Chicago Cubs 2004

[Cornhuskerly]

Chicago Cubs 2004

Previous Seasons

2003 (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=172476#post172476)

Manager Contract

With my contract up, I cautiously walk into the owner's office. I'm not nervous, since I met his expectations, but you never know what could happen. He offers me a 1-year, $600,000 contract to stay with the Cubs through 2004. It's not ideal, but I accept.

Owner mood: 99
Team chemistry: 99
Owner expects: Play better than .500 ball in 2004!

Reasonable expectations; hopefully, if I can add a few key free agents, they will be easily exceeded. But with defending champion St. Louis and ever-dangerous Houston in our division, you never know. The free agent season will be crucial for almost every team in the league, as young stars are available and not too many teams have a lot of room to work with.

Coach Signings

I fire pitching coach Larry Rothschild and our AAA manager, whose name I have already forgotten. Along with the newly vacant AA position, we now have three open slots to fill.

I go all out, and we sign three solid coaches to long-term deals, all over $1 million per year. Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre (LEGENDARY), AAA manager Tom Lawless (Outsanding/Good), and AA manager Dave Clark (Excellent/Excellent) all climb on board. With a young team, these signings should help out immensely.

St. Louis loses its pitching coach and signs a new one with a rating of "average".

...


On an unfortunate note, our payroll has risen to over $50 million, which greatly hinders our ability to go after a great young player. Our income last year gives us about $9 million to blow, and we have a lot of money in the bank, but I don't want to spend that yet. I'm hoping for a higher revenue this year.

[Cornhuskerly]

Needs

SP: With Estes and Castillo in the market, we need to replace them. Glenn Bott is ready to take over the #4 or #5 spot, but we're still one short. With no lefties in the rotation, that appears to be the logical path; however, there are no solid lefty free agents out there. Pedros Martinez and Astacio are available, as is Bartolo Colon, Greg Maddux, and Jeff D'amico. I will also look to be active on the trading block.

C: Damian Miller did a mediocre job last year, and is clearly on his way down. None of our divisional opponents have stars at catcher, so this would be a good opportunity to get a leg up on them with a signing or trade. Pudge is available but would probably command too much money; also out there are Gary Bennett, Javy Lopez, and Doug Mirabelli. Pudge is the only one who I will initially consider for a signing.

RF: Orlando Palmeiro did an excellent job of stepping in late last year and was rewarded with a three-year contract, but realistically, he isn't a player that will lead us to a championship. A slew of big names are out there, such as Sammy Sosa, Gary Sheffield, Juan Gonzalez, and Vladimir Guerrero; once again, however, I don't think we can put up the money for these guys.

MR: Francis Beltran will help, but we really need a nice solid reliever here. Guthrie was terrible and will be traded, Veres could collapse this year at 37, and I've lost hope for Kyle Farnsworth and Juan Cruz. Solid middle relievers are dime-a-dozen in this game, so hopefully I can get a steal and still keep enough money to go after a Pudge or a Bartolo Colon.

Priorities: SP, RF, C, MR

---

[Cornhuskerly]

I start with what should be the easiest of the four needs to fill, which is middle reliever. The entire league seems to be a little bit short in this department, but I approach Oakland about a nice young reliever of theirs, 24-y-o Joe Valentine. LF Chris Magruder was developing nicely, but was by no means a long-term solution for us.

Cubs get RHP Joe Valentine from A's for LF Chris Magruder, P Chadd Blasko, and LF Jason Fransz.

I'm disappointed with the asking prices of nearly all the free agent starting pitchers. I don't put an offer through to most of them; Pedro is the only one asking for a reasonably low price, and we can't afford him. I put in conservative offers to SS Miguel Tejada, Pudge, and Bartolo Colon. None should be high enough to land the big fish.

On day 2, we get the normal three e-mails. Tejada surprises me by telling me that he likes my offer. Colon has been offered more money by Seattle, and Pudge laughs in my face. If we sign Tejada, then I plan to deal Bellhorn for a starting pitcher. In a "why not" move, I offer Guerrero a 7-year deal for $12.5 million per. He only has a few offers on the table, so we might get lucky. On a sour note, Houston appears to be seriously pursuing Ivan Rodriguez. Sosa surprisingly has no offers, so he might be an interesting possibility if he keeps it up, which is unlikely.

On day 3, we get two e-mails. Guerrero laughs at our offer, and Tejada has received more money. I offer him a 7-year deal at $10.5 million per, but I don't expect it to go through. Sosa and Renteria are possibilities at this point, although I don't have an offer to either of them. I shop around Bellhorn to see what type of players he would fetch, and the response is generally good--St. Louis would even give us Jason Isringhausen. We'll see how the next few days of this process play out first, however.

Day 4 is off to a good start as Tejada informs us that he is favoring our offer at the moment. Sosa still has no offer. In an interesting move, St. Louis has passed Houston as the frontrunner for Ivan Rodriguez. This could be very interesting.

