badgercub

Excellent. Where did you see/hear that? Bruce Levine called into Dan Patrick's show to report it. I believe he said Samardzija could get up to 7 million. Trying to steal Hendry's thunder is he? I wondered what that horrible sound was coming out of Southbend. South Bend has no problem with him. Both his sports are completely done now, and he was just as important for the baseball team as the football team. Really, the only people who get hurt by this are the people who were looking for a receiver in the NFL draft, as the rest of the receivers just became a little more valuable (because teams are always worried that there will be a run on receivers in the draft, and now there's 1 less of them). Just like the Cubs took a chance on drafting him last year, some NFL team will take a chance on drafting, it just won't be in the first round. How long does an NFL team hold a players rights after drafting him?

After putting a beatdown on Pitt, the Wisconsin Badgers are ranked #4 in the AP and #5 in the Coaches Poll. As Da Ali G would say "Respect". Look forward to the Ohio St game in Madison on Jan. 6th.

I am looking forward to the Wisconsin - Pitt matchup in Madison tomorrow morning. Should be a great game and will show if both or either teams are legit top 10. Wisconsin has played a somewhat tougher schedule than Pitt so far, but Pitt hasn't really played anyone til this point we will see if they are truly deserving of being ranked #2.

I'm no expert, but I believe the Cubs could just put him on the 60 day IR and he wouldn't take up a spot. If it turns out his career is over then he wouldn't be on the roster and Insurance would pay his salary.

Theres no one really " just south" of us besides St Louis.. But who? White Sox have a lot to offer

Where was Jim Hendry quoted? If that rumor is true, and Hendry is shopping him to everyone, and it's leaking, then how much leverage can he possibly have? What approach would you suggest Hendry take for moving Jones, if it's not to sit down with other GMs at the Winter Meetings and see what they'd give for him? Is he supposed to keep Jones' availability a secret or something? no but you could make it actually seem like the Cubs are willing to keep him in 2006, since his contract is pretty team-friendly. Instead, it looks like Hendry is desperate to get rid of him. I really don't think it is Team friendly, I thought they overpaid for him when they signed him last year, and I still don't like the contract. I think Jacque will revert back to career numbers at the plate and he is a sieve in the field who throws like a girl

from rotoworld: Report: Rangers, Padilla agree to terms A source told ESPN.com that the Rangers and Vicente Padilla have reached a preliminary agreement on a three-year, $34 million contract. That's the same number quoted by FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal earlier, though ESPN says nothing about a fourth-year option. Padilla isn't worth $11 million per year, of course, but he does look like a better bet than Ted Lilly, Gil Meche and Jeff Suppan to us and none of those guys are going to go for much less than that. In fact, Padilla is the only one in the group likely to settle for the three-year commitment. Dec. 4 - 9:12 pm et

Or if he can significantly upgrade the outfield. Jacque had a career year at the plate last year and was horrible in the field, I don't see him putting up the same numbers again this year and I have no desire to see him try and throw someone out at the plate again only to have the ball land 20 ft in front of the base, 2nd base that is.

I made that same point in another thread on college football. Just another reason for a playoff. Except of course they would probably be picking playoff teams based on the same flawed coaches poll. The difference would be that the 9th best team or the 17th in a 16 team playoff doesnt really have a arguement they should be fighting for the NC. They would just be upset that they are out the money. Or you could just get rid of the coaches poll and bring back the AP poll into the BCS formula. Except for the fact the AP removed themselves from the BCS, they wanted nothing to do with that sham. On a side note, Notre Dame is the most overated team in the country. People say the Badgers didn't play anybody, other than Michigan, which they lost to. Notre Dame, other than Michigan and USC, didn't really play anyone either. And they got creamed by Michigan at home and slaughtered by USC while the Badgers hung tough on the road at Michigan until the 4th quarter and were actually leading at halftime.

