MLB: Cubs set to sign walker, garciapara
 

anybody have any opinions on garciapara? i think he has the potential to be a superstar again, and from what i hear the cubs are set to sign him to a one year deal at about $8mil or so a year. at that price i think the cubs could be sitting on a gold mine of value with him. walker also played GREAT off the bench last year, and with the starting job could be a real impact...especially with that lefty bat.

Anything the Cubs do seems to turn out wrong.

I'd be surprised if Nomar returns to his superstar form. A lot of people don't realize how serious his wrist injury was in 2001, no one in the history of baseball had ever come back from that type of injury, and it sapped a lot of his bat speed, which is why hes a .300+ hitter now instead of a .350+ hitter. I think it does say something when a year ago you were looking for a 4 year $60 million contract, and now he seems willing to take the 1/8 deal the Cubs are offering.

And if Walker is the starting second baseman next year I just hope for Cubs fans' sakes that there aren't many ground ball hit on the left side of the infield.

He played well with the Cubs last year when he played. The reason he isn't getting the big bucks is because he hasn't proven he can stay healthy. If he has a good year this year which i think he will he will cash in. I think Renteria would be a better fit with the Cub in my opinion.

He played well yes, but Nomar playing well is not the same as Nomar playing well 3-4 years ago. Back then Nomar playing well was worth $15+ mil, he was a top 5 defensive shortstop and one of the toughest outs in the game. Now Nomar playing well is maybe a $10+ mil player at best. His defense has been in subtle decline, and may take a dive if he doesn't come back completely recovered from his achilles injury, that can be an injury whose effects never leave you. Add that with the fact that he is now a .300/.360/.500 hitter instead of a .350/.420/.600, and you have a guy that is no longer worth what he once was.

Up until last spring Nomar was still going after the big bucks, now that hes hit the market hes realizing no one is gonna be getting $15 mil, Beltran might not even get that, nevermind a SS on the wrong side of 30. Don't get me wrong, Nomar is still a great player, and a top all around shortstop, but he is no longer the superstar caliber player that he once was.

i believe that the only thing that is dictating the noamr deal is his injury history, not his performance history at all. it is to the best interests of both nomar and whatever team signs him to make it a one year deal, very similar to the deal that pudge signed with the marlins two years ago.

if he performs well, and stays healthy for the year, i wouldnt be at all surprised to see him get a 3 year/30 million deal. his problem is that he signed a long term deal with the sox before the market peaked, and now that he is a free agent again the market has been depressed.

i think that if he can remain healthy, which is a big if, he will return to become one of the elite shortstops in the league. even after the wrist injury he showed in 02 and 03 (except for the slump at the end of 03), that he could hit for both average and power with the best shortstops in the game.

There's no doubt even now that Nomar can run with the best of the best shortstops when it comes to his offensive numbers, it's just that before his injury, he could run with the best of the best in the entire league. If he had been a free agent around 00-01 he probably would've gotten an ARod-esque deal. Even a 3/30 deal is a discount compared to what he turned down the two previous springs, he reportedly declined to accept offers of 4/60 and 4/48.

He's still one of the premiere shortstops in the game but he'll never be one of the most feared hitters in the game like he was pre-injury. It's really just a string of bad luck/bad in hindsight decisions that prevented Nomar from having a megadeal right now, signing a long term deal that looked good at the time, completely unknowing that a huge boom in the FA market was about to come, then the injuries that have plagued him in '01 and '04.

i really think that the entire difference in what nomar will get is from the downturn in the market, and also insurance companies not insuring risky contracts anymore. i believe that he will be a feared hitter again, and that his performance will be great, even if it doesnt reach his 1.000+ OPS mark of earlier in his career.

he did make bad decisions by not taking the sox money, but due to factors out of his control, he will not get the money that he was offered before.

Todd Walker is a awesome stick to have in the lineup and is a great club house guy but he is weak defensively... Im a reds fan and he played for them awhile. I thought he was great to have on the team even tho his defense was lacking.

