RynoRules

you also win the award for worst grammatical quote of the year! Add "Purposefully" to the title of the award and you would be right on!

*Points to signature*

Way to gloss over the points that don't support your theory. What about Iguchi, a Japanese player. Hendry and the Cubs haven't even thought about bringing in Japanese players. If you call the $8m Lee's line of .265/.324/.487 very good for a LF, then Iguchi's .278/.342/.438 at 2.3m from 2B is great. Iguchi, Pods and Dye combined to make less than Lee, while Dye (.274/.333/.512) outperformed Lee on his own. Like I said, individual deals can be debated forever. But they don't matter. What matters is the total package. Williams has done a much better job with the total package than Hendry, and he's done more to improve his team this offseason than Hendry, and he apparantly still has plenty of youth to both add to next years roster plus trade for more parts. And Kenny did all this with a payroll $25m below Hendry's. That right there is a huge fact that people like to pretend doesn't exist. Williams has to make due with an average payroll, he's had an above average team every year, and built a great one last year. Hendry has had a top 5 payroll every year, and has had either an above or below average team as a result, never greatness, and it doesn't look to be coming. Hendry's extra $25m can be used to bring in a sure thing corner OF and allow you not to take the downgrade from Lee to Pods. Hendry's extra money should be an asset. So far it has not been. Yes, I didn't bother going into the offense. Yes ,Iguchi had a very good year for them. As did Dye. But did they do more than prevent the offense from being terrible? The team's success can't be tied to what the offense did. And he didn't build a great team. He put together a team whose offensive production was lacking and whose pitching production was amazing. It was all about their pitching. But where were KW's great moves with the pitching staff? How likely is it for their staff to repeat their great success? I'm not defending Hendry. He's been very disappointing. But how much more credit should he deserve if the Cubs were to have won it all in 2003? Just because KW has a ring doesn't mean he's done a very good job. As the Cubs have shown, relying on all of your pitchers to click in one year with barely adequate offensive production is not a very strong strategy. Probbaly right, but it does mean, IMO, that he has been better than Hendry.

and where exactly will Erstad play? Not 1st, not CF. If they put him in RF it would be really stupid. That leaves LF. If they do that, they should be run out of town on a rail. Agreed. I can live with Kotsay in RF if Tejada is at short: Pierre Kotsay Lee Tejada ARam Murton Barrett Perez ( :pukel: )

I don't quite understand the first point, can someone clarify? Are the "marketing concerns" regarding the O's (need to know who the face of the franchise is), the potential trading partners, or both? Regarding the second: the period from late September 2005 until now has probably been my least favorite as a Cubs fan. This is just maddening, and it just keeps going... Thanks Ryno and others for the summary & explication. The bold part is the answerto your mkting question.

Mr. Levine says: - The Vazquez deal is "another beautiful deal" by Williams b/c they have control over his contratct after two years (due to the fact that he demanded a trade). - Sox are "very serious contenders" for Tejada, along with Cubs and Red Sox. - Tejada needs to be dealt (if at all) within a week due to mkting concerns. - The Cubs are in a good position with the young players they have to offer; the Sox and Cubs are going head-to-head on this one. - Hard to say who has the advantage at this point. Sox have more versatile package (vets and prospects); Cubs have better "top prospects". - Looks like the Sox are going for it again and are less worried about dealing away prospects who might help in the future. - Hendry looking at Jones as a back up plan; unidentified team / player is Hendry's prime target: probably Oak. and Kotsay, or Anaheim and Erstad. "Ultimate" would be to get Floyd from the Mets. - Cubs are worried that they are waiting too long. (good thought) - Cubs are not (no chance) trading Wood, Z, or Prior.

Hood doing his update: he should be more careful with his verbage. Makes it sound like the Miggy to the Sox deal is all but done.

Next. Will post some highlights for those who cannot listen.

As I said in the other thread, I will be riding the Fire Hendry BandWGN if the Sox slip in and get Miggy.

Increase the prospects in the deal, Balt. would want Garland and they would probably try and work out an extention if possible. Garland has value and I'd work from the premise of trading either Garland or Contreras and go from there. If Balt. was dead set on McCarthy, then, you don't make the trade. probably right, but I just cannot see Balt doing a deal fro Garland; it makes no sense for them.

You cannot compare our prospect situation to the Sox. Its completely different; the Sox have 3 CF prospects; we have one.

