BigbadB

Isn't Kenny Williams the guy who completely refuses to negotiate with Boras? Yep.

You could have said the same about the Cubs last year. Some organizations are just very reluctant to have a rebuilding year. I can't say I've ever seen the Cubs have one. The Cubs at least had talented players who are not all in the back half of their 30's. Omar Vizquel will be 41 and is coming off his worst season ever at the plate. Rich Aurilia will be 36 and Ryan Klesko will be 37 in April. Ray Durham is 36. Dave Roberts will be 36. Excluding Barry Bonds since he won't be a Giant in 2008, Randy Winn is the only player who had an OPS+ above 100 last year (105).

And won't Encarnacion's contract be covered by insurance? From what I've heard, his career may be over. Granted, I haven't really kept up on his rehabilitation, but his contract seems like a nonfactor.

I don't understand why the Giants would garner any attention at all in the A-Rod sweepstakes. That team needs to rebuild more than any team in baseball. Outside of Zito, Cain and Lincecum, they have very little to build around. They are fresh off a last place finish that most certainly was not a fluke. They are a very bad and old team right now.

$9M (very good player) vs. maybe $30M (great player) Is the difference between very good and great worth approx. $20M? It's far from an obvious decision. Plus A-Rod would command perhaps 5+ years, and the Sox supposedly don't go for that kind of thing... The Red Sox sport the 2nd biggest salary in baseball, and were close to inking A-Rod the last time he was a free agent. I'm sorry, but this is a no brainer for the Sox. Stick it to the Yankees, land the best player to ever play the game, all on the heels of a World Series Championship. Not to mention the fact that Boston can probably easily dump a few salaries along the way to make A-Rod's contract more easily manageable. They won't need Lowell. With Ellsbury, they don't need Crisp. They can probably pay a part of Lugo's contract to make him go away as well, since he really didn't work out all that well. Why am I arguing this? I want A-Rod on the Cubs. I hope Boston inks Lowell to a deal right after A-Rod makes it official.

Apparently, Theo sees Lowell as a "core" player and intends to resign him to a 3-4 year deal. That's per FOX on the game tonight. Obviously, ARod being available may change their thought process, but that has been their stance on Lowell thus far. That's just Theo playing the game the way it's supposed to be played. And just because A-Rod is available doesn't guarantee Boston will land him. Lowell makes for a very nice back up plan.

Let's see. Mike Lowell or A-Rod. Hmmm. Tough decision. Not.

NTC. And what would be the point of bringing in a top name free agent only to trade one away? Stick A-Rod back at SS like he probably prefers and call it good.

The value of the team goes up that much more having the best player on the planet inked to a long term deal. As well as Wrigley sells out game after game, they could easily raise prices and get back every drop of the money being extended to A-Rod. With that said, I think the Cubs would likely be A-Rod's #1 choice because of Lou, but he'll probably be offered more money by teams like Anaheim and Boston.

I may be wrong and he may get peddled to a team this offseason, but from my own perspective and based on what I saw of Jones in 2007, I don't see any teams having interest in utilizing a significant part of their offseason budget to acquire a guy that they can likely get close to or equal value from their own farm system. Call it a continuation of correcting the market for mediocre ballplayers if you will.

PECOTA thinks (or did before last year, not that I put a lot of stock in their long-term projections) that he'll be a league average hitter in 2008, and at least one person has him playing an excellent CF in 2007. I don't really disagree with your premise, but I figured I'd point that out. Do you think major league GM's base their decisions on acquiring a player on whether they have good PECOTA projections? Not being fecitious, just asking the question. I know GM's base a lot of their decisions on scouting information, and scouts probably utilize that information much moreso than a GM, but "what have you done lately" has to weigh more heavily, IMO. Jones had a very bad year at the plate. What is worse is that I don't see him improving. His approach at the plate is almost beyond repair. He's off balance and leaning forward when he swings away. It's possible it can be corrected, but if it is, why haven't they corrected it?

It's possible the Yankees might not have made the playoffs without A-Rod this year. However, 7 other teams did make the playoffs without A-Rod. It doesn't require that you have a 30m player on your roster to make the playoffs. If the Yankees lost A-Rod this offseason, and they went out and spent 30m on pitching (and not just part time players like Clemens), I think they could get back to the playoffs without A-Rod.

