Full Court Press

Please tell me this is a sick joke.

At this point, is Kenny Lofton any worse of an outfielder than Edmonds?

I guess I'll just wait for his inevitable trip to the D.L. and see who they plug in next.

Is the "untouchable" and the next "can't miss" CF ever going to get it together?

I would love to see a list of players that were offered for the supposed Hendry "untouchables".

I dont think it would hurt to ad him. WHat do the cubs have to lose. If it doesnt work out they can cut him lose or send him down to the minors and bring pie back up

I dont think it would hurt to ad him. WHat do the cubs have to lose. If it doesnt work out they can cut him lose or send him down to the minors and bring pie back up

We would only have to pay him the league minimum 280k. Its worth the chance. Pie cannot hit for anything, and Edmonds would provide power all the way down the line. All of you are talking about his slow start, Soriano wasnt any better a few days ago. Edmonds seems to have a drive to beat the Cardinals because of the way they parted, which is good news for us. Why not add a left handed power hitter. Pie is good, but he's the future, we need to win NOW.

why not? He can't be much worse than soriano can he? And if he ever starts to hit even a little he'd be a good bat on the bench. If he can still play a little outfield then you can send pie down where he can play and platoon johnson and edmonds.

The main thing, is you don't lose anything by signing him, its not like you're sending 5 good players to baltimore for him. Might as well give him a try, won't sandiego have to pay his salary anyway?

If he and soriano both got hot and were added to the cubs line up, well, then you might have something fun to watch. And if you don't have to pay him much ist would bring down the average cost per player in the outfield from absurd to merely ridiculous.

@ eberhard

"why not? He can't be much worse than soriano can he?"

2007 Soriano: .299, 33 HR, 70 RBI, 19 SB

2007 Edmonds: .252, 12 HR, 53 RBI, 0 SB

Soriano 07 OPS: .897
Edmonds 07 OPS: .728

I'm sorry, but that's one of the most ridiculous statements of all-time.

Even if Edmonds amazingly returns to his 2004 form its still not going to help the Cubs. They'll Still be Completely Useless By September. GO CARDS

Cue the Sam Kinison scream

"Edmonds was dumped unceremoniously by the St. Louis Cardinals last winter in a trade for minor-league third baseman David Freese and is motivated by the opportunity to help a division rival beat his old team."

Do you make this stuff up? Or are you just another hack Chicago writer. Edmonds asked to be traded after he couldn't get the Cardinals to guarantee him a starting position. He's the one that turned down a trade to the White Sox and asked to be traded to a west coast team. Check your facts before making a bigger fool of yourself than you already have.

I'm excited that Hendry has Lou Piniella and Alan Trammel to consult with about personnel decisions..

As much as I like Pie...I'll take a reportedly motivated Jim Edmonds over Felix at this point in time

Have you naysayers forgotten how many times Edmonds beat the Cubs with either his glove, bat ,or both? If his injury is totally cured and the weather warms up, he will decidedly be a great asset. Pie has looked better lately but still needs to develop some offensive consistency. Another stint in the minors, playing every day, can't hurt and might help. Another left-handed bat with power to burn is great insurance at a bargain price. I would not be surprised if he ends up taking Reed J'S place as the everyday starter, even though reed has been almost as good an addition as Fukudome.

At this stage of the game, it won't hurt. Besides, who knows, jumping Jim might add some flash. If you remember, last year, it took big Z to start whaling on Micheal Barrett. So bring in Edmonds, and if it doesn't work out, let big Z smack him around.

I feel sick. He epitomizes the Cardinal teams that I have hated over the years. Maybe I could accept him if he helped us beat the Cardinals every game.

Roman responds: The word is he's motivated to make the Cards regret letting him go for a bag of balls.

I am not convinced that Pie can ever hit major league hitting. for the mjor league minimum, what have you got to lose? They can always release him if it doesn't work out

I wouldn't trade for Edmonds, but if he clears waivers, it's a good deal. It may allow Pie to fix his batting stroke (for the last time, hoepfully)

We don't need edmonds. Plus, i think he is a little fruity.

Please Cubs...do not sign Jim Edmonds. He is washed up, and never liked his act with the Cardinals. He gets bad jumps on fly balls intentionally, so he can make diving catches.
The Cubs have several options:
1) Keep Pie in the major leagues and let him learn with Lou and Perry as hitting coaches. The teammates like Felix and the Cubs lead the league in runs.
2) Use an internal option, such as put Cendeno in center, call up Murton moving Fukodome to center, or call up the Iowa center fielder.
3) Trade for a long term option in center...example David DeJesus.
Please do not sign Edmunds!

