DesMoinesCub

Speaking of Minnesota in 89...any chance Tom Kelly is the next manager of the Cubs. I know the chances of this are very slim, but MacPhail was in Minnesota when Kelly was there. Dierker had brain surgery to repair a blood vessel problem that led to seizures. I think he is doing better and would be a candidate to manage again if healthy.

I think Hendry did over pay for the two relief pitchers, but it was an area that needed upgrading. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices in one area to upgrade another. As far as Hendry is concerned, I just think he gets some unjust criticism. I think he has done a very good job in terms of trades, and average job in terms of free agent signings, and a very good job in terms of developing the farm system to a point where it is not a weakness anymore. Wasn't Hendry in charge of the minor leagues when Lynch was GM. Now, if the Cubs get off to a bad start or have a bad year, and Baker is given an extention, then I think Hendry might have some explaining to do.

Did Hendry set the market, or did he just out bid the other teams that were trying to acquire those two? If some team offered a million less and all Hendry did was up it by a million, then the market was already set and Hendry paid "market value." We really don't know for sure. What if Hendry made a phone call to Giles and Giles said something along the lines of..."Thanks for the call Jim, but I really don't see myself playing for the Cubs." Jim may have made a call and was shot down like a Jr. High kid asking a senior on a date. He may not have. Again, we really don't know for sure. Unless we work for the Cubs, nobody really knows what happened in any of the cases. It is speculation that Giles didn't want to come here, and it is speculation that Hendry really never targeted him. It is MY speculation that Hendry inquired about Giles and was told not to bother.

I believe Giles was never an option. If Giles showed interest in the Cubs, then it is Hendry's fault for not going after him. I just didn't think Giles would ever be a Cub and didn't get my hopes up. And...Neifi is overpayed. I agree with that.

I know I lot of people on here are wishing Baker and Hendry to be gone. I understand your points. I am not a fan of Baker for many reasons. However, the bashing of Hendry has me confused...a little. I know everyone, including myself, is disappointed that we didn't/can't land big name FA's. However, we have been able to keep a lot of the guys we want from reaching free agency. People complain about his overpaying. Sometimes you need to overpay to make the club better. There is no doubt in my mind we are a better team this year then last. I have read many posts about how hard Jim works, and how he is always trying to "make the team better". I like how he takes responsibility for the failure of last years team. I know people will point to this player and that player and have negative remarks about this or that, and that is fine. What else could he have possibly done for RF this year? Remember it takes two teams to make a trade, so don't say he could have gotten Dunn, Abreau, etc. Again, I know I will get blasted for some of my thoughts, but that is what this board is for...discussions. I am just as disappointed as everyone that the Cubs have not been that good. The Cubs made a run in 2003 when the Cards and Astros were injured. The last two seasons have not been the most healthy for the Cubs either. Again, blast away...

Thanks Raisin

Bacon-Pie-Greenberg they could cover a lot of ground in the OF. Of the three who has the lowest stolen base total and what is the over under on it?

Sorry about that Pinto name mentioned earlier in the post. I was thinking of Valdez. Maybe Pinto is at Iowa when Alb. comes and plays here :D How old is Scott Moore, the third basemen from Detroit the Cubs got from the Farns deal? I don't expect him to be at Iowa, but isn't he/wasn't he old for his league last year.

Thanks for the info. Does anyone think the I-Cubs will be fairly young next year? I know we'll get a lot of the vets (see Ojeda, Augie), but in general, I am thinking a fairly young team. Just guessing here, but Greenberg, Pie, Sing, Craig, Pinto, Ryu. Thoughts?

If Joshua was promoted to AAA, what happened to Listach? I know Kranitz went to Florida, but I haven't heard anything about Listach leaving. Oh well...I guess West Tenn's loss is Iowa's gain.

So when are the owners going to realize this...does anyone think some of these contracts are getting a little out of hand? Remember when Sandberg signed a contract for (I think) 7 million a year and was one of the highest payed players in MLB.

Not living in the Chicago area, does anyone know who the two trades on the table are for? I am sure it was reported on here somewhere, but not sure. Also, he talks about Carlos Lee and Cliff Floyd both wanting to come back to Chicago and both are free agents next year. I think this was all in the Sullivan article, but not sure...it might have been in an article on the Sun Times site.

I believe the 1945 lead off hitter was Stan Hack who was an All-Star in 1945.

1945 OF- 1945 Cubs. Peanuts Lowrey - LF (.283, 7 HR, 89 RBI); Andy Pafko - CF (.298, 12, 110); Bill Nicholson - RF (.243, 13, 88) Don't know if any of them led off, but this is all I can find so far.

Neither I or the optimistic Cub fan were around in 1908, however, I believe they had a great guy to lead off in 45. :D

I was talking to an optimistic Cub fan the other day who said he thought the Cubs had a great chance to make the playoffs because of Pierre. His reasoning... In 1984 the Cubs had a quality lead off hitter in Dernier. In 1989, they had a quality lead off hitter in Walton. In 1998, they had a quality lead off hitter in Lance Johnson. In 2003, they had a quality lead off hitter in Kenny Lofton. This doesn't say anything about the guys listed above, but none of these guys scored 100 runs on a playoff team. I guess we'll see...

Murton-The Stepchild Pierre-Whatever you want to call him as long as he is on base and scoring runs.

I agree...don't give up on Patterson just yet. I don't want to trade him for nothing. Make sure it is going to make this club better and not just trade him for the sake of getting rid of him. Like someone mentioned earlier, he is good to have for insurance purposes. For example we trade for Bradley (form your own opinion on him...in the millions of threads going on him) and he pulls the normal injured,suspended, etc. Or get Floyd, who also gets injured. Now at least you are not left with Mabry starting everyday...although he might be better then Patterson. Long story short, if Patterson is traded, I hope it is for something that will help the ballclub.

What kind of a package would it take to get Green and Vasquez? Don't get me wrong, there are many options I would rather have then Green, but we could do worse as well. Patterson and ??? for Green/Vasquez

Who does Boston have playing SS? Am I missing someone obvious? They still have that Ramirez kid in the minors, right?

That is what I was afraid of. So it looks like Lugo is not a possiblity.

Good for him...I like it when guys play a long time in one place.

So Vance, You believe that Marte for Lugo would be about right? Would the Braves need to give up more. What would be a comparable offer from the Cubs?

Very well put...I am glad CubinNYC you didn't take that as a dig at you. I am just wondering why so many people dislike "Slappy" but so many are for Wilk. Like I said, did I like Wilk...yes, but I don't think Pierre is going to be a big problem like CF and the "Juan Hole" was for us last year. The other thing is, other people are talking about better options...how do we know those options were available to the Cubs without having to give up a ton in return. I think there are better players out ther then Pierre, but I don't know how many of them the Cubs could have gotten. I think this solves one of the problem areas, and the Cubs know they need to fill a couple other holes (SS and RF). I also don't think SS should be the priority, because TWalk, but we'll see.

More than Marte...would this be overpaying? The reason I ask if because if the Cubs are looking for a SS (as believed) how much would we have to give up?