BigbadB

Why do you like Loretta so much? He reminds me of a weaker hitting version of Walker. True about Jones but that would Hendry's job to get him signed long term. Loretta- career OBP over .360 Cedeno- career OBP of .283 Izturis- career OBP of .295 There are other 2b options. Some won't be Cubs next year. Soriano will probably be somewhere else. Kent will probably be somewhere else. Durham is an option. Giles might be an option. I'd rather not see Izturis or Cedeno penciled into a starting gig if guys with MUCH better OBP's are available on the market. I like Lugo and Loretta for that reason. And I've always liked Todd Walker.

Considering the options we know about, I endorse Girardi.

That's a tad bit inaccurate. Hendry's MO has been to target the guy he wants and ATTEMPT to go get him. He has not always been successful getting the guy he targets. Personally, I've grown a bit tired of that philosophy. He should be targeting several guys and working aggressively to land more than just one guy. Options can be a good thing.

Replace Jones with Crawford and put Lugo and Loretta at the bottom and you have my list. Jones might only be a 1 year rental.

If McClendon hid 1b before every game, everyone would be out. No hitters for everyone.

If you look around the league at most of the 1st and 3rd base coaches, many are former middle infielders. While I believe most continue to land jobs because MLB does not like to farm outside of MLB for replacements, it's not really their coaching skills at 1b and 3b that keep them coming back. It's the knowledge they can share with the players about where to play certain players defensively. It's teaching them how to be better defenders, etc... that determine their length of stay in the coaching ranks of MLB. With that said, I'd like: Manager: Wally Bachman Hitting coach: Mario Mendoza Pitching coach: Jeff Fassero Bench coach: Albert Belle 1b coach: Lloyd McClendon 3b coach: Don Zimmer Bullpen coach: Todd Hundley Wouldn't that be fun?

The end of Baker's tenure was inevitable. Yes, it's only been 5 days since the season ended, but even I knew Baker wouldn't be back after this disaster of a season. He's had all year to quietly research replacements. He needs to replace these people quickly so that he can focus his energy on researching the guys that the Cubs will need to bring in to make this a competitive team in 2007. I agree with the sentiment completely. But, I have no faith that Hendry will do what's right anway, so I probably won't spend much time on this topic.

Under what fantasy-world scenario would Andruw Jones accept a trade to the Cubs AND sign an extension beyond next season?

How many teams are going to be in the bidding for Schmidt and Zito?

My dad had stomach cancer removed by the U of Iowa medical team at the VA hospital in Iowa City. They did an awesome job with an incredibly difficult procedure. Probably a good choice on Derrek's part.

Well. I'm excited that my wish has been granted. Almost. Hendry is still here, but that might not be a bad thing. Depends on which team wins the World Series and how they constructed their team to win the World Series, so that Hendry can emulate that team next. :D Better late than never. I am disappointed that the new fixtures won't be announced for another month. He's had 2 years to analyze the coaching talent that might be available this offseason. I suppose the delay means he was NOT analyzing the coaching talent that might be available. For shame. What will most likely do Hendry in this offseason will be a combination of a weak free agent market and coming off a horrible enough season that players might look elsewhere for a possible playoff caliber team. I'm about as pessimistic about 2007 as I can possibly be. To land the quality coaches and players to do a complete turnabout in the standings is not something I have any trust in Hendry to make happen. The guys that I feel the Cubs should be focusing their energies on this offseason will likely not be the guys that Hendry will be focusing on. In other words, I don't see Hendry pulling off a Jones/Drew switch. I don't see him putting in any effort to steal away Carl Crawford. I think he likes Izturis too much to improve OBP at one of the middle infield positions. As far as landing the top free agents, the Cubs don't have a very good history of making it happen. Hendry spent the entire first half of the offseason last year putting all of his eggs in the Furcal basket, and that produced nada. He kicked Nomar to the curb with the impression that Furcal was his for the taking. He just doesn't seem to look at the big picture. He traded 3 prospects for a 1 year rental in Juan Pierre. If Pierre was coming off a career year, it might have made a bit of sense. I won't bring up Brian Giles, but Hendry didn't focus any attention to the power corner spots in the outfield until all that was left was Reggie Sanders, Jacque Jones and Juan Encarnacion. I've got news for you, Jim. Sitting on your thumbs is not going to get it done this offseason. It's going to take creative trades to improve this team, and I'm not so sure you have the creativity to make it happen. My interest in the 2007 Cubs season is waiting for you to create the magic necessary to turn one of the worst teams in baseball this past year into one of the best teams. Good luck with that.

