it to the Series without an ACE defender at SS. Michael Young is not one either--although he certainly is a premier stick.

Aduncaroo, I like the Burnett idea for the Cards better than Garland too. I think they need a top of the rotation type, they seem to have innings eaters already. Garland would be redundant. Burnett on the other hand, could be a potential #1 guy...Dave Duncan has worked wonders in the past with less.

My concerns with Burnett have nothing to do with his ability. He fits their need for a top of the rotations starter perfectly. I'm just concerned that if he got hurt, they would be completely screwed. And he gets hurt a lot. Burnett is offers far more rewards, but with far more risk.

I hear you scribbletone, I just don't see the Cards winning with a bunch of middle of the rotation types. It's definitely high risk though, especially considering they already have Carpenter, Clement, etc. as injury-prone guys. So I can see where Burnett is possibly a bad idea. If I'm the Cards, though, I think I'd take the risk.

Thats what I was thinking, since they have so many injury proned guys already it seems like a massive risk. But then again, I think this is the year that Adam Wainwright becomes a legitimate top of the rotation starter. So to me, the less risky, lower potential of a Carpenter, Wainwright, Garland?, Piniero and Looper is still a pretty good rotation, although Carp, Wainwright, Burnett, Piniero and Looper could be awesome.

How come no one can mention why Murton is stuck on the Cubs? Well first off, they signed Soriano last year basically blocking him from a position forever. Murton CANNOT play any other OF position adequately. The Rangers were downright stupid not to take him straight up for Byrd. When this ordeal is resolved, Hendry and the Cubs will get fair market value for Matt. I wish it could've worked out for him on the north side.

Scribble,

“And the track record for Japanese position players has been far better than that of Japanese pitchers. There have been multiple pitching busts, Igawa and Irabu being examples of that. But the great Japanese hitters have come over to the U.S. and all of them have proven to at least be solid major leaguers (Ichiro, Hideki and Kaz Matsui, Iwamura, Johjima)”

…Its actually about the same as far as success rates, and I’m surprised to hear you say that for a couple reasons. 1) its only a couple players you listed who really did excel (or failed in the case of pitchers), but you left some important names off. 2) Not all the players you listed even lived up to expectations…

On the disappointments side, we would probably have to include the likes of:

Kaz Matsui ~ quite possibly the biggest bust of all imported players, period; atleast Irabu had a couple years of LgAvg-ish numbers! But the Mets give the 28YO 7-time BigNine (awarded to best player at each position) and 4-time GG winner ShortStop a 3YR/21M contract. What it got them was a .272/.331/.396 line with 23 errors and a .956 field%. He followed that season up with a move to Second where atleast his fielding got a bit better, but still hit even worse; .255/.300/.352. Kaz wouldn’t last till the end of his third season in NewYork, being traded with a huge lump of cash for Eli Marrero. Even with near-elite numbers posted at home in Colorado last year, Kaz still sports a .272/.325/.387 career line in under 3 years worth of games.

Aiknori Iwamura ~ What happened? Coming off seasons of .300/.386/.583, .319/.390/.555 and .311/389/.544 in Japan, this slick fielder hits .285/.359/.411 in his first year in the states. Sure, the OBP is still fairly solid, but the complete lack of power is rather disappointing. 30+ HR to 7? Only about equal to even a decrease in Doubles+Triples as well? And whats up with the 8 CS in only 20 attempts?

Kenji Johjima ~ Oh, this guys probably gonna be a stud… Off seasons of .338/.433/.655 and .309/.360/.557, Kenji hits just .291/.332/.451 in the bigs. Now what happened to the translating power? Sure, he experienced the normal HR power drop from Japan to the US, but it generally means the DBL+TPL rate have a good chance of slight improvement because of said HR drop. His 25 DBL and 1 TPL in 542 PA were a decrease as well though. And even more puzzling, what happened to the Walks? As for a follow up? Well everything took yet another hit, and we were left with a .287/.322/.433 2007 line.

So Taguchi ~ Solid D, but the career .283/.336/.391 brings visions of Pierre without the speed. We weren’t expecting that much, but… Well, we got a great 5th OF/back-up CF atleast I guess…

Tsuyoshi Shinjo ~ Once hit 23 HR in only 408 AB in Japan. US Claim to Fame would pretty much be first Japanese player in WS, his flamboyant attitude and the fact that the Giants fans actually were excited about him and would chant his name lovingly; well for about a month or two atleast. .245/.299/.370 for his career, next…

All in all, I think its about the same on the pitchers vs hitters regarding transition rates. We should put Ichiro and Nomo in the “great success” category, Godzilla and Kazuhiro Sasaki in the “pretty much met our expectations” category, and guys like Kenji Johjima, Aiknori Iwamura, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Akinori Otsuka in the “still pretty good, but not quite what we had expected” slot. After that we get to the “that worked pretty well” category which holds the likes of Takashi Saito and Tadahito Iguchi, “solid enough for a couple years worth of playing time” category which holds So Taguchi, Shigetoshi Hasegawa and Kazuhisa Ishii, then lastly the “well, WTF did we do this for” ~ Kaz Matsui and Hideki Irabu…

Okay yeah shinjo sucked, but really I guess its just a difference of opinion. When I see guys come over from Japan, I expect them to show major downgrades in their power numbers, but solid batting averages and on base percentages. Thats what I expect from Fukudome. I guess my expectations for Japanese players is different from that of the majority.

