BigbadB

I've seen plenty of posts where someone announces that someone is available. This is the first time I noticed an actual player auction. If everyone's cool with public auctions, I'll keep quiet.

I may be out of the loop here, so forgive me if I'm offending anyone, but is Vance not playing any longer? Fishbulb is in charge of that team from what I understand. He's made roster moves this week. The day he took over, I recall him setting up his "on the block" page. Has the trade proposal thingy been moved? It's always been in the upper right corner of the home page. Every time I read someone say "why isn't anyone responding to trade offers, I get paranoid that I might have missed one because it got moved.

I don't mean to criticize anyone. I just don't want to come to NSBB and open up the Roadkill forum and see 2 pages of So and So will go to the highest bidder. And not so much because I don't want to see 2 pages of it, but because it's more like a player auction than working a trade. And I suppose I'm not really bothered by making it known to everyone in the league that you would like to move players on your team, but.... "There is a hell of an offer out there right now for Maggs.. Anyone else that is willing to give up something of worth for him (future worth), make me an offer. Only 2 days remaining... " this is what bothered me. And I'd probably be even more bothered by it if I actually had an offer on the table that was very lopsided in favor of the guy trading Maggs, yet wouldn't be good enough if more could be swindled out of someone else.

I'd love to have Maggs on my team, but I'm not going to get into a bidding war for him. And I hope I don't have to get into a bidding war in the future for every other player who becomes available.

How is it different from what major league teams do at the deadline? It's too difficult for me to spell it all out on why I don't like it. Obviously, everyone wants a better return via trade than the player they are offering. To me, using NSBB and pimping the player and auctioning them off to the highest bidder just makes it seem unethical. I guess I'm just more old school with making a trade proposal or having someone else offer a trade proposal and accepting or rejecting based on whether you are getting enough to trade a player. Pimping them on NSBB and stating that the offers will need to be extremely impressive to beat other offers just doesn't sit right with me. If I'm the only one who sees it this way, I'll just shut up.

Maybe it's just me, but I can't say I'm fond of people auctioning off players like this. Maybe I'm in the minority on this, but to me it just doesn't seem right.

I really like this trait in Lou, but I have to admit I was a bit nervous considering what I saw in Tampa. Lou was running broken down veterans out there everyday instead of the kids, even though the broken down vets were putting up broken down production. I think a lot of the old school baseball minds tend to go with a veteran for an array of different reasons. One being to show respect to a guy who has managed to hold down a major league job for an extended period of time. Two, because they view a veteran as someone who is more likely to come up with a key hit because the veteran player has seen the pitcher on the mound before where the rookie hasn't. I have been pretty happy with Lou to this point. He's made a few boneheaded decisions, but I'm sure any manager would be guilty of that over the course of a long season. All one really has to do is to look around at the rest of the league and see that the kids are making contributions at a record pace. Cleveland is loaded with youth and battling Detroit for 1st in the AL Central. Arizona is young and battling for the NL West. Florida has a bunch of guys who are closer to their teenage years rather than their 30's, and while they aren't doing great in the standings, they have performed admirably considering. Jason Marquis is probably directly responsible for Cesar Izturis still wearing a Cub uniform. Lou runs Izturis out there when Marquis is on the mound, and this is a move I actually agree with. At least until Cedeno gets the call. I can tell that Lou values offensive production. I love Murton, but Floyd has produced much better than Murton. As Theriot's offensive struggles continue, Lou is finding more playing time for guys who are more productive. Yet, when Theriot was on fire, Lou was getting him out there very frequently. He rides out the hot streaks. If Murton put together a hot streak at any given time, I'm pretty certain Lou would ride it out with Murton in the starting line up. This is a breath of fresh air.

What to do with Cedeno. It is imperative that the Iowa Cubs win the World Series, so he must be kept in Iowa all year. All sarcasm aside...... If a guy looks like he can help the parent club now, by all means, promote him. Especially if he's replacing someone whose production is a drag on the parent team (ahem, Izturis, ahem). To me, this is a no brainer.

