Illini Iceman

The answer is yes. Major League teams value 26 year old shortstops who have won 2 gold gloves, had 193 hits in a season and an All-Star appearance. At $4.5M there are multiple teams who would have picked him up. The Dodgers never would have DFA'd him. I will miss Maddux. It was an honor to watch him pitch. I would rather that he stayed but realistically he was gone in the offseason anyway so I hope he can have some good luck in cavernous Dodger stadium. Izturis doesn't thrill me, but his cost next year should not keep the Cubs from making any other moves they might want to make. The option buy out for '08 is so low that basically he is on a one year contract. I think this is a bit of a vote of no confidence in Cedeno. Hendry did not want to risk going to 2006 with him as the only option at SS again. It seems very unlikely that the "really good" prospects that Hendry referred to were any of the ones that the people here are looking for.

They can't have a secret agreement in place that Ramirez gets traded, uses the escape clause and comes back to the Cubs, that would be tampering. He can have his mind set on doing so, but he can't have some agreement lined up w/ Hendry. And IMO, Ramirez should uses the escape clause, b/c Adrain Beltre has a 5-year 64M deal, and Ramirez has better #'s than Beltre. AND ARod makes 25-27/year in the last few years of his deal. ............but David Wright's only making $374,000. IMO, it's not a given that ARAM will make more then the 11 million he's already making. Rolen is right around that price, Glaus makes less, Chipper Jones makes 2 million/year more, Mike Lowell makes less, Eric Chavez makes less, Ensberg makes less, Blalock makes less, Mora makes less............. he's pretty comparable w/ other 3B. If he opts out, it's because he doesn't want to be a Cub.............. or the Cubs have traded him and he Wants to be a Cub. You are applying too much emotion to the decision. It is completely logical for ARam to opt out or at least "indicate" he is going to do so. Anyone can see that he is at the core of the Cubs offense (along with Lee and Barrett) and that his leaving would be a major problem for Hendry since he would now need to replace ARam and still further upgrade the offense to improve this year's woeful showing. With that in mind, any agent would want to use that leverage to upgrade the money and extend the years on the deal. It is a lot like Prior opting out this past offseason. Some fans wanted to read all sort of things into it about how he wanted out of the organization, but the fact is that it was the smart business move so he did it. Hendry will make a similar move with Wood. He will decline the team option knowing Wood can not get similar money elsewhere and then probably try to sign him to a lower cost deal. It is not about lack of loyalty, it is just good dollars and cents.

I guess it could be true, but seems rather vague. The Cubs have "received some indications"? Like what? Hendy shook his magic 8 ball and to see if he was going to return and it came back "Outlook not so good".? Also, if true, this is a pretty major revelation to have as a throw away line after discussing a possible Maddux trade. Say what you will about Hendry, but he has never lost a player to free agancy off his team that he really wanted to keep. I have some faith that even if this does have some validity Hendry will put something together to extend the deal and satisfy both sides.

He's already approved a trade to the Mets... and last time I checked, they are on the East Coast. link? seriously. i know when he was a free agent he said he didn't like new york and he didn't like the american league. i have yet to see an article where he approved a trade to the mets. everything i've seen says that as much as he likes to play golf with glavine, he doesn't like it enough to do it in new york. http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-060727cubsside,1,1852543.story?coll=cs-cubs-headlines Not indisputable proof, but since Maddux and Hendry both have very little to say about specific teams and offers it is about as good as you are going to get.

Dempster looks shell shocked.

How low can Cedeno go offensively? Say what you will about Baker, but he has shown amazing patience with Cedeno. Everyone says that Neifi is his "boy", but Dusty has not given him any consistent playing time over Cedeno even with him slumping this badly.

Make that one more home run.

he is a lefty. maybe he'll be the next dontrelle willis except this time around for the cubs. colvin seems to have adjusted to wooden bats quite quickly btw. I don't mind if he becomes the next Dontrelle in Florida as long as Cabrera is the prize. Don't the Marlins have any other 6 fingered pitchers they can trade us?

Yeah, he has definitely played up to that contract.

Z seems sharp tonight.

Went to the front door to get my pizza after watching Walker weakly ground out to first. Come back to see there were back to back jacks. Me likey!

How bad is Cedeno that he actually has to hit behind Blanco? They should actually bat Zambrano seventh.

Don't tell that to Z I respectfully ask that you review the NSBB official posting guideline: All success is DESPITE the Cubs coaching staff, all failure is BECAUSE of the Cubs coaching staff. Please govern yourself accordingly.

Get premium and you won't be subjected to that offensive content. Maybe that is Tim's strategy.

See, this is my problem. You want me to watch a game and then I'll know Soriano's better. You know what, I watch a lot of games. And for the 2 years before this one, Walker was better. What I want you to do is watch some games, then realize that you cannot possibly compare two players after having seen one or both play just a handful of games. Maybe you watched every game that each guy played in each of the past 2 seasons. But I don't think that's probably true. You might have seen quite a few of Walker's games, b/c you call yourself a cubs fan. But I think you've seen some Soriano moon shots and see he was a 30/30 guy in the past and think he's better b/c he has all the hype and Walker has a bad rep. Well, I think that's a terrible way to compare players. And frankly, I'm pretty friggin tired of having people tell me that I need to watch baseball, like I don't watch any games now. People who watch baseball can also use stats to measure players and can also, and this is the big point, DISAGREE WITH YOU. I suggest you contact Kenny Williams to explain your point of view. Maybe he will then trade Brandon McCarthy to the Cubs for Walker and forget all about that deal with the Nats.

If this was 10 years ago Maddux would have gotten that 3-2 call on Reyes. Everyone wanted Wuertz brought up, let's see what he can do in a tight spot here - need to throw strikes!

Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez are the color guys on the Mets broadcast tonight on MLB Extra Innings. Anything that happens in the game leads into a story from one of those two about when they were playing. A great defensive play? Hey Keith, what was the best defensive play you ever made? A player gets hurt? Hey Ron, what did you do to rehab when you got hurt. A fan eating a hot dog? Hey Ron and Keith, did you two ever eat hot dogs during that World Championship season? Truly annoying.

I am sure Rothschild is somehow responsible for Gallagher's sudden lack of control! :P

I sense 15 day DL coming for Jones with a strained toe.

Thanks Fred. I know you don't hear it enough, so I'll say it again,your play-by-play and stats are appreciated and really add to the game (sometimes the only enjoyment one can get). Thanx for those kind words. I'd be doing pbp tonight except for the fact that I'm sitting in the truck at a loading dock in Elgin. Hopefully.... I'll be out of here shortly. Wow, that's dedication. No,.... I've been sitting here patiently waiting since noon today. Dedication is my loving wife who just stopped by and brought me some dinner !! For your sake I hope you are getting paid for detention with power.

Cedeno is sinking fast. Can Theriot play SS?

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/cs-060723soxgamer,1,3673782.story?coll=cs-whitesox-headlines I haven't heard about any penalty coming so I guess MLB is OK with managers ordering pitchers to throw at opposing hitters.

Can someone remind me what exactly it is that Cedeno is good at?

Cedeno should've taking that play himself. I think it depends on where Neifi was positioned. I figured he would have been shaded a little closer to 2nd for a DP chance with Maddux pitching. It seemed like he was closer to the line. It's a tough call, though it did seem Ronny's momentum should have been carrying him toward and through 2nd base. Cedeno laid back on the ball and nonchalanted the DP. I think Neifi's timing was thrown off because he expected the turn to be made quicker.

Watching Ramirez and Cedeno you start to think this team has quit and is just going through the motions.