Pujols signs with Angels pg 151

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Why have a mid-20s proven hitter when you can have an A-ball workout star?

[Banedon]

Phil Rogers is entertaining is his silliness.

[MSG T]

Same-old same-old, but a little different source, though the Cubs mention is via ESPN.

 

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2011/11/prince-fielder-albert-pujols-cubs-mariners-interest/1?loc=interstitialskip

[mookie]

Lets get Justin Smoak.

[Hollandsworths mug]

In the latest from Sullivan:

 

Ricketts comments on the Pujols and Fielder pursuit and as he has said in the past, if Theo wants to sign either of them, he has his support!!! \:D/

 

 

 

 

Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts declined to discuss reports Tuesday the team is interested in signing either Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols to a mega-deal this offseason.

 

When asked if the Cubs would be willing to offer a mega-deal at all, Ricketts deferred to baseball operations president Theo Epstein on personnel decisions.

 

“Like I’ve always said, there is one person responsible for making those decisions, and one person accountable for those results,” he said. “So if (Epstein) believes strongly that’s what’s in the best interests of the team, then he’s got my support.”

 

 

So can the Cubs win in 2012?

 

“Of course we can win in 2012,” he said. “Like I said (at the end of the season) in San Diego, you get 25 guys playing hard, working together and staying healthy, and baseball tells you anything can happen. We’ll see how the offseason guys, but I imagine we’re going to be right in it next year.”

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-ricketts-megadeal-decision-on-fielder-or-pujols-up-to-epstein-20111129,0,646634.story

Edited November 29, 2011 by Hollandsworth's mug

[Hollandsworths mug]

I have to say this article leads me to believe with 100% certainty now that the Cubs will make an offer to one of them.

 

Edit: And also that if one one of them does sign, IMO, it will be Fielder.

[Shilzzz]

on board with fielder. though i guess it's hard not to be. other than body issues down the road. but i think the new cba has shifted their deck mightily.

 

sorry. i'm not saying anything that hasn't been said.

[davell]

I think we'll make an offer to Pujols. Doubt we get him, but we'll probably drive the price up on the Cards. And then, I figure we'll get Fielder, if we want him. And with the new CBA, I'm starting to think we'll be throwing some serious cash around this offseason.

[Gmoney23]

Pujols at 3B and Fielder at 1B... BOOM!

[Shilzzz]

BOOM

[imb]

just saw an espn scroll that said we've entered into preliminary discussions with pujols' agent. is this new info?

 

edit: i guess not. it sounded much more dramatic the way they phrased it.

[seanimal]

welcome to the show junior, now go grab papa some crackerjack

[Guest]

Levine with more dumb opinions

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/7310/cubs-strategy-for-pujols-fielder-is-sound

 

In comparing the two players, the only areas that Pujols is superior is defense and batting average. At 27, Fielder is a building block Epstein and Co. can build around. Pujols, at age 32, doesn't seem like a fit for the Cubs.

 

Holy generalization

 

Oh, and...

Originally the Cubs were going to spend most of their baseball budget on the draft. But now with the new CBA, Pujols and Fielder may be at the forefront of their plans for the future.

 

Yes, the Cubs were going to spend most of their baseball budget on the draft, Bruce.

[XZero771679666304]

Oh, and...

Originally the Cubs were going to spend most of their baseball budget on the draft. But now with the new CBA, Pujols and Fielder may be at the forefront of their plans for the future.

 

Yes, the Cubs were going to spend most of their baseball budget on the draft, Bruce.

 

That's brilliant. The Cubs were totally gonna spend $60MM+ on the amateur draft.

[Guest]

Even if he meant the freed up money it's a bit ridiculous.

[ConstableRabbit]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-cubs-1130-pujols,0,702624,post.poll

 

[not Rosenbloom]

[CUBZ99]

Levine with more dumb opinions

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/7310/cubs-strategy-for-pujols-fielder-is-sound

 

In comparing the two players, the only areas that Pujols is superior is defense and batting average. At 27, Fielder is a building block Epstein and Co. can build around. Pujols, at age 32, doesn't seem like a fit for the Cubs.

 

Holy generalization

 

Oh, and...

Originally the Cubs were going to spend most of their baseball budget on the draft. But now with the new CBA, Pujols and Fielder may be at the forefront of their plans for the future.

 

Yes, the Cubs were going to spend most of their baseball budget on the draft, Bruce.

 

I could see the new CBA and draft rules freeing up an additional $10MM or so on the payroll, which would definitely allow the front office enough to pick up another very good player that they weren't planning on having the budget for.

[Guest]

Levine with more dumb opinions

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/7310/cubs-strategy-for-pujols-fielder-is-sound

 

In comparing the two players, the only areas that Pujols is superior is defense and batting average. At 27, Fielder is a building block Epstein and Co. can build around. Pujols, at age 32, doesn't seem like a fit for the Cubs.

 

Holy generalization

 

Oh, and...

Originally the Cubs were going to spend most of their baseball budget on the draft. But now with the new CBA, Pujols and Fielder may be at the forefront of their plans for the future.

 

Yes, the Cubs were going to spend most of their baseball budget on the draft, Bruce.

