jjgman21

not a home park condusive to success for Maddux, but with all the prospects the D-Backs have, I wish Hendry would try to get them in the Maddux mix too.

Hendry passed out. Krispy Kreme light came on.

Just to flesh out the fantasy a little bit... Say both those deals get made. Say we sign Trot Nixon and Craig Wilson. Wilson is a bit of a stretch since I doubt he signs to be a platoon guy, but hey, things have already gone well enough thus far, might as well go all out. 2B (Walker, Loretta, one year guy to hit leadoff to bridge to EPatt) Barrett Lee Nixon/Wilson platoon Jones/Murton platoon LaRoche Pie or Aybar Aybar or Pie Zambrano, Santana, Marshall, Marmol, Prior hard to stomach, but that should leave some money left over, so how about bridge to Pie with an incentive laden deal to Jed? The Cards are losing quite a bit of salary with Marquis, Suppan, and Mulder being FA's. Hard to see them not picking up his option at this point. I definitely wouldn't be opposed to getting a CF in that scenario though. at 10M, with how many holes they will need to fill, I wouldn't be so sure.

Just to flesh out the fantasy a little bit... Say both those deals get made. Say we sign Trot Nixon and Craig Wilson. Wilson is a bit of a stretch since I doubt he signs to be a platoon guy, but hey, things have already gone well enough thus far, might as well go all out. 2B (Walker, Loretta, one year guy to hit leadoff to bridge to EPatt) Barrett Lee Nixon/Wilson platoon Jones/Murton platoon LaRoche Pie or Aybar Aybar or Pie Zambrano, Santana, Marshall, Marmol, Prior hard to stomach, but that should leave some money left over, so how about bridge to Pie with an incentive laden deal to Jed? edit - isn't that two second baseman and no shortstops?

If Maddux had spent his entire career as a Cub, then it would have been a PR nightmare. Since he spent most of his best years with the Braves, however, I don't think it would be. I think the PR nightmare is a media invention. come to think of it though, it kind of plays into Hendry's hands... "I have a HOF Chicago idol on my hands Ned. you were here. you know how these fans are. I need to take something back to the papers, and I know you're loaded. SD is offering that catcher Vance the Cubs Fan likes so much and Barfield for Mad dog and Walker. I need a big stick in the corner outfield. I know you can do this Ned. let's get it done."

if the Yankees weren't getting nothing or poor-average performance out of about 6 or 7 of their 10+ million dollar players, I'd probably feel the same way. as it is, they keep getting older, worse and more expensive.

Maybe we can address that in the Maddux trade. The Dodgers are loaded with positional prospects. Maddux and Angel Guzman for Joel Guzman? or LaRoche? We would have a young left side of the infield, but that gives us freedom to spend big in other places. Or how about Nomar at 3B at about $7M a year? Aubrey Huff will be availble and shouldn't be more than about $6M a year. I would try to get a solid prospect who is big league ready at 3B for any combination of guys who won't be back next year, and some of our more expindable pitching prospects. Then rebuild the outfield and rotation. Maybe sign Trot Nixon and Mark Loretta with Aramis money, and shift Jones to CF. Use the other money coming off the books on Carlos Lee and Jason Schmidt. just an FYI, Nomar again to the DL as of today.

I wouldn't be surprised if his source was Iowacubs. I haven't heard anything on ESPN that I haven't heard online first.

There are few offensive upgrades out there in the FA market, and even if you sign one of them, you're right back to status quo, really. You'd have to sign 2 good offensive players if you deal Aramis But you also wouldn't have to worry about getting another SP because of Santana. It's a pretty big risk, but if you feel that Ramirez is likely to opt out, I'd be real tempted to do it and insert myself in a deal for Ensberg. or like you said earlier, maybe he opts out for more money, in which case you make another run at signing Aram this is interesting in that the prevailing sentiment as that the O's are nuts for not trading Tejada for these two players, but the Cubs would be nuts to trade Aram for these two players. Tejada is at least 4 years older, has a more onerous contract and has been roughly as productive as Aramis has been over the last 3 or so seasons. Tejada will decline as he finishes out his contract. Baltimore is going nowhere as they stand, so why not use a player that's older and only going to get worse to inject youth into your team? Conversely, Aramis is 28, in his prime, productive provided he has some sembalance of lineup protection, and even if he renegotiates his deal for $15m, is still a better value than Tejada. I'm not sure where you're getting the information about their ages. I have 5/25/76 for Tejada and 6/25/78 for Aram. Tejada may decline. Aram is a much bigger injury risk. Contracts are Aram at 3 for 33+M OR nothing but draft picks if he opts out. Tejada is 3 at 38. Tejada's VORP I'm sure is gigantic because he plays a defensive position, Aram's probably low considering he plays a power position. I'm not sure I would do either trade. I just think these are two extremely comparable players, yet general sentiment, perhaps by different people, is the exact opposite on whether the trade would be good or bad.

