JeffH

For Bedard, they can have Pie. No Hill, though. Pie, then the Cubs get to protect two minor leaguers, then the Orioles can choose any two remaining minor leaguers, then the Cubs get to protect one more, then the Orioles can choose one final minor leaguer.

Irabu is remembered as this Ishtar-level disaster, but they got a couple of years worth of better-than-league-average pitching out of him, then they were able to trade him for Jake Westbrook and Ted Lilly.

Not in the AL Central. The Tigers and Indians are way ahead of the Twins who are miles ahead of the White Sox and Royals. I think it's rather naive to say those teams would be "way ahead" of a Twins team that featured Santana, Bedard, and Liriano at the front of the rotation and an offense led by Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, and Young. Liriano is no lock to perform at his 2006 level. If he were, such a Twins team would be "way ahead" of those other teams...

Not in the AL Central. The Tigers and Indians are way ahead of the Twins who are miles ahead of the White Sox and Royals. I think it's rather naive to say those teams would be "way ahead" of a Twins team that featured Santana, Bedard, and Liriano at the front of the rotation and an offense led by Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, and Young.

Just keep Santana for 2008. Add Bedard. Install Neshak as the closer. Might be able to make some noise.

The Twins don't have the money for Bedard. Is he going to make much more money than Nathan next year?

From one of the Orioles insiders: Some stuff -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Read into this as little or as much as you want. This is what my guy told me today: The front office is very happy with the Tejada return. The feel Scott is a real sleeper and may well put up #s in excess of Miggy. The young pitchers will not be rushed. Everything is on hold with Bedard due to conflicting reports on where Kuroda will end up. Lots of reports that he's selected LA but last last evening reports started to surface that he's choosing the M's. Appears they may have gone a 4th year and Washington has no state income tax which placed another million per year in his pocket. IF LA loses out on Kuroda, Bedard most likely will land there. In the package will be Kemp of Kershaw, not both. The front office may be leaning towards a package of Either, Kershaw, Hu, and another pitcher. The current Reds offer for Bedard is said to be Bailey, Hamilton, and a shortstop prospect named Loo. Most likely they'll add a 4th player if the deal gets close. Lots of concern over the SS position. We had an offer for the Astros SS but he choose the Twins. He told me he doesn't think Roberts will get traded. Mora was very, very upset about the Tejada trade. He'll mostly be gone even if we have to eat some contract. Still looking at signing a closer type. That's all folks!

The Blue Jays should be anxious to get out of that deal. If he's great in '08, he'll opt out and become a free agent. If he stinks or is hurt, he'll stay and collect his $24/2.

My suggestion: Bedard to the Twins Nathan and Roberts to the Cubs Slowey, Pie, Gallagher, Cedeno/Theriot, Murton/Patterson, Petrick/Roquet to the Orioles This is what's known as "a slow news day"...

I think they need a RH bat. Assuming Murton is dealt or somehow starting with Fukudome in center, they will have no RH bat on the bench. Blanco will be there, but he's not a bat. If Cedeno or Theriot is the backup, that's not a legit bat. Ward at least provides one legit bench bat from the left. If Murton is gone, they won't have any RH bat. I'm sure they hope DeRosa will be that guy.

I would rather keep Murton than Pie, too. However, we could find a lot better value for Pie/Gallagher that Brian freaking Roberts. For instance, Pie/Gallagher would be a real nice start on a Khalil Greene trade. I know PetCo is not a hitter friendly park, but why is everyone salivating at the prospect of having a guy who also put up a .322 OBP on the road last year? Acquiring Khalil Greene would mean that we would have close to an Alfonso Soriano quality hitter at shortstop. That would be a very, very good thing.

Riske is the only move that's really, really dumb. None of the others are long term commitments. If they're out of contention in July (let's hope), they'll probably be able to move a few of those other guys for some C+/B- prospects.

I have no fear that Hendry will trade Felix Pie for Brian Roberts.

I imagine that Nathan is a guy you're not going to be able to get for spare parts. I could see Pie being used to get him. Nathan for one season at a very friendly salary, then let him walk for two draft choices. I'd rather they just let Pie play CF.

Its amazing that all you fans freak out about SP every year and don't want to give a chance to any of the players coming up through the system!!!!! Why have a system if all you fans want to do is trade them for another player and not give them their chance. Lets just keep spending money and were did that get you last year, yes you won the Central but thats all you were going to do. Do you not look at the other teams like the Rockies, Diamondbacks and a few others that yes they have their established pitchers but they are also working players they have developed in their rotations. We've already given Marshall a chance. We like him OK, but we realize what he is and we'd like an upgrade. As far as Sean is concerned, I think most of us have already said our goodbyes to him and wished him well in Baltimore...

Could someone tell me how Kei Igawa is any better than Jason Marquis or Ryan Dempster or Sean Marshall? I guess since he's never pitched for the Cubs, he must be better.

I'd have interest in Mench if the Cubs could ever figure out a way to live with an 11-man pitching staff. With a 5-man bench, he's tough to fit in.

Can't be until July now right? Wrong. Nothing like that good ol' NSBB info and helpful attitude. You did notice how I worded it as a question because I wasn't aware of the answer, RIGHT? What Cuse said.

that's just a ridiculous statement. Sorry we can't put a number on it so you could understand it. well, sure, when you just pull stuff out of your ass, it's hard to put a number on it. Wouldn't that be number 2?

Can't be until July now right? Wrong.

i'm a little confused. when the cubs.com article says they offered him a 1-year deal, etc., etc., isn't this tendering him a contract? No. The tender, I believe, requires some official paperwork. I'm sure the offer was more or less verbal, and probably significantly below the permissable arbitration level. In other words, they would have had to tender a contract offer of $3m (or close), and they probably said, "Hey Mark, we'll offer you 1 year for $1.5m". gotcha .. makes sense. thanks. In essence, for an arbitration-eligible player (3-6 years service time), "tendering a contract offer" is exactly the same as "offering arbitration".

Let's hope not.

Price cut on aisle 9! Andy, you'll take Gallagher, Patterson, and Roquet. And you'll like it!

The available evidence seems to suggest two things: 1) Prior wants out of the organization. 2) Prior won't be able to pitch at any sort of meaningfully high level in 2008. Still, I believe that his name will carry enough weight that someone will wind up giving him a 2008 contract no less than what he would get through the arbitration process. I will admit that I could be wrong about that - I certainly don't have an insider's understanding of the current market. If I'm not, however, the right play would be to tender him and continue trying to trade him for somebody's Kyler Burke, Jose Ceda, or Jose Ascanio. Tendering him with the objective of either getting quality 2008 work out of him or getting him to commit to the Cubs long term would have been a foolish move.

This may have been hit on somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look. Did we tender Neal Cotts a contract offer?