[Cornhuskerly]

As we move along, it appears that our entire plan is on the verge of collapsing.

Renteria was signed for about $5 million/year by Tampa Bay. Sosa has been offered big money, apparently, so that's out of the works as well. Pudge signs happily with St. Louis. Houston is now in the running for Tejada, who is joyously raising his asking price to well over $15 million. Pedro goes to San Francisco. Colon goes to Cleveland. Guerrero won't sign.

We still hope to land Tejada and trade Bellhorn, which has become more expensive than initially expected.

Finally, on day 15, we land Tejada. $15.5 million per year through 2010. This puts us overbudget by a considerable amount, but that should be helped by unloading Bellhorn's $3.75 million dollar contract. I'm now leaning towards hopefully picking up a young star in the making rather than a pricey veteran. We'll see how it shakes out.

Angel Guzman will be given a shot at the major league level at some point in the year--he only has an ERA rating of 4, but maybe he'll work some magic for us.

None of the top pitching prospects are even at AAA, so I nix that idea.

More from the trading front later...

[Cornhuskerly]

I made a large number of trades after we sign Tejada, and overall I'd say we came out in pretty good shape for now and in good shape for the future. Jeremy Affeldt was acquired as our fifth starter. He went 19-7 with an ERA in the high 3's last year for Kansas City. With so many question marks in our rotation, it'll be a tough call on the order.

<pre><size=2>
Trade between Chicago (N) and New York (A) :
New York (A) gets :
P Alan Benes
Chicago (N) gets :
1B Jamie D'Antona

Trade between Chicago (N) and Tampa Bay :
Tampa Bay gets :
RF Charles Gipson
P Dave Veres
Chicago (N) gets :
SS Jorge Cantu

Trade between Chicago (N) and Kansas City :
Kansas City gets :
SS Mark Bellhorn
P Will Ohman
Chicago (N) gets :
LF Derek Cox
P Jeremy Affeldt

Chicago (N): Released P Phil Norton.
Chicago (N): Released P Matt Bruback.
Chicago (N): Released P Billy Petrick.
Chicago (N): Released LF Midre Cummings.
Chicago (N): Released P Scott Chiasson.
Chicago (N): Released P Jeff Verplancke.
Chicago (N): Released 1B Brad Bouras.
Chicago (N): Released LF Ray Sadler.
Chicago (N): Released CF Adam Greenberg.
Chicago (N): Released 1B Micah Hoffpauir.
Chicago (N): Released 2B Jermel Spearman.
Chicago (N): Released SS Matt Craig.
Chicago (N): Released C Jeff Goldbach.
Chicago (N): Released 2B Luis Montanez.
Chicago (N): Released 3B Alfredo Francisco.
Chicago (N): Released P Ricky Nolasco.
Chicago (N): Released RF J.J. Johnson.
Chicago (N): Released CF Mike Mallory.
Chicago (N): Released P Jason Wylie.

Chicago (N): Free agent C Corky Miller has been signed to a contract of $500,000 per year, for 1 years.

Chicago (N): Free agent 1B Robert Fick has been signed to a contract of $980,000 per year, for 2 years.

</pre>

In other news, San Francisco has ended up signing both Guerrero and Pedro, giving them the second-highest payroll in the league. We'll see how that plays out--if they struggle, will they put their newly signed stars on the market?

Our weaknesses are listed as the following: second base and right field. The AI doesn't seem to think that $4.5 million second baseman Luis Castillo will get the job done. I'm working to trade for a good 2B prospect; however, we'll see how Luis fares before replacing him.

[Cornhuskerly]

St. Louis Cardinals

*= new addition
**= rookie

Lineup...

LF Marrero
2B Phillips
C Rodriguez*
1B Pena
CF Edmonds
3B Rolen
RF Hidalgo*
SS Lopez*

Rotation...

RHP Valdes*
RHP Morris
RHP Journell
RHP Williams
LHP Perez

CL Isringhausen

Strengths...


Power-hitting lineup
Added Rodriguez
Defending World Champs
Young but experienced


Weaknesses...


Thin starting pitching
No ace
Corner outfielders

[Cornhuskerly]

Houston Astros

*= new addition
**= rookie

Lineup...

CF Hunter
3B Blum
LF Berkman
2B Kent
RF Allen*
1B Bagwell
SS Lugo
C Lopez*

Rotation...

RHP Oswalt
RHP Miller
RHP Roa*
LHP Hernandez
RHP Munro

CL Wagner

Strengths...


Wagner
Berkman/Kent in the middle of the lineup
Excellent bullpen


Weaknesses...


No ace
3-5 starting pitchers are mediocre at best
Thin lineup

[Cornhuskerly]

Cincinnati Reds

Lineup...

1B Harvey
SS Caruso*
RF Kearns
CF Griffey, Jr.
LF Dunn
3B Larson
2B Boone
C LaRue

Rotation...

