A Plan to Consider?

by sandbergformanager on May 23, 2006 5:19 PM CDT

This is my thoughts on what I think the Cubs should do to fix things before next year.....

Here's who should go: Juan Pierre, Todd Walker, Glendon Rusch, Neifi Perez, as well as the Dusty Baker regime and some of the other bench players, fringe players.

The Replacements: Felix Pie, Eric Patterson, an assortment of players to fill the bench( I unfortually don't have the time or the exact knowledge of who these guys should be.) Freddie Gonzalez should then be the replacement at manager.( You got to love anyone who has coached under Bobby Cox, who in my opinion is the greatest manager in the modern era.)

I know this will not hold over well with many of you but I think we need to see the best of Hendry's young talent before we can fire him. This team needs to rebuild, there are just not enough free agents to fill every need of this club and whether you like it or not the Tribune is not going to spend money like the Red Sox, Mets, or Yankees. Also I feel that dispite the injuries to Wood and Prior they are still better than anything that will be available on the free agent market.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or Al Yellon, managing editor (unless it's a FanPost posted by Al). FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans.

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Of the four players you mention...

... only Walker and Pierre likely have any actual trade value.

Eric Patterson is two years away. Bringing him up now would doom him to the same failing fate as befell his brother.

Fredi Gonzalez is indeed a good managerial prospect. If Baker is extended, why not bring him here as bench coach?

by Al Yellon on May 23, 2006 5:26 PM CDT reply actions

Gonzalez

is a pretty hot property right now, I'd be surprised if he wasn't offered a managerial job somewhere this off season.

Replace the ivy with hemlock

by jc60625 on May 23, 2006 5:37 PM CDT up reply actions

Not that unreasonable a plan.

It would require releasing Rusch and Perez since they'd have no trade value and I doubt the Cubs would do that, but they could. I don't think Patterson will be ready untill midseason next year at the earliest so I'd probably keep Walker or someone like him as a placeholder. I agree with what I perceive to be your general argument being that they should go into a rebuilding mode

Replace the ivy with hemlock

by jc60625 on May 23, 2006 5:32 PM CDT reply actions

Who are you to say Neifi has no trade value?

That is the most inconsiderate thing I have ever heard. Do you know anything about baseball, Neifi plays the game the right way, does the little things well, and he's a switch hitter.

Saying Neifi has no trade value is similar to saying Jose Macias should not be playing in the Major leagues anymore and should be playing pro in Japan or something like that. That's just crazy talk.

"You know what God told the cubs. Don't do anything until I get back!" Pete Rose

by Will71081 @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on May 24, 2006 9:18 AM CDT up reply actions

whoa

whoa not so fast on E Pat there. I WILL NOT and I repeat, WILL NOT condone a move that would send him up the road his brother took, not going to happen.

Agreed whole heartidly with what Al said about E Pat.

And I'm going to disagree with Al on one point and one only, c'mon Al, you know if something doesn't pan out with a player we can always sweep them off to Baltimore. :P

...the artist formerly priorpwnz.

by Faith plus 1 on May 23, 2006 6:09 PM CDT reply actions

LOL!

If Hendry could get the Orioles to take Rusch and Perez, then he's a genius!

by Al Yellon on May 23, 2006 6:36 PM CDT up reply actions

you're right

we'll have Pittsburgh and Baltimore fight over which one they want while we take Duke.

...the artist formerly priorpwnz.

by Faith plus 1 on May 23, 2006 6:50 PM CDT up reply actions

And Bedard!

Or Hayden Penn!

;)

by Al Yellon on May 23, 2006 7:03 PM CDT up reply actions

Hendry could do it

Don't forget the Huntley & Latroy trades! Somehow Hendry traded those guys for MULTIPLE MLB players. Trading Rusch, Neifi, and/or Walker seems like a Hendry specialty.

There are three things that the average man thinks he can do better than anybody else. Build a fire, run a hotel and manage a baseball team. -Rocky Bridges

by Jobu on May 23, 2006 8:46 PM CDT up reply actions

Walker

Doesn't belong anywhere near that group.

Replace the ivy with hemlock

by jc60625 on May 23, 2006 8:54 PM CDT up reply actions

It really poses the other questions on

what to do with Maddux, Wood, Jones, Hairston, Prior (if healthy) and where management sees the fielding core (Lee, Cedeno, Murton, Ramirez, Barret) in 2007 and 2008. Is this a team that can win with a few tweaks? I'm not sure. Maddux would seem to command real talent. Wood, whom I love to watch pitch, has a name and could draw interest as a rental. Really, the question looming is whether it is time to rebuild post 2003.

by N Oakley on May 23, 2006 9:24 PM CDT reply actions

I remember when

Leo Durocher was hired in the late sixties. He apparently had control over the roster because IIRC he made a statement, almost immediately after being placed on the payroll, that Banks, Williams, Santo, and Jenkins were untouchable. Everyone else was expendable. How many of you remember just how awful the team was back then? Leo turned it around in just a few short years (well, sort of turned it around).

Fast forward to 2006. Do we even have four players that we'd call untouchable? I personally think the only one right now would be Lee. I'd like to say Ramirez too but he just isn't getting it done and has hurt the team as much as he's helped. It's time to rebuild and to expect any kind of winner in the short term is just not reasonable. Team rebuild. The Marlins built, then rebuilt. After listening to tonights game I think they may be heading that way again.

The Cubs problem is the perception (by fans or front office or both) that they are like the Cardinals, Braves or Yankees in that they always seem to be competetive when the fact is they shoot up like a cheap bottle rocket every few years, only to fizzle and fall to the ground.

The entire organization needs serious work.

by Luigi on May 23, 2006 9:53 PM CDT reply actions

I would like to say that

Z was untouchable as well.

One could make a case for

Zambrano
Lee (No-Trade forces him to be)
Prior
So we have three..

by cubsfan2883 on May 23, 2006 10:12 PM CDT up reply actions

Prior

I hate to say this, but I'm ok with trading Prior

"In this life there are nothing but possibilities."

by flyball on May 24, 2006 9:16 AM CDT up reply actions

I am as well.

Hey, maybe we could trade Zambrano for Kazmir.

by baturkey on May 24, 2006 9:21 AM CDT up reply actions

Nah...

... some other team already did that.

by Al Yellon on May 24, 2006 10:11 AM CDT up reply actions

Well.....

....nit picking here I admit, but Durocher didn't exactly say that. At the start of the 1966 season, Leo's first, Jenkins was still a Phillie. He didn't like Banks, thinking him to be washed up, a shortstop who had to be switched to first base to prolong his career. What Leo said upon being hired by General manager John Holland, who was in charge of personnel, not Leo, was "this is not an eighth place team". As the story goes, he was right. In his first year they finished tenth.

by BeerCub on May 23, 2006 10:19 PM CDT up reply actions