Not if he can play centerfield. A lot of teams would love a guy with a .360+ OBP at the top of their lineup who can play an adequate CF. It's not as if they are going to put him in LF or RF and ask him to hit 25+ HR's. This is making the assumption that you are going to get that out of Theriot or Patterson.

According to reports, Jacque wants out of Chicago. He couldn't take the heat from the fans and didn't enjoy his time on the North Side. I say good, get rid of the Bum, just freeing up the 5 million is worth more than anything they can get in return. He had a career best year at the plate and a career worst year in the field. He was never that good to begin with.

Actually, it is the PR/Media portion that Ryno has always had the problem with. Ryno was always a reserved and boring interview for the media and never did well in front of the camera. As far as being a coach, I don't know although he has been a spring training instructor for sometime, I would imagine he is not so bad a coach, but I imagine we will find out.

"Pudge Rodriguez reportedly signs with the Cubs." -- from an Arizona radio station, no less :) lol.. when i saw the Maddux thing i thought it was true....... but once i saw thr Rodriguez thing.... i knew it was sarcasm! :shock: :D Yeah, take that garbage to Cubs.com. They were references to actual reports, the Maddux one from the Jersey Star-Ledger I believe. My bad then. I didn't see that one. These threads are starting to get off of topic and so filled with nonsense they get hard to follow.

"Pudge Rodriguez reportedly signs with the Cubs." -- from an Arizona radio station, no less :) lol.. when i saw the Maddux thing i thought it was true....... but once i saw thr Rodriguez thing.... i knew it was sarcasm! :shock: :D Yeah, take that garbage to Cubs.com.

I'm just not convinced the future has been expensed. The talent is all still intact. And if any of those guys were any good, they will also be cheap for a good while longer, so that value can makeup for overpaying older guys. There is definite risk to the future. But you can't win in this game without taking risks. You have to be in it to win it. I know you have to take risks to win, but this is a bubble market and the Cubs needed a major rebuilding. It's an exceptionally awful time for the Cubs to have a GM who has to win now to save his job. Other than the Soriano contract what are the other long term contracts do you think will be hanging over their heads? I liked the Ramirez signing and don't think at his age, that length or money are too bad at all. Lee's contract looks like a bargain and is not too long. Derosa is the only other multi year deal and that definitely will not hamstring the organization as far as signing other players. The Cubs have one really big contract on the books that may come back to bite them, and I think that is just the price of doing business. If you want to win you are going to have to overpay to sign a superstar or two, or you are just going to languish in mediocrity like the Cubs have for way too long. Look at the Cardinals and some of their bigger contracts, Pujols, Rolen, Edmonds was being payed a lot, Hudson, etc....and yet somehow they continue to do ok.

Source: http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/features/rumors Hendry will bid 4/60 soon. Would rather have written off 2007 and given our stable of 4A pitchers a chance to earn a rotation spot, then evaluate and address needs in the offseason. Sadly that ship has sailed(sigh). Was there even a ship to begin with? Outside of Hill, our current crop of youngsters ain't too pretty. I'm thinking some of them will improve, but do you really think any of them until Veal and Gallagher would improve THAT much? I don't know, but it would have been nice to find out. Not having humongous bubble-year contracts on the books for the next half decade would have been cool too. I think things have changed and these big contracts shouldn't necessarily hamstring a big market club like the Cubs. Not that the Trib did not provide adequate resources before, but with an increase in payroll of what looks like to be 35 million over last year the Cubs are going to have to spend and overpay to recover from the mess that was 2006. As someone else stated at least they haven't traded anything of value regarding prospects, and if they are able to build somewhat from within they will be able to withstand the contracts Hendry is handing out. Right now only Soriano's contract is one that could be of concern.

Adjust that downward with a move to the NL. Westbrook is one of the better options out there.

I thought I read somewhere earlier that Cleveland is looking for middle relief help. Some of the names I saw thrown around were Eyre, Ohman, or Wuertz and Jacque Jones along with a mid level prospect.

