CubinNY

I know its fourth hand, and I know its ESPN. Large grain of salt. Not that this means anything, but at least its on topic which is progress for me. It (the tradng of A-Rod) could happen and have nothing to do with the Cubs.

OK, Thomas. :lol: That's St. Thomas Banedon to you. :D

The Cubs should offer a package like this: (and nothing more) Hill and pay all of A-Rod's contrac Any two ML ready starters not named Hill, Prior or Zambraon and pay 10 Million of A-Rod's contract Pie and ML ready starter not named Hill, Prior, or Zambrano and pay 10 Million of A-Rod's contract. They got him for Soriano and got the Rangers to pay for a chunck of his contract. The Yankees have no leverage here. The Cubs should not have to sell high to get him. If the Yankees are asking for more, they don't really want to deal him. Hendry needs to be smart here. A-Rod is persona non-grata in NY. Edit: If the Yankees want one of the middle reilivers in the deal they can have their pick. They are a dime a dozen.

Will someone please explain to me why people still think of Soriano as a leadoff hitter? Will someone please explain to me why Hendry is going after Carlos Lee?

ND will be takine the West Virgina rout to the BCS title game from now on.

Are you sure, I haven't seen that reported anywhere? No, I'm just going on what I read on page 1,2 or 3 of this thread? :D But if it is true, I cannot believe it.

If getting Pineilla improves the odds of getting A-Rod (which I doubt it does) then I'm happy. But put me in the camp of "I'll wait and see what talent Hendry brings in". Not even John McGraw, Connie Mack, or Casey Stengel could have won with the sad bunch that wore the uniform last year. I cannot believe that Rothschild will be back next year.

I wouldn't be surprized if Dunn is in Houston next year. Either at first or in LF.

Don't forget the firebrand manager who won't put up with no crap no-how. Sweet Lou is a more intense version of Dusty Baker. Jim will have, once again, got wrong man. Can anyone imagine what Lou's reaction will be to the first Marrotti column after a four game losing streak? If Lou is hired, my only hope is that somehow Hendry can bring in enough talent so that bad decisions can be overcome. I am hopeful but not optimistic. I really hope this rumor is not ture.

Hendry has been gambling every season on long shots. It's time for a couple bets on favorites. You only catch lightning in a bottle every once in a blue moon.

Just when I think things cannot possibly get any worse.

If somebody gives him a five year contract they will have a pretty highly paid 35 year-old playing for them. With his frame, I don't think he's going to be too goood at that age. If I were interested in him I'd give him a high-dollar, front-loaded three-year contract with a team option for a fourth, but nothing more. Something like 14 12 10 15 For a guy that turned down $70m, $36m is an extremely low guarantee. If you wanted to front load a deal you'd be better off going: $16m $16m $14m $16m option with $4m buyout At least that guarantees him $50m, and gives him a chance to sign a new deal at 33 (well, he'd sign at 33, but play at 34). I still doubt he settles for under 4 guaranteed though. That's a good point. I'm terrible at this sort of thing. But I think the only way I'd want him is if it were for a shorter deal than five years.

If somebody gives him a five year contract they will have a pretty highly paid 35 year-old playing for them. With his frame, I don't think he's going to be too goood at that age. If I were interested in him I'd give him a high-dollar, front-loaded three-year contract with a team option for a fourth, but nothing more. Something like 14 12 10 15

I agree with the general thought that sometimes you simply must overpay to get the talent, but Alfonso is not that talent. His 2006 is the classic contract year. The time to overpay was two years ago when Beltran was a FA (yeah I know, Sammy's contract yada yada). Prediction: Cardinals sign Soriano for 5/80 or thereabouts. [obliglatory comment] I am still pissed about not getting Beltran.[/obliglatory comment]

I don't. Especially Caberrea. Both would fetch a lot of talent in return and both are going to get big raises soon. I guess it depends how far away Marlins management thinks they are from contention. If they think they can contend for a playoff spot, why deal them? Becuase Jeff Loria is all about the Benjimans. He is doing his level best to get them moved out of S. Florida.

Honestly, I'm not ducking the question, but I'm having a real hard time getting a true handle on any of them. Bochy isn't a candidate _ yet _ but he might intrigue me. I could live with any of the others. I know that's hardly a ringing endorsement, but this group has been tough to get a feel for. I could live with any of these options as well, provided Hendry seriously upgrades the talent on this team. Especially the offense, which has been pretty offensive to me for the past couple of years.

I don't. Especially Caberrea. Both would fetch a lot of talent in return and both are going to get big raises soon.

If we get Lou, and then the Sox get ARod, my interest in baseball will severely deteriorate. :( Didn't A-Rod make Kenny Williams swear off Scott Boras clients? I swear I could remember Boras using the White Sox as leverage in getting A-Rod his ridiculous contract, despite making it seem like A-Rod was willing to sign there. Kenny Williams was really, really angry because of that. I don't know if were A-Rod or not, but I remember Williams or Riensdorf saying something about not dealing with Boras ever again. Whatever the case, I think it is pretty foolish to simply rule out a lot of talent b/c you don't like the guy who is representing them. But the WS work in mysterious ways.

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/cubs.asp Say it ain't say so Bruce, say it ain't so.

Bruce Miles says in today's column that Piniella is Hendry's top choice, if you think anti-Hendry sentiment was high then, well you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Bruce's new column says the Cubs are hot after Lou Piniella. I just lost my breakfast. Of all the stupid things to do Hendry finds the stupidest (I know).

They've scrambled some fighters but so far nothing is suspisious. NYPD says one confirmed fatality. I am assuming this was the pilot. NORAD says there is nothing to suspect that this was a terrorist attack at this point.

What are we waiting for?! I think we're waiting on Bochy. My guess is that Bochy is Hendry's primary target and Girardi is the fallback option. I think he's waiting on the Yankees/Piniella situation as well as Bochy. Just like everything else, Hendry is reactive to every other team's moves. He never goes out and gets people, he waits for them to come to him. That's simply inaccurate. He certainly missed on Furcal and Beltran. But there are two players I can think of off the top of my head that he went out and got and they performed very well for the Cubs. How is that inaccurate? He waited for just about everybody to become available. Some might say he went hard after Barrett, but it took another GM to act as broker to actually get something done. He had guys like Ramirez and Lee fall in his lap after other teams were cutting costs. He's gone after a couple small time role players, like middle relievers. But those guys don't make teams win. He's had plenty of opportunity to actually go out and make this team different, but he's been timid, cautious and much to willing to accept mediocrity, and hand-me-downs. Wasn't Lee virtually an Indian though. I am forgetting what team it was. I think it was Baltimore. Regardless, the deal fell through and Hendry got him for Choi. Even though Choi was highly thought of at the time, the trade was completely loppsided due to the fact that Flordia, once again, was cutting payroll.

General consensus is that he's the best pitching prospect to ever come out of Japan. Take that as you will. Personally, I'd throw money at him like there's no tomorrow. Hideki Irabu came with the same description and accolades. I think its a risky proposition. When Irabu came to America he was almost 29 years old. He also had no where near the success as this kid, who is 26. I think the posting fee is huge, but signing this guy would be like getting a top of the line starter just entering his prime.

I think the poll is interesting from scientific perspective. There are all sorts of corelational data that could be gathered comaparing objective data vs. subjective opinion. It's valuable in investigating the opinon of fans. However, I think the data could easily be skewed pretty easily.