nilodnayr

I believe with 85 type A FAs a club may sign 3 type A FAs regardless of how many they lose. If then "the club quotas shall be increased accordingly", meaning if a club loses 4 type A FAs they may sign 4 type A FAs and so on. As I do not believe the cubs are losing 4 type A FAs, we are limited to signing 3, 2 of which have been used, so we may only sign 1 more.

I'll assume Howry is signed. So the pen is set. Dempster Howry Eyre Williamson Wuertz Ohman Rusch I'll trade Patterson, Walker, Welly for Bradley and Lowe. I'll trade Williams, Mitre, and Adam Greenberg for Luis Castillo I'll trade Rich Hill, Brandon Sing, Renyel Pinto, and JHJR for Dunn and Freel I'll non-tender Macias I'll sign Mark Sweeney I'll sign the best RH back up corner outfield power hitter available (Hidalgo?) My starting lineup is: Castillo Bradley Lee Dunn ARAM Murton Barrett Cedeno Rotation: Z Prior Wood Lowe Maddux My bench is: Sweeney Freel Neifi Blanco Hidalgo This is assuming a 105M salary The only issue is in all 3 trades the other team has to take on an additional man to their 40 man roster EDIT: I'd be more than happy scrapping the Dunn/Freel deal and just signing Giles. I'd also rather throw in another good pitching prospect and getting M. Giles rather than Castillo.

But thats why hed be perfect for the cubs...all he has to do is retain our pitching talent. Well, the rotation's not very deep anymore. I'm not counting on Kerry Wood for anything anymore. At least in baseball he wouldn't be restricted by a salary cap where all his dumb moves (Dampier, Bradley, Wahad, and letting Nash go for starters) keeps him from signing players. I meant it more as Z and Prior are a pretty good place to start out creating a long term rotation with.

But thats why hed be perfect for the cubs...all he has to do is retain our pitching talent.

Why do people quote average production? This isnt hockey or basketball...do you know what average gets you in this league? A longer offseason, thats what it gets you.

I'm working under the assumption that Hendry is going to trade Walker...how said is it that Hendry would need to trade valuable pieces for M.Giles/Castillo to come close to (Giles better, Castillo worse) the offensive production Walker as well as take on a couple mil more in salary. Additionally, Hendry would have to trade valuable pieces for Abreu/Dunn to match the offensive production B. Giles would provide (Dunn being cheaper $ wise, Abreu being more expensive).

Nomar isn't going to happen... Ohh im well aware...but it should. Why? What about Nomar makes you think he still has the durability and range to be a major league SS? Do you really want to count on a guy who's missed the 2004 season due to an achilies problem that has not bothered him since and the 2005 season due to a freak groin pull? Not that he has any muscle, ligament, joint, or conditioning issues that would make you think he will get injured in the future. Fixed

I don't know if you can honestly be satisfied with "he'll figure something out." Just read this thread - that's what we thought last year with our LF situation. Quality GM or not, the Cubs and Cardinals both share quite the black hole in the outfield this offseason. I don't really understand why you're "working on pitching" either, I don't see any reason to dump Marquis, and finding a fifth starter shouldn't be so overwhelming it takes your eyes off the prize. Who thought that? Everyone knew going into last year that we would have a below average outfield but a healthy infield would more than make up for the OFs offensive deficiency and healthy pitching would carry us deep in the playoffs. Unfortunately neither was healthy. Even without corner OFs the cards still have an elite middle of the order with Pujols, Rolen and Edmonds. Lee, Giles, ARAM

Nomar isn't going to happen... Ohh im well aware...but it should.

Please elaborate how a mere Wilkerson or Bradley addition to this team would be that great of an improvement? I just don't see any difference with an outifeld of Patterson, Wilkerson/Bradley and Murton than we had last year. Also, with no Furcal, we'd be seeing an infield of Cedeno/Perez? Or Cedeno/Perez and Gonzo? I just dont like either one of those scenarios. I think for this team to contend, we need two offensive improvements in the OF, and an offensive improvement in the middle infield. Please elaborate and convince me otherwise :) I'm open to any alternate theories..... THANKS! He means Bradly/Wilk to play CF and maybe Nomar for short. That would be a signficantly better offense than Furcal and Pierre. EDIT: As Hendry has soured on Nomar and has prioritized defense, I assume if we lose out on Furcal we use Cedeno at short and acquire a second baseman. Giles and Castillo would be the obvious first options.

Ice only spent time on the ML roster in 2004 and 2005, doesnt he have another option year?!?!?

I would welcome Derek Lowe, he would be great in Wrigley (despite the odd amount of HRs last year), especially if we have an improved middle infield. I'd trade Walker and JVB for Lowe and Bradley. You have to sign furcal. I'd then trade for Abreu and if reports are correct that Bradley may not be ready by the time the season starts then also get Michaels. Patterson, Mitre, Williams, a pitching prospect and (if its in the next ten days) Greenberg. I wouldn't mind going into next year with this roster Furcal Bradley/Michaels Lee Abreu ARam Murton Barrett Cedeno Z Prior Wood Lowe Maddux Dempster Williamson Eyre Wuertz Ohman Rusch Michaels/Bradley Perez Hairston Blanco Sweeny Branyan (or RH equivalent, Wigginton?) That puts us at the 110M range and acheives Hendrys vision of having a surplus at every position. Frankly the only way he can do it is to slightly raise the payroll.

Maybe people don't realize but Soto was added to the 40 man roster. Hendry's plan appears to be to have him repeat at Iowa, and have him take over as back up catcher in 2007. Now if Hendry is looking to clear space on the roster and acknowledges that Soto doesnt project as anything more than a backup he might be traded, but then again, other teams see him as the same. I dont know many teams taht would care to trade a starter for a backup catcher.