And yeah I realize now that I probably didn't give pitchers full credit, but notice that the majority of those guys are relivers. For starting pitchers, there is Nomo, Park, Matsuzaka and well thats it for successful starters. There have been a great number of successful Japanese relievers, so I guess your right that my argument lacked good argument. I'll concede that.

By the way, you can't put ichiro and nomo in the same category. No one in their right mind expected ichiro to be roy and mvp in his 1st year, not to mention break the single season hits record. That would be like nomo winning 25 games! That never happened...ichiro may be a hall of famer...nomo was pretty good, but there in no way in hell u can put those 2 in the same category of anything, except that maybe they are both male and both not american. Nomo is the pitchers equivalent of h matsui maybe, but not even close to ichiro, period.

Yeah I gotta agree with aduncaroo.

Honestly I believe that when all is said and done, Ichiro will be in the hall of fame. Look at those numbers. And he's the kind of player with the style of play and work ethic to keep it up well into his late 30's. A few more years like the previous ones and to me he's a hall of famer. One of the best pure hitters of all time.

I would trip over myself to get Velez from San Francisco.

San Francisco needs some power right now, and Murton could fit.

Not to mention that they could probably use a 3B, and/or shortstop, which Cedeno could fill.

Crazy or no?

…Much like no one would have ever anticipated Nomo to come into the ML in 1995 and lead the NL in Strikeouts (236), Strikeouts/9 (11.10), Hits-allowed/9 (5.83), Shutouts (3), and finish second in ERA (2.54), ERA+ (150), and WHIP (1.056). The guy gave up 2 or fewer ER in 19 of his 28 starts, and had 17 starts of 0-1 ER crossing the plate, winning the ROY and finishing only 4th in Cy Young because of a lower Win total but otherwise superior numbers to #2 (Schourek 18-7, 3.22 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 160K in 190IP) & #3 (Glavine 16-7, 3.08 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 127K in 199IP). He of course couldn’t top one of the single most amazing seasons ever posted from a pitcher (Mad Dog was on another plane of existence in 04 & 95), but that takes nothing away from what Nomo was able to do. You are just greatly undervaluing Nomo here… He does deserve to be up there in that top bracket, Nomo was sick on the mound…

Yes, Nomo had a good year. Ichiro is a machine. As scribble says,

"One of the best pure hitters of all time."

Nomo, is NOT "one of the best pure pitchers of all time". They aren't in the same category, and its not that close.

You cant bring anything more than “scribble said”, “Nomo is NOT…” and “They aren't in the same category”?

But Ichiro isnt one of the best pure hitters of all time, and that’s kind of the problem… Sure, he puts up a ton of singles, but at the end of the day all you have is a ton of singles. He mainly gets that counting total because of 725+ PA and his almost rarely taking a walk though; and despite the BA being .300+, we see his OBP has only topped 400 only once. Ichiros production is dwarfed by guys like Derrek Lee, and hardly anyone would call Derrek Lee one of the top hitters in the history of the game. Very good hitter? Yes. Greatest of alltime? Hardly…

So one of the greatest singles hitters of all time I’ll admit, but outside of that there isnt really anything that’s too special with him. Bunch of triples, but no very few HRs and a fraction of what you would expect the Dbls to be. Nomo, Top-10 alltime K/P and 76th alltime Strikeouts despite just over 10 years worth of starts. He posted a 162G average of 204 Ks. Nomo was really one of the better K pitchers there was, much like Ichiro is one of the greatest singles guys. I have no attachment to either, and if I was to show favoritism, I would actually lean towards the other side because I don’t like Nomo after being forced to live in the hell that was Nomo-Mania as a non-Dodger fan in the LA area ~ but there just isnt anything outside of those singles totals to point to Ichiro as being that great. Hes extremely impressive in what he can do well, don’t get me wrong on that; but what he can do well is kinda limited. Nomo was dominating in some aspects, weaker in others just the same ~ and that’s what they share the same top honors…

Or think of it this way:
A) 4600 AB, 1228 H, 271 2B, 12 3B, 241 HR, 1506 RBI+R, 267/359/488/847 120 OPS+
B) 4825 AB, 1357 H, 303 2B, 23 3B, 238 HR, 1500 RBI+R, 281/367/502/869 124 OPS+
C) 4774 AB, 1592 H, 177 2B, 57 3B, 067 HR, 1209 RBI+R, 333/379/437/816 119 OPS+
D) 5011 AB, 1366 H, 289 2B, 22 3B, 262 HR, 1681 RBI+R, 273/368/496/864 133 OPS+
E) 5057 AB, 1411 H, 327 2B, 23 3B, 222 HR, 1618 RBI+R, 279/359/484/843 119 OPS+
…Which one would you rather have? I would be really interested to see how people ranked them, the results will probably surprise you…