Can he hit a curve ball?

guys like eberhard make mw sick. Why dont you go be a fair weather yankees fan. A player can be great for his wholr career like soriano and he has a slow start. Not a bad year but slow start and now he is a bum. There is nothing worse than an ignorant fan. Just like the people who said Randy Moss was washed up. Had nothing to do with the terrible quarterback or horrid line. An all pro receiver is all of the sudden washed up. Go root for another team because we dont do that in Chicago. We are loyal fans and most importantly we have common sense. Soriano is a great player and at the end of the year his number will always balance out. If your boss viewed things the same way you do then you probably would not have a job. Learn to look over all the facts before you make a comment. Allstars dont turn into bums in 3 weeks stupid. Children want everything right now. Grow up.

He used to be a very good player but he looks like you can stick a fork in him now.
If he is really healthy and back to his old form then they would probably not be putting him on waivers in the first place.
Unless you had the DH in the National league then why even bother with this?

ricky, your response is so last year, a few more comparisons:

08
A. Soriano: .232
J. Edmonds: .178

soriano: 18.2 million
edmonds: 280 thousand

soriano: bunny hops
edmunds: belly flops

soriano: 7 more years
edmonds: day to day

soriano: right handed free swinger with more 0 and 2 counts than Corey Paterson
edmunds: left handed power hitter with fading power

soriano: not really a leadoff hitter and no real defensive position
edmonds: can pinch hit and play some center field

soriano: maybe most overpaid outfielder since the original hopper
edmonds: with reed johnson, maybe the lowest cost outfield platoon in team history

soriano: often injures himself running bases and fielding lazy fly balls
edmonds: often injures himself diving for fly balls

edmonds: former hated cardinal
soriano: former hated yankee, and irrelevant ranger and national

soriano: big name, big ego, hyped signing to sell tickets
edmonds: waiver wire pickup veteran player to fill team need

soriano: plays well under no pressure against weak competition
edmunds: proven veteran producer on championship teams

soriano: another hendry hope signing more wishing than producing
edmonds: filling hole in center and lineup due to Cubbie wishing and hoping for yet another prospect that hasn't lived up to his hype, hope and poor player evaluation

soriano big money signing to make splash and fill seats, if doesn't work stuck with him for years and years and years
edmonds kind of addition to roster championship teams make, if doesn't work, gone and forgotton

Roman responds: I'm in awe of the volume of your post.

It looks like Edmonds has lost about 30lbs after the steriods crackdown hit the fan... he's washed up but still probably better that pie.

This is going to end up being a stupid, stupid, STUPID move. The sort of stupid move that has a lot of potential of looking back in September when we're officially going to finish below .500 and say, "remember when we'd just won 5 in a row then took that flier on Edmonds, then lost 10 of 14 and never recovered?"

He's an awful player and should have no spot on this team. There's "no risk" my butt. The risk is ruining a season that's going very well to this point. And you have no potential reward of this guy being any better than he was in St. Louis last season.

This is going to end up being a stupid, stupid, STUPID move. The sort of stupid move that has a lot of potential of looking back in September when we're officially going to finish below .500 and say, "remember when we'd just won 5 in a row then took that flier on Edmonds, then lost 10 of 14 and never recovered?"

He's an awful player and should have no spot on this team. There's "no risk" my butt. The risk is ruining a season that's going very well to this point. And you have no potential reward of this guy being any better than he was in St. Louis last season.

"IF" he's healthy, he definitely could be an asset because he could always hit with power. In our lovely band box, he's always a threat. Maybe all he needs is to be on a team really playing with purpose, a dose of Sweet Lou, and a fresh outlook.

Washed up comes to mind, when talking about Edmonds...Oh, and cynicism for an ex-teammate of McGwire's whose BA and HRs have tailed off dramatically in the steroid testing era.

The dude wore an actual winter jacket under his uniform during the 2006 World Series, one of the worst uniform gaffes of this century. Evidence of this monstrosity here: http://static.flickr.com/108/277018181_0e610f13cd.jpg?v=0

Edmonds might have one little spurt left in him, and Wrigley may help turn a few of his increasingly shallow flies morphy into wind-blown doubles, but he's basically done.

cubs, please do not sign this washed up jim edmonds. why did the cards and padres both relese him? can't hit and is a show-off by playing shallow and then diving and maybe catch the ball. please,please, don't waste the time and effort on jimmy edmonds.

Jim, say it ain't so.

Remember Prior whining about the Cards?
Remember Zambrano whining about the Cards?
Remember the Cards winning the World Series in 2006 while the Cubs folded in 2007 with a much stronger team than anyone else in the NL?

Have some pride. Walk away from the game.

Tony L. will love you even more... and he'll go drinking with you!

