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Laura

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Everything posted by Laura

  1. Laura
    Could someone please get Hendry a new list?
  2. Laura
    Going quickly by the payroll sticky on the top of the page and adding in DeRosa and Blanco (assuming the totals are split evenly among the years since I haven't heard otherwise), there's a total of ~$85M committed. If the upper payroll estimates of $115M are accurate, that leaves ~$30M not committed. As can be quickly ascertained, in this market that's not going to be enough to allow Hendry to fill team needs by going Premier FA shopping. (beaten by JeffH!)
  3. Laura
    I'd bet that he re-signed Blanco for the same reason he signed Blanco in the first place: his defensive rep, which at least seems to be based in reality. IIRC, the only consistent match-up over this past season was Barrett & Maddux for the vast majority of Maddux starts (I think Blanco caught & Barrett DH'd in one of his interleague starts). Barrett's injuries and suspensions may have played a role. He overpayed, but they've been signaling their intent to re-sign Blanco so it's not a huge surprise.
  4. Laura
    I guess I'm not cynical enough after all. According to reports, the Mets bid $38M and the Yankees "around $30." ...and Orestes Destrade got the story first and got it right ...
  5. Laura
    Cliff Floyd might be a let down from all the Soriano talk. I'm ignoring all mention of Marquis. Is he really best friends with DeRosa? Do we still need a 2Bman? INS? I dunno. The mention of Hendry and Piniella being on the prowl was too hilarious not to post, though.
  6. Laura
    Lots of good tidbits. I'm a little nervous about growing hype over the Cubs signing Soriano. (I prefer Drew and think he would be a better fit and cost less, but I'd be happy if they got Soriano as long as it didn't prevent re-signing Z) It reminds me a little of the Furcal Frenzy or the Trading for Lowell uproar. I wonder who this means: "If they signed free agent Alfonso Soriano, their No. 1 target, to play center, they likely would add a lesser outfield bat to alternate with Jacque Jones and Matt Murton." Apparently not Lugo. I think Theriot has played some OF in the minors, but he obviously wouldn't need to be added. I wonder who the Cubs are interested in from the Red Sox. It also says that Lugo is sought after by the Red Sox, by the Mets for 2B ... and possibly by the O's if they trade Tejada.
  7. Laura
  8. Laura
    I don't like the way this is headed :( I think they just focused on the free agents (I'm not crazy about the names, either).
  9. Laura
    I love listening to Pat Hughes. I wish they said how many years.
  10. Laura
    There's an article on Piniella at the winter meetings at Chicagosports.com. The headline makes it sound like he's going to keel over at some point this season: Piniella ready for last ride Hang in there, Lou!
  11. Laura
    Who is his agent? We know Hendry likes to keep his manager happy if possible and Piniella hasn't been shy about liking Soriano. The Angels really want to burn through some money, though.
  12. Laura
    Doing the math, that makes it 29.6 million that the Cubs reportedly offered...why they would go up to 30 mil I don't know, but honestly, I thought the Cubs would make a lowball 15-20 million offer Me, too ... the references I've hear to the $30M range have been from Phil Rogers. Someplace early on I had heard $24M. Still ... I can be hard on the Cubs for making token PR efforts (like the Beltran offer), but this was a legit effort and as a fan, I appreciate it even if they didn't win it.
  13. Laura
    Think of all the cash-ola the Cubs would have saved! :lol: (thank you, Aramis!)
  14. Laura
    Phil Rogers' latest column. Phil thinks the DeRosa signing moves Theriot into the first supersub role ahead of Cedeno (which sounds fine to me). I didn't think Theriot was all THAT tiny ...
  15. Laura
  16. Laura
    The Yankees are also reportedly interested in Helms.
  17. Laura
    I can only hope that Lou gets the final decision and that he pays more attention to splits and performance than Dusty ever did. I'd like this move more if he was being brought in as a super-utility guy ... yes, he'd be expensive for that, but he can hit lefties ... promising him the starting 2B job makes me queasy.
  18. Laura
    DeLuca claims in today's Sun-Times that Hendry & Piniella have their hearts set on Soriano. "As it stands now, the Cubs are saving their biggest money for Soriano." Murton, JJones and Cedeno are on the trading block. Cubs are setting their sights on lower-tier pitchers like Padilla, Lilly and Igawa and are looking to restock pitching through trades (see above).
  19. Laura
    Teams lost the ability to insure pitchers past 3 years around that time as well. I'm not saying IT'S IMPOSSIBLE! I'll be surprised if it happens with a pitcher even though it's a cash-rich player-poor market. Also ... Beltran got Beltran money but Boras started out the demands with 10Y/$200M. There's always room for negotiation.
  20. Laura
    why? He's a top starter, he's 28. While I wouldn't sign him to that contract, it wouldn't surprise me at all if someone did. I think he'll get truckloads of money, but if he gets seven years, I'll be surprised. Even in the current market.
  21. Laura
    But all the media says it's part of a brilliant strategy to make money hand over fist. Surely they didn't just overbid. So where do you think the posting fee came from? ETA -- actually, I'm moving this discussion to the other thread since this is the JD Drew thread.
  22. Laura
    I'm hopping on the Drew bandwagon. I would prefer him to Soriano and believe he'll be less costly in terms of both $ and years. He addresses the huge OBP need and can play CF or RF -- there's nothing not to like. Go get him, Jim. I wouldn't weep if the Cubs did get Soriano ... but it does seem that there are a number of teams with a lot of money who are after him, and I do think his contract will be hard for him to live up to by the end of it. I wonder how willing he'd be to play CF. The Cubs still have starting pitching to address after getting a FA outfielder.
  23. Laura
    Phil Rogers puts the Cubs' bid "in the range of $25 million to $30 million."
  24. Laura
    The Houston Chronicle comes up with a new dollar amount (no source credited). That would come to 7/105.
  25. Laura
    It likely came from the same place that Texas' rumored $27M bid and the Cubs' rumored $24M bid came from ... presumably from ownership. Perhaps someone here can lend insight. There have been discussions of how teams account for bids like this somewhere here. In the past, the fees haven't been reflected in team payroll numbers either as a lump sum or as a per-year-cost over the life of the subsequent contract. Since we were talking about whether the Red Sox could afford Drew in terms of payroll after (presumably) winning the bidding for and signing Matsuke, the payroll numbers are relevant for Drew.
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