Fair enough. But, I view things a bit differently in regards to team chemistry. Team chemistry is directly related to winning. The Brewers are winning games and the Cubs haven't been. When you are losing games nearly everday, fingers start getting pointed looking for excuses for why the team is losing. When a team is winning, everything seems to run much smoother and everyone is happy and not looking for excuses for why they are winning. Earlier in the year, I heard the rumblings of the Jenkins/Mench playing time. If Cordero was blowing save chances frequently, I'm sure there would be some Cordero/Turnbull heated discussions. The Brewers model for growth is a good one. Develop your own talent and fill in where the weaknesses are. It's not a new model. It's a tried and true model. The Cubs haven't been successful at this. But, I am starting to see sort of an opposite model forming. The Cubs have recruited players to fill the weaknesses and are now filling in the holes with developed talent. Not talent to the Brewers level, but talent that can at least be decent role players. The Brewers have the leg up on winning the division because of the current record. I think it would take an injury or two for them to lose it. But, the Cubs are in a position to continue this turnaround. It might be too late, but it could get exciting in the coming months. Or, it might just be time to pack up the season. This series coming up is rather important. It might just dictate how the season plays out.

What does having only one starting position player that isn't home grown have anything to do with one team being more complete than another? The Brewers are a Ben Sheets injury away from falling back to the world of mediocrity. I'll honestly be very surprised if the Brewers end up running away with this division. The Cubs are a much better team than how they have actually played to this point. The Brewers are a good team, but I think they've played over their heads a bit to this point. Therefore, it's easy to state that it's quite feasible for the Brewers to regress a bit while the Cubs bring it all together. Doesn't mean it will happen, but that's what many Cub fans are hoping. Or do you believe all Cub fans should hope for the opposite?

How did I know that you would further elaborate on your point from earlier in this discussion? :D

Loretta is a better player than Biggio. I'm fine with this. Bonds might have a tough time getting 756 at home. I can see it now. He's sitting at 755 with a 7 game road trip. He sits out all 7 games, then comes back to San Fran, where the opposing pitchers walk him each time he comes to the plate in fear that they might be the guy who served up the home run that broke a legendary record held by a man of class. Who wants to be that pitcher?

Agreed on the last part. The Yankees have moved many players and picked up most if not all of the contract. Javier Vasquez to Arizona is one that comes to mind.

I don't think it needs to be explained to him. How long has he been on the trade block now? He's wanted out of Chicago for quite some time. MLB has spoken. If the best offer for Jones is a fringe prospect if the Cubs pick up his entire salary for the remainder of his contract, doesn't sound like anyone else values Jones as a starter, either.

I'm happy with the delay. Would you be happy to see Lee miss the Brewers series this weekend?

I disagree. Jones has pretty much given up. I'd much rather have a guy out there willing to give 100% than someone giving half effort.

That's okay. I have a few nasty things I could say in return. Honestly, as bad as Jones was playing, I would have been happy if the Cubs traded Jones, paid his entire salary, threw in a prospect, added a few more million to secure the deal and asked for nothing in return. Alright, maybe that's stretching it a bit. But, good riddance!

"Son, wins and losses are how you judge a pitcher. I mean, Howry battled and got his team in position to win the game. That's what a team needs." - Joe Morgan 'Howry could have folded after giving up those 5 runs, but instead he buckled down and got the 3 outs his team needed to come back in the bottom half of the inning and win the game. That is why he is credited with the 'W' in this one' - Joe Morgan Haha

I think the hold up is because Hendry can't decide which veteran middle infielder he wants back in a trade for Jones. Rey Ordonez, Delino DeShields, Damian Jackson or Augie Ojeda.

I'm looking at the list of players with options on TCR and Izturis isn't listed. Theriot, Pagan and Pie all have 2. The page was created in Spring Training. Izturis doesn't have any options. He doesn't have any talent, either. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. I'll be here all week.

I'd love to see them call up Patterson, but considering they want to add a pitcher to the pen, I don't see that one happening. Maybe Soriano has himself in a fantasy league and wants to get his 2b eligibility back. :D

What are we giving up to get him? The original post didn't say anything about it being someone not on the team. Just said there would be a surprise at 2b.

With Marquis on the hill, I would imagine Izturis will be at SS tonight.

Soriano?

True. But, the point remains.