BigbadB

I would hope Tampa would do that. But why in the world would the cubs? I wouldn't trade Prior alone for those three. Much less Prior and Williams. I gotta agree with you on that one. I wouldn't trade Prior for anything less than a huge impact for many years to come. I'm not sure why his name has ever even been discussed in any deals this offseason. Unless there is something that we aren't aware of, like his arm is currently stapled on with a Swingline. I kind of doubt that. I haven't heard a whole lot of teams showing interest in Huff. Seems to me like it's Tampa that is set on moving him. Lugo seems to be the guy everyone is after.

I particularly like the Rotoworld blurb that Orioles management is pleased with this signing because of Millar's playoff experience. LOL. As if they will be in the playoffs anytime in the near future. :roll:

If I were him I'd run like hell away from this sorry franchise and never look back. Hendry NEEDS to have a one-on-one sitdown with him and smooth things over. Now. Agreed. Although he does technically have three years to smooth things out? Man this franchise just keeps going down and down. It's really sad to see. And they were in an incredible position coming out of 2003. They had the opportunity to be good for a long time.

Of course, I also said from the start we should have brought back Nomar. That might have cooled Furcal from coming seeing that the position was partially blocked. But, now we have neither. Nomar could have played RF this year if he got Furcal, and I probably wouldn't be all cranky about not entertaining Giles. The fact they through away a high card in hopes of landing an ace may end up biting them very hard.

It's cool. I didn't take offense with your post. Your speculation is as good as any. Mine is just speculation also. For all any of us know, Hendry was on his knees with Giles' agent to get him to come to Chicago. However, I believe it was actually Furcal's agent. I think Bruce Miles is probably pretty accurate that Hendry felt Giles was "too old" and "too costly" and didn't fit the biggest need of this team. I beg to differ, but what I say doesn't matter anyway. Hendry wanted top of the order guys. Table setters. I think Hendry really wanted Pierre AND Furcal and felt that with those two, he could go cheap in RF and call it good. With all the "cheap" options that didn't end up being so cheap (Bradley, Wilson, Jones, Encarnacion, etc...), Hendry felt he could make the big splash with Furcal and balance out RF however. I think Hendry believed that if he was going to spend 10m on a player, he would want someone on the right side of 30, can hit at the top of the order, plays good defense and has good speed. One Rafael Furcal fit perfectly with what he wanted. Maybe I'm way off base. But, that's the way I see it. I don't think my opinion is too far fetched.

I imagine we will find that out soon enough. His 7.5m contract coupled with an off season tells me they aren't going to get what they think they'll get. Add in that he's not happy there......

Does this mean we can smack Dusty on the nose with a newspaper when he does something wrong? No Neifi in the lineup, bad Dusty! Only if it's the right newspaper! LOL! Well done! =D>

I think this part indicates Huff's displeasure with Tampa (Devil Rays). The Tampa Tribune reports that Huff also claimed the organization hasn't improved this offseason, suggesting that the $10 million being used to refurbish Tropicana field should be thrown at a free agent. HA! They are a 30m team. How much improvement was he expecting? Actually, they will eventually be improved once they've lowered their demands for Baez, Lugo and Huff, and replaced those guys with good prospects and Delmon Young and BJ Upton. :D Boston will probably send Marte and a pitching prospect for Gathright and Lugo. Some team with a bit of cash and a hole in their pen will probably give Tampa a pitching prospect or two for Baez. The Cubs could give up a pitching prospect or two for Huff. Everyone is happy again!

Would it count for something if I said that Cincinnati is twice as bad as Detroit and KC combined? :D

Did someone mention Huff? Won't need to move Murton to get him. Tampa will want pitching. They have plenty of offense.

Last time I looked, 48th out of 50 states. But, it might be 49th. :shock: BigbadB went to school in Illinois. :D

I saw this coming. This organization sure seem to make a lot of players mad, even though "everyone wants to play for Dusty". I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

"What have you done for me lately" --Janet Jackson I loved 2003. I will always love 2003. It's 2006 now.

Do you really believe that Jones is going to digress that badly? No I believe Patterson isn't nearly as bad as some believe. Patterson's career numbers are worse than Neifi Perez's. I would say that qualifies as being pretty bad. Having seen Jones play at the Metrodome and being familiar with his attitude, I think he will suprise many on this board. Jones is definitely moving to a more friendly hitter's division. He could show a surge offensively. But, he seems to be more of a ground ball hitter than a line drive hitter. That isn't going to help him a whole lot.

