biittner77

Or Hendry could sign Soriano with the promise of returning him to 2nd base. Under a sane manager the lineup would then look like this: Pierre Murton Lee Ramirez Soriano Jones Barrett Izturis (assuming Hendry intends to keep him) P That lineup isn't that horrible.

I think the problem for Pierre is that pitchers are always right around the plate with him. Pierre tries taking pitches and winds up behind in the count. There's no reason to try to get fancy with Pierre; just throw the ball over the plate and let him try to hit it. He has no power. This would tend to explain why his effectiveness is so BABIP dependent.

Hearing him talk it sounded to me that he would pitch out of the pen if he had to but he didn't sound very enthusiastic about it. Why should he? Dempster is his friend and he doesn't want to take his job. Also closers don't make as much money as starters. Even the Cubs don't pay set up guys more than $4 million per. I see Hendry working out some kind of deal with Wood so the Cubs can pay for his rehab and then he can sign with some team that is willing to give him $8-10 million as a starter.

How would leadoff if Jones moves to CF? plan A: the impact second baseman someone like Giles plan B: Pagan or Murton either of whom could easily match Pierre's numbers minus the stolen bases. The better question is where can the Cubs find an impact RF?

The Cubs would have to put Blanco on waivers, and he would probably get claimed before he reached Boston's turn. With the Red Sox about to get Lopez it's a moot point but why would anyone claim Blanco on waivers? Teams usually stay out of each other's way when it comes to waiver deals unless the player is too good to pass up.

Cubs get Hee sop Choi Red Sox get Henry Blanco Cubs promote Soto to back up Barrett and save some money. Cubs then DFA Mabry and call up Hoffpaur

Perhaps we should be asking ourselves why Hendry gave Ramirez the out clause in the first place. One logical explanation is that Ramirez took less money or less years than he could have made somewhere else. When Ramirez signed, wasn't the consensus at the time that Hendry got him relatively cheap? So Hendry gave him the out cluase to save money in the short run figuring that if Ramirez did opt out he must have performed at a high enough level to deserve more money. The point being that Hendry knew this day might come and he'd have to make a decision. I believe he wants to keep Ramirez but if some team will really overpay he'd be dumb not to trade him.

Since when did Glavine become a first ballot hall of famer?

Needless to say, a lot depends on who is managing the Cubs next season and what type of philosophy he has. A couple people have mentioned that set up guys are at a premium in this year's market. I'm wondering why people think that. Outside of the Reds- Nats trade who's gotten much for a set up man? Does anyone think Nevin is a viable option to platoon with Jones in RF next season? How much can we expect Murton to improve next season? Assuming Baker is gone and they don't hire Gene Clines to manage the Cubs Murton could thrive in the #2 spot in the order where his lack of power would not be a liability and his OBP an asset. Since Hendry is still the GM, I'd expect the following to happen: 1 overpay Soriano with the hook that he can move back to 2nd base. His power makes up for Murton in LF. A better option might be a trade for Bill Hall but I don't see the Brewers as being too eager to trade him given his versatility. 2 offer arbitration to Slappy McGroundout. If he accepts Hendry gives him a one year deal with options. 3 Keep Nevin. "He saved us" after Lee went down. 4 sign an unexciting innings eater to compete for the 5th spot 5 call it an offseason The Lineup: CF Pierre LF Murton 1st Lee 3rd Ramirez 2nd Soriano RF Jones/ Nevin C Barrett SS Cedeno P Rotation Zambrano Prior Marshall Hill/ Guzman/ Marmol/ Rusch FA Bleh lightning in a bottle type guy

A good example being Jeff Fassero whom the Cards wanted for some reason.

If I were you, I'd be wary of a roundhouse kick to the face sometime soon. Not that it will do you any good.

The Tigers need a LH hitter that can play the OF. One that is notorious for playing well against the White Sox. Jacques Jones for either or both of those guys would be great.

I was in Chicago last week and the Trib had the Cubs and Sox stats side by side. The pitching stats aren't all that much different in terms of team ERA. What really jumps out is that the Sox have hit about twice as many HRs, scored at least a hundred more runs and- to the surprise of no one not named Hendry or Baker- the Sox have a significantly higher OBP.

I can see that sentiment. My guess is they like the versatility Theriot brings. Hendry likes guys who can catch the ball. Is Fontenot on the 40 man roster? I thought they took him off last fall.

