BigbadB

Okay, this is getting a bit carried away. Let's just get back to the discussion at hand. Thanks!

Great quote BBB! Thanks! The Marquis Grissom rumor has me feeling quite comical today. :D

Apology accepted. I have no sources. I confirm nothing. I am the king of speculation and the prince of opinion. Nothing more! :D

I think he's starting to sound more like A-Rod.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA This stuff doesn't even shock me anymore. There has to be some Trib shareholders that are huge Cub fans that can inform the powers that be that someone really needs to put a stop to this chirade. I'm looking forward to how much they give Grissom to be the LF start..... uh,er back up to Murton.

Or at the very least, the LA Dodgers. By the way, I have confirmed (just yesterday in fact) that the Cubs had no interest in Giles, and hence, did not even try to talk to him or his agent. I felt it was already confirmed when Hendry was quoted as saying before any serious offers were made that "I'm not going to get into a bidding war for Giles". Yet, he felt like getting into a bidding war for Furcal and Jones. I felt it was already confirmed by the lack of any "news" that the Cubs had any interest. I felt it was already confirmed when Bruce Miles came here and declared that one of the reasons was that Hendry had concerns about Giles age. I felt it was already confirmed when Hendry made his strong play for Furcal. But, confirmed doesn't necessarily change the fact that Giles may or may not have ever wanted to leave San Diego. That's possible. But, just about everyone has a price. I believe Giles price was 13m at minimum to move. Hendry had it to give to him.

That may change soon. As the AL East gets stronger (Toronto looks good), Tampa is a few years away yet, Baltimore, meh..... Teams like Cleveland and Oakland will have a shot at a wild card once again. Didn't Anaheim make it via wild card the year they were in the Series?

Good post! The really hardcore fan won't change allegiance, but there are millions of casual fans that could be swayed one way or another. Winning is a good way to generate interest and excitement.

Amazing is somewhat fitting. They never sieze to amaze me how......

Why spin Zito off for Tejada? What if Hendry can trade for both without losing Prior or Z? The longer this circus goes on with Tejada (because you know he's going to continue to throw a fit), the more likely it is the O's would be forced to lower their demands...What an offseason that would be! That would be awesome, but I doubt the Cubs could afford the 20m in salary it would cost to add Zito and Tejada. And I'm not sure we have enough good prospects left to get both.

How did Hendry miss Pokey?

That doesn't sway my opinion at all. Call me stubborn. That reads to me your generic form letter "I'm at the place I always wanted to be". You know you aren't going to read "I wanted to play elsewhere for a bunch more money, but nobody offered as much as I was hoping for".

No thanks, then. I don't do any trade with Pie that nets a 1 year rental.

Oakland has been interested in Frank Thomas. Trading for Zito would free up the cash to add him. That would then make their outfield crowded, which could make one of Kotsay, Bradley, Kielty or Payton available in that same trade.

I know Manny wants out of Boston, but why would he agree to Baltimore? It is still in the Northeast, and is a bad team. He would have no hope of winning there. Tejada's complaints don't make it seem like a very desirable place to play. I agree that it doesn't make sense, but if your main desire is to play for a winning team, why leave Boston?

We'll probably never really know. So it's not ridiculous to trade for Abreu and the 15m he's owed for the next two years, but it is ridiculous to offer Giles 15m. I don't get it. Giles did test the market. He filed for free agency and didn't sign a contract until just a few days before the arbitration deadline. If he waited until after the deadline, he was at risk of not being able to re-sign with San Diego unless they offered arbitration. Working a deal was probably not likely, since they were only offering 7 or 8m a year with their first offer. San Diego offering arby was not a guarantee either, since they would have lost big time if it went before an arbitrator, and San Diego would have had to known that Giles would probably accept arby rather than sign a 10m a year deal with some other team. I'm guessing. I could be wrong. But, that's all anyone can do here is guess. There were several teams that showed interest and some made offers. NYY, LAD and St. Louis were some of the teams making offers. Toronto made an offer, but considering the different league, different country, I don't know how seriously they were going to be taken by Giles. What it came down to, IMO, is that no team offered up enough cash to inspire Giles to leave. He really got short changed with his last contract considering his production. I'd bet if a competitive team offered up enough, he would have signed. Honestly, there really weren't many teams that could afford to give him what it would have taken to pry him away from San Diego. Until San Diego upped their offer, it didn't appear as though Giles had any intentions of returning. Same can be said of Hoffman.

