oldcubsfan

I think bonus accounting is spread over the contract and the insurance would be paid after the season which is still 07.

you forgot that ARam's 5mil bonus, which makes him $9 mil this year and the likelihood that Rusch's contract may be covered by insurance(85%) Which gets it down to $88 roughly. That should leave plenty of room to acquire pitching.

I think this is a key to JD(from the article) "His nickname in the Dodger clubhouse, according to one big league coach, was "Nancy Drew," and according to one major leaguer who has played against Drew for much of his career, one Dodger player greeted the news of Drew's departure by phoning friends in jubilation. Some of that same undercurrent was present when he was with the Cardinals. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Buzz Bissinger, who spent much of the 2003 season with the Cardinals for a book entitled "Three Nights in August," wrote in the book that Cardinals manager Tony La Russa "wondered whether Drew's underlying ailment, like it was for so many young players coming into sudden millions, was an absence of sustained passion that had no medical remedy." "

where? i have today's trib but cannot find that column. It's his column for tomorrow's paper, it's on the website now.

Bruce, are you going to the winter meetings? It should be crazy this year with trades.

That is the same AP story that appears every where. If I recall, Colangelo was forced to sell the DB because of huge financial problems.

the only source close to the score is Steve Stone. You are aware that the chandler family and the Tribune feel the company is worth 38 -42 dollars a share and any bids much lower won't be accepted. All the early indications were much lower. The trib isn't trying to sell, they are trying to show stockholders that all the bids are too low and the company is undervalued. You realize they have over 5.5 billion in revenue and 1.1 billion in net income. There will be no fire sale of the company.

Was that radio report on the ever reliable score?

Seattle is great city. I can easily see why someone from that area would want to go back. Hey man, I love DC and wouldn't want to go anywhere else. But if the choice between two jobs, one in my preferred location and another in Chicago, for a 3 year gig...I think I can delay my preferred city for 3 years if it meant an extra 6 million dollars in my account. West coast gets played up too much. Schmidt isn't Clemens, he's ten years younger, and he's not on the cusp of retirement. For a 3 year gig, location probably doesn't mean that much to a guy not yet in his twilight years. I strongly agree with all that The Dude is saying here, and it's not just because I saw part of the Big Lebowski again last night. A few extra million would make the distance from your preferred locale pretty easy to deal with. It's not like he'd be spending every day at home either, they are travelling most of the time. I'd disagree. If I was generally happy where I was at, I was married and had kids in school, I wouldn't move for 45 million over three instead of, say, $39 mil over three. It's not like you can't get by quite nicely for $13 mil a year, I wouldn't yank my kids out of the school system and uproot my family because I was greedy for another two per. But then again, I don't know if he has kids or anything like that either. Would you still have the family live in Seattle and make your residence there, but acknowledge the fact that you have a $15M/year job that kept you on the road for 6 months at a time? Have the fam with you in a condo in Chicago during the summer months so you're really only on the road away from them for four months during the year. You can afford to fly everyone in to Chicago for every homestand, too. Would you expect your family to drop everything (school, sports, social activities) every homestand and fly halfway across the country? Yeah, he can afford it, but that'd get to be a drain after awhile. I'm not saying he wouldn't do it. What I am saying is that just because we offer him a couple more million a year than anyone else doesn't guarantee it will be enough to convince him to sign. Everyone's priorities are different. I don't know Schmidt from a hill of beans, so I couldn't tell you where his are. All I'm saying is don't be surprised if he decides not to sign with us even if we are the highest bidder, as that won't guarantee anything. Nice thought, but it seems a majority of players have made that decision before, look at DLee. Schmidt's agent has said it's not true that he only will play for a west coast team. To simplistically compare any of our lives to theirs is silly. #months in the summer in Chicago is not hell for a family-it is an extended vacation. When millions are involved to insure your future, this is a minor inconvienence.

Call me a commie, no chance of him returning.

I can't see Jones in CF. I can see Soriano in LF or Cf. Trading Jones and leaving Murton makes no sense, no LH bat in the lineup. Murton probably has more trade value for pitching than Jones does.

And the fact his numbers are even in the same ballpark as Soriano's while he'd be lucky to get a contract at all doesn't scare you? Selectivity of numbers used again. He has no real position, doesn't produce runs, can't run but whatever. I think people have hired him because of potential and dumped him because he doesn't really produce. When can we expect you to stop bringing up Walker for no reason? 2008? 2009? Let me know so I can circle the date on my calendar. Or maybe we can just fully establish the Todd Walker scale and compare every potential target for years to come against your questionable impressions of Walker's production. Tim may have some room on the front page for it. In fairness, Rob's the one who started by using Walker as the mystery player in his comparison. Oh, I'm aware. He certainly has in other threads, though, and apparently can only justify Soriano's deal/reputation by putting down Walker. And that's been going on for a good year now. I will tell you again, Todd Walker is an overrateed, under achieving ballplayer and I'm very sorry if you disagree with me and the rest of baseball. He fits into the Bobby Hill, Ben Grieve, Hee sop Choi class of player, good OBP and lousy baseball players.

And the fact his numbers are even in the same ballpark as Soriano's while he'd be lucky to get a contract at all doesn't scare you? Selectivity of numbers used again. He has no real position, doesn't produce runs, can't run but whatever. I think people have hired him because of potential and dumped him because he doesn't really produce. When can we expect you to stop bringing up Walker for no reason? 2008? 2009? Let me know so I can circle the date on my calendar. Or maybe we can just fully establish the Todd Walker scale and compare every potential target for years to come against your questionable impressions of Walker's production. Tim may have some room on the front page for it. I only responded to a post talking about Walker's numbers and Soriano's. If that offends you, I's sorry.

