Fast Forward to Offseason: Miguel Tejada

[HoopsCubs]

I'm sure many of you will trash me because I'm looking for a silver lining in a cloud or being too optimistic, but here goes anyway:

 

This is my interpretation of the Maddux for Izturis deal. I think Jim Hendry has his eyes set on acquiring Miguel Tejada this offseason. Tejada can say whatever he wants to be positive, but his body language is clearly saying that he wants out of Baltimore. I think Jim Hendry breathed a huge sigh of relief when Tejada wasn't dealt to Houston or LA today, and I feel he is going for it in December. In order to acquire Tejada, he will probably have to give up a major league SS, a major league ready pitcher and a prospect.

 

By trading Maddux, he opens the rotation for Angel Guzman. Therefore, the Cubs can showcase any 3 of Marshall, Marmol, Hill and Guzman in their rotation for the rest of the season (Marshall out right now). Assume Prior and Zambrano are off limits, and Hendry tells Baker that Rusch is not to be started. By trading for Izturis, he can showcase Cedeno and Izturis at middle infield.

 

Assuming he picks up most of Tejada's deal, Hendry can probably sell Baltimore on taking back one of the aforementioned pitchers, either Cedeno or Izturis and then a prospect.

 

 

Hoops

[YearofDaCubs]

By the time the Cubs get Tejada he will be 36 years old.

[Outshined_One]

Peter Angelos turned down the following deals for Tejada:

 

Ervin Santana & Willy Aybar

Roy Oswalt, Brad Lidge, and Adam Everett (I believe the Orioles would throw in a prospect or two in this deal)

 

Along with the rumored Prior/Cedeno deals before we all found out that some one took Prior out of his bubble wrap a few weeks too early.

 

If the Orioles won't accept those deals, would it really be a good idea to go after Tejada considering what Angelos likely would want?

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I'm glad you're optimistic, but I fully expect to see a Cedeno-Izturis middle infield next season.

[jjgman21]

if I'm not mistaken, Angelos just scoffed at Oswalt + for Tejada.

 

Angelos is doing some weird little dance with the Orioles. He might just be desperate for headlines in the market. I don't see Tejada going anywhere until his deal is up the way Angelos has been going about this.

[baseball7897]

Prior, Cedeno, Hill and another guy for Tejeda? Hell, im willing to throw in Pie also.

[dvdd127]

Prior, Cedeno, Hill and another guy for Tejeda? Hell, im willing to throw in Pie also.

I would do that in a minute... only if we have an established big league pitcher who does not SUCK to take Priors spot in the rotation.

[CubsWin]

By the time the Cubs get Tejada he will be 36 years old.

Yeah, you're right. There is no possibility whatsoever that what Hoops just described could ever happen.

 

But seriously, Hoops, I agree that Hendry is not going to be satisfied with a middle infield of Izturis and Cedeno. He may be unable to improve upon it, but he certainly isn't looking at those two guys and saying, "Good, now I'm done." Whether your pricetag for Tejada is realistic or not is yet to be seen. It seems like wishful thinking to me, but we'll see.

 

I certainly would like to see Tejada as SS for the Cubs. And anyone would have to be out of their minds with cynicism to believe that Hendry wouldn't. At least not before Tejada's 36th birthday.

[goonys evil twin]

But seriously, Hoops, I agree that Hendry is not going to be satisfied with a middle infield of Izturis and Cedeno. He may be unable to improve upon it, but he certainly isn't looking at those two guys and saying, "Good, now I'm done."

 

That's just because he sees Neifi in there.

 

This is par for the course for Hendry, I don't see why anybody would think it's anything than what it looks like on the surface.

 

 

 

Didn't Hendry say Rusch was ready to start on Thursday? I doubt he's forcing Baker to showcase kids, he's never done it before.

[Backtobanks]

I'm sure many of you will trash me because I'm looking for a silver lining in a cloud or being too optimistic, but here goes anyway:

 

This is my interpretation of the Maddux for Izturis deal. I think Jim Hendry has his eyes set on acquiring Miguel Tejada this offseason. Tejada can say whatever he wants to be positive, but his body language is clearly saying that he wants out of Baltimore. I think Jim Hendry breathed a huge sigh of relief when Tejada wasn't dealt to Houston or LA today, and I feel he is going for it in December. In order to acquire Tejada, he will probably have to give up a major league SS, a major league ready pitcher and a prospect.