Well, what's the likelihood Hendry would have any interest in Abreu anyway? He had no interest in Giles. Maybe once he trades for Zito, he'll shop for a another outfielder and call it good.

Halftime of the Holiday Bowl on ESPN mentioned that there was now a very hot rumor regarding Manny and Tejada.

I guess Hendry does read my material. :D Actually, we should still be very afraid if he is honestly pursuing Zito. Would it be Zito or Prior that Hendry would send to Phily for Abreu? Who would Phily covet more? Zito, in the last year of his contract, or Prior who has several years before free agency? And we all know how Hendry likes his lefties.

I'm not down on Murton at all. But, all it takes is 1 injury (nah, Cubs never have any of those) and now Hairston or Mabry is playing everyday. Who do they have after Hairston and Mabry? Pie is the only option remaining. Unless Nic Jackson somehow reclaims himself as a prospect, there is just nothing left on the farm. Murton was in AA just last year. We really don't know what we have in Matt Murton. The small sampling he gave in the bigs last year is just that. For every prospect that came up and did what Murton did last year, I can find a whole host of other players that did the same thing Murton did, and never amounted to a thing in the big leagues. I hope he's everything we all hope he'll be. But, if he isn't, I'm not willing to see Jerry Hairston or John Mabry gobbling up all the playing time in LF if he fails. Thank Dusty for doing everything he could to slow the development of Murton and Cedeno last year. Because he did that, we have less information to come to any real conclusions of what kind of player Murton or Cedeno might become.

Do you have any idea what Giles stood to make in arbitration? If the Padres would have offered it, he surely would have accepted and made at least 13m in 2006. I'd venture to guess closer to 15m would be what he would have gotten. San Diego lowballed him big time with their initial offer. That's why I don't think they would have offered it. Even at the salary he signed to stay in SD, the Padres have been dumping salary ever since. They traded Eaton who was about to get a decent jump in arbitration. The traded Loretta for a back up catcher. They let Ramon Hernandez walk. Instead of attempting to get David Wells back, they are looking at cheaper options like Pedro Astacio or Dewon Brazelton. To come to my conclusion that Giles would have made at least 13m, I compare Giles numbers offensively as very close to Abreu, and he makes 15m.

I would imagine you would agree that we can't go into the 2005 season with this for an outfield: (assuming Patterson will be traded) Jacque Jones Juan Pierre Matt Murton Jerry Hairston John Mabry That might be one of the worst outfields ever assembled.

Where were the Trib higher ups when a lot of money was being handed out to a crappy ballplayer? 15m is what they gave a crappy ballplayer just last week.

What, I'm not supposed to throw out figures now? This is a message board for cryin' out loud. What are we supposed to talk about? While Giles was my favorite direction this offseason, I didn't say it was the ONLY direction. I would have been fine with a combination of Wilkerson, Bradley, Michaels, Huff, Floyd, etc... Guys who can get on base at a healthy clip. Spread it around if need be. Don't give a guy 15m if you know you can get 3 or 4 guys with "good" OBP's rather than 1 awesome OBP. I really don't care. But, to fill your line up with Neifi Perez, Jacque Jones and Alfonso Soriano, the team is just falling into the same trap they always fall into. Lack of plate discipline and lack of OBP.

They were together in San Fran, weren't they? Interesting. Drew is the one I'd be most interested in now that Bradley is gone. Jose Cruz is another one I like.