Exactly. And besides that, who in their right mind would take Jacque Jones off the Cubs hands? I'd venture to guess just about every team in baseball has a guy in AAA that could put up the numbers Jacque Jones put up in 2007. A corner outfielder that provides 40 XBH's in a full season of at bats is not exactly a hot commodity in trade discussions. The only thing that might spark interest is that he can play an adequate CF. If he was excellent in CF, that might be different. Jones put up an identical OPS+ in 2007 to Terrence Long in his last full season in baseball, and we all know what happened to him. And Long's contract was very similar to what Jones makes. Nobody will take Henry Blanco's contract, either. The Cubs made commitments to a lot of players last year that basically makes them untradeable as well. You don't give a guy like Soriano a long term deal and then trade him after the first year. You don't re-up a guy like Aramis or Zambrano and then trade them. Marquis is a guy who you might be able to trade, but it's highly doubtful any team will take on the entire contract. Cubs brass made their bed. Now they have to lie in it. The only way they can improve their team in 2008 is by replacing the dead weight. And it's going to take even more money to replace that dead weight. But, it has to be spent at this point. To go into 2008 with the same roster would be comparable to replacing only 2 of the bald tires on your car. Unfortunately, all I really see Cubs brass being able to do to improve this team is to upgrade SS and maybe grab another pitcher. While I'd like to see Fukudome in the Cubs outfield, I see Cubs brass giving Jacque Jones another full season in RF in 2008, with Murton as his platoon mate. I also see them going with Felix Pie in CF and Geovany Soto behind the plate. If the Cubs can get Tejada or Renteria at SS, I think they'll view this as enough of an offensive upgrade that nothing else will really need to be done. I also think the Cubs will go cheap at starting pitcher, and bring back Prior for one more try. If Prior doesn't get the job done, they'll look to Marshall or Hart or Gallagher to fill that 5th roster spot. As much as the fans can see that many upgrades are necessary to improve this club, I really don't think the Cubs management believes all that much improvement will be necessary. And the reason I think this is because they made the playoffs in 2007. They view this as a victory, and that they can get back to the playoffs with the same roster in 2008 without spending mucho dinero. And it's possible they can. It will take some misfortunes in Milwaukee, but anything is possible in MLB.

I don't read her. I too was pulled into this thread thinking the CM in the thread title meant "Cubs Management". Since I was already here, I figured I'd see what all the fuss was about and add my two cents. That's all.

Um, yes? That's not her job. She's not a journalist, she's a PR puppet. It's no different on any other team website, anywhere. And it would be better if she just avoided the question entirely, rather than make up lies that make people look silly. You can sit there and say that BigbadB would be an excellent choice for the Cubs organization at SS going into 2008, but it doesn't make it true. And the more you write goofy stories like that, the less likely anyone will believe you later. Oh, by the way....... Neifi Saved Us. :D

Um, yes?

Can't wait to see Steinbrenner's offer to A-Rod. 2 years/5m?

No, you shut up. would somebody ban Dibble already? So that's who that is. Hmm.

The Pirates have got to improve the won/loss record of their minor leagues. Moving Bay will help them do that. :D

Wow. That's really all I can say.

Colorado Springs baseball park is an EXTREME hitter's park.

I'd make the trade. Stick Brenly in the dugout.

Pie has a chance to be very good, and probably in a short amount of time. He has teammates who want to see him win the job, which should be good for his psyche. If Gerald Perry can teach him some patience, I don't think there will be much need for an upgrade in CF. I think Pie will eventually start tagging the ball like he was in the minors. Since Jacque Jones doesn't supply a whole lot of trade value at this time, I would go into the 2008 season with Murton and Jones platooning in RF. I'd actually prefer they platoon in LF and move Soriano to RF, but I doubt we see that happen now. Catcher has an in house upgrade on what was a horrible position offensively and defensively this year. Geovany Soto should solidify that position cheaply and much more productively for the next several seasons. That really leaves SS as the one hole. I like Theriot, but as a utility player, not a starter. It remains to be seen whether Ronny Cedeno can ever figure it out at the major league level, and he's currently our best bet to improve production at that position in house. I would be shopping hard for a SS during the offseason and using any and all resources (available cash) to get one. The pitching staff really doesn't have any major holes to address. I'd be perfectly content going into 2008 with: LF Soriano CF Pie RF Murton/Jones/Ward 3b Ramirez SS Renteria/Tejada/ARod/Furcal/someone else 2b DeRosa 1b Lee C Soto I like the thought of getting someone like Hermida, but I don't see it happening. Why would Florida trade him? Cody Ross looks like he can handle CF and Hermida looks like he's about to break out. No one knows that better than Florida.

Very good point.

I want Pie to win the job in CF. But, I would rather not see Angel Pagan as the heir apparent if Pie doesn't make it. For that reason, I'm all good with keeping Jones for the remainder of this season. And while we have him, I sure wish someone would help him figure out where his power went.