RHP Dempster
LHP Hampton*
RHP Hudson
RHP Graves
RHP Reitsma

CL Williamson

Strengths...


Powerful lineup
Young


Weaknesses...


Rotation
1,2,6-8 of lineup
Middle relief

[Cornhuskerly]

Milwaukee Brewers

Lineup...

2B Figgins
CF Krynzel**
1B Sexson
LF Jenkins
RF Nixon
3B Palmer*
SS Ginter
C Machado

Rotation...

LHP Franklin
RHP Ponson*
LHP Rusch
RHP Neugebauer**
RHP Mlicki

CL Viscaino

Strengths...


Decent lineup overall
Signed Ponson


Weaknesses...


3-5 starters
Mediocre bullpen
Lots of K's

[Cornhuskerly]

Pittsburgh Pirates

Lineup...

CF Lofton
C Doumit**
1B Hansen*
LF Giles
RF Davis
3B Mackowiak
SS Castillo
2B Nelson**

Rotation...

RHP Vogelsong
RHP Benson
RHP Wells
RHP Fogg
LHP Williams

CL Williams

Strengths...


Giles
Good 1-3 in rotation
Young


Weaknesses...


Bullpen is horrendous
Lineup will struggle
Inexperienced

[Cornhuskerly]

Chicago Cubs

Lineup...

2B Castillo
CF Patterson
LF Pujols
1B Choi
SS Tejada*
3B Teixeira
RF Palmeiro
C D. Miller

Rotation...

RHP Prior
RHP Wood
LHP Affeldt*
LHP Bott**
RHP Zambrano

CL Gagne

Strengths...


Bullpen
Good 1-6 in lineup
Young
Good rotation, starting at the top with Prior


Weaknesses...


Inexperienced rotation
3 question marks at the bottom of the rotation--flukes?

[Cornhuskerly]

We appear to have a good chance to take the division, but the usual suspects will be right there with us. Houston and St. Louis both made moves during the off-season to bolster their lineup, but hopefully their rotations won't last long. Prior is easily the best pitcher in the division.

We'll have a TON of people either up for arbitration or free agency after this year, so a nice profit couldn't hurt--however, we might simply break even.

[Cornhuskerly]

Total record: 32-23 (.582)
Home record: 14-14 (.500)
Away record: 18-9 (.667)
Position: T-1st with St. Louis
ERA: 4.07 (9th)
Avg.: .270 (8th)

Lineup...

2B Castillo .292-0-15-16
CF Patterson .239-5-24-9
LF Pujols .344-24-54
1B Choi .210-9-20
SS Tejada .277-15-39
3B Teixeira .341-7-30
RF Palmeiro .277-0-26
C D. Miller .298-2-16

Rotation...

RHP Prior (6-5, 2.81)
LHP Affeldt (8-3, 2.85)
RHP Wood (5-3, 3.67)
LHP Bott (2-3, 4.01)
RHP Zambrano (1-2, 7.13)

Bullpen...

RHP Gonzalez (3-2, 4.97) (acquired 5/1 from LA for P Christiensen)
LHP Guthrie (1-0, 0.89)
RHP Cordero (1-2, 9.57)

RHP Dotel (2-0, 2.25)
RHP Valentine (1-2, 7.98) (0 ER last 9 games)

RHP Gagne (3-0, 1.32, 16/16 saves)

Division leaders...

Tampa Bay
Cleveland
Anaheim
Montreal
Chicago (N)/St. Louis
Colorado/San Francisco

MVP watch...

(AL) NYY 2B Alfonso Soriano (.348-13-42...1.051 OPS)
(AL) TEX SS Alex Rodriguez (.276-22-57...1.008 OPS)
(AL) ANA CF Darin Erstad (.345-6-35...23 SB)
(NL) CHC LF Albert Pujols (.344-24-54...1.127 OPS)
(NL) CIN RF Austin Kearns (.356-19-57...1.153 OPS)
(NL) COL RF Larry Walker (.377-15-37...1.200 OPS)

Cy Young watch...

(AL) SEA RHP Rafael Soriano (8-2, 2.33)
(AL) OAK LHP Barry Zito (5-1, 2.61)
(AL) SEA RHP Clint Nageotte (7-2, 2.93)
(NL) SF RHP Pedro Martinez (8-1, 1.03)
(NL) SF RHP Kurt Ainsworth (3-2, 1.73)
(NL) CHC RHP Mark Prior (6-5, 2.61)

Rookie of the year watch...

(AL) TEX RF Jackson Melian (.283-2-13-9)
(AL) TEX LF Laynce Nix (.269-10-24)
(AL) OAK RHP Chad Harville (4-2, 4.20)
(NL) PIT C Ryan Doumit (.319-4-19)
(NL) ATL RHP Matt Wright (3-3, 3.68)
(NL) PHI RHP Matt Guerrier (2-4, 3.92)

[Cornhuskerly]

This will be continued after my year with IU is up...I have played through August 1 right now.