BigbadB

1. Couldn't get it done. 2. Had no desire to get it done. 3. Didn't recognize Giles value. 4. Giles had no desire to come to Chicago. 5. Giles wasn't as big a priority to Hendry as Furcal or Pierre. Probably a combination from the list above, but his obvious love affair over Furcal and Pierre over Giles seemed pretty apparent to me. I sure hope that someone going to convention gets the opportunity to address Hendry with these questions: 1. Giles was obviously the most fitting FA available this offseason. Why didn't you pursue him? 2. Nomar expressed interest in staying in Chicago. With his desire to stay and willingness to play any position, why did you kick him to the curb like a stray cat?

Obviously, Jacque Jones is only speculation, but would you be pleased with Hendry's offseason if he goes into 2006 with Jones in RF, Pierre in CF, Murton in LF, Cedeno/Perez at SS and Cedeno/Walker at 2nd with the usual suspects (Ramirez, Lee and Barrett) at their respective positions?

I'd rather platoon 'em both, except for the fact it would would most likely mean they'd both play and Murton would sit. Both will require at minimum a 2 year deal.

Not interested. However, if it comes down to Jones or Sanders, I'd rather have Sanders.

Unfortunately, that might end up being the best available option remaining.

What's Blasko's deal? Is he done?

Exactly why I asked the question that I did: What is Philly doing here? What's Gillick up to? I wonder if he has 40-man issues as well now that he has the two pitchers he got in the Thome deal? That might have been part of the problem. I don't think Phily had Padilla in their plans. What he was likely to receive in arby would have been more than Phily wanted to pay. I believe there was a very high likelihood that he would have been nontendered if they didn't trade him first. Texas offered up a deal so they wouldn't be scrapping it out with other teams for his services. The PTBNL might have been because of 40 man roster issues.

I'm a bit torn on this one. As a fan, I'd probably be a bit upset. But, at the same time, I don't think the team "really" needed to match last year's budget to put a good team on the field. They were the best team in the NL. Keeping the pitching staff intact, and looking for possible cheap roster filler (role players) shouldn't have broken the bank. I probably would have brought back Grudz and Sanders. Then maybe a lefty bat for the other corner and call it good. The problem becomes justifying the raise in ticket prices that will surely take place to enter the new ballpark. The Padres increased their ticket prices dramatically for their new park. They were 5th or 6th overall in attendance, and they still don't spend squat on their team. They were willing to let Giles, Hoffman AND Ramon Hernandez walk. Now that 2 of the 3 are back, they made a horrible trade of Loretta (3m in the final year of his contract) for a back up catcher just to save a measily 1.6m in cash. The Cardinals will bounce back. And they may not be done wheeling and dealing. Only the hardcore Cardinal fan notices that the team spent less on the roster from the previous year, which probably won't hurt the turnstyles one bit. Didn't the Cardinals have great attendance in the final year of the old Busch? I was there twice and the seats were filled. But, I feel for ya. I hope the Cardinals are lousy next year.

Giles used to be. :cry:

why do you care if somebody doesn't like NY's post? Why do you feel the need to moderate this thread? If it doesn't go back to baseball discussion immediately, this thread will be locked.

Realistically, I think we end up with Huff. I'll assume that Bradley will still be coming to the Cubs as well, likely for Hairston or Patterson. Pierre, Bradley, Lee, Ramirez, Huff, Barrett, Walker, Cedeno Murton plays against lefties. Neifi plays whenever Dusty feels Cedeno will be outmatched, which will probably be everyday after the first week. If Ramirez needs a day off, Huff can play there. If Lee needs a day off, Huff can play there. Each game Huff plays 3rd or 1st is more opportunities for Murton to showcase what he can do against RH pitching, as well as pinch hit situations. I'd actually prefer that they hang on to Patterson if at all possible. I just don't see any reason to give him away if nothing is all he is worth. He offers good defensive protection late in games, speed on the bases if Barrett or Huff gets a hit in a close and late situation, and if he figures out what his problem is at the plate, he could win back a starting job or even make someone else available at the trade deadline.

This is definitely a positive, but it needs to be pointed out that the Venezuelan Winter League is typically between AA and AAA in talent level. And what does a .353 AVG convert to in the majors? If it's .280 plus, I'd take that from our #8 hitter. Any news on whether he's playing any 2nd base? You have Perez batting 7th? :D Yes. For the Iowa Cubs.

Is it possible that he has backed off his trade demands, because of the likelihood he ends up getting traded to another team that doesn't appear to be doing anything to improve their team (Cubs) either?