He really should go to Colorado with the ole blank check routine like Andre did. Then Colorado can play him in home games only, or when the lid is open in Arizona. Absolutely no starts in the California parks. That's a pretty severe stance to take (and offbase). Sammy has the power to hit the ball out of any park. The size of the park isn't the issue and has no relevence to his homerun capability. The size of the park won't change his ability to make contact between the bat and the ball. Whatever the reason, Sammy is pretty much done at this point in his career. His home run numbers have dropped every year since 2001. His AVG has dropped every year since 2001. Colorado is the one park that would probably allow him to put up respectable numbers for another year or two. But, only at home. Colorado is good hitters park, but not necessarily a great home run park because of the deep dimensions. Balls will fly out of there, but it takes a pretty good shot to clear the fences. So, I really don't believe I'm offbase at all. Maybe you are reading more into what I said than what I actually meant. I just believe Sammy would be able to extend his career for another year or two with Colorado without another drop in production.

He really should go to Colorado with the ole blank check routine like Andre did. Then Colorado can play him in home games only, or when the lid is open in Arizona. Absolutely no starts in the California parks. That's a pretty severe stance to take (and offbase). Sammy has the power to hit the ball out of any park. The size of the park isn't the issue and has no relevence to his homerun capability. The size of the park won't change his ability to make contact between the bat and the ball. Playing at high altitude, on the other hand, does change your ability to make contact Thank you for expanding on my point, Careless. Sammy isn't making as much contact as he used to. Breaking balls don't break as well in Colorado. Fastballs don't break much at all.

He really should go to Colorado with the ole blank check routine like Andre did. Then Colorado can play him in home games only, or when the lid is open in Arizona. Absolutely no starts in the California parks. Gee if that happened, I don't think there would be any way to argue that Sosa wasn't a selfish player. I didn't say Sammy would make that decision, but rather Colorado.

Of course, if you had Floyd or Huff, you could slide Jones down in the order to where he belongs, also. I think it would work better for Dusty anyway, because I just don't see Dusty starting Murton AND Cedeno everyday over veterans. If Murton is guaranteed an opening day spot, Cedeno might be the one who sits in favor of Neifi.

That's pretty much the way I'd handle it also, UK. Murton would become the 4th outfielder/platoon with Jones. Also getting starts for Floyd so he can rest his weary bones. He seems to perform better when he's not playing day in and day out, or at least gets occasional rests. Right now, the outfield is really in trouble if any of our 3 starters gets hurt. I'd rather have a good 4th outfielder like Murton who can step in everyday for an injury than throw Mabry or Hairston out there.

Actually, he did say publicly that he always wanted to stay in San Diego. AFTER HE SIGNED HIS NEW CONTRACT!! What a shocker that is, huh? I thought for sure he would say "I hate San Diego so much, I would have played anywhere else, but no one offered me more than San Diego was willing to up their offer to, so I stayed". Giles said the typical feel good stuff every player says when they sign a contract. He was being honest, however. He did always want to stay in San Diego, but he would have signed elsewhere: 1) If someone really wowed him with a contract. 2) If San Diego didn't up their offer. Those of us that hang on to a hopeless battle of whether Giles would sign with the Cubs haven't been given any sort of news that the Cubs even attempted to try to sign him. Until that happens, I'm not buying into it. The things we do know are: Mr. Miles claimed that Hendry never really was all that interested in Giles due to age, the amount it would cost to sign him, and the fact he isn't the lead off hitter type that Hendry seemed to be targeting. We have a quote in print that circulated all over the country that said "I'm not going to get into a bidding war for Brian Giles", which is a Hendry quote. There were several teams talking to Giles, not just one or two. Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals just off the top of my head. The Yankees wanted him to play CF, which wasn't wise for either the Yankees or Giles. The other teams didn't commit any more money (or of no signficance) than the Padres finally caved in and offered. We know all about St. Louis' money issues this offseason. Instead of Giles, look who they got. If the Cubs would have offered Giles 15m a year for the next 3 years, I'm not so sure he wouldn't have taken it. Until there is written proof prior to Giles signing that states he had no interest in playing for the Cubs, I'm not buying it. Sorry if that upsets anyone. Call me stubborn. I will say that Brian Giles would have been one of the most foolish baseball players in the history of the game if he told the Cubs before the bidding process began that he had zero interest in playing for them. Because whether he had any interest in them whatsoever, it would have been foolish to send what most likely would have been one of the best bidding teams in baseball this offseason packing if his true intent for being on the market in the first place was to get San Diego to up their offer. The Cubs had over 40m to spend when this offseason began. Did Brian Giles tell Jim "I have 40m to spend" Hendry not to bother, or did Jim just accidentally not call him? I think Jim was too busy chasing Rafael Furcal to notice one way or the other. What I really don't understand is what is up with the insults of those people who don't believe the Cubs ever had interest in Giles? Everyone is free to believe what they want to believe? Why attack us for believing something different than you? We are fighting a lost cause. He isn't coming here. We know he isn't coming here. Some of us just aren't satisfied with a "I never wanted to leave San Diego" quote AFTER he signed. Name one single player that would say the opposite after a signing. Just one. Please.

