Bruce Miles

Living Hall of Fame members vote only for those on the Veterans Committee ballot. They do not vote in this phase of Hall of Fame balloting. This phase is reserved for BBWAA members who have been members for at least 10 years. Bruce, Are you eligible to vote? Would you vote for Dawson for me it you can? I do vote. I have voted for Dawson each time he has been on the ballot and will do so again.

Living Hall of Fame members vote only for those on the Veterans Committee ballot. They do not vote in this phase of Hall of Fame balloting. This phase is reserved for BBWAA members who have been members for at least 10 years.

That's quite an assumption to make considering Hall is toolsy as heck--just the kind of guy that Hendry seems to be infatuated with. Jim Hendry loves Bill Hall.

Not that I've heard. The pitching market has been slow in taking shape.

Bruce, are you going to the winter meetings? It should be crazy this year with trades. Yes, I leave a week from Sunday for the winter meetings. Should be fun.

The Cubs are not closing in on anything with Floyd. That doesn't mean they won't sign him. They might, but it won't be right away. As of Tuesday, they hadn't even requested his medical reports.

Maybe people misinterpreted so I'll try to make it more clear: J.D. Drew is not playing for the Cubs in the near future. Period. You don't need stats. You don't need to know who likes or doesn't like him. The Cubs are not interested in signing him. They'll use the bulk of their remaining money on pitchers. So you're saying as soon as the Cubs sign him he's going to get hurt? I'm lost. I didn't say a word about him getting hurt. All I said is he's not playing for the Cubs next year. They have no interest in signing him.

Maybe people misinterpreted so I'll try to make it more clear: J.D. Drew is not playing for the Cubs in the near future. Period. You don't need stats. You don't need to know who likes or doesn't like him. The Cubs are not interested in signing him. They'll use the bulk of their remaining money on pitchers. So who do you think they like for CF? Jones, GM Jr, Pie? Right now, they'll consider Jones, but I believe they'll try to trade him. If they can do that, they'll look for somebody who will command a lot less money than Drew. If Pie has a great spring or gets off to a hot start at Iowa, he could get called up. Of course the Cubs won't totally rule Soriano out of center field, but they'd prefer him in right.

Maybe people misinterpreted so I'll try to make it more clear: J.D. Drew is not playing for the Cubs in the near future. Period. You don't need stats. You don't need to know who likes or doesn't like him. The Cubs are not interested in signing him. They'll use the bulk of their remaining money on pitchers.

Not happening with the Cubs. He's played for three big-league managers and none of the three has been fond of him. His most recent manager was in the Cubs system as a coach. I'm sure they still talk. So no, he's not coming here.

They like Floyd, but they aren't in "heated talks." If they do sign him, it won't be right away. There is concern about the injury history.

Looks like pitching is the next item on the to-do list.

Not that I've heard.

I know people here (including me) generally put more faith in you than in other news writers, but other articles I've seen say that Soriano will play CF. Of course, they could just be guessing. How sure are you that RF is the plan for Soriano? Very sure.

I'm told he's here to play right field and definitely NOT center. Murton is said to be "safe" in LF. The plan now is to put Jones in CF and say good luck and godspeed to Juan Pierre. Now if you can trade Jones...

Yeah, the Stock Market crashed a couple weeks later, triggering the start of the Great Depression. Like those pitching motions!

I covered the Wolves from 1995-98. Don Levin might be the best owner in Chicago.