Thanks. Thats pretty much my point. BTW, does this mean that AZ now has an overload in the OF?

Agreed.

May be Young will pan out and may be he won't, but the Sox traded from a position of strength (or at least depth) to once again upgrade their rotation with a proven SP who is, at worst, a no. 2 in any rotation in the game. I think the Sox done good. This also allows Williams to spin off one of the other SPs to improve his offense. He is? He had a terrible second half in NY and picthed in a launching pad in AZ last year. IMO, its an abberation and he is still a very good pitcher. Peculiar that he was even worse AWAY from the BOB last season. The point is that his value far exceeds Hernandez's and Young is a completely unproven commodity. Williams made a(nother) decisive move that has improved his team in measurale way, and has put him in a position to beat the Cubs for Tejada. And whither Jim Hendry?

If true, the White Sox would be dumb to trade McCarthy and better off trading off Garland. I wouldn't call it dumb. The Orioles aren't going to want Garland for Tejada. They'll want McCarthy. McCarthy would be off limits in almost any trade, they have 5 pitchers all past the point of FA or when the arbitration system favors the owners, McCarthy is currently the 6th and is ready to step up in a rotation. I would not trade McCarthy in that deal, if it take more prospect(s) to include Garland over McCarthy, so be it. You include McCarthy or Garland, any surplus offer by the Cubs will not be likely to beat it. If the O's were close to winning and Garland were the last piece, I might agree. But they are not close, and to me, Garland's trade value is far less than McCarthy's b/c of his contract situation.

May be Young will pan out and may be he won't, but the Sox traded from a position of strength (or at least depth) to once again upgrade their rotation with a proven SP who is, at worst, a no. 2 in any rotation in the game. I think the Sox done good. This also allows Williams to spin off one of the other SPs to improve his offense. One thing is for certain. The WSox are trying to repeat. They look far better off than we do. Agreed. And I really appreciate Williams' decisivness - make the deal for the guy you target and don't screw around.

May be Young will pan out and may be he won't, but the Sox traded from a position of strength (or at least depth) to once again upgrade their rotation with a proven SP who is, at worst, a no. 2 in any rotation in the game. I think the Sox done good. This also allows Williams to spin off one of the other SPs to improve his offense. He is? He had a terrible second half in NY and picthed in a launching pad in AZ last year. IMO, its an abberation and he is still a very good pitcher.

If true, the White Sox would be dumb to trade McCarthy and better off trading off Garland. I wouldn't call it dumb. The Orioles aren't going to want Garland for Tejada. They'll want McCarthy. Right; Garland is in his walk year, and if Williams insists on trading him and not McCarthy, JH's offer should be more attractive.

If the Sox get Tejada, you will see my sig line change to call for the firing of teh entire Cubs front office.

May be Young will pan out and may be he won't, but the Sox traded from a position of strength (or at least depth) to once again upgrade their rotation with a proven SP who is, at worst, a no. 2 in any rotation in the game. I think the Sox done good. This also allows Williams to spin off one of the other SPs to improve his offense.

Why would you want to downgrade at the GM spot? KW is a terrible GM, who got EXTREMELY lucky with his moves last yr. My bet....Javy Vazquez will stink with the Sox. And yet the Sox have managed to get a power hitter, a new starter and a key utility man this offseason, all three the Cubs claimed they needed. The Cubs have traded 3 young pitchers for an OF with a noodle arm that had a sub .700 OPS last year. And the White Sox are the team that won the World Series last year remember? Exactly. Williams is not lucky; he's good. And better than our guy, unfortunately.

Williams wins again! He fleeced em'. Didn't even have to give up Garland or Contreras. Think he wants to be the GM on the Northside next year? :-k Link: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2258626

http://www.baltimoresun.com:/sports/baseball/bal-sp.connolly13dec13,1,240601.story?coll=bal-sports-baseball Hope that memo reached Mike Flanagan's desk (he's still in charge of baseball ops, right?).

That's right! Imagine how easy the Rule 5 draft will be next year for the Cubs...no worries about losing any players. Don't forget all...the Cubs have about 143 PTBNL still coming to them. Good point.

We would have to get some prospect back with Tejada, right?! That's just ridiculous! That's what I'm expecting too. By the way...who is KPat? The oft used nickname refering to Corey's tendencies at the plate...