BigbadB

Look at the stellar defensive unit the Cubs trotted out in 2003, which was almost a trip to the World Series. I'd take the 2003 horribly defensive team over the 2006 decently defensive team. Moises Alou=pathetic Sammy Sosa= pathetic Lofton=weenie arm Aramis=error after error Simon/Karros=need I say more? Grudz/Walker=average Gonzalez=slightly above average Miller=good Agreed with Sulley that defense is way, way down the list of importance of improvement areas.

I'm officially writing off the 2007 season. The Cubs will suck again next year. Book it. Thanks Hendry.

I'd add the Dodgers and maybe even Tampa Bay as another trading partner, but other than that I would agree that this is the team to deal with.

The Cubs did come within a game of the World Series in 2003 and Hendry's decision to trade for Kenny Lofton & Aramis Ramirez helped the team with the stretch drive. The guy gets bashed quite a bit anymore so it's only fair to point out the whole story. But in any case, to me the goal of deadline deals isn't to transform the Cubs into title contenders for 2007. The goal would be to expand the base of younger talent and add pieces which could contribute to a title team down the road, perhaps 2008. Hendry got Lofton and Ramirez for a PTBNL, Matt Bruback (who?), Jose Hernandez AND cash. Who in their right mind wouldn't make that deal? Bobby Hill ended up being the PTBNL out of a group of choices Pitt had between Hill, Francis Beltran and Steve Smyth. Yeesh. Talk about a no brainer. Littlefield was giving players away that year. Randall Simon for Ray Sadler? (this was an after the deadline trade by the way). I give Hendry credit for pulling off the deal, but no more than that. The 2003 Cubs went to the playoffs because of Wood, Prior, Zambrano and Clement. The offense was marginal at best. I just felt like adding that because you also left out part of the story.

Walker is probably playing everyday for the rest of the month in hopes he improves his trade value. Playing Neifi at SS everyday while Cedeno sits is a given.

The last 15 years has been the Sammy Sosa era? I keep forgetting that. Quick, who is the best running back of the Sammy Sosa era?

I'd bet that KC is picking up most of Perez' contract, which would explain why 2 pitching prospects were included in the deal.

Agreed. As a coach, I'm certain you gave some pine time to anyone guilty of not hustling. If talking to a guy over and over isn't going to get the message across, then the next message should be to let someone else play. This gives notice that it won't be tolerated.

It's the curse of inept management!!! Preach it!

Sorry. You can have the next one. :D

Do the A's have anymore Andre Ethier's to trade?

I think they fired the wrong guy. Next time, start with Kruk and Morgan.

Yes.

It's Hendry's fault Aramis is expected to carry a whole team. It's Dusty's fault that Aramis is allowed to loaf around the bases. It's a character issue that Aramis would even consider loafing around the bases as an acceptable practice. It really pisses me off to see someone loafing out there. But, when management allows it, is it really the players fault? The longer Dusty is here, the easier it is to see why players love playing for him.

Because the Cubs like to trade away talent when their value is at an all time low. Walker's value hasn't reached that level. A few more games on the bench in favor of Neifi, and all Walker will yield will be a used bag of baseballs.

Well said! It is fun discussing some of these rumors, but I've seen pages and pages criticizing the Cubs for thinking about Craig Wilson, Carl Crawford, Abreu, Soriano, etc. for a variety of statistical reasons. Meanwhile, back at the ballpark, the Cubs are on their way to losing 100 games. Hendry is an idiot for wanting Soriano and Kenny Williams is a genius for getting him. You've seen pages and pages of criticizing the Cubs for thinking about Craig Wilson or Abreu? I sure as hell haven't. I'm not even sure there are pages criticizing them for thinking about Soriano. It's not the type of move I'd like to see them make, but I'm not adamently opposed to it either. I've seen Crawford brought up on occasion, usually in the positive. people criticized possibly acquiring soriano before he changed his hitting strategy, began making pitchers throw him good pitches and became non-overrated for the first time in his career. We, the fans, want the Cubs to improve OBP. The more guys they get on base, the more guys score. It isn't that anyone is opposed to a Soriano (if we ignore price tag), but rather this organization is in love with tools and has zero value for the walk. What that entails in the big picture is solo home runs and not much else. If you build a team the right way, there's room for a poor OBP guy like Soriano in your line up. When the line up consists of poor OBP guys throughout, a guy like Soriano isn't going to help the team all that much. I would have no issues at all sticking a Nomar or a Soriano in the 5 or 6 spot in the line up and let them beat the crap out of the ball and rarely ever take a pitch. However, for these guys to have true value at what they do, they need guys on base in front of them. Someone said they didn't want crawford? When was this and where was I? A team that looked like this: Crawford Loretta Lee Ramirez Jones Soriano Barrett Cedeno would be pretty good. That's two guys ahead of Lee that get on base nearly 36% of the time. I'd like to see more done to the line up than this, but this gives you an idea of how a couple of good OBP guys at the top and another power bat in the middle can turn a bad offense into a good offense. Switch Cedeno with Tejada and let the fun begin on where you put everyone in the line up. A line up like that, and I wouldn't care if Neifi was coming off the bench, because no manager in their right mind would sit Loretta or Tejada very often. The skeptics are probably mostly a little leery of what would need to be given up to land that kind of talent, not necessarily opposed to getting a Soriano or a Crawford.

Can we just reverse all the trades you and I made this year and call it even? :D Uh, that would be a mammoth negatory. My pitching staff has been quite special this year, thanks to you. :P

If the trade deadline is July 31st, any trades with Fuzzy Logistics will need to take place by July 26. On the 27th, I'm leaving for Puerto Vallarta for 10 days of relaxation.

Yeah, Fuzzy Logs laid there like a log this week. Nice work, Griffey.

Why move Stewart off 3rd when they can just promote Tulowitzki? Tulo is having a much better year.

My thoughts are that the HHH Dome has never been considered a good hitter's park.

But, at least you are not alone.

That's funny.

Who is El Horso? If it's Carlos Lee, why would the Cubs want to trade for a guy who is a FA at the end of the year?

Guthrie's ERA was 2.74. If I recall correctly, the bullpen was actually quite decent at everything except preventing inherited runners from scoring. Which is arguably the the most important role.