 

I could see the new CBA and draft rules freeing up an additional $10MM or so on the payroll, which would definitely allow the front office enough to pick up another very good player that they weren't planning on having the budget for.

 

 

Yes, I could see this too.

[Guest]

From BleacherNATION

 

On his MLBN radio appearance late yesterday with Jim Bowden, Cubs’ GM Jed Hoyer discussed, among other things, the offer of arbitration to Carlos Pena. Surprisingly, it didn’t sound like he was even trying to keep up the appearance that the Cubs would be interested in having Pena back in 2012. That is to say, when asked about the offer and risk that it carries, you’d expect him to say something like, “we’re still figuring out what we want to do at first base, but you could do a lot worse than Carlos Pena, so we’ll see how things shake out.” But he didn’t. Instead, Hoyer rather candidly confirmed that the offer of arbitration was because the Cubs expect him to receive a multi-year offer on the free agent market, and thus, fully expected him to decline the offer of arbitration when they made it. They’ve heard great things about Pena, but it sounds like they just want the draft pick. Fine by me.

 

http://www.bleachernation.com/2011/11/30/the-cubs-saw-no-risk-in-offering-arbitration-to-carlos-pena-and-other-bullets/

[Tyrant]

From BleacherNATION

 

On his MLBN radio appearance late yesterday with Jim Bowden, Cubs’ GM Jed Hoyer discussed, among other things, the offer of arbitration to Carlos Pena. Surprisingly, it didn’t sound like he was even trying to keep up the appearance that the Cubs would be interested in having Pena back in 2012. That is to say, when asked about the offer and risk that it carries, you’d expect him to say something like, “we’re still figuring out what we want to do at first base, but you could do a lot worse than Carlos Pena, so we’ll see how things shake out.” But he didn’t. Instead, Hoyer rather candidly confirmed that the offer of arbitration was because the Cubs expect him to receive a multi-year offer on the free agent market, and thus, fully expected him to decline the offer of arbitration when they made it. They’ve heard great things about Pena, but it sounds like they just want the draft pick. Fine by me.

 

http://www.bleachernation.com/2011/11/30/the-cubs-saw-no-risk-in-offering-arbitration-to-carlos-pena-and-other-bullets/

 

I know we all keep saying this, but it's worth repeating: It's nice to not have Jim Hendry representing the Cubs front office anymore.

[davell]

Jed still seems a tad wet behind the ears, which is fine, because I like hearing some semblance of what the braintrust is thinking. But I bet he got a nice little scolding from Theo for that piece of info. Maybe even a ruler taken to his hands.

[jersey cubs fan]

Jed still seems a tad wet behind the ears, which is fine, because I like hearing some semblance of what the braintrust is thinking. But I bet he got a nice little scolding from Theo for that piece of info. Maybe even a ruler taken to his hands.

 

On the contrary, that could easily be information you purposefully want out there. You are telling the player not to accept, and it is in his agent's best interest to keep the Cubs 1B position open while other bidding wars go on. Boras wants to find him a bigger deal, Pena wants a bigger deal, the Cubs want a better 1b. There's not much benefit, if any, to keeping that information secret.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Dont take this as me being against signing Fielder/Pujols, because I'm not. However, a lot of people seem to be equating the potential of this offseason making the same kind of difference as the '06-'07 offseason did, because it is a very different situation. Soriano, DeRosa, and Lilly were great additions at the time, but remember, in addition we had the return of Derrek Lee and we already had Aramis, and Jacque Jones was a very solid bat as well. so we were essentially adding 2 potent bats to what was a ready made lineup with existing 3-4 hitters. Even if we did sign Pujols or Fielder and Cespedes, we woultn't be adding them to the core that we had then, they'd be the key guys and we'd need to build around them, so this being said, while I think that we could be dark horses if everyone was healthy and we had some rebounds from key players, I think it would still be at least 2013 before we could get back to where we were then and that's assuming we could add 1 front end starter and 1 mid rotation starter to replace Z and Demp and keep Garza.

[Guest]

Dont take this as me being against signing Fielder/Pujols, because I'm not. However, a lot of people seem to be equating the potential of this offseason making the same kind of difference as the '06-'07 offseason did, because it is a very different situation. Soriano, DeRosa, and Lilly were great additions at the time, but remember, in addition we had the return of Derrek Lee and we already had Aramis, and Jacque Jones was a very solid bat as well. so we were essentially adding 2 potent bats to what was a ready made lineup with existing 3-4 hitters. Even if we did sign Pujols or Fielder and Cespedes, we woultn't be adding them to the core that we had then, they'd be the key guys and we'd need to build around them, so this being said, while I think that we could be dark horses if everyone was healthy and we had some rebounds from key players, I think it would still be at least 2013 before we could get back to where we were then and that's assuming we could add 1 front end starter and 1 mid rotation starter to replace Z and Demp and keep Garza.

 

There are valuable pieces on this team not named DLee and Aramis (did you seriously just list Jacque Jones as an actual asset?).

Edited November 30, 2011 by David

[Guest]

Tim Kurkjian coming up on Waddle and Silvy

 

www.espnchicago.com