JeffH

not even close. lowe is much better than garland. Garland's success always seemed like a mirage to me. He didn't strike guys out and was susceptible to the long ball. I don't think he had a fantastic ground ball rate either. He just pitcher 210 innings a year and relied on his defense to make plays. His career ERA+ is just over 100, and he's had one truly good season (only WHIP under 1.3 and only ERA+ over 112). Every other seasons was more or less just below or above average. He's basically Marquis with fewer walks. I expect that will make a big difference to Piniella. If we acquire a non-Peavy starting pitcher, I imagine that he's going to be a strike-thrower.

It's most likely going to be cancelled when Bradley fails his physical after it's discovered that he has no central nervous system.

Garland would be OK on a $8/1 type deal, but I'd prefer someone who can strike some guys out. Hampton is a Houston Astro.

I don't know how anyone could still argue that trading Lee for Pods was a good move. Don't forget that the Sox got Luis Vizcaino in the deal. :lol:

Reed is worthwhile. The other two leave enough to be desired that they shouldn't be considered viable options for a supposed championship contender to fill in 40 games missed by one of its 3-4-5 hitters.

Who's the fifth?

I'm sure that San Francisco is just dying to trade a top notch 24 year old pitcher under club control for three more seasons for a 33 year old league-average first baseman making $13 million.

It seems so easy. There has to be more to it, because I can't see why this hasn't been done yet. It could be the two teams weren't exactly close to completing the trade. It just seems too simple to be this hard. Then again, this is the Cubs. And about Cain, what would it take to get him? Obviously less than Peavy but if we still have to give up a lot I'd prefer Peavy. Why would it take less to acquire dirt cheap Matt Cain than to acquire ultra expensive Jake Peavy? Seeing as how the Giants want a middle of the order bat and have a opening at 1B probably Lee+ a prospect or two for Cain. The only problem with that trade is that who plays 1B for us? Hoffpauir probably shouldn't be getting 500+ ab's and the rest of the FA aren't great options Nomar/Millar/Mientkiewicz/Aurillia/Sweeney/Sexson. I suppose we could then sign Dunn to play 1B, but he might not want to play there, has been reported that he wants to stay in the OF, and then there is that whole defense thing... Those had better be a couple of awesome prospects. Oh, and, the Giants would likely have to be willing to extend Lee's contract to get him to waive his NTC (in the extremely unlikely event that he would do so at all).

It seems so easy. There has to be more to it, because I can't see why this hasn't been done yet. It could be the two teams weren't exactly close to completing the trade. It just seems too simple to be this hard. Then again, this is the Cubs. And about Cain, what would it take to get him? Obviously less than Peavy but if we still have to give up a lot I'd prefer Peavy. Why would it take less to acquire dirt cheap Matt Cain than to acquire ultra expensive Jake Peavy?

Andy Pettitte. Trade for Gil Meche.

Enough with the relievers. They already have too many mediocre arms back there. Adding one more very good starting pitcher would do more for the bullpen than signing some ham-n-egger.

I fully expect a trade of some sort within the next few days, we have too many spare parts/guys out of options in Pie, Cedeno, Wuertz, R.Hill, Hart, Gaudin, Vizcaino (assuming Marquis is gone), and Ascanio. Not that we could get much for any of those guys but most of them can be on a 25 man somewhere in the league. Also I know you have to have filler guys but why the **** are Sam Fuld, Justin Berg, and Marcus Mateo on the 40 man? They all scuk. I would also expect Rich Hill to be let go in ST if he can't turn things around there, so that could free up space. I wouldn't. Isn't he out of options? I doubt they put him on the 25 man just to hold onto him if he is still sucking through ST. I didn't think he was, but that would change things. Rich Hill, Felix Pie, and Ronny Cedeno are all out of options.

Hopefully soon or right after the Marquis deal becomes offical. I think clearing his salary is holding up the Bradley signing. I dont get whats holding it back. Last I heard, Marquis was out of town, but it's not like he has a NTC, or at least I hope he wouldnt. Why not just pack up his locker, ship it to Denver, and be done with it? I imagine he has to pass some kind of physical. If that's the case, I have a few ideas on how Bradley can safely get to the medical complex without suffering a career ending injury. Some would prefer that you don't share those ideas with him.