 

By trading Maddux, he opens the rotation for Angel Guzman. Therefore, the Cubs can showcase any 3 of Marshall, Marmol, Hill and Guzman in their rotation for the rest of the season (Marshall out right now). Assume Prior and Zambrano are off limits, and Hendry tells Baker that Rusch is not to be started. By trading for Izturis, he can showcase Cedeno and Izturis at middle infield.

 

Assuming he picks up most of Tejada's deal, Hendry can probably sell Baltimore on taking back one of the aforementioned pitchers, either Cedeno or Izturis and then a prospect.

 

 

Hoops

 

I don't remember where I saw it, but there were rumors of Hendry trying to broker a 3-way deal with Maddux going to the Dodgers for Izturis and Izituris plus prospects going to the Orioles for Tejada. Unfortunately, the Tejada part of the trade didn't happen.

[dvdd127]

Didn't Hendry say Rusch was ready to start on Thursday? I doubt he's forcing Baker to showcase kids, he's never done it before.

There are not any other "kids" who are ready for the Bigs yet.... Williams as sucked at AAA Guzman has not been doing too well. and the Ryu guy has sucked too as far as i know. Who else is there that we saw in Sping Training???? no one. and theres not anyone who we didnt see in Spring Training that is blowing the minor leagues away.. so therefore there are no other kids to call up.

[YearofDaCubs]

By the time the Cubs get Tejada he will be 36 years old.

Yeah, you're right. There is no possibility whatsoever that what Hoops just described could ever happen.

 

But seriously, Hoops, I agree that Hendry is not going to be satisfied with a middle infield of Izturis and Cedeno. He may be unable to improve upon it, but he certainly isn't looking at those two guys and saying, "Good, now I'm done." Whether your pricetag for Tejada is realistic or not is yet to be seen. It seems like wishful thinking to me, but we'll see.

 

I certainly would like to see Tejada as SS for the Cubs. And anyone would have to be out of their minds with cynicism to believe that Hendry wouldn't. At least not before Tejada's 36th birthday.

Yeah, but seriously, You're giving a lot of credit to Hendry considering him and Baker have single handely DESTROYED this team.

[Roast]

Hoops, Is your idea based on any factual information or any rumors from one of your souces, or is it just your attempt at finding a silver lining to this nightmare and nothing more?

[CubsBullsBears]

Didn't Hendry say Rusch was ready to start on Thursday? I doubt he's forcing Baker to showcase kids, he's never done it before.

There are not any other "kids" who are ready for the Bigs yet.... Williams as sucked at AAA Guzman has not been doing too well. and the Ryu guy has sucked too as far as i know. Who else is there that we saw in Sping Training???? no one. and theres not anyone who we didnt see in Spring Training that is blowing the minor leagues away.. so therefore there are no other kids to call up.

dvdd127: If we are to get an ass-whuppon, would you rather have us get that whuppon w/ some unproductive veteren, or with some unproven kid?? I'll take the kid over the veteren in a season like this.

[Flames24Rulz]

Didn't Hendry say Rusch was ready to start on Thursday? I doubt he's forcing Baker to showcase kids, he's never done it before.

There are not any other "kids" who are ready for the Bigs yet.... Williams as sucked at AAA Guzman has not been doing too well. and the Ryu guy has sucked too as far as i know. Who else is there that we saw in Sping Training???? no one. and theres not anyone who we didnt see in Spring Training that is blowing the minor leagues away.. so therefore there are no other kids to call up.

dvdd127: If we are to get an ass-whuppon, would you rather have us get that whuppon w/ some unproductive veteren, or with some unproven kid?? I'll take the kid over the veteren in a season like this.

 

I don't agree with you much, but I agree with you here. I want to see Guzman and Hill in the rotation for the rest of the season.

[RonnieWooWooSanto]

Didn't Hendry say Rusch was ready to start on Thursday? I doubt he's forcing Baker to showcase kids, he's never done it before.

There are not any other "kids" who are ready for the Bigs yet.... Williams as sucked at AAA Guzman has not been doing too well. and the Ryu guy has sucked too as far as i know. Who else is there that we saw in Sping Training???? no one. and theres not anyone who we didnt see in Spring Training that is blowing the minor leagues away.. so therefore there are no other kids to call up.

dvdd127: If we are to get an ass-whuppon, would you rather have us get that whuppon w/ some unproductive veteren, or with some unproven kid?? I'll take the kid over the veteren in a season like this.

