TrueBlueCubFan

The Cubs should bring back LOOGY extraordinaire Mike Remlinger. The Cards will probably sign him & he'll has his best year of his career. Luck just seems to always go the Cards way.

I wouldn't be suprised if Wood repeats or betters his 03' performance in 06'. Would you? His ceiling is still very high.

The Gold Glove voting is becoming more of a joke everyday. You got that right! In 04' both Schneider & Patterson were far better defensively than Matheny & Edmonds. This award has 0 credibility. Offense stats shouldn't matter when it comes to this award, but it does & that is ridiculous.

Awesome idea. Where do we sign? IIRC, fantasy baseball doesn't start up until Februrary 06'. If you play your cards right you have both Abreu & B.Giles on your team. This thread is ridiculous!

One indicator that tells me Nomar will not be back with the Cubs is that JH has noted one of his improvements to the team this off-season will be team defense. In no way is a MI of Nomar & Walker an improvement on defense. Actually, it's a downgrade. Unless JH plans on using Walker as a platoon 2nd baseman.

Lugo's option was picked up by TB for 06' Doesn't mean he can't be traded by TB this offseason. I still think there's a good chance he'll be traded. Who does TB have to play SS if they trade Lugo?

Lugo's option was picked up by TB for 06'

Alright, those moves would get me pretty excited. You could always become a Yankees fan

The Cubs have enough depth in the rotation. Spend the money on improving the offense & the bench.

Right now, the Cubs have 6 SP's: Z,Wood,Prior,Maddux,Williams & Rusch This talk about the Cubs going after one of the top 2 SP FA's (Burnett/Millwood) out there is unrealistic. I think JH is set with the rotation & will maybe sign one FA for the BP. Maybe they trade Williams for bullpen help or a OF. Who knows? He is not a RP type, so moving him to the BP doesn't make much sense. I say keep Williams & his league minimum salary & make him the #5 SP & use Rusch as insurance for the rotation & use him as a swingman/long relief.

Maybe go after a CF (Bradley/Cameron) with those extra starting arms we have, but I agree.. LF - Murton CF - Patterson (Bradley? ) RF - Giles 1B - Lee 2B - Walker SS - Furcal 3B - ARam C - Barrett To me, that lineup looks good enough to compete for the division. Amazing how much of a difference 2 signings would make. I think with Giles and Furcal, we could afford to let Patterson try one more time in CF. The line-up could be: Furcal SS Walker 2b Lee 1b Giles RF Ramirez 3b Patterson CF Murton LF Barrett C I think that line-up could conceivably be a top 3-4 offense. I would move Murton up & Walker down in that line-up: Furcal Murton Giles Lee Ramirez Walker Barrett Patterson If the Cubs somehow land both Furcal & Giles, I'm fine with CPatt in CF. or bench Patterson & start Hairston: Furcal Hairston Giles Lee Ramirez Barrett Walker Murton

I'm one of the biggest Patterson haters on this board, & I wouldn't do that trade, either. SAY NO TO THE VERY OVERRATED PIERRE!!

He does have a no trade clause, as does Jim Thome. Word out of Philly is they may move Howard to LF,Micheals in CF & Burrell in RF. This makes Abreu expendable. If Brian Giles isn't interested in Chicago & either resigns with SD, or goes some were else via FA, this may be another option. With a weak FA market this year, the trade route may be the way to go. Hypothetical line-up for 06': CF Hairston RF Abreu 1B Lee 3B Ramirez 2B Walker LF Murton SS Cedeno C Barrett Abreu's a career .303/.411/.512 LY's #'s 162 GP,24 HR's,102 RBI's,117 BB's, 134 K's, 31 SB's, 9 CS, .286/.405/.474 Bobby Abreu: 5 years worth 64M , will make in 2003-8.5M plus 3M signing Bonus, in 2004-10M, in 2005-12.5 and in 2006-13M, in 2007-15M, and in 2008- Team Option worth 16M ;or 2M Buyout- + Salary Can increase 275K the next year for MVP 1st place finish or 150K 2nd place in voting or 100K for 3rd place- + the deal includes Complete NO-TRADE Clause- + BONUSES he has received: 50K in 2004 for Silver Slugger, 50K for 2005 All-Star selection Agent: Peter Greenberg Service Time: 7.165 Any thoughts on what it might take to get this guy??

From what I have, Hairston is a free agent. According to this he isn't a FA intil after the 06' season: http://mlb4u.com/0607FA.html

Can a player make less through arbitration the following year due to poor performance? Corey Patterson made 2.8 mil. in 05'. Should we expect the same,less, or more in $ payed to Corey in 06'? Carlos Zambrano made 3.76 mil in 05'. He had a good season. Should we expect his salary to double? Is JHJR arbitration eligible, b/c he made 1.8 mil in 05'? If he is should we expect the same,less, or more for him?