With so many Corey threads, wasn't sure which one to post this in and not sure whether anyone touched base on this yet, but... Did Corey's ability to hit for a decent average deteriorate because of organizational philosophy, by chance? I mean, Dusty's been quoted as saying that walks clog bases and that the team needed to be more aggressive at the plate, etc... Could it be that Corey just got more aggressive than he already was, which in turn made him swing and miss more than he already did? I'm not looking to pass blame, but rather attempt to find some sort of reasoning as to why he struggled so badly last year. If the teams organizational philosophy is that they want you up there hacking away rather than drawing walks, and you have a guy who is already more aggressive than he should be, wouldn't that just push Corey even further in the wrong direction?

Are there any updates? All I heard was that he had a heart attack. And stay, Jeff. I heard that and that all of his upcoming appointments were being rescheduled for later dates.

I'm with Vance. If you're going to overpay for someone (which the Cubs did quite well at this year when they overpaid for Neifi, Rusch, Eyre, Howry, Jones and Pierre in trade), overpay for Giles. I know that the basic thought process is that Giles had no intention of leaving, but as a San Diegan who witnessed how frustrated he got day after day with Petco Park, coupled with the losses of Hernandez, Loretta and Eaton(because of Giles), and the near loss of Hoffman is a telling sign that there is no reason to be so loyal to an organization who has no problem sticking a knife in your back. I'm going to continue latching on to my belief that Giles wanted to be wowed by someone this offseason, and when none of the other offers were any better than what San Diego was offering, he elected to stay. His last contract was a good contract, but relatively low considering his production and what other players of his ability were making. I mean, Richard Hidalgo was making 12m to Giles' 8m just a few years ago. Giles signed a long term contract with the Pirates, which is a small market team attempting to hold on to Giles through his prime years. He lost a lot of money on that deal. An argument could be made that Giles honestly just tested the market to drive up the price on San Diego and force them to match the higher offers. They did lowball him pretty good in opening negotiations. But, time was running on on whether he would be able to return to San Diego and the offers just weren't to his liking. We do know that Hendry really wasn't all that interested in Giles, as Bruce Miles has mentioned numerous times on this site. Age, amount it would take to sign him, importance of a lead off hitter rather than a bopper were some of the possible reasons that Hendry didn't pursue him. Hendry claimed that he wouldn't get into a bidding war for him as well, which just furthers my own cause that it wasn't that Giles wasn't interested, but rather Hendry wasn't interested. Giles is the guy the Cubs should have targeted and overpaid to play for this team. An argument could be made that he could fall off a cliff offensively as he ages, like many players do, but I don't think Giles will be one of those guys. Well, maybe he will be one of those guys afterall, since he's finishing his career in one of the least friendly hitter's parks in all of baseball. To answer A or B, I don't like either choice. This team needed a big boost offensively, and neither Furcal, Jones or Patterson was enough, IMO.

He really should go to Colorado with the ole blank check routine like Andre did. Then Colorado can play him in home games only, or when the lid is open in Arizona. Absolutely no starts in the California parks.

Dr. James Andrews won't be seeing Bagwell before January 31. Bank on it. He has his own medical issues to deal with. I don't see a thing wrong with Bagwell trying to play another season. Houston shouldn't have given him that big contract if they aren't willing to honor it.