this is stupid as hell, whatever, we’re kicking ass right now.

if jim edmonds is even a shadow, a SHADOW of his former glory days self, our lineup will become so terrifying.

but if he does what he will almost certainly do, which is suck TREMENDOUSLY, then he better be gone by the all-star break.

and finally, if he somehow gets it back – WOW (i only see point 2 as a real possibility, so i think this is probably the dumbest idea ever EVER)

Cubs have a need in center field.
Felix Pie isn’t the answer.
Reed Johnson is not an everyday player.
Lou Piniella insists he needs more left handed power.
Like it or not Jim Edmonds has had an exceptional career.
Jim Edmonds is a former multiple Gold Glove centerfielder.
Jim Edmonds has nearly 400 doubles and 400 HRs in his illustrous career.
Jim Edmonds is a winner, albeit with the hated St. Louis Cardinals all those years.
Jim Edmonds sports a World Series ring.
Jim Edmonds costs nothing and is minimal risk and all upside for the Cubs.

===

I telegraphed this move several days ago and was thrown under the bus here. Oh well. The move makes all sorts of sense for the Cubs. If Edmonds can play a couple days a week in complement to Reed Johnson then the Cubs are a better ballclub. That’s all that matters.

Just win baby.

Minus the 30 something good games he gave us…

Yeah, that’s EXACTLY what the Cubs need in a clutch moment.

Please.

This stinks. Unless Pie gets better soon, which is only gonna POSSIBLY happen if he plays more, give Reed Johnson the job – the guy’s earning it daily – and send Felix back to school.

We do NOT need this Edmonds. Great guy

I strongly suspect if Jim Edmonds spent all those years doing what he did for say, the Dodgers or the Red Sox, instead of the hated St. Louis Cardinals then most of the naysayers would be singing a much different tune.

Look, at one point we all hated Jim Edmonds. He was real easy to hate in St. Louis.

But looking via objective lens at this move??? It’s all upside and no downside for the Cubs. Edmonds isn’t coming to Chicago to play everyday at bat 3rd folks. Rather he is coming here to hopefully be a solid guy coming off the bench and complement Reed Johnson in center field.

The MISSION is to get better, win ballgames and WIN A FLIPPIN WORLD SERIES !!!! If Edmonds can help play a small role in that mission then I’m very happy.

P.S. Kenny Lofton stopped being a good center fielder 5 years ago. And Lofton has no power. Piniella keeps saying he needs left-handed hitting power.

Jim Edmonds. They’d be getting a shadow of what used to be Jim Edmonds. Stick a fork in him, but don’t dress him in cubbie blue.

The only reason Hendry would do this besides maybe having too much to drink last night or Edmonds’ agent having naked pics of him is

Getting 2 Angels on the team didn’t win so now he’s going the other way and signing Satan.

If Lofton is so good why isn’t anybody signing him?

HE WAS CUT BY THE WORST TEAM IN BASEBALL FOR A REASON…

wasn’t there jr griff talk just a little while ago? if we’re going to get a crappy over-the-hill CF then why go with edmonds? jr is a better option, lofton=better, bonds is better even w/”baggage” steve finley luis gonzales, BERNIE WILLIAMS

gimme a break – maybe hendry wants him so he can laugh and say “hi jim! OH – WE HAVE THE SAME NAME!!!!”

Given, the Cubs don’t make this move if Pie sticks, (actually Pie reminds me of Cedeno’s struggles where someone will be hip a year or two out and spell Felix IEP…).

Edmunds will cost nothing and will immediately have the respect of the team for he is a veteran of serious accomplishments. Edmunds will either flop in the next month and be released on a $280,000 non guaranteed contract hitting roughly what Pie was.

Johnson is a good player but now Piniella can play Johnson more in LF and rest Soriano’s sore hammie or quad’s. Heck I can see Sori producing after occasional rest like tonight.

So in the bandbox in Wrigley will Johnson-Edmunds batting 8th make the Cubs better, probably to July 15th. If Edmunds wants revenge on the Cardinals he might be a season long not like Gaetti but more like Eric Karros who provided solid 1B as the Cubs jettisoned a rookie favorite who also was highly touted with a big hole in his swing… Choi. Remember Karros and then remember Randall Simon who came over, Cubs would not have win with them.

NAME THE BETTER HITTER!

.248, 1 HR, 13 RBI .336 OBP .310 slugging ..

.178, 1 HR, 6 RBI .265 OBP .233 slugging ..