Pie, Johnson, Edmonds. All Bums, Should package all 3 off to Texas for Josh Hamilton. WHO WE SHOULD HAVE KEPT - Thanks to our Round, but friendly GM, Jumbo Jim. Well done!

I don't care for Edmonds all that much. He may be a bargain, if if and throw in another if. I'm just wondering when it is the Cubs are going to develop a prospect. Pie's numbers right now aren't great -- but neither is the 14-million-dollar man, Soriano. One minute Pie is the centerfielder, then he has an 0-4 and he's benched for a week. Meanwhile, Soriano, aka the Leadoff Hitter, was hitting sub-.200 for weeks and posting more goose eggs than a poultry farm -- and apparently that was fine.

Pie's the next great thing = never given a chance. They've probably screwed the kid up mentally for good. In AAA they put him in the 3-spot where he hit for power and average, but was a high-strikeout guy. That's probably not going to change. But they want him to hit lower in the order and play small ball all of a sudden? Call it Corey Patterson Redux. They want plate discipline from Pie and yet he's Soriano's buddy? Probably the worst thing that could happen to him...

The Cubs farm system is an embarrassment. So let's keep buying veterans -- it hasn't gotten the Yankees a championship. They won with a bunch of farm talent.

Well, he might turn out to be like that guy the Cubs got from Detroit-can't remember his name- who was kind of a bust.

But if he's physically okay, he knows Wrigley Field and can provide good defense but last season, he really wasn't hitting much for the Cards. He was striking out with regularity.

Maybe he can be a placekeeper for Pie, assuming something can be done about his hitting back down in Triple A - AGAIN.

Ricky you best get this up quick...it will cost 280,000 my friend, but the point is unless the Cubs make a move for a Reggie Willits type (which would cost the Cubs a Hill-type) there isn't another proven lefty CFer on the market. Got to do whats best for the now and you can always dump him when he fail...out!

if they do this jim hendry should be fired everybody talks about pie can't hit, he's hitting better than edmonds now. edmonds can't hit can't throw and he can't run what are you going to use him for? why don't you just trade pie so he can go some where else and be successful remember the lou brock trade smart guys.

How about a post "What's up with Buerhle?"

Or one about whether the Sox should sit Thome and drop Konerko in the order.

Or one about favorite Cubs curses/hexes/voodoo-rama to see if we can steal their mojo before we have to listen to overpaid, drunk "nort-siders" wax unintelligently about the potential end to 100 years of Cub futility.

Why wouldn't you take a flyer on Jim Edmonds? Gary Gaetti was washed up in 1998, but he helped. I wouldn't build my hopes on Edmonds, but as a proven piece to the puzzle. If your clubhouse isn't strong enough to handle Edmonds, you release him. By the way when did the Cubs have Josh Hamilton?

I'll be brief.

Korry, feel better now after our little tantrum? Sorry if I offended your love of soriano. He did have that one 40/40 year with the nationals, that makes him a superstar in your world? Check back with me after years 5,6, and 7 of his contract, the cubs will be paying his huge salary to play for some other up the track team by then. Even his own manager compared him to Bobby Bonds, remember how many teams he was run off to?? Do you remember why?

The idea of Edmonds in a Cubs uniform makes me physically ill. Not only is he terrible at this point, ask Kevin Towers, but he's a Cardinal that I was conditioned to severely dislike for a long period of time. He is so washed up that if you threw him in the Mississippi he'd float North.

Furthermore, we don't need offensive help at this point. If I'm not mistaken we've scored the most runs in baseball. Where we need the help is on defense, and Edmonds has no chance of ever cutting off anything in the gap, EVER!.

This will be up there with the Kal Daniels signing....it will be funny to watch him run around the bases, as his knees stopped bending too.

You dump a guy hitting .229 for a guy hitting .178 and then talk about potential. I'd rather keep the Pie in the sky than hope for pie in the sky. You're right Roman,this would've been something a few years ago. I once said that fans would take a washed-up player who beat us often and pretend like they still have it. You guys have only 3 more years before Brett Favre becomes an overnight sensation in a BEAR's uniform.

and so what Pie has been a 6 year project...Wade Boggs spent 6 years in the minors...he just needed chicken...that's good news cuz Ramirez has lots...Pie will be back

and did I mention Piniella and Trammel?...Angelo, Lovie, Reinsdorf, and Paxson have everyone questioning everything...Lou, Alan, and Jim have everything under control...good baseball guys

and in my best Roger Daltry...The Cubs are alright

I am literally dying laughing at every poster here who is comparing Edmonds to either Soriano or Pie solely on batting average. That might be the dumbest way to evaluate the two hitters. You can't just use batting average.