 

I don't agree with you much, but I agree with you here. I want to see Guzman and Hill in the rotation for the rest of the season.

 

Agreed.

[soccer10k]

Didn't Hendry say Rusch was ready to start on Thursday? I doubt he's forcing Baker to showcase kids, he's never done it before.

There are not any other "kids" who are ready for the Bigs yet.... Williams as sucked at AAA Guzman has not been doing too well. and the Ryu guy has sucked too as far as i know. Who else is there that we saw in Sping Training???? no one. and theres not anyone who we didnt see in Spring Training that is blowing the minor leagues away.. so therefore there are no other kids to call up.

 

First, let me say that somebody let me know if any of these guys are injured right now.

 

If we are giving Rich Hill starts to see what he can do, why not bring up Ryan O'Malley? He's 26 as well so why not see what he can do? 5-6 with a 3.96 ERA in 104 IP in AAA this year.

 

Ryu only made 1 start for the Cubs so why not give him a couple more chances? Then there is always Jerome Williams and Angel Guzman as well.

 

As long as the season is over, we might as well see what the young players - especially the pitchers with Maddux gone and Wood on the DL - can do at the ML level.

[cubfan1955]

Ya know...I have zero faith that Jim Hendry has any kind of plan about going after Tejada and that this trade for Izturis was simply step 1. I'm still waiting on that follow up trade after the Sosa trade debacle that everyone said was sure to happen.

 

Cub fans are sure resilent. No matter how many times they get kicked in the groin they get back up and return for more.

[RynoRules]

Its funny, but I was thinking the same thing that Hoops is but didn't want to get my hopes up anymore. I hadn't thought about the particulars, but in support of Hoops' theory, I note that Mateo was just called up. Could it be showcase time? How about Cedeno, Mateo, and one of Hill/Marshall/Marmol for Tejada?

[soapy]

This is par for the course for Hendry, I don't see why anybody would think it's anything than what it looks like on the surface.

This is exactly right. You're all certainly entitled to look for a silver lining, but I really think Hendry has exactly what he wants. I'm quite certain you will see a MI rotation of Izturis, Cedeno and Neifi next season. I'd bet good money on it.

[TheDude]

I don't see the pursuit of Tejada anymore. I genuinely think Izturis-Cedeno is what Hendry wanted since last December.

 

I believe Hendry is doing what he think is right: Pitching and Defense. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last. This is his MO.

 

Therefore, if we fast-forward to the offseason, I think Hendry's number one target is Jason Schmidt. I think Hendry's number 2 target is Gary Sheffield. I also think Hendry will try to re-sign Pierre.

 

That puts out a rotation of Zambrano, Schmidt, Prior, kid A, and kid B.

 

That puts out a lineup of Pierre, Izturis, Lee, Ramirez, Jones, Sheffield, Barret, Cedeno.

 

I'm [edit] NOT [/edit] saying this is my ideal, as 3 sub-.700 OPS guys is 2 too many. I just think that is your 2007 Cubs.

[Backtobanks]

I don't see the pursuit of Tejada anymore. I genuinely think Izturis-Cedeno is what Hendry wanted since last December.

 

I believe Hendry is doing what he think is right: Pitching and Defense. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last. This is his MO.

 

Therefore, if we fast-forward to the offseason, I think Hendry's number one target is Jason Schmidt. I think Hendry's number 2 target is Gary Sheffield. I also think Hendry will try to re-sign Pierre.

 

That puts out a rotation of Zambrano, Schmidt, Prior, kid A, and kid B.

 

That puts out a lineup of Pierre, Izturis, Lee, Ramirez, Jones, Sheffield, Barret, Cedeno.

 

I'm [edit] NOT [/edit] saying this is my ideal, as 3 sub-.700 OPS guys is 2 too many. I just think that is your 2007 Cubs.