Yall can call me crazy but… Lou aint going to play Pie right now so he might as well be in AAA mashing building up trade value and getting consistent ABS…

THIS IS A NO RISK NO LOSS move… We get him and he sucks we release him. at no price. We get him and he is terrific We have a number five hitter. I want him on board. There is nothing wrong with this decision..

Fart on me and call me smelly but Felix isnt playing right now thanks to Lou so we might as well pick up a veteran than can hit rightites in a strick RHP LHP platoon

Oh by the way the Cubs just took 3 from one of the best teams in baseball. After tonight still look hot as ever. If Lou plays the hot hand wounld’t that be playing the team we have now. Obviously this team right now looks like it can take any series against any team.

Why change it?

No risk high reward crap, I hate that guy. Along with 90 percent of Cubs fans. He has been AWFUL for a couple of years now.

I wouldn’t mind having Edmonds (JUST BECAUSE the Cubs really dont have much to lose). The worst that happens is that he has a bad start and the Cubs just release him again.

I don’t really like that it would be at the expense of Felix Pie.

IT IS WAY TO EARLY TO GIVE UP ON FELIX.

Ok, 9th. inning tie game. Who do you want in CF?

A 2 WEEK TRIAL IF YOU WILL:

1) Option Mike Fontenot to Triple-A Iowa for 2 weeks
2) Sign Edmonds to the LEAGUE MINIMUM and give him a “test drive”

OR

1) Option Ronny Cedeno to Triple-A Iowa and have him play OUTFIELD for 2 weeks
2) Sign Edmonds and give him a “test drive”

If Edmonds isn’t what we’re looking for just release him. No harm, no foul.

Pie is outhitting Edmonds this season so far! And Edmond’s production has been declining steadily for the past four seasons. So the odds that we find a solution in center field for THIS season are minimal. And then we have no idea about what to do in center field for next season, and have burnt Pie’s last option year.

Ridiculous.

If Edmonds can find the magic for one year. This offense could be unbelievable. Moving Dome up to the top of the order. Let Edmonds hack away for a month or so to see if he still has it. In the same, let Pie go down to the ML and get some AB’s ….this is good, guys. we all just hate Edmonds because of his former employers.

We wont me giving up on Pie by any stretch.

It will give him a chance to play EVERYDAY and get more practice at his newly tuned swing.

Notorious slow starter, Edmunds rushed back to try to help his team that was sinking fast and now he is thankfully being released from a sink hole of a team that is emotionally destroyed by last year’s collapse.

Looking at his splits:
‘07 against RH: .268/.336/.419/ .755-OPS 9 HR’s 12-2B’s, 2-3B’s, 36-RBI’s in 284-AB’s
‘06 against RH: .295/.404/.543/ .947-OPS 15-HR’s 16-2B’s, 58-RBI’s in 254-AB’s
“05 against RH: 251/.385/.515/.900-OPS 21-HR’s, 27-2B’s 50-RBI’s in 342-AB’s

‘08 against RH .192/.286/.247/.533 1-HR, 1-2B, 6-RBI’s in 73-AB’s

Pie will work on his swing in the minors for the rest of the year, and hopefully, he can come up next year a better player.

Used to see him at Wrigley a lot back in the day. Not sure if he was alive then or not;)

We have two exciting young players in Cedeno and Pie, yet we play Johnson and Theriot every day, and now this foolishness with Edmonds.

...Edmonds brings zero upside and little value. I cant believe that Hendry would make or Lou would endorse this move.

per AB then we do Felix or Reed…. CF is the black hole… So if he sucks he sucks and we will cut him.. mAybe just maybe though he hits .270 with a bunch of doubles and some home runs while playing adequately… Can we all jsut agree to give him a chance????

I think a lineup of

Soriano, Dome, Lee, Ramirez, Edmonds, Soto, Derosa, Theriot… is potentially better than what we are looking at now… IMO…

going to happen. Gordon W. & his paper are in a desperate fight to survive. Did anybody watch “The Wire?” That is what is happening RIGHT NOW. Trust me.

What you find in the Daily Herald is very accurate. There’s a definite chance Edmonds might be offered a AAA contract. He will then refuse.

“Truth” is a concept now tossed around very lightly by byline writers in the S-T.

If the Tribune is having problems selling papers, what do you think is happening with the S-T? Anything goes - do whatever you have to - get a headline—sell some papers, quick. The sad state of modern journalism.

Fox News is Peabody Award-bound if this is what passes for responsible print journalism in Chicago.

From what I’ve heard, nothing has progressed beyond what I heard yesterday, that the Cubs are doing their “due diligence”.