Excellent!! not excellent. there are varying degrees of opinions on every transaction. I hate the signing and am arguing as vigorously as anyone in defense of Hendry. every transaction is going to be criticized. I remember on the espn board people complaining about letting Bobby Hill go for that lazy bum Ramirez. That same silly argument was made on this board also.

Got me. someone was laughingly trying to compare their numbers.

Excellent!!

And the fact his numbers are even in the same ballpark as Soriano's while he'd be lucky to get a contract at all doesn't scare you? Selectivity of numbers used again. He has no real position, doesn't produce runs, can't run but whatever. I think people have hired him because of potential and dumped him because he doesn't really produce.

The only way to prove that is to show that Walker's playing time is differently distributed(i.e. to favor his platoon splits) than a "starter" like Soriano. And even if he did get put in more favorable matchups, it speaks that 1-2 marginal to decent players in the right situation can nearly replicate Soriano's production. That truly is funny. Todd Walker can't hit 40 HR's, 40 doubles, and steal any bases. You may not value those numbers, but realty baseball does. Not just selective percentages. last year, someone tried to claim Todd was better offensively than Tejada. What a joke. Realty is greater than fantasy baseball. Walker might do better than Soriano on the basepaths if he doesn't attempt to steal any at all. I haven't crunched Soriano's SB numbers yet, but something tells me he fell just below the breakeven point... costing the team runs because of all the time he got caught stealing. I don't believe I ever made the argument that Todd Walker could hit 40 HRs or 40 doubles (though he has hit in excess of 35 doubles 3 times since 2001... even while getting about 60% of the PT Soriano gets the last few seasons). I made the argument that Todd Walker is close enough in value to Soriano that they can be compared (though he certainly is not better). My point was that Walker will be lucky to get 2/8 this offseason... and Soriano is getting 6 extra years and over 100 million dollars extra. All I was pointing out is the disparity between Soriano's talent level and what he's getting paid. He's getting a contract approximately like Manny's... and he is nowhere near that performance level. Todd will be lucky to get more than a one year deal, with no position to play.

The only way to prove that is to show that Walker's playing time is differently distributed(i.e. to favor his platoon splits) than a "starter" like Soriano. And even if he did get put in more favorable matchups, it speaks that 1-2 marginal to decent players in the right situation can nearly replicate Soriano's production. That truly is funny. Todd Walker can't hit 40 HR's, 40 doubles, and steal any bases. You may not value those numbers, but realty baseball does. Not just selective percentages. last year, someone tried to claim Todd was better offensively than Tejada. What a joke. Realty is greater than fantasy baseball.

First off, Soriano clocks in at #4 on the "readily-available" market. Aramis, Matsuzaka, and Drew all have been and will continue to be more productive than Soriano for the immediate future. And there's a huge drop down in production from those top 3 to Soriano. That doesn't even take into account the fact we could easily get a few guys in trades, too. ARod, Manny, and Cabrera are all out there for the taking right now... and they're all exponentially better bets than Soriano. I'll hold off complaining about the contract for the time being, as we have no hard figures... but the fact remains that sinking that kind of money and years into a merely "very good" at best player is fiscally irresponsible. Is that much of an issue of the Cubs continue to bump payroll? Probably not for 3-5 years at least... once he declines, it could be trouble (but there is the chance there's some option years we can get out of). The real issue at hand is what happens if the Cubs are sold soon (as has been rumored). If a new ownership group cuts the payroll to the $100 mil level, this signing would be enough to drag this team down the crapper for half a decade. Let's do an experiment. I'll give you Soriano's numbers and a mystery player. You tell me how much this mystery player is worth to you. 2004: Soriano - .280/.324/.484 OPS+ of 98 Player X - .274/.352/.468 OPS+ of 105 2005: Soriano - .268/.309/.512 OPS+ of 110 Player X - .305/.355/.474 OPS+ of 115 2006: Soriano - .277/.351/.560 OPS+ of 132 Player X - .278/.355/.398 OPS+ of 93 Both players had years in 2006 out of line with their career numbers. While Player X is indeed three years older, he has shown himself to be quite capable of outperforming Soriano by doing so 2 of the last 3 years. Would you even think of giving Todd Walker five million per year for 4 years to patrol right field? How about seventeen million per? I sure as hell wouldn't... But he's not that far from being comprable to Soriano as an offensive threat. That's why selective analysis of numbers fails. Tadd Walker is a bench player and the percentage's fail to show runs created. Soriano is not the best player in baseball, but he is the best free agent available this year.

Carlos Lee's price just went up-- A LOT. Houston may now have a problem getting him. The Angels will throw a boat load at him.

I doubt it, the cap is close to $!48 mil

They didn't say anything about moving Jones to CF? Again, assuming Bruce is right (do I even need to write this qualifier anymore), Murton is going nowhere so that leaves Jones as the odd corner OF out. By the way, nice job Bruce...every other outlet reported him as going to play CF. Scary how much assumption goes on in "reporting". I'll bet Soriano is either in LF or CF. I think I will disagree with Bruce's sources.

Childish

Gonzalez isn't an above average defender. I can only assume you are trying to be funny.