Rob

especially if Liriano is out for an extended time I thought Liriano just had TJS... if so, he's certainly out for an extended time. Halladay and Matsuzaka are the only ones in the AL I think will be able to compete on a year-in, year-out basis.

Just out of sheer morbid curiosity, which first basemen do you see as being better than Bagwell?

The Braves must have asked for Chris Young instead.

I'm wondering if this quota system is even in the new CBA. I haven't heard anything about it either way... but the way Hendry is going about his business suggests to me that either he doesn't know about the system or it's been disbanded.

I'm not sure Hendry can get all those guys. There is a limit to how many A/B guys he can sign. DeRosa counts as 1 already. Are we sure this rule is a part of the new CBA? From the way Jim Hendry is wheeling and dealing, and all the rumors still floating around, I have a hard time believing it is.

I'd give him a bottle of tequila and a note saying "Thanks for all the memories," but that's about as generous as I get. Simply put, we've got enough of a starting pitcher crunch in the minors that we don't need a scrub like Marquis wasting space in Iowa, let alone Chicago.

does "and" mean hendry would want both? there's no way they could afford drew and soriano... I don't know, I'm too happy (and drunk) to think straight.

I would honestly rather lose my left nut than watch Marquis desecrate a Cubs uniform next season.

I don't think so. The new CBA gave the clubs another year of control before players become eligible for the Rule V.

I'm certainly not rallying to have Barrett sent away, but I can see where the idea comes from. There are real concerns about his performance going forward which will most likely keep us from signing him to an extension. With that in mind, trading him away if he's not going to be part of a championship team this season makes sense. The only issue I really have comes with availability. The people advocating a Barrett for Wells trade are being ridiculous. That's essentially a lateral move in any event, and that's compounded by the fact that there is a perfect option availabe for CF in JD Drew, while the market for catchers is extremely weak. For me to be willing to trade Barrett away, I better be getting a very young player that will be under club control for a few years, or an older but excellent player signed to a contract for a few more years. Otherwise, I have trouble accepting the massive downgrade from Barrett to whatever crap is available on the FA market. (Bengie Molina? Washed-up versions of Mike Piazza, Javy Lopez, and Mike Lieberthal? Puh-lease...)

All of this stocking up on (s)crappy role players damn well better be leading to some mega-blockbuster trade... otherwise, I'm super-pissed.

Baltimore's GM, Flanigan is pretty weak. What he actually pulls off is pretty weak, but he's been rebuffed when he's the highest offer quite a few times now. He's trying to make some decent moves, but they never quite happen. I'm not convinced yet that the dartboard Hendry throws at isn't the real GM of this team.

Well, the writing is certainly on the wall for Cedeno. DeRosa, Izturis, and Theriot can all man short passably well. DeRosa and Theriot can swing the bat a little... whereas Izturis is probably our starting SS right now. I don't see the Cubs carrying Cedeno on the roster over Theriot at this point, as his only real skill at this point is an ability to play SS... which Theriot and DeRosa now both have. So yeah, Cedeno's out. As for how I feel about the signing itself... It could be a great thing if used properly... It could just as easily explode in our faces. Use DeRosa to platoon with Jacque, pinch hit, and fill in on the diamond when people really need a day off, that's fine. Even giving him a chance to win a role at 2B when a righty is on the mound would be fine... But if they hand him the starting 2B job and don't give Theriot or EPatt a chance to win it in Spring Training... and if they refuse to get Jacque out of the lineup against lefties... this would be nothing more than a waste of money. All in all, I want to know what the new skipper plans on using DeRosa for... but until I find out, I'm pissed.