Has anyone heard anything about Derrek's daughter. I've been out of town a lot, and I haven't heard anything.

Most people just go with a pink flamingo.

If everyone would like to pay $100 a ticket, I'm sure the Tribune would be happy to increase payroll significantly. The Florida Marlins were better than the Cubs last year with a 15m payroll. It can be done. Just need the right people in place to make it happen.

Sean Marshall for a a 1 year rental? No thanks.

I think the emphasis should be on improving wherever you can improve. Why only concentrate on pitching? The offense was bad too. The Cubs have developed ZERO position talent through their minor leagues. Aramis could walk. Most of us want Pierre gone as fast as he runs out a grounder to the 2nd baseman. This team needs a lot of help. The #1 priority should be to improve wherever they can improve.

Agreed on Cedeno, not on Fontenot or Pagan. Both of these guys, along with Theriot are just too old to gain much of anything by being in AAA. I believe Fontenot's been there for 2 years already, there's no reason for him to be there. It's most likely moot to even talk about though since Fontenot sorta ran over Hendry's dog. Only replace with sorta with repeatedly and dog with son. My point on Fontenot, Cedeno, Soto, Pagan, etc. is that they have hardly seen any major league pitching. How good will they be coming off the bench once every other game for a PH at bat? They may not be all that good at hitting a major league breaking ball if they played everyday, let alone one at bat every 3 days.

And the Cardinals would not be in the playoffs if they played in any other division. You don't build a team with those kinds of weaknesses if you don't have to. Build the best team you can. Period.

You do realize Raisin lives about 7 or 8 hours away from that snow, right? That's the equivilent of telling someone in Memphis to get excited because it's snowing in Chicago. :D

I don't see this as realistic at all. Every bench player is nearly a rookie except for Wilson. Wilson will be AL bound, IMO. I don't mind seeing a guy like Theriot make the team, but to have a bunch of Theriot's (guys who have next to no major league service time) on the roster and mostly sitting the pines is NOT a good idea. Cedeno would be better suited to play everyday in AAA rather than sit everyday. Same with Fontenot. Same with Pagan. Pick up a Dave Roberts or a Kenny Lofton. Guys who have plenty of major league service time and have seen thousands of major league breaking balls. No, I don't want Lenny Harris. The pitching staff has no one new in it. All offseason, the Cubs will only sign Alfonso Soriano and Craig Wilson? Boy, will I be pissed. Actually, if that's all the Cubs do this offseason, I'll be taking 2007 off as I'll need the break to keep my sanity.

Get Giles and Andruw Jones. I like Andruw, but he's another Juan Pierre waiting to happen. He has 1 year left on his contract. It would cost a lot to get him and you risk losing him after just one season. He's going to want his HUGE payday on the next contract he signs. That's why I like Drew more.

I'm very hopeful that leading the league in hits will help him land that big, fat contract with some other team and it lands the Cubs a draft pick or two. Of course, all that changes if they dump compensation picks with the new collective bargaining agreement. If it's possible to receive compensation, I wouldn't mind if the Cubs offered Pierre arbitration. Not only do I believe some team will sign him to a long term deal, but I also believe he would rather sign that long term deal this offseason considering the weak market.

The Yankees don't care about OBP. You never hear them talking about it. You don't ever have to talk about OBP if every guy on the team has an OBP of .360 or better.

I don't know if he has a no-trade clause, but I'm sure LA would love to dump that ugly contract. LA should dump that contract. They need pitching. Jacque Jones and a prospect for Drew frees up the money necessary for them to sign someone like Zito.

I'd love to have Giles. Giles and Lugo up the middle also gives you a nice 1/2 top of the order.