Hot Stove

The GM meetings have kicked off in LA this week and so begins the hot stove league. Fellow die-hard Tim has outlined his wishlist of free agents and has a somewhat optomistic outlook on the Cubs offseason acquistions. What I find funny (sad? because it is so obvious) about his list is that the top 3 players on the list are leadoff men and two of the three are outfielders.

My Top Priorities for the Offseason

1. Rafael Furcal - young, coming into his own, improved fielder and strong connection to Neifi Perez who was his mentor and recently resigned with the club.
   
2. Brian Giles - quality bat that fills one of the holes in the outfield
   
3. Bullpen arms - Ryan Dempster converted 33/35 saves and eerily reminds me of Joe B. circa 2003. Always need depth here but I don't think after we resigned Dempster for 3 years $15.5M a run at a big name closer is going to happen.
   
4. Starting Pitcher (Mid-Tier) - This is where good scouting and smart GM's make their hay. Wood can't be counted on completing a full year and the need for another decent starter is something that I think is getting over looked.
   
5. AJ Burnett or Kevin Millwood - Seriously, is there a limit on how many quality can you have? This isn't that high a priority (a top tier starter) only because of the glaring needs elsewhere (Read: OF) but it would be a shame if we get shut out of the top players in the other holes and don't make a serious effort at signing one of these arms.
   

A glaring omission in this list is a centerfielder. I really want Johnny Damon but think his contract demands aren't really going to be that appealing to the Cubs and I think that the Marlins are going to want too much for Juan Pierre given his struggles last year. That leaves us with the enigma that is Corey Patterson and the touted youngster Felix Pie to fight for the job next spring. Baseball Prospectus has done a great job of scaring the hell out of me on Pie but after Corey basically crapped the bed last year (.215 avg and 118 K's) and wasn't (isn't?) willing to play winter ball I am willing to roll the dice on Felix.

Couple more Cubs related bits:

I can't help but wonder if the Neifi signing wasn't more to help land Furcal than it was as insurance and bench help. Neifi is a big-time Dusty guy and is a solid backup but the Cubs could have replaced him for a lot less than what they signed him for and still upgraded their bench. Dusty loves to play him and when he does he usually hits #1 or #2 even though he had the same OBP as Todd Hollandsworth (.298 OBP) and hit for a worse average than Big Z (.274 avg to Carlos' .300 avg). (tip of the hat to The Cub Reporter)

Cubs GM Jim Hendry was on local sports radio this morning and mentioned a couple things:

• Nomar not necessarily out of the picture but Hendry certainly didn't make it sound like he was coming back.
• Derrick Lee is definitely getting an extension and this will be addressed after the holidays. Probably going to wait and see what Konerko gets.
• Hendry is very luke warm on the free agents this year and a few times mentioned building via trades versus bidding for whatever is left on the free agent market. Our best pickups over the last few years (Aramis, D. Lee) have come via trades and, this is TOTAL speculation, Pat Gillick is considering shopping Bobby Abreu (damn! he'd look good in RF) so there is always hope. We are Cubs fans after all.
  

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