Can he still sign with the White Sox if he files for FA? I'm uncertain on the rules of FA.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/cs-051020seriesbits,1,193508.story?coll=cs-whitesox-headlines Konerko's dad expects son to test market Sox missed chance for 'hometown discount' By Mark Gonzales and Paul Sullivan Tribune staff reporters October 20, 2005, 10:59 PM CDT The Konerko family gained a new member this week, but the White Sox family may be in danger of losing a Konerko this off-season. Jennifer Konerko, wife of Sox All-Star first baseman Paul Konerko, gave birth Wednesday to a boy named Nicholas. Meanwhile, Konerko's father, Hank, raised some doubt about his son's future with the Sox. Konerko will be a free agent after this season. "[The White Sox] had a whole year to talk to him," Hank Konerko told the Scottsdale Republic for a story to be published Saturday. "Right now, the ball is in Paul's corner. He's got a good agent (Craig Landis) that will represent him. Paul knows what his value is, and so do the White Sox and a dozen other teams. "He absolutely loves Chicago, the people on the team, the people who run it, the fans. He really would love to stay in Chicago. But having said that, the hometown discount is gone. He is going to listen to everyone and narrow it down. "What he's offering to a major-league team is basically his prime. He's 29 years old. Nowadays, a five-year deal is typical. I can tell you this, his best years are ahead of him." Manager Ozzie Guillen said he expected Konerko to return from Arizona well after Thursday's workout but to hit in the batting cages. Guillen said he was delighted that the Konerkos have a son after the wives of coach Joey Cora, A.J. Pierzynski, Joe Crede and Freddy Garcia gave birth this year. "Good, we've had too many girls lately," joked Guillen, the father of three sons.

try this: http://mlb4u.com/teampages.html

I'll give you that one. Pujols=Best Hitter ARod=Best Player Has Barry Bonds retired? Until he does, he is clearly the best hitter in baseball. Bonds= Best hitter Arod= Best player

Both those ball parks are launching pads. I know the pitching is very good in this series. However, I think there will be more scoring then most people think. Astros win game 1 W.Sox win game 2 Astros win game 3 W.Sox win game 4 Astros win game 5 W. Sox win game 6 Astros win game 7 Oswalt wins MVP. Astros in 7. This should be a very good series.

Good luck to the Astros. They are clearly better than the Cards. Now go sweep those White Sox!!

Miami Herald: Girardi set to become next Marlins manager BY CLARK SPENCER cspencer@herald.com Joe Girardi is ''very close'' to reaching an agreement to become the Marlins' next manager, according to sources close to the negotiations. An announcement could be made later today. Sources said Girardi, 41, has made up his mind to take the job. CBS-4 also is reporting that Girardi will be the next Marlins manager. Girardi, who has no managing experience, spent the past season serving as bench coach for the New York Yankees under manager Joe Torre. He was one of more than a half-dozen candidates to interview with the Marlins. Girardi also interviewed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who are conducting their own manager search. Girardi would replace Jack McKeon, who stepped down at the end of the season.

Is it really fair to categorize fans based off of "trolls" on a message board? I think it's a bit silly to base your opinion on a team off of fans you've never met. Not that trolls are the only reason you dislike the Cards. Just sayin. That said... my GOD was that clutch from Pujols. Simply unreal. Not really. It was more Lidge's mistake than Pujols' ability on that AB. Most power hitters in MLB hit that ball for a HR. Lidge threw that right down the middle of the plate. That was a BP pitch if I've ever seen one.

There are only 7 teams that will be interested in the FA pool of SS's: Atl- if they can't resign Furcal, which most likely they will not be able to b/c he will command about 3-4 mil more per year then they will be willing to pay. R.Clayton,A.Gonzalez(former Marlin),Nomar,Neifi or they could go the cheap route & go with Beitmet. Best guess: A.Gonzalez Ari- Clayton's contract is up. They may be strapped with Glaus',Green's, Vazquez's & R.Ortiz's contract. They also have Counsell who can play SS. Neifi would be a nice fit for Arizona. Best guess: Neifi Perez Tor- They will have plenty of money to spend this off-season & a MI of Hudson & Fucal would be very enticing for Tor. However, they do have R.Adams. Toronto will be involved in the Furcal sweepstakes. Best guess: R.Clayton CHW- If the WS decide they want to upgrade their offense, they may take a look @ signing Nomar. If the Cubs tell Nomar they are going to look somewhere else, he has said he would like to stay in Chicago, so they CHW may be a possible destination. Best guess: the WS stick with Uribe Sea- Beltre,Sexson & Ichiro keep this team FA signing cpabilities to a minimum. They do have Morse who is a cheap,young option @ SS. Any money they can spend will probably go towards pitching. Best guess-stick with Morse. They may sign a back-up like C.Gomez or D. Cruz. ChC- The Cubs need to improve defensively & OBP @ the top of the line-up. Furcal is the combination of power & speed that the Cubs will drool over. JH will go hard to sign Furcal, if he does file for FA. Best guess-R.Furcal Fl- The 13.5 mil that is owed to Delgado is about 25% of their allowed payroll. They seem to be a good fit for Nomar if he can't stay in Chicago. Best guess: Nomar Furcal will come down to either Atl,Tor or Chc Thoughts???

The Cubs have alot of money to spend, but will they sign that many FA's? not sure JH won't go a different route through trades. Landing Furcal & Giles seems a little fair fetched. One, yes. Both, unlikely.