Oh and Roman, you don't play baseball in a clubhouse. You play it on a field. And on the field, you barely play with your teammates at all. It's like 98% individual. Cubs players are not going to magically start playing worse if nobody likes Jim Edmonds. Go ahead, prove it.

To start the 2007 season, the White Sox signed Darin Erstad, one of MLB's "Kings of Chemistry". In the eyes of most people (not me) the team wildly underperformed. Erstad was terrible. No amount of "chemistry" he provided could save the team.

Go ahead. Prove to me one SIGNIFICANT way that chemistry matters. It's a stupid, stupid media-invented concept that started because some boneheads couldn't figure out the ACTUAL reasons that a team is winning, so they just said, "Hmmmm....maybe they just really like each other!" That's it! They're hitters are turning their good feelings into singles and the pitchers are riding waves of happiness to strikeouts galore!

That's garbage. And you know it.

Roman responds: Noles, I don't have to prove anything to you. Besides, as you know, since chemistry is a concept, you can't prove its effects. Asking me to do so is just your way of being a smart ass.
Besides, the players themselves believe in it. You know, the guys who actually play the game. Again, you sound like you have played in the bigs, so I'm sorry for offending you. But to me, chemistry isn't about cheerleading. It's sometimes about playing a certain way, perhaps with a certain amount of enthusiasm, and inspiring teammates to raise their game or intensity.
A guy with a negative attitude can affect a team's chemistry in a big way. I saw it on the Bulls, and I think that's one of the things that happened with Big Hurt in Toronto. I know he wasn't hitting and there was an incentive to consider, but there still were reports of him sulking and being a malconent. I think it was a factor.
Look, I don't mind debating you, but is it possible for you to not be such a smart-ass and think you know it all? Possible?

Roman...unfortunately Noles is correct about the whole chemistry thing just ask Jim Leyland: ""All that [stuff] has been media [stuff] for years -- great chemistry, great clubhouse. That's the biggest bunch of [baloney] in the history of sports. Every time somebody wants to talk about great chemistry, [forget] the chemistry in the clubhouse. I'm interested in winning games, period. I don't know who came up with it, but the worst word ever used now is chemistry. That's something you take in school. That's a class you take. If he gets people out, he'll be fun in the clubhouse. If we win games, I'll be fun in the clubhouse. If we don't, I won't be fun in the clubhouse, either."...i trust his word over both yours and Noles...

Roman responds: I can quote hundreds of players who say just the opposite. I saw that interview with Leyland, Dubs, and it was done while the Tigers were struggling and Leyland was irritated and tired of the questions. And I"m sure he believes what he said. For the love of God, I am not saying I would rather have a chemistry guy than a productive guy. Do you understand that? Is that clear? I'm saying a positive influence in the clubhouse can help and a negative one can hurt. Got it?

So, you've got yor #1 prospect. He's a ++defensive player, he's superfast, he hits .362/.410/.563 at AAA last year, he performs well in spring training, he bats lefty for a line-up of almost all right handers. there's an opening at his position on your ballclub.

How long do you give this prospect until he adjusts to major league pitching? half a year? two months? ONE month? For the Cubs, the answer was 4 days. Then they pulled the plug on Pie...trotting him out there 2 of every 5 games or so now. Really a good way to establish a rhythm.

So, now that he's been doing a bit better, they plan to bring in a washed up, slow batted, slow afoot, concusioned riddled veteran, who is having a significantly WORSE year than Pie, mind you, to take his place - stunting his growth further.

Patterson was his own undoing. he got opportunity after opportunity. The Cubs are ruining Felix Pie. He's NEVER gotten a realistic opportunity in CF on this team. NEVER.

Oh, and by the way, the Cubs have the highest scoring offense in the league with the best run differential. Do you think they can afford to let a guy adjust to the majors? Stupid Stupid Stupid move.

It's a Dusty move. Play Neifi Perez instead of Theriot in 2006.

Roman responds:
Noles, I don't have to prove anything to you. ....
Look, I don't mind debating you, but is it possible for you to not be such a smart-ass and think you know it all? Possible?

==

And you started a blog because????

Roman responds: Again Culzie, I miss your point. Are you implying that because I started this blog I can't call out someone who's an incredible smart-ass? Is that your point Culzie? I like some of Noles' post, I just don't like guys who act like they know everything. I guess that's why you and I have had problems.

Sure the players believe in it. "Chemistry" does exist. It's just not important for winning baseball games.

Don't reference the Bulls as a reason why chemistry matters. The Bulls play basketball. Chemistry IS important in basketball. In basketball you need to work with your teammates to win games. In baseball, the team as a whole is essenti