Here's the way I see it. I'm not saying all these guys will be traded but here's where I'd categorize the players the Cubs have: Hendry will keep unless totally blown away Lee Barrett Ramirez Zambrano Hendry will probably keep Eyre Howry Marshall Guzman Marmol Murton Cedeno Jones Prior Most valuable pre deadline trading chips (not listed above) Pierre Maddux Novoa Ohman Waiver deal candidates Perez Nevin Rusch Notes: There must be other GMs that value what Pierre brings. Despite his struggles after the good start, Maddux is a name. Shouldn't he be at least worth what the Pirates got for Kris Benson? There will be a team desperate enough to take Rusch. He won't net anything in return, likely a PTBNL. I could see a team valuing Perez's flexibility for the stretch run. In fact, if used in that capacity he wouldn't be a liability. Did Nevin prove he could still play OF? He's said he doesn't want to DH, and he can't play 3rd anymore.

Unless they can find a power hitting middle infielder and bat Murton 2nd. Or if they geta 2nd baseman capable of leading off, move Jones to CF and get a power hitting RF. scenario one: CF Pierre (for the sake of argument not something I'd wish for) LF Murton 1st Lee 3rd Ramirez RF jones 2nd Soriano/ Bill Hall Barrett Cedeno Pitcher scenario two: 2nd Marcus Giles RF Murton Lee Ramirez CF Jones LF Burrell Barrett Cedeno Pitcher Murton should be using his ability to get on base to score runs ahead of Lee/ Ramirez not trying to drive runs in.

Here's some questions that will be asked: How good is Zambrano? How has Greg Maddux's presence helped the young pitchers? What do you expect from Lee in the 2nd half? Are there any young players we might see before the Sept. call ups? Are you pleased with the acquisitions of Howry and Eyre? Any questions you actually want to have answered will be evaded. I'm hoping for Hendry to use one of Baker's bizarre fishing analogies.

As for my prediction: The Cubs have a better 2nd half and go 73-89.

According to Cubs.com there will be no gutting of this team by the deadline: This quote can be interpreted many ways. What is a firesale? TO Hendry that might mean trading players like Lee and Ramirez. Is it really a fire sale if Perez, Rusch and Nevin are shipped out? As for the "seeing what you might have part", that suggests lots of Playing time for guys like Murton, Pagan and anyone that might be a sept. callup. UNless of course they don't already know what they have in vets like Perez, Mabry etc.

Caller: Jim, thanks for taking my call. Will you be listening to offers for players like Juan Pierre who clearly hasn't panned out the way you thought he would. Jim: I've always thought that the key to college was to always go to class. That way you don't always have to read the book. In fact I wouldn't even buy the book until a few weeks in to see if you really need it. Caller 2: Rich Hill and Mike Fontenot have been performing well at AAA. Any chance they will be called up before September? Jim: The key ingredient in gumbo is anything you have. Though I prefer Jambolaya.

You're right.... Blah blah Blah, give Dusty every chance to turn it around, blah blah blah Actually, I was thinking it would be more like something they do in THe Onion like "Ask the student that didn't do the required reading" Dear student that didn't do the required reading: I don't approve of my daughter's fiance... Should I still go to the wedding?" -mother in Fresno Dear Mother in Fresno: Tom Sawyer is a story about a time when people were so poor that they didn't wear shirts but just had overalls. ... Tom Sawyer is a Signet Classic in the truest sense of the word. It was well worth the $6.95 purchase price. In fact, if I were in Canada, I'd even pay $7.95.

Did anyone see that thing they did on ESPN about Abreu and the HR derby? Since he won the HR derby his HR numbers have plummetted. What kind of market is there for Burrell? He's got a big salary and has had some ups and downs. If Hendry was willing to pay Burrell's remaining salary I doubt he'd cost too much.

Barrett was a butcher at 3rd and has said he doesn't want to change positions. Barrett's offense from the catching position makes him valuable. His production as a corner infielder would make him very ordinary.

Maybe this is the real reason why Hendry can't fire Baker. Hendry has worked hard to get a reputation as a stand up guy. Scapegoating the manager- no matter how much he needs to be fired- would make it look like he was passing the buck. As for the rest of the season, I would hope that Hendry would dump the likes of Nevin, Rusch and Perez on anyone that will take them. Do that and Baker can't avoid playing the guys that figure into future plans. BY saying that he wants Baker around the rest of the year should take the pressure off to win now at any cost.

Isn't it ironic that Hendry supposedly was waiting for a win streak that never happened to announce Baker's contract extension and now he might be waiting for the team to lose some games so he can fire him. If he doesn't fire Baker immediately, he needs to publicly acknowledge that the season is over and that they are going to start re tooling for next year. That takes the pressure off Baker to run Zambrano, Eyre and Howry out there until they need surgery. It also makes playing Nevin and Perez on a regular basis inexcusable.