Could this comment have possibly been more unnecessary? It says that the compensation that they would receive for DeRosa leaving as a free agent is worth more than the bucket of balls they received. I know what it says. Actually, it says that a single sandwich pick COULD wind up being more valuable. Aside from the fact that that's not likely, what's the point in saying that it COULD be more valuable? Of course it COULD be. Aaron Miles COULD be more valuable next season than Albert Pujols. So what? The draft picks being more valuable don't rely on the 3 pitchers dropping dead though. Now you're just being ridiculous. Pujols would merely have to lapse into a six month long coma.

Could this comment have possibly been more unnecessary? It says that the compensation that they would receive for DeRosa leaving as a free agent is worth more than the bucket of balls they received. I know what it says. Actually, it says that a single sandwich pick COULD wind up being more valuable. Aside from the fact that that's not likely, what's the point in saying that it COULD be more valuable? Of course it COULD be. Aaron Miles COULD be more valuable next season than Albert Pujols. So what?

Could this comment have possibly been more unnecessary?

I think the issue is that the Cubs are maxed out on payroll, under the current ownership (or lack thereof). The optimistic view would be that one of the reasons Hendry made the DeRosa trade was to stockpile pitching prospects that Towers' approved of, and once the ownership situation is squared away Hendry now has the pieces in place to pull the trigger on a Peavy deal. The most likely scenario is that Hendry was not permitted to add any salary until after new ownership is in place. I believe that Hendry could have traded for a non-Bradley RF, but doing so would have used up some of the pieces he'll need to complete a trade for Peavy, which he believes he can still do. For some reason, he wasn't willing to wait any longer to add Bradley. Maybe Bradley's agent told him that they were going to pick a landing spot soon or maybe Hendry just feared that would happen and he'd be left with less-desirable (in his mind) choices Abreu and Dunn and less leverage. As such, the DeRosa trade was simply to create payroll room to add Bradley. I'm hoping that Hendry signed Miles as a second class replacement for DeRosa, thinking that he may be able to add a more genuine replacement (Teahen) later in the offseason. If that's the way it winds up playing out, I will be quite pleased (except for paying Aaron F. Miles $2+).

If they get Bradley, what will the bench be? Assuming fukudome/soriano/bradley OF and Fontenot at 2nd: Johnson, Miles, Bako, Gathwright and......? I have to think that last spot will be an infielder. That's a whole bunch of no production on the bench. The key to making the DeRosa trade a non-disaster is to acquire Mark Teahen. If Hendry can do that, Teahen replaces DeRosa and Miles replaces Cedeno. Even if he can pull that off, paying Miles $4.9/2 is pretty dumb.

After that late season game last year in which some analyst (Sutcliffe?) was pointing out how Hill was changing his catching stance based on the type of pitch to be thrown, I don't want ol' Koyie anywhere near a meaningful Cubs game, unless he's playing for the other team. yeah, because that's a mistake that absolutely cannot be corrected. If it hasn't been corrected yet, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Then don't get Bradley. If you have to downgrade in one spot to moderately upgrade in another, it's not worth it. Pursue a Hermida or Scott or Sammy Sosa, but don't trade a valuable chip in order to moderately upgrade. I'm hopeful that we can acquire Mark Teahen from the Royals. We could use the depth that he would provide, and he would fill out the bench nicely. Gathright-Johnson-Miles-Teahen-Bako

After that late season game last year in which some analyst (Sutcliffe?) was pointing out how Hill was changing his catching stance based on the type of pitch to be thrown, I don't want ol' Koyie anywhere near a meaningful Cubs game, unless he's playing for the other team. That said, it would be nice if Hendry could scrape up a little dough for Gregg Zaun.

He's the Jim Hendry of sports radio?

I don't think that word means what you think it means... Well, I consider today's happenings to be a transgression upon decency.

Why would I deprive myself of such rock-solid entertainment? whereas your 2000 "Hendry Sox" posts are full of thoughtful analysis I wasn't being sarcastic. Meph's contributions are worthwhile.

Why would I deprive myself of such rock-solid entertainment?