A one year deal. Ditto for Todd Walker. This makes me happy.

Hurray for Nomaaaaaaaaar!

seems like the Cubs got some good deals there

YAY! Maybe he'll actually play this year, and the curse of the billy goat will finally be broken

Good deals for one year but Nomar can't play anymore. I don't believe so anyway.

this is great news FOR US CARDINAL FANS.... we've been worried sick that the cubs were going to try and swipe renteria.... now edgar is one step closer to returning to the nl champs

mean while the Phillies key signings are Todd Pratt, and Kenny Loften. Oh by the way thye raised ticket prices to. God I hate the Phillies!!!!!!!!!!

I saw this last night. Thats cool for CHC.

heh, todd pratt


anyway, both of these are ok signings. i would've rather seen them go after renteria than stick with nomar, but i'll live with it. his contract fairly drips with incentives based on # of games started and plate appearances.

the Todd Walker resigning is a great one, IMO. I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why mark grudzilaniek started most of the season over todd walker, and don't tell me it's because of the glove.

note also that hendry is systematically getting rid of all of "dusty's boys", as we like to call them - the crybaby spidermen who complain about how the announcers say they're not playing up to expectations when they're not playing up to expectations and dusty just lets it go. (although grudz never fit into this category)

and lets not forget the henry blanco signing. so much for the paul bako era

best news of all



I would be more worried about the Yankees. After all, isn't it their intention to field a team made up of all the good SS's in baseball and just play them wherever they feel like?

lmao

Grudz started because he hit .307 and, when healthy, was better defensively. Those aren't necessarily terrible numbers offensively. That shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. He was partly responsible for them winning the division in 2003 (go back and read the box score from the game against St. Louis in September when they came from 6 runs behind to win). After signing him to a one year deal, Dusty couldn't sit him on the bench.



You do know that, after signing yesterday, Walker was quoted as saying, "We have a good group of guys, though Steve Stone and Chip Carray wouldn't say that."? I wouldn't exculpate Walker quite so easily.



Henry Blanco almost won the gold glove last year. His addition will be huge. He is an excellent catcher that is often overlooked. He was Maddux's personal catcher (much like Bako) in 2001 with the Braves.

Yep. For $40 million less that the Sox offered him. I hope for his sake that his wrist is oke-doke.

ha, good point.... well, we have one down anyway... one more (fuckin yankees) to go

There's not going to be a fair way to compare them last year since Walker got about 120 more plate appearances, but Walker's OBP was slightly higher, slugging percentage was 30 points higher, he had three times as many walks, and 9 more homers.
Again, Walker had more at bats, so I'm not sure how fair this comparison is, but the numbers is what they is. Walker had 7 errors, grudz had 5 with a fielding % 4 hundreths of a point higher. (and I grant you that grudz wasn't 100%, but to me that's only more fodder to start walker instead)
As for your contract argument, Walker was also in the last year of his contract with the Cubs. If you're chasing the pennant, you sit whoever you damn well please on the bench.
I like Grudz a lot and don't mean to take anything away from him, I just think that in a year where the cubs offense was arguably one of the teams biggest weaknesses, you go with the guy who is gonna produce more runs.


ugh, i didn't hear that. i was mostly referring to alou and mercker.
though i'll say that walker is certainly more of a gamer than those two asshats were last year.


i don't know if it'll be "huge", but anything is an improvement over trotting paul bako out there every fifth day.
"huge" would be, i don't know, finding a left fielder.

Walker sucked coming off the bench last year and was much more productive starting. Walker, however, knew he was signing as a backup. So the fact he was in the last year of his contract wasn't as big of a deal.

I agree, though, that Walker should have definitely been starting after Grudz came off the DL. The difference in offensive numbers was negligible -- Walker had a lot more power and hit for higher numbers than Grudz. The problem, though, was that the Cubs had trouble getting on base.



I like Walker, and I would never put him in the same category as Merker or Alou when it comes to making excuses. The problem, as I see it, is as much with Baker as it is with the players. Baker could have easily put an end to the nonsense when Merker assaulted Stone on the team charter in August. But he didn't. Baker could have sent a message when Merker called up to the booth against Houston to complain about Carray and Stone. But he didn't. Alas, the Cubs lost both of their announcers and fans' confidences in the process.



Believe me, the addition will be huge. When Barrett gets pinch hit for next year and Blanco has to go in as a defensive replacement and comes to bat again in extra innings with runners in scoring position, you'll be happy Blanco's up there and not Bako. I know it sounds de minimis, but how many 1 run games did the Cubs lose last year in extra innings because they couldn't get the winning run home with runners in scoring position?

I agree, though, that the Cubs need to get younger in the outfield. Don't discount the possibility of Hendry signing Beltran. It's not necessarily a done deal with the Yankees. If Hendry can move Sosa, your outfield could realistically consist of Cliff Floyd in right, Carlos Beltran in center and Corey Patterson in left. I like that prospect.

Blanco can't hit for shit either, and whoever said Nomar can't play any more doesn't have a clue. I think it was a Philly fan, which figures. Anyway, unless Prior returns to form and Kerry Wood finally has a great season none of this will matter.

Nomar has plenty of baseball left in him. That is not what the cubs should worry about. Nomar was supposed to be the team leader when with the sox, but when the trade rumors came out, he decided he wasn't going to play has hard as he used to or be as commited to the team as he was in the past. Not even showing up for home games while rehabing in boston. The thing the cubs need to worry about is his commitment to them.

If he has an .850 ops and plays 145 games I wouldn't give much of a shit whether he's committed or not.

Go White Sox.

That is cool that he is with the Cubs for at least one year. I like Nomar, but dammit I don't want to root for the Cubbies. That would go against everything I have ever believed in.

Yeah, the White Sox are having a fantastic off-season . . .