No truth, at least in the way they made it sound. My Cubs people tell me this likely will go down to Nov. 11. Sigh. Okay. Any insight on how far apart they are? The difference isn't that great. I don't know the exact numbers, but what I reported the other day and what the trade rumors cite reported are in the ballpark. But the agent is going to squeeze until the last minute. The last time they signed Aramis to an extension, Adam Katz, who is one of the agency's principals, swooped in at the very last minute to seek changes and sweeteners. I fully expect the same thing this time, which is why I said you have to look at both sides in any negotiation. November 11 makes sense to me. Bruce, my thoughts on this were Hendry had a chance to make this easier by guaranteeing Ramirez more years, and bumping the salary a bit, a long time ago. But waiting for the season to end took away any leverage he had. I got the feeling Hendry was confident Ramirez wouldn't even exercise that option. Do you you think he misread the market, or Ramirez's intentions? Do you think he could have had Ramirez for something like 4/48 months ago? Going into this season, Ramirez was every bit the free agent to be that Lee was, the only difference being that Aramis had a fallback, but Lee was obviously the priority. If anything, Hendry probably misread Ramirez's intentions and probably relied too much on Ramirez's and the agent's "word" that they wouldn't leave ("word" might be too strong; "stated desire" is probably better, but I don't know how Jim interpreted it). Neither side wanted to talk during the season. And the out clause was a MacPhail creation at the last minute.

No, I don't expect any changes. I got along with Andy MacPhail really well. As I've said many times, he's an interesting, well-read and personable guy. I really like him. Jim is Jim. He's great with the media and will stay the same. John McDonough is terrific. As the marketing chief, he dealt with many different types of people. He's also very, very good with the media. I won't miss Dusty. As interesting as he was as a guy, he never seemed to warm up to the beat writers or Chicago in general. I hear Lou Piniella gets along great with his beat writers, and he's saying the right things about Chicago. So I'm looking forward to how things are going to be. What about his approach as GM? Is he more inclined to go after OBP guys now or is his view of how to build a baseball team closer to what we have seen over the past few years; guys who can catch the ball and have speed? OBP will be on the table at this year's organizational meetings. I do know Pierre's low OBP got the Cubs' attention, and that's some progress.

No, I don't expect any changes. I got along with Andy MacPhail really well. As I've said many times, he's an interesting, well-read and personable guy. I really like him. Jim is Jim. He's great with the media and will stay the same. John McDonough is terrific. As the marketing chief, he dealt with many different types of people. He's also very, very good with the media. I won't miss Dusty. As interesting as he was as a guy, he never seemed to warm up to the beat writers or Chicago in general. I hear Lou Piniella gets along great with his beat writers, and he's saying the right things about Chicago. So I'm looking forward to how things are going to be.

No truth, at least in the way they made it sound. My Cubs people tell me this likely will go down to Nov. 11. Sigh. Okay. Any insight on how far apart they are? The difference isn't that great. I don't know the exact numbers, but what I reported the other day and what the trade rumors cite reported are in the ballpark. But the agent is going to squeeze until the last minute. The last time they signed Aramis to an extension, Adam Katz, who is one of the agency's principals, swooped in at the very last minute to seek changes and sweeteners. I fully expect the same thing this time, which is why I said you have to look at both sides in any negotiation.

No truth, at least in the way they made it sound. My Cubs people tell me this likely will go down to Nov. 11.

All the time, and it's always very professional. Jim has always told me that if the team is doing poorly, then he has to "take it." I don't get personal ever in writing about a player, manager or management type, and I believe that helps. I'm happy and proud to say that Jim and I are willing to agree on some subjects and willing to "agree to disagree" on others. I can't ask for much better.

Thanks for checking in, Bruce! I admitted that it's highly unlikely that Hendry has anything to do with the volume of anti-Aramis articles in the papers and reoprts on the radio, but the frequency of it all is just amazing to me. I know you said a lot of media aren't sabermetrically clued in, so to speak, but Aramis isn't a player you need to look at deep stats to see the value of. He puts up big numbers in the traditional "triple crown" stats. I just don't get the articles ignoring all of his positive contributions. How bad with the media must he be, then! That is exactly right. No slight to Bruce, but these articles are examples of lazy journalism. Marriotti is typical of this type of journalism, as is Mike Lupica. They write the esay story and don't delve into the facts or tell the reader anything they might not already know or be predisposed to think. It's not just sports, it's this type of journalism that helped us get into Iraq. You get no argument from me about lazy journalism. There's too much of it out there.

It's always great for us as a community when the esteemed Mr. Miles sets us straight on topics the board can only speculate on. Wouldn't it be great if he was GM? Thanks, Hoops, but no, it would not be great!!