CubinNY

Why wait. Felix Pie and Mark Prior straight up at the end of Spring Training. Put A-Rod at SS and Cesear at 2nd.

That's a false choice. No one would want that and playing Murton does not mean the Cubs will automatically lose. The Cubs need guys to get on base and Murton can do that.

A somewhat healthy Floyd really won't help all that much, because that would just be replacing Murton and not all that special. A very healthy Floyd could help a lot, but again, if that just puts Murton on the bench, it doesn't help a lot. But Lou said he's got Jones penciled in as his 5th hitter already. Hopefully that means Murton is the #2 This Murton thing is already bothering me quite a bit. I hope he's not the 4th outfielder.

Nice post. That's exactly what should be happening, but I doubt anyone ever accuses Bud Selig of being a rocket scientist. Clearly Selig/MLB would not enter into this contract if they weren't going to profit from it. I'm not sure all you amateur economists know all the facts here So are we to assume you are a professional economist with access to all the facts? The way I see it, for one million per team, they are cutting the audience for the EI package by 2/3 to 3/4 of the previous year. Dollarwise a win, exposure wise a huge loss. I guess I'll spend the $160 on something else this year. I was not inferring that I was an expert. But I think that a business as successful as MLB doesn't just randomly commit to one TV provider for their sports package if they don't think it will result in the greatest profitability. Perhaps they know something we don't as far as the future of DirecTV. As I said many, many pages back, there are rumors circulating that DirecTV is trying to negotiate exclusive rights to many channels' HD broadcasts. If that happens, expect DirecTV subscriptions to soar as people with HDTV's won't have any other options Or expect Direct TV to go belly up. They've committed a lot of money and baseball ratings aren't exactly football ratings. I really couldn't care less, but I am glad I grew up before the days of cable and dishes. Some of my fondest memories as a child are watching the Cubs with my dad. There is no way in hell he'd pay the money to watch 30 teams he doesn't care about for the 1 team he does.

I'm so frakin' fired up about baseball I just bought 2 tickets to see one team I hate play one team I could care less about in the "Civil-Rights" game on March 31st. Cardinals vs Indians. Tickets were a bit pricy $50.00 a piece, but it is for a good cause. Hello bar-b-qued nachos and Blue Moon beer.

I can't wait!

Sorry guys. :cry:

16-14 Colts Thanks. STuPid TeNuRE JuNk.

I'm working at the office. What is the score?

agreed. i think colvin will also be in this catagory. Colvin will be underrated by who? BA loves the kid.

That SS name better be Alex Rodriguez. If Prior is healthy and ptiching well he's too important to trade.

I really don't care who wins, but I hope the Bears do. This place will not be fun to be around for a while if they lose.

More times than not over the past 3 seasons. He's been an above average pitcher since making his debut and was phenomenal last season. I totally agree Wurtz is worth keeping on the roster. However, I have a minor quibble. He's a reliever, short of Eric Gange circa 2002 any reliever should be traded in the right deal. They are a dime a dozen.

20/20 hindsight? Are you kidding me? It was Tim that suggested Daisuke. I wanted Schmidt. I would have been fine with Daisuke, but I wanted Schmidt, Drew, Lugo and whatever pieces and parts Hendry could get. There is nothing hindsight about what I wanted going into the offseason. I think Hendry did alright. However, I'm not sure if he did enough. He spent money like crazy. But, spending money like crazy isn't going to win you a World Series. Spending money on needs while focusing on the direction of the club is what builds a winner. This team has no direction. None. They spent 136m for an outfielder and they have no idea where he's going to play. They spent how much on Marquis, and there is no guarantee he'll be better than the 8th or 9th best rotation option in 2007. They haven't extended the most important player to this team, Carlos Zambrano. They really gambled with DeRosa. He's been strictly a super sub, which would have been a great thing for him in Chicago, but Hendry gave him starter money and a starting job. I hope it works, but it's quite a gamble. He doesn't have a clue what to do with Jacque Jones. Great, they went out and spent a bunch of money. But, they didn't go out and spend it with any direction. No direction. Well put. They haven't had direction for a while. My impression is that Hendry thought he could unload Jones and play Soriano in RF. Soriano is an upgrade but not a good fit for the Cubs. Up until last season he was an infielder now he's moving again. Maybe he's a good enough athelete to pull it off. But that is a gamble.

Dunn has Astro written all over him.

You must remember that health will be the overriding factor. I see the rotation, as of Feb. 2, as: Zambrano Lilly Hill Marquis Prior/Miller or Miller/Prior Bullpen: Eyre Ohman Cotts Howry Wood (if healthy) Dempster Battle among Wuertz, Novoa and somebody I'm surely forgetting if Prior wins the last spot what will the Cubs do with Miller? If Miller wins the last spot does Prior go to AAA? If Miller wins the last spot, it probably means Prior is on the DL. If Prior wins the last spot, it means Miller is on the DL, somebody else is on the DL or the Cubs don't see enough from Miller to keep him. We're a long, long way from these things sorting themselves out. Thanks as always. The Cubs are giving a lot of tough love to Prior. I don't mind it so much, but the bloom is clearly off the rose.