I disagree. If they fill RF with Juan Encarnacion, then I would say this team still has several holes to fill. There is no way this team could go into 2006 under the impression they could win anything with Murton, Encarnacion, Cedeno and Perez/Walker hitting at the bottom of the order.

This is definitely a positive, but it needs to be pointed out that the Venezuelan Winter League is typically between AA and AAA in talent level. And what does a .353 AVG convert to in the majors? If it's .280 plus, I'd take that from our #8 hitter. Any news on whether he's playing any 2nd base?

Rockies

I don't recall there ever being a Hill/Dunn trade being discussed. I do recall a comment from Bruce Miles that Hendry valued Hill so much, that he wouldn't trade him for Dunn, but that's all I recall. Refresh my memory on the proposed Dunn trade that would have included Rich Hill.

Imagine how many there will be if the Cubs do pull off a trade. It would be a happy day.

Okay, I checked in here under the assumption that a long line was forming for Andy Mart.....er, Andy Pettit......er, Andy Pratt. However, it appears you all wish to play hardball and pretend you aren't interested in hopes that I will lower my demands. Good luck with that. I have no problem going into the 2006 season with Mr. Pratt as my opening day starter.

Yeah, I must have missed the memo that he was granted the title "house pro".

I'd rather have a leadoof hitter and someone who can run. You have to give up something in a trade. None of the three will be star pitchers, most likely long relief guys. I sorta have to agree with this. All 3 prospects seem like they have back end of the rotation upsides, which are basically a dime a dozen in the major leagues. I wasn't particularly fond of spending the 3 prospects on a one year rental lead off guy, but at least it didn't cost prospects that have all star potential.

Yeah, I don't understand how anyone can simply write a guy off who has logged a total of 23 major league innings. Are 23 innings really enough to tell if a guy will make it in the major leagues? I think not. Maybe in Cliff Bartosh's case, but not in Rich Hill's.

I've cooled on the Huff/Lugo trade considering what Tampa wants in return. But, what I've always felt this offseason is that Tampa will want to get out from Huff's contract, and would probably move him for a lot less towards the back end of the offseason rather than paying him to play. They have so many options to take his place, not to mention what they could ask for in trade. Lugo's demand has gotten ridiculous. I don't believe the "we were never offered Marte for Lugo" cry by Tampa. I think Marte was offered, but they tried to squeeze blood out of a turnip and Atlanta caught on. All speculation on my part, of course. I'd love to have Tejada at SS. If you got Miggy, who played RF wouldn't be nearly as worrying as it currently is now. I also think you could trade any and all of Walker, Hairston and Patterson, or trade each of them with a middle reliever (Novoa, Wuertz, Welly) for an up and coming power bat in RF. The Cubs are getting a bit thin in the prospect department, especially if they dealt for Miggy, but I also think they have enough guys from last years major league roster to move to fill RF. I'd still be hoping for Milton Bradley for that job. Pierre, Bradley, Tejada, Lee, Ramirez, Murton, Barrett, Cedeno Put the middle 3 any way you like. It's good!

I would have offered arby to Nomar. Though I'm not sure he would have accepted after the whole "we are going a different direction" fiasco. My suggestion from the first day of the offseason is take care of your in house guys first, then figure out how to upgrade from there. Not only did I think Nomar could be re-signed for 4-5m plus incentives on a 1 year deal, but it's looking very apparent that no other team wants to give him more than that. The Cubs could have re-signed Nomar, and they could still have worked on signing Furcal. Who would be complaining about Nomar playing RF for this Cub team at a base salary of 4m while Miguel Tejada played SS? If the Cubs didn't get Furcal (which they didn't), and they don't get Tejada (which is up in the air), and they trade Walker (which has sounded like the plan all along), wouldn't Nomar have been a nice back up plan at SS? IF the Cubs would have kept Nomar, I think trading Aramis to Baltimore in a package that returned Tejada AND Mora would have been a pretty good deal for the Cubs. Ramirez can opt out of his contract after the '06 season. Tejada is relatively cheap for his production. But, Nomar isn't coming back, so I don't think any trade involving Ramirez is going to work. Ramirez for Tejada doesn't do a thing offensively for the Cubs.

The Tejada rumblings take me back to the beginning of this offseason, when the Cubs should have offered Nomar a 1 year deal, incentive based deal. How good would an Aramis Ramirez, Rich Hill, Ronnie Cedeno, Corey Patterson deal look if we could have netted Miggy and Mora? Pierre, Mora, Lee, Tejada, Nomar, Walker, Barrett, Murton. Oh my!