There are few offensive upgrades out there in the FA market, and even if you sign one of them, you're right back to status quo, really. You'd have to sign 2 good offensive players if you deal Aramis But you also wouldn't have to worry about getting another SP because of Santana. It's a pretty big risk, but if you feel that Ramirez is likely to opt out, I'd be real tempted to do it and insert myself in a deal for Ensberg. or like you said earlier, maybe he opts out for more money, in which case you make another run at signing Aram this is interesting in that the prevailing sentiment as that the O's are nuts for not trading Tejada for these two players, but the Cubs would be nuts to trade Aram for these two players.

I was dead set against it until I heard he was going for nothing and found out his option was the club's. having to pick up the option to make the trade go down, I wouldn't have done it either. to me his lack of power means he needed to be a one year rental and wouldn't have cost much in prospects in order for him to be a good target. I know blasphemous, but I wonder if an incentive laden contract to...gulp....Edmonds....wouldn't be the best way to go to get production out of the outfield.

Did anyone sense a PR nightmare before the national media started talking about a PR nightmare? I never got any sense of that until this weekend. not from this board, local media, nowhere. I think the fanbase kind of saw it coming all along and was pretty realistic about not getting a ton. I for one nearly pee'd my pants first I heard Ethier's name mentioned.

Mora to LF? hasn't he suffered several leg injuries the past few years? Mora's numbers are way down, but I think they extended him, so I'd think they would want to play him somewhere, just hard to figure a place for him.

Luna came up with Cleveland, Cards got him Rule 5 from them. LaRussa has no love for Luna or there'd be no way he would be the starting 2nd baseman to date over Miles. He's publicly outed Luna before. The only way this is good for the Cards is that he'll take ABs away from Miles. They could have just stayed put and started Luna though. didn't realize he was out of favor...but the bolded part makes no sense. seems you saying that if LaRussa really liked him than he'd make less starts. I think you meant to say he would have taken over for Miles a long time ago. I thought he had.

sounds like he's just the type of player LaRussa likes. he'll love the cornrolls too.

everyone keeps offering a 3B to the Orioles. what would they do with Mora? didn't they just extend him? I would think he lacks the range and durabililty anymore to play short. just my opinion, I wouldn't find the Astros offer attractive unless the third player is a top prospect. I think Angelos is just playing games and will keep Tejada.

Though hopefully it'll be a slugfest tomorrow, so we can wreck Webb's ERA to give Big Z a better chance at a Cy. Unfortunately, I think Webb has owned us badly in the past. amongst the many varieties of pitchers the Cubs collectively suck against is right handed sinkerballers. I'm just hoping they don't get no hit.

I don't get why Bagwell and Biggio are bad choices at all...Both are near the top of their positions on All-Time lists as it is. well it's all sticking by his guys, but nobody in their right mind would choose Bagwell and Biggio over Gerhig and Hornsby. maybe they had more grit that these two top 5 all time OPS+ players. You forget that these were playing during his tenure. And on Dierker, I like that he is a thinking man. It's really hard to find that in an old timer in baseball. He, like Maddon in TB, has tried to understand the basics of statistical analysis. He sounds like a smart guy, I'm worried a bit about his pitching philosophy. The thing is, hiring a good pitching coach who puts control first would help this pitching staff alot. gotcha. I wouldn't argue with those two.

sweep home Chicago! so that was our world series. what do we do now?

how is pitch 1 to Duncan and pitch 1 to Rolen a ball, but pitch 2 to Rolen is a strike? did anyone see any discernable difference?

the misuse of Ryan Dempster continues.

isn't the meathook raking since his return?

I don't understand how this is an upgrade over Luna. Luna - 291/355/417, no discernable splits, came up in the organization and loved by LaRussa Belliard - 289/335/419, terrible reverse splits, reputed attitude problem in a clubhouse that doesn't tolerate attitude problems

one reason I wish they sent him... it was obvious from yesterday that Molina tries to force the runner wide. with the tag up play and the straight line that could be taken, it would have been interesting to see if the Cubs were actually coached after a mistake by seeing whether Murton would have taken an inside line.

geez, can't wait until human raindelay Adam Wainwright is starting. 7 minutes for two batters.