Aramis' agent, Paul Kinzer, has been quoted as saying that since Aramis signed for such a discount, the opt out and the NTC were non-negotiable. Which begs the question, would those of you who think Hendry was stupid for giving it to him also be calling for his head if he let Aramis walk because he was unwilling to give him those concessions? While I would rather there wasn't an out clause or a NTC they are all part of the negotiating process and I think Hendry was smart for not letting that become a deal breaker or giving him more money or years to compensate for not having it in there. They can always renegotiate before it comes time for this to become an issue.

With the new labor agreement I believe the number of A/B free agents that a team can sign has increased. Plus you have to remember that losing Pierre also credits the Cubs with one back.

I would say Michigan has a good chance to beat Ohio State, if they do, and I hope they do by a lot, and some other things happen to the Top teams, most of whom still play one another, I want to see how high the Badgers can climb into the picture. I think it would be cool to have 3 teams from one conference in the top 5 of the BCS. If that happened it would really throw a monkey wrench into things as 3 teams from one conference cannot all go to BCS bowls, but I think there is another rule that if you finish above 6th in the BCS you are supposed to be guaranteed a spot, which rule would apply? The Badgers are on the outside looking in and if they wouldn't have lost some many skill players from last years team they would have been ranked before the season started and would definitely be in the discussion.

Wow, that is absolutely ridiculous. I just cannot fathom paying that much for one unproven player in the MLB. they'll make it back and then some in t-shirt sales alone. They've only spent that much if they actually end up signing him. Could have just been a ploy to keep the Yankees from getting him.

Blanco in the starting lineup. Ick. Remember we already have a Blanco at SS (Izturis/Cedeno). That's 2 pretty unproductive swingers in a lineup, 3 when you count the majority of the pitchers. I'm not sure that unless our 1-6 was Soriano-Barrett-Aramis-Bonds-D. Lee-Jones/Platoon we could survive that. And even then, it would be a huge detriment to have both those holes in the lineup. If you would have read the entire post, I say it only makes sense to do this if are pretty solid up and down the rest of the lineup. If you get above market value for Barrett you would probably fill one of the other gaping holes we have. Hendry is going to have a lot of money to spend too to fill other holes.

Jeff, Funny you mention that. I've got a source on the East coast, who has told me twice (a month ago and during the Bears game yesterday) that he expects Hendry will "shop" Barrett to see what he can get for him. He did say he had heard that the Jays, Yanks and Rockies had all expressed interest in Barrett at the trading deadline. Barrett comes into his walk year in '07, and it seems Hendry is a bit nervous about offering him a contract extension due to some negative feedback from Cub pitchers on his defensive limitations. Rather than let him walk for nothing, he would like to get something. The source said he had heard from a Yankee contact that Hendry is intrigued with LoDuca, Pudge, Kendall and Posada, who will all be free agents at the end of 2007, and who he thinks would be good defensive catchers for the Cubs rotation starting in 2008 for a couple of seasons, who can also swing the bat. If they traded Barrett, the source said that the Cubs might look to sign a guy like Mike Lieberthal on a one-year deal to bridge the gap. Add that to the rumor mill! I like that thinking. I wouldn't be averse to trading Barrett at all especially if you can get above market value for him. If they filled some other positions with better offensive options, I think you could get by with even Blanco as your starting catcher, but you would have to be pretty solid up and down the lineup to do that.

They need it, they're way down this year. Tom Izzo is still their coach, they will be fine. I'm sure they won't humiliate themselves(mainly due to Izzo), but they really need the influx of talent their '07 class will get them, unless Morgan is a lot better than I thought. When Drew Neitzel is expected to carry the scoring load... Tom Izzo = Overrated. There are at least 3 coaches better than him in the Big 10. Bruce Weber, Thad Matta, and Bo Ryan are all better than Izzo. It wasn't hard for him to win when he had so much talent there in the past. Now that the talent level at MSU is more on par with other teams in the Big 10 we will see how good of a coach he is.