why do you have to 'blow' money? that's insane...especially if the objective is to keep neifi off the field. how about you just don't sign neifi? there, you just saved $2.5 mil to keep perez off the field instead of spending $30 mil. fine, he's above average (compared to other ss)...but when you compare him to guys that will get 4-5 year contracts, i'd say he's average. in other words, he's not worth what he'll get. why invest 30 mil+ and 4-5 years in a guy who can be outproduced by a cheaper nomar, who can then possibly replaced by cedeno at less than a million in 2006? you'd be wasting the cubs' top position prospect and spending $30 mil to get furcal. if you'd be wasting cedeno and spending tons of cash while getting arod or tejada for ss, fine...but furcal isn't that good. Furcal >>>> Nomar this year. At least Furcal's durable. I'm just dealing w/ reality here. First, what's the odds of Baker giving Cedeno much of a shot?? Cmon this is Dusty Baker we're talking about. Murton will be lucky to play next year. Also, Baker loves Neifi, and they'll have to get someone who's established and pretty good and durable to keep Neifi off the roster. I think Neifi's alright if used properly, but Baker misuses him and I hate the idea of having Nomar and Neifi back and Neifi batting 2nd for 80 games next year, after Nomar goes down. Neifi batting 2nd has killed this team. I'd much rather take Furcal @ SS and Nomar @ 2b and bring back Hairston, if Nomar goes down, which is pretty likely, but what the heck, roll the dice. If E. Patterson's as good as advertised, he'll take over 2nd in a few year, and the Cubs can save some money that way. See, this is what's wrong. This is Hendry's team, not Dusty's, and Hendry should have the final say on what 25 players Dusty has on Opening Day next year, not Dusty.