 

You beat me to the punch. I do think Schmidt has to be the #1 offseason target, but I think they need to trade for or sign another starting pitcher for #4 unless one of the kids really shows something in August and September. Let the kids battle it out for #5. As for an OF slugger, Sheffield might be the answer for 1 year, but a trade package of Murton/Pie plus Hill/Guzman/Marshall/Marmol plus lower prospects might pry loose a younger power-hitting OF. If Murton isn't traded, he should platoon with Jones. For the Cubs to compete in 2007, obviously DLee and Prior would have to return to form, ARam would have to stay, and Pierre and Barrett would have to hit like they've been hitting lately. Add some players to the bench and you might be pleasantly surprized at the results. Not exactly the 1927 Yankees, but a team that could compete in the NL Central.

[soapy]

I don't see the pursuit of Tejada anymore. I genuinely think Izturis-Cedeno is what Hendry wanted since last December.

 

I believe Hendry is doing what he think is right: Pitching and Defense. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last. This is his MO.

 

Therefore, if we fast-forward to the offseason, I think Hendry's number one target is Jason Schmidt. I think Hendry's number 2 target is Gary Sheffield. I also think Hendry will try to re-sign Pierre.

 

That puts out a rotation of Zambrano, Schmidt, Prior, kid A, and kid B.

 

That puts out a lineup of Pierre, Izturis, Lee, Ramirez, Jones, Sheffield, Barret, Cedeno.

 

I'm [edit] NOT [/edit] saying this is my ideal, as 3 sub-.700 OPS guys is 2 too many. I just think that is your 2007 Cubs.

 

You beat me to the punch. I do think Schmidt has to be the #1 offseason target, but I think they need to trade for or sign another starting pitcher for #4 unless one of the kids really shows something in August and September. Let the kids battle it out for #5. As for an OF slugger, Sheffield might be the answer for 1 year, but a trade package of Murton/Pie plus Hill/Guzman/Marshall/Marmol plus lower prospects might pry loose a younger power-hitting OF. If Murton isn't traded, he should platoon with Jones. For the Cubs to compete in 2007, obviously DLee and Prior would have to return to form, ARam would have to stay, and Pierre and Barrett would have to hit like they've been hitting lately. Add some players to the bench and you might be pleasantly surprized at the results. Not exactly the 1927 Yankees, but a team that could compete in the NL Central.

 

Andy MacPhail couldn't have said it better himself. "Could compete in the NL Central." Oh boy, for only $100 million?

[Backtobanks]

I don't see the pursuit of Tejada anymore. I genuinely think Izturis-Cedeno is what Hendry wanted since last December.

 

I believe Hendry is doing what he think is right: Pitching and Defense. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last. This is his MO.

 

Therefore, if we fast-forward to the offseason, I think Hendry's number one target is Jason Schmidt. I think Hendry's number 2 target is Gary Sheffield. I also think Hendry will try to re-sign Pierre.

 

That puts out a rotation of Zambrano, Schmidt, Prior, kid A, and kid B.

 

That puts out a lineup of Pierre, Izturis, Lee, Ramirez, Jones, Sheffield, Barret, Cedeno.

 

I'm [edit] NOT [/edit] saying this is my ideal, as 3 sub-.700 OPS guys is 2 too many. I just think that is your 2007 Cubs.

 

You beat me to the punch. I do think Schmidt has to be the #1 offseason target, but I think they need to trade for or sign another starting pitcher for #4 unless one of the kids really shows something in August and September. Let the kids battle it out for #5. As for an OF slugger, Sheffield might be the answer for 1 year, but a trade package of Murton/Pie plus Hill/Guzman/Marshall/Marmol plus lower prospects might pry loose a younger power-hitting OF. If Murton isn't traded, he should platoon with Jones. For the Cubs to compete in 2007, obviously DLee and Prior would have to return to form, ARam would have to stay, and Pierre and Barrett would have to hit like they've been hitting lately. Add some players to the bench and you might be pleasantly surprized at the results. Not exactly the 1927 Yankees, but a team that could compete in the NL Central.

 

Andy MacPhail couldn't have said it better himself. "Could compete in the NL Central." Oh boy, for only $100 million?

 

The last time I looked the NL Central is where the Cubs reside and winning the division (or Wild Card) has to be a first step. They certainly won't be the favorites in a weak division, but if you get into the playoffs anything can happen.

[goonys evil twin]

The last time I looked the NL Central is where the Cubs reside and winning the division (or Wild Card) has to be a first step. They certainly won't be the favorites in a weak division, but if you get into the playoffs anything can happen.

 

And in 12 years Andy's Cubs have won their division once. Contending in the division is a goal for losers.