I think it’s a bad move—Pie is outhitting Edmonds this year, and can probably play better defense, too. IF Edmonds is to be signed, I would send him to Iowa for a while first just to see if he can even play (which he didn’t seem to be doing with SD).

Bottom line is, the Cubs don’t seem to be having trouble scoring runs right now. The old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, would seem to cover this situation.

Please dont sign him,he is a washed up bum,thant will create problems inside the clubhouse,one of the worst sports in baseball.I saw this firts hand in Wrigley about 3yrs ago,he was in centerfield before the game talking trash to the bleacherbums.Hey in your house,o.k.,on the road,have some class.I bet you never saw Dawson do that!

I was listening to WMVP on the way home from the ballgame last night and I heard them talking that Bruce Levine was reporting that the Cubs were close to signing Edmonds and sending Pie down. I was hoping that I was hearing things.

Kasey

Their current stats indicate Pie is better and he is 15 years younger than Edmonds. This makes NO sense

but when you’re talking about replacing a kid that can’t hit right now and needs the everyday work – that he can’t get at the MLB level – it’s worth a flyer for less than $300k.

My guess is he’s pretty much run out of gas but even if he flames out, it’ll take a few weeks and that time spent by Pie in the minors to work on his plate discipline may just be enough.

To the debbie downers out there, this is NOT like a camp-Dusty move where he puts Neifi at SS in place of TheRiot in late ‘06.

Bruce Miles to be exact.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=189782&src=152

I will root for Jim Edmonds, but I think this would be an incredibly stupid move, especially if it involves burning Pie’s last option.

all but a done deal on ESPN 1000 AM right now.

He’s stating Edmonds to the Cubs is likely to happen and he fits a part time role now; exactly the Cubs’ intention.

Jayson is also talking about JR to the Mariners.

Last year I thought bringing in Kendall over bringing up Soto was a dumb move, but it turned out Kendall had something in the tank. Of course, Soto ended up giving us more and it would have been better to go with Soto.

I see this move as similar. It is not a NO COST move because it costs in Felix Pie’s development and it costs in terms of the total we could get from CF. It also costs in CF defense. Jim Edmonds is not a CF anymore. That Lou would look at a team that is outscoring all of baseball and thinks he needs to increase his offense at the cost of his defense is astounding.

That said, I think it is possible that Edmonds will surprise some people, just as Kendall did last year. I’m not willing to write off his 2008 potential based only on 90 ABs. Of course, there’s some irony in the fact that several posters above are giddy about Edmonds coming back despite the fact that he has worse #s in more ABs than Pie. In what baseball universe does the guy in his late 30s who seems to still be suffering from his concussions seem like a better bet than the guy in his early 20s whose #s are trending upwards?

Stark this morning that this is all but done…I don’t agree with the move based on his recent performance, but it’s low risk. He is nothing better than a bench guy/pinch hitter. If it happens and he helps, so be it.

Between them they’ve had 1 correct rumor on the Cubs in their career.

Let me preclude this statement by saying that I do not think this is a great move and that Jim Edmonds is not the answer in CF.

However, we knew this was coming. We just dont want it to be JE. Maybe because he is an ex-Cardinal and/or because he is just flat out done.

But we do need to make a move in CF. We have all be saying that Pie needs more playing time be it here or in Iowa.

Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. We bring in Edmonds, he contributes a bit in the beginning and then regresses..becoming the washed up player we know he is. All this while platooning with Reed Johnson. Johnson probably getting 2/3 of the starts.

Then Pie gets a chance to play everyday in Iowa. Bat him 1 or 2 and make him focus on shortening that swing and utilizing his speed.

Mid-Season rolls around, we axe Edmonds, bring back Pie, and work him into the starting lineup batting 7th or 8th.

Just my thoughts….only wish it was someone other than Edmonds.

IIRC he is on record as saying that he is afraid of the bricks & ivy and I’d say it’s safe to say that he isn’t a very popular guy in this city (lord knows I hate him). I just don’t see how this makes any sense for him.

It kinda reminds me of a few years ago when the Bulls had John Starks. It doesn’t make sense.

Minimal risk for the Cubs and a lot of upside potential. Edmonds FITS what the Cubs, and importantly Piniella insists, this team needs.

If Edmonds wasn’t a Cardinal for all those years we wouldn’t be having this furious debate. We just wouldn’t. Instead I bet the big majority of people would be cautiously optimistic that the Cubs could catch lightning in a bottle.

The mission is this folks…win baseball game and get to the World Series. If Edmonds can be one more piece of the puzzle to fulfill that mission then I say welcome aboard. If he doesnt’ get the job done, then he’s gone.