Rob

Per Rotoworld: Maybe we're looking in the wrong direction to solve our problem. Everybody knows Barrett isn't a wonderful defensive catcher. Javy isn't anymore either, but Barrett has the range to man an outfield corner (for heaven's sake, he was drafted as a shortstop). Javy could give us better than average production for a catcher, and Barrett would provide about average offense at a corner, provided he maintains last years numbers. Weak as shortstop is right now, a team can survive without much offense coming from it. And considering the abismal offerings in available outfielders, this might be a better move for us to make. Opinions?

Dear god, this would make my year.

Macias has apparently gotten an offer from the St. Louis Cardinals. It's for 3 years and 2.4 million dollars, and a rags-to-riches MVP season in 2006 after Pujols tragically dies in a plane crash during the preseason.

Not guilty. But for Benitez... yeah.

1987 Indians had Steve Carlton and Phil Niekro for a while.

4 all-star caliber middle infielders in LA now... not too shabby. (Though I'll grant, Izturus isn't much of an all-star.)

Also per rotoworld: The Dodgers are close to acquiring Alfonso Soriano for reliever Jonathon Broxton, ESPN's Peter Gammons reports. That would be a considerably smaller price tag than expected and more in line with what Soriano is worth[/i]

Per Rotoworld: ESPN's Peter Gammons is reporting that Kris Benson is on his way to the Royals for Jeremy Affeldt and Mike MacDougal. Metsblog.com's Matthew Cerrone says it might be a prospect instead of MacDougal along with Affledt. The Royals can't give up both relievers for the right to pay Benson $15 million over the next two years.

And where will he be the GM then? The sad thing is, it might depend on if he's able to ink Dusty to an extension before next year.

But I'd venture that he's worth 7.5 million more than Neifi...

Hendry will end up signing Furcal at 13 per. But that'll be in 3 years when his dodgers contract runs out.

I've got a pint out too, but it's not cause I'm optomistic!

We all know already that Atlanta will put together a better package than us for Lugo, cause they are actually capable of realistically evaluating talent and their needs. And we all know Dusty will start Cedeno over Neifi the day Lucifer calls to borrow my snowblower. It's a done deal, folks. Neifi's the everyday starting shortstop in '06

I don't like Furcal that much, but this is still devastating for me. Why, you might ask? I think about the only (relatively) smart thing Hendry had every intention of doing this offseason was sign Furcal. This puts Neifi starting at short again everyday, as you have to believe that the Braves will put together a better package for Lugo. So I predict a frantic trade for Pierre to attempt to show Cubs fans that he's still trying to do something... and then we ink macias to a new deal and the offseason is done.

What's the non-tender date again? I think it was Dec. 20th last year... I guess we'll know something definately by then, cause he's still just arbitration-eligible if I remember correctly.

Sounds great to me if the prospect is either Kendry Morales or Brandon Wood. Otherwise, I'd rather hold on to the player that might still be in the league in 3 years.

I seriously think if he signs Eyre, we should revoke his right to make free agent signings and force him to restock through trades.

Well if we don't get him, it looks like we'd probably be facing him a bunch every year. Rotoworld just put up that he's narrowed his choices to the Cubs, Cards, Astros, and Braves.

Well, if you like stability, how can you not prefer anyone to Hendry? What roster stability exists for the Cubs over the past few years? Aramis is the only position player still on the team from the postseason squad in 2003 and that was only two years ago! And I think it's a bit unfair to characterize Depo's trades in the way that you have. Yes, he traded the face of the franchise in LoDuca. But he was also a horrendously overrated player who contributed far less than was commonly perceived. I'd much rather have a GM who knows when to "sell high", even if it means having some roster instability. Let's take a look at the position players from that 2003 squad. C - Miller/Bako 1B- Karros/Simon/Choi 2B- Grudz SS - KGon 3B - ARam LF - Alou CF - CPatt/Lofton RF - Sosa Hendry had put together a group of veterans quickly coming to the end of their productive careers (Bako, Karros, Simon, Sosa) , mediocre role-players (Miller, Choi, Grudz, KGon), and young guns in ARam, and CPatt. Nobody expected anybody besides ARam and CPatt to be around more than another 3 years (expect for Sosa, possibly) I guess the point I'm trying to get across is that everybody knew what was coming. It works different in your head. Everybody knew not to get attached to Karros. But Hendry has shown an affinity for making the big trade without generating too much roster turnover in the big spots. We still have our core of young pitching. We still have CPatt. We still have ARam. And we can expect to keep those guys around for a while. I mean, honestly, do you see Hendry entertaining many trades that start off with him giving up Zambrano? I guess what I'm saying is that while I know Hendry is occassionally a roster-butcher, I prefer being able to predict the kinds of moves he's going to make a couple weeks in advance... as opposed to DePo who would be willing to trade Babe Ruth if he got what he felt was a good enough return. We have enough curses, we don't need the curse of El Toro. As for the way I characterized DePo's trades, I think we both realize it wasn't that unfair of me. There's two dimensions to baseball trades. The economics and the baseball. I'm not debating trading LoDuca wasn't a bad baseball trade at all. It was a pretty good one. The problem is if the fans don't come through those gates anymore, the Cubs stop making money. Now LoDuca is small potatoes, but can you imagine the impact on sales if after next winter Wood, Prior, and Aramis were gone and we had a bunch of no-names to show for it?

To be fair Tim, the Bradley trade pretty much fell right into his lap. The Tribe did a bad job managing the situation and put themselves in a spot where they knew they were going to have to trade Bradley for less than market value. Though granted, DePo is the one that went out and got him. My only problem with getting DePo is that I have a personal attachment to some of the people on the Cubs right now. And if there's anything that DePo has shown, it's that he's willing to get rid of anybody at any time if he thinks it might make the team a bit better. I don't want DePo coming in and getting rid of "face of the franchise" type players like LoDuca was. Aramis is the guy right now, and we might see him traded for a bevy of good prospects that would only be marginal major leaguers in the here-and-now. In other words, as a fan, I cherish having a little roster stability from year to year. It'd be nice to know I can buy a jersey and not be able to wear it anymore after 3 weeks of the new reign. And I'm an avid fan. How would the ordinary fan feel about watching a different lineup trot out there every day?

I can't believe Murton might be left in. He's not being put in a position to succeed, dude! Of course, as soon as I say this, I bet Patterson comes in to PH.

Oh god... Well, I guess Macias will be back in Cubbie blue next season...with an even larger raise.

Nomar, making sure Macias doesn't draw any attention for making the final out.

Since Nomar has hinted to being open to a position change, I'd wonder if he would be willing to take over in a super-utility role. Start him almost every day at a different position to give everybody a day off. Kinda like Jose Macias, but more playing time, and actually useful. I doubt he'd be willing to do that to himself, but the Angels managed to make good use of Chone Figgins this way.... so I'd hope the Cubs brass at least makes an attempt at talking him into it.

Maybe a conventional .344 OBP out of the leadoff spot isn't good, but that's not really indicative of Furcal's success. BP just came up with a new metric, SOB. Speed-adjusted On Base Percentage. Due to Furcal's stealing abilities and baserunning abilities, they estimate his impact to the lineup is more like having an average runner with a .370 OBP. (based on last year only) And interestingly enough, Furcal was rated the 2nd best baserunner according to EqBR (again, last year only.) While that's still not amazing, that's certainly something to think about.