Cubs Never Called Torii

Fine. But Pie is 23. It's time to pick up a CF: Crisp, Johnson, Byrd, Lofton, Willits, or Anderson. We need a true backup/platoon partner.

By the way, the bigger headline is: "Cubs never called Taguchi."

I thought he was a Cardinals fan growing up? That's what was reported before, anyway. I suppose when he's interviewed by the Tampa Tribune next week he'll claim that he was actually a Rays fan.

1. Tori Hunter said during Twins series vs. the Cubs last season that he was not interested in signing with the Cubs as a free agent because of the brick wall and the high fence.

2. Another right handed hitter who was asking for at least $16m/yr and who strikes out a lot and doesn't walk wasn't high on the list.

3. Tori is a hypocrite who, according to WSCR AM 670 in Chicago, he had a verbal agreement to sign with the White Sox and backed out at the last minute to sign with the Angels. No wonder Kenny Williams and the White Sox claimed they really thought he was going to sign with them.

4. Fukudome is a better signing for less money. He's a high obp guy, a lefty batter, plays a much needed position extremely well, and plays fundamentals well. It's also time to find out if Pie can cut it or not. Blocking Pie before he's had a real opportunity with another bad contract would have been dumb.

u gotta love it when a guy gets 4 years 48 million without ever playing in the states and someone says its a good signing. who r u miss cleo? i see the cubs firsthand and they have a ton of young talent. their problem is they dont want to develop any of it. that marmol guy is absolutely the real deal and pie looks very good. murton could be decent as well. the cubs think that spending money like idiots is the way to go. no matter whose in center they should win the division so why not go with pie. im telling u guys these bad contracts are going to catch up with them in a couple years.

joelcards, what talent do they refuse to develop. Isn't Marmol developing into their future closer? Isn't Soto developing into the catcher of the future? Aren't they giving Theriot a shot at shortstop?

One reason that Hunter wasn't on their radar was because they are developing Pie for center field. Hemmingway is correct about the other reason. Hunter was on record saying he would never play in Wrigley because of the brick wall and because he couldn't take homers away from opponents.

by all means, take Willits.
we'll trade him for some rat traps.
(we need 'em for the concession stands lol)

Hahaha! Perfectly said!!!

Anyway, you cant sign Hunter if you are the Cubs unless you trade Pie. Pie needs to be given a shot at the MLs or sent somewhere to get that shot. We see prospects fail all the time because they never got a real shot, and he seems to be fitting this bill right now himself.

The Cubs just need to get a back-up CF, a Vet that wont provide the rookie-mistakes that a contender can not afford to have off the bench when the starter is the same risk. If Pie does struggle, they can send him down or give him time off with the Vet filling in. That’s the way you have to go about it really, it’s the best for today and tomorrow and a Hunter type signing would have been as bad as the Hunter signing in Ana (where a loss of chances is felt on the prospects in OF/1B/DH and even a trickle down on the MI/3B guys) or Jones in LA (where Ethier/Kemp/Young are most notable stunted)

Nice point about Pie, Dark. The question is how do you get a solid vet who's good enough to play everyday when called on -- yet is willing to take a backup role initially, maybe permanently, to an unproven rookie? We know that Crisp doesn't want to do it. Hendry's got his work cut out for him there.

and if Tori would have joined the Cubs with that contract...I would not have praised him. I would have vomited.

"The only three possibilities I really see that fit the situation perfectly are Byrd, Payton and Crisp"

...Should say that there might be more, I very well could have missed a couple guys who might be able to do it. I cant imagine too many more though, so the pickings look pretty slim...

Joel, maybe not a good reason to you, or the cub fan base, but to Hendry indeed it is. I feel like if the Mets didnt collapse and Omardidnt feel like his job was on the line Johan is wearing pinstripes right now, no doubt. Gm's do things to save their jobs, and how can you blame them? When they feel like they are going to get canned, why should they care about the young guys who will help the team in 4 years? There are some cases where a guy is fired, like DePo, and then a cuople of years later everybody realizes what a fantastic job he actually did loading that team up with the best young talent. You also are not saying anything enlighteing by telling us the Cubs will pay for those bad contracts at some point. Everybody and their mother has known that since last year when they spent like 86 trillion over the winter. A GM that feels like he may lose his job can be either a very nice situation, where the fire up the guys ass helps him to get his act together and straighten things out. Or you might have a GM who fears for his job and then trades Kazmir for
Zambrano, so it works both ways. Either way, GM's who feel like they may be fired are in a tricky situation. You know if you trade your young talent for vets, you will be ripped in a couple of years for it, though it may save you job and utlimately make your job harder in the future for the price of saving it now. You can also try to keep your youn players and hope that they pan out, and even if you lose your job, people will look back and say that he knew what he was doing. It is sort of a catch 22 situation.

“That's just it, though. Is Payton really an everyday CF on a championship team? Is he really that valuable if Pie struggles? Is Byrd? Byrd only puts up mediocre numbers when he plays everyday.”

Well, yeah in an emergency. Its called having a back-up plan, its not being stuck with Pie. If the depth is Pie/Cedeno/Patterson/Fuld then its really “Pie has to play all year long” because his rookie mistakes and struggles atleast come with upside which may or may not kick in. If Pie is just in a horrible stretch though, you cant put a Patterson or Cedeno type out there with any confidence while you work with Pie, it would be going from a low-point and taking a step down to ideally (but not necessarily) take a small step up when Pie ideally adjusts. Its why teams with a bunch of rookie on the field don’t generally have rookies on the bench, or why teams like Cincy and Florida/Washington employ guys like Hattenberg and Boone

Adun,

You really should get out of the one-year tunnel here. It was one year, and a projected VORP doesnt really mean much of anything. Cedeno/Patterson/Fuld all might (and should) be better 4 years down the road, but in 2008 they will be prone to growing pains and rookie mistakes which is the last thing you want when you starter is experiencing the same exact things himself. And really its Cedeno which would really be the guy, not Patterson or Fuld because of the 25-man restraints. You really feel better with a rookie-mistake and unproven CF & a middle infielder learning the position going through the same than someone with years of experience and the proven ability to hit LgAvg-ish? Really, its a question with only one answer ~ a team hoping to win has to have someone other than Cedeno as their back-up CFer...

ADun, you really know nothing other than that PECOTA projection, do you? You really no little about Payton at all, and just repeat what PECOTA says… You really have a ‘just throw some guy who doesn’t know how to play the position out there’ mentality, don’t you? You really think the Cubs are better off with 4-5 rookies or youngsters sitting on the bench, don’t you? Whatever…