That was the most unbelievable thing ive ever seen...and we made the PAT!!!!!

On the plus side hes going to be a father very soon, a lot of times that has a maturing affect on young troubled males.

Surely you don't think Jim Bowden would give us TWO of his starters for one minor leaguer?? Spivey isnt a starter, he was brought in to fill in for Vidro when he went down. Cedeno did play in 41 games last year and hit 300. I don't think anyone considers him a minor leaguer anymore. Here, or elsewhere, he will be on the ML club. If you look at the Nationals their missing piece in the field is shortstop, their surplus is OF/1B and second base. Its a classic case of trading what I have too much of for what you have too much of as well as a salary dump.

If Hendry is really truly interested in Wilk, then he really mihgt be interested in Dunn. I know the "I wouldnt trade Hill for Dunn straight up" comment made me think he wasnt a fan of Dunn, but maybe it just reflects his love of Hill. If we could get Wilk and Dunn we would have turned around our OBP issues in a big way. What about Walker, Mitre, Pinto for Dunn and Cedeno for Wilk and Spivey? Cinci gets the second baseman they need as well as a sinkerballer they need in that park and a high level pitching prospect. The Nats clear about 7M, coincidentally the same amount Loaiza is asking for, as well as solve their only position hole with good, cheap production. Hendry signs furcal and our lineup looks pretty good Furcal Wilk Lee Dunn ARam Murton Spivey Barrett Talk about a lineup where EVERY player can OBP over 350

How do people forget that Bruce told us that Hendry wouldnt do a Hill for Dunn straight up deal? And that he wanted to bring Pie up midseason? Hendry has as much of a man crush on them as we do on Dunn and Giles. Sure, other GMs are going to ask about them but we have plenty of other valuable trading chips. We can fill our holes through trades without having to give up any of those guys.

Jerry Hairston wouldn't be a terrible option, but I think looking only at the last two years skews the data. 2004 was Hairston's best year, and 2005 was Pierre's worst. Their career lines are: .261/.334/.371 and .305/.355/.375 Pierre's OBP and BA are significantly better than Hairston's. A smaller advantage of Pierre's is that Hairston is pretty much worthless for stealing bases, while Pierre can steal quite a few bases with at least a decent SB%. Also, how much talent do you really think it will take to get Pierre? I agree that giving up real talent for him is a bad idea, but we don't really know the terms of any deal yet. Juan Pierre's career on the road 2001 (outside of coors) 321/365/421/786 2002 (outside of coors) 247/297/297/594 2003 (outside pro player)294/346/358/704 2004 (outside pro player)314/361/399/760 2005 (outside pro player)264/311/339/650

Player A 2004 Hit .326 .374 .407 781 2005 Hit .276 .326 .354 680 Player B 2004 Hit .303 .378 .397 775 2005 Hit .261 .336 .368 704 Player A has a 73% career steal success rate Player B has a 68% career steal success rate Player A will make 7-8M in 2006 in his last year of arbitration Player B will make 3M in 2006 in his last year of arbitration Player A will cost you some good talent to acquire Player B is already on your roster

If the whole point of this is to get guys "who can catch the ball" then that rules out kent and somewhat rules out sori (only because for some odd reason we know hendry likes him). If we get furcal, cedeno/neifi are going to play second. And although I am off the hendry wagon, I believe he will pull off an abreu-esque trade for a huge bat in right. I guess a lineup of the following would be adequate enough to give us a chance at the playoffs as long as there aren't any significant injuries. pierre furcal lee abreu (or the like) ARam Murton Barrett Cedeno

this is a test of my supremely awesome sig, this is only a test

Well at least it still gives hope that we sign Nomar and Giles and trade for Bradley and Lowe, and if Hendry insists trade walker and pick up Castillo or Giles. For those of us who think Furcal is going to be another extremely overpaid, averagely producing shortstop, the Neifi signing is twisting the knife.

He's had well-documented problems with Jeff Kent in LA. Now, whether you think that falls on Bradley or Kent is another matter altogether... I believe the story went, Bradley said to a reporter that Kent was being an a-hole and wasnt talking to the black players and was being discrimatory. Former teammate and seemingly good guy, Brad Ausmus, quipped "thats crazy, Kent hates all people the same" or something like that. Frankly, I wouldn't exactly call that a clubhouse problem. And in all honesty I think he handled the beer bottle (plasitc) situation about as well as you could hope him to. He could have easily chucked it back and tried to hit the guy or God forbid pull an Artest. IMO at least publicly hes improved his maturity with age. Jeff Kent confronted Bradley for not scoring from first on Kent's double, IIRC. Bradley thought Kent only said that because Kent doesn't like African-Americans, while some teammates said Kent spoke up as a veteran who thought a younger guy was dogging it. Whether Bradley was dogging it or Kent is a racist, or both, I don't want Bradley on the Cubs for other character reasons. Manager Jim Tracy tried to keep the issue in the clubhouse, telling Bradley and Kent not to comment on the issue publicly any more. Bradley blatantly refused his manager's request, and continued talking to the media about how he was a victim. God I wish we had a player that disobeyed our manager!!! Kent is a known jerk, I'm sure he didn't ask Bradley to sit down with him for a cup of afternoon tea and then politely inquire if he had some muscle issues that he needed some new stretching techniques to work out because for the sake of the team, we need him at 100% capacity. Somehow I see "hey a-hole, run your black a off, next time you are on base" coming out of his mouth. Regardless we all know our manager would just tell him to call up the media booth and bitch to them about it.

However those horrible Dusty lineups were with 2 excellent offensive starters hurt (Walker and ARAM). The possible lineup opening day shouldnt be comparable to a lineup sans our second and third best hitters.