You must remember that health will be the overriding factor. I see the rotation, as of Feb. 2, as: Zambrano Lilly Hill Marquis Prior/Miller or Miller/Prior Bullpen: Eyre Ohman Cotts Howry Wood (if healthy) Dempster Battle among Wuertz, Novoa and somebody I'm surely forgetting if Prior wins the last spot what will the Cubs do with Miller? If Miller wins the last spot does Prior go to AAA?

For it to be over.

I'm not a real big football fan. My senior year in high school ruiend my love of football. My entire family are huge bears fans. I have a cousin who has his entire basement decked out in Bears colors. Football doesn't hold much interest for at all.

I love college baseball as well. I go to a lot of Alabama and Troy games. I'm heading down to Troy, Alabama, next weekend for the Troy/Arkansas series. Then in April, baseball is in full force with the MLB and with the minor leagues. We have the Montgomery Biscuits here in my hometown and we're the defending Class AA Southern League Champs. My wife's family lives in Prattville! I love the Biscuts stadium and some great talent has come through there. I'll be down to watch the Smokies (Cubs AA) this summer.

I don't know about the "great" part, but I could see him being fast tracked to be a manager. I wouldn't be shocked if LaRussa made him a bench coach or something. My prediction: His first job will be with the Cardinals. Welcome to the forum!

I'd have to ask why. The Cubs need OBP and Ichiro provides a lot more of it than Jacque. That difference isn't worth 7MM in 2007, much less trading away a decent pitching prospect in Gallagher and a ptbnl. Jones/Ichiro is a tradeoff, not an across the board upgrade. Jones '07: .285/.334/.499/.833 Suzuki '07: .322/.370/.416/.786 36 points in OBP is worth 7MM? I think not. We could get more than that at SS (not to mention more power) w/o spending that kind of loot. CF/RF is a silly place to throw away 7MM on this Cubs team. Are we not counting the 43 steals in 45 attempts, and the excellent defense and cannon arm against whatever the hell Jones was doing in RF last season. Those things might be overvalued, but they shouldn't be ignored either. It's still not 7MM in difference. I hate to defend Jones's throwing, but he did have an injured shoulder that he just played through. I'm not a Jacque Jones fan. I'm sure I'll be yelling at him several times this coming season (if he remains a Cub), but he's not a scrub and he's a real decent OFer with his current contract. I don't think Jones is a scrub, I think Ichiro is an all-star level player, or at least very close to one. The money is not as big of a deal to me at this point in the offseason, because I don't think making this move would limit the Cubs from doing anything else with the money. If they don't make this move (and again, I assume nothing comes of this) it's not like they will use that $7 Million on someone else. If you think the difference between Ichiro and Jones isn't worth the prospects, I can respect that. I just think with the logjam in our rotation, with Veal ahead of Gallagher, and guys like Guzman, Pawelek, and Samardzija at or near the same level it is a move we can afford to make, that greatly improves the 07 roster. We're going to need our farm to start producing when our backloaded contracts catch up to us. It certainly isn't producing position players at an acceptable rate. Dealing away Nolasco for a 1 year rental was dumb. Dealing away another potential ML arm (not to mention the ptbnl) for what could be another 1 year rental would be ______. You fill in the blank. Ichiro >>>> Pierre That doesn't fit in the blank.

NY, seems to me it's obvious that there's a real risk that he won't be any good. He's no sure thing, not even close. And where there are differing scouting evals, it's certainly possible that the favorable ones will not end up vindicated. But it almost seems like you're going to the far extreme. You've seemed to take the view that favorable scouting evals are "hype" (which implies not substantive), and he doesn't have much more than a decent fastball. If he's just a decent-fastball guy with nothing else, it raises a conundrum about why Callis and Manuel rate him top 50; about why the Cubs paid him $10 (even after having had him for some games in which they could see him for the fraud he may be); and about why apparently at least a dozen teams viewed him as at least a solid middle-upper first-round talent pre-draft. There are two easy ways to resolve the conundrum. One is to take the view that Callis, Manuel, the Cubs, and perhaps also teams that viewed his talent (if not his lack of commitment) as clear first round are all dopes. Why waste even a 1st round pick on a dude with nothing more than a decent fastball, much less a $10 bonus or a top-50 ranking? A second possible resolution is that perhaps the premise is wrong. Perhaps he does have more than just a "decent" fastball. If so, then maybe it's not so puzzling why he's being hyped beyond the norm for guys with nothing more than decent fastballs. In this instance I am taking the scouting reports at face value. I mean, that's all the real data we have. Overall, I think scouts serve a useful purpose, but the nature of the business says they are wrong far more often then they are right. This is one example where the reports vary widely. This leads me to be very cautious. I am hoping all the good things the scouts say are true. However, that doesn't change the fact that he's 22 and has been a part-time baseball player for the last four years. He's got a lot to learn and a lot of pressure. Maybe his college experience will help him in that regard but at this point he's just another prospect. I think the fact that he played football at an over-hyped football program has generalized to him. It doesn't really matter, we'll be finding out soon enough.

Where did you hear this from? It sounds too good to be true. Ichiro Suzuki or some other Suzuki?

I did find this interesting... But Prior's response... Boy oh boy, the Cubs do like a soap opera. I think Miller will go to the bullpen or be traded if Prior is healthy.