Reportedly, XM MLB Home Plate is reporting that Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the deal has hit a snag. No further details. How's that for nth-hand info?
I'm not making it up. No link yet, but it's true. And where did you hear it? I know people who work for the Marlins. reds, the line is: "I have many associates." - Cosmo Kramer
"Tell you what - you give me Jacque Jones, pay his entire salary this year and next, and give me a couple of live arms from your farm system. Then, we'll go out back, I'll kick you in the nuts and we'll call it a day." "Deal!"
Why would Hendry be fired? We're competitive within the division. The ballpark is full. Merchandise is moving off the shelves. Lots of people "getting their Cubs on".
I'm sure this has been touched on somewhere in this thread. There is little doubt that Michael Barrett has a very low "baseball IQ" or has poor "baseball instincts" or however you want to say it. It's likely that most teams - even winning teams - have one or more guys who fall into that "baseball dumb" category. It just strikes me that, if you're going to have a guy like that on your ballclub, the absolute last role you would want him to fill is your starting catcher.
There are 64 major league outfielders with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Jacque is number 62. Three of the bottom four have been employed as regular outfielders by the Chicago Cubs at some point within the past five years.
One could make a perfectly legitimate argument that Cesar Izturis is a better, more valuable baseball player than Jacque Jones. Let us pause momentarily to consider the magnitude of that statement.