That never happens. They just re-signed Valentine, who had a darn good year. Feasible... but Jacque actually does have some trade value after an above average year, with only 2/10 left on the contract. Might as well try to get something for him. Absolutely not. Barrett is worth a lot more than Burrell right now. Besides, Burrell doesn't fill a hole we cant do just as well filling by signing a free agent. Drew is a great signing but there's no way he signs for that little (years or money). Lugo would certainly be an upgrade, and I could handle that contract... but I'd rather look at a huge upgrade than a moderate one. ARod and Tejada both are available. Lugo should only be a fallback option. And Bengie Molina I wouldn't ever consider. He has no bat and he's hardly much of a defender anymore. If you absolutely must trade Barrett, Piazza is a better bet for next season than anyone else out there. Erstad shouldn't even be given a major league deal this year... he hasn't been anywhere near decent even since 2000... especially for a LF or 1B. There's no way on earth the Cubs brass bring back Walker.... but there are better options out there anyway like Durham and Loretta. Everyday lineup contstruction looks fine though, if that's your options... Unfortunately, it wouldn't be much of an offensive upgrade. The gain from Jones to Burrell is completely lost by the dropoff from Barrett to Molina... and that drop also covers part of the gain from Izturis/Cedeno to Lugo. We'd still probably score more runs... but that'd be merely a factor of DLee's health, Drew over Pierre and Lugo outperforming the crap we got from SS last year. No offense of course, but I'm not at all a fan of this idea.

Now would be a great one of those times for Hendry to stop working at a level over his ability like he has for the last three weeks. I could really go for his patented "token run" at the top free agent and instead going harder after what he feels is the #2 option.

Elijah Dukes is a hell of a ballplayer, but he makes Ty Cobb look like Santa Claus.

Goodness gracious. Do you realize how bad Pagan is? Obviously not. That said, I'd be quite pleased with either Drew or Soriano. If The Awful Hendry hadn't taken on Izturis' money, we might be able to squeeze them both in. Actually, that was part of my point.

If a team is going to give him one they might as well give it for the length, those last two years will be difficult to trade him with the money he is making. You can always eat some of the contract and get prospects. An NTC makes that a lot more difficult. Of course Sheffield brought in a haul, didn't he? And got an extension... Shef wasn't even packing a NTC, though. But he did have a legitimate threat to retire, which functioned about the same way.

Yeah, it would suck to add another 30 HR 100 RBI hitter in our lineup... There are actual holes to fill on this team. LF isn't one of them... especially when for a marginal cost of near 15 million bucks for a hitter that isn't much better than a 70% bet to outproduce Murton.

Pierre played a ton of games this year. Didn't make him any more valuable than Drew. Heck, Drew in 72 games in 2005 was more valuable than Pierre in 162 that year. I'm not saying injuries aren't a concern at all. But one broken bone from a beanball the last three years has been Drew's only serious injury. So while it's not a great bet that he's going to play in excess of 150 games, I have a hard time betting against him to play in less than 120 either. But let's assume Drew plays in 120 games. Drew for 120 plus Pagan for 42 is a darn good bet to outproduce Soriano, especially when you consider Soriano's numbers are most likely going to start to collape back to his career norms.

Does Izturis have a degenerative knee condition? I had heard that his elbow problems were degenerative, but I hadn't heard about his knee. Egads. I think the elbow is degenerative, and not the knee. The only thing I've heard with his leg is his hamstring issues (a little bit in 2005, and of course it flared up with the Cubs). I don't think he actually has an actual condition in his legs though. Yeah, you're right. I had a minor brain fart. I knew he had a degenerative condition, and all I could remember were the leg injuries from the last 2 years. But yeah, it's his elbow. Either way, it adversely affects his fielding, so my point stands.

I think Zimmerman will be a very good player for his career. I just don't see him being a "special" or great one. Either way, I'd take him in a heartbeat if we didn't have Aramis.

I've got no problems with picking up Marcus Giles. Most of his peripherals were in line with the last few years, but his BABIP just took a huge dip below what could be expected. He should rebound very nicely.

For his career, yeah. But he's not quite the spry youngster he used to be. Somehow I have a hard time believing he's gonna be a good basestealer again.

That's right, nobody likes 40 40 guys. we need walks. LOL I'm so sick and tired of Soriano getting credit for being a 40/40 guy. He got caught stealing 17 times! That's a net detriment to his team everytime he started running. Why some people want to praise him for running often even when he was not very successful at it is beyond me. The 40+ HR's? Yeah, he did great there. The 40+ steals? Those weren't worth jack. Edit: I kind of like guys who play most of the time. Drew is still the most overrated guy out there. One significant injury in the past 3 years, and it was from a beanball. I'm not too overly concerned.