I can deal with Walker's glove at second. Him being a lefty helps. However with Nomar and Walker up the middle that is a pretty weak double play combo. That will come back to bite us in the ass. The Cubs need to find a way to get Beltran. With him it wouldn't really matter.

there are actually scouts around the league that say walker's defensive reputation is a little overblown, and he's not as bad as people make him seem. he's not a gold glover, but people make him sound like he cant pick up a ground ball. i think nomar will have a good year -- last year he was slowed by injuries heavily. beltran is definatly the key free agent though, i would LOVE to get him but we'll definatly have to move sammy's contract if we want to sign beltran.

Don't be so confident that Beltran will solve all the Cubs' problems. He's a young superstar but offensively he was very similar to Moises Alou in 2004. The Cubs need to find a way to at least shed some of Sosa's contract, but I don't know why any team in their right mind would take him for any substantial amount of money right now.

Also, did Dusty Baker keep running Corey Patterson out in the lead off spot for the entire year? This just has to stop, Patterson doesn't get on base nearly enough to be a good leaf off hitter, he's not a great hitter for average nevermind his terrible plate discipline. And that DP combo of Garciaparra/Walker could be really ugly next year, Nomar was not good defensively last year, how much he'll be able to recover from his injury is impossible to say right now, and Walker's rep isn't overblown, he's one of the worst regular 2B in the majors.(defensively that is)

yeah i agree we do need a leadoff hitter, but there aren't that many left in the game. no beltran isn't a cure all, but he's a great defender, and he's a young stud with proven playoff performance.

No, comparing Beltran to Alou is like comparing a supermodel to Roseanne. Beltran steals bases, plays tremedous defense, hits from the left side, and plays extremely smart. Alou did none of this. He hit well, not as well as Beltran did though. Our problem is hitting and playing hard. I think this is what Beltran would bring. However it doesn't look like it will happen. Hopefully we can get Maggs or someone on his level.

I wasn't comparing Alou and Beltran, I just said last year they had similar offensive numbers, which they did.

Beltran: .267AVG/.367OBP/.548SLG 92BB/101K
Alou: .293/.361/.557 68BB/80K

We will agree to disagree Beltran also had more runs scored, 4 more triples, and 29 more steals. Not to mention he was a lefty which the Cubs desperatly need and to me there is no question as to who i would want based on offensive numbers alone. Other news is that Nomar signed a one year deal today with the Cubbies. Could be worth up to 11 Million.

Runs scored is a largely irrelevant stat when evaluating a player's production because it is so dependent on the hitters who bat behind a player in the line up. Same with RBIs, except they're dependent on who hits in front of a batter.

But anyways, looks like any team who wants Beltran is gonna have to get into a big bidding war, and the Astros just fired the first shot, reports are they offered a contract worth somewhere around 5/70 or 6/81.

I like Nomar at that price. If he has a year where he plays without injury he'll probably be the second best SS in team history. I like Walker too. Wish he would've played more last year, but hey, FUCK LAST YEAR.

I'm super skeptical about Dusty and where he's taking this team. Hopefully they can get rid of that cheating, useless, fuckwad in RF so I don't have to cheer for someone I hate.

Looking forward to another baseball season.

Grudz will be missed. He hit over 300 for the time he was with the Cubs. Also remember that we traded the drunken coke head Hundley for him. Too bad he is injury proned. I think Walker will do well as long as we have a sure fielding veteran on the bench for late game situations.

The Red Sox just signed Matt Mantei to a 1 year deal worth $750k.

750k?? holy shit. talk about the bargain bin. mantei will definatly have a rebound year.

If he can stay healthy. He seems to get hurt every year.

This is a great siging because theres so little risk, and the potential reward is huge. If he goes down with another injury, o well, the Sox got 10 decent innings out of him and are only out $750k, if he is healthy though, the Sox have an awesome shut down set up man who strikes out over 11 per 9.

yes, definatly a great signing for the sox. it's an all win situation, 750k is most certainly less than i thought he would sign for. i'm sure he has some incentive clauses that will bring the total value up, but in that case it works for both him and the sox.

If I remember correctly there are incentives that could bring the deal up to $2.5 milliong. Don't take my word though